OCR Text |
Show THE OGDEN STANDARD-EXAMINE- R SUNDAY MORNING JULY 31, 1921. V . -- in I fT A Professor Garrett P: Serviss Discusses Science's Report of a Mysterious Ray Which Can Start a Machine Going and May Explain the Old Traditions of the Evil Eye, How a. Snake Fascinates a Bird, and Some Strange Problems of Hypnotism v i - . i ;. I i 4ft fI - ' , . t . . , t: f 41 if ' ! F S?- : ' ' L;.. H' . it h - :t.'J r. 1 j . F r i CORNEA -- i J i ' f f-- i tm " 1 v.- - ..... , . IRIS Professor Ru Mechanism for Detecting he Mysterious Ray from the Eye, from Cabled Description. (A) Glass Vessel Coated with Tinfoil to Insulate It from Outside Electrical and Heat Influences. (B) Tall Glass Tuhe Surmounting; Vessel A and Sealed at the Top. (C) Inner Glass Vessel. (D) Parafin Filling Form, ing an Insulating Wall Between the Two Vessels A and C. (E) Cylinder of Mica with Strips of Aluminum Foil Inside and Out and Suspended from the Enclosed (F) Metal Plates for Top of Type. Taking Electrical Charges and Sending Them Across the Space Within. Between These Plates Are Openings Without the Tinfoil Into Which the Obserrer Looks CRYSTALLINE LENSE, !TINA -- X-S CHOROID COAT SCLEROTIC COAT t"""'" lil Mil things of the kind that a i k "TV-to unexpected dis- iff "" lead Actuate the Suspended 1 coveries. The test that Cylinder Within. he ' applies is electric. According to the deBy Garrett P. Serviss. scriptions that I have is no exaggeration in saying THEREJIf the astonishing discovery of read he employs a small solenoid, 1. e'., a Dr. Charles Russ, the English bacteriologist, that there issues fropa the spiral coil of wire withhuman eye a ray of force powerful enough out a central core of to cause a ponderable body to move now iron or steel, through t r in one direction and now in the other, as which an electric curif the mysterious force exerted alternately rent is sent. A solenoid, like, a a push and a pull, shall be thoroughly confirmed it will not only go into history as magnet, has two oppositeand a central one of the greatest advances that the -poles science of man has ever made, but it may" or equatorial region lead, eventually, to an understanding of, which is neutral. It and control over, our psychical powers and behaves, in short, like but our means of exercising compelling influ- an electro-magneit acts less powerfully ence upon one another, such as only writwould a similar spiral colled about than ers of fantastical fiction have hitherto core. It is necessary for the reader an iron dared to dream of. The nature of the extraordinary disclos- to remember this in connection with what follows. ure, partly already made and partly promDr. Russ suspends his solenoid Inside ised or suggested, is most vividly indicated of a glass vessel, from which a glass tube by an example which Dr. Russ is eaid to have quoted by way of pointing out to the projects upward like a chimney. From nonplussed scientific visitors in . his lab- the top of the upright tube, or chimney, oratory the historical basis of his pro- which is closed, hangs a fine untwisted thread of silk, which extends down into ceedings. space beneath, Napoleon once, in the presence of Mar- the larger shal Ney, directed that a corporal be sum- and there supports the solenoid in a hori-- " moned into the room. The Emperor fixed zontal position. In his three years of experimentation his gray eyes upon the man, pointed to the he has developed several progressive window close at hand and said, "Jump!" The corporal turned to the window and forms of the instrument, and in the latest ot these the solenoid takes the form of a , leaped to his death. This astonishing occurrence could be little cylinder of mica provided with strips explained on purely scientific grounds, ac- of aluminum foil running lengthwise incording to Dr., Russ, that there is a ray side and outside.' When an electric field emanating from the human eye which can is formed around the cylinder by means act upon another person's brain and force of a pair of highly charged metallic plates him to obey the will of the gazer. placed on opposite sides of the vessel, the The eye Is a transparent chamber cylinder assumes a fixed position wltn,: that serres like an open "window to give reference to the two oppositely direct access to the brain through nerves plates. that the brain sends forth for the purpose, Now, the solenoid, or cylinder, being at and when' looking deep Into a person's rest in. the position determined by the eyes one may be said to look through an electric tension, if a person looks through open way Into the very heart of the human slits provided for the purpose in the metal machine. For these reasons the eye fs leaf with which the glass is coated, the naturally the organ through "which it would cylinder moves as if a stream of force be expected that any force of an electrical emanated from the gating eye. If the c nature light being an gate is directed toward one end of the d be manifested. phenomenon-woulcylinder it swings toward the eye, if toOn the question of electrical phenomena ward the opposite end the motion is away la the eye only fragmentary knowledge from the eye. In no report that I have seen, however, has been accumulated, but this may tiavo some possible significance in connection is a statement made as to the respective with what is to follow. It has been found, relations of positive and negative poles to for instance, that if the vertex of the this alternate movement to and from the cornea be placed in contact with one elec- eye. Evidently the unknown force. Is of an' trode of a galvanometer, and the back of electrical nature. Evidently, too, its dithe eyeball with the other,' the first' is rect mechanical effect is slight found to be electrically positive with re. All the tests that have been applied ttpect to the other, and a current flows ' unite In showing that nothing has any through the galvanometer from the front effect upon the suspended solemld, or cylto the back of the eye. The impact of inder, except the gate of the eye. If the light causes an increase In the natural elec eye is closed the effect ceases. If the eye trical current in the eye, but If the light is cast from side to side the cylinder is continues for a time the current dimindriven this way and that, as a magnetic ishes, sinking finally below its