The Emporia news. [volume] (Emporia, Kan.) 1859-1881, 1877-02-23
Gen. PIeasantOm Great Ca1hO-
lIcOn-VIrtues in Ehe a8lue
kk8y-LalesG Discovery.
From the springfeld Republican.

are the three centering points of
trial, buG it has really pervaded
the country to q remarkable ex-
tent; this city, for example. is not
without its blue-glass patients.
We may still smile, but the per-
ceptible tinge of incredulity in
the smile is weakening. In fact,
if the discoveries positions can
be maintained, he will be justly
regarded, as the great Snowman
observed, sin the light of q
Boon"
Gen. Pleasaonton who, by the
way, is not the calvary captain of
the late civil war, but an elder
brother whose active service was
done in Mexico-does not, how
ever, claim to have discovered"
the value of the blue ray, so much
as to have combined the hints of
science and the observations of ex-
perience, put them to practical
proof and made a popular book
about them. Science Ia the eIe-
metary text books teaches US that
in the solar spectrum the yellow
possesses the greatest light; the
greatest heat lies in the invisible
rays beyond the red; the greatest
actinic power power to excite
chemical action in the invisible
rays beyond the violet, and the
blueside of the spectrum possesses
but little heat. Gen. Pleasanton,
however, took up in 1860, a line
of experiment which convinced
him that the blue rays united to
their greater chemical powers
that of developing q greater de-
gree of heat when used in com
bination with the unbroken sun
light. He proceeded to empiri-
cally develop a theory to this
effect, in brief: Sunlight passes
through plain transparent glass
with slight OBSTRUCTION, leaving
the glass as cold as the outer
atmosphere. But in falling upon
the blne glass at its side, six OF
the seven primary rays are sud-
denly arrested, only the blue ray
passing through. This stoppage
of light, with its immense veloc-
ity, produces friction, which gen.
crates electricity, and combining
with the effect of the direct light
fills the apartment with vital
magnetic current and invigOrating
effect.
His first experiment was to
build a grapery, in which every
eighth row of glass was blue;
so that during the day the sun
cast blue ray of light on every
leaf In the house. In five months
after setting them his yearling
cuttings had each grown some
forty five feet in length and were
an inch in diameter a foot above
the ground. The second year,
besides continuing their growth,
the vines bore l,2OO pounds OF
unusually large and luscious
grapes. These vines have kept
on the same way ever since. Gen.
Pleasanton then experimental on
animals, raising pigs and calves
under roofs of blue and plain
glass i'm equal proportions; the
feeble were made strong, and
growth so forced by the stimula-
ton that heifers reached matur-
lty IN fourteen months, and bulls
in third of that time ;now he rails
es all his cattle under blue glass.
AS soon as he perceived the
success of this treatment on
vegetable and brute life, the now
confident discoverer subjected
weak and ailing humanity to
similar conditions. The cases re-
corded in his book and in letters
which are now being published in
New York and Chicago are en-
barrassingly numerous. A Phila-
delphia dc: tor was iudHced to try
blue glass for his wife, who suffer-
ed fron neuralgia. The sash of
q window was fitted with aletr-
nate panes of blue glass, and the
lady gave the neuralgia spots
sun-baths, receiving relief with
each application: and recovering
entirely in three weeks. Two
Major Generals cured themselves
of rheumatism in the fore arm in
three days, and two years after,
had had no return of the disease
in any shape. The General him
self, who is heavy and getting
old, tells how he took his own
prescription, when he received a
severe fall, last October. The
doctor said he would suffer a long
time from the conclusion, but he
tried q sun-bath with blue and
white light, and in thIee-days
every effect of his serious acct
dent was removed. Before leav-
ing these certainly surprising testi-
monies, let us note the curions
fact that, in two cases, an affective
badness has been cured; one
lady the meningitis patiently who
had worn a wig four years, rejoic-
in the recovery of her hair as well
as her neaItn on account OF the
magic blue glass.
In short, though Gen. Pleasoa-
ton seems to have 8 wildly theo-
retic disposition which leads him
to scout gravItation, believe the
sun cold, and declare all heat
evolved from the earth, and cleo
tricity the only force in this or.
any universe-yet this thing, the
virtue of the blue ray,
appears quite certainly founded
on facts. Here and these physi-
clans are allowing that there is
something in it. The aquarium
in New York is lighted by blue
panes alternating with white, ana
the fishes ara said to be uncom-
monty happy under the blue rays.
A Chicago hospital has fitted the
windows of several of its wards
in the same way, and the plan
IS under discussion also in the