Durchsicht, Einsicht, Vorsicht: Eine Geschichte der Röntgenstrahlen, 1896–1963 (review)
Buy Issue for $25 at JHUPMonika Dommann's book is ultimately about people's fascination with technological developments and their concern about the potentially adverse consequences of such developments. In the first decades of the twentieth century, X rays became an important tool in medical diagnostics and therapy. Although the dangers—including X-ray-induced carcinomas on the hands of radiographers—soon became evident, it was not until after World War II that the authorities introduced regulations. Dommann describes the history of radiology in Switzerland up to the time when new regulations came into force in 1963, a history that had not previously been recorded in detail. But she aims to do more than just fill a gap in historiography: she describes and analyzes the "genesis" of radiology from a social and constructivist perspective, discussing technology in its social context, including both its material (buildings, instruments, and artifacts) and its functional aspects (professions, professionalization, and the distribution of tasks over the sexes).
The book is somewhat reminiscent of a Ph.D. thesis, for it starts with a theoretical introduction in which the author announces her adherence to the principles proposed by authors like Ludwik Fleck and Bruno Latour. To her, this means that the significance of X-ray images is determined not only by the way the X-ray machine is used to produce an image, but also by such aspects as the person who produces it, the place where it is produced, the methods used, and the authority under whose supervision it is produced. After this introduction, the book is divided into three sections, each with a chronological structure.
In section 1 Dommann discusses laboratories and instruments, as well as the rise of experts. She recounts in detail how radiology developed in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland, alternating between the physics laboratory and the medical clinic. The establishment of medical radiology was made possible by alliances allowing investments in new clinics and high-power electrical installations, as well as office and file-storage space. The "networking" that was required to achieve these took place in a context of inspiring euphoria as well as skepticism about these new breakthroughs in medical technology.
The ninety-page chapter called "Expertenkultur" is the most fascinating part of the book. She shows that the rise of the expert radiologist was closely tied to the rise of female X-ray workers: delegating specific tasks to female assistants allowed radiologists to concentrate on establishing their autonomy and their reputation within the medical community. Here Dommann applies the concept of boundary work to analyze both the hindrance and furtherance of the professionalization of nurse and specialist.
The second section of the book deals with X-ray images, and examines physical aspects of both patients and radiologists. Dommann discusses the sensitive touch that X-ray nurses needed in order to work with the fragile equipment and achieve the highest image quality, depending on the goal of the examination and other circumstances. Governments started to take an interest in X rays in the context of [End Page 896] tuberculosis prophylaxis; this meant, on the one hand, that radiologists lost some of their jurisdiction over medical applications, while on the other hand, X-ray applications became "industrialized." The third part of the book, however, which discusses the hazards, shows that the medical profession held on to its monopoly over X rays for a long time, claiming that they were safe as long as they were used by medical professionals. It was not until the 1960s that governments started to draw up regulations.
Durchsicht, Einsicht, Vorsicht reflects the emotional ties between humans (or patients) and new and promising technological developments. The author herself also gives evidence of such emotional ties, which may be one of the reasons why...
