ABSTRACT
Most of the very first radiographs were of coins, keys and similar objects X-rayed through some opaque material; small mammals and hands. Self-exposure experiments, usually on the forearm, were a common procedure for many years and one American author as late as 1927, who with many others used the erythema dose to determine X-ray patient exposure, recommended that 'because of medicolegal complications it is better for the operator to use his own skin'. Generalised radiation protection measures were eventually adopted, a British X-ray and Radium Protection Committee was formed in 1921 and an International Radiation Protection Committee in 1928. Experiments were also conducted with radium on animals with rabies25 and baths of radium-bearing water were recommended for use at home 'as the radioactivity is permanent'. It is seen that the glass tube is not completely filled with radium chloride and this was the design of some of the early therapeutic radium tubes.
