Page:"N" Rays (Garcin).djvu/73

Rh The emission of "N" rays by tempered steel seems to last indefinitely. Some lathe-tools and a stamp for leather of the 18th century, which have been preserved in my family, and have certainly not been rehardened since the date of their manufacture, emit "N" rays like freshly tempered steel. A knife, found in a Gallo-Roman tomb, situated in the district of Craincourt (Lorraine), and dating from the Merovingian epoch, as is attested by the objects found there (glass and earthenware jars, fibulae, belt-buckles, swords of the kind called scramasax, etc.), emits "N" rays just like a modern knife. These rays originate exclusively from the blade; a test with a file showed that the blade alone is tempered, and that the tailpiece intended to be fixed in a handle is not tempered.

The emission of "N" rays by this steel blade has thus persisted for more than twelve centuries, and does not appear to have abated.