Bellows Falls times. [volume] (Bellows Falls, Vt.) 1856-1965, 1897-01-30
The Wonderful Beetles Eve.

eminent gentlemen who favored the x
ray theory were as far from the truth
as was Preacher Jasper when he insist
ed that the sun do move"
1t is curious study that this pho
tograph lays open to the laymen of
science. The beetle has a curious pro-
Jectlng eye, very similar to the sort one
sometimes sees in man himself. The
eye is large and round or almost so. It
is not perfect sphere, but is slightly
convex IN shape. The accompanying
picture shows really one-half of the
eye OF the beetle. Such insects have
eyes carried compound, formed not OF
one lens, but of several hundred, set
SIDE by side like cells in honeycomb
Writing of this photograph, Pro-
fessor Slime of the Armour Institute
says OF DIR. Aliens picture of the in
sects sight world, here shown
ITO make it DR.. Allen took the cor
nea of the eye of beetle (hydrophilas
piceus) and employed it in place OF
the usual Photographic lens of the
camera used for making photographs
OF microscopic objects. A silhouette OF
a head was pasted on piece of ground
glass and lamp placed upon it. A
Photographic dry plate was exposed to
the light coming through the beetles
eye from the silhouette and developed
in the usual manner
AS can be seen, the resulting multi
graph was circular, and contained sew
eral hundred images of the profile, one,
indeed, for each facet of the eve. The
camera used for taking a large number
or simultaneous photographs and OBJ
1nntC nh y-io
an eye. The relation of the eyes of
such insects to those of mammals with
the single adjustable lens is that of
single focus or snapshot camera to the
ordinary form in which the focus is ad-
Unstable.
1T seems reasonably clear that in
sects form their judgments of distance
from such multiple images, depending
upon the power Of each facet to re-
tract light rays. The nearer the OBJ
ject, the greater would be the area COW
cred by the images on the retina. 1t
is scarcely conceivable that rays not
capable of refraction or of being focus
ed, which is the case with the X rays.
can by simply shadow effects enable a
judgment to be formed on the distance
of an object
1t is impossible to conceive, from the
picture as printed, an absolutely cor
rect idea of the wonderful clearness
with which the different facets of the
beetles eye cause to be placed upon
the plate the image which they reflect.
Although the image is shown hun
dred or more times, in every instance
1t is clear and perfect. Very fine and
delicate are the lines, to be sure and
the features are only distinguishable
clearly by the aid of a microscope but
nothing is omitted and the wonder
full handiwork of nature has never been
more clearly shown than when this eve
with artificial stimulus carries out the
part for which it was created.
1t so happens that in this instance a
silhouette was used instead of the or
binary photograph. 1t will be observ-
ed that this is exactly what the accom-
illustration shows Other and
similar experiments, however. have
demonstrated the truth of the state
ment as to the accurate reproduction of
every l1neament of the human face. To
gam an adequate idea of exactly what =
4 photograph through the multiple fac
cts of beetles eye accomplishes, look
into the