*ALCHEMIST 1956*

by Gaston Burridge

A salt Lake City man claims discovery of a new form of energy with which he
performs metallurgical miracles.

Legend, if not history, has it that the alchemists of old searched for two
things; how to make gold from baser metals, especially lead, and how to
produce an elixir of life.

Some persons believe the alchemists were not searching for a new formula for
making gold, but rather looking for information they believed was once
known, then lost.

Gold has intrigued the minds of men since history was first recorded. In
several lands gold was called the "sun metal". It was used in worship and to
decorate holy places.

Modern scientists are not adverse to the idea that gold and other metals can
be transmuted from materials not containing gold as we recognize it.

In fact, scientists already have transmuted gold! It is a terribly expensive
process and the amount of gold is tiny, but it has been done. In addition,
this man-made gold is radioactive and thus unstable. That is, it does not
remain as made for very long. Rather, it changes into something else or just
disappears.

This brings us to Thomas Henry Moray, of Salt Lake City, Utah, who claims to
have made gold which is stable and long lasting enough to be assayed by the
ordinary methods used to determine the presence of gold. He says his process
uses no cyclotron or other atom-smashing device.

Not only does Moray say he has transmuted gold, but he writes me that he has
produced, or perhaps "treated" is a better word, ordinary lead, "Pb", in
such a way that it will not melt under 2000 degrees Fahrenheit!

Common lead melts at about 625 degrees Fahrenheit. Moray writes, "I mean
2000 degrees, not 200 degrees Fahrenheit!." So, there is no question of a
misplaced zero here!

Going into this matter of metallurgy still further, Moray says he has
treated copper, "Cu", so it does not melt under 3000 degrees F. Ordinarily
copper melts at about 1980 degrees F.

Moray also wrote me he has produced an alloy which will not melt under
12,000 degrees F.! This figure has been checked. He says, "Hundreds of
persons have seen and tested these metals."

One ounce of lead treated by Moray's process, and afterward assayed by the
Boaz Mine Laboratory, Norris, Mont., showed 35 cents in gold. Five ounces of
soil, which assayed no gold at all before treatment, after Moray's
treatment, assayed gold content at the rate of $122.50 per ton.

Another interesting test was made by the Union Assay Office, Salt Lake City
on about 50 c.c. of artesian water which showed no trace of gold before
treatment. After treatment it assayed at the per ton rate of $10.50 in gold
and $2.63 in silver!

It should be understood these experiments were not done on a commercial
basis, but as a laboratory experiment. It should be remembered too, these
metals did not "vanish" after the experiment was concluded but remained
stable at least long enough to be run through standard assaying processes.

Mr. Moray has experimented along lines of increasing the radioactivity of
certain already radioactive minerals by his process.

He says he has increased the activity of carnotite, uranium and other
radioactive substances, including a combination of copper and lead!

Immediately, one is anxious to know how such wonderful things are
accomplished. Therein, lies a set of secrets known completely only to T. H.
Moray.

It would appear they may involve a whole new concept of things. Whether
these concepts coincide with present scientific concepts of atomic structure
I do not know.

T. H. Moray is an electrical engineer, born and brought up in Salt Lake
City, Utah. Who's Who in Engineering carries the following information
concerning him.

"Born August 28, 1892, Educated, public schools, Salt Lake City. Graduated
from The Latter Day Saint's Business College there: completed an Electrical
Engineering course with International Correspondence School. Took his E. E.
degree, University of Upsala.

"Moray has held the following positions: Electrical Engineer and designer,
Utah Power & Light Co., and the Phoenix Construction Co.; Assistant Chief
Engineer, Arastard Construction & Engineering Co.; Division Electrical
Engineer, Mountain States Telephone & Telegraph Co. He was also a consulting
engineer in private practice."

"Moray has written articles for several publications dealing with electrical
engineering matters. For many years now he has devoted much time to
experimenting and developing what he chooses to call "the field of radiant
energy."

It is through the application of this "radiant energy", then, that Mr. Moray
stakes his claim for his many metallurgical accomplishments. Within this
realm lie his secrets. Perhaps, like Sir Issac Newton, Moray is ahead of his
time.

