The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1896-04-14

and at once drew the conclusion that the
raw must have penetrated the black shield
over the tube which would have com
nletely shut in q light equal to that of
electric arc
AS result of this chance he soon ca.
tablished the fact that the rays would
Affect the paper through a book or niece
of board. and it was but step from this
to the substitution of the ordinary dry
plate for the barium platino-cayndie paper.
BY the same agency which made the
development Of the rays possible. the
news Of the discovery is flashed through
out the length and breadth of the civil.
lized world, cdr. Roentgen's. name be-
comes household word and everyone
cries out, marvellous!
While this paper will not attempt to
explain the cause or discuss the nature
of this interesting phenomenon, it will
not exoede the bounds of what Is proper
aud fitting, as coming from the pen of
an unframed thinker and student of
but limited experience, if it suggests rea-
sons why photographing through solids
ought not to be looked upon as a thing
incredible or unnatural
Though the now accepted theory OF
light. as of sound and heat, is thought
to DO in danger Of more or less modifca-
ton or posi- bility of ultimate total ex-
plosion by the development Of the very
matter under consideration, it Is still
proper to consider our subject in it's pos
sible relation to conditions as they have
hitherto been held to exist.
Sound 1sisald to consist of vibrations
transmitted through space by some ma
terial substance acting as raedium and
capable OF producing an effect through
the office of the organs of the ear upon
the auditory nerve. If they be above a
certain degree Of rapidity, about SO, 900
per second, they no longer affect the
sense Of hearing.
These vibrations produce their effect
upon the ear after passing from their
source through considerable thickness OF
solid matter.
Heat is held to be a condition of vibra-
tion in matter Of such a rateRas will Epro-
duce an effsct on the sensor nerves.
oausinga certain feeling. different degrees
of heat producing corresponding sensa-
lions, but heat vibrations are transmitted
from their source, now through inter-
planetary space where the hypothetical
ether is assumed as medium, now
through the atmosphere aud again
through solid substances, such as wood,
or, better still, through metallic objects,
and after emerging from even these, are
still capable of having their effect upon
the sense Of feeling.
Moreover, light, they tell us, is vibra-
tion which is OF sdoh rate and nature
as to producs an effect through the in
PREVENTION of the organs Of the eye upon
the optic nerve resulting in vision.
The slowest vibration that will affect
the organs of sight has a rate of 1876 tril-
lion times per second and gives the SEN
sation of red; the most rapid has a rate
of about 764 trillion, and is seen as yio-
let the intervening colors of the spec
trum having rates in order between
these numbers. Now it is we'll known
that sunlight will turn a sensitive
plate by virtue of its ability to work o
chemical effect upon the salts of silver
with which the plate is covered, or. in
other words, such vibrations exist as are
capable of producing an effect upon the
photographers plate and are called
aotinic rays.