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About The Sunday Oregonian. (Portland, Ore.) 1881-current | View Entire Issue (April 22, 1906)
.1 r a 'Copyright, 1006, by John Elfreth Wat kins.) ly WASHINGTON. April 16. (Special Jfc Correspondence of The Sunday WT Orogonlan.) A new proof of death which Professor Elmer Gates, of this city, says he has discovered now hap the medi cal world very much by the ears. By subjecting; animal matter to certain chemical rays. Professor Gates says he has demonstrated that a living body will cast a shadow, whereas a dead body will not. In other words, flesh pulsating with life is to these new rays as is metal to the X-rays, -whereas dead flesh Is as transparent to their light as Is paper or leather or flesh Itself to the X-rays. Making the Now Rays. These new rays arc not X-rays, al though they arc non-luminous. They are produced quite differently, and although akin to the X-rays they are about as different from them as they are different from sound. Since 1891, he says, he has been experimenting with light rays abouj five optaves above the violet light seen when a ray of sunlight ia passed through a prism. Lest this sound technical to tho layman, let it be explained that the vibra tions of light are grouped in octaves, just-J as are tnose or sound. Of the seven fun damental colors cast by a prism pene trated by sunlight, the rays of the red have the slowest vibrations and those of the violet the most rapid. So limited Is the scopo of the human eye under ordi nary conditions that it cannot perceive rays of light slower than the rod or faster than the violet. Some of tho lower ani mals are supposed to have greater scope, however, particularly those which prowl In the darkness, and which are believed to see objects in the light of rays whose vibrations are slower than tho red. So, then, the "ultra-violet" rays -which the experimentor says ho has been using In these testa are about five octaves higher or quicker in vibration than the bright est perceptlblo violet rays which shine down upon us on sunny days. These In visible "ultra-violet" rays arc also pres ent in sunlight, and according to some scientists are harmful to us in very hot weather when they penetrate our clothes and strike at our vital parts. However, they can only be Isolated from other rays by such a device as this Inventor says he has perfected, In artificially producing these highly! penetrative rays he uses a vacuum tube, Personal Recollections of Judge George H. Williams 'o XXI. The Nations Indebtedness to Edwin 31. Stanton, Uic Great "War Secretary. I DO not think that tho public serv ices of Edwin m. Stanton have been or ever will bo appreciated as they deserve to be. Ills, great work as a war Minister has been overshadowed by the popularity of President Lin coln. When he was made Secretary of War he was a strong, healthy and ro bust man. When I went to Washing ton in 1S64 he was a living skeleton. He was pale, emaciated and feeble, but still at his post of duty. He literally worked himself to death. He was largely the backbone of the Lincoln administration. Some people considered him arbitrary, overbearing and tyrannical, chiefly because he had no patience with incompetents, cow ards and traitors. He had Bismarck's idea of war. I do not believe he was naturally a hard-hearted man. but he subordinated everything to his sense of duty. He seemed disposed to crush everybody and everything that stood in the way of the Union cause. He was removed from office by President Johnson and died a physical wreck af ter General Grant became President. I know that General Grant, who had a good opportunity to know, had a most exalted opinion of his abilities and efficiency as Secretary of War. June 1. 1S6S, Senator Edmunds in troduced in the Senate the following resolution: "Resolved, by the Senate, tho House of Representatives concur ring, that the thanks of Congress are due and are hereby tendered to Hon. Edwin M. Stanton for the great abil ity, purity and fidelity of the cause of the country with which he has dis charged the duties of Secretary of War as well amid the open .dangers of the great rebellion as at a later period when assailed by opposition inspired by hostility to the measures of Justice and pacification provided by Congress for the restoration of real and perma nent peace." Senator Hendricks attacked the reso lution on the ground that it seemed to praise Mr. Stanton for refusing to resign the office of Secretary of War when requested so to do by the Presi dent. He admitted that Stanton had made an able Secretary, but condemned his course la the controversy with but M?s -fUs rt ril. If, jyiQF