The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1896-12-02
TESLA ON X RAYS.
Does Not Believe That 1t Makes
Blind See,
AT Least There is Yet Little
Hope for Tt.
THE SUNBURN EFFECT.
1t Is Due to Ozone Generated
By Rays.
Tesla's Theory of FertiIizing
THE SUNBURN EFFECT.
TesIa's Theory of FertiIfzfng
by Generating Electricity.

New York. Dec. 2.-The Electrical
Review today publishes a paper from
Nicola Tesla on his latest experiment
with the ray. which the editor char
acterizes as conveying a wealth of most
important information. Tesla, states
the sunburn effects noted by so many
experimenters are not due directly TO
the rays. or Roentgen streams, but to
ozone generated by the rays in contact
with the skin He says
Nitrous acid may also be response
Bile. to a small extent. The ozone, when
abundantly produced, attacks the skin
and many organic substances most en-
ergetically. the action being no doubt
heightened by the heat and moisture of
the skin. Owing to this have always
taken the precautiOn, when getting i'm
pressions with the rays, TO guard the
person by a screen made by aluminium
WIRES which is connected with the
ground, preferably through a conden-
ser
The radical means. however, of pre-
venting such a condition is to make inn
possible the access of air to the skin
while posing, as, for instance, by i'm
mersion in OIL
The inventor, in referring to the re-
Gently widely heralded experiment for
making the blind see by means Of the
Roentgen rays, regretfully remarks:
rs it not cruel to raise such hopes
when there is so little ground for it?
For. first Of all, the rays are not dem
onstrated to be traverse vibrations
If they were, we would have to find
means for refracting them to make
possible the projection of a sufficiently
small image upon the retina- AS it is,
only a shadow Of a very small objection
be projected What possible good can
result from the application Of these
rays to such purposes2 i cannot con-
firm some of the experiments reported.
For instance when a band is put be-
fore the closed eyes, it is easy to dis
unguish the shadow, much the same as
before the light of candle. but when
the tube is enclosed and all the light
excluded, fail to get such an impress
sion The latter is. therefore, chiefly
due to ordinary light"
Tesla points out a possible and strik-
ingly unique method of manufacturing
fertilizers by electricity, in the follow
ing interesting language.
with currents produced by perfect
ed electrical oscillatOrs, such as We're
described in one of your recent issues,
the production OF ozone is SO abundant
TT is sufficient to merely turn on the
current for a few seconds and Oz0neize
strongly the atmosphere of large hall
These currents are all capable of bring
ing about chemical combinations. of
which the chief is that of nitrogen
WITH the oxygen or lnOSE1DeEe ana the
immense posi- bl1ty which have been
following up for a long time is opened
up namely, the com binatiOn Of nitro
gen of the atmosphere on an Industrial
scale by practically no other means
than mechanical power. If merely fer
tilizers of the sort could be manufac-
tured in the manner described the ben
efits Of humanity derived would be in
The inventor concludes his latest con
tribudon with the following account Of
his method Of making x ray impress
siOns which viii be of practical value
to physicians and eXperimenters the
world over:
The Roentgen screen is first applied
to the body to be investigated, the
pressure at the terminals Of the tube
being very much reduced The pres
sure is then slowly raised. 1t Will be
presently observed that, at a certain
pressure. the shadow of the object ex-
amined is clearest. but the vacuum is
increasing. the pressure generally rises
and the image gets blurred in spite Of
the screen getting much brighter. Just
as soon as the clearness is slightly di-
uinished the experimentOr should for
a few moments reverse the current.
lowering a little the vacuum in this
manner. The current being again Civ
en- the direction it had at first, namely
that which causes a slow and steady
increase of the vacuum. the shadow
gets clear and by such manipulation
the best results may be secured An
additional advantage, however, is gain
ed. because the frequent reversals pro
duce a brighter phOsphOrence Of the
screen.
when taking a. photograph the bulb
should be watched through the screen
and the switches manipulated in the
above manner. To give a practical ex-
ample Of the effectiveness Of this pro-
cedure need only mention one Of the
instances which have come to my no
tice. A few months ago investigated
the case Of the Mr.. Mack of Water
town Mass. Mr.. Mack while perform
ing his duties many years ago. was
struck by a bullet which lodged some
where in the chest and could not be 10
Gated I APPLIED the screen vainly a
number of times for although the
streams penetrated the body with such
ease as to make the screen behind ap-
pear blush white and reveal all the
bones could not observe the missile.
I then resOrted to the above indicated
means and Immediately found the ex-
act location of the projectile between
the shoulder blade and one of the