Skepticism

An announcement of H. Grindell Mathews, English inventor, of his "diabolical rays" for destroying ships or airplanes at long distance aroused a chorus of skeptics on both sides of the water. Mr. Mathews has not yet seen fit to report his researches to the Royal Society or other scientific bodies, and he has yet to produce the effects he claims outside of a small laboratory. He has been offered the use of the well-equipped laboratories of the Rhone Engineering Works, Lyons, by M. Eugene Royer, their director, himself an inventor. He also has French financial backing, but he declares the French Government has no connection with the offer. In France he will experiment with the high frequency currents, on a large uninhabited tract, and he has unbounded confidence that he will soon be able to demonstrate the efficacy of his discovery. He expects to be able to use his "ray" within a radius of four miles, with a maximum of eight. The British War Office is now investigating Mr. Mathews' ray, in response to a campaign in the newspapers and House of Commons.

Among the physicists and radio experts, who have expressed doubt of Mr. Mathews' invention, are Thorne Baker, of England; Dr. R. W. Wood, of Johns Hopkins University; Dr. W. L. Severinghaus, of Columbia; Dr. J. H. Bellinger, of the U. S. Bureau of Standards.