The Wadsworth dispatch. [volume] (Wadsworth, Nev.) 1892-1899, 1897-08-07
Wadsworth Dispatch,
PUBLISHED
$500 Per Annum,
ABSOLUTELY DARK ROOM
Which Professor Gates Has Fitted I'm For
Ills EYperiments.

TUT certaln novel experiments
Professor Elmer Gates of Washing.
ton has a room which is beyond
question the darkest place in the
world. Ordinarily when one speaks
OF darkness it is in a comparative
sense. The darkest night is not very
dark out of doors. The DEPTHS of a
cavern or u coal mine are darker.
but not Sc dark as the SO called
dark room" of q photographer.
Yet a very sensitive plate exposed
in a Photographic dark room is
quickly spoiled because some light
is present. On the other hand. the
darkness obtained by Professor
Gates is absolute.
Professor Gates dark room is con-
structed like a box, the walls of
which are of wood, saturated with
parafin, to fill the pores. There is
a lining of tar paper, and then come
layers of orange colored paper, gray
felt paper and lead foil. The pur-
pose of these Innings, of course, is to
exclude all light rays. Inside the box
described is another box similarly
made and lined, and within the Sec
ond box is a third box, which has
walls of sheet lead and of wood
painted black. But lead is not who'll
ly Opaque to X rays, and SO a luoro
scope screen is placed beneath the
sheets of that metal. Such x rays
as get through the lead are stopped
by the screen and turned into light,
and the latter cannot penetrate the
black painted wood. The wood. is
covered with IL layers of paper sat
urated with chemical substances
that are opaque to light of various
colors. These are overlaid by three
additional layers containing salts
Opaque to the invisible rays of the
spectrum beyond the violet, and
finally there is a coat of lead foil.
The innermost room rests IN rubber
cushions; the second room is SINH
larly supported, and the third or out
ermost is insulated and rests ON
posts which godeep into the ground.
Electricity is conveyed into the in
nermost box by a wire cable from a
friction machine outside. Thus the
whole affair is a great Leyden jar,
within a Leyden jar, within a Ley
den jar.
The innermost box, which is the
dark room, is SO absolutely dark
that the most sensitive Photographic
plates exposed there for As hours
have not undergone the slightest
alteration. 1t is likewise impenetra-
Bile to X rays, 10 the dark heat rays
below the red of the spectrum and
to the invisible rays above the VIC
let. 1t is proof ever against sound
waves of certain classes, such as
musical tones. The dark Dol is
entered by a sort of labyrinthine
passage, which winds around the
nest of boxes until the entrance to
the innermost one is reached. 1t is
brilliantly illumined by electricity.
but d touch on a button brings IN
Simultaneous blackness. After get
ting used to it you are able to dis
tinguish a finger before your face
very family. This is due to a phos-
phorescence inthe eye. After awhile
it fades out and you can see nothing
whatever.
Certain sense perceptions seem tc
he more delicate in the dark than
in the light,sand Professor Gates
wants to measure them. This is one
of the purposes for which his black
room is built. But its construction
renders practicable the solution OF
other important psychological prob
lams. AS has been said, the room Is
actually a big Leyden jar. 1t can be
charged with electricity. Already II
ia more than suspected that the
mind works quicker and better when
the electric potential OF the sur,
rounding atmosphere is high and
contrariu Use when it is ow. lhefe
ia no difficulty in raising the electro
n~otcntial of the da1k loom as hlgh
as may be desired. Then exact tests
NAV be applied for ascelta'ning Il
+he senses are renderd more Keen
and the mental processes more
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