St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1896-03-01

rent moving in the opposite direction.
: If instead of q bar of iron skein of
iron wire is substituted. the Undue
ton remains the same. That is the in
duction coil in practical use, enc coil
within another, the form seen in cleo
trio motors of various types and IA
miliar in it's general appearance to
nearly every one now.
No apparatus is required that is not
in the possession of any well equipped
physical laboratory, but that OF the
st. Paul schools has been moved
about so much that there Is some
question about the efficacy OF it, in
the midst of the breakage consequent
to its many removals. The chief
question, however. is as to whether
the schools have an electrical plant
strong enough for a 10000 volt cur
rent. The ST. Paul machines will
make a spark an inch and fve-eighths
In length, but the professors ques-
TONED yesterday were not equipped at,
their tongues tips with the figures to
make the requisite comparison.
Prof. Jones, however, states that he
is just starting on his Investigations,
and he expects in the course of week
or two, in company with some of the
members of the staff of the medical de-
partment, to make experiments which
may throw more light on the diagnosis
of disease by the newly discovered pow
ers of the rays.
LAS yet" he said yesterday 1--WE have
confined our work on the human body
to the hands and feet. We can get
picture of the bones Of the hand in about
half an hour. but I do not intend to
make any more experiments on the
hands with less than two hours ex-
posure. The results are not sufficiently
dennlte to be of any practical use in
less exposure than that. Later when
we get into the medical work, we hope
with the aid of longer exposures to go
more deeply into the tissues. 1t would
take much longer exposure, of course,
to photograph the pelvic bones or the
backbone, where the tissues surrounding
are much thicker, although l believe
that it can be done. We have found
that the rays will permeate almost all
of the substances that We have placed
under them, although glass and lead
are only almost imperviouS, judging
from the results. Whether we can turn
the new method to any practical advan-
tage in the treatment of disease l am
not sure, although | am of the opinion
that the process will undoubtedly dis
close the presence in the body OF any
foreign substance. Tumors and similar
growth, l believe, can be revealed by
the new process, and we hope to make
some experiments of that nature, If we
can find cases. Whether or not tuber-
culosis will be revealed by the new rays
l am not prepared at present to say.
Even if we do not arrive at new results
in the investigation of the human body,
we have helped to develop a new dis
coVery of no small scientific value, and
l am awaiting the results of further
tests with great interest.
THE picture here" (referring to one
EEvxyac Grct
one We secured. 1t was taken through
pine, and shows a metallic hanger. The
other is one of the best prints we have
secured of the bones of the human hand.
We have one which shows the bones
distinctly well into the wrist, but 1 have
not it handy now
'The problem III connection with the
new discovery is to what extent it can
be developed. believe that practically
all substances are pervious to these
rays, but as we have seen, in greater
or less degrees. The success of the
process will depend upon the eXactness
with which We can ascertain the COM
parative opacity of the substances, if
the term is permissible in connection
with the new rays, and thereby secure
the information essential to the best re-
suits in the differences of time neces-
sary for the revelation of what may be
hidden in various substances"
The experiments at the university
have been made in Room No 8, of the
physical laboratory building, an adj
mirable place for the trials. The bench,
in full view Of the amphitheatric stu
dents places, is large enough for
double the amount of apparatus re-
quired, so that there is plenty Of room.
The apartment is readily darkened, and
well adapted to such experiments. A
number of very ordinary-looking boxes,
for convenience's sake, enclose the
cells of the battery, and a switchboard
and row of incandeScent test lamps
stand between it and the transformer,
the most imposing of all the apparatus
in appearance. From the transformer
wires run to the precious CrookeS
tube, in which are produced the rays
that have set the world by the ears of
late. 1t hangs between a couple of
small iron supports a few inches above
the bench, on which is laid the photo
graphic plate holder an ordinary type,
with an ordinary dry plate within.
Over this, between the plate and the
sphere OF glass, are distributed the OBJ
jects to be photographed, hands, feet,
purses, or what not.
When all is ready the current IS
turned on; first on the lamps, to see
that there is no trouble with the gen.
orators. Then the lights are eXtin-
guished and the current is turned into
the glass bulb. For a moment all is
dark, but as the current increases there
becomes apparent at the bottom of
the globe a delicately suffused green
light, spark, or a fiuorescence, the
professors term it. according to the
erudition of their b. interlocutors
Stronger and stronger the current
comes. The glow brightens, and SIM
liar light, like sun dog, less brilliant
than the first, appears at the top Of the
globe. 1t is not a steady light, al
though when a current is fully on, the
globe is never dark. The flashes are
quick, but not so quick as to cause the
Illusion of fixed light. AS the dis
charge of electricity is governed by
more or less unknown rules, so the
light assumes new and hitherto unob-
served forms. Now it seems to be
trickling like rain drop down the
sides of the globe, except that it is
the fiery rain of Pains Pompeii, rather
than the watery article. Anon it takes
the prismatic shapes, and bright bands
of the glorious green flash about the
globe, for all the world like a miniature
aurora borealis. But all the time the
rays that do the business, cathode
rays, Y rays, or whatever else they
may be termed in future, are fixing
upon the plate the image of the things
between it and the electric display.
PrOfaSGnrC ctIJ6artc onH xicitn,e e-r,