Waterbury evening Democrat., 1894-05-12
A GREAT DISCOVERY.
PRACTICAL D. roGRAoHY WITHOUT
 IIC [ OR LENS.

4 PIctur, Taken by Electrical Action Only.
 Hertz's Experiments RIvaIed by Pro
 fessor in t:so Leland Stanford. Jr.. Uni Versity.
 Clerk Maxwell's electro magnetic the ory of light received striking confrma- ton seven or eight years ago when Hein rich Hertz performed a number of ex- periments in which electrical waves were made to initiate the conduct of light waves in several particulars. This gifted investigator, now connected with the University of Bonn, concentrated the rays to Q focus with parabolic mirror. Refraction as we'll as reflection was ac- complished. Electricity, proceeding in straight lines, was diverted from its course by prism of pitch. The phenomena of interference and polarization were also reproduced.
 It is now announced that photograph has been taken by using electricity in- stead of light, and if this story is true then additional evidence will have been afforded as to the kinship of these two forces or forms of force, Hertz, it will be observed, only showed that the cleo trical radiance conformed to mechanical laws which are known to control life, but photography introduces the element of chemical action, so that this later achievement, if it proves to be all that it seems, is one of the most remarkable revelations of our day.
 Professor Fernando Sanford, who claims to have attained this wonderful result and who gives some account of 1t to the San Francisco Examiner, occupies the chair of physics in Leland Stanford, Jr., university and is one of the young est members of the faculty of that insti- tuition. As the story appears over his own signature. and he intimates that he has repeated the experiment several times, there is little room for doubt as to the genuineness of the occurrence de- scribed. Professor Sanford obtained his picture in the dark without even a lens in the following manner:
 It is well known that when two brass rods connected with the sides of the bat tery or placed in the secondary circuit of an induction coil are brought close enough together a spark will fly from one to the other. If to each rod, a short
 
 terminate, copper wire be attached and the two wires be led off to suitable metal plates placed facing each other, but not quite touching, an electrical oscillation will occur between the plates whenever there is a discharge between the knobs. Now, Professor Sanford substituted coin. the object to be photographed, for one of the plates of such pair, and laid it face downward upon thin sheet. of mica, which i'll turn rested on the sensi- tive gelatin film of a glass photographic plate.
 Tinfoil was arranged on the other side of the glass and took the place of the other metal plate of the pair. This con- bination was now placed between two boards and left in the dark for an hour, during which time a series of sparks were flying from one knob to the other of the discharger across an interval of one-sixtecn,h of an inch. Upon deyel- oping his sensitive plate Professor San ford had an image of his coin-that is, of the portions in relief on that side which Was ill contact with the mica. The Examiner prints a copy of the pie turc. q positive, which shows the Liberty head, date, inscription "E Pluribus Cnum." circle of stars and raised edge in white on dark background.
 Professor Sanford does not enter into a discussion of the theories involved, but he mentions that the tinfOil was not only of the same size as the coin Ca silver dol larN. but placed directly opposite. Ap- parently electro magnetic waves flowed from the coin to the tinfoil, but prefer ing the shortest route radiated mainly or exclusively from tie raised part of the dollar. They seem to have proceeded ill straight lines too; otherwise the chem ical action on the film would not have been confined so accurately to regions directly opposite the pattern.
 Right here 1t should be noted that Hertz discovered in his experiments that the induced magnetic radiance excited ill the manner described. and now called "Hertzian waves" in honor of that now famous IGysiclst. had this remarkable trait net possessed by primary cleo trical current: Good conductors, like copper or other metals, being interposed would stop them, but they would go right through wood and other so called ''insulators." Hence in Professor San ford's experiment the mica and glass were evidently no barriers to the passage of the particular kind of electricity pro duced.
 Although it does not at first appear clearly what practical applications of this discovery can be made, it is not i'm probable that uses will be found for it. The indirect consequences are sure to be valuable as well as interesting York Tribune.