Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1896-03-31

Use in Their Practice at Moderate
Cost-Stronger Tube Now De-
sired Wizards Energies Are
Turned Toward Developing a
Tube Strong Enough to Resist the
Force ofThirty Powerful Lamps.
New York, March 9O.-The expert
ments with Rentgen rays are still in
their infancy, according to Thomas A
Edison, who, after weeks of work on
them. announces that he does not know
what they are, and what can and can
not be done with their assistance.
Edison's latest gift to science, the
Horoscope, will never make it's inven-
tor a penny. The great genius an
nounced that he had not patented it,
and did not intend to patent it.
Il have given it away" said he yester-
day. 1T is not commercial thing 1t
is scientific, and l wish to see it in gen
eral use. l have given the right to
make it to former employe, who is
now in business for himself. OF course,
he will make a little money with it, or
1 hope he will.
when 1 finish up my experiments
with Roentgen rays I will go back to
my business" said the inventor laugh
ingly. But want to see just what we
have. That is all. am at present in
terested in trying TO see through the
body by means of the X rays, and will
be able TO do so as soon as 1 can get
lamp that is strong enough to stand the
strain. | have found that when l get
, The force Of twenty-three incandescent
lamps into "a tube it perfOrates. want
thirty. and when l get that number OF
! lamps into one tube the whole skeleton
! will be revealed. have found out one
thing, and that is, Roentgen worked not
with a tube in which vacuum had been
created, but with one attached TO
pump. am now working with my
| lamps connected with a pump, and find
! that the result is a great deal more sat
! isfactory.
! THE Horoscope is, believe, destined
! to accomplish great things. AS soon as
! 1 can get everything as l wish it, 50 that
! the whole frame WIFI be visible, l shall
make a small apparatus and let the
medical men have il. / shall not pat
ent it o. attempt to control it. ! will
publish it. and any dealer will be able
/ TO make it, induction coil and all, and
sell 1T for $3.50 at fair profit. This
will bring it within the reach of every
| body who may have occasion to use 1t.
We are as yet in the infancy Of the
experiments with the X ray. We know
now that we can, by placing the OBJECT
/ between the lamp and the microscope,
see the flesh at a certain distance, and
| that at a shorter distance from the lamp
! only the bones show. Whether we
I shall ever be able TO differentiate be-
tween the tissue. the muscles and the
| bone | do not know, but | believe that
we will be able to locate tumors by its
aid and tell whether they are hard or
soft, The long and short of the matter
is we do not know where it is going TO
lead us.
!
! minute what the photograph required
an hour to do That, of course, is an
improvement. When l get through
with experimenting I am going into
the scientific side of the X ray and find
out just what it is.
Mr.. Edison spent nearly the whole Of
| yesterday cleaning a ton of mercury.
| The machine used to manufacture the
Y ray generates a great amount Of
ozone. The ozone befOuled a ton of
mercury used to exhaust he air in the
/ lamps, and the pumps became clogged.
/ Mr.. Edison was at a loss to understand
what was the cause Of the trouble until
he took up his chemistry and learned
/ that ozone would befoul mercury very
/ quickly.
A number of friends and newspaper
men called while he was engaged in
cleaning the mercury. All were treated
to the unusual sight of seeing the bones
/ of their own hands and arms When
the air in a lamp had been exhausted
! sufficiently to create a vacuum capable
I of producing the X ray. Mr.. Edison
/ handed microscopes to the party and
| took one himself. Placing the X ray
! SptNldNitSf dS lhcy nave Uttu Ndlitu.
, to his eyes, the inventor turned on the
current of electricity that lighted the
lamp Under the instructions of Mr..
! Edison the visitors held their hands
before the fiuorescent bottom of the
| microscope and saw the flesh fade away
and the bones exposed to view.
A block of wood six inches in diane
! ter was held between the lamp and the
microscope. The rays went through it
as though it were a piece of paper. and
the hand held between 1t and the X
ray spectacles still showed as a skeleton
hand The inventor then showed the
visitors how to hold it so they could see
the bones of the wrist and forearm. So
clear was the outline that one of the
party present. who had a finger broken
years ago. was able TO see the difference
between the joint of it and the joint Of
/ the corresponding finger on the other
/ hand
At the time the lamp, as the tube is
called, was lighted by sixteen lights ac-
cording to Mr.. Edison's way of reckon
/ ing. He put on four more for an in
slant. and the result was Immediately
apparent The Horoscope became
much brighter, and the shadows of the
! skeleton hand were marked as though
they had been drawn with a fine pencil
| The bones of the wrist stood out clear
and strong The indentation and the
/ form of the metacarpal bones were
/ ! IL