Australian journalist John Mount has been a passionate collector of ancient books and manuscripts on his chosen topics for over 40 years, and his interests include alchemy, archeology and philology.
The results of the next searches of the journalist, carried out in his homeland, as well as in the countries of the Old and New Worlds, have become documents telling about the amazing experiments and discoveries of famous scientists, which began three and a half centuries ago.
Medieval "sorcerer" Sir Thomas Brown
The famous English writer and experimental physicist, Sir Thomas Brown (1605-1682), in the course of his experiments discovered a phenomenon that he called "palingenesis … the revival of the appearance of a plant burnt to the ground."
He burned the plant in an oxidizing environment, resulting in its calcification. After burning the plant and turning it into ash, Brown separated the formed salts from the ash and, after "special fermentation", placed these salts in a glass vessel. What happened next, Brown describes as follows: “… under the influence of the heat of the embers or the natural heat of the human body, the exact shape and appearance (of the burnt plant) emerge; after stopping the heating of the bottom of the vessel, they suddenly disappear."
And here is what an eyewitness of this “action” tells about the experiment with a flower: “… after … bluish coloration.
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The dusty mixture, which was stirred up by the heat, began to be thrown upward, forming at the same time the simplest forms. The individual pieces came together, and as each took its place, we began to clearly see how the stem, leaves and the flower itself were recreated.
It was the pale ghost of a flower that slowly rose from the ashes. When the heat ceased to flow, the magical spectacle began to fade and collapse, and, in the end, all the substance again turned into a shapeless pile of ash at the bottom of the vessel. Now the phoenix plant lay in the form of a heap of cooled ash."
Professor Tyndall's Fun
Another famous Briton, an outstanding scientist, Professor John Tyndall (1820-1893), famous for his works in the field of molecular physics, acoustics, heat transfer and optics, shortly before his death, carried out unique experiments, which, unfortunately, are now completely forgotten. as well as the experiments of Thomas Brown.
Tyndall filled a glass tube with vapors of certain acids, salts of nitrous and hydroiodic acids. Then, the tube was turned over to a horizontal position and installed so that its axis coincided with the axis of the beam of electric or focused sunlight. When, by adjusting the relative position of the tube and the light beam, they were aligned, amazing phenomena began to occur in the pairs.
The clouds of vapor gradually thickened, transforming into colored spatial images of animals, plants and other objects, including geometric shapes - balls, cubes, pyramids. At one stage during the experiment, Tyndall was amazed to see the swirling clouds suddenly turn into a "snake head." And when the snake's mouth slowly opened, a cloud appeared from it in the form of a long curl, which turned into a perfect serpentine tongue. As soon as this image disappeared, a new fish immediately formed in its place, this time a magnificently shaped fish - with gills, antennae, scales and eyes.
Describing the completeness of this image, Tyndall said: "The" pairedness "of the animal's form was manifested in its entirety, and there was no such circle, curl or speck that would exist on one side (figure) and would not exist on the other.
"Pairing", as Tyndall understood it, could to some extent confirm the validity of the experiment. The fact that any "paired" image detail is accurately reproduced, that is, both eyes, both ears, etc. are certainly presented, suggests that the images are created on purpose, and not random events, as is the case with clouds, sometimes resembling the outlines of familiar objects.
"Crookes pipe" - a reason for criticism of Tyndall
As for the "focusing" of the rays, then, perhaps, after the experimenter mastered the subtleties of adjusting the light rays, certain images could arise at his will?
It should be noted here that in the same years, the English physicist and chemist, Sir William Crookes (1832-1919), the future president of the Royal Society of London, one of the oldest scientific centers in Europe, investigated electric discharges in gases and cathode rays using a device, later called the "Crookes pipe".
He discovered scintillations, that is, light flashes that occur under the action of ionizing radiation in phosphors - organic and inorganic substances that can glow (luminesce) under the influence of external factors.
In this regard, Tyndall's ill-wishers received an extensive field of activity for criticism. They argued that the phenomenon he observed was easily explained by the mechanical effect of a beam of light, which naturally "shakes up" the vapor molecules, forming them into shapes of certain outlines - for example, spherical, spindle-shaped - which, according to Tyndall's critics, was recently demonstrated by Crookes.
However, they forgot to mention the fact that in the course of his experiments, Tyndall obtained distinct images of plants, vases, seashells, fish, snake head and a number of other objects.
A word in Tyndall's defense
Did Tyndall's own thoughts influence the course of the experiment, or do certain chemical vapors have the ability to form images? Now this, apparently, no one knows.
However, it should be borne in mind that Tyndall's reputation was high, he was a member and head of the Royal Institute in London, as well as a follower and confidant of Michael Faraday (1791-1867) - an outstanding English physicist, the founder of the theory of the electromagnetic field, a foreign honorary member Petersburg Academy of Sciences.
According to many respected people who knew Professor John Tyndall, he was a modest and generous person, and his research, works and lectures were highly appreciated in scientific circles. In a word, this was not the kind of person who strove to see something that did not really exist.
They saw the souls of living things
Another interesting type of experiments, in some respects similar to those described above (but politically incorrect according to modern standards of animal welfare), was carried out in the 40s of the XX century using a Wilson diffusion condensation chamber. Such a chamber, filled with gas or vapor, is usually used to track the trajectories of atoms or subatomic particles.
Dr. R. A. Watters, director of the William Bernard Johnson Foundation for Psychological Research in Reno, Nevada, advanced the theory that the soul of a person or animal exists "in an intra-atomic space between the atoms of living cells." He decided to test his theory using the aforementioned Wilson chamber.
A large grasshopper was placed in the cell and killed with ether. Exactly at the moment of death of the insect, the expansion of water vapor occurred, which, in turn, activated the camera, and the figure that appeared during the condensation was photographed.
In total, about 40 similar experiments were carried out with experimental frogs and white mice. According to Watters, in all experiments, when the animal died, a "shadow phenomenon" appeared in the chamber, which coincided in shape with the appearance of the animal. At the same time, if the animal remained alive, no "condensation figures" appeared in the photographs.
So did Watters photograph the souls of these creatures? And the soul is best captured on film exactly at the moment when it leaves its body (along with some small amount of the substance of the material world still associated with it), and not after a while?
Do we need it?
Now let's try to imagine what kind of revolution all the experiments described above could have produced in modern science. They, if confirmed, would provide us with a unique opportunity to survey nature's pantry containing "biocopies" or "images of life" before (or after) she clothes them with flesh.
Take, for example, forensic medicine - from the burned remains of the victim, it would be real to restore her appearance. Likewise in archeology: the ashes and coals of burnt remains can give an idea of how ancient people lived (and died).
And can properly processed samples of the skin or bones of the mummies of the Egyptians and other ancient peoples allow us to look again at the delicate facial features of the charming Nefertiti or once again see the smile of Helen, the most beautiful of women, the wife of the King of Sparta Menelaus, whose abduction by Paris was the reason for the Trojan War ?
What other discoveries that could shake the world are hidden and forgotten in dusty volumes resting in inaccessible bookstores and libraries?
Vadim Ilyin