The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1896-02-09
CROOKE'S TUBES.
EDLS0N'S EXPERIMENTS ARE ALL
CLOSELY WATCHED.
What the Great Experimenter Has
Learned and the Difficulties He
Has Encountered.

LEWELLING, N. j., Feb. S.-The
laboratories of Thomas A. Edison have
been besieged during the past few days
by people who are anxious to know what
progress the great experimental has
made in the use of Crooke's tubes
and its application to photography. 1t
was expected that Mr.. Edison would try
to photograph the human breath and
as a consequence a number of newspa-
per men and artists were on hand to
get the results of the experiment. The
inventor had hoped to have some new
tubes in readiness for the work of the
morning. but notwithstanding the fact
that he and his efficient helpers worked
all night, they were unable to complete
their labors. Mr.. Edison confidently
expects to have all preparations made
on Monday, however.
Mr.. Edison said today that he was
not spending any time photographing
his hand and keys, but was devoting
his entire attention to developing the
practical side of Prof. Roentgen's re-
cent discovery Already" said he. "I
have been able to establish the fact
that the different materials offer diff
ferent degrees Of resistance to the pass
age of the new light. For instance,
glass proves to be a relatively poor con-
ductor Of rays, while hard black rubber
permits the almost free passage of the
light. Lead is also a good conductor"
Inc principal difficulty which the in
ventor encountered in his experiment
was the fact thatfa sharp shadow of
the material under test could not be
secured unless it was directly under
t1Ih 20
the smaIlness of the tubes which have
been used in the experiments, and 1t
is this same trouble which has caused
the delay in photographing the human
brain and the bones Of the head. The
tubes which are now being constructed
are much larger than those used here
tofore, and by the combined use Of
several OF these the inventor hopes to
make a satisfactory shadow of the
head, bones and the brain
In answer to a question as to the
definition of the new light, Mr.. Edison
said: ''The Roentgen ray is a wave
IN ether. More than this I cannot say
at the present time. I consider it a
very great discovery and have con-
fiTmed all the experiments of him who
first gave the discovery to the world.
These experiments with the flourescent
light are all very simple and beautiful
and am only trying to increase the
power and perfection of the record"
The reporter who visited Mr.. Edison
today was shown a tube in active OBJ
Grafton. The power of the light as a
luminant is very small indeed, and it
is this fact which surprises the nov
ice. His wonder is much increased.
however. when he is told it is not at
all improbable that under favorab bic
conditions the light might be absolute
~ invisible to the eye The fourescente
IS caused largely, if not entirely. by the
glass which is used in the construction
of the tubes. The new tubes which
are being made at the laboratory are
about eight inches long and two inches
in diameter. The first intention of Mr.,
Edison was to construct tubes Of Gel
luloid, but he now states that he can
obtain glass of sufficient thinness to
make it unnecessary to construct the
celluloid tubes. No experiment has
ever been made at the laboratory
which has caused 50 much interest as
the present one. Every employee of
the establishment shares the enthusi-
asm of the chief and all are anxiouslv
awaiting the developments of Mon
day.