The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1896-12-02
THE RESULTS OF HIS LATEST Ex-
PERIMENTs ANNOUNCED By
NIkOLA TESLA.
NO CURE FOR BLINDNESS.
EVEN THE WONDERFUL vIBRA-
TiONS ARE LIMITED IN THEIR
POSSIBILITIES.
CRUEL TO RAISE FALSE HOPES
Only the Shadow of Very Small
Body Can Yet BE Pro-
Jected.

NEW YORK, Dec. 1.-The Electrical
Review will publish tomorrow an ex-
haustive communication from Nikola
Tesla on his latest experiment with the
K ray, which the editor characterizes
as conveying wealth of suggestions
and most important and timely infor-
nation. Tesla states that the sun
burn effects noted by so many exper-
imenters are not due directly to the
rays but to the ozone generated by
the rays in contact with the skin. He
says: Nitrous acid may also be re
sponsible to a small extent. The ozone,
when abundantly produced, attacks the
skin and many organic substances
most theoretically, the action being no
doubt heightened by the heat and
moisture of the skin. Owing to this I
have always taken the precaution to
guard the person by a screen made
by aluminium wires which is connected
to the ground, preferably through a
condenser. The radical means of pre-
venting such actions is to make i'm
possible the access of the air to the
skin while exposing, as for instance, by
immersion in OIL
The inventor in referring to the re-
Gently widely heralded experiment for
making the blind see by means of the
Roentgen rays, regretfully remarks:
is 1t not cruel to raise such hopes
when there is so little ground for it.
For, first of all, the rays are not dem
onstrated to be transverse vibrations
If they were, we would have to find
means for refracting them to make
possible the projection Of a sufficiently
small image upon the retina. AS it is,
only the shadow Of a very small OBJ
Ject can be projected, and what posi-
bic good can result from the appli-
cation of these rays to such purposes?
L cannot confirm some of the expert
ments reported. For instance, when
a hand is put before the closed eyes,
1t is easy to distinguish the shadow,
much the same as before the light
OF candle; but when the tube is in
closed and all light from the same ex-
cluded l fail to get such an icapres-
sion. The latter is, therefore, chiefly
due to ordinary light
Tesla points out a possible and
strikingly unique method of manufac-
turing fertilizers by electricity in the
following language: with currents
produced by perfected electrical oscil-
lators, such as were described in one
of your recent issues, the production of
the ozone is SO abundant that it is
sufficient to merely turn on the cur
rent for few seconds and ozonize
strongly the atmosphere of a large hail.
These currents are also capable or
bringing about chemical combinations
Of which the chief is that of nitrogen
with the oxygen of the atmosphere and
an immense possibility, is opened up,
namely, the combination of the nit
rogen of the atmosphere on an indus
trial scale by practically no otne.,
means than mechanical power II
merely fertilizers of the soil would be
manufactured in this manner the benz
fits of humanity derived therefrom
would be incalculable.''
The inventor concludes his latest
contribution with an account Of his
method of making X-ray impresses
which will be of practical value to ply
sicians and experimenters the world
over: The Roentgen screen is first ap-
piled to the body to be investigated,
the pressure at the terminals of the
tube being very much reduced. The
pressure is then slowly and gradually
| raised. At certain pressure, the
shadow of the object examined is clear
est. But as the vacuum is increasing
| the pressure generally rises and the
image gets blurred in spite of the
screen getting much brighter.
Just as soon as the clearness is slight
| ly diminished, the experimental should
for a few moments reverse the current,
|. lowering the vacuum in this manner.
The current being again given the di-
rection which causes a slow and steady
increase of the vacuum, the shadow
gets again clear and by easy manipu-
[lation the best result may be secured.
An additional advantage, however, is
gained. because the frequent reversals
produce a brighter phosphorescence of
the screen. When taking a photograph
the bulb should be watched through the
screen and the switches manipulated
in the above manner