Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1896-12-02
ROENTGEN'S RAYS.
Inventor Tesla Gives Out Some
Valuable Facts.
CAUSE OF THE sUNBURN EFFECTS,
And the Way to Prevent the Same-Some
Timely Comment ON the Talk About
Making the Blind see-Most Important
Use Of the Rs.s Suggested. the Manufac-
ture Of Fertilizers -Instructions to Those
Who Are Experimenting.

New York, Dec. 2-The Electrical
Reviews prints an exhaustive article
from Nikola Tesla on his latest expert
ments with the X ray, which the editor
characterizes as conveying a wealth Of
suggestion and most important and
timely information. Tesla states that
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 con-
tact with the skin. He says: nitrous
acid may also be responsible, to a small
extent. The ozone, when abundan tly
produced. attacks the skin and many
organic substances most energetically
the action being no doubt heightened
by the heat and moisture of the skin.
Owing to this have always taken the
precaution when getting impressions
with the rays to guard the person by a
screen made by aluminium wires
which is connected with the ground.
preferably through q condenser The
radical means. however, of preventing
such action is to make possible the ac-
cess of the air to the skin while expos
ing. as. for instance. by immersion in
OIL"
Cannot Make the Blind See.
The inventor in referring to the re-
cent widely-heralded experiments 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 demonsta-
ted to be transverse 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 shad-
ow of a very small object can be pro-
jected. What possible good can result
from the application of these rays to
such purposes? / cannot confirm some
of the experiments reported. For in
stance, when a hand is put before the
closed eyes 1t is easy to distinguish the
shadow. much the same as before the
light of a candle: but when the tube is
inclosed and all light from the same ex-
cluded 1 fail to get such an impression.
The latter is. therefore, chiefly due to
ordinary light"
Fertilizers Made by the Lightning.
Tesla points out a possible and strik-
fnsly unique method of manufacturing
fertilizers by electricity in the follow
ing interesting manner: with cur
rents produced by perfected electrical
oscillators. such as were described in
one of your recent issues, the produc-
ton Of the ozone is so abundant that
it is sufficient to merely turn on the
current for a few seconds and oZonize
strongly the atmosphere of a large hall.
These currents are also capable of
bringing about chemical combinations
of which the chief is that of the nitro
gen with the oxygen of the atmosphere,
and an immense possibility. which I
have been following up for a long time,
is opened up; namely, the combination
of the nitrogen of the atmosphere on
an industrial scale by practically no
other means than mechanical power.
If merely fertilizers of the soil would
be manufactured in this manner the
benefits of humanity derived therefrom
would be incalcula ble."
Instructions to Experimenters.
The inventor concludes his article
with instructions to experimenters as
to the means best adapted to obtain
clear Z-ray impresses. He advises a
gradual increase of the pressure at
the terminals of the tube. which will
show that a certain pressure gives the
clearest impression of the object
sought. The impression gets blurred
as the vacuum increases and the pres
sure rises, in which case the current
should be slowly reversed, lowering the
vacuum. Next the current should be
given its original direction. when the
vacuum will increase and the shadow