The professor went over to a shelf by the window, where lay a number
of prepared glass plates, closely wrapped in black paper. He put a
Crookes tube underneath the table, a few inches from the under side
of its top. Then he laid his hand flat on the top of the table, and
placed the glass plate loosely on his hand.
"You ought to have your portrait painted in that attitude," I
suggested.
"No, that is nonsense," said he, smiling.
"Or be photographed." This suggestion was made with a deeply hidden
purpose.
The rays from the Roentgen eyes instantly penetrated the deeply hidden
purpose. "Oh, no," said he; "I can't let you make pictures of me. I
am too busy." Clearly the professor was entirely too modest to gratify
the wishes of the curious world.
"Now, Professor," said I, "will you tell me the history of the
discovery?"
[Illustration: COINS PHOTOGRAPHED INSIDE A PURSE.
From a photograph by A.A.C. Swinton, Victoria Street, London.]
"There is no history," he said. "I have been for a long time
interested in the problem of the cathode rays from a vacuum tube
as studied by Hertz and Lenard. I had followed theirs and other
researches with great interest, and determined, as soon as I had the
time, to make some researches of my own. This time I found at the
close of last October.
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