The herald., 1897-04-11
AN x-RAY GHOST PARTY
A New Amusement in Paris-Violins
Dancing in the Air

| OducluS III the All
In the Journal des Debats Mons Hen
ri de Parville gives an account of re-
cent spirit manifestation in Paris clever
| ly proudced by the x rays. "The specta-
tors" said Mons. de Parville "were ush-
cred in to parlor in which there was an
abundance of vases and artistic glass
ware. In corner there was an appa-
ratus about as big as an ordinary magic
lantern. enveloped in black stuff. The
guests numbered about twenty.
"The lights were extnguished, Just
as in the case of a regular spirit seance.
A sort of rattling was heard, and imme-
diately afterward a gigantic and lumin-
| GUS hand passed over the heads of the
assistants Evidently it almost touched
some of them, for we heard a little cry
| of terror, that was quickly suppressed.
Don't be afraid, said the host, 1T is not
the hand of ghost; Will show it to you
| in the light by and by At the same mo-
ment flock of luminous violins ap-
peared and flew about in all directions.
An old habitue of the boulevards re-
marked that we were with the Daven-
ports. Not at ALL said the host; there
never was ghost in this house And
the violins continued to dance over our
heads. AT last they disappeared as ST.
| lently as they had come. Then an i'm
mense globe descended from the CELL
ing. like ball of phosphorus. oscillating
! like the pedulum of clock. A luminous
bell appeared In front of this globe and
made regular bows to 1t. We could see
| 1t fiery tongue smoking while the globe
waltzed around.
"'Suddenly at the four corners of the
room the glasses appeared to become ig
nited; the vases were Illuminated and
the lusters sparkled. A table loaded
with cups and glasses was lighted up.
Everything seemed on fire. The whole
room, that was so dark an instant be-
FORE was aflame on all sides with phos-
phorescent light of q soft and blush
color.
"Then again all was darkness. Grad
ually a little light streamed in, and in a
corner in front of a velvet portiere a
human form appeared, at first vague and
vaporous. hardly distinguishable. But
soon its outlines became clear, and 1t ad
vanoed. A lady beside me stepped back.
Evidently she was not the only one, for
we could hear the noise of moving
chairs. The phantom advanced a few
steps and then stopped. 1t was tall
woman. Her face had greenish pallor.
and what an extraordinary face 1t was!
There were no eyes. We could only see
two black holes under the eyelids. The
mouth was closed; the hair was phos-
phorescent A long, luminous veil en-
veloped this animated statue and in the
folds of the veil little sparks shone
like diamonds. She raised her right arm
slowly and tossed flames from her hand
r1oI a11 =
The silent and severe apparition was
watched with intense interest. A gong
sounded. The appartition receded gen.
tly and gradually faded out of sight.
"Once more there was noise of NOV
ing chairs, and we distinctly heard
sigh of relief. In the center of the room
an immense and luminous bouquet next
appeared, with blue band, upon which
was written, * rays
"Then the lights were turned on and
the parlor appeared in all its splendor.
The host arose. The seance is over he
said. There was no spiritism about it,
no occultism, nothing supernatural; ii
showed what X rays can do, and that is
ALL
"And now can explain in substance
that mysterious seance. 1t Is we'll known
that the Roentgen rays invisible to our
eyes, render fluorescent substances
phosphorescent, especially screens COW
cred with cyanide of platinum. Recently
a well-known maker of physical appa-
ratus, Mons. Radiguet, found that under
the action OF x rays all objects in glass
and crystal shine with peculiar brillian-'
cy, while everything else remains in COM
plete obscurity. The machine that pro-
duces the rays is concealed behind sew
eral black cloths. Nobody can have any
suspicion Of its existence; but, never
theless, the rays pass through all the
cloths and light up all the glass objects
and nothing else, so that a glass held in
the hand and moved UP at will can be
distinctly seen. while the hand is abso-
lutely invisible. But glass Is not the
only thing that becomes phosphorescent
at a distance behind the X ray appara-
tus. The same effect Is produced upon
enamels. diamonds. porcelain, etc.
when Mons. Radiguet made this dis
covery. he, of course, Immediately said
that it could produce sensational tricks,
excite the public curiosity and teeate a
new amusement destined to dethrone
ghosts.
"The operator in the present case had
only two assistants. They were suffi-
cient to handle the objects and display
all the marvels. Their task was simple;
they had only to move them carefully.
The operators could not be seen, but the
glass violins, vases and the glass mod
el Of the hand were visible.
$50 much for the glasses. Now for
the phantom. A figurante. tall and clev-
err was concealed behind some drapery
and enveloped In veil that was covered
Axro hof
was glazed with phosphorescent sui
phate of zinc powder. 1t is needless to |
say that the material could not be APP
piled to the eyes, and that accounts for |
their absence in the livid face Of the
phantom"
Evidently x ray ghosts are only in
their infancy.--New York SUM-.
Trip Over the Kits-s Shaped Tsnck
There Il no trip Of the same length |
where the gcanery iG 40 varied and beau-