Abstract
To the reader of the numerous papers that have recently been communicated from various sources on the subject of Dr. Röntgen's great discovery, considerable obscurity is caused by the confusion of the above terms. Until quite recently what has been meant by 'kathode rays” or “the kathodic discharge” has been that discharge of matter from the negative electrode in a highly-exhausted vacuum tube, which can be deflected by a magnet, produce heat, mechanical energy, and phosphorescence, can be brought to a focus by using a curved kathode, and in this case will project an inverted image of the kathode upon either the inside walls of the tube, or upon a phosphorescent screen placed inside the tube to receive it. As is well known, this discharge has been very thoroughly investigated abroad by Hittorf, Puluj, and others, and in England by Crookes, and has been called by him the discharge of “radiant matter.” The X-rays of Dr, Röntgen are said to be generated at the spot where the kathodic discharge of radiant matter impinges upon an obstacle, be it the phosphorescent walls of the vacuum tube, or a plate of metal similarly placed to receive it. The distinction is perfectly clear in Dr. Röntgen's paper, as the following extracts from the translation, published in this journal on January 23, show.
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GARDINER, J. Kathode Rays or X-Rays?. Nature 53, 486 (1896). https://doi.org/10.1038/053486d0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/053486d0
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