TRANSACTIONS OF WAGNER 



72 



ETHER WAVES AND THE MESSAGES THEY BRING 



During the last twenty years the subject has been studied by Lyman, of 

 Harvard University. He has accurately measured waves to the length of 600 



o 



Angstrom units, and discovered others still shorter. 



Some of the properties of these waves have been mentioned as we have 

 described their study. They are easily absorbed. Very few of those coming 

 from the sun reach the surfafce of the earth, being absorbed by the upper layers 

 of the atmosphere. A very thin layer of glass absorbs a large percentage of 

 the waves above 3000 units in length, and almost entirely the shorter ones. 

 The waves in the region of 3000 units possess to a remarkable degree the 

 power to ionize air and other gases. Only a few of these waves reach the sur- 

 face of the earth from the sun, but it has been shown that a large number of 

 them do reach the cloud levels of the atmosphere. It has been shown by 

 C.T. R. Wilson and others that ions of air may act as condensation nuclei in cloud 

 formation. Probably, therefore, these waves play a great part in the formation 

 of rain drops, particularly in the higher cloud levels, where there are compara- 

 tively few dust particles. One of the most remarkable properties of these 

 waves, particularly in the Schuman region, is their bactericidal action. If 

 some mobile form of cell life be placed in the field of a microscope and be ob- 

 served while subjected to ultra-violet hght of about 1850 units in wave length, 

 the kilHng action is seen to be almost instantaneous. Not only is the organism 

 killed, but its body is in some cases absolutely torn apart. This abiotic action 

 is not confined to micro-organisms, all cells being more or less susceptible to it. 

 Thus it will produce inflammation of the eyes and of all the mucous tissues of 

 the human body. It is probably true that without the shielding action of the 

 atmosphere all Hfe on the earth would be stamped out. The rather fanciful 

 theory that low forms of life might be transported through interplanetary space 

 is seen to be untenable in the light of these facts. It is obvious that as these 

 pass through this space they must be killed. 



If we pass another unknown belt in the spectrum in our progress to- 

 ward the shortest waves to be found there, we come to the x-rays (Fig. 5). 

 These were first discovered by Roentgen in 1895. It had long been known that 

 when an electric discharge is passed through a highly exhausted tube there is a 

 stream of energy thrown off from the cathode. This is called the cathode ray. 

 It is now known that this ray is a stream of negatively charged particles called 

 electrons. Roentgen showed that if these particles be allowed to strike upon 

 a target of some heavy metal there would be given off from this target rays 



