Evening star., 1937-07-04

they were. nevertheless And their
terror was 80 great At first. my own
heart began to pound. Fear was
gradually replaced by curiosity, and
before long they were walking in un-
bounded wonder about the fantastic
contrivance that had pulled me UP
the hills to their doorsteps. just ~
in the wilds Of Africa natives clam.
bered like apes over the wings OF Oea
Johnson's plane, once they had con-
quered their first feeling of terror.
Much in the same manner We may
regard today the incredible predie-
tons Of our scientists. But the facts
are there. laughing at our incredulity
and we shall soon be clambering all
over them to see for ourselves. Let's
take look at some Of them.
Televisi0n.
That started As crazy idea" in
the head Of = certain physicist named
Eustace Carey, back in 1875. Two
years before, . chemical known A
Silenium had been discovered 1t had
the peculiar property of being very
sensitive to light. This gave Carey
the idea that it might be used to
reproduce pictures at some point
relatively distant from their point OF
origin. In 1906 began the frst ex-
periments on this crazy idea. Early
this year. in = national periodical,
Marcia Davenport reports, "televsion
will go farther into the world OF the
unknown than man has ever dreamed
OF penetrating. Its possibilities are
30 vast, its ultimate field Is 80 un-
limited, that it is almost terrifying
to contemplate.
Practical men are contemplating
it without . tremor. Gilbert seldes,
writing In the Atlantic Monthly,
states, Some time in the middle Of
1898 television sets may be put on
sale in the United States. The date
Is still . guess, but It Il not unreason-
able: it is the only guess made by
experts in the field
A BOUT seven and one-half million
dollars already have been invested
in experimental televiSion. The same
basic principal u used in all the ex-
periments now being made. There
is tn each an apparatus known as the
"scanner." which photographs" an
object. The lights and shades Of the
object are then transformed into
electronic impulses. These impulses
pass through the air. just rs those Of
ordinary radio, and the receiving ap-
paratus turns them back into the
hiehlights and shadows that compose
a picture. The picture Is formed.
actually, On the end Of cathode ray
tube in the receiving set and Il seen
reflected In . mirror which, on .
small scale, becomes the motion pic
ture screen.
We may look upon television, then,
a the natural and inevitable fulfll-
ment Of radio" Already We take
the step upward from that now Gus
tomary miracle to vaster achievements
along the same line. And, desperately
as producers may fight against re-
linquishtng the permanency Of radio
to its arrogant new child, television,
they. like al of u, must realize that
the time will come. as Mr.. seldes puts
1t, when they win be trying to sell
kerosene lamps and electric light
bulbs over the same counter"
Something yet more daring than
televiston In the field Of Transmission
lies In store for VI. For they have
taken those tarnisted powers, tsle-
pathy and clairvoyanee boldly out ol
the music hAn into the laboratory. Al
q meeting Of world-famous scientista
in London not 20 many months ago
the assemblage Was startled by the
prediction Of one Of 1ts distinguished
members to the effect that the time
Assuredly would come when human
betnB might eomnl1ndeats Vith eua