GAZJ which he claims to be more nearly an absolute chemical vacuum than any de vice hitherto invented. He places this tube in a magnetic field and projects through It polarized light. This light takes the form of tho rays in question, and will paa through objects opaque to rays .of light which the eye can discern. In this tube, however, there aro none of the phenomena of phosphorescence that appear in the Crooks' tube, used for making X-rays. The Shadow on the Wall. These new rays, although Invisible when produced In an ordinary room, were made President Johnson. Edmunds replied and referred sarcastically to the help that Hendricks and his political friends had given to the Government during the war. Senator Morton supported the reso lution and said In part: "During tho war I occupied a posi tion which brought me into Intimate official relations with Mr. Stanton and gave mo good opportunities of Judging In regard to his ability, his decision of character and his patriotism. I think that the country now has but an Ira perfect comprehension of the great services which Mr. Stanton rendered to the Nation during Uio prosecution of the war. Mr. Stanton, In my opin ion, displayed remarkable powers of intellect. He comprehended from the beginning the magnitude of the con test which a great many of our public men failed to do; the preparations which he made for carrying on the war were commensurate with the ne cessities of the case and the condition of the country. Mr. Stanton displayed great courage in the administration of his office. There was no responsibility that he was not willing to take if he believed that the success of the Union Army and the good of the country de manded It, He was exceedingly prompt in the discharge of his duties. His In tellectual operations were not only ac curate but exceedingly rapid. Mr. Stanton lacked the arts of the poli tician. He never cultivated the art of pleasing. He would transact a very large amount of business In a day. but it was done by going right to the point of the subjects presented to him. He would work in his office IS out of the 24 hours, and transacted an amount of business that was perfectly Incredible. I will not undertake to say that other men could not have been found who would not have conducted the affairs of the War Department as successfully as Mr. Stanton did. but the chances were against finding them. He performed great services for the coun try, and If It had -not been for his ability, his comprehensiveness, his great labor and the accuracy of his In tellectual operations, and above alL the courage he displayed In carrying out what he believed the interests of the country demanded, it Is hard to tel what might have been the result of the war. 1 believe that for two years he sever left this city, but devoted THE STJXDAY OBEGOyLAJf, , POTIAlIp, AJEEHj , T ltO n These Kays Live Animals Cast Shadows, Become Transparent as They Die. mm JBQXATCFOr visible. Professor Gates says, when pro jected upon a wall coated with rhodopsln,. a substance whoc color he found to be altered by the action of the rays In ques tion. This rhodopsln 1 the visible par pie of the retina, or seeing substance of tho eye. upon which light acts. That used In the experiment was extracted from the. eyes of freshly slaughtered ani mals. All known Inorganic and dead organic matter arc found to be transparent In these fays, according to the Inventor. Unlike the X-rays, they shine through, metals, bones, and such substances held between the tube emitting thane rays and himself night and day to the discharge of the duties of his office. He was not self-seeking, either. He was not pav ing the way to bo a candldatc'for the Presidency or for any other prefer ment. He was not trying to please men, cither in the Army or out of the Army, but he seemed to me to be ac tuated by a single desire of discharg ing his duty, regardless of whom It offended or whom it pleased." Senator Howard said: "I think that Mr. Stanton deserves this praise at the hands of the Senate and much more from the voice of the country which he has served so ably and so well. History will record his efficient services in prosecuting the war to put down the rebellion. There will be no public name In the history of the United States Jn this age whose name will shine vth greater 1 inter than the name of Edwin M. Stanton. Wc owe him much more than I can mention for his great services, his fidelity, his activity, his per severing courage In putting down the re bellion." Senator Fcssendcn made a fine speech in favor of the resolution. Among other things, he said: "I was Intimate with Mr. Stanton from the time he went Into the War