OUR AMERICAN LETTER

Otago Witness, Issue 224, 28 May 1896, Page 55

OUR AMERICAN LETTER

(Fnoii Our Own Correspondent.). San Francisco, April 2. EONTQBN AND EDISON. The experiments ,with Routjen rajs *re, " according to EdisoD, ttill in their infancy. We do nofc even know wha.'i th.3 Roatgen, or X, ray really is, bub Edison, as soon as be hag time, intends to find out. Meantime tbe "Wizard" is perfecting an infitrunitiut be' has named the " fluorescope," and the which he does uofc intend to patent, but to present to the world of science to do what il likes with, and to put it in such shape that its cost will be nearly nominal to those having any uae for ifc. In an interview Edieon stated: — "When I finish up my experiments with the Rontgen rays I will go back to my business. But I want to ese just what we have, that is all. I am at present interested, in trying to tee through the body by means of X raya, and will be able to do so as soon as I can get a lamp that is strong enough to stand tbe (strain. I have found that when I get the foroe of 23 incandescent lamps into a tnbe it perforates. I want 30, and when I get that number of ]ampß into one tube tVe whole skeleton will be revealed. I have found out one thing, that is, Routjen worked not with-a tube in which a vacuum had been created, hut -with one attached to a pump. I am now woikrng with my lamps connected with a pump, and find the re-ult ia a deal mnre satisfactory. "The fluoreseope is, I believe, destined to accomplish gre&t tfciugs. Aa st on ai 1 can get everything &b I wish ir, co that the whole frame will ba visible, I shall make a small appwutui and let the medical men have it. I Rhs.ll not patent it; or attempt to control it. I will pub lish it, and any dealer will be able to make it, induction coil and all, and sell it for 150aol at a fair profit. This will bring it withiu the reach of everyone who may have occasion to use it. •• We are yet in the infancy of expfriments with the X-rays. We know now that we can, by placing an object between the lamp and fluoresoope, see flesh at a certain distance, and that "tit a shorter distance from tho lamp only the bones show. Whether we shall ever be able to differentiate between the tissue, the mosole; and bone I do not allow, but I believe that we will be able to locate tumours by its aid and tell whether they arc hard oi sof b." " The fluoreseope is able to do in one minute what the photograph required an hour to do. Thftt, of course,- is an improvemeut. When I get through with experimenting I am going into the scientific side of the- -X-ray and fiud out just 'what it is." A number of reporters who had .called upon Edison submitted their own limbs to the electrician, who very clearly demonstrated the practical benefits already obtainable from his latest machine. The visitors held their hands before the fluoreseope, and saw the flesh fade away and the bones exposed to view. A .block of wood 6in in diameker uwaßu waB held between the lamp and the machine. The rays went through it as though it were a piece of paper, and the band held between it and the "X-ray Bpectacles " still fhowed a skeleton hand. The inventor then showed the visitors how to hold it so that they could fee the bone 3of the wrist and forearm. So clear was the outline that one of the party present-who had a finger broken years ago was ablb to see the difference between the joint of it and tbe joint of the corresponding finger on the other hand. At the time j the lamp, as the tnbe is called, was lighted by 16 light?, according to Mr Edison's v?ay of reasoning. He put -on four more for an instant, and the result was immediately apparent. The fluoretcope became- much brighter and the shadows of the skeleton hand were marked as though they had been drawn with * fine pencil.. The boDes of the wrist stood out clear and strong, the indentations and tbe form of the metacarpal bones being marked clearly. The limit of the electricity thai; the lamp would stand was not pub on, as Mr Edison was afraid that it would per? At the conclusion of the tests of his latest invention Mr 'Edison .said he believed the reason photogrtpliß irere taken: by &c ray* was because

