RANDOM NOTES

Dominion, Volume 32, Issue 100, 21 January 1939, Page 8

RANDOM NOTES

Sidelights On Current Events

(By Kickshaws).

If this civilization survives we shall begin to wonder what destroyed the others.

Jig-saw ipuzzle-ma-kors are said to be hard put to find suitable subjects. What about the map of Europe?

All large millinery establishments, it is contended, should have a lounge for shoppers. This enables them to rest a moment or two, while the fashion changes.

“A couple living in the same town become engaged,” says “1.F.” “The parents of each are unknown to eacli other. Is it for the parents of the future bride to call on those of the future husband or vice versa?”

[lt is difficult to find anything definite on this tricky little technicality, which so rarely arises. However, it is the considered opinion of many women of social standing with experience in such matters, that the parents of the bride should call on the parents of the bridegroom. In view of the fact that the parents of the bride will ‘be offering hospitality at the wedding to the parents of the bridegroom, this decision is backed by normal procedure. The bridegroom it is assumed, would start the procedure by taking the bit between his teeth and intimating to the bride’s parents previously his intentions as regards their daughter.]

The announcement that successful tests have been made in Russia of a new death-ray, coupled with the recent announcement that tests had been made in New Zealand 1 , introduces once again the equivalent of the old-time myths about the philosopher’s stone. If we no longer wish to turn rubbish into gold we have advanced to the pinnacle of wanting to kilj people at a distance. For some time the bullet, and previously the arrow, had satisfied this quaint whim. There are limitations to these physical methods. The aeroplane has probably done much to create a desire for new standards of killing. Indeed, the death-ray will be watched with more than casual interest by certain dictators. They have created a nuisance value entirely upon the ability for bankrupt states to build aeroplanes for aggressive purposes. If a power such as Britain produced a ray that made it impossible for aeroplanes to fly where they were not wanted, the nuisance value of .dictators would toe enclosed within their own boundaries. • * * The problem of producing a ray capable of stopping an aeroplane or killing a man at a distance, is not as simple as it would appear. It has been proved possible to explode insects and even kill snakes at distances of a foot or two. The last-named effort, however, takes three or four minutes. It is an unfortunate law of rays that their hitting strength varies inversely as the square of the distance. A ray that is strength “two” at three feet, will be only onequarter as powerful at twice the dis-t tance. This means that enormous power would have to be used at long range. Indeed, the combined efforts of all the power stations in London, .to produce a death-ray concentrated on a bumble bee 5000 feet in the air, might just kill the thing. The problem, therefore, is not to discover rays capable of dealing death. That has been accomplished. The task is to find a method whereby they may be of use at a range of four or five miles. That has yet to be accomplished.

It is probable that the so-called death-ray for military purposes will be developed from more benign discoveries. Rays have been found, for example, which have powerful antiseptic effects. Indeed', a new type of lamp emitting ultra-violet rays of a special kind has been introduced into the Mayo Hospital Clinic of New York. The rays, as used, are harmless to human beings. The rays kill microbes which float in the air about open wounds of patients undergoing operations. The beneficial results of directing these rays on unhealed wounds has been indicated, and even tested, for some time. Further tests have beeu made with shortwave radio. A German scientist named Dr. Schliephaker gave a demonstration in London four years ago. Shortwave radio transmission was used at close range on affected parts of the human body. Various wavelengths were used for various purposes. Sinuses of the lung were reached with four metres, chronic headaches with 10 metres. The treatment has the effect of reducing the vitality of microbes in the affected part.

Experiments with short radio waves have produced sb many curious results it is by no means' improbable that the ultimate death-ray will incorporate radio beams. It is a well-known fact that suitable radio beams produce heating effects in’ suitable material in a rather curious manner. It has been found possible by this method, in fact, to raise a person’s temperature many degrees above normal, thereby burning out disease germs. Professor Kovarczik, a scientist in Austria, demonstrated the effects before the Biological Society at least, three years ago. Taking a basin of very cold water he dropped into it live fish. He directed ultra short radio waves on to the fish in the water. The result was hot fried fish cooked in water at freezing point. A raw steak was next put into ice. The radio waves cooked the steak in the ice. It is not a far cry from radio cooking to death-ray cooking. During the last four years intensive experiment has ‘been conducted along these lines. Indeed a country situated as is Britain would be only too glad to produce an effective cookery system to stop hostile aeroplanes, regardless of the millions it cost to develop.

The development of death-rays is probably more closely connected with the secret of life itself than is at first apparent. It is by no means unlikely that tlie feature of a successful deathray will be the temporary change of non-radio-active substances into radioactive substances. This process can bo done in the laboratory. Tests have proved that curious biological effects are observed under intense radio-active fields. For example some forms of radiant energy have already been used to produce biological changes ami create new varieties of life. Nature stopped doing this at least 40,000,000 vears ago. when tlie radiant energy of the world fell below a level suitable for the purpose. As far as a death-ray is concerned, it would not lie necessary to change a pilot into a piece of fried fish or a knitting needle. One would only have to cause subtle changes in his brain tissue, which is reproducing itself ail the time, 'to make him unable to carry out his military instructions. It will lie seen, therefore, that tlie so-called death-ray is already available "if some method could be provided to transmit it in concentrated form where it is required.