The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1896-12-24
FAE BLIND TO SEE.
Edison's Scientific Skill May Bring This
Thing to Pass.

good deed for humanity. through MS
Horoscope the man who breaks his leg
can watch the surgeon fit together the
ragged fracture with a certainty that
the work is being done rightly Mr..
Edison now demands that the blind
shall be allowed to see. He was led
into this train of thought in quite an
accidental way. Some little time ago,
while at work in the Roentgen ray room,
he happened to lean his head upon his
hands, with his palms pressed against
his closed eyes.
At the time his head was in the neigh |
borhood of a Roentgen tube and to his |
establishment he found that he could |
see through his closed eyelids ana |
hands. This astonishing result caused |
NJ. Edison to reason that if the \ ray
would penetrate through his closed
eyelids, why should it not penetrate
| through cataract in the eye or any
similar obstruction and inform the
optic nerve, provided the latter were
| still intact? In the case of a deaf man,
where the tympanum has been de-
stroyed hut the aural nerve remains,
sounds can be transmitted through the
teeth. So much for theory and the next
step was to make practical test.
| Interested friends offered to bring
before him some persons afflicted with
blindness. The offer was quickly &C
cepted by the wizard, and it was not
long afterward when Jacob Mabr-
bacher and Otto KaIlensee, Of Newark,
walked into the laboratory. Mr.. Ed
ison patiently heard the story of their
Affections and then went to work.
Mahrbacher was the first to be tried by
Mr.. Edison. The light was flashed be-
fore his eyes and gradually the opera
tor turned on the Y ray current strong
er and stronger. Finally, as the strong
est light was reached Mahrbacher
tremblinglv announced that he could
see glittering substance Mr.. Edison's
face frightened and again the tube was
changed.
Kallensee then stood before the X
ray and gazed unblinkingly at it for
some time. Another light was
thrown, and with almost sob the man
cried: 81 can see light. It's burning
now isn't it? can see"
incandescent light in red globe, and
this gave Edison a clew that may be
important. Many experiments were
tried. by the use of direct rays and also
the Horoscope, but with no better re-
suits.
After working for two hours Mr.. Ed
! ison concluded to postpone the expert
I ments for time. AS the men left him
! he said to them:
, Don't be discouraged, men. I know
t It is awfully hard to be blind, but we
a will find a cure for you yet"
a The result of this test was not as sat
v sfactory as it might have been had the
e persons experimental with been of (
: high order of intelligence. Comment
n ing upon this Mr. Edison said:
s Jacob Mahrbacher and Otto Kallen
f see were not the right kind of subjects
l. l want thoroughly intelligent man
O one who can explain his sensations t,
= me as | go along, for without knowing
n these | am as mich in the dark as he is
e These men could not tell me what the,
h saw. They were hysterical with deligh
h at being able to see anything, and wer
IS sure they would soon be able to rea
j. fine print by candle fight. All knew
IN is what they could tell me, and tina
IT wasn't much. They said they sa,
1t points of fire dance before their eye
1t when the current was on, and were /
N Egyptian darkness when it was off.
did not have the apparatus to make tn
test that will be made later on. | hav
simply pointed the way and there is n
telling who will make the final disco'
cry. 1t may be made in Germany, Sa
Francisco, or France, or here in IVES
Orange"
why should not these persons us
your tiuorescope?" was asked of tt
wizard.
That is out of the question" Mr.. EC
ison replied. THE Horoscope is ord
' nary daylight. 1t simply converts tt
uneXplanable Roentgen ray into o
2 binary light by rejecting it on particl'
!: of calcium tungstate. This mineral h;
n the I~operty Of converting the invisib
- raw into light. Put the Roentgen II
into a dark box and you have absolu
night. Put into that box crystals of II
49,
- light. If we had always known Il
Roentgen ray we should have regard
the tungstate calcium as phosphore
ad cent mineral, they have such an atiini
for each other. These two make t
In. Horoscope; so, you see, they would
the blind man no good"
hot Tremendous interest was arous
among scientific and philanthropic pc
Ier sons by the announcement of Mr.. T.
ison's discoveries. Medical men are &c
servative, however, and to what eNte
Edisons latest application of t
leir Roentgen rays may improve the sig
Of persons partially blind or restc
sight of persons in utter darkness no
lit of the most eminent oculists or the be
49,. known opticians would hazard pred
'1''' ton. Most oculists and number
With specialists III the electro-patholo9i'
branch of medical science are alrea
VII" at work experimenting along the liz
give suggested by the Wizards revelatic
regarding his latest discovery.-Chi
that 90 Times-Herald.