The Dickinson press., 1896-05-23
oped the first negative. He merely
wanted q picture Of one Of the stone

QDn
The skeleton Set the Doctor Think.
ing.
walls to see how the rays acted. When
I developed the plate l was amazed to
e 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 1 am perhaps not
so ignorant as I look. Allow me to tell
you that you apparently completely
misunderstood how the X rays are APP
piled. You don't take real photographs
with them, but merely shadow pic
lures. You place your hand over q
sensitized plate In the dark, turn on
the X rays and the shadows Of the
X-opaque bones, IL l may so state the
case. show on the film when it is after
ward developed. You don't use a cam
era at all. Don't think I 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 M-con-
structed age. l was speaking of the
Finch rays, which rendered the ex-
pertinent I tell you Of possible. DIR.
Finch had discovered the rays as they
are ut present known something like
six years before the time I 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 x rays improved
by DR.. 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 l
could not have given expression to it
in that terse way. The skeleton set
the doctor a-thinking, and he would sit
Cor 1,N,rrS ln0lyie,~ Mt e. ~~ ~oA .o--
ing exactly what to make Of it,"
"Why didn't he call in the coroner,
have IN inquest and find out?"
II knew something great would come
of his thinking, and it did. Next time
L called OIL him he slapped me on tile
shoulder and said: 4 have Just con-
structed a vibrating machine that will
reverse the x rays, so I want you to
come over at midnight and do some
phOtographing.' L suppose you know
that all rays are merely vibrations in
the ether flowing in one direction?
Well, the doctor had invented q ma
chine that turned the vibrations. and
made them tumble back over each 9TH
er and flow the other way. Do you un-
derstand what l mean2"
"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, 1 would like
you to follow me-. for all the rest would
be plain to you If you can comprehend
tie first steps. So, don't be afraid to
ask questions is anything isn't quite
clear"
$50 on. What lid you do with tho
bones."
"Wlel l reached the cellar at mid
night I found the doctor had wired the
bones and had hung tho skeleton COM
plete from u nail in the wall. The re-
versing machine was at work. and in
stead Of being surrounded by the invis-
ible X rays, I now found the light to
be of a faint, blush tinge that made
the bones glitter AZ if they were phos-
phou'scent. This light wavered on the
skeleton in such a peculiarly gruesome
way that it made the limbs appear to
have a twitcling motion, as If the
thing were coming to life again. The
camera was set up and I took several
photographs of the skeleton, each time
giving double the exposure that the
previous plate had received, for, Of
course, we could not tell, except By
actual experiment, what the photo
graphic intensity Of the reversed rays
were. The second plate I developed
proved to have been correctly timed.
At first the outlines Of the skeleton APP
peared in the red light, ana then I
thought the picture was Jogging over,
for the bones DISAPPEARED. but. On
holding the plate against the red light,
I was amazed to see the picture Of q
man in the costume of the second
FhM 0YAaS At~n~ TH~~> -~~ ~n 1t A-~-