The Leavenworth echo. [volume] (Leavenworth, Wash.) 1904-current, 1910-04-08
LATEST SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY
The Paris Academy of Science Awards
Prof. BlondIot $4,000 for Dis
covery of IN" Rays

thS OloCONGIy 10 uOW anu luSu us pulCui
is that of what Prof. M. Blondlot of the
University of Nancy, has called N
Rays. The Paris Academy of Sciences
awarded him a prize Of fifty thousand
francs for the discovery, which it veri-
fed after many searching experiments.
These mysterious rays appear to be
emitted by the brain, or, if this be not
true, to pass from the currents of uni
versal ether or forces through the brain.
1t is by the N-ray that thought trans
ference is possible. If the discovery
shall prove to be accepted by science
and few now dispute its authenticity
"a long step will have been taken to-
ward putting the mental vibration by
pothesis on recognized scientific
basis.
M. Charpentier, who is a colleague
of Prof. Blondlot's, and who holds the
chair of physiology at Nancy, has lately
devoted his expert powers to the study
of the new rays, and he holds that they
are emitted from the human body, par
ticularly from the brain and nerve It's
sues. He believes that the nature and
intensity of the radiation, or commonly
called vibration, varies with the activity
of the nerves under experiment, this
being also true Of the brain.
These scientists assert that the NJ
ray radiation passes outward through
the skull from the cerebral hemi-
spheres. This discovery gives man
the first clue to the nature of those
mysterious forces which have long
puzzled the world. 1t has hitherto
seemed impossible to the skeptic that
a thought could leap through one
skull, pass across indefinite space, and
enter another skull. To some persons
this seemed more difficult of belief than
the phenomena Of spiritualism. The
new discovery demonstrates the fact
that there is a discharge of some form
of energy from the transmitter's brain,
its passage through an etheral me-
dunn, and its final reception and in
depreciation in the brain of the recip-
lent. AS an eminent minister has said,
This accounts for the language of the
angels"
The most marvellous feature of the
discovery is the fact that the N-ray i'm
presses an intelligent message on the
brain, this regardless of the oceans and
continents that intervene between the
transmitter and the recipient.
Until the discovery of this mysteri-
Gus force it had never been found that
the brain was susceptible of direct i'm
pressions. Prof. Seleeby has shown
that if the optic nerve be stimulated,
for example, the optic centers in the
occipital or hind lobes of the cerebrum
create sensation of light; but if the
light be directly flashed upon the ex-
posed lobes, no vision results. SINH
larly with touch. If the brain be
pricked or handled no pain is felt; but
in telepathy and the N-ray we have the
unique instance of the direct apprecia-
ton of external stimulation by the
brain itself-or by something connected
with the intimate self Of man.
Vast problems lie in the questions
started by these experiments. What,
for example, is the medium through
which thought travels7 What propels
the thought? How is the attention Of
one brain attracted by the force that
another emits? A woman, for example,
is sitting quietly in her room. Her
brain cannot be wholly void of thought,
for consciously or subconsciously the
workshop of the mind is busy. Old
love songs or the memories Of half
forgotten yesterdays may linger like the
scent of roses. Suddenly she is rung
up" as it were, by thought that has
spanned half the earth. She gets the
impression that her husband in India
is saying: Il killed a tiger this morn
ing and am about to sail home on the
Empress.
Assuming that Sir Oliver Lodge and
hundreds of other scientists have not
been deceived as to the existence OF
such phenomena, and that the French
Academy was not dreaming when it
awarded Prof. Blondlot the $4,000
franc prize for the most wonderful dis