The mirror. (Stillwater, Minn.) 1894-1925, 1896-10-22
Photographic Tricks.


One of the latest tricks is to photograph a liy-
ing head on d plate The delusion is merely a
Photographic one. Photographs taken in this
way show the head of a living person resting on
plate which forms part of the furnishing of a
dnner-table. In fact. it preserves an absolutely
lfelike appearance. The cOntrivance for bring
ing about this remarkable deluSiOn is so simple
that any one may arrangeit 1t is only necessary
to remove the central leaf of an ordinary extern
sion table. and to provide plate or pan cut away
so that it may be conveniently placed around the
neck. The person to be photographed is seated
under the table so that the head appears Just
above the table top. The cloth and the ordinary
dinner set are then arranged in the usual way.
The head IS put through hole in the cloth and
the plate or dish is placed closely about the
neck. OF course. the deuSiOn is heightened by
the camera. Any one would recognize the de-
ception at glance. but the camera sees it with a
more partial eye. Pictures made in this manner
have often been extremely puzzling.
The trick Of phOtographing a fly or an ant in
such way that it looks like some gigantic
monster of prehistoric times is also very simple.
The eye estimates sizes wholly by comparison.
We judge the size OF unfamiliar objects by COM
parisOn with more familiar ones The moon,
for example appears very much larger as it rises
overhead. 1t is only necessary to set a minia-
ture church about an inch in height beside an
ordinary fly in order to show. III the photograph
at least. a strange. fierce animal as large as
cable car. The camera by reproducing only the
two objects makes it impossible to estimate the
actual size Of either of them. This same prin-
ciple has been applied successfully in photo
graphing snakes and fishes An ordinary
ground worm. three or four inches in length.
has been made to appear like an enormous
python. 1t is only necessary to Irvine this worm
about Il tiny toy fence and photograph it in
order To produce an illusion which it is impOSSi
bic to detect.-New York Journal.
An extraordinary thief has just been sent to
Jail for six months in London. She was a widow
Of good social standing. with an income of $500
year. who. for a year or more past had attend
ed fashionable weddings unlimited and helped
herself to whatever presents struck her fancy
Sixteen theftS were traced to her. She was
caught in very strange way. She disappeared
from her home and her friends. who feared she
might have come to harm and had no suspicion
of her conduct. sent minute description of her
to the police. The police had description of
the wedding-receptiOn thief. whom they had been
unable to find. The two descriptions tailed and
the woman was arrested. She gave an assumed
name, and under that name was tried and sent
to prsOn.-ChicagO Inter Ocean.
That pretty little Harris-Carlsle story about
the senator from Tennessee paying for his
luncheon with pOker-chip and afterward put
ting the joke on the secretary of the treasury, is
eclpsed by new yarn that Mr.. Carlisle is tell
ing his friends in Washington, says the New
York Press In Bishop Dudley's church, when
the collection was taken up, one of the vestry-
men inadvertently dropped into the plate poker
chip for silver dollar. Overcome with mOrtifi-
cation he hurried into the bishops room after
service and said Bishop, 1 don't know how
in the world it happened, but do you know
dropped a pOker-chip into the plate. How it
ever got into my pocket cannot imagine. Here
is a half-dOllar; want to redeem it," mot at
that price, Brother Blank said the bishop with
a smile. 1T is a blue chip; cost you ST .5O.'
Brother Blank looked at him in surprise. "But,
bishop he said,. show in the world do you
know blue chip is worth ST .5O?'' Remember,
Brother Blank, I am the bishop of Kentucky"
The vestryman paid the $3.50 and departed.