The herald., 1896-12-06

traction or repulsion depended on the
I intervening medium; Maxwell follow
Z ing Faraday, demonstrated mathemat-
7 ically, that electro ro-magnetic waves
traverse space with the velocity or light
Hertz that it could be refracted and
brought to a focus. 1t would have been
unscientific to have looked for another
| m edium to transmit these waves, close
| ly resembling light as they do, SO the
| law of Newton was followed. or two
| explanations the more simple Is 10 be
assumed.
In the following experiments which
| will show, you must imagine a some
| thing which pervades all space, some
| thing of so fine a structure that a
| piece of wood or glass is but coarse
| network to it, something which perme-
ates all things as water does sponge.
| If by electricity we set this something
| in rapid vibration, we get luminescence
| and other effects which are new to this
| generation. Now electricity sets this
| something, called ether, in motion, and
| by it the electro magnetic waves are
| carried with velocity of light, and If
| they were short enough we could see
| them Hertz showed that these waves
| are quite analogous to light, and prop
agated in air with the velocity of light
| BY a beautiful device he produced rap
| idly oscillating currents of high fire.
Quency or of such great number per sec
| ond, that wave lengths from 1000 miles
| to a few feet were Produced this means
| nothing to us, unless we know that if
| they vibrate three hundred thousand
! times a second the waves would each be
| 6-10 of a mile long. We want waves
| about 1-70,0 900 of an inch to make light,
| or four hundred millions of millions per
| second.
| AS 1 have said, Hertz in this simple
| way produced them six feet long or
| about 1900 100000 per second. 1t was
L.. L.
| was OScillatOry; that is, 1t VibrateS back
and forth like a spring when set in mo-
| ton, and that the discharge from the
leyden jar is the same, as Henry proved
| to us; so Hertz ran a wire carrying an
| electric current, on one side of a room
with a leyden jar in circuit. Every
! time the jar discharged itself across an
| open space provided in the circuit it
| shook up the current at tremendous
| rate, producing very short waves He
| then constructed a similar circuit of
| wire. but not conveying electricity, and
moved it, away from the first until they
were exactly a wave length apart when
| it responded. Similar wave lengths
| were then set up in it, by resonance, as
| it is called. He thus found by the dis
| tance he moved it away. the wave
| length, and with Maxwell's discovery
| of the velocity of electromagnetic
| waves, the Interpretation he put on the
y
move at the same rate through space.
| it is probable the undYlations which
| convey them were in the same
| medium; and, as induced electricity
penetrates everything, it followed that
| the ether through which it's undulations
| are propagated, must pervade all space
| and all things. The ether vibrates
| athwart the path of the waves advance,
| as the waves of flag across it's length.
| The most we can say, our knowledge of
| the ether being very elementary, is that
| we believe in one ether-for heat, light,
| electricity and magnetism.
| The ideal light consists of very short
wave lengths. Our electric light of to-
| day consists of comparatively long wave
| lengths. With every reduction of the
| wave length we approach the produc-
| ton of electric light with great economy.
| We now produce it with great loss;
| 80 of 1 per cent coal efficiency in the
ordinary electric lamp. If an organist
wished to strike the highest note on his
| instrument he would not press on the
| key board and play every note, yet that
| is what we are doing in the manufacture
| of light. We have to produce all the
| heat rays from the dark, through the
| red to the white in the electric or gas
| lamp of today; and we have to keep
| on producing them all the time we are
| making light. OF the production of the
| IDEAL light, nature has given us a hint
in the glow worm and. the fire fly. Their
| light, though able to be seen at a dis
| tance, produces no heat that can be
! detected.
BY means of currents of very high
| frequency and pressure, Tesla has been
| able with the aid of Hertz's air gap, to
| pass by induction through the glass of
an ordinary incandescent lamp, enough
energy to light it without the use Of
| wires. He suspends two sheets Of metal.
| one above the other, some distance
apart; each connected with one terminal
| of the coil. If an exhausted tube is
moved around between these sheets or
! placed at rest it remains luminous, no
! wires being connected with it. To what
! extent this method of illumination may
| be useful experiment alone will deter
| mine. Alternating currents have al
| ways been considered dangerous, bu.
| Tesla has shown with this apparatu,;
| that the higher in frequency the oscll-
| lations, the less dangerous they become.
In this way we MAY be able to light our
houses, the ceiling and floors being COW
| cred with thin metal, which is hidden
| and connected with the generator. The
| lamps would always be lighted when
| the current was on, and could be moved
| about from place to place, no wires be-
ing attached to them. What the physio-
| logical effect on the occupants of the
| house would be | dare not hazard d
| guess. Still, when we stop to think, it
| becomes apparent. even at this moment,
| we are bathed in these waves, which are
| generated in every electric station with
| in miles. Every electric wire IS sending
| them off. The shortest waves these ma
| chimes produce are 600 miles long. They
| are chasing each other through space at
| an enormous rate, crossing and recross-
ing each other at every point; so the
effect of this higher potential might not
| be injurious You will see that these
short waves produce luminescence in
| vacuum; and it may be possible by the
| proper arrangement of currents and rar-
| flied gases to obtain an economical
| light without heat. When these waves
| become short enough they efiect;.ie eye.
| The eye only responds to waves from
! 1-70,00 to 1-37 900 of an inch in length,
| while one of the waves generated by an
alternating electric machine is six hun
| dred miles long. To affect the eye the
| waves must occur at the enormous rate
| of four hundred million millions per
| second, an inconceivable number. And
| so l may state, that the problem which
the world today is trying to solve is 10
| find: first, an efficient way of making
| electricity, and secondly, way to uti!
| ize it in the productson of these short
! waves, or light without heat.
| Under the conditions in which we live
| only a small proportion of the energy of
| coal can be utilized in the steam engine.
| The second law of thermo dynamics
! stares us in. the face. The meaning of
| which is: If we heat body we put heat
I or motion into it which we cannot get