The morning call., 1891-04-05
PHOTOGRAPHIC
CURIOSITIES.
The Future Wonders to Be Achieved by
the Camera.
Recent Astonishing Photographs
on a Newspaper-A Book Printed by
the sun-CompOsites of Skulls.
Special to THE SUNDAY CALL

photography the process LOT doug LllS,
newly discovered by NJ. LiDpmaun, is
scarcely to be considered yet as more than
one of the many cuTiosites of marvellous
art. Some day before very long, doubtless,
this or other methods will be so far per-
fected that the taking of peoples portraits
with the eooring of the originals will be
practicable. Great paintings will be copied
impersnably-thOu time must destroy the
paintings themselyes-witht the camera, and
the same apparatus will be utilized for max
ing the sun himself do Landscapes in the
Iwinkling of an eye with all the tints Of
nature.
With relation to the ultra red and mira vio
let, invisible TO the human eye, which the
French Academician finds exhibited as
black bands in his reproduction Of the col
OTIS in the rainbow, Professor Langley, Sec
rotary of the Smithsonian Institution here,
has made some astonishing discoveries re-
Gently. The ultra red is to the left of the
red end Of the rainbow, while the mira vio-
let is to the right of the violet end, the
LENGTH OF THE RAINBOW
Being in this manner added to in both di-
rections. What could be more interesting
than these hues unknown to Us, to which,
so Professor Langley says, roses and other
flowers owe much of the exquisite beauty of
their coloring. By an instrument of his
own invention, ineXpressibly delicate, which
he calls q 'bolometer," this famous
scientist has traced the rainbow to
more than twice its visible length. The
contrivauce-a thin film of iron, through
which a current of electricity is pasSed-is
moved al NJ over rainbow, cast by the
sun through prism, registering the heat of
III Nsv~F la1 ian
cUrrent. In this way it is made known that
we are actually able to see but small fTac-
ton Of a rainbow. Who can tell what
gorgeous colorS. different from any ever be-
held by man, lie concealed to his imperfect
vision along the path beyond the violet and
the red?
1t is amazing how simple and evident some
inventions are, when they are once hit up
on. 1t was the Emperor Nero who used the
first eye-glass-a mUnOcle, by the way. he
was uear-sighted, and he found that GER
tain biz conCave emerald in his jewel col
lection enabled him to see with a much I'M
proved vision what went on in the circus at
tire gladiator shows. His notion was that
the gem was magical, but there was the
original preSbyOp.c lens, II only any one
had had the wit to look through it with the
gaze of scientific speculation. But no one
did, and so it was not for fifteen centuries
that spectaclts were invented.
To make a photograph the most important
requirement IS a surface that is sensitive TO
light. You imagine that chemistry is re-
CURED 10 make such surface, but
THAT IS NOT TRUE.
The newspaper on which these words are
printed has a SenSiuzed surface. Tear of
this page. when you are through reading It,
aud 1t will make you very fair photo
graphic print if you viii lay a glass negative
upon it and expose it to the sun for awhile.
But the negative requires skill aud ap-
paTatuS 10 make, yOu say. Then do with
out il. Imagine yourself cast away upon an
uDinhablted island. You ale an enthusiastic
amateur in photography, and you must
make pictures OF despair. Happily, you
have preserved your hat, spectacies and
notebook. That is a reasonable suppc-
sltOn, compared with some OF those IN
the Swiss Family Robinson" where if
one Of the family desires a lemonade he is
sure t. discover opportuGely lemon tree,
with a Sed of sugar-cane, on the other side
o. babbling brook. Rejoicing in the
abundant supply of materials at yOlr com
mand, you tit one Of your spectacle lenses
in to the crown Of your hat, and cut a strip
OF bark to close I'D the opening intended Tor
yolr head. That is a camera. Next you
tear page from your notch previously
dried, and rub il over with some juice
squeezed from flowers. FlOwer-juice is an
admirable sensitiZing medium; a few years
ago 1t was utilized to some extent in pho
Biography. The page thus SeUsitZed you at
tach inside to the BAREBACK of the hat, and
your Photograph IS soon made upon the
paper, without the Intervention OF O neg
alive.
