GREATEST TRIUMPH

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1263, 14 May 1896, Page 19

GREATEST TRIUMPH

EDISON'S

He Succeeds in Looking Into the Human Heart and Lungs With

the Med Eye.

Physicians May Now See the Interior of the Body as Clearly as a Dentist Sees a Tooth. A leading New York paper, the New York Journal, has been lucky enough to get full particulars from Mr Edison, the famous inventor, tho " Wizard of the Nineteenth Century," as ho has not unappropriated been called, a full description of the marvellous use to which ho has put the now ■world famous discovery of Professor Eontgen, of which we have heard and read so much of late. A series of experiments conducted by " Tho Wizard " finally resulted in his succeeding IN' PENETRATING THE HUMAN BODY WITH THE NAKED EYE. We shall let tho New York Journal tell tho story, tho full significance of which will bo made clear to our readers by tho two engravings given elsewhere, which are reproduced from sketches specially drawn for tho American paper under the supervision and with the approval of Mr Edison himself. Tho Journal says:— Mr Edison last Friday succeeded in penetrating the human body with the naked eye. He looked into the heart and lungs, and examined the arteries, the blood-vessels and nancies of one of his assistants. Mr Edison has, perhaps, reached the crowning glory of his life —ho has opened the door which atonco revolutionises and incalculably widens the horizon of the medical world. Tho great inventor lias fulfilled tho promise made to the world through the Journal ono week ago —ho]has laid bare to the eye of tho physician and tho surgeon every organ and tissue and bono of tho human body. The simplest mind can grasp what this means in the diagnosis, the treatment and the actual observation of tho PROGRESS ON INTERNAL DISEASES. It is very simple to Mr Edison. With tho powerful cathode light behind his patient ho gazes through a screen of prepared chemicals and sees every organ of tho body as plainly as ho sees tho dishes ou his dinner table. If his subject stands very close to the light nothing whatever is seen—-the light goes through bones and everything, just as sunlight goes through glass. If tho patient steps a foot or two away from tho light tho human SKELETON' STANDS REVEALED. A step further from tho light, and the muscles, tissues and organs of the body appear as plainly as if there was no outside covering of flesh. And so on—as the distance from tho light and the focus is changed. Mr Edison is now completing a fluorescent screen o'ght feet high, which will enable him to see all this from tho top of your head TO THE SOLES OF YOUK FEET. Through the Journal Mr Edison told how ho could, with proper arrangement, see through a solid block of wood eight inches thick. It was a mere fihnish shadow at , that tinio that could be seen. Now an oight-inch block of wood oilers no more impediment than a lace veil. Last week Mr Edison was experimenting to find a fluorescent stream. " When I find that in its most perfect form I shall see anything I want to see as soon as the light tubes are perfected." The screen has Keen found, and Mr Edison has made good his premise. "Here," lie said, pointing to a great, box- , like structure the si/, i of a door, " that is J my screen. I will have a man step in trout of that, put four or five Crooke's tubes behind him, and you or 1 or a surgeon will look THROUGH HIM AS CLEAN AND AS CLEAR as though ho woro made of gauze." " Head and all ?" "Yes, sir; head and all. We can look through his eyes into his skull, and see everything that is to bo seen there. A physician may diagnose his case in an instant. Ho will simply put his man before the screen, and then penetrate him through from head to foot." The fluorescent substanco used by Mr Edison, and declared by him to bo tho most perfect thing of tho kind discovered so far, is tungstate of calcium ; in othor words, tungstate and lime. Tho two substances wero fused in a furnace, and at a proper degree of heat form little crystals, perhaps ONH-EiailTH THE SIZE OF A FRENCH PEA. These crystals are glued to a piece of paper by means of collodium, a transparent celluloid paint. In tho case of the huge screen that Mr Edison is building for

taking at a glance the entire internal organisation id' a man, the crystals would be spread directly on an inch plank. A .'MILL UOl'l'Eli SCREEN. The screen is made in the shape of a monster mill hopper, standing on end. The face on which the crystals are applied are about eight feet high and lour feet broad. To this face will be fastened sides that will slant inward to a sharp point. At this point there will be left a slit just large enough to see through with ease. This slit will be protected by means of a rubber Hap in such a way as to exclude all light when the eye i. 5 applied to it. The screen will bo set up so that the side on which the tungstate of calcium has been glued faces a row of four or five Crooke's tubes, set one above the other at an equal distance. THE PERSON TO BE EXAMINED will then step in between tho screen and the light, and he will be instantly penetrated and become visible to the oyos of tho examiner at the screen. Every defect, every organ, will bo laid bare to the physician or other person who is making the examination. It will not be necessary to go to thetroubloof disrobing, as the clothing worn will be penetrated as if it wero tho flimsiest mosquito netting. " Hut if you penetrate the bones of the skull will therebeanythingloft at all to see?" I asked. "Won't a man dissolve into thin air and leave no impression ?" " We now have perfected our screen to such an extent," he replied, " that WE CAN GO THROUGH CONE when we get the proper light about as well as we can go through some other substances. Of course, under those circumstances, when we get our current and lamps just right, we will be able to look through a man, leaving nothing to be seen, unless, indeed, there are foreign substances, like metals, which do not absorb the rays. When we are looking for such foreign substances we will use the full power and leave only a vague shadow outline of the bones. Hut iu ordinary cases, where we don't want as much strength as that, we'll see just as much or just as little as we desire by changing our focus. a ray w wondrous power. "At three feet from tho row of Crooke's tubes, let us say, the rays are so powerful

that the)- will penetrate everything and show nothing on the screen except a vague shadow. Then at four foot matters become more distinct, the rays are not so powerful and show an outline of tho bone. At five feet we see tho bones distinctly; they are no longer penetrated. At six foot we see the bines AND THE INTERNAL ORGANS OF THE IiODV. And so we proceed until we get the proper focus. If it is desired to cut oil' the entire body, except a certain portion which we desire especially to examine, nothing is easier. We put up a shutter just as we do in a camera, and shut oil' everything that is not to come under observation." Mr

