690 RONTGEN, WILHELM CONRAD. 



RONTGEN RAYS. 



on the subject, This minister gives as one reason 

 for his belief that "the Bible and the creeds are so 

 severely attacked not only by freethinkers, but 

 especially by the scientific Lutheran theologians 

 themselves that the Lutheran Church, in order to 

 be able to defend herself, will be forced to place 

 herself under an authority that has the lawful 

 power to put all these attacks to naught. But such 

 an authority is only to be found with the Pope in 

 Rome, where therefore all those will find a refuge 

 who either feel the need of a ' revealed ' religion or 

 look out for a safe retreat from the increasing pow- 

 er of socialism." 



When Mr. Jenssen came to the conclusion that 

 Catholicity was to become the faith of Denmark 

 he set out to get reliable information about the 

 present condition of the Catholic Church in that 

 country, which he has presented in formidable ar- 

 ray. After reviewing the whole ground, giving the 

 number of Catholic churches and other institutions, 

 the increasing number of priests, and the growing 

 congregations, he says that on an average 200 per- 

 sons a year abandon the established Church in Den- 

 mark and become Catholics. The majority of those 

 are poor. A comparatively great number, though, 

 belong to the nobility. The best known among 

 these are the late member of the House of Repre- 

 sentatives, Count IIolstein-Ledreborg, and the Da- 

 nish ambassador in Paris, Count Moltke-IIuitfeld. 

 Especially the ladies of the nobility seem to feel 

 attracted toward Catholicism. The mother-in-law 

 of the Konsetz-President, Reedtz-Thotts, and the 

 sister of Minister Bardenfleth are Catholics. The 

 sister-in-law of the late Secretary of Church Sca- 

 venius is mother superior of a convent in Copen- 

 hagen, and a baroness is superior of St. Joseph's 

 Convent in Randers. It can almost be considered 

 a question of time when the whole aristocracy will 

 become Catholic, Mr. Jenssen says. Several Lu- 

 theran ministers have embraced Catholicism. 



The Armenian Outrages. While it is true that 

 Roman Catholics have not suffered as much at the 

 hands of the Turks as schismatic Catholics and 

 Protestant Christians, their flocks have not been 

 spared. One instance will suffice to illustrate 

 Turkish barbarity. Father Salvatore, an Italian 

 Franciscan of Aintab, with a number of his pa- 

 rishioners, appealed to the Mohammedan troops for 

 protection. The officer promised it to him, and 

 the priest and his people were given an escort of 

 soldiers. Outside the village the troops were halted, 

 and the Catholics were commanded to renounce 

 their faith and become Mohammedans. On their 

 refusal to do so they were all shot. To this cruelty 

 the Turks added contempt and mockery, especially 

 toward the priest. The sacred vessels were dishon- 

 ored and defiled, and the priest, with these in his 

 hand, was led around, his vestments being danced 

 upon. 



RONTGEN, WILHELM CONKAD, a German 

 physicist, born in Holland in 1845. He was gradu- 

 ated at the University of Zurich, where he took his 

 doctor's degree in 1870. He was a favorite pupil 

 of Prof. Kundt, with whom he went to Wiirzburg, 

 and in 1873 to Strasburg, where he was assistant 

 under his old professor. In 1875 he left Strasburg 

 University to accept the chair of Mathematics and 

 Physics at the Agricultural Academy of Hohenheim, 

 about 4 miles from Stuttgart, but a year later he 

 returned to Strasburg, and in 1879 he became, direct- 

 or of the University Institute of Physics at Giessen. 

 In 1888 he returned to Wiirzburg, where he has 

 since remained. Prof. Rontgen has been an indus- 

 trious worker in experimental physics, and has 

 published many papers on his specialty, chiefly in 

 Wiedemann's ""Annalen," the " Zeitschrift fur Kris- 

 tallographie," and the proceedings of the Vienna 



and Gottingen Academies of Science and of the 

 Physico-Medical Society of Wiirzburg. It was he- 

 fore the last-named society that he described, in De- 

 cember, 1895, his discovery of the form of radiation 

 now known by his name, which is described else- 

 where at length (see RONTUK.V RAYS). Among 

 other subjects of his investigations have been the 

 isothermal surfaces of crystals, solar calorimetry, 



WILHELM CONRAD RONTGEN. 



dust figures, aneroid barometry. the absorption of 

 heat by vapors and gases, and telephony. Of late 

 he has been specially interested in the phenomena 

 of the cathode and anode in exhausted tubes, and 

 this led directly to his discovery of the X rays. This 

 discovery has brought him great fame, and he has 

 been the recipient of numerous honors, including 

 the title of baron, bestowed on him by the Austrian 

 Government. 



RONTUEN RAYS, or X RAYS, a newly dis- 

 covered form of energy that is radiated from a 

 highly exhausted discharge tube, actuated by an 

 induction coil or other suitable apparatus. The 

 rays are so called for their discoverer, Wilhelm Conrad 

 Rontgen (q. v.), who gave them the name " X rays " 

 because he was ignorant of their precise nature, the 

 letter x being the usual algebraic symbol for an un- 

 known quantity. The Rontgen rays resemble ordi- 

 nary light in being propagated in straight lines in 

 being capable (although in a slight degree) of reflec- 

 tion, in causing phosphorescence, and in affecting a 

 sensitized plate. They differ from it in being in- 

 visible, in not being capable of refraction or polari- 

 zation, and in being able to traverse many substances 

 that are opaque to ordinary light. 



History. The phenomena caused by the passage 

 of electricity through exhausted tubes have long at- 

 tracted attention. In 1837 Faraday compared the 

 appearances of the anode and cathode brushes in dif- 

 ferent gases atdifferent pressures, and found that the 

 discharge glow was most easily obtained in rarefied 

 air. Plucker, in 1858, was the first to cause apparatus 

 to be made whereby a practically permanent vacuum 

 could be maintained in a glass bulb. Crookes, by us- 

 ing means of exhaustion superior to anything that 

 had been obtained before his time, showed that when 



