El Paso daily herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1881-1901, 1896-12-19
BOON TO THE BLIND.
Eyesight May Be Restored by
Edison's Scientific Skill.
Results Follow the First
Experiments in This Direction
The " Ray the Agency
Employed.

Thomas A. Edison, who has given
to the world so many marvels of cleo
trio science. has paused to do another
good deed for humanity. Through his
iuorescope the man who breaks his leo
can watch the surgeon fit together the
ragged fracture with a certainty that
he work is being done rightly. Mr..
Edison now demands that. the blind
shall be allowed to see. He was led
into this train of thought in quite an
accidental way. Some little time ago,
while at work in the Roentgen ray room,
he happened to lean his head upon his
hands, with his palms pressed against
his closed eyes.
At the time his head was in the neigh
borhood of Roentgcn tube and to his
astOnishment he found that he could
see through his closed eyelids and
hands. This astonishing result caused
| Mr.. Edison to reason that if the y ray
would penetrate through his closed
eyelids. why should it not penetrate
| through a cataract in the eve or any
| similar obstruction and inform the
optic nerve. provided the latter were
still intact? lr. the case of a deaf man,
where the tymranum has been de-
strOyed but the aural nerve remains,
| sounds can he transmitted through the
teeth. So much for theory and the next
step was to make practical test.
Interested friends offered to bring
| before him some persons afflicted with
blindness. The offer was quickly ac-
cepted by the wizard, and it was not
long aftcrward when Jacob Mahr-
bacher and Otto Kallensee, of Newark,
walked into the laboratory. Mr. Ed
ison patiently heard the story of their
Affections and then went to work
Mahrbacher was the first to be tried by
Mr.. Edison. The light was flashed be
fore his eyes and gradually the opera
tor turned on the y ray current strong
er and stronger. Finally. as the strong
est light was reached Nlahrhacher
tremblingly announced that he could
see a Glittering substance. Mr.. Edison's
face frightened and again the tube was
changed.
Kallensec then stood before the y
ray and gazed unblnkingly at it for
some time. Another light was
thrown. and with almost a sob the man
cried: II can see light. It's burning
now, isn't it? I can see
The best result was reached by the
incandescent light in red globe. and
important. Many experiments were
tried. by the use of direct rays and also
the horoscope. but with no better re-
suits.
After working for two hours Mr.. Ed
ison concluded to postpone the expert
ments for time. As the men left him
he sad to them:
Don't be discouraged. men. know
fr,l1
Will find cure for YOU yet"
The result Of this test was not as sat
isfactOry as il might have been had the
persons Experimental with been of a
high order of intelligence Comment
ing upon this Mr.. Edison said:
Jacob Mahrhacher and Otto KalIen-
see were not the right kind Of subjects.
want Il thoroughly Intelligent man.
one who can explain his sensations to
me as | go along. for vii hout knowing
these | am as much in the dark as he is.
These men could not tell me what they
saw. They were hysteri with delight
at being able to see anything. and were
sure they would soon be, able to read
fine print by candle light. All knew |
is what they could tell me. and that
wasn't much. They said they saw
points of fire dance before their ewes |
when the current was on. and were in |
Egyptian darkness when it was off | |
did not have the apparatus to make the |
test that will be made later on. l have |
simply pointed the way and there is no |
telling who Will make the final discov- |
cry. II may be made in Germany, San |
Francisco, or France. or here in West |
Orange"
why should not these persons use |
your tluOrescope?" was asked of the |
wizard.
That is out of the question" Mr. Ed
ison replied. THE Horoscope is ordi-
nary daylight. 1t simply converts the
unexPlairable RoertGen ray into or
binary light by rejecting it on particles
of calcium tungstate. This mineral has
the property of converting the invisible
ray into light. Put the Roentgen ray
into a dark box and you have absolute
night. Put into that box crystals of the
simple calcium tungstate and you have
light. If we had always known the
Ttoentgen ray we should have regarded
the tungstate calcium as Il phosIshores-
cent mineral, they have such an affinity
for each other. These two make the
fourescope; so, you see, they would do
the blind man no good
Tremendous interest was aroused
among scientific and philanthropic per
sons by the announcement of Mr.. Ed
son's discoveries. Medical men are con-
however, and to what extent
lEdison's latest application of the
Roentgen rays may improve the sight
Of persons partially blind or restore
sight of persons in utter darkness none
Of the most eminent Oculists or the best
known opticians would hazard Il predic-
ton. Most oculists and a number of
specialists in the electro-pathOlOgica
branch of medical science are already
at work experimenting along the lines
suggested by the Wizards revelations
his latest discovery.-Chica-
20 Times-Ii Herald.
South American Jewclry.
One of the principal occupations of
jewellers in the cities and towns of Chilli |