Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1896-02-15
THE ROENTGEfQ RAYS
Great Interest Manifested by Local
Scientists.
PHO7GGRlFPddIIlHlGG WITHOUT IHE TUBES
What Was Accomplished by an
Experiment Last Night.
SUCCESS IN FOCU USIN G.

Ever since the first announcement of Prof.
Roentgen's discoveries with the use of the
N-rays in photograph,Hg through Opaque
objects. local scientific men have been TAX
ing a Y interest in the subject, and Il
.sumbeN, experiments have been made,
with var hg success.
To sug- an extent have the scientists Ct
the COY gene into the matter that iilc
kUnply of Crocke's tubes has been exhaUst tea
ane. it has.been almost Impossible TO satisfy
the dena,-d. Mr.. T. ". Smile of the Ma
tioral Museum, who is regarded as ore Of
the most expert photographers in the coIn-
to a Star reporter this morning
-. nile he had been following all the ac-
counts that had been printed with reference
to u work of Roentgen aid others, ne had
been unable to go into it for himself owing
10 the difficulty in securing the CroolZe's
tubes. He hopes to get scme by next week
and Will then so ahead without further de-
lay
1T absolutely impossible to say nov:
what importance Of these discoveries
actually amounts to-" SAID he this morn
ing. II think that we are simply on the
thre$T I of many other important discov-
er.es "a the same line and there g no
telling Ihat the future may have III store
for - would be hard to oyer-est. innate
the value of Prof. Eoentgen's work. So
much interest has been taken in It that the
public are really as well Informed about
II as are scientific men themselves. Every
thing that has been done has been pub
Ished fcrthwith.''
Without the Tubes.
The announcement which has just been
made that Dr. Starr OF Buffalo has sue
ceeI-d in taking photographs by the y
ray without Intervention of the tubes has
brought to light the fact that Washing
ton man las been working toward a SINH
lar end and that his efforts have been
crowned with considerable success. He is
2Ir. ". X. Carr. who has been interested
in s. -ntstic work as an amatuer for
nun Der of years past. His laboratory is
well equipped and he has the advantage of
his brother scientists III that he is the pos
SCISSOR of several CroOkes tubes. So far
his work with them mas not met with much
success, as ne claims to have met with
much the same obstacles as DID Edison.
Lately he has been working without tubes,
aHi last night he succeeded in getting a
positive photograph of electric sparks
clearly defined and satisfactory in every
way. His sparks were made by an ordi
hasTy TCepler-HOltz machine Fronting it
YVES a SsusitiVe plate incloS6d in Eght
tiE"f plate holder and shut off from the
generator by a thick piece of wood When
the plate was developed this morning 1t
showed a clear impression of the sparks.
This fact, Mr.. Carr says, makes it evident
that the name cathode rays is a misnomer,
as the cathodes were dispensed with alto
geJler.
Il do not know" said Mr.. Carr to a Star
reporter this afternoon, whether or not
This experiment mas been tried before but
if it has, l have not heard of it. At any
rate, the results seem 10 me very interest
ing and open up a wide field of possibili-
ties
Focusing Rays.
A telegram from ST. Louis today says that
It has been demonstrated that the cathode
or y rays used by DR.. Roentgen to produce
photographs of the interior portions of the
human body. and to photograph ordinary
objects through Opaque substances, can be
focused. This is one of the most important
discoveries thus far made in connection
with these wonderful scientific experiments
and Will make it more valuable in every
manner. By being able to focus ravs auy
particular organ of the body may be proto-
sraphed without the surrounding tissues
icing shown, and two ST. Louis scientists
lave succeeded In demonstrating this fact.
Ut. W ellington Adams and Prof Nipher
or Washington University have been ex-
pefimehting with the Roentgen system of
photography. and have had some success,
put they expect to secure better results as
n-oTe favorable conditions are obtained
Ihey have been using a rumkolph coil to
generate rays, and : Seisler tube and nave
succeeded in securing Il Shadowgraph that
mas encouraged them To renew their efforts
An ordinary micFomatic screw was placed in
us wooden case and put Immediately in
lroht Oh a sensitive plate Then the intense
penetrating ether waves or cathode rays
were produced in front of the case The re-
suit was that the bulb or found portion of
the screw was photographed through the
wooden cover, but the fat portion failed to
outline on the sensitive plate Several
ot1er objects were subjected to the same
test, with about the same result. The fact
was established, however, by these expert
nents that the rays can be focused for
tt2 shadowgraphs produced were smaller
Si.tn the articles photographed This de-
fmoHstratas that with the proper conditions
tne rays can be focused on a given article
or portion OF anatomy and an image pho
tOGraphed of them.