But after all, this is not a fair SUPPOSE
ton. You might not have a hat, nor spec
taces, nor yet a notebook, when you were
cast upon the Island. This, however, would
not prevent you from taking photographs.
You could surely make some sort of box
with a very small hole in one side and a big
leaf alta he'd to the back. In the absence Of
8 lens the small hole does very well 10 con-
centrate the rays of light upon the leaf,
which has, like all leaves,
A SENSITIVE SURFACE.
Thus you obtain your photograph A
smooth plank of wood has a sensitive sur
face too, upon which sun-print can be
made. 1t IS the resin in the wood which
makes the surface sensitive to light and the
same remark applies to leaves and to the
newspaper tissue made from wood-pulp. 1t
Is worth mentioning, by the way, that a
traveller IN the Arctic regions could make
very respectable lens out of piece of ice.
The curiOsities of photography are only
beginning to be discovered. Some photo
graphs were made the other day by telescope
of the Statue of America-vulgarly sup
posed to represent the Goddess OF Liberty
on the dome of the Capitol. Lenses were
arranged in big camera according to tele-
scopic principles, and the pictures. taken at
a distance OF a quarter of a mile, though
only four inches high, were so clear IN de-
tail as TO enable the people at the National
Museum to restore with accuracy the mu-
tilated original cast for the statue, actual
size, which Is now being set up in the center
of that great institution.
Some very interesting photographs have
been made at the National Museum here Of
mushrooms in progressive stages of growth.
One series represents the development and
propagation of the 'fairy-ring" mushroom,
TGSpRptIuQ which sO
tioGs fancies are current. For centuries
past il has been imagined by country folk
that the rings formed by these fungi in the
meadows and on the hilsdes were used BIZ
fairy dancing parties. The circles iHclOsed,
bare Of vegetation, suggested a trampling by
merry little feet, while it was supposed that
the ring Of mushrooms round about afforded
seats to some sprightly reyelerS. Butscience
has shown that this picturesque notion
Is ALL A DELUsIoN,
And that the fairy rings are formed in
very commonplace manner Each ring is
begun with a single mushroom, which,
wien II decays, Is replaced by number of
little ones Tie latter multiply rapidly,
and the exhaustion Of the nutrIive material
in the soil causes those in the middle to die
out for want Of sustenance, so that the out
side ones gradually spread outward until
ring Of them is formed. perhaps as much as
four or five feet i'll diameter. Fairies might
find pleasant place TO trip in within the
circle thus made, but, alas there is no evil
dence that they do so, nor that they find re-
pose between the turns upon the dainty little
stools.
Another thing which photography has
been used to illustrate by the Fish Commits
sion in this instance is the growth OF the
shad in the egg. At the beginning micro
scopic pollywog from the 'milt" of a male
FISH makes its way into one Of a myriad
eggs Of the female fish through little hole
in the side of the egg, and thus gives life to
the germ. When this has bat just been &C
complished, the egg. magnifed 100 times in
the photograph, shows the young fish in the
shape Of dark spot on one side. This
dark spot in subsequent daily pictures be-
comes rapidly larger, until it is seen to de-
velop tail and finally to escape from the
shell, together with thousands of its infant
companions, ready to be planted a few days
later in the waters OF the Potomac and other
rivers.
One Of the most wonderful uses Of photog-
raDhy recently devised is that by which
whole edition of book is turned out auto
maticaIly by the camera. a single page is
reproduced at time, a clcck-work device
being so arranged that by the shifting of
continuous strip Of paper, the negative OF
the page prints copy after copy, each blank
hafup t.Nrn ssd for Iu5t tho