The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1896-11-08
TuF x-RAYS UP TO DATE.
TITLE THAT is KNOWN TOLD
THE IN PLAIN TERMS.

niscovery-Exper Up
the Human Body-Talk About
- Curing Insanity.
MON, the Baltimore American.
hos been much said and written
Inc +he new rays of a mysterious light
soou' y, w. discovered by Prof. Roentgen
ie' [r,,rtzburg University, Germany. Most
o. w. which has been written is so full
=. .,hrical terms as to be unintelligible
ron-scientific reader. The object
10 w naner is to explain some of these
and simplify as much as possible
'''' ubole matter The most important
the .,ans are What are they?" and
.,Trnot will they do?"
=. for the first, it is at present mere con-
.o hut learned men all over the world
~. investigating and experimenting to
~ extent that we may reasonably
- u-now something more definite in
rsar future Apropos of the first
'n' .,on tits interesting to know how they
are produced
r,r a long time it has been known that
.+rone current of electricity made to
49,, through a vacuum will produce
tsan+ifuI Auorescent light. A vacuum
vacant space and carried to its fullest
'.tor+ must be absolutely void of matter
ovan to the smallest atom of air. 1t is not
.,sthla 70 produce a perfect vacuum, but
-. numns have now been so perfected as
20 make it nearly so-enough for practical
,,rroses. Nicola Tesla says it is pos
a,s,o NV electric means to obtain much
80 80 DECREE of exhaustion than with a
mechanical air pump.
10 nroduce the rays IS used a Crooks
.,be invented by DR.. William Crooks or
ErgIand. 1t consists of a glass bulb ex-
baTsted of air. having sealed into it two
platinum wires entering the tube at oppo-
Site points, and terminating on the inside
with disks. also of platinum. These wires
ore connected with large induction coll,
which is in turn connected with the posi-
tive and negative poles of a strong battery
Or some convenient genera tor capable OF
furnishing a current Of about $4,000 volts.
An induction coil of an arrangement Of
coils of wire for the purpose of strengthen
ing an electric current.
The positive disk is called the anode, ana
the negative the cathode, from the Greek
words meaning
out" Therefore, the anode is the sur
face from which electricity flows into a
body and the cathode that from which
It flows out. These terms were introduced
into science by the great Michael Faraday
of London In 1888. The history of the
Crooks tube really goes back much fur
Their than Crooks. Watson first passed q
spark through a vacuum, using a glass
tube pierced by two brass rods. Faraday
- els H.
problem, using an apparatus similar to
that of Watson. and made some import
ant experiments. After him came Hitu-
OFF, in 1869, who first used platinum wires
sealed into the glass so that there could
be no passage of current except through
the wires. He also maintained a vacuum
lacking only one-thousandth part of per-
fiction. The success of these efforts was
greatly due to the skill in glass blowing
Of the celebrated German Geissler. Tho
Crooks tube is an improvement on his,
and also had air more perfectly exhausted
than was done by Hittorf.
When the current is turned on a brilliant
huorescence is seen to proceed from the
surface of the cathode, the rays radfating
in straight lines. These are the well-known
cathode rays. Some rivalry has existed be-
tween the English and German scientists.
sometimes one side being ahead, and again
thO OeASi' MANY important discoveries
nave been made, which, not being of a
popular nature were but little known to
The world at large, though they frequently
created sensations in scientific circles
Inc discovery of Prof. Roentgen is that,
Deslues the cathode rays, there is another
kind of ray, which is invisible. and has
that peculiar property of penetrating near
~ all Opaque substances to a greater or
Tess degree, according to their density.
ia4t L.
mat they were not discovered before. and.
Indeed, Prof. Roentgen's discovery of them
was somewhat in the nature of an acct
cent. lie was making cathode ray expert
mehts IN dark room, using a Crooks tube,
covered with black paper, completely hid
ing the huorescence with which the fnte-
Ilor OF the tube was brilliantly Illuminated.
Lying on the table was sheet of sensi-
we paper such as is used in photography,
Hlllch was seen to be acted upon in some
way Ior when the tube was directed upon
~ Iue paper became luminous. Holding his
panu between the tube and the paper. the
operator found that the rays penetrated
we nesh quite easily, but not the bones,
casting distinct shadow of his hand on
Sne paper the bones being marked by a
uaIAer shadow than the flesh, which was
almost transparent to the rays.
Inc professor at dice called them x
80 because x is used IL algebra to de-
nose an unknown quantity. That these
pe" phenomena are not cathode rays is
proved by the fact that cathode rays can
i ny penetrate opaque substances, as, for
instance the black paper with which the
o oape IS covered, and also by the fact that
ut"oue rays can be detected by a mag
- mJH ana nave been made to turn small
"neel nxed in the tube, while X rays are
10y lhnuenced by magnetism in any way
oIia There is much diversity OF
Stplulon among scientific men as to what
tS I rays consist of. The discoverer
a,lnseL says, Are they not vibrations in
e'Her Ether is an extremely thin fluid
"ugn occupies all space extending be-
C Co1u our atmosphere and enters into the
IMPOSITION of air, penetrating every
~neIe' even between the molecules or
NnlGle PARTICLES of material substances.
.,,ooia Iesla believes that the rays are
"I ans OF atoms Of matter He saws:
a. am getting more and more convinced
'at we have TO deal with a stream of
tt,.a particles which strike the sensi-
'T r pate with great veloeities."
r. ~ rays seem to penetrate substances
~ '"e same manner as a bullet pierces a
pas BOARD, but by increasing the thick
80, vi the substance point is presently
rc',gItu beyond which 1t or they cannot
ili,eIrate. Aluminium, from its penetra
tbo 70 the rays, is largely used to cover
ooJects to be photographed. In taking