The Roanoke daily times. (Roanoke, Va.) 1895-1897, 1896-05-10
EDISON'S X RAY GAZE
AT LAST HE CAN SEE THROUGH THE
HUMAN BODY.

Docs Away With tho Delay Which Was
Necessary In Photographing an object.
Remarkable ResuIts-Regards Discovery
as OF Utmost Importance.
After weeks Of patient work Edison
has succeeded in his enaeavor to see
the bones in the body of q living person
by means Of the microscope. Heretofore
it has only been possible for scientists to
use the K rays in photographing the
bones Mr.. Edison's discovery makes 1t
possible to avoid the long delay neces-
sary to secure Photographic plates and
enables the scientist or surgeon to view
the bones of person standing before
him fully clothed.
While the experiment was O success,
Edison has not been able, however, to
get clear, sharp outlines of the bones of
the chest. the ribs and back The ribs
were clearly indicated and about the
edges showed plainly. The breastbone
did not show, and the rays did not seem
TO pierce the chest as readily as they
did the middle of the body.
The tube used in the experiment was
peculiar. It was made of three small
glass balls placed in row, the outer
ones being joined to the one in the CEN
ter: The an0de and cathode poles were
in the outer balls, and the K ray was In
the center one. The tube was powerful
one, and when the proper vacuum was
secured became fluorescent.
The lamp was SO much brighter than
usual, and the shadows so we'll defined.
that Mr.. Edison decided to try the rays
upon the body. One of his assistants In
the laboratory was the subject. The
microscope was placed at his back and
moved to all parts of the body. The
shoulder blade. collar bone and bones Of
the arm were visible. The ribs showed
clearly at the sides, but grew indistinct
and merged into black mass in the
center. The Horoscope was placed near
the middle of the body and showed the
backbone. The rays penetrated the flesh,
but did not cause it to fall away, as
upon the hands and arms. After expert
menting with the ray for 10 minutes
the lamp became redhot and was render
ed useless
The experiment was again tried, bat
upon different principle. The x ray
lamp was placed in glass jar Of par
ATTN oil, which was placed in another
glass jar filled with ice water The rays
pierced piece of steel one-eighth Of an
inch thick.
When seen in regard to this latest
discovery, Mr.. Edison said he regarded
it as the best result so far obtained with
Roentgen rays. In explanation Of this
discovery he said:
The experiment was as follows: A
tube was placed in q jar of paraff1n oil
and connected with the vacuum pump.
The jar containing the oil was placed
in another jar containing water and ice,
30 as to keep the temperature of the
vacuum tube as near as possible to the
freezing point. When the proper vacuum
was attained, the K rays proceeding
from the tube through the oil did not
show very strong i'll the Horoscope, but
the character of the waves was entirely
changed They passed through the
hand, scarcely casting a shadow. The
bones were nearly as pervious as the
flesh.
1.-THE new form of wave passed
through steel plate one-eighth of an
inch thick, casting the shadow of
chisel ON the microscope when held be-
tween the steel late and the bulb This
explains why a photograph of two cards
covered with different materials shows
different degrees Of retardation of the x
ray relative to each other when taken
with different bulbs and under different
conditions
1.-The explanation is that the effect Of
the temperature is to alter the length Of
the wave, making it longer, or that the
K ray at the start was stronger than
usual and all the waves which go to
cast sharp shadow We're absorbed by
transmission through the oil and only
those which were long waves passed
into space and affected the Horoscope.
"These experiments will be great
aid i'll the hands of the scientist in ulti-
mately determining the exact laws Of
the < wave and to the operative sur
geon as q means of differentiating by
means of two kinds Of waves. New
York Journal.
Roentgen Discusses Pratt,s Discovery.
In accordance with your request, I
went in search Of Professor Konrad
Roentgen. located the celebrated sci
enlist in Baden Baden at the Hotel de
France.
Professor Roentgen, in order to obtain
q little rest from his arduous labors of
me winter semester, has been on the
Riviera on two weeks vacation. On
his return from Italy he stopped over
for day or two here, ON his way to
Stuttgart, where he expects to continue
his Investigations all summer.
az Gunnosa xror has.o haal "A IL