Office. I had a chance to know him well, not only to see as all tho world could see the remarkable energy. .ability and purity with which he discharged the duties of that great office and the services he was there by enabled to render to his country at a most trying period, but I could look still further and know as I did know the en tire disinterestedness of action and the absence of all personal ambition the ab sence of all looking forward except the approbation of his own conscience and the proud consciousness of rendering great service to the country. If there was any man connected with the adml nitration not excepting Mr. Lincoln hlmselr. who served his country merely for the love of It and from the desire to save it from the dangers that he saw impending, and the difficulties that hung over It," It was Mr. Stanton." Senator Harlan said: "I am aware that Mr. Stanton during the war gave offense to many earnest and patriotic friesds of the Government. He eeuld not always grant their requests. It frequently beoasse Ma duty to make an ceremonteM dcaUls ef favors and h (tea did s wK a will aad apparent the wall covered with rhodopsln. -without casting a shadow or causing the color of the rhodopsln to change over .the corre sponding area. Any living animal Is opaque to these rays, however, and will cast a shadow as long as It retains life. This may per haps be explained, he stales, by the fact that in the living animal there arc constantly going; on many chemical and electrical motions, while In tho dead ani mate the pholoplasm Is congested. Bear ing directly upon this point Is a series of experiments which ho says he made in a room whose walls, celling and floor were lined throughout with sheets of earnestness which seemed to many un called for, hut which to him seemed a necessity. On this account be was prob ably more misunderstood of the American people than any one of the great actors In Uie late rebellion. On this account soma have thought him morose and even hard, hearted, when in fact he Is one of the most humane and kind-hearted of men. I never made an appeal to him cither as Senator or as an associate in an execu tive capacity in favor of the friendless, of a wounded soldier, of a sick soldier, a minor soldier boy or of a subordinate officer who was supposed to be oppressed by bis superior, or of suffering on the field of battle or In the hospital that be did not respond Instantly and heartily." Senator Thayer said: "It Is not alone tbe'soldler In the field or the officer who leads him who merits' recognition foe great public services. Others were need ed In different departments. It was as necessary to have men at home to for ward the means and to send forward troops and organize them as It was to have armies In the field. Who per formed such services In a manner equal to the late Secretary of War? Why. sir. he was the main man In the Government. It was his dauntless, resolution, his un faltering courage amid gloom and dark ness and doubt when these around him were despondent which cheered Mr.' Lin coln and others to carry forward the op erations of the war." Senator Buckalew made a speech of considerable bitterness against the reso lution, and was followed by Senator Doo littl in a similar strain. Senator Hen derson took exceptions to the resolution because be thought he saw In It some reflection upon these who voted against the impeachment of President Johnson, but Senators Fessenden. TrumbuU and others who voted with him on that trial did not look at it In the same way. The resolution was adopted by a vote of 37 for and 11 against lu All the Republic ans vctd fer It except Headeraoo. aad all the Democrats voted against It. I have made the above aBotatioas from some of the speeches made apea the resolutloa of Seaater Edaraade. because In mysjudgment tay are correct charac terizations of Mr. Staatva aad Just trib utes to his patriotism and great public services. 1 eaa coaSna frem personal eb scrvatia Hutch that was said la. their zpebes. Staatoa w at times abrvpt; tmpatttat aad Macirlt ia the traaweUaa fc - J? - lead connected with the earth by elec tric conductors passing through a gal vanometer sufficiently sensitive to meas ure the amount of electricity emitted by any person In the room. liive Body, a Bundle of Electric Im pulses. That the body, in every muscle and nerve. Is electrically excited whenever exercised he demonstrated, according to his statement, with this-apparatus. Every muscle and nerve appears to be an elec tric conductor. If a- person "lift his arm and keep the muscles tense they give off more electric energy than when kept at rest. During exercise of the mind even there appear