McClure's Magazine, Vol. 6, No. 5, April, 1896 — John Shaqi
McClure's Magazine, Vol. 6, No. 5, April, 1896Various
History
McClure's Magazine, Vol. 6, No. 5, April, 1896
Various
American literature -- Periodicals; Literature -- Periodicals
though in all ways modest, is destined to be enduringly historical.
There was a wide table shelf running along the farther side, in front
of the two windows, which were high, and gave plenty of light. In the
centre was a stove; on the left, a small cabinet, whose shelves held
the small objects which the professor had been using. There was a
table in the left-hand corner; and another small table--the one on
which living bones were first photographed--was near the stove, and
a Rhumkorff coil was on the right. The lesson of the laboratory was
eloquent. Compared, for instance, with the elaborate, expensive, and
complete apparatus of, say, the University of London, or of any of the
great American universities, it was bare and unassuming to a degree.
It mutely said that in the great march of science it is the genius of
man, and not the perfection of appliances, that breaks new ground in
the great territory of the unknown. It also caused one to wonder at
and endeavor to imagine the great things which are to be done through
elaborate appliances with the Röntgen rays--a field in which the
United States, with its foremost genius in invention, will very
possibly, if not probably, take the lead--when the discoverer himself
had done so much with so little. Already, in a few weeks, a skilled
London operator, Mr. A.A.C. Swinton, has reduced the necessary time
of exposure for Röntgen photographs from fifteen minutes to four.
He used, however, a Tesla oil coil, discharged by twelve half-gallon
Leyden jars, with an alternating current of twenty thousand volts'
pressure. Here were no oil coils, Leyden jars, or specially elaborate
and expensive machines. There were only a Rhumkorff coil and Crookes
(vacuum) tube and the man himself.
Professor Röntgen entered hurriedly, something like an amiable gust
of wind. He is a tall, slender, and loose-limbed man, whose whole
appearance bespeaks enthusiasm and energy. He wore a dark blue sack
suit, and his long, dark hair stood straight up from his forehead, as
if he were permanently electrified by his own enthusiasm. His voice is
full and deep, he speaks rapidly, and, altogether, he seems clearly a
man who, once upon the track of a mystery which appealed to him,
would pursue it with unremitting vigor. His eyes are kind, quick, and
penetrating; and there is no doubt that he much prefers gazing at a
Crookes tube to beholding a visitor, visitors at present robbing him
of much valued time. The meeting was by appointment, however, and his
greeting was cordial and hearty. In addition to his own language he
speaks French well and English scientifically, which is different from
speaking it popularly. These three tongues being more or less within
the equipment of his visitor, the conversation proceeded on an
international or polyglot basis, so to speak, varying at necessity's
demand.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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