The Wichita daily eagle., 1896-11-27

sansalae vein of prophecy. do not
look upor the experiments made on Mon-
day as by any means satisfactory Sc
far 1 can only guess-1 do not predict.
hold tits possible that the blind may
be made to zee By means of the Roent=
gen rays. 1 do not assert that they viii.
LEI me tell you the story in its proper
sequence.
Some little time ago. while at work
in the Ecentgen ray room, / happened
To Kan my head upon my hands, with
my palms pressed against my closed
eyes. Ny head was in the neighborheed
OF Roentgen tube. To my astonish-
ment I found that 1 could see through
my closed eSelids and my hands. I
made note of the fact and embodied
II in an article in a trade paper
Mr.. Edison reached over, got a copy
OF the paper and pointed to these words:
The Reentgen ray powerfully chang
es the normal condition of vision. With
strong tubes one can see through the
hand with the naked eye when both
are brought very close TO the tube; NOV
ing objects are also seen plainly For
the first two or three seconds the eye
perceives nothing. but by that time the
ray has made some change in the eye
Now" continued Mr.. Edison, "the
thought struck me, if the X ray VIII PEN
citrate through my closed eyelids, why
Should it not penetrate through a cat
aract in the eye, or any similar obstruc-
tion. and Inform the optic nerve, pro-
vided The latter were still intact? In
the case Of deaf man, where the tym
panum las bee destroyed but the nat
ural nerve remains, sounds can be trans
mitted through the teeth. The cases
seemed to be roughly analogous"
THfi EXPERIMENTS.
Some reporters came down last Mon
day, with a slip from the Evening Tel
egram containing an account Of how
blind man in San Francisco had been
made 81 see by means Of the X rays.
said, Why don't you bring in a blind
man, ard I'll experiment with him "
They went out and found two men who
had lost their eyesight for several years.
They were no. good subjects They were
nervous and eXciteble and trembled vio-
lertiy while the experiments were be-
ing conducted. / should say that they
were ret of a very high average of in
teliigence.
"Ona o. ther, said he saw a glimner
rubs his closed eyes with his knuckles,
and another that he saw sparks. 1t is
not impossible that their emotions may
have deceived them. At any rate, would
not like to base any predictions upon
what was learned on Monday. 1 should
like TO try again with a highly intelli-
gent subject and experiment upon him
snr a whole day That would be worth
while 1 will do it as soon as 1 get a
little ti.ne''
Nevertheless, you think you have got
hold Of 4 fair working hypothesis" /
haZarced.
p OPTIC NERVE MUST BE INTACT.
able tha. the blind may be made 10
see in this way. But, understand, the
optic nerve must be intact, and nois
1bscured b. physical barrier like
cataract. If a cataract were cut away
the sight Of the patient would be re-
stored. IIence, if rays could be found
that would penetrate the cataract, they
should produce II same effect as would
the removal OF il.
IF the difficulty lay in the fact that
hey lens Of the eye had been injured.
the problem woulo be still more hope
'ul. 1t would be necessary to focus on
he retina by artificial lenses the field of
1ision that is photographed by the nor
nal eye. Delicate apparatus would be
necessary, but hardly more than any
,ptician could construct. If the retina
we're injured present knowledge holds
ut little hope that the sight sense re-
ZION of the brain could be reached with
tut the help of that wonderfully sensi-
i've plate. Yet even then it might be
possible TO excite the optive nerve, and so
convey the sensation of light, but there
S little warrant for supposing that any
of form would go with it.
I'M not an oculist, however, and do not
lain sufficient knowledge Of optics to
peak with authority.
Come with me into the Roentgen ray
com and 1 WILL he said, make the
natter palmer"
TESTING THE RAYS.
The artist and myself were according |
v ushered into a darkened room, illu-
minated only by red light. A Roentgen |
Ube emitting a dull green light was |
ct going. We put our eyes to the f1uor- |
scope, which looks something like a |
luge opera glass without any glass, |
'laced our hands between the Horoscope |
nd the Roentgen tube and beheld the |
low familiar phenomenon of skeleton |
ingers and palm. A few minutes later |
se repeated the experiment with increas- |
i clearness OF vision.
The reason you see clearer than at |
/ ST." said Mr. Edison, rs because as
our eyes accustom themselves TO the |
:mness they grow more sensitive to the |
( rays. Stay here half and hour and |
ley will become even more sensitive. /
low, blind man whose blindness does |
pt involve the destruction of the optic |
erve should, with his long familiarity |
via darkness. be far more sensitive to /
he rays than a man with sight provided /
he obstruction which causes his blind |
ess can be penetrated by exactly the |
light ray To discover that right ray
night involve countless experiments. |
ome rays will penetrate through flesh
nd blood, for example, and not through |
one. Such a ray l have just shown
Ju. That is why you see the bone in
UGH dark relief. Let us try another ex-
eriment Has anybody got quar-
ar?"
Mr.. Edison shut the quarter up within
he leaves of a ponderous book bound
! leather. The book was placed in front
f the light, the Horoscope was applied
} the eyes. the book disappeared, but
here was a quarter in plain view.
LETTERS OF LIGHT.
snow" said Mr. Edison, that ray will
enetrate through leather and paper.
Ut not through metal Consequently
1e metal becomes visible as a dark
isk. II has struck me that if the blind
an be made 10 see the light il will be
My necessary 10 procure stencil plate
some material impervious TO the ray,
erforate it with letters, and then the
lind could be made 10 read in literal
tiers of light. But. mind you, this is
My a hypothesis as yet. l am predict
lg nothing"