The record-union., 1897-09-07
WensfOCk, Lubin C Co, 4OO4I2 Street SaCranenfO

with the horse hitched to a harrow. The
Superint endent went to the driver, and,
after introducing himself and inform
ing the man why he visited him, he
was shown the contrivance.
Strapped to the backband was
small fluid battery with wires running
from it to the martingale and crouper.
A. sponge was fastened to the wire at
each place and kept moist by the heat
of the horses body. When the animal
got tired it would stop and, by pressing
two buttons together, the circuit was
formed and the horse would move on
for several hours. Porter tested the
full strength of the battery on himself.
and found that the sensation did not
go above his elbows and that the volt
age was only a fraction over two. He
said he thought it was better and more
humane to use a small amount of cleo
tricity on a horse than to whip it, and
was satisfied it was not a case of cru
city. He has written to several of the
best-known horse doctors in the
United States, asking their opinions on
the subject, and is waiting for their
replies with a good deal of interest.
NEW APPLICATION OF ELECTRIC
ITY.
On of the latest applications of cleo
tricity is to the modification of the
human voice, according to the New
Haven Union" Two French scien-
tific men have reported to the Paris
Academy of Medicine that great modi-
fications of tone are produced by static
electricity. In order TO demonstrate
this a singer was made to sit upon an
insulated stool which was in connection
with the negative pole of a static ma
chine.
By means of a brush electrode the air
in the singers vicinity was made cleo
trical, and in this condition was breath
ed by him. In a very short time the
effect became most marked, the voice
growing full and clear, the quality be-
coming more agreeab BILE, and, in addi-
tion, use had far less power of firing
the vocal chords than ordinarily.
While it will not in all probability
become a matter of common use at
present, it is by no means unlikely that,
as the result of these experiments,
singers and actors will, when they
have to undergo severe strains in the
performance of their duty, resort to
this method instead of to stimulants,
as they frequently do. Perhaps Wag
ner, with the foresight of genius, had
some such aid in his mind when he
wrote some Of the operas which I'M
questionably make such serious de-
mands upon the physique of the artist.
A PECULIAR OPTICAL ILLUSION.
The correspondent of a Photographic
journal, in speaking of the special in
terest that attaches to the Roentgen
rays among photographers, who often
are not in a. position to invest in elab-
crate ard expensive sets of apparatus,
says that it is not generally known
that by means of a very simple opti-
cal illusion an almost perfect imita-
ton of the wonders of photography can
be shown, without the trouble and ex-
pense of induction coils, tubes or fiuo-
resent screens.
All that is necessary is to take a small
feather from a pheasant or turkey, and,
holding it close to the eye look through
the radiating ribs at the end of the
feather at the fingers of the hand held
up toward the sky, or against the
window.
The flesh of the fingers will then ap-
pear to be transparent, with the
opaque bone running down in the CEN
ter, as shown by the true photography.
If it is desired to exhibit the phenom-
enon by gaslight, a piece of ground
glass must be held in front of the
flame to diffuse the light.-Mail and
Express.