Masterpieces of Science 



terminology of science it is generally called ' ' a 

 new mode of motion, " or, in other words, a new 

 force. As to whether it is or not actually a force 

 new to science, or one of the known forces mas- 

 querading under strange conditions, weighty 

 authorities are already arguing. More than one 

 eminent scientist has already affected to see in it 

 a key to the great mystery of the law of gravity. 

 All who have expressed themselves in print have 

 admitted, with more or less frankness, that, in 

 view of Rontgen's discovery, science must forth- 

 with revise, possibly to a revolutionary degree, 

 the long accepted theories concerning the phe- 

 nomena of light and sound. That the X rays, 

 in their mode of action, combine a strange 

 resemblance to both sound and light vibrations, 

 and are destined to materially affect, if they do 

 not greatly alter, our views of both phenomena, 

 is already certain; and beyond this is the opening 

 into a new and unknown field of physical knowl- 

 edge, concerning which speculation is already 

 eager, and experimental investigation already in 

 hand, in London, Paris, Berlin, and, perhaps, to 

 a greater or less extent, in every well-equipped 

 physical laboratory in Europe. 



This is the present scientific aspect of the dis- 

 covery. But, unlike most epoch-making results 

 from laboratories, this discovery is one which, to 

 a very unusual degree, is within the grasp of the 

 popular and non-technical imagination. Among 

 the other kinds of matter which these rays pene- 

 trate with ease is human flesh. That a new 

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