The record-union., 1896-04-30

to me, take a look ait your own bones"
1 put the Horoscope over my eyes as
Mr.. Edison fixed the vacuum tube and
turned on the current to generate the
rays. I held my hand in front of the
tube about an inch from it. The re-
suit was startling, for there on the
white cloth in the Horoscope all the
bones of my hand showed clearly and
distinctly.
LOOKING THROUGH A BOARD.
"Now," said Mr.. Edison. Il will show
you something more surprising than
that"
He held a pine board, an inch and
quarter in thickness, in front of the flu
oroscope, and placed my hand between
it and the tube. / looked into the fluor-
oscope and the white cloth was as
bright as though turned toward the
sunlight, but on it the bones of my
hand appeared in all their distinctness.
The marvellous effect had been pro-
duced of throwing the shadow of the
bones of my hand through an inch and
a quarter plank in fraction of Sec
ond. There may be some things more
astounding than this in science, but it
is difficult to imagine what they can
be, yet, even with these astounding re-
suits before him, Edison said yaster-
day afternoon that the possibilities of
Roentgen's discovery were still in their
infancy
with the Horoscope" he went on,
as he watched one of his workmen busy
with the apparatus he has designed for
hospital use, "as 1 have already said,
surgeon should be able TO determine in
q moment, in case a man has been shot,
just where the bullet has lodged, and
operate accordingly. There is no occa-
sion to take Photographs, shadow
graphs or photographs. l stopped that
long ago. You see for yourself, the
microscope does the work in a moment"
PORTABLE APPARATUS.
Turning from the Horoscope Mr..
Edison spoke of the portable box he had
made to go with it. He explained that
the idea was that a surgeon or a physi-
clan, equipped with the Horoscope,
could take the box mentioned with him
to the house of a patient or to any place
where his services were required. Won
derful as this apparatus is, it is sur
prisingly simple. A wooden box con-
tains it all, and this box has a card
board cover, cardboard having been
found to be peculiarly porous to the
rays. In the box (and it is all a deli
cate piece Of mechanism there are
three things-a battery stored with
electricity, an induction coil and a
vacuum tube, as shown in the accom-
panying illustration. When surgeon
wishes to see a fractured arm or leg so
hot be. ha II, h i~ e;rrI,+
rather than by his touch in the setting
of a broken limb, all he has to dois to put
the limb on the cardboard cover of the
box, start the electrical current into the
vacuum tube, put the microscope over
his eyes and see at a glance the nature
of the injury he has to treat. 1t should
be said here that the Horoscope is fit
ted in one case, with a handle, so that
the person can hold it to his eyes, and
in another it is fitted with straps so
that it can be tied around the head of
the surgeon using it, and thus leave his
hands free for the operation.
The accompanying illustration is an
imaginary hospital scene drawn from q
description given by Mr.. Edison of the
uses to which the Horoscope can be put
1t represents surgeon looking for the
fracture in a mans arm. The mans
arm is resting on a box like the one de-
scribed, containing the vacuum tube.
Beside it is an upright plank on the
face of which are the tubes that make
up the mercury pump which is used in
exhausting the air in the Crookes tube
in the box to produce the high vacuum
necessary for the generation of the X
rays. The box is fastened to the plank
and rests on a bracket, and in it besides
the Crookes tube, are the induction coil
and the storage battery. When the
current is turned into the Crookes tube
the mercury pump is set going, so as to
keep up the vacuum in the Crookes
tube.
FOR IMMEDIATE USE.
"You see,'' said Mr. Edison. as he
watched his workman put the appa-
ratus together, "this apparatus will be
important in hospital. Suppose a man
should fall and break his arm and is
taken to a hospital 1t it very import
ant that this fracture should be prom
erly set at the start. If this is not done
the arm may have to be broken again
and again until it is properly set, which.
of course, means so much extra pain for
the patient and wearisome postpone
n1ent of his convalescence. With the
apparatus you see here and the huoro-
scope surgeon can detect the nature
CT the fracture in a moment and set the
arm accordingly"
"Oh, no. said Mr. Edison. in renlv to