Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1896-02-28
W'ashlngtun STANDARD
OLYMPIA. WASH.
FRIDAY EVENING, FEBnT AT Is. 1896.
Turns on the Light

Turns on the Light.
The :. r. IJImiuer still maintains
It's lead in journalistic enterprise, and
late issues have illustrations OF experi-
mental reaults Of the newly discovered
wonder IN photography, whereby sub.
stances are pictured hy use OF the ca
thode ray through opaque coverings
The Examiner, soon a. the discovery
was announced, secured the services OF
three prominent local scientists and
supplied them with all the parapher-
MALTA for experimental work in pro.
ducing the conditions described by
ROentgen. After several DAYS Of per
sistent labor, and when they had al
most dispaired of success, the myster-
Gus ray appeared long enough to out
line the skeleton OF a dead bird, a
screw driven in the edge OF board,
the pins in Il pincushiOn, a pair Of
spectacles in leather case, a razor
blade through a hard rubber handle
and leather case, and the graphite
core OF lead pencil. Subsequent ex-
periments, OF which numerous illus
tratlons have bsen given, show the i'm
provements which study and expert
ence always afford in the development
OF new discoveries. The great trouble
was found to be in securing tubes or
bulbs, of sufficient vacuum to produce
the negative pole ray-or cathode ray
(which will penetrate Opaque sub
stances. The best OF those tubes to be
obtained was made in the city, but the
exhausting apparatus at command
was not sufficient to produce a vacu-
um equal to that Of the genuine
Crooke's tube. 1t is a matter of con-
graduation, that the Examiner has or.
dered a supply of these tubes for q
thorough exploration of the wonder in
all its sinuosities.
When the apparatus is arranged for
making a picture, it differs very ma
terially from the ordinary appliances
OF photography. No camera nor lens
Is required. Simply the plate holder
is used, which with the plate is laid
upon q table without removal of the
wooden covering, under the bulb at
the cathode pole. On the outside
cover are laid the objects to be photo
graphed and the cray" is turned on.
The ray itself is not a ray in the ordi-
nary acceptation OF the term; it is not
light ray, at least, but a dark beam,
invisible to the eye. A phosphores-
cent glow is seen in the bulb, but that
is not what develops the hidden &C.
crets OF natural objects. What it re-
ally is, the scientist knows no more
than the reader of these lines; he only
knows that certain conditions produce
q penetrative force which is attended
by certain results. When he can inn
part thorough comprehension OF that
energy which produces the electric
spark, he may be able TO- give = ra-
tional understanding of the operations
of that magic pencil which limns in
the dark and whose point penetrates
objects which as subtle an essence as
ray of sunlight cannot pierce.
The writer remembers an incident
which attended an exhibition of one
oil the first sewing machines-the old
Grover & Baker-when thoughtless
observer exclaimed 81 wonder that it
was not invented before" when the
urbane operator turned on him with
the remark" wonder that the prin-
ciple upon which it works was dis.
covered at all, so far removed is the
precision and accuracy of its work
from the simple idea of looping a
stitch with an eye-pointed ueedlew
Still we have, within the past few
days, heard the same expression from
the thoughtless throng regarding the
latest discovery, who accept results as
q matter of course without a thought
of the God-given attributes of the
human brain which enables it to
grasp the tiny threads of intelligence
and weave them into q wool that
adapts them to eternal usefulness.