Reporter and farmer. [volume] (Webster, Day County, Dakota [S.D.]) 188?-1946, 1896-05-21

not. But you might have heard Of him
IL we had any real editors / nthis coun-
try-editors who cared to look about
them and find out what their country
men were doing. DIR. Finch was one
of the greatest men this country ever
produced"
Yes; there are a number of us.
What did the doctor do?"
MANY things. He discovered the Y
rays ten years ago. 1t is fifteen years
since | made the acquaintance Of DR..
Finch, and for that length of time /
have been trying to get the apers TO
understand that this remarkable man
lived among us. He had, fortunately,
a small income and so did not need to
practice, o make money out Of his
inventions. He lived In an old four
teen-roomed house set well back in a
walled garden, an ideal residence for
scientific research. He occupied only
a few Of the rooms, but had apparatus
stored In many of them. A man as
silent and mysterious as himself was
his only servant, and this man as
sisted him in many of his experiments,
occupying his odd time In cooking the
scanty meals that kept them both
alive. ! suppose / was the only other
person allowed In that ancient house.
The doctor welcomed me at first be-
cause, as you can see, | was not a
| laxative person and also because l
was an expert photographer and so
was enabled to assist him sometimes
where photography vas needed. In
credible as 1t may appear, the doctor,
although undoubtedly the foremost dis
coverer of this or any other age, could
never master the simple art of pho
t~ography."
II can sympathize with him in that.
/ have been photographing off and on
for ten years and my friends say my
pictures are worse than Roentgen's.''
There was an arched cellar under
this ancient house that was as black
as midnight. In this cellar we did our
first photographing with the Y rays
something like eleven years ago. I
shall never forget the thrill of horror
that went through us when we devel-
oped the first negative. He merely
wanted a picture Of one of the stone
walls TO see how the rays acted. When
l developed the plate was amazed to
see the stones come out like blocks of
crystal and behind them a skeleton of
some n who had evidently been
walled in there, but whether he was
dead or alive when this was done of
course we could not say"
Pardon me, but / am perhaps not
so ignorant as / look. Allow me TO tell
you that you apparently completely
misunderstood how the Y rays are APP
piled. You don't take real photographs
with them, but merely shadow pic
lures. You place your hand over a
sensitized plate in the dark, turn on
the X rays and the shadows of the
X-opaque bones, il / may so state the
case, show on the film when 1t is after
ward developed. You don't use a cam
era at all. Don't think / am doubling
your story in the least. l am merely
stating facts"
The stranger looked at me with with
ering contempt in his glance. At last
he spoke again.
You are referring, of course, to the
Roentgen rays OF the present ill-con-
structed age. / vas speaking of the
Finch rays, which rendered the ex-
pertinent / tell you of possible. DR..
Finch had discovered the rays as they
are at present known something like
six years before the time / mentioned.
They were an old thing with us then.
These rays which made the solid stone
like crystal and showed the skeleton
behind them were the Y rays improved
by DIR. Finch. He was not the man
to be satisfied by rays that would
merely show the bones Of the living
hand in the way you mention. We
were past that stage long before"
II see. Go on"
with the help Of the silent servant
we, after much labor, got out the stones
from the wall, and, sure eonough,
there was the skeleton. The bones
came apart as we pulled them out, but
the doctor set them together again on
the floor, and we stood looking down at
them while the skull grinned up at us.
The doctor, who seldom spoke, but al
ways said something worth remember
ing when he did. remarked, I'D give a
penny and a half to know what went
wrong with this chap The same
thought had occurred to me. but /
could not have given expression to it
i'm that terse way. The skeleton set
the doctor a%-thinking, and he would sit
for hours looking at it, and not know
ing exactly what to make of it."
"Why didn't he call In the Coroner,
have an inquest snd find out?'
II knew something great would come
Of his thinking, and it did. Next time
l called Oh him he slapped me on the
shoulder and said: Il have just con
structed a vibrating machine that will
reverse the Y rays, so l want you to
coine over at midnight and do some
photographing.' / suppose you know
that all rays are merely vibrations in
the ether flowing in one direction?
Well, the doctor had invented n ma
chine that turned the vibrations. and
made them tumble back oyer each 9TH
er and flow the other way. Do YOU un-
derstand what l meany'
"No; you are beyond me. but don't
be discouraged. Drive on"
you haven't much OF an intellect
One doesn't need the X rays TO he
able to see that. Still. I would like
you to follow me. for all the rest would
be plain to you IL you can comprehend
tie first steps. So, don't be afraid 10
ask questions is anything isn't quite
clear"
go Oh. What did you do with the
bonesg"
"Whch l reached the cellar at mid
nigh; l found the doctor had wired the