X Rays on the Blind

Nikola Tesla Deprecates the Holding Out of Hope to the Sightless and Says Facts Do Not Warrant It.

The Electrical Review will publish to-day an exhaustive communication from Nikola Tesla on his latest experiment with the X ray. Tesla states that the sunburn effects noted by many experimenters are not due directly to the rays, but to the ozone generated by the rays in contact with the skin.

In referring to the recently widely heralded experiment for making the blind see by means of the Roentgen rays, he regretfully remarks: —

"Is it not cruel to raise such hopes when there is so little ground for it? For, first of all, the rays are not demonstrated to be transverse vibrations. If they were, we would have to find means for refracting them to make possible the projection of a sufficiently small image upon the retina. As it is, only a shadow of a very small object can be projected. What possible good can result from the application of these rays to such purposes?

"I cannot confirm some of the experiments reported. For instance, when a hand is put before the closed eyes it is easy to distinguish the shadow, much the same as before the light of a candle; but when the tube is enclosed and all the light from the same excluded, I fail to get such an impression. The latter is, therefore, chiefly due to ordinary light."

Tesla then points out a possible, method of manufacturing fertilizers by electricity. "With currents produced by perfected electrical oscillators it is possible to combine the nitrogen of the atmosphere. If merely fertilizers of the soil would be manufactured in this manner the benefits to humanity derived therefrom would be incalculable."

He concludes. with an interesting description of an improvement in the method of taking X ray impressions in surgical cases.