 The biological effect attracted the interest of Léopold Freund and Eduard Schiff, who, only a month or two after Röntgen's announcement, suggested they be used in the treatment of disease.At approximately the same time, Emil Grubbe, of Chicago was possibly the first American physician to use x-rays to treat cancer, beginning in 1896, began experimenting in Chicago with medical uses of x-rays.Escharotics by this time had already been used to treat skin malignancies through caustic burns, and electrotherapy had also been experimented with, in the aim to stimulate the skin tissue.