Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1891-04-05
PHOTOS In COLORS.
Newly-Dlsc0vered Facts About the
Pictures the Sun Paints.
TINTS WHICH no MAN EVER SAW.
Taking Photographs on Newspapers, Leaves
and Blocks of Wood.
SNAP SHOTS AT THE BABY FISHES
WRITTEN FOE THE D1sPArcH.,

ually in the way of reproducing colors of
permanence by photography, the process for
doing this, newly discovered by NJ. Lipp-
m0n, is scarcely to be considered yet az
more than one of the many curiosities of a
marvellous art Some day before very long,
doubtless, this or other methods will be so
far perfected that the taking of peoples
portraits with the eoIoring of the originals
will be practicable; great paintings will be
copied mperishably-though time must de-
stroy the paintings themselyes-with the
camera, and the same apparatus will be
utilized for making the sun himself do land
scapes in the twinkling of an eye with all
the tints of nature.
With relation to the ultra-red and infra-
violet, invisible to the human eye,which the
French Academician finds exhibited as black
bands in his reproduction of the colors in the
rainbow, Prof Langley, Secretary of the
Smithsonian Institution, has made some
astonishing discoveries recently. The ultra
red is to the left of the red end of the rain
bow, while the ultraviolet is to the right of
the violet end, the length of the rainbow be-
ing in this manner added to in both direc-
Lions.
Widening the Rainbow.
What could be more interesting than these
hues unknown to us, to which, so Prof.
Langley says, roses aud other flowers owe
much OF the exquisite beauty of their color
ing? By an instrument of his own inven-
tion. inexpressibly delicate, which he calls
"bolometer," this famous scientist has
traced the rainbow to more than twice its
visible length. The contrivance-s thin
film of iron, through which a current of
electricity is passed-is moved along over q
rainbow, cast by the sun through prism,
registering the heat of the hidden rays bv
the interruption of the current. In this way
1t is made known that we are actually able
to see but small fraction of a rain bow.
Who can tell what gorgeous colors, different
from any ever beheld by man, lie concealed
TO his imperfect vision along the path be-
yond the violet and the red?
1t is amazing how simple and evident
some inventions are, when once they are hit
upon. It was the Emperor Nero who used
the trst eyeglass-a mOnocle, by the way.
He was near-sighted. and he found that o
certain big concaVe emerald in his jewel col
lection enabled him to see with a much i'm
proved vision what went the circus at the
gladiator shows. His notion was that the gem
was magical, but there was the original presy-
opic lens, If only any one had had he wit to
look through it with the gaze of scientific specu-
lation. But no one did. and SO it was not for Is
centuries that spectacles were invented,
A Newspaper Is Sensitized.
To make photograph, the most important
requirement is a surface that is sensitive to
light. You imagine that chemistry Is required
to make such a surface, but that is not true.
The newspaper on which these words are
printed has sensitized surface. Tear of this
page, when you are through reading ir, and it
will make you a very fair Photographic print,
il you will lay glass negative upon it and ex-
pose 1t to the sun for while.
Imagine yourself cast away upon an unin-
haDited island. Happily you have preserved
your hat your specracles and a note book. You
fit one of your spectacle lenses into the crown
of your hat and cut a strip of bark to close uD
the opening intended for your head. That is
camera. Next you tear page from your note
book, previously dried. and rub it over with
some juice squeezed from flowers. Flower
juice Is an admirable sensitizing medium; few
years ago lt was utilized to some extent in
photography. The page thus sensitized you
attach inside to the bark back of the hat and
your photograph is soon made upon the paper
without the intervention of negative. But
you might not have hat, nor spectacles, nor
yet notebook; but you could surely make
some sort of a box with very small hole In one
side and big leaf attached to the back. In
the absence of 4 lens. the small hole does very
well to concentrate the rays of light upon the
leaf, which has, like all leaves, sensitive
face. Thus you obtain your photograph. A
smooth plank of wood has highly sensitive
surface. 1t is worth mentioning, by the way,
that traveller in the Arctic regions could
make very respectable lens out OF cake Of
ice.
Some Novel Applications.
The curiosities of photography are only be-
ginning to be discovered. Some photographs
were made the other day by telescope of the
statue OF America-vulgarly supposed to rep
resent the Goddess of Lberty-on the dome of
the capitol. Some very interesting photo
graphs have been made at the National Mu-
scum Washington. of mushrooms in progress
i've stages of growth. One serles represents
rafi nf fhA
''fairy-ring" mushroom, respecting which so
many pretty superstitious fancies are current.
Each ringGS begun with single mushroom,
which. when it decays, IS replaced by 4 number e
of little ones The latter multiply rapidly,
and the exhaustion of The nutritive material
IN the soil causes those in the middle TO die out
for want of sussenance, that the outside
ones gradually spread outward until ring of
them is formed perhaps as much as four or
five feet in diameter. Fairies might find
pleasant place to trip in within the circle thus
made, but alas! there is no evidence that they
find repose between the turns upon the dainty
little stools.
Another thing which photography has been
used to illustrate by the Fish Commission in
this instance is the growth of the shad in the
egg. At the beginning microscopic pollywog
from the "milt' of a male flsh makes its way
into one of a myriad eggs of the female fish
through little hole in the SHE of the egg and
thus gives life to the germ. When this has bnt
jnst been accomplished, the egg. magnifIed 100
Times in the photograph, shows the young fish
IN the shape of dark spot on one side. This
rapidly larger, until it is to develop a tail
and finally to escape from the shell.
Bookmaking by Photography.
One of the most wonderful uses OF photog-
raphy recently devised Is that by which =
whole edition of book is turned out automat-
ically by the camera A single page is repro
duced at a time. clockwork device being so
arranged that, by the shifting of continuous
8 rip of paper, the negative of the page prints
COPY after COPY, each blank being exposed for
lust the necessary time.
A curious sort of composite photography
has recently been tried with human skulls, of
which it was attempted IN this way 10 obtain
types Tor scientific purposes.
For example, 4 composite was made of .
number OF murdeTerS skulls. The Govern
ment Lighthouse Board also has employed
photography lately for the purpose of finding
out what sort of lamp gave the greatest amount
Of light.
Perhaps the most extraordinary application
of photography hat 1t is possible TO mention
is found in the multifOrm mechanical processes
used at the present day for the reproduction
of pictures. In the illustrating OF MAGAZINES
the art of woOd-cutting has been almost entire
ly superseded by photo-engraVing IN one shape
or another. Until recently it was thought i'm
possible to reproduce in this way anything but
D drawing composed of lines: but now even q
painting can be copied of-hand in the shape OF
q cut by the simpls device OF placing a gauzo
screen between the picture and the camera
the network of the gauZh breaking up the solid
lights and shadows so as to make them repro
ducible much better way of accomplishing
this however, has been lately invented, by cut
ting cross.Iines on the glass negative ITSELF
Thus YOU find in the newspapers of to-day most
beautiful engravings OF actual works Of art
lone within few hours, which would have
taken the hand-workman not long ago months
ouf r.