natural needle 'goes craty under the Influence imount, but on the removal of the light of a swinging magnet. These bare state;here is a rebound of the current. ments certainly in themselves suggest The experiments of Dr. Russ are surneither fraud or deception. But the eviprisingly simple in their nature, like most dence that has been makes one -fl-- fcnd lira a h e. v m " :x imrl i - j - Diagram of the Eye Showing Its Various Parts and the Course of the Optic Nerve to the Brain, On the Left Is a n Greatly Enlarged of the Rods and Cenes of the Cross-sectio- v Retina, and on the Right a Microscopic Enlargement of the Retina Itself Showing the Network of Nerves. Whether the Eye Ray Is an Emanation from the Brain Through the Optic Nerve, or from the Rods and Cones and the Surface of the Retina Itself, Is yet v Undetermined. r i The Uniquely Imaginatire German Artist, S&cha Schneidera Weird Paintiny; "Hypnotism' in. Which He Foreshadowed the Reported Discovery of the Eye Ray, tf . - : presented often One hears the. assertion, very positively mado, that people can be awakened from a sound sleep by some Influence emanating from the eyes of an onlooker. So, too. ltls said that people txjeome nervous and look around If certain persons simply staro at the backs of their heads. Thesu statements are utu- - a UK ? " ' v d electro-magneti- i 1 w t, glass-enclose- s.v V r. Take The Secret of the Influence of Some Men and Women Orer Wild Beasts May Rest, Science NoW Coni..ctur Ufon he Influence of the Eye Ray. One of the Most Extraordinary Cases of This Mysterious Influence Is That of Doctor M. PtrneUt, of Psrls, Who Handles Ferocious Crocodiles Like Kittens, as 'the Shows. Photograph pause for corroboration and confirmation before deciding. It is affirmed that gating through an opera-glas- s does not Interfere with the phenomenon, but that, on the other hand, a person who had incipient cataract failed to influence the Instrument. As already said, cutting off the light by closing the eyelids stops the action. Plainly, then. If the force is of the nature of as has been vibrations, like it dlfferafrom in penetrative power. Some means should be devised to determine whether the effect Is produced when iSfi 6ye ot lhe Sarer unaffected by light. This could be done by fixing the open eye upon the rfolenold by position in utter darkness, some device being found for making the movements visible to other Persons in the light But In the present high-frequenc- y X-ray- s, sug-jeste- d, X-ra- (C) 1131. IaUrnUooU IVsturs Barries, Inc. - slate of the case speculation Is idle. The apparatus needed for tho experiment Is very simple, and any physicist can try It. If the decision as to the genuineness of Dr. Russ's alleged discovery were left to the Impressions produced by popular beliefs, of ancient standing. It would be accepted at once. Nor are these beliefs without some basis of real observation. Setting aside, as smacking too much of charlatanfsm, stories ot the "evil eye" and the power of witches to cast spells with their glances, there remain things which, though they may be incredible from a scientific point ot view, nevertheless often make a strong impression upon intelligent minds, such, for Instance as the apparent influence of steady gating in attracting the attention ot persons who are unaware either of the presence of the gazer or of the fact that he is looking at them. QrM KrtUla Eltfiu EwiM it Is and n again the fact that not always easy, Is sometimes hardly possible, to look steadily Into another person eyes. Often it the exercise of considerable. to faco a pair of Intent eyes, though there be no reason In the world for turning away from them, other than a sense of modesty or propriety. Then, too. the eye la certain circumstances seems to put forth a power that It docs not ordinarily possess or exhibit There is almost universal testimony to the extraordinary influence exerted by tho glances of a great orator In his most pot ent moments of expression. The story of Napoleon, already referred to, may be matched by similar anecdotes concerning almost" any of tho great men of history, and it is not always men of superior executive capacity who are said to have dynamic eyes. A remarkable example is Rob- ert Bums. In regard to these. cases It should bo noted that the effectwould seem to be due light-perceivin- g lens-shape- d, re-fract- lre ally discredited In the name of science, and yet science Is not sure that there may not be some truth behind them. well-know- to something not arising from the qualities of the eye as an Instrument of vision, but coming rather from the centre of nervous power almost nakedly exposed behjnd the transparent lenses and humors of the eye, as If the brain could not only see but put forth invisible energy through that wonderful organ. The crystalline lens, or one of the humors, which are mxtre or less might be supposed to have a effect upon the "power rays Issuing through it, similar to that which It has upon the light rays that enter from without It Is somewhat significant thtt we know that Invisible radiations are reflected and refracted In precisely the same way as light.. To be ranked in the same category witfc the Influence of human eyes upon human telngs Is their alleged influence upon the lower animal. 11 any people believe that beasts like lions and tigers nay be cowed by a steady gaio from a tearless man. The lnsuence. If it exists, U. of course, r.ot due to a restralntag force resembling mechanical energy, but to a force acting upon the nerves and through them influencing the muscle. Discoveries about the eye are more wet- come to evolutionists than those about any other part of the human body, for the eye and the way it developed its present high state of efficiency etlll remain more or le?s unsolved enigmas. As has long been known the eye is an emanation from the brain. But Just bow were its wonderful cameralike qualities evolved? And what purpose did it "serve in th primitive itsges of its development, before it had passed far enough from the present brain to peer at the zaarvela cf the wDrld outside through two slits In the skull? These are craestions which science haa never been able to answer satisfactorily, no" they lend extraordinary interest to Dr. Boss's reported discovery of hitherto unsuspected power In the eie. " |