The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1896-02-19

Says He Has Discovered a Means by
which the Processes Of Life and
Other Hidden Motions May He Di-
FeetIy Observed.
From the New York sun.
Edward T. Thompson. consulting cleo
trical engineer OF Beekman street. who
has been experimenting with Prof Roent-
gems discovery. made the statement yes
terday that be had discovered a process
whereby motion. otherwise invisible,
might Toe observed with the use of the new
N-rays. Mr.. Thompson says that by his
process the movements Of a watch can
be observed through the case. and the
operation of the interior organs Of a living
human being or animal be made visible.
Mr.. Thompson has not yet been able to
make complete experiments. and has not
secured results that conclusivcly demon
state the practicability of the discovery he
claims to have made. lie has submitted
his process TO several experts. including
Prof. Pupin of Columbia College. and
Thomas \. Edison, and says they fully
agree that 81 is entirely feasible. lie is to
continue his experiments in Edison's
laboratory, and expects soon TO show alb
solute results
Mr.. Thompson claims that the simplicity
of his discovery viii make it's feasibility
easily apparent to those acquainted with
the new process.
The value of such a discovery to the
science of surgery and medicine can well
be imagined from the claim of the fnven-
tor that With IL the action of the heart
ana the digestion of food can be observed.
Mr.. Thompson says that his discovery
may he identical with that of Prof sal
Nlohi or Perugia, who read paper before
kOfnP Medical 4 Fa.Y Hr,.~.
ago on process which enabled the human
| eye by means Of the Roentgen rays. to
see through anything the rays can pene-
trate. trot. SalViOni, however. did not dis
close MS process, while Mr.. Thompson.
/ VINO has already had the priority of his
/ discovery attested, says he Is quite willing
| lhat the world should know all about his
| process.
In the process as carried out by Roent-
/ gen, the erect of the cathode rays after
/ passing through Opaque objects, must be
/ developed by photography. and, therefore
/ a great deal of time is occupied between
| me exposure and the obtaining of the
| picture said Mr.. Thompson "By my
| process 1t Is intended that objects ordi-
] narily invisible may be examined instant
/ ~, ana especially that motion may be
| represented TO the eye For example if a.
| purse containing coins be shaken the
| movement of the coins relatively to each
| othef VIII be apparent, and also the
/ motion OF the purse as a whole Again
| WIN powerful rays, ii ought to he possi-
| BILE with this process TO see the motion
/ OF the muscles and the joints when one s
/ niger is bent, or TO be able to distinguish
a sprain from a break by moving the
| arm back and forth; or to see the circu-
lation of the blood, the beating of the
heart and the motion Of sap. in trees and
/ plants and of all other objects which
/ at present cannot he observed
| The process consists of three steps
/ First in generating cathode rays, prefer
/ ably with an aluminium tube to permit
/ the easy exit of the rays; second, in re-
ceiying the rays upon a substance which
VIII change the refrangbility of the rays
anu convert them into visible rays, and,
/ third the interception of the rays, more
/ or less, by a nOn-homOgeneous object,
/ whereby the nuOrescent material such
/ as canary glass. will be differently illu-
I minated according to the strength of the
rays after passing through the said OBJ
/ JecL The fiuorescent materials are uran,
/ lum or canary glass barium platicyanide
/ barium manganic- cyanide, fuchsine and
! other fluore5cing materials
IF IT is desired to obtain a picture
without representing the motion, and to
| obtain the picture Immediately without
| any necessity Of Development luminous
paint, such as the chloride of barium.
/ strontium, or calcium chloride or other
! materials which will store up the light
/ and hold IL for a time, as the natural
/ chloride or fluorspar, Should be used.
/ I'm order to perform the operation the
! huOreScent material should be upon a plane
/ surface, preferably as, for example with
! uranium 1t would be a fiat piece of glass
/ containing that material, or with the
! cyanides, a piece of paper. saturated with
/ the substance. The generating bulb should
I be covered so as to allow only the visi-
! BILE cathode rays to pass for producing
/ the effect, and of course the room should
/ be very dark. 1t is thought that the rays
may be made parallel. especially by hav-
\ ing the cathode plane surface for radiat-
ing them all practically in one general di-
/ rection.
when | mentioned the idea to Prof. Pu-
/ pin and others they thought / intended to
| accomplish the observation of hidden mo-
/ ton by the kaleidoscope and declared it
would be impossible, because the Rontgen
rays could not photograph instantaneous
/ ly. When l explained to them, however
1 that l employed the principle OF illumt-
nation of a huorescent material in dark
| box by the action of the X-rays rejecting
/ from the outside, they perceived the solu-
\ ton of the problem Immediately.
IF a watch with an alumium case is
subjected to the process have described,
| the wheels will be seen to reVOlVe. If a
/ small animal or insect Is enclosed in a
small box and caused to eat or move about
] the motions Of its interior structure Es-
comes at once visible The capitalization
/ of solids from liquids may be seen, al
! though the action is carried in such way
as to be invisible by ordinary light In the
same way, if the apparatus is large enough
/ the whole skeleton Of a human being can
/ be observed, as can also the movements
of the mans entire interior structure dur
| ing every process Of living
you will see that photography is not
used in any connection with these eXper-
iments, and that the figures which you OBJ
| serve are made by throwing the shadows
of the invisible moving particles, by the
/ X-rays, upon the plantiocyanide in the
end of the dark tube as a name, therefore,
for the instrument through which these
/ observations are made 'kinetoskoto-
| scope has been suggested
How is it that you, simple citizen,
| call yourself a marGus?"
MY parents live on the Marquises
! ielandS.--i4e Figaro.