Inventive American scientist Thomas A. Edison (1847–1931) designed an etheroscope
in 1875 (Fig. 1). The device detected etheric forces that were serendipitously radiating wirelessly
from his cable-requiring telegraph devices. Edison coined his ether-based terms because
the word ether had long designated the light-carrying fabric of space (that is, the
luminiferous ether). The word similarly designated volatile chemical substances that
tended to fly off into space, such as the celebrated ether championed by American
anesthesia pioneer William TG Morton (1819-1868). There was initial skepticism of
Edison's new force. For instance, The New York Times playfully proposed, “He might as well call it the chloral-hydrate or the nitrous-oxide
force.”
The phenomenon was verified by German physicist Heinrich R. Hertz (1857-1894) in
1886 and is now called radio.
[2]
Edison collaborated with American neurologist George M. Beard (1839-1883) in hopes
of medical applications of etheric force.
[3]
Edison's radiofrequency electrical work constituted a basic scientific step toward
radiofrequency medical devices such as those of electrocautery, ultrasonography, and
magnetic resonance imaging.
Fig. 1Thomas Edison peering through his etheroscope in 1918. The Wizard of Menlo Park probably
had dark hair when he announced his discovery of etheric force in 1875. The scope
detected wireless pulses of etheric force by means of visible sparks across a gap
between two carbon electrodes that were joined by a loop of wire acting as an antenna.
That wire is seen coiled in Edison's hand and is attached to the scope at two posts.
The wooden housing blocked ambient light but not radio waves, as did the face rest.
Other models had increased range by means of a microscope for viewing faint sparks.
This image is preserved by the Thomas Edison National Historical Park of the US National
Park Service (Leonard DeGraaf, Archivist).
Keywords
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References
- New York Times.December 3, 1875: 4
- About the beginnings of wireless.Int J Microw Wirel Technol. 2011; 3: 391-398https://doi.org/10.1017/S1759078711000444
- Chapter 5. Sparks.in: Dark Light: Electricity and Anxiety from the Telegraph to the X-Ray. Harcourt, Orlando, FL2004: 123-142
Article Info
Publication History
Published online: July 03, 2017
Accepted:
June 28,
2017
Received:
May 10,
2017
Identification
Copyright
© 2017 Anesthesia History Association. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
