Shepherdstown register. [volume] (Shepherdstown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1849-1955, 1896-03-05
To See Through You.

a dlspatcn rom LONDON says NO
discovery of modern times has created
such a sensation in scientific circles as
that of Professor Rpntgen, of Wurtz-
burg University, who has been enabled
to photograph Opaque bodies. OF
course the discovery Is yet in It's IN
fancy, but enough has been shown to
indicate its tremendous possibilities.
1t is now almost what the first tele-
phone was and the first phonograph
was. The most startling feature Of
the discovery is the photographing Of
the human body The pictures taken
thus far, though wonderful in the ex-
treme, are only shadow prints or sun
pictures. All leave but the substance
penetrated by the new rays and show
black shadows Of impsrvious objects.
We read today III the correspond
ence from the continent that Belgium
has already adopted the new process,
and that her government has ordered
every hospital to be supplied with par
aphernalia for aiding the surgeon.
With these mysterious pictures bull
lets and other foreign substances in
the flesh and bones Of patients have
already been located successfully IN
innumerable instances in half the coun-
tries in what we used to consider "slow
old Europe"
Perhaps the most interesting success
thus far attained is that recorded in
the news from Vienna, where calcerous
deposits in various parts Of the human
system have been marvelously exposed.
Practically the same thing has been
shown in the photograph Of a man 5
hand obtained by Campbell Swinton
for one of the newspapers here. The
hand was that Of wealthy man, but
shows slight protuberances at the mid
die joints of two fingers, whereupon
the medical men deduce the theory
that its owner is certain to be a victim
of gout before many years.
Swinton Is now deluged with letters
from medical men who wish to make
use of the new discovery. One hopes
to find fshbone in patients throat;
another hopes to trace coin man
has swallowed, and still another wants
the photographers proof that pa
tents broken wrist has been badly
set.
All this leads the Chronicle to as
sert that we shall soon be living in a
palace of Truth with all the dis,
comforts set forth in GiIbelts play
"Your Skeleton While You Wait,
saws the Chronicle, will be Il common
street sign.
\ Vienna man has already had his
brain photographed and has been un'
able to sleep ever since. But lOuct
the best witticism on the all-engross'
ing subject is that of the city promo
ter who says he intends to have the
invention adopted for use on the cam
era and to sell machines at hundred
guineas $500 each, so that snap shot
at fashionable men and women IN Re
gent street can be taken as if the pc
destrians left their clothes at home.
What the new invention cannot d'
is almost as wonderful as what it vii
do. The light, or electric current, OIL
rays, or whatever it is, passes through
many opaque substances, yet refuse
to pass through materials considere'
transparent. Wood, carbon, aluml
mum, ebonite, paper, papier-mache
human flesh and leather are transpar
ent to this new current, and copper
partially SO bat nearly all metals an
bone are opaque.
Professor Wright, Of Yale Cniyer
sity, has completed series Of eEPeri
ments which fully confirm all that hs
been claimed for Professor Rmntgen
remarkable method Of Photographic
invisible objects by means of cathod
rays