E18-277

     Much importance is placed upon the use of x-ray photographs as a way of diagnosing tuberculosis. The fact that this is an outstanding fallacy is something I will point out.
     Doctors make determinations about tuberculosis depending on whether or not shadows appear on x-ray photographs of the chest, so the issue becomes what is the nature of these shadows. Of course, it is without a doubt something that should not be there. Still, at the same time, just the appearance of a shadow will not indicate with certainty whether there is a tubercular lesion within the lung. That is because a photograph captures a plane. From my numerous experiences, almost all shadows on x-ray photographs are not within the lungs but outside the lungs, in other words they are collections of medicinal toxin in the chest or in the back under the skin or in areas around the ribs. Thus, if there we were an accumulation of medicinal toxin within the lungs, there should be some abnormality in breathing. The reason for this is that the amount of the accumulated toxin decreases the overall capacity of the lungs.
     In which case, x-ray photographs should be taken from the side, photographing each section separately and then comparing them with a photograph taken from the front, so that an accurate depiction of inside the lungs can be made. Medical science performs such techniques only in special cases, but undertaking these techniques ordinarily or in groups with many individuals is not possible, so in practice it is unavoidable that authorities are satisfied to have x-rays taken only from the front. Based on experience, those with a medicinal accumulation within the lungs are at tuberculosis stage 3 at the minimum or above, so in cases of early diagnosis, one may be allowed to say there is no one with the severe symptoms described above, that is, there is no one with abnormality within the lungs. Therefore, taking x-rays photographs only from the front and determining whether an individual is tubercular based only on whether there is a cloud or not as is carried out at present is simply too rash and hasty.
     In this regard, one factor difficult to overlook is shadow on the outside of the lung which is undergoing second-stage purification, that is, medicinal toxin that has been dissolved by fever and has become liquid, permeates the lungs, becomes phlegm, is expelled, completing the purification process, and thus, the shadow disappears, but medical science misinterprets this as lung permeation-induced tuberculosis of the first stage. Because patients treated like this lose that such as their mental and physical stamina, appetite, and gradually weaken, I know of not a few instances that actually became cases of tuberculosis.