The evening times. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1895-1902, 1897-01-01
IT WAS A YEAR OF ADVANCES.

| The year just closed has been one of the
most remarkable in the history of the
| world. Great progress has been made, and
| great results have been achieved.
The most sensational scientific event OF
! Che year was the announcement made early
\ in January by Professor Roentgen, of WurZ-
| burg, that by means of what is known as
| a Crookes radiant matter tube he had sue
| ceeded In photographing bones through the
| flesh ofliving limbs, coins througha leather
| envelope, and iron through the wall OF a
| wooden box
When the report first went abroad IL was
received with incredulity. Bat confirIna
ton Was not long in coming. And then it
was seen that the discovery OF the X-rays,
as Roentgen called them, or the Roentgen
rays, as the general public came more fanl
larly to know them, wdS-like all other great
discoveries, indeed-nOt mere sudden, in
dependent and unaccountablct thing, hut the
natural and inevitable elimination Of long
series of researches, conducted by himself
and his predecessors.
Two Courses Followed.
The discovery of the X-rays, in short
crowns two separate courses Of inYestiga
ton. One of these courses was opened up
800 years ago by the observation Of an
Italian cobbler, vincenzo Cascariolo, that
sulphate OF barium glowed Ill the dark as
If with sunshine it had stored by day. This
quality is now known as phosphoresccnce.
1t has since been noted in a number of sub
stances. Fifty years ago 1t was discovered
In direct alliance with other curious quail
Ties. or high importance was the demon
strated fact that rays which enter the eye
only to prove 1t blind car be brought within
the compass of vision if suitably modified;
that when ultra violet rays oil the spec
trum traverse solutions Of sulphate Of
quinine and other compounds, or take their
way through uran MAN glass, they are 10 re-
duced In refrangiblity as to fall within
the range OF perception. The light thus
indirectly brought to view was called
Huorescence, and fluorescence is but the
continuous phase or what in brief and lit
ful CLEANS is styled phosphorescence.
While one group of observers was run-
ming down the facts Of phosphorescence and
nuorcscence another group was examining
the behavior of attcnuated gases when eX-
cited by electricity of high tension. Prof
Crookes and other physicists replaced air
with other gases, they brought exhaustion
to a close approach to perfection. they
changed the forms OF tubes, the material Of
the lectrode or current carriers, they in
creased and diminished the intensity Of the
electric discharge. Most significant OF all
they placed fiuorescenJ substances in the
tuhes and brought them to vivid radiance.
At last Prof. Paul LenaTd came SO close
TO the A-ray discovery that In 1894 he an
nounced il was possible to obtain shadows
OF objects through OFFICIALLY opaque sob
stances and TO produce an Impression Of
these shadows on Photographic plates,
which could afterward be developed and |
fixed by ordinary Photographic process.
At the point Prof. Roentgen comes upon |
the scene, repeats the experiments of Prof |
Lsnard, and, by such a stroke Of good for |
tune as befalls only the man who earns it, |
lie incloses an excited vacuum tube in |
blackened cardboard treated with barium |
To his delight, he discov- |
ers that the cathode beam is accompanied |
by radiance hitherto unknown, which, |
although Of fluorescent and Photographic |
quality can scarcely be any form of light |
1t is not susceptible of refractlon or polar
Zation; indeed, it seems as If it might be /
a stream Of infiniteslmal particles. since /
is path is less impeded in a light metal. |
platinum.
BY means of this agent he finds that it
IS possible to photograph the skeleton OF an
animal while il is still alive.
Joined Hands.
Thus eliminate the experiments If two
of students-thOse devoted 10 in
CURRY regarding phosphorescencea and fluOres-
,ence, and those who Investigated the con-
duct OF atteuuated gases excited by cleo
richly in vacuo. 1t was many a weary day
before the explorers came within sight of
Zach other before they could join hands on
he common ground, where all research
meets at last in natures fundamental unity.
Prof. ROentgens publicaton-pregnant
Is it was with the possibility of important
PRACTICAL appliCations-waS the herald OF an
enormous amount of activity in the physico-
medical world. The fluorescent screen was
Imong the most remarkable applications OF
he new discovery. making it possible touse
he Roent gen rays, n OF OILY in surgical cases,
Il searching for proIectiles, foreign bodies
md lines of fracture, but to undertake ana
omiCal and physiological studies and make |
lie diagnosis OF internal diseases. The i'm
'ortant aid thus given to the surgeon and
he doctor is sufficiently obvious.
There is another way in which the ROent-
Ten rays connect themselves with phys |
Jlogy, and may possibly influence medicine.
t is found that if the skin is long exposed
o their action it becomes very much iTri-
ated-affected with a sort of aggravated | ;
un-burning. This suggests the idea tEat
he transmission OF the rays through the
uman body may be not altogether matter
+ indifference To inteFnal organs, but may,
Y lUng-continued action produce, accord ,
lg to the condition of the part concerned.
furious irritation or Salutary stinUla- !
on.
In America two of the greatest living
iscovereTs, Thomas Edison and NikOla I
eSla. have thrown themselves rnerget-
ally into investi CATION of the new agent. !
Tesla has come to the opinion that the :
rays are material particles He ;
irther says he can feel the effect of these /
articles striking against his eye. land has I
Dted the sensation produced when they
lme in contact with his brain. I
Mr. Edison has devoted months Of patient O
udy to producing crystals that will flu =
.esce under the X ray. He mas experim mt
with all the chemical substances how G
I'D in the trade all over the world, and '
is found 20 different crystals. This ,
,mpletes the possible list.
HorseIess Carriage. t
The horseleSs carriage and the flying
achne problems have both seemed on the
pint of ultimate solution several times dur l.
e the past year, yet neither can be said :
have made any distinctly apprecable adj ,
tnCe. In the case of the first III may now