Daily Kennebec journal., 1896-04-21
EDISON'S SOUND THEORY
Explaining X Rays Is Doubted b}
Some Scientific Men.
Ne Persists In Proving BY Experiments 'has
No Is Right.

New York, April 20.-The World says:
As was expected. the statement OF MI.
Thomas A. Edison in the Sunday world
of last Sunday that the Roentgen n
raw is nothing more than sound wave.
and thus easily understood and ex-
blamed by scientific men. has been
questioned by other experimenters in
the same field
one critic says the observations of
Mr.. Edison do not warrant the conclu-
sion at which he arrived. He says
that the experiments of LIE Conte seem
to show that Edison's result could not
be due to diffraction and therefore had
no bearing upon the question as to the
nature of the Roentgen radiation. The
experiments of LIE Conte show com
paratively sharp sound shadows. Even
at distance of ~ feet from the pile.
only one foot in diameter, casting the
shadow there was no apparent penetra-
ton within the geometrical boundary.
If any such effect as Edison shows had
occurred the shadows should have been
completely obliterated at one foot be-
hind the pile. The result obtained by
Edison, this critic maintains, must have
been due to some other cause.
When Edison announced that he be-
lieVcd the X ray to be nothing more
than sound wave he explained why
he believed it to be so and the theory
upon which that belief was based.
Mr.. Edison, it ought to be understood,
has been conducting a series of expert
ments that establish the contention
made by him Those experiments he
will speak of in but general way at
the present time. but that they have
convinced him that the Y ray is
sound wave he admits without hesta-
tion.
OF one or two of the experiments Mr.
Edison talks quite freely.
Mr.. Edison has that set up in his
vacuum room the room in which he has
been conducting all his experiments
The steel is one-eight of an inch thick
and two and half feet squire. 1t is
set up in a massive frame so high as to
bring the center of the steel plate on
line with the fluorescent bulb.
When the light is turned on and the
Horoscope is held close to the center
no light can be seen. But when the
microscope is moved along the back of
the plate about an inch or two from the
SUI AoSS dilL Oul tONdlu tIlc CuSc. lUt
rays of light or sound appear on the
surface of the Horoscope.
The Horoscope is not moved beyond
the edge of the steel at all, or out of
what would be the shadow that would
exist if the light was of the ordinary
kind. such as from candle for in
stance.
The microscope is kept back from the
edge of the plate-all of six inches
and in the shadow, yet the surface of
the Horoscope shows the ordinary eff
fects of the Y ray
That is explained by Mr.. Edison in a
way that everybody can understand
The sound wave strikes the surface OF
the plate and diffuses itself over it
The waves radiate from the bulb in all
directions. They strike the edge of the
steel. and, to put it in perfectly plain
way. turn right around the edge and
run to central point, How it happens
Is shown by the accompanying sketch
That is possible only because the
sound wave proceeding from the fluores-
cent bulb is many thousand times
slower than light.
Daylight and the artificial lights ia
which we are accustomed make a very
sharp shadow. If the sound waves
from the fuorescent bulb were nearly
as quick as light it would not be Dos
sible to see them behind the steel
screen.
But one of the clinchers of the Wiz
RAIDS contention is that the sound
waves can not only be seen, but heard
as well. The ordinary layman is no,
always certain to grasp the full mean-
ing OF the statement that a sound wave
can ne seen. or that photographs NAV
be taken with its aid But every one
can understand hearing a sound wave
mat is one of the things which Mr.
Cdlson has done, one of the many
things upon which he bases his state
H'pnt that the ray is "A sound wave
Inc sound waves cannot be heard
"thout an artificial aid to make the
sense or hearing more acute That aid
.s AT the hand of every one interested
ioi IL is nothing more than the receiv.
lhs tubes of phonograph-just til,
ordinary tubes that you put To yo,u
ears alter you have dropped a nicke
in the slot.
win one of these receivers Mr. Edi.
sons assistants heard the sound wave,
around the edge of the screen. AS the,
approached the edge the sounds bc
came more distinct. When they movnf
The free end of the tube to the cente,
OF the sheet of steel they could hea
nothing, but close to the edges the,
could hear it, at the same points wher,
they could be detected with the fIuoro
scope. And when Mr.. Edison told o.
That. he added: But I've made som,
experiments that are better than that
but he wouldn't tell what they were
lie intimated. however. that they wcr,
pretty conclusive
Mr Edison is making and irving I,
Keep some iodide of nitrogen with whir,
10 experiment in connection with tn,
Noehtgen rays. The general publ,
ousht TO be warned right here agajns
going anywhere near Icdison's labora
,ory until he has finished making 10
uioe or nitrogen and has reduced tn,
a'hperage in the current which he i,
employing in the experiments. for ex
petlments are now being carried on i,
'he laboratory in Orange under a con
staht menace to life and limb. Mr. I'D
ison laughs at it, but to the lav min,
seems that those whose l,usines
comrels them to 60 to the Iahora TOR,
SIMPLY take their lives in their hands
ne'ween the powerful currents of elec