Science Art: Apparatus Arranged for Taking a Radiograph, 1894.

Scientific illustration of early X-ray equipment, including induction coil, battery, X-Ray tube, and fluorescent screen.
Scientific illustration of early X-ray equipment, including induction coil, battery, X-Ray tube, and fluorescent screen.

This illustration is from an article in Science Gossip on how to set up your own “X-Ray Outfit.” As the author, James Quick, explains: “The four chief items comprising this are, (a) the induction coil, (b) the battery, (c) the X-Ray tube, and (d) the fluorescent screen.” The set here generates a 4-inch spark, while the ones more common in hospitals (even in 1894) were 14-inch sets or larger.

The article ends … well, with a “to be continued,” but before that, with a warning about “slightly inferior and soft paraffin wax” messing up the spark length of some coils. Check your paraffin, folks, before irradiating people.