to be similar electric dis charges Into the surrounding atmosphere, and If two brothers were sent separately Into this lead-lined toobi. blng. there told -for the -rst time that their mother rwas dead, the galvanometer would prob ably show which of the two would suffer the greater emotion. So then. In the liv ing body of any animal man or beast- there are electric waves hurryinr In all directions through the nerves and mus cles. Light waves, which, too. are elec tric waves cannot penetrate such a bun dle of electric Impulses, according; to Professor Gates. Experiment With Rat- When a live rat. for example. Is placed In a hermetically sealed glass tube., held in the path of these rays and before the sensitized wall, a distinct shadow Is al leged by the inventor to be cast by the animal as long as It remains 'alive. After It dies, however end after a certain lapse of time It becomes suddenly transparent. The experimenter further stales that one of his assistants made the alleged dis covery that at the moment of death the shadowy form of the animal In the tube would move upwara on uie scusiuzea wall. This alleged discovery has ben widely circulated and, greatly exaggerat ed, according to Professor Gates, and, although he never observed such a phe nomenon himself, he has been "put in the attitude of a believer in a psychic mean ing or Implication of the experiment." Similar harm, he says, was done him by sensation mongers who hawked about a 1 story that he had discovered that emo- of business, and In many respects was the impersonation of "grim-visaged war." He seems In a large measure to haver -possessed that spirit which King Henry V tried to Infuse Into his soldiers when, according to Shakespeare, he said: In pesce there' nothing so becomes a man As modest stillness and humility: Bat when the blast of war blows In our ears Then Imitate the action of the tbjer: Stiffen the sinews, snmmca'up the blood. DUgntse fair nature with ta.rd-favcr'd nee: Then lend " the eje a terrible -aspect: Let it pry throush the portage of the head Uke- the bnus cannon: let the brow over whelm It As fearfully as doth the galled rock. Oerhoar and Jatty his confounded base, fiwlll'd with the wild and wasteful ocean. Now set tho teeth and stretch the nostrils wide. Hold hard the breath and bend up ererr spirit To Ida full helrht! President Lincoln was a good man and a great statesman, but In his amiability and good nature there was an element of weakness for the cruel and bloody work of war. and It took the indomitable en ergy of the unbending will, the desperate courage of Secretary Stanton with the bull-dog tenacity and military genius of General Grant to make the war for. the Union a success. GEORGE II. WILLIAMS. Tho Wanderer Returns. Youth's Companion. It was old-home week, and the returned sons and grandsons had been telling with more or less pride of the changes time had wrought for them. At last Edward Jameson spoke: T went away from here 30 years ago a poor man. with only one solitary dollar In my pocket. I walked the four miles from my father's farm te the station, and there I begged a ride to Beaton on a freight car. Last night I drove Into tewn behind a spirited pair of horses and my purse guess how ranch my purse holds la money today, besides a large check, aad Mr. Jameson looked abe-tat him with a brilliant smile. "Fifty dollars!" "Seventy-fiver" "A hand red!" aheated the boys; ailed with admiration. "No," said Mr.' Jame-see, 'drawtsg a large flat pane from his jtbcket 'whea the chusor had sabsMed. "neae ef JyeV has guessed right. Whea 1 had paid the 26 cents to Ocnf Boggs for "my refresslng drive I had ia the coach I had. besides my truak. check (which I" retained far flnaa cial rKHs)v exactly 4 ceata. 1 have come baek; my frieass. te stay. Any little Jobs aC aw4r aad splKUmr will be gratafatty recstved , ttQF. ELTIZR GA7Z5 tions are registered In a scale of colors. These rays may bo of great use to physicians not only in determining whether a person is actually dead, but In locating dead tissues within the body especially a dead foetus, the professor believes. In the opinion of medlco-legul authorities with whom the writer has discussed the problem, an unimpeachable proof of death Is greatly needed. Tho most popular means of making tests aro the phonetoscopc. by which the least heart murmur can be heard, the ophthal moscope revealing In the eye certain changes resulting from death: the cold mirror, flake of cotton, or feather ap plied to the Hps for evidences of breath ing: the vessel of water or mercury placed upon the abdomen to reveal slight movement, and the holding of tho hands against the sunlight to determine