Just what is radiant energy? Where does it come from? How may it be used by
man? These and a host of other questions must be answered.

Unfortunately much of this information is held secret by Mr. Moray. Even if
it were available it would require a large volume to cover it.

However, we can make a beginning. Mr. Moray believes there exists a band of
vibrations or waves "beyond the light rays". These vibrations come in surges
or groups like ocean waves - a powerful first surge, followed by other less
powerful and graduated surges which finally fade to nothing, only to begin
over again immediately.

I have understood, not from Moray, that he first became aware of these
strange surges early in his career, as he sat through the long nights, his
car headlights "glued" to a silent set of telephone lines.

Here he first heard the regular but oscillatory "cadence of sounds" and
wondered what produced them. During his search he discovered this force he
chooses to call "radiant energy."

Moray has come to believe this force pervades all space. He believes one may
tap it on the Moon, on Pluto, at the farthest point of the Milky Way, or
anywhere between, as well as on Earth.

While Mr. Moray does not believe in "perpetual motion, perpetual light or
perpetual power", he does think the supply of radiant energy is ample for
all mankind's power needs indefinitely.

One of Moray's adherents wrote me, "I think Moray's radiant energy is the
greatest invention of our time. Atomic energy is `peanuts' by comparison."

One may think as he pleases, of course, but it seems such a statement is a
bit over-optimistic at this time. Nothing approaching so vast an
accomplishment has been demonstrated thus far.

However, Nikola Tesla never made known all the results of his Colorado
experiments and it is quite possible he learned something of a potential
force similar to radiant energy but thought the world not ready for it. It
is known that Moray is a close student of Tesla's work.

On the other hand, Moray gradually has perfected his device's output from a
capacity to light one small incandescent light bulb to a present capacity
claimed to be 50 kilowatts. Fifty kilowatts represents about 67 horsepower
and, certainly, 67 horsepower is not to be disregarded. Many small factories
do not use as much as 67 horsepower.

According to Moray, one of his present units can be built for about $800.
Mass production methods might cut this price in half. Under these
circumstances, a unit in a home would bring about a substantial saving in
power bills over several years time.

As many as 100 persons have witnessed radiant energy demonstrations. Radiant
energy, as it emerges from the Moray apparatus, may be considered a form of
electricity. It is an alternating current, but an alternating current of
very high frequency or cyclage.

This current will light ordinary incandescent light bulbs. The light which
comes from these bulbs is called "pure white on the blue side, not on the
yellow side as light given off when the same bulbs are lighted with
commercial currents."

This light possesses high actinic qualities, which means t affects
photographic films quickly and powerfully. Photographers who have exposed
films in this light have found they are forced to "stop way down" to prevent
over exposure.

If a photograph of a single bulb lighted with radiant energy is taken the
print shows a large, dark ring, perpendicular to the base of the bulb. This
ring looks like a circle of translucent black fog. It seems the light
somehow reflects itself on the air, or projects a shadow of itself there.

Some persons who have seen radiant energy power lights say the bulbs look as
if they were filled entirely with white light, as if the gas itself which
fill the bulbs were fully incandescent. Moray believes this to be true.

Radiant energy will heat electric flat irons and other electrical heating
devices. It is claimed heating capacities are reached much more quickly with
radiant energy than with commercial currents, and are considerably hotter
than when powered with ordinary electric energy.

The high frequency of radiant energy is responsible for this. Moray SAYS HE
HAS LEARNED THE EXACT FREQUENCY OF RADIANT ENERGY but he will not disclose
it. Further, he says voltmeters and ammeters used to measure commercial
alternating currents will not measure radiant energy.

Electric motors wound to turn on commercial electricity will not operate on
radiant energy. He says, "Motors wound to accept the frequency of radiant
energy will operate."

However, I learned elsewhere, that while such motors will operate they are
not as efficient as motors running on ordinary commercial currents. Moray
says when his motors are running in the dark they glow with a violet aura.
His motors run cold!

The speeds of the radiant energy motors, as reported, are fantastic. Moray
wrote me they turn over better than 36,000 revolutions per minute, more than
600 per second!

When I asked where he gets bearings to withstand such phenomenal speeds,
Moray replied that he makes them. Thus I learned about his metallurgical
work.

What sort of an apparatus is Moray's Radiant Energy Device? Briefly, it
would appear to be similar to a radio receiving set of power proportions.

It is composed of two coils of wire, or inductancies. It contains several
condensers, or capacitors, of different sizes.

There is a detector tube, or electronic valve, and two oscillator tubes.
Added to this is a "bar of silver and a bar of copper", a starting device,
and a step down electrical transformer, reported to be 1000-to-1, primary to
secondary.

All of this is enclosed in a box measuring about 30 inches long by 16 inches
wide by 16 inches high. It weighs about 50 pounds. There are no moving
parts. Moray says there are no dangerous radiations surrounding the box when
it is in operation.

Many persons have looked inside the box. Several have made more than a
cursory examination of its contents - except for the detector tube!

The inductances are about eight and 10 inches in diameter. They are composed
of several layers of wire. The diameter of the wire is much smaller than
necessary to carry anything like 50 kilowatts of ordinary commercial
electricity.

Probably, there is a direct relationship between the size of the wire and
the number of turns of it on each coil. Further, it can be assumed the
distance separating the two coils is important, as well as the direction in
which the coils are wound.

Moray is silent as to the materials used in his capacitors or condensers.
Neither does he tell their capacities. They vary in size but this is not
indicative of capacity!

If one part of the apparatus is more important than another I would conclude
it is the tubes or valves. Moray will not say much about these. He admits
they do not contain an electrically heated filament whose radiations provide
the means of carrying currents to different parts of the tube and which
produce the valve action.

How, then, is this valve action produced? Moray does not say. I have
learned, from other sources, of Moray's purchase of radioactive materials.

I have been informed by one source that Moray uses these radioactivities as
the "carrying-currents" within his tubes. Exactly what the radioactive
materials may be, I have not learned as yet.

Some say it is a uranium compound; others deny this. What is more, we do not
know whether the detector tube and the oscillators use the same materials.

Being cold tubes, it can be assumed they are not vacuum tubes. However,
Moray does have vacuum pumps in his laboratory. The tubes may be filled with
gas. But if they are filled with a gas, what gas?

These tubes, especially the detector, seem to be the weakest links in the
chain of parts in the Moray system. By far the greater number of times the
demonstration apparatus has stopped because of troubles, it appeared the
trouble lay in the detector tube.

Moray does not allow anyone to see the detector tube - apparently the big
secret of the device lies there!

At the same time, the least understood of the device's mysteries is the
function of the bar of silver and the bar of copper set side by side.

Are they "true" copper and silver? Or are they alloys possibly treated with
the very radiant energy they may help to produce? Have they been transmuted
in some way? Are they only decoys? Are they a special type of air condenser?
Are their lengths, widths, thicknesses, as well as their distance apart,
important? All of these questions, and many, many more, flood into one's
mind - and remain unanswered!

Early in his experiments Mr. Moray used both an antenna and a ground
connection. He no longer uses either. This eliminates the possibility that
he taps either current from power lines or from radio transmitters.

The longest known continuous run of the apparatus has been a little over 57
hours. It has been run nearly three times that long with short shutdowns for
inspection of different parts.

Such long test runs pretty well spike any idea that Moray has batteries in
the box. If he does have batteries in the box he has something new in
batteries!

Even if Moray's device were a commercial item today - which it most
certainly is not - it would be years before our present-day electrical power
would become obsolete.

Perhaps it might never become outmoded. It is quite possible many uses made
of commercial electricity could not be supplied by radiant energy.

We are quite sure radiant energy does not transmit well even over short
distances. It seems quite possible that definite limits exist on the size of
radiant energy units. There is some question as to how many such units could
be operated within any given area. Further, what effect would radiant energy
devices have upon radio and television reception and transmission?

It appears long research will be necessary before radiant energy can be more
than an "interesting matter to ponder!" And within our lifetimes other forms
of power generators may be commercialized.

Already we begin to hear of electricity so cheap it will not be metered! But
little either comes or goes in a day. As always, time is both our enemy and
our friend.

* * Fate* Magazine, September 1956