physical as mental, it follows that the mind and its thinking machinery should naturally be-come more and more developed, which, in, fact, it does. Man's mental power, scientists point out. is becoming infinitely greater, and already there are Indications that man's thoughts, or the effects therefrom, do not necessarily have to remain within his skull, but that they actually radiate from the latter in a very imperfect manner.
It is held by some that thought transference proper will soon be an accomplished fact. In substantiation of this statement, it has already been shown experimentally by De Brazza, as well as Charpentier, that concentrated thinking will produce certain external effects, as for instance a slight fluorescence on a zinc sulfide screen, or a suitably excited X-ray screen. This, it is held, tends to prove that thoughts are of an electrical nature having probably a very short wave length. As most electrical effects in space are dependent upon wave motion, it should not be surprising therefore that thoughts or active thinking should give rise to wave motion as well.
This theory is greatly strengthened by the fact that it has been proven beyond doubt that active thinking necessitates an expenditure of energy. If you sit perfectly quiet in a chair without expending any visible muscular energy, and if you concentrate very hard upon a certain problem, it is not infrequent that perspiration appears, on your forehead from the simple effort of thinking. Of course, this is rather a complex phenomenon, as the perspiration is not produced directly, but rather indirectly by the nerve centers working upon the human organs, principally the heart. Nevertheless, it is known that thinking proper calls for an expenditure of energy in the brain itself. That this energy is considerable can also be shown experimentally.
In view of all these facts, in the opinion of H. Gernsback, editor of the Electrical Experimenter, It cannot come as a surprise that the act of thinking should give rise to a direct motion, sending out from the brain certain waves in an analogous manner to the spoken word which produces sound waves of a certain wave length.
"It is quite probable, however." this authority writes in his publication, "That thought waves are simply another form of ether waves, the same as radio waves or light waves. Just as light rays traverse through a thick glass pane without suffering any appreciable loss, just so will thought waves probably pass readily through the human skull. If once we admit this theory it follows that it should be possible to detect such waves and the only thing we need to know about them are the wave length and other important characteristics. We may take it for granted that the human brain, sensitive as it is, probably is not at all sensitive to those waves, and that by suitable apparatus It should become possible to detect such waves."
Just what apparatus is necessary to detect thought waves, or the effects therefrom, Mr. Gernsback does not venture to predict, but he says that there is no doubt that the apparatus will be eventually found. Very little is known about the emission of the thought waves, and as a matter of fact the entire mechanism which produces thoughts is practically an unknown quantity, but every effect can be translated and recorded if ones we understand its fundamentals.
In suggesting the audion as a thought-wave detector, Mr. Gernsback says that he does not do so because he thinks that it is suitable in all respects, or even feasible. His main idea is to set the stone rolling and get other people to think about the problem, when sooner or later something surely will emerge. He explains that he suggested the audion because it is known as one of the most sensitive of electrical apparatus for detecting wave motion.
If thoughts give rise to electrical waves, then by winding a few turns of wire on a headband and slipping it over the head, it should be possible, Mr. Gernsback thinks to detect the presence of thought waves in the audion.
an science develop a machine that actually will record thoughts? Some authorities, evidently, are of the opinion that it is not impossible to do this and point to the fact that as the battle for existence becomes more and more acute, and as moreover the battle is not as much
"On the other hand, too, the audion is enormously sensitive to capacity effects." says this authority. 'Thus, for instance, an oscillating audion is so sensitive that when the human hand is approached to it at a distance of even two feet, the presence of the hand will be heard plainly in the telephone receiver. It this is the case, the disturbance created in the mind should certainly make its presence felt in audion, for thinking being first of a chemical nature the act certainly must give rise to capacity effects.
"But let us assume that active thinking does not give rise to waves, electrical or otherwise, then the mere chemical action (and resulting capacity effects) should produce a disturbing influence upon the audion. These variations, if ever so slight, could then be amplified by the use of an audion or other amplifier and the resultant effect be sent into an Einthoven string galvanometer. The small mirror attached to the string of the galvanometer will send its luminous pencil upon a light-sensitive paper tape which moves at a certain rate of speed in front of the mirror. The result will be a wavy line traced upon the paper tape in the well known manner. The paper tape traveling on will pass through its fixing tank, and from there will emerge from the outside of the machine after it has past through a small drying chamber heated by electrical coils.
"From this, it will be understood that a man sitting in front of his thought recorder will be able actually to see on a tape his recorded thoughts. The same as the telegrapher working on a transatlantic cable watches his tape and Its wavy line produced by the Syphon recorder, emerging from the latter. Of course, it will be necessary for everyone to learn the thought alphabet just as the stenographer today must learn the various shorthand characters, or as the child is thought how to read and write, and as the cable operator must learn how to read the Syphon recorder 'alphabet.' All this, however, is simple, and is only an educational feature. once the apparatus has been invented.
'The objection naturally comes in the mind immediately that even if we have a machine to record the thoughts, all we will get on the tape will be a jumble of confused thoughts, and we might let a lot of things on the tape that were not meant for recording or registering at all. Such criticism of course, is beyond controversy for the simple reason that when you write a letter by hand or on the typewriter, you have also at first have a lot of confused thoughts, but you do not record such thoughts even by hand or by machine. It often happens after you have written down certain thoughts that you must change them. The same is true of the thought recorder, of course.
"In the accompanying illustration the man who is doing the recording has a push button in his hand, shown at A. If he does not push the button nothing is recorded. Once he wishes t0 record his thoughts in an orderly manner, he pushes the button and the tape begins moving simultaneously — he will begin thinking in an orderly and slow manner the subject he wishes to record, He will think just as hard and Just the same as if he were to pen down his thoughts by hand. The machine will then do the rest. If he thinks the wrong thoughts, naturally the wrong thoughts will be recorded, exactly the same as if he had written them by hand, There is no difference.
"The illustration also shows what will happen in the future business office when the thought recorder comes into universal use. The businessman of tomorrow will dictate his correspondence on the thought recorder, while his stenographer, who is perfectly familiar with his 'thought writing' will type out the correspondence from the tape, which is kept moving by electric motors in front of her eyes, a foot pedal stops or starts the motor, and there is also a reversing attachment so the tape will run backwards should she wish to re-read a certain portion of the tape.
The Thought Recorder Is an Instrument Recording Thought Directly by Electrical Means, on a Moving Paper Tape. The Illustration Shows What a Future Business Office Will Look Like When Such an Invention Has Been Perfected. By Pushing the Button A, The Tape Is Started and Stopped Automatically so That Thoughts That Are Wanted Are Recorded.