wheth er they are still translucent. Other Xew Death Tests. Another new means of proving death was suggested lately when the professors. Charpentier and Blondelot. of the Uni versity of Nancy, announced that the hu man body emits rays similar in nature to those of radium rays, and which are Increased in strength when we grow strenuous with our muscles and nerves. It was thought that this discovery would enable physicians to decide beyond a doubt whether life had departed from the body, which, Ifdead. would show no rays under the apparatus. Another new test is that of Dr. Augus tus Waller, who finds that when be sends through the body of an animal a current of electricity escaping through a sensitive galvanometer a "back rush of current is perceived in the case of living tissue, while no effect is obtained In the case of dead tissue. Experimenting also with eggs, he finds that those which are non Incubated, sterile or putrefied, do not give this "back rush. of. current, white ah egg containing' a developing chicken did so. Xo Pulse, Breath or Heat for Days, Xet .alive. A positive death test is most needed In cases of catalepsy, in which death is often so closely simulated as to de ceive, skilled physicians. There are such cases where there can be dis covered no pulse, .no heart beat and no respiration. The face becomes pale, tho eyeballs fixed and the Inexperienced physician Is apt to pronounce tho pa tient dead. Yet during- this condition the cataleptic is aware of all that is going on about him. He hears voices and, according- to one authority, "by some strange subconscious power sees through his closed eyelids everything; within the range of vision." Still he Is unable to move a muscle. After, however, the consciousness that he 13 about to be embalmed or placed In a grave proves such a shock that ho suddenly summons tho power1 to make a signal indicating- that he is alive. "Various English and .German array surgeons have described the peculiar voluntary catalepsy- practiced for gen erations by the adepts of India, who throw themselves into a death-like' trance, and, with nostrils, tightly plugged and ' mouth, flrmly bandaged, allow them Musings for Three Minutes Evolution of Alcoholic Drink in Connection With Political Campaigns. CAN you imagine how stupid a po litical campaign .would be without ita lager beer and. pretzels? What sound is so cheerful and welcome to the weary son of toll as the cry of the can didate, "Come on. boys"? And who has given thiy to America? Why, the German, of course. Before the German came, the blue-nosed Yankee was accustomed to take a demijohn and fill it up with corn when he wished to treat a few friends on a campaign trip. Now he takes a lard pail and rushes the growler. Such is evolution. But In Oregon at least all this has been changed, and all through adopting some fool Popullstlc notions. Just see what we are coming to: instead of the voters being called to the bar to satisfy their thirst, they get a long disquisition through the mail about Statement No." 1 and the Primary Pledge. You go into any Post office after the mall from Portland has been distributed and you will see several Yahoos who never before received a type written letter taking one off Into a corner and with a scared look trying to figure out what it all means. Campaigns in the good old days used to be Joyous af fairs, but the tendency now Is to put everybody back into the kindergarten and make them think. The strain is going to be too much for some of us. however. Yet. all Joking aside, they really are carrying this method of campaigning by the United States mall a little too far. Why actually the other day I got a let ter rieatly typewritten informing me that the Populist party was dead. Now such a thing is positively cruel, for you take a person of a susceptible temperament aad break such sad news to him In such a sudden manner and 1 would -not answer fer the consequences'. "Why, when I opened that letter and that gloomy sentence" confronted me I felt like sitting down on the curb; aad "shedding tears into the gut terbat I didn't. However, I soliloquized with Jeb aad asked, "If a man die, shall he live agaia? aad woadered if that weald apply te-a party. So let's z' back ta the Germaa -way; It is more cheerful by far.