A SUN PERIL.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume L, Issue 61, 13 November 1907, Page 4

A SUN PERIL.

VIOLET KAYS CAUSE MADNESS. Scientists arc no.v satisfied (says a writer in the Scotsman) that there if. in the direct unbroken rays of the sun tome terrible influence which is cap able of producing insanity and death and of driving human beings to the cGiiimi&sion of every conceivable enormity. l.'ie ir.flucDce lion in the violet rays of the SUIL Hie light of the sun, is most people know, is composed ot lavs of various colors, which, when mixed together, appear white. The voloi-d rays range from violet to reu 'i'ht rays of the liolet end of the spectrum are ceiled actinic, and an: those which produce chemical actioi:, such as 'he growth of plants. They are also the cnes which affect the plate. The violet rays have to some extent the power to penetrate solid matter, a power possessed in the highest de gree by the X-ray, which is ultraviolet. Thus it happens that when the actinic rays fall unobstructed on the iiunian skull tliey penetrate it and set up a chemical action, which happens to create a virulent maddening poison in the human system. When the sunlight is very strong, the amount of actinic rays that reach the earth is very dangerous to the human constitution, and it is of the most vital importance not to allow tho direct rays of the sun to fall on one's skull. THE CAUSE OF .SUNSTROKE. True. sunstroke, will-, its maddening results, does not arise primarily from heat, but from the sunlight and certain lays. Dr Moussoir, of the French Navy, who has been experimenting with tho disease, says that it is caused by the intense radiation of the sun, owing to its enormous volume, which is 1,200,000 times that of the earth. The chemical rays, the vibrations of which are more rapid and therefore more penetrating tliau those of the other rays, are the exciting cause. The chemical rays eu.ittru by Uie sun can pierce through white clouds freely, but are almost entirely arrested by black, substances and par tially so by i ed. These facts explain ihe immunity from sunstroke of negroes and people with swarthy complexions and the diminished liability to it of the ruddy. T j produce tunstroke the rays mu.-t impinge upon some part of the brain case, the effect being transmitted thence to the as yet enictated heat centre of the brain by reflex action. Covering the held preserves from sunstroke, but iust as is the case with thick clothing, it may be too heavv and" assist in the development of heai prostration. In heatstrokes the disease begins by heating the blood, but in sunstrokes this condition of the lirculatinjj fluid is secondaiy.

A DANGEROUS BOMBAKDMEM. In all radiation, it is said, there is given cfi from the radatory object whether it be a Crookes tube or a lump of r.idium or ihe sun, a stream of infinitesimal part.cles, which we call corpuscles. These bombard the retina of the eye- or the sensitive plate of the camera or the unprotected skin and produce th-. sensation of light or color, a picture or a bum: The teason ! of it doesn't matter, though it is clear enough. Tbe bombardment, when ic ! strikes a system of life cells, eicite.3 them. At first it stimulates them, but the stimulation soon passes into destnictU-E. Then results the leprous-' !ik« hand of the X-ray operator or the sunbum on the skin of the exposed face These are external, superficial symptoms. If the bombardment is allowed to continue, the injury goes deep.

Ihe poison created by tlie action oi tlie actinic ray a has been definitely located and separated, and a distinguished scientist has extracted tlie poison from the bodies of persons buffering from sunstroke and it into the rabbits, wh& showed unmistakable evidence of being poisoned.

ft produced in thtiA severe conv[il( sions.' In the majority of cases one convulsion was enough to produce death. The poison was intense and acted promptly. There yas no Mistaking the fact that it was drtitlly. The scientific inv.*tigators of sun stroke all insist on its terrible action upon .the brain. Loss of power oi mental concentration ajid failure ot mtfnoiy are constant arid'troublesome sequels. Sunstroke produces the ordinary phenomenon of exhaustion ; •but. the patient is more irritable, suspicious, and extremely proud. These | patier.ts are not recognised a.s insane for a long time. The}' often marry and produce degenerate children. STILL A MYSTERY. I 1 tie action of the actinic rays is Hill t» a great extent a mystery. W'c are told that a beam of sunlight passed through a glass prism is divided into its seven original colors. A tightly corked <;lass vial filled with a mixture of chlorine an<i hydrogen gases if passed through the different colored rays. As soon as these rays strike it die rial will explode. fc>ir John Lubbock placed a number of ants in a box with a prismatic glass Toof. Immediately the actinic rays fell on them they hastened to gei (rem the violet shade to some other part of the box. The scientists who are now working upon this Droblem expect to design some simple covering which will protect us against the most disastrous effects of the actinic rays.