The Educational screen (c1922-c1956])

106 The Educational Screen ni>HHIIHIMIIIIMItmtt ••■■III! IIKI ■ tMIMIIIIII llllMllltlllf III Mill ml llltllllllM I llimMIIUIllHII III Illll IIIIIHMIIil NEWS AND NOTES CONDUCTED BY THE STAFF |51 llllilHIIIIIIIIIIIIItllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll llllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll'llllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll A Showing of Surgical Talkies The first talking picture film to be used by the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Columbia University in surgical and medicinal lectures was shown privately by Dr. Clay Ray Murray, Assistant Professor of Surgery, in a projection room at 729 Seventh Avenue. The film depicts the reduction and splinting of a Pott's fracture, a fracture of the lower fibula with an outward, backward displacement of the foot. The process of pulling, straightening and splinting is shown while the physician's voice is heard explaining the diagnosis and the procedure. A series of films, including such subjects as delivery, treatment of nervous diseases and instruction of nurses, will be prepared /for exhibition at the college beginning next September. The medical schools of Johns Hopkins, the University of Pennsylvania, the University of Michigan and Ohio State are among those which are expected to make and exchange films. The Medical Centre will have a talking picture projection apparatus within ten days for the exhibition there of such films, it was said. New Film Strip on Safety The National Safety Council has just completed a film strip on home safety, consisting of 18 pictures and 9 explanatory slides. The strip, together with the mimeographed outline accompanying it, forms a complete illustrated lecture on hazards in the modern American home. Since special emphasis is placed on practices that cause falls, and since persons more than 55 years old are the more frequent victims, the strip is especially for adult audiences. The strips may be borrowed with the lecture at no charge by responsible persons and organizations. The demand, however, makes it imperative that they be not held longer than one week without advance understanding to that effect. A New Discovery in Photography The discovery recently made at Cornell University that pictures can be taken directly on cold, hard, untreated metal without the usual medium of sensitized plate opens a new field for experimentation with electrons and arouses a world of speculation. Dr. P. H. Carr, a graduate student working under the direction of Dr. F. K. Richtmyer, professor of physics, made the discovery one day while looking at the rough spots produced on the metal target of an X-ray tube by electron bombardment. Such spots are commonplace, familiar sights to laboratory workers. It occurred to Dr. Carr, says the Christian Science Monitor, that perhaps long before the electrons produced the rough place they made an invisible impression, which might lie "developed" in the same manner that the still invisible image on a photo is brought out by putting it into a developing bath. From then on the story is short, but the work took several years. Dr. Carr shot the electron rays at gold plates and developed them with mercury vapor, at silver and developed with iodine, used hydrochloric acid to develop zinc plates and iodine to develop copper. In each case he brought out on the metal surfaces the previously invisible mark made by the electron "shot." These marks were vertical lines, the places where the electron streams struck; very slim lines for high powered beams and broader lines for low voltages. Investigations are in progress to study the peculiarities of this phenomenon and to develop a theory of its action. Dr. Richtmyer says he is confident the metal plates or films may in future be used to record these electron beams the same as do photographic films, and in some cases with greater advantage to experiment, because the metal parts record in broad daylight as readily as in darkness. Thus danger of spoiling by light is averted. The Ten Best Films The ten best pictures of 1929, chosen through the Film Daily's poll of editors and critics are: Disraeli, Broadway Melody, Madame X, Rio Rita, Gold Diggers of Broadway, Bull Dog Drummond, In Old Arizona, The Cock-Eyed World, The Last of Mrs. Cheyney and Hallelujah. It is claimed that this annual poll was the most extensive in scope of any previously conducted by the Film Daily. George Eastman Honored George Eastman was awarded the medal of the American Institute of Chemists in recognition of being one of the greatest lay-scientists of the present day. Approval in 1918 of the establishment by the research laboratory of a department of synthetic organic chemistry to manufacture and supply various synthetic organic chemicals required for research purposes in the U. S. was his most noteworthy service to American chemistry, it was pointed out. Society of Motion Picture Engineers to Meet The spring meeting of the Society for Motion Picture Engineers is scheduled for May 5-8 at the Wardman Park Hotel, Washington. Many of the papers will con