Eagle River review. [volume] (Eagle River, Wis.) 1890-1927, 1890-08-02
THE SECRET DIED WITH HIM.
Optician Malcolm's Wonderful Lenses
and Their Qualities.

and Their Qualities.
Syracuse corr. st. Louis Globe Democrat.
William Malcolm died at his residence
in this city yesterday, and scientific
secret of inestimable value is lost to the
world, unless the inklings of the princi
pies involved which have come to the
knowledge of the discoveries intimates
at odd times can be developed, the meth
DDS which have given him distinctionin
every part of the globe where astron-
omy and microscopy are practiced. Mr..
Malcolm was the only son of William
Malcolm, one of the earliest pioneers of
this city, and was born in Sullivan, Mad
ison County, on October ID, 1923. He
was intended by his father to be mem
Der of one of the scholarly professions,
but, though receiving advantages of an
education at schools and seminaries, he
showed no inclination to make a choice
in that direction He devoted himself,
instead to the study of mechanics, and
being left early in life with ample
means to indulge this fancy, pursued
his congratulations to the last with
out thought of turning his talent into
money.
Years ago he went into the manu-
facture of firearms with William A.
Sweet, and, though they made an eX
great financial stroke. Mr.. Malcolm
always had liking for guns, and, in his
day, was one of the crack shots in the
state. He lost an eye in the hunting
field while testing the shooting qualities
of a breech-loading fowling-piece which
Gov. Seymour had given to his private
secretary, b. Davis Noxon, of this city.
The gun exploded on the first discharge.
This was in July, 1869. and from that
date Mr.. Malcolm's health began to de-
cline. Before this misfortune befell
him he had already achieved wonders
in the perfection of the lens. The
study of the optics was an accidental
choice made originally for diversion,
but pursued later for the difficult
ties it offered. At first he worked in
Street. Finding the range of vision
limited he afterward took possession of
u little shop on the top floor of his block
down town, where he could get large
field for testing his lenses. For years Il
barn situated about four miles distant,
beyond the State Idiot Asylum, was the
target ut which he leveled his instru
ments. Their magnifying power was SO
strong that he could, by their use, trace
the grain in the knots in the barn door.
But this was not the quality for which
he strove, and which he at last impart-
ed to the glass. His ambition was to
make lens that would not require adj
justment for varying distances, but, like
the human eye and with equal facility,
would sweep any field with one focus.
Opticians and astronomers told Mr..
Malcolm that he was in search of an ig-
mis- fatuus But by dint of long applica
ton and untold study he finally caught
the chimera. In other words, he pro-
duced, in a telescope, all the constitu-
ents of natural vision, and thereby as
tonished the scientific world. This he
accomplished by using a combination OF
several lenses, adjusted to each other
on plan known only to himself and
diaphragming them down so that all the
divergent rays were excluded, leaving
only the center ones, as in the human
eye. AS the eye of man scans the
whole prospect of a scene far and near,
SO this telescope discerns with equal ac-
curacy an object twenty feet or miles
away without alteration of the focus.
The lenses of the Malcolm make are
designed both for observatory and gun
merry use. Since their wonderful quail
ties were proved they have been in de-
mand by institutions everywhere, some
of the orders the discoverer has filled
coming from the remotest countries.
The Lick Observatory, in California,
and the Royal Observatory at Green
wich are supplied with Malcolm lenses.
Several governments, including our
own and those of Russia England and
Italy, have successfully employed these
telescopes on their ordnance. Never
theless, Mr.. Malcolm has not profted
by his discovery, as he could have done
had the business end of it been proper