The morning times., 1896-06-28
THE y RAYS SURPASSED.
How 10 SEE. Through Solid Substances
by Ordinary Light.

The magazines and newspapers for
months past have teem"d with wonderful
accounts of what the so-caled Y rays
can do in the way of penetrating wood,
paper lea tilcr, flesh, ana many other mat
teTs generally considered impervious to
ordinary sunlight, and with still more won
d-rful, if rather ghaStly, pictures OF the
inside economy of living persons, but
few seem TO lie aware what a simple
matter 1t is 20 see. or seem to see,
through solid substances without any sci
entific apparatus or y rays at all.
Al popular seaside resorts and dime
museums throughout the country there
is an arrangement of teeiees and mirrors
that enables one to see through a brick
or any other opaque object, and the ap-
paratuS is SO simple that any clever boy
Or girl can readily initiate it.
Procure At dry goods shop two or
three of those long, narrow boxes used
TO contain umbrellas and parasols; cut
them into I'VE pieces or sections, as
shown in the diagram, Figure l. Procure
box. An empty soap or candle box
will answer the purpose very well. In the
bottom of this box cut two square holes
just large enough to permit the intro
duction of two of the sections of paste
board boxes you have prepared, the dis
tanCr between the holes, or course, to be
the length Of the shorter end Il, of the
boxes. GeI Il glaZicr to cut for you four
mirrors that will Just fit in the slanting
ends OF the box sections Join together
sections c aud d and aad f, as shown
in Fig. >.
This can be done 10y Joining the slant
ing ends uf the boxes together and past
ing paper over them. Set the two com
pleted parts into the holes made i'll the
soap box, add section =, Ii, fasten mirrors
In position, as shown in ola gram: paste
on the fourth sides Of the section which
originally formed the covers of the boxes
cut up, and your work is practically COM
plete. You can have the box and what
appears of the square teetees covered with
cloth or painted, bat this is only for eff
feet.
As you look into one end of one of the
tubes the object is reflected from one mir
Tor to the other until it is reflected upon
the retina Of ypnr eye. The box may form
part of a stand or table, and this enhances
the delusion.
There is another and much simpler man
ner of doing the same thing. Grasp with
the right hand Il roll of paper, as shown
In the illustration, Fig. 81, and hold up
the left hand edgewise tn it, the back of
the hand toward yo1 and the thumb under
the roll. lr you do this, turning to the
light, and looking steadily through the
tube with both eyes opep, the palm of
yonr left hand becomes, to all appearances,
transparent as glass, and you can see
through IL.
The position of the left hand must, of
course, he adjusted to the usual angle of
the person trying the experiment, and it
is necessary to bring ii closer to the eyes
In some cases thanin Others. AT the proper
point the illusion is perfect. The same
effect can be produced hy holding the hands
with the inside edge placed against and
laid alongside the bridge or the nose and
the forehead, and the whole hand held
stiff and inclined Il little way either to
the right or left from right angle to the
plane of the face.
The solution OF this curious Illusion is, of
course, that the image formed in the eyes
overlap each other, and the space shut off
on one side is pictured iy that eye from
which the scene or object looked at is not
shut off by the intcrposing hand In this
manner you ma Y prove TO your puzzled play
mates that, while the Y rays are very wei!
In their way, you can make solid substances
transparent without their aid.