Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1891-04-05
THEY ARE SKEPTICAL
PROF. WINSTON AND CORONER TAy-
LoR ON LIGHT MING PHOTOGRAPHY.
An Appeal 60 the Psychologist Rather
Than the Physieist---a Similar Pbe-
nomeBon IA This City.

The letter IN f1day's DfsFlIcH nom our
Charlottesville correspondent giving de-
tailed account Of the so-called photographs
OF sundry heads on panes of glass in q resi-
dence in Albemarle county, supposed 20
have been done by lightning. has attracted
some attention, and the strange phe-
nomena seemed 10 merit further investi-
CATION.
Remembering that Professor Winston, Of
Richmond College, has recently, by his
popular lectures on Electricity, shown him
self familiar with lightning and its laws.
and knowing also that as president OF me
Richmond Camera Club he was well &C
9uainted with the process OF photography,
DISPATCH reporter sought him out and
asked his opinion Of the alleged facts-
THE PROFESSOR sKZPr1cAL-
III cannot accept them az true" said the
Professor. land am little chary OF I'M
dertaking 10 explain unverifed and i'm
probable statements. That there may be
marking. stains, OF scratches on panes OF
glass. that to vivid iInaginations may look
like human or feline figures, is not i'm
probable. Men see such things every day
in the clouds, in iuttlng rocks-ss at the
Natural Bridge and eleewhere--in the
scattered stars--everwhere. But granted
that the figures are there or can be fancled
there, not o scintilla Of evidence connects
them with the lightning and few things
could be more improbable than that the
lightning had anything TO do with them.
but lightning often does unaccounta-
BILE things, does IL notY " ventured the re-
porter. And are there not accounts OF
representations of trees, ETC., having been
seen on the bodies OF persons killed py
lightningI"
THERE ARE MYSTERIES.
"Yes,n replied the Professor; there are
mysteries about lightning. and / have seen
picture of so-ealled tree on mans arm,
but it was evidently no copy OF anything
external any more than the frost-flowers
on our windows in winter are copies OF
leaves and flowers.
But if must argue the question, note
the absurdities: photographs are not
taken on plain glass, as everybody knows,
but on a sensitive emulsion that IS simply
spread on the glass. Again, the popular
novelist TO the contrary Notwithstanding,
the image does not show itself at once
after the exposure, but has 10 be brought
out by an elaborate process known as de-
velopment. Again, it seems that the per-
sons photographed we're inside the house
and the wIndow-panes between them and
the lightning fash. and so the lightning
pictured the faces before 1t got to them.
ASHAMED TO ARGUE IT.
"But really am ashamed to argue such
q question. IL appeals rather TO the psy-
biologist than TO the physicist, and IL only
one more illustration of the ready ayidity
with which people swallow, on the slen-
derest evidence. almost any statement,
however improbable, provided 1t be sutt-
GENTLY well spiced with the mysterious.
A Talk with Coroner Taylor.
Coroner William Fl. Taylor. who. be-
sides being one of the most thoroughly
posted men in the State on scientific
questions, is an expert pho tographer, was
visited by the DISPATCH representative
last night and asked to give his views on
phenomenon.
Laying aside his magnifying glass and a
scientific pamphlet which he was peruslng.
he Immediately. plunged into the subject
and expressed himself exactly as follows :
Il don't think anything of 1t. don't
believe that lightning is capable OF pro-
ducing any effect on glass such as is de-
scribed. You see lightning, while It IS
very powerful and can do some startling
things, has to abide the laws of nature after
all. To do such photographing as you
speak of il would have to overturn several
laws in physics and chemistry. :,
"a very suspicious thing about all OF
this is that the phehomenon produced Is
invariably the human face, while the light
ming leaves out good many other things
that, photogrsphlcally speaking, would
be very much easier to work upon.
HIS TBUsTFuL DISCIPLES.
"Now, / think continued the Doctor,
"that in a majority OF these instances
they ere mere pictures Of the imagination.
such as you SEQ when you look into the
fire or clouds. / have myself provoked q
good many of these images with very IN
favorable materials. and have induced
other people to certify to them, particular
ly my trustful disciples at the High
School. They are good, easy souls that
believe everything / tell them, anyhow.
PHENOMENON IN RICHMOND.
Now there are some of these phenom-
ena that are probably genuine pictures.
There was one in Richmond q few years
ago. That was O picture on a pane OF
glass, Ii was a human face-always the
human face and in this case the human
face divine, because it was the face of a
nun. The phenomenon appeared in con-
vent on Fifth and MARSHALL streets, and the
public interpreted 1t to be nuns picture.
They said 1t was produced by flash OF
lightning while one of the nuns was walk
ing out in the yard.
roRMENTED TO DEATH BY THEIR FELLOW
CITIZENS"
81 started out to see it, but the folks in
the house having been tormented to death
by their fellow-citiZens took out the pane.
questioned one of them very closely and
they gave me such an account OF 1t that 1T
made me believe that IL was picture sure
enough.
II will tell you how think these genu-
inc pictures are done. They are, as rule,
photographic impressions made IN this
way-by the pane of glass at a former pc
riod having been used as cover glass Tor
picture.
A POSSIBLE EXPLANATION.
"Now, these pictures are capable OF i'm
pressing themselves upon the glass by a
principle very similar TO some original
Photographic processes.
"What are these particular processes! "
asked the reporter.
There are certain processes" answered
the Doctor, "by whichyou place an object
upon glass and set them aside and when
YOU remove the object after awhile you
find that there Is picture on the glass.
1t is not always visible, but can be devel-
oped by certain processes. One of these IS
by mercury vapor like the old daguerro-
types were made. These pictures made on
the cover glass might be invisible when
they were changed into window glass and
subsequently, became developed by the
action OF light and perhaps atmospheric
agencies"
EVERYBODY FALLS BACK ON ELEoT1cITT.
In concluding his interesting talk on
photography DIR. Taylor said:
ut is a common thing when YOU can't
explain anything to fall back on electricity |;
but then the question arises, What is
electricity and how does it do it p"