In 1925, dermatologists of the world were startled by a report of Bucky of New York, formerly from Germany, introducing a new actinic modality discovered by him.
The pivotal point of the advanced claim was that the new ray combined the physical properties of the roentgen ray and the ultraviolet ray. On the basis of this point Bucky has called these rays Grenz, i. e., borderline rays.
Still more startling from the dermatologic point of view was the fact that Bucky ascribed the good results in many dermatoses not so much to the local actinic effects on the skin as to the systemic effects of the Grenz rays, particularly to the so-called hemoclasis and the stimulation of the autonomic nervous system.
The first clinical report in this country was published by Bucky1 in collaboration with Eller in 1927. This report presented the therapeutic results in a series