Early attitudes to x-rays in buenos aires, 1896-1897: Medicine, esotericism and popular fantasies

Abstract

The goal of this article is to document early attitudes to X-rays in scientific culture in the city of Buenos Aires. Using various types of periodical sources, the text explores the different reactions to the novelty among different actors in the literary world. Newspapers and weekly magazines for the general public quickly broadcast the discovery, stressing its marvelous or prodigious nature. Meanwhile, physicians in the city took contrasting positions, ranging from mistrust to enthusiasm. Lastly, spiritualists in the city wrote numerous texts about the innovation, and reinterpreted it in accordance with their strategies for self-legitimation.