Radio age (Jan 1927-Jan 1928)

30 RADIO AGE for October, 1927 Electricity For Colds A new way of curing colds by applying electric heat to the inflamed interior of the nose is advocated by Dr. H. Bordier, of Lyons, France. The method is credited to a physician of Athens, Greece, Dr. 11 Tsinouk^s, but Dr. Bordier has improved II * and perfected it and has subjected it, he reports, to extensive trial. The method depends upon the electric treatment called diathermy. This is really the application of heat, not of electricity, but % electricity is used to generate the heat. High-frequency electric currents, not unlike the currents used in radio, are sent through the body or parts of it and are so controlled that a part of their electric energy is converted into heat just where the physician wishes that heat to be applied. A hot poultice or a hot water bottle applies the heat chiefly at the sur " face of the skin. Interior tissues are heated only by inward conduction of the heat. The diathermic methods, on the ./* V "\ other hand, can apply internal heat with out heating the outer skin at all. In Dr. -*Tm* Bordier's method of treating colds metal plates are applied at either side of the /" V "\ nose and the diathermic current is sent between them so that the inner membranes of the nose, not the skin, receive the major part of the heat produced. The Lyons physician reports remarkable successes from a few minutes of such treatment. As might be expected, the treatment is more successful when a cold is just beginning than after it is well on its way. Physicians now regard the common cold as one of the most dangerous diseases, because of the more serious troubles for which it may open the way. The new treatment will probably be tried widely and soon. Correction In the blue print section of the September issue, page 19, the circuit diagram of the Radio Age 6-Tube A C Receiver does not show the grid returns connecting to negative B lead. The correction is illustrated in the accompanying section of the original circuit lay-out. No better "A" Socket Power Unit can be obtained even at twice this amazingly low price. Combines all the efficiency of plate current with the undoubted convenience of socket power. No bothersome hauling around of batteries to be charged. No hum or noise. Highest quality Westinghouse electrical equipment. Operates on 50 or 60 cycles at 110 volts A. C. Thousands of satisfied users prove the worth of World Power Units. Approved by rigid tests of Radio News and other leading Laboratories. Send No Money IddressTVnd we will ship day order is received by express C. O. D. subject to examination on arrival. 5% discount for cash in full with order. NOW is the time to do it. 1219 So. Wabash Ave.. Dept. 61, CHICAGO, ILL. Station WSBC owned and operated by World Battery Company VENUS NOW VISIBLE IN DAYLIGHT (Continued from page 23) will stop the blue waves, but will pass the slow infra red ones. This gives the means of photographing stars in full sunlight. A photographic telescope, which is nothing but a huge camera, is employed. At the end opposite the lens is placed a plate sensitized to the infra red. Over the plate is placed a filter that stops all the sky light. Then the star's light, or at least a large part of it, gets through, and leaves its impression on the sensitive emulsion. At best, however, infra red plates are not very sensitive compared to ordinary plates, and so long exposures are required to record even the brightest stars. During this exposure, the telescope is driven by clockwork to follow their motion. Faint stars can hardly be recorded at all, so the method of photographing stars in the daytime is principally of interest as an interesting stunt. As long as we have dark nights, astronomers will continue to take most of their star pictures between sunset and sunrise. Jupiter Also Visible Jupiter, largest of the planets, is also visible this month, but in the evening sky, as it has been for many weeks. It is directly south about ten o'clock. If one were to watch it night by night, as it moves among the stars, and note its position carefully, a peculiar feature of its motion would be apparent. Jupiter, like all the planets, moves around the sun from west to east. But this month it seems to move from east to west. It is in the constellation of Pisces, the fishes, and at the end of the month it will be about three and a half degrees to the west of its position at the beginning of the month. Yet a few months ago, it could have been seen moving from west to east, and in November it will seem to turn around and start moving east again. How is this? Four centuries ago, as for two thousand years previously, it was interpreted as an actual change in the motion of the planet. According to the Ptolemaic theory, which was then universally accepted, Jupiter moved in a small circle. This was called the epicycle, and its center moved in a larger circle around the earth. Though the motion of the center of the epicycle was always from west to east, the motion of the. planet itself was sometimes in the opposite direction. Explained by Copernicus In 1543, with the publication of the theory of Copernicus that the sun was at the center of the solar system, and that the earth, like the other planets, revolved around it, a new explanation was offered. This is the one which we now know to be true. Copernicus showed that we do not observe Jupiter from a stationary object. The earth, and we with it, are moving. The combination of the motion of the earth and the motion of Jupiter is to be blamed for the backsliding of that orb. Anyone who has been on a train in a station when another came in on the adjoining track can appreciate the situation. Often, it is impossible to tell whether the train we are on, or the other one, is moving. Frequently we are greatly surprised, when we have been quite sure that our journey had started, to look out the other side, and find ourselves still in the station. The situation with Jupiter is the same. This month Jupiter, as always, is moving from west to east. So is the earth. But we are moving faster than Jupiter, and so we leave it behind. We are not aware of the motion of the earth and so the effect is that Jupiter moves backwards. Square in Pegasus Conspicuous As for the stars this month, the "Great Square" in Pegasus is conspicuous and is indicated on the map. This figure is one of the most familiar in the autumn and early winter sky. Over to the west, the "Northern Cross," or Cygnus, the swan, is now magnificent in its upright position, with the brilliant Deneb at the top. Below Deneb, and to the North, is the bright Vega, in Lyra, the lyre. To the south is Altair, in Aquila, the eagle. Like the great square, the triangle formed by Deneb, Altair and Vega, is a useful guidepost in finding stellar objects. Low in the east there appears the ruddy Aldebaran, the eye of Taurus, the Bull, which in the coming months will be a prominent constellation in the evening sky.