Evening star., 1926-11-02

While science seeks to delve further
into the mystery Of the cathode ray.
the lay world gives free play to its
Imagination in attempting to grasp
the possibilities of the marvellous force
disclosed by experiments Of DR.. w. w.
Coolidge, assistant director Of the
General Electric Co.'s research labora-
tory.
Alexander, signing for new worlds
to conquer" suggests the Detroit
News, might better have taken up
another science than war. Explorers
in the field of physical research are
never embarrassed by lack Of oppor-
tunity, but only by the fact that the
human span is too short to permit any
one INQUIRER to discover more than a
few of natures unrevealed truths
The News explains that DIR. Coondge
experiments with the freed ray nave
had astounding results" and that
especially significant is the tact Una
bacteria exposed for a fractlon OF
second are killed and that small II
sects perish before it instantly. In
these experiments alone" adds the De-
troit paper, "are seen possibilities or
germicide of unprecedented potency
and efficacy. Thus DR.. Coolidge has
proyided science with a new point OF
departure for research which may
alter many phases of our existence, as
the therapeutical and commercial pos.
sibilities of the new ray are unfolded.
X X X \
It is apparent, observes the Worces-
ter Gazette, that what industrial,
mechanical or chemical achievements
this 'cathode-tube' apparatus may
lead to are impossible to forecast,
perhaps impossible to imagine, but II
seems reasonable to expect, from It's
demonstrated possibilities and the
known activities of radium, tremen'
dous, If not revolutionary, influence
on applied as we'll as pure science.
The Wichita Beacon is impelled to re-
mark that "the discovery of a cathode
raw so powerful that it causes instant
disintegration of animal tissue Is an
other reminder of the fact that many
of our scientific wonders are getting
to resemble the black magic that ex-
listed in the fancy Of ancients."
The Indianapolis News comedies a
certain priority to Bulwer Lytton,
who. as old-timerS remember, In MS
novel The Coming Race, described
a force, which he called 'vril,' which
killed, disintegrated and destroyed,
was under perfect control at a dis
tance of some 500 feet and would have
made short work of a mouse and nave
affected it very much as the cathode
ray does. The progress, OF science
and perhaps even OF clvlllzatloh -
concludes the News, seems to con.
sist largely of turning the imagined
into the realized"
The Birmingham News states that
thus far practical uses have not
been found, because eXperime ntatlon
has not proceeded greatly. but the
fact that the beta rays can thus be
produced apart from radium is an an.
nouncement of high importance" In
this connection, it has been pointed
out that the cathode tube furnishes
as many beta rays as ton of radium
(of which only a single pound is in
existence), worth at present prices
hundred billion dollars.
Until more is known Of the new
force, or rather Of an old force newly
revealed and harnessed," says the
San Francisco Bulletin, lit should be
stimulating enough to remember that
the history Of science teens with in
stances of the seemingly useless re-
suit of one day becoming the basis
of a new industry or o new scope to
the science of the day following.
Science wastes nothing, unless 1t Is