Free press. [volume] (Hays, Kan.) 1888-1908, 1902-06-21
MAKES A GREAT CHANGE,
Electricity to RevoIutionizs the Scier C
of Medicine.

Electricity to RevoIutionizs the Scier CT
of Medicine.
Professor L. |. Blake spoke to thE
University Club recently on line Of
thought to which he has given much
attention in his laboratory at the KAN
sas MISUNDERSTANDING future
bearing on medical science in the light
| of the work of Professor Loeh, Mr..
Blake has followed the Loeb a.-eov-
| cries very closely and earnestly he
! believes they will revolutioniZ the
medical practice and take it from the
empirical to the actual and positive.
Professor Loeb and some others hold
that all life is along electrical lines and
that in word electricity is life.
I'VE have been obliged to change
| most of our ideas within the last FIVE
years." said ne, "and have had to build
up new chemical science. Now,
physiology belongs to electricity, aGd
am eager to welcome it; some day we
will reach out and grasp astronomy.
This means a new chemistry, and 1t
will mean a new science of medicine.
That is startling, but true, in the light
| of recent discoveries"
Mr.. Blake told of the Pfeffer discov-
cry that a cell of sugar, for instance,
words, there is pressure from the in
side. Others experimenting along the
same lire found that the pressure bore
a relation to the solid in solution. It
was ascertained that the particles
moved as if gaseous and that the laws
of gases governed them. That the ex-
ceptions were, it was ascertained,
greater than the rule. Salt was an ex-
ception; it was ascertained that il
when dissolved was charged with elec-
tricity, each atom having its charge.
These are called ions. Electricity will
pass through water only when these
ions are present. Air or gas breaks yp
into ions before the electrical spark
passes through it, and The electricity
skips along on them. This makes the
Jagged fash of lightning. The discov-
cry Of J. T. Thompson, of Cambridge,
who discovered particles 1-1,000 Of a
hydrogen atom, till then believed tha
smallest thing in the world, was O.
scribed.
''They exist in all substances, and
are negative electrical particles. We
call them corpusoles," said he. They
are shot out from every nlament in an
electric lamp, and the ultra violet rays
of the sun produce them. They are IL
OH LIZ I'll z. ASS AOl1HO LAG QpHC4
ers of the atmosphere, and Tesla is
taking advantage of them in his wire
less experiments. They fall in a moist
atmosphere and the moisture collects
about them and we have rain. They
are always negatively electric; the
99a-1 coo Of an atom left is positive.
Mr.: Thompson holds that these mega
tives are in all nature and are the
prinaoids of beginnings Of all things.
But don't believe it,
Coagulation Of water, Mr.. Blake said.
was caused by ions, and this fact
would change the whole science OF
philosophy.
'"Phe delta of the Mississippi is not
caused by the sluggishness of the wa
ter, but because the silt il the water is
precipitated by the salt in the gulf
water; the salt produces the ions. The
precipitant must be of the opposite
electrical pole The mixture of sub
stance and liquid which will not settle
is called colloid. The curious fact is
that plant and animal substances are
made up exactly on the same princi-
pies; nearly all of mans substances
are colloids. The discoveries of Pro
fessor Loeb and Professor Matthew's
are on these lines
The action Of the leaf of the sensitive
plant, which closes on a touch, Is
caused by precipitation of the coiloid
Salt and water solution has been found
to have peculiar action on muscles and
nerves. The hearts of certain animals.
placed in solutions, have been made to
''beat" for hours, and experiments have
shown that the nerve action in every
being is produced by negative electric
ity because this acts. on the colloid
which every nerve contains. An anaes-
thetic acts just the other way; it i:
positive and prevents coagulation OF
precipitation. Simply the salts are
kept in solution. This shows that the
action in a nerve is exactly the same az
1t is in inanimate nature. The ions do
the work; the nervous impulse is due
to negative charges on them. The pro-
cess is purely mechanical.
Mr.. Blake held in brief that negative
electricity was necessary to life; that
positive electricity was poisonous
Poisons could be neutralized by Mega
tive electricity. Medicines are poisoDa
given to counterfeit lack OF negative
electricity The whole science of uodi-
cine in the future, he said, would SIM
ply be the application of the study o,
electricity. The rate of vibration must
De conSldef6d IN this, as Wen as Ihe
Size of the charge-and all of this is
yet to be developed.
The key Of all is that the action OF
the nerves and muscles is just the same
as are the actions Of mechanicals, he
said. I'VE are learning today that the
action of medicine poisons- is simply
electrical and we can study them in
that line. Then we viii study oVr foods
and learn how to produce them from
the soil just with the rays Of light and
We viii learn their effect on US. Grad
z.sll3 We viii learn how to build up the
perfect man. This is the most wonder
fui thing and the newest If this age -
Kansas City Journal