Arizona republican., 1895-03-08
THE KINETCSCOPE.
Recent Uses of the Invention in
 the Study of Disc ase.
Edisen's Part in the Perfection of the Won- derfuI Machine-What Hay Be Ac- complished by His Other
 Inventions.

The invention of the kinetoscope, which is at present attracting a large amount of popular interest, resembles some of MT. Edison's inventions in being really an improvement on or an adapta- tion of discoveries of other men. This in no way implies that the fame of the American inventor is undeserved. On the contrary, it is due to his genius that mere experiments of scientists have been converted into things of real and lasting benefit to civilization. Sir Humphrey Davy discovered that car bon could be rendered incandescent in a current of electricity, and that oxygen consumed the carbon; but it remained for Edison to exclude oxygen and to give the electric light to civilization. The main essentials of the photograph were in use before Edison conceived the idea of making practical use of the machine. The uybridge photo graphs were the forerunners of the kinetoscope.
 It has been proclaimed, says the Bos- ton Advertiser, that the time is now at hand when books and theaters will be- come rarities, and the average citizen will be content to use the photograph and the kinetoscope for his pleasure. Such a prediction is over-sanguine, as yet, for the reason that these inven- tions are not yet perfect. The beauty of concerted music or of rare singing is still marred by the electric whir and the false sounds that issue from the phonographs diaphragm. The splen- did color and dazzling luster of the operas stage are yet beyond the grasp of the kinetoscope. Perhaps these things may come some day, but they have not come yet, and in the meantime the present generation is concerned chiefly with the things of to-day. The telephone, for instance, is of more i'm mediate use to civilization than are the phonograph and kinetoscope con- bined.
 Science has already found certain uses for MT. Edison's later inventions, however. The photograph counter feits permanently many sounds that are useful to therapeutics; the normal and unsound heartbeats, ''rales' in the lungs, certain vocal sounds depending upon special conditions of the throat and tonsils. It is of decided benefit to science to have permanent records that can always be of easy access without recourse to a special patient. In the same way the kinetoscope promises to be of great utility to medical science by reproducing physical action that can be studied in detail or comprehensively as the student desires. In this city some effort in that direction has already been undertaken, and more will be de- veloped from time to time, especially in nervous disorders that bring on certain physical action that is often so violent and vigorous as to baffie any attempt at close study by means of the unaided eye.
 The Muybridge photographs showed some years ago that the eye was unre- liable for the detection of the absolute details of rapid animal motion. h. stantaneous photography alone gives correct representation of the different attitudes taken by men or animals in rapid acton, and It IS quite possible that medical science may achieve fresh discoveries by the help of the kineto- scope. Thus, in studying the muscular action that results from certain nerve disorders, it may be possible to trace the nerves which are affected. Even in less complicated cases, like lameness, a surgeon may be able to reach conclus- ions with great quiclness and certainty by securing the details of muscular action of the affected limb, as the speed of the kinetoscope may be regulated at will. Altogether, then, while the repro duction of grand opera for the multi tude may be matter of the remote future, the kinetoscope is something of more use to civilization than a mere pictorial toy.