The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1896-12-05

! further distress on seeing it. The gangha
which regulated his stomach forgot the les
son they had learned.
ssTo write a single letter of the alphabet it
is roughly estimated requires from 100000 to
800 900 distinct processes, all of which ara
controlled and directed by mind. You see
me make this letter o; it takes but sec
ond; vet, if all the mental processes IN
volved had to be performed consciously,
years would be consumed in the perform
ance. IL were obliged to write the Alpha
bet once in such fashion, it is likely thaI
| would not live long enough to perform
another act. First, the making OF the y IL
willed in the brain cortex, setting In motioh
the activities of thousands of cells IN tne
hearing areas, the seeing areas, the speech
motor areas, and the muscular motor areas.
Hundreds of nerve threads connecting these
cells with various cells and nerve threads
II the cerebellum are set to work to organ
| ize the movement while the nerve centres
| in the medulla attend to the business of
furnishing the requisite blood. As aresult,
the spinal nerve centres are actuated, and
! finally the smaller ganglia in the fingers di-
rect the forming OF the o.
| For certain novel experiments which have
to do with matters of this kind, Professor
is beyond question the darkest place in the
world Ordinarily when one speaks of dark
ness it is in u comparative sense. The dark
! est night is not very dark. out of doors.
The depths of q cavern OF coal mine are
| darker, but not so dark as the so-called
sdark ROOM of a photographer. Yet a very
sensitive plate, exposed in photographers
dark room, is quickly spoiled, because some
| light is present. On the other hand, the
darkness obtained by Professor Gates is abb
solute. Compared with it, the darkest dark
ness hitherto known might be "bottled up
and sold for Tyrian dyes The Vatican at
| Rome actually possesses a bottleful OF the
darkness which afflicted Egypt when the
| Israelites wanted to get away; but it Ia @
| rainbow when contrasted with the scientific
brand of darkness. Unlike the Egyptian
darkness, this darkness cannot be felt; it is
too dark for that.
| Professor Gatess dark room is constructed
like box, the walls of which are of wood
saturated with parafine, to fill the pores.
There is lining of tar paper, and then
comes layers of orange-colored paper, gray
telt paper and lead foil. The purpose of
| these Innings, of course, IS to exclude all
light rays. Inside the box described is
| another box similarly made and lined and
within the second box is q third box, which
has walls of sheet lead and of wood painted
| black. But lead is not wholly opaque to
X-rays, and so microscope screen is placed
beneath the sheets of that metal. Such
X-rays as get through the lead are stopped
by the screen and turned into light, and
the latter cannot penetrate the black-paint-
| ed wood. The wood is covered with twelve
layers of paper saturated with chemical
substances that are opaque to light of vari-
Gus colors. These are OVERLAND by three
additional layers containing salts opaque to
the invisible rays Of the spectrum beyond
the violet and finally there is a coat of
lead foil. The innermost room rests on rub
Der cushions; the second room is similarly
supported, and the third outermost is in
sulated and rests posts which go deep
into the ground. Electricity is conveyed in
to the innermost box by wire cable from
a friction machine outside. Thus the whole
affair is great Leyden jar, within Leyden
jar, within Leyden jar.
The innermost box, which is the dark
room, is SO absolutely dark that the most
sensitive Photographic plates, exposed there
for forty-eight hours, have not undergone
the slightest alteration. 1t is likewise i'm
penetrable to Mays, to the dark heat rays
below The emu Oh tue spectrum, dllu 10 tIlo
invisible rays above the violet. 1t is proof
even against sound waves of certain classes,
such as musical tones. The dark room is
entered by a sort of labyrinthine passage,
whicht inds around the nest of boxes until
the entrance to the innermost one is
reached. 1t is brilliantly illumined by cleo
tricity. but a touch on button brings in
Simultaneous blackness. After getting used to
50 tn ictin JicI, fDo hot
your face, very family. This is due to
phosphorescence in the eye; after while it
fades out, and you see nothing what
ever
Certain sense perez tions seem to be more
delicate in the dark than in the light. and
Professor Gates wants to measure them.
This is one of the purposes for which his
black room is built; but its cons ruction
renders practicable the solution of other
important psychological problems. AS has
been said. the room is actually big Leyden
jar; it can be charged with electricity. Al
ready it is more than suspected that the
mind works quicker and better when the
electric ''potential' of the surrounding at
mosphere is high and contrariwise when it
Is low. There is no difficulty in raising the
electric potential of the dark room as high
as may he desired. Then exact tests may
be applied for ascertaining if the senses are
rendered more keen and the mental proc
csses more rapid. Science has already de-
vised dozens of machines for determining
such things-as, for example, to determine
the threshold of feeling, hearing, etc The
threshold of hearing is the least sound one
can he ar; that of feeling, the least touch
one can feel; and likewise with the other
senses.
Professor Gates wants to find out under
what conditions the mind works best. AS
for electricity, its potential in the air
varies SO constantly that no tests can be
made under ordinary conditions. Before a
storm it may rise to eighty million volts,
and go down to zero five minutes later.
When the facts in this matter are thor
ouglly known, it Will be easy for author
so to regulate the potential in his study as
to enable him to do the best work of which
he is capable with the least fatigue. The
amount of oxygen in the atmosphere also
has an important influence on mentation,
and Professor Gates is going to find out Just
how much. He Will furnish oxygen to the
box from generator and tar>e note of the
effect of various percentages.
In the insulated box all tests will be made
under uniform conditions. such as never
hitherto h ave been obtained in psychologist
cal experiments The ali supplied to it viii
be always of the same quality, purified of
cor Nv thr0uOb