- Seer & fcec the oaly thteg that Geramas 4 3 selves to be buried. They thus remain underground In a state of suspended animation for from one to three weeks. That people huvo returned to life after premature burial there is no lack of well-authenticated evidence. A woman, who had been placed in a fam ily vault in Magdeburg, Germany, re gained consciousness during the night succeeding her burial. Finding tho vault unlocked, she fled to her home, where she lived many years after her frightful experience, which is com memorated by a monument in the Lutheran cathedral of that city. Sinco this event it has become the custom In certain parts of Germany to place a bell above the public vaults and to fasten the hand of the ostensible corpse to the rope, that it may be rung In the event of a revival of con sciousness. One dark night In Berlin, the bell of one of these "mortuary ves- "" tlbules" rang violently, and the care taker, who had been but a few days at his post, became greatly excited. He ran toward the death chamber and as soon as he opened the door was con fronted by one of the corpses, envel, oped In a shrouU. This corpse, who had been a soldier of the Foot Guards, was able to Join his regiment five days later. A Colonel Howard, of Castle How ard. County Wlcklow. Ireland. was placed In a lead coffin, ornamented with a plate bearing his name and the dates. Fortunately he returned to life before entombment and as a warning to his servants against' hasty burials, he had his coffin-plate fixed over his kitchen chimney. A mure familiar case is that, of B. E. Chandler, W. S. N-, who some years ago was pronounced dead, after an ill ness of some days, at his home on Long Island. An undertaker was called, in and Instructed to embalm the body: but no sooner was the embalming in strument applied to his flesh than the commander reached out his arms and asked: "What's alt this fuss about?" The terrified undertaker fled without .picking up his tools, and the com mander forthwith called for an oyster stew. A Chicago drummer named Carl P. Swartz fell ill and was pronounced dead In a little hotel in Minneapolis. His remains were shipped by express to his Chicago home, where the coffin lid was unscrewed that his widow and relatives might take their last look before burial. While they were weep ing about him he suddenly sat up, frightening put of the room all save an uncle, who "helped him out of the coffin. Repeated occurrences of similar grue,someness have proved that Poe's pen-picture of the return to life of the lady Madeline of "Usher was by no .means extravagant. They have also In duced many persons to direct In their wills that their physicians apply to, their bodies certain tests for death be- fore handing them over to the under takers. Among those who made such provision were Hans Christian Ander son. Harriet Martineau. Ada Cavendish, Edmund Tates. Bishop Berkley, Daniel O'Connell and Wllkle Collins. JOHN ELFRETH WATKINS. have contributed to American civilization. Far from it. Some fellow that wanted to be doing something and was not satisfied with black bass, wall-eyed pike or dog salmon for his Friday meals, had to in troduce German carp to a long-suffering community. Mr. German Carp had bardly bcen naturalized before he had put all his competitors out of business. In fact, the German carp has got so bold that any farmer who lives within a mile of a creek has to keep a sharp outlook over his hay crop, for on a foggy night the carp will come in on the fog. eat up tho hay and get back to the creek before morning. if I have a sugestion'"to offer. They have started a Hall oC Fame back East, where they put marble busts of people whom the committee thinks have done some thing for the benefit of humanity. Now I propose that somebody get Carnegie to . put up about a quarter of a million and with it build a Hall of Anathema, say at Chicago where It would be appropriate and surrounded by the proper atmos phere. Then put In brass busts of the men who Introduced German carp, the English sparrow, the Gypsy moth, the rabbit in Australia, the Inventor of verti cal handwriting. John D. Rockefeller. J Wilbur Chapman, Elbert Hubbard done Roycroftle, which would require about ton of brass. I believe that I started to discuss the Germans. Well, the Germans are no be lievers in race suicide. They go In for what has been aptly called the Belgian hare Ideal of a family, which Is all right In a new country but rough In a thickly settled one. Sourkrout, Iimburger. Wienerwurst, smierkase; what fond memories and smells do they call to mind. MARCUS W. ROBBINS. Grant's Pass. Or. Empty Bottle's Mute Story. Exchange. A man had been employed to make an inventory of the furniture In the house. He -was so long about his task In the parlor, however, that the mistress of the raanskm went to see what he was"-doing. On the floor lay an empty bottle. On the sofa lay the. man sleeping sweetly like a, tired child. "But the Inventory had not beea whoHy forgotten. At the top of the page stood a. solitary entry: "One Re volving Carpet