a chloride of silver plate was fluorescent, and he intended to mnlco an«rperiment and see if it vras. Following upon Edison's latest Invention cook 8 the information that Nicola Tesla, in his New York laboratory, has nearly perfected a machine for tho transmission of messages by means of electrioal wave currents, and that soon wires as a medium will be unnecessary, words will be carried simultaneously to all the centres of the world, time as a factor will be annihilated, and communication .with other planets purely a matter of their being inhabited by beings who can comprehend ouc signals. Tesla, I need hardly remark, though cot widily Jrcown to the pnblic as is EdisoD, ranks first in the world of elec'rioil science. THK SALVATION ARMY schism lias not yet bsea healed. On the contrary, the breach appears to be widening, for 'General Booth has not been able to .draw his son Ballinglon back into the -ranks there to j submit to the authority of tho British branch ; | and the son, far from remaining quiet, hna i I rapidly drawn together the nucleus of, what promises to be a formidable body of aggressive, practical Christians, vrhoße work will be upon largely similar lines to those laid down and followed by the older parly. Every day convince! most people that the real cause of tbe secession was the friction created between the two continents in that the i American one had to take its orders from the Eng!i«h one. " America for the Americans "in this question, as in others, has become the slogan, and the British colours have been discarded with alacrity. When Ballington Booth and his wife addressed 5000 mem and women the other day in Coopers' Union Hall the Stars and Stripes were waved from platform and gallery, and a large portrait of Geopge Washington pl»c?J, amid re are of Rpplauoe aad cheering, in fionb of the speaker's table. The . men who will become members of the new army will not wear red jackets, and the dresa of the ferSale contingent — and (he question of drets here, us elsewhere, ia a moat serious oue — is to be made a trifle more "dressy" than the poke bonnet and bHie serge or cloth dress can be said to bo. The foimer is to be abandoned — | '' borrid thing, I never did like it"— aud brown is to be the colour used in the general makeup. How the Salvation Army proper will be affected by this break-away ifi is hard to Bay. I am inclined to think that, after tho first gush of enthusiasm tor the ycung Booths has died out, tbe parent body will not be much the worse. At all events, if the utw army is to be "/e3p:c!ipblo" and "dressy." and appeal to the middle clasafta in the artisan community, then it will die of dry rot and perish quicker than did Jouah's gourd. - NOTES AND COJrMENTS. The Coug/egregational Church Council of B.in Francisco, after a long, rambling iuquiry extending over weeks of tinio aud columnu or' ptint, viHutlly acquitted tho R*v. Df Brown of the charg' of adultery, bub found him " guilty •of mratiui-tirial conduct and conduct unbecoming a gentleman." Tho verdict satisfied no one, nofc even the aroused, but ifc was «ufficienfcly vague its findings to permit of the reverend ger.tleman to mount the rostrum with an alacrity that bore n'a-ki'd evidence of his sense of the fitness of things. Mranwhile the church — erstwhile one of the wealthiest and largest in the city — is going to fragments. There are rents and schisms and defections and petitions acres wide and miles long. Of the guilt of the parson few have any reasonable doubt, but the few who have no doubt whatever that he is the most persecuted of men are ranking the air ring with their shouts of defiance. Altogether a miserable business. M&rsick (the violinist), Ondiic-.k (the ditto), Materna (the greatest living exponent of Waguer), Sousa (chief among bandmasters and match composer*) have all been with us during the past few wicks? So has another and a greater man, to wit Juhn L. Bollivau, ones prond champion of the world. The reception of this cultured SB^thetic was gratifying and our civic sense of the honour conferred upon us by his pretence fittingly displayed. '* Bill N>e," the widely - known humorist, cracked his lasb joke and manufactured bis last pun a few weeks since. His humour whs clean, healthy, and thoroughly American, and his death causes a "gap" difficult to fill. The • London Graphic hud, a brief article en his work j and death — said article containing as^many mistakes of fact as there were lines. A woman shot a Chinaman the other day in some civilised portion of this State. Excuse : ; Only shot .tit him in fun ! Verdict : Not guilty. Prisoner promptly discharged. Sober truth. A parson down South asserted from the pulpit that two-thirds of the young girls of over 14 years in 'the city of San Francieco are unchaste. The parson, owing to his celerity of movement, escaped a lynching at the hands of the citiasns. Pity there weten'fc x sonie tacks, point upwards, in bis shoes. Miss Susan B. Anthony and Dr Anna Shaw are again in this State arousing mankind and womankind to the imperative necessity of placing woman upon an equality with man in the exercif c of any and every politioal right. The City of Oakland, across the bay, has the j honour of being the healthiest city in the wr rid — at leant statistics seem to say so. Here are a few figures : Boston 24-'O2 per thousand, New j York 23 52, San Franoinco 18 36, London 17*08 | Glsugow 19 08, Liverpool 23 08. Oakland 11-85. Ji aquin Miller, in an address, recently given, sa : d :—": — " I haw watched from my tower on the mountains, and have caught the echoes that are drifting up to me from the great world below. ' These echoes tell me of the extreme f- adness of ' the world below. The American peop'e are £he 1 most miserable peoole on the globe, except the ! people of Paris. Paris {% the city and America the country of tiiicid s. Here lies the misery ! of the American people, the greatest and the best educated people in the world — they have .have no faith in the future." ; A mother and her three daughters were' divorced, each from her respective husband, in one day recently in Salem, Illinois. Senator Perkins has moved, in the United States Senate, that a further sum of BO'.OOOdol be yearly paid to the Oceanic Steam Ship Company., The people on this coast are anxious to maintain the line between this pott and your p«rb of tbe world, and are a little frightened at the Huddart-Patker line to Yancourer. — Perfumes were introduced into Europe by the Arabs, who brought many recipes for making them from the East. TO ALL LEAVING HOME FOR A CHANGE — Bilious attacks and sea-sickness —" I can seldom go to eea without being sick, and I can safely say ENO'S 'FRUIT SALT ' is the only thing that ever gave me relief, and I shall ever recommend it to ell who suffer from sea-sickness. — lam, yours truly, W. Boyce, Sißnalmau, H.M S. Industry." Caution. — Examine each bottle, and see the capsule is marked " ENO'S ITIiTJIT SALT." Without it you have been imposed on by a worthless imitation. Prepared by J. C. ENO'S Patent, at ENO'S "FRUIT SALT" WORKS, LONDON, S.B. 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