THE INVISIBLE MAN

Manawatu Times, Volume LIII, Issue 6735, 11 October 1928, Page 4

THE INVISIBLE MAN

ONE or OLDEST DREAMS. Stories of invisible men are not without their uses. Even students of science may learn something from them, says Professor Ecgis Massac, of Massac, of McGill University, Montreal, writing in "La Science Moderne” (Paris). Professor Massac analyses particularly the tales of H. G. Wells and his imitators. He does not mention the recent claim of a German investigator, who, as reported in the daily Press, asserts that he has actually succeeded in rendering bodies invisible; but his discussion of the use or useful!ness of such a process is both informing and illuminating. Writes Professor Massac,-in substance: The miracle of invisibility is one of the oldest of dreams. The legend of

the ring of Gyges is related both by Plato and by Herodotus. From this point we should have to leap , suddenly to the well-known tale of H. G. Wells

if we did not fin'd, on, our road the fantastic account Of ‘ Cyrano do Bergerac, who describes, among nther wonders, that of invisibility realised. It was during his journey to the sun that this adventure occurred. He says: “I realised that, by a secret necessity of light at its source, my vehicle and I had both become transparent. I suppose that tho sun, in regions so near to it,. purges ? bodies more completely of theiropacity , • :by. , ; : arranging more nearly' in straight lines,' the ultimate particles of mattef.*' ,i-In ©them words, light had become' capable of passing between the atoms. The sun’s rays, in fact, had become'lST-rays! ,The very insufficiency of' this narrative, amusing as it is, .rather than convincing, causes us to realise better the difficulties of the problem, and helps us to understand why the stories of invisible men are much more definite than those of artificial men, or flying men; or men who' Cannot be killed.. To make: invisibility probable was too jfbat'a task for the science of Cyrano ’s time. The theories, of the pro-

pagation. of'light are .still a subject o infinite controversy . (is not Einstein 1 theory partly'a, desperate effort to ,pu ah end to it?) and is a scionc of slow development, difficult to pope larisa. : ■ . ■ Tisane of Difficulties. r It is not surprising, then, that w have had to wait until modern timescven contemporary ones—to seo the in visible-man stories cropping up. A 1 the talcs of this sort that I knof gravitate around that of Wells. Thi is based on the fact .that what pre vents a transparent body from bcini completely invisible . is the fact that i has not the same '.index . of refractioi as the air; although’., light-rays through, they are 'deviated * and thi contours of the object are seen. I suffices then to find a means not onh; of making objects transparent, but b: giving, them the same refractive powei rs the air. This means,. Wells',hen discovers. He makes himself invisible but he ‘cannot invisifailise his clothe; Or anything else about'him; His lif( becomes an inextricable tissue of diffi cultics, The ytald a; is quite as mud philosophic' asVseientific. i-The dmitatoip’ have ' added almost nothings to’ithe * scientific part of the-in v'entiorh ’ The ’fertile romancer, [Lpuii Bousscnardyih,“Monsieur Ricn" (Mr Nothing)-,I has tackled the Question oi Monsieur Eien, before rendering himself invisible, developed considerably,'‘by moaits of ah appropriate prOpSrhtibn n. (hot., any. more, .difficult than 'finding’the. formula for invisibility), the, vitality' of the hairy coating of’ hio skin, turning it into! a veritable fleece;* HC'-bhcame a furry, animal, hut an invisible bn'e’, .since eadihair naturally participated in the qualities of tbo : whole organism and thiis-was, per-, fectly transparent. But the trouble was that when it rained, our man carried about.a “wet-dog" odour that betrayed his presence. Also, when ho Walked in the; rain, his outline. Vyas vaguely:marked toy. the rebounding Irons. , Vanity of the. Whole Affair . fe

Edmond 'Ghlal,- :; in " Joe ' .Rollon”' (rrencli edition. 1919), imitates Wells still more directly, since ■ his hero begins by stealing from a descendant of Wells’ “Invisible Man” the papers containing his famous formula. But he undertakes to': improve it, for Joe Rollon regards him as a person without foresight. He obtains a second formula enabling him to make himself visible again, and he is thus only temporarily invisible, whenever ho so chooses. Ho also solves the problem of clothing, for he succeeds in rendering invisible his shoes, pyjamas, trousers, and dressing-gown. Joe becomes a millionaire; one of his adventures is when he hides behind ■- a statue in a village church-and showers banknotes oii a = poor peasant. The author ends, like Wells; by demonstrating the van- - ity of the whole thing; his hero finally gives up invisibility and destroys the famous formula. v _ :

The fatality with which this conclusion. imposes itself may lead us to a' few philosophic reflections. After reading two or three invisible-man stories we soon perceive how childish is the whole idea. iTo-day, if this miracle could ever bo realised, it'would be only to' scientific toy, suited only to amuse the crowd for a few months, and'a hundred-thousand times less im j portarit than the theory of luminous phenomena implied in its realisation, about which a word may now be said. Such realisation is decidedly doubtful, and the tales of Wells and his imitators raise at several points objections of a scientific nature. .Refractive index equal to that of the air? Very pretty; but is the index of refraction of the air always the same! This index should vary with the humidity, and that of the invisible bodies would not follow it. Invisibility would never, or rarely, be perfect. Maurice Kenard in "The Man Who Would-be Invisible," states another objection that' is still more serious. If al parts of the body aro permeable by light-rays, the tissues of the eye would be so themselves. They would be absolutely incapable of reflecting and absorbing light, to transform it into luminous sensations. It follows' that ' the invisible man 'would also be a blind man. This is what happened to Renard’s hero, who having blinded himself by his manipulations, believes that j lie has actually become invisible. Pitying and complaisant relatives foster ;

this illusion, which consoles Mm in Ms blindness. Thus this' idea of invisibility, so seiuctive at first sight, so rich in possibilities'from a literary as well as a scientific point of view, ends only in l fiasco.