Tlte Discuvercr of Lite Neu: Pholoyraphy. Edison had run out for a few moments from the dark room, in which ho was experimenting, and was searching after a now chemical that was to be mod in the tost. JIo got what lie wauled, and, after watching the X rays come up and die down and come up again in the Crooko's tubes that were on the pumps for exhaustion, he said: " Now there you aro. TUItN OX THE CX'ItIIKN'T, BR'AVN," to lii.s assistant. "That looks perfect, doesn't it? As far as wo can see, wo have there (lie X rays, the same condition that exists when we get out our best results. That's what is confusing ; for when you take tlii.s screen and look through it cvorythinj'

is pitch dark, perfectly black. Try it yourself." The Wizard handed me the screen, which is a miniature of tho big screen which he proposes to use for his life-size examination. It looked not unlike the hopper of a small cider mill. '•That," explained Mr Edison, as he passed the screen along, " is the most familiar form in which to get up the screen for experimental work." What would have been tho open end of (he hopper in a cider mill was covered with glazed pasteboard, such as is used in the manufacture of document boxes, letter files, &c. This pasteboard face was six inches square On the inside it was covered with the tungstate crystals. Where tin; sloping sides of the hopper-like screen nut, a- slit about five inches long and an inch wide was left for the eyes. booking through this slit everything was pitcii dark inside. NOT A GLEAM OF LIGHT WAS VISIIiLE. " Now we'll go in here in this other room, where we have got a tube that is fairly good, but only fairly, and you shall see the difference" Tho tube in question was mounted and connected to the powerful current that was on tap. In a few seconds a purplish blue light became visible. It gradually changed to a pale yellow. " Try the screen now," said Mr Edison. Instead of the black darkness there was a brilliant white patch of light. It was intense, without, however, being at all blinding. IT WAS RATHER COLD AND LIFELESS, having very much the same effect that moonlight might have if it were intensified fifty fold. " Put your hand to the face, of the screen. Do you see anything ?" What I saw almost made me jump back. THERE WAS EVERY HONE IN .MY HAND, as clear and distinct and clean-cut as if there had never been any flesh on it. At first it seemed rather horrible, this skeleton hand. But the sensation of horror soon quieted down, ami there was an intense fascination iu thus being able to see the bones. The knuckle joints showed as plainly as did the longer bones. Every line and curved could be easily traced. Between the bones of the hand were wide spaces, such as are seen in the hands of skeletons in museums. Nothing was left of the tissue. In my absorption of THIS STARTLING, NOVEL SPECTACLE, I forgot everything else, until I heard Mr

Edison say: " Now try your wrist. Don't bother about moving your coat sleeve or taking off your cuffs. They form no impediment." The screen was shifted to tho wrist over tho coat and cuff and shirt and everything else. Tho bones stood out as distinctly as they had in tho naked hand. A MARVEL OF PENETRATION. Up and up the screen was shifted, reaching the elbow and then the shoulder, and still the wonderful rays went through everything, just as if there had been no clothing or flesh there. " What a pity," remarked the Wizard, while I was still speechless at all this manifestation, " that wo haven't got a really good tube, such, for instance, as wo had last night. If wo had, you could see things that would really startle you. Imperfect as our apparatus still is, we had no trouble in seeing through thin sheets of metal, and when we get our rays strong enough, it will bo no trick at all to see THROUGH FOUR OR FIVE INCHES OF IRON. " What seems to be the trouble ? Why can't the force be increased with the tubes as you have them ?" " Because wo cannot hold tho vacuum when wo put on the amount of force that I want." To what slight extent solid substances affect the passage of tho X rays when the fluorescent screen is used was demonstrated by holding, first a magazine, ami then a two-inch plank, between the face of tho screen and my hand. I first focused my hand alone. Then I slipped the magazine in and tho hand still stood as clear and distinct. Apparently the magazine, which was certainly over half an inch thick, offered no more obstruction than if it had been so much cobweb. NEXT 1 TIUED THE TWO INCH PLANK. Through this, too, the X rays went as easily and clearly and brightly as they had through the magizine, and the outlines of the bones of the hand remained perfectly clear. " What I want," he says, "is this: A man comes to a surgeon with a bullet in his arm ; the surgeon takes his X ray lamp and his fluorescent screen then and there and locates the bullet. He looks through the arm, through tho bone, if necessary, and sees just where it is. We've got that far, already. Now, why should he want, to photograph that,- simply a useless wasto of time. Again, a man comes with a broken arm ; a screen is fitted to the surgeon's eyes, and the X ray lamp is turned on and he can work with his eyes open, so to speak, for HE CAN SEE THE FRACTURE. He can see how to set tho bones ; see exactly whether they join or not; sou just as clearly as the cabinetmaker who glues together two pieces of wood. What would be the use of photography in that case ? I am done with the photographic end of it entirely. As for tho other and —well, perhaps wo may show you something before long that may be legitimately considered surprising.