The Washington times., 1923-02-18

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us from Germany that science had
: been able to take q photograph
through stone wall and could see the
boxes inside the body, the American
public laughed and American scientists
shook their heads.
But when the newspapers announced
theother day that somebody in New York
hal telephoned to London by wireless,
nobody was surprised. The world has
learned not to be astonished at any
acIisRement of modern science.
And now that Edouard Belin, the
Distinguished French scientist, announces
that he is about to be able to see across
the ocean or any part of the world. mo-
bod expresses any surprise or doubt.
md vet it viii be an achievement OF
treInendous public interest and national
Importance if we can put wireless re-
ceiver to our ears and fix our eyes upon
mirror in our room and hear the shouts
Of battle and really see the onward rush
of soldiers, fighting, perhaps, IN Com
stantinople, in India or in China. Few
viii care to pay the expense Of private
Of the world. but everybody viii be able
to see and hear what is going on IN the
uttermost corners of the earth when the
day comes for the wireless motion picture
not motion picture made from reels
taken on the spot many weeks ago, but
q living motion picture showing before
our eyes exactly what is happening at
that very instant in the remote corners
Of the earth.
1.-THE dream that has been pursued So
long,, said NJ. Belin recently, the
chimera that seems to annihilate distance
forever is bound to be realized before
long. We are now able to transmit photo
graphs by wireless. To see at distance
is the work Of the very near future. The
perfection of what is known as television
will ,annihilate space as completely for
the eye as the wireless telephone has
eliminated it for the ear"
The method by which this scientist ex-
poets to keep his promise and make it
possible to 'ssee at a distance" is known
only to himself. But some time ago he
stated that he had succeeded in trans
hitting the light of brilliant candle over
a wire to distance of 500 yards, about
one-third of mile, and made it visible as
a point of light on a screen. Having ac-
complished this, NJ. Belin believes it to
be but acmatter of time and patience to,
develop, step by step, the wireless motion
picture.
Nicola Tesla, the American electrical
wizard, is also bending his energies
toward accomplishing the feat of seeing
at distance, and, while he admits tina;
television is only in its infancy, it can be
accomplished just as the wireless tele-
phone has BEEN
81 know" said Mr.. Tesla when inter-
viewed the other day at his apartment at
the st. Regis, ''that Belin is working
almost exclusively on the perfection of
his invention. I, naturally, know nothing
of the lines along which he is working,
but it is possible that he intends to apply
principles similar to those he used in
developing his telephotographic apparatus.
making use of the selenium cell. Of
course, such an apparatus as would be
necessary for the transmission Of stimuli
taneous moving pictures would be a most
elaborate, complicated and involved affair,
but it will be a fact some day. For
thirty years have known that television
is a theoretical possibility. But the great
est obstacle in its practical development
is the multiplicity Of apparatus necessary
to its accomplishment.
eff Belin follows along the lines Of his
teIephotographic device, whereby he can
send over the wires or by wireless, a
Photographic likeness which is reproduced
at the receiving end, he would, as / say,
make use of the selenium cell. This Is
also used in the device attached to teie-
phone transmitters by which a person at
either end can see the face of the party
at the other end of the wire.
Selenium is a non-metallic substance,
related to sulphur and tellurium. When
precipitated it becomes a red powder
which melts when heated and on cooling
becomes brittle and nearly black. This
substance is sensitive to light and when
light. is applied it transforms the
light waves into electric waves. That is
where the value Of selenium in the perfec-
ton Of the wireless motion picture Il
proven. Because of the curvature Of the
earth no machine could possibly be de-
vised by which light waves could be
transmitted from London to New York,