Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1889-03-17
HEAVENLY PICTURES
Or a Glance at the Progress Of Astro-
nomical Photography.
PROF. BRASHEAR'S REVELATION
Of the Wonders Worked With the Camera
Since Art Began.
AN INCIDENTAL GLIMPSE At BOTANY

afternoon with learned men and women of
Pittsburg and Allegheny, to hear the
lecture on Astronomy, or Celestial Pho
tography," by Prof. j. A. Brashear the
well-known student of the stars and manu-,
facturer of astronomical instruments.
In beginning his lecture Prof. Brashear
gave an outline of the discovery of pho
tography, especially that part relating to
celestial objects. He exhibited photographs
and drawings of the sun, stars, moon,
eclipses, etc., and as usual, indulged in but
very few technical phrases Among many
other good things, he said these:
Adam was the first man ever photographed.
You may not believe it; but have reasoned
it out, and see great similarity between our
present Photographic process and his being.
His skin was tanned brown by the sun, like the
action of light on the film of photograph
plates of ourselves. If you pour a solution of
nitrate OF silver on piece of paper, you will
turn it light brown. Then it assumes
darker brown, and gradually changes to black.
In the early days of photography 1t required
an exposure of about eight hours to take
landscape. The discovery of iodine of bromide
hastened the matter so that a good picture
could be taken in 20 minutes. At that time,
when taking pictures of people. they had to
KEEP THE EYES CLOSED,
as they could not keep them open and look so
steadily for that length of time. DR.. John
Draper took the first picture of human face.
The first picture of the moon was not like the
pictures of to-day. In his report to the New
York Academy of Sciences he said that, after
an hours exposure, he had good picture of
the outlines of the moon, and could define the
plains on its surface. / think DR.. Searle and
Prof. Wendell took the first picture of the
stars. 1t was done at Cambridge with a 15-inch
aperture telescope.
To take up celestial photography in scienti-
fc way, may start out by saying that Mr..
Rutherford, who was an authority on stellar
spectum photography, found it impossible to
take good picture with the ordinary tele-
scope. The latter was not at that time adapted
TO taking views of the heavens on account of
its construction. The focus was not in the
proper position; but this has since been
remedied. In the great telescope at the Lick
Observatory, instead of having. the focus at
the eye-piece another lens has been inserted,
which does the work required.
Instead OF having an exposure of eight
hours, we now can take photograph in one
two-hundred-and-fftieth part Of a second,
and it is as good picture as any one could
want. In one second we can get good picture
of the moon, and it would be better view than
you could see with the unaided eye.
MAPS OF THE UNSEEN.
At the congress recently held at Paris ar
rangements were made to go at the work sys-
tematically, and in short time we will have
systematic research of the heavens that no
human eye could see.
The difference between the view with the
naked eye and the photograph is that the latter
is cumulative. If we look at the stars with
the naked eye, the longer we look the less we
see. The eye grows weary and the objects we
look at become DINNER and DINNER, until we
lose them altogether. The light of star is so
faint that it cannot always fall steadily on the
eye, but it can fall and be readily seen on the
photographers plate. Each little ray of light
that falls on the plate stays there. The human
eye could never see them; but the photographer
with telescope could.
In photographing stars it is absolutely nec-
esssry to fix the telescope on one particular
star in order to get good picture of the
others. 1t is very likely that in very short
time we will get the whole heavens charted.
Prof. Pickering expects to have it done IN
four years. We then expect to be able to
accurately measure the distance Of stars. The
records will be preserved, and future astrono-
mers may know where to find them. This is
their time and attention to the study of
astronomy.
We are able to photograph, by the sun, the
sun itself. and whatever substances are burn
ing on it. We are trying to find out the COM
position of the sun, stars, ETC., and can only do
it by comparison.
The professor continued his lecture by ex-
hibiting number of photographs and
sketches, taken and made by himself, OF the
last solar eclipse.
CHAT ON BOTANY.
DR.. Adolph Koenig, Professor of Botany
of the Pittsburg School of Pharmacy, next
lectured on, Botany" His talk was in
structive and pleasing, and was listened to
very attentively by the audience. He said:
The term biology is applied to the science Of
life. This comes under two heads-botany and
zoology Botany, as you all know, treats Of the
natural history of the vegetable kingdom.
Zoology treats of the natural history Of the
animal kingdom. 1t is very difficult
to distinguish between them in some of their
forms. 1t is impossible in such cases to decide
which organism is plant and which is an
animal. The lowest form of animals and plants
consists only of cell.
The vegetable kingdom IN general stands be-
tween the mineral and animal kingdoms.
Some plants of each nourish from organize
matter. Most them produce organized matter
for others to subsist upon. They produce not
only nourishing food, but plants for medicinal
purposes. They also produce oxygen, without
which no human being can exist.