The herald., 1896-12-06
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! THE MYSTERIES AND
I MARVELS OF LIGHT

4He lOliOWlIlS eACeeu1nSly lHttIeSlii5
lecture on "Luminescence" was deliver
ed a fortnight ago at Auburn, N. Y, by
Willard f. Case. The lecture is repro~
duced from the Auburn Advertiser as
Z peculiarly timely and popular dis
course on a scientific subject which late
discoveries have made of extraordinary
and general interest.
The Advertiser says:
The subject of light was not lightly
treated by Willard E. Case in his lee
ture before the Medical society in the
High school assembly room last even-
ing; indeed, the only numerous feature
Of the evening was when the lecturer
announced, THE hand of DIR. Sefton
will now be shown on the canvass but,
alas! the preceding slide in the lantern
had not been removed and a girls dis
eased hip was shown instead. 1t was the
orly chance given the large audience
to exercise it's risiblities and, as may be
Inferred, the opportunity did not go un-
improved
The large assembly room was filled
with an unusually Intelligent and repre-
sentative audience when DR.. Parker,
president of the Medical society. the
lecturer, Mr.. Case. and DR.. Seton, his
assistant in the electrical experiments,
assembled the rostrum. In his introduce
tory remarks DIR. Parker spoke of the
kindness and courtesy of Mr.. Case in
consenting to lecture before the medical
fraternity upon the subject of lumIn-
escence. This subject had become Of
such universal interest that the society
had requested the privilege of inviting
it's friends to the lecture, and he felt sure
the large assemblage would be deeply
interested in what Mr.. Case would have
to say on the subject.
1t was o'clock when Mr.. Case began
his lecture and at half-past he had
finished. In that hour and half he had
compressed more information upon the
subject of luminescence, fluorescence,
the Roentgen rays and kindred electrical
phenomena in the realm of light, than
could be acquired in the perusal of
single volume. His address showed
studous applica ton to the subject and
exhaustive scientific research, extend
ing over two decades and brought up to
the fin de steele discoveries of the world
of science. The salient points of his lee
ture were illustrated by beautiful ex-
periments with costly apparatus of his
own, all of which were successful and
gave the audience a new insight into
the wondrous power and possibilities OF
the mysterious agent During these ex-
perimerts the room was darkened, and
the bril- If the electrical pyrotech-
ncs W. > enhanced.
Mr. ke in a converse tional
tone, a. sd the acoustics of the
re ON a tri.Le deficient. 1t was MS
maiden appearance on the lecture plat
form in his native city, and it is not to-
much to say that he made distinctly
favorable impression. He spoke as fol-
lows:
Mr.. Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen.
/ am to speak tonight on luminescence.
interesting to us all because by it we can
see not only to read as OF old, but 10
read without opening the book. Some
twenty years ago the world was agog
over the discovery of the telephone ana
electric light; today the pendulum has
swung the other way. Twenty years
is long time for one oscillation, but it
has brought us a discovery which IS
epoch making and before the century
ends and the pendulum cycle is COM
pleted, light without heat will have
made its introduction, and electricity
from coal direct, some consideration de-
nand.
In the first instance high oscillation OF
escence. and electricity is necessary to
produce high oscillation. We all know
how amber was first rubbed and found
to attract light bodies; this property
was called by the Greeks after their
name of amber, electron, or as we call
it electricity. 1t might have been called
by any other name; we only know some
of its laws: we do not know what it
is any more than we know what gravity
is; as we all know many other ways OF
producing electricity have been
dissimilar metals immersed in an
acid solution produced it. Far
aday found closed coil of wire
whirled in magnetic field gener-
ated it, and on this latter principle our
electric light machines are constructed.
In this lecture | shall choose that form
of luminescence as my subject, which
is produced by electricity of very high
pressure, not that form of electricity
which is used to make the ordinary elec-
trio light of today, but that which has
res us further into that field of re-
search on the border-land of science,
that has given us such wonderful re-
suits within the last year.
AS electricity is a phenomenon famil-
lar to us all, it is not necessary for me
to dwell on its more familiar effects, as
that, for instance. of heating a conduc-
tor, as 1t does when it passes through
the filament of an incandescent lamp,
on it's effects of attraction and repulsion
of currents for each other, as in the case
of electric motors; nor of it's effects on
magnetic needle as in our instruments
for measuring electricity.
We know these effects take place at a
distance, but many Of us have not
stopped to think how these effects are
brought about, nor how they could att
across space. If space is empty could
force act across it? An unthinkable
proposition Now to have conceivable
notion of these new phenomena Gf
which ! am to speak, and that were
until recently unknown, it would be
advisable to refresh our minds with the
old controversy over light
The Greeks thought that rays of light
came to the eye in straight lines; the
earliest philosophers thought that some
thing went from the eye to the object
seen and this idea later was believed
up to the eleventh century, when
Arabian astronomers maintained that it
proceeded from the object to the eye.
Sir Isaac Newton maintained the ennis
sion theory: That something came
straight from the sun to the eye in
1864 Hooke suggested the theory that
light is propagated by quick, short
and vibratory motion in a homogeneous
medium, in such way that every pulse
or vibration of the luminous body will
generate sphere which will continually
increase and grow larger as the waves
or rings on the surface of water swell
tr,tN llr ~ In at,