The weekly democratic statesman. [volume] (Austin, Tex.) 1871-1883, 1882-07-06
Pn.torraph Diseoveries.

New Orleans Times-Democrat.
There has been much written
lately on electricity and Its POSSIBLE
tiles, and the imaginative man pic
lures the time when we will only
have to draw ON the inexhaustible
supply of latent electricity that the
world contains for all the light,
heat and power needed by him. 1t
is strange that another natural force
and power, which Is not only prom
ising, but already accomplishing
much, should have been overlooked
and neglected by these enthusiast
photography.
Photography has made so many
wonderful discoveries lately that we
can almost imagine the time when it
will lay bare some of the most mys-
terious and hidden wonders of ma
ture. In science, art and astronomy
it is daily making extraordinary DIS
coveries. The Photographic machine
was carried with the Jeanette to
tell us the story of the arctic zone.
At the transit of Venus, in the south
ern hemisphere, upon which phe-
nomenOn depends the measurement
of the heavens, it was photography
that supplied the missing link, and
enabled the astronomers to make
their calculations. A photograph
of the suns spots betrayed
the secret of these mysterious phe-
nomona, which had puzzled so long
the wisest heads, and frightened the
superstitious into fear of earth
quakes, famines and pestilences
These are but few of the scientific
riddles that this little instrument
has solved.
1t is not only in science, however
that it has been useful but in q matter
of every day life. The United States
ordnance department., in expert
menting the other day with shells
and torpedoes, called on photo
graphy as an auxiliary. Tt
the human eye the explosion o.
shell is indistinguishable; there
is a flash and nothing more; bu
the acute eye of the camera sees bet
ter, and pictures of the exploding
shells and torpedoes showed every
piece of the missile as it flew through
the air. An experiment with {
mule, around whose neck a shell
had been fastened and then ex
ploded, was tragically ludicrous
The photograph showed the body
of the animal, standing as if pos
sessed of life and vitality, while thu
head, torn in a thousand pieces
flew in every direction.
| On the race course, also, TIT
camera comes to the aid o
our defective vision, For year
the question has been seriously
discussed pro and con among thu
patrons of the turf, as to whether
the horse, in running, ever has hi
four feet of the ground at the sam,
time. The advocates of the negative
carried their proposition by larg'
majority, and it was not until pho
tograph was taken of st. Julien rae
ing at the top of his speed that the!
were shown TO be wrong. 1t now
became evident that in racing, ;
horse is actually at times in the air
with all four of his feet off tn,
ground at once.
This discovery has induced tn,
French jockey club to make the fol
lowing arrangements for all futur
races to be run at Longchamps. A
the French Derby last month Their,
was a dead heat and the prize money
was divided among the first TIVE
horses. Now a dead heat, common
sense teaches us, is almost impos
sible. Two horses are never ex
actly neck-and-neck it is only tina
the human eye is very defectiv'
organ, and it cannot see which
horse is first. To obviat,
this difficulty the judges pro
pose to call on the infallible photo
graph. By means of single threaC
stretched across the track and in
visible to either of the horses o
their riders, the Photographic ca
mera will be opened as they dash b.
and made to take a picture of tn,
horses just as they reach the goa
This will picture the winning hOrs
beyond all dispute, and put an emf
to all dead heats. Such is the de
cision of the French Jockey club
and this, the last problem that tn
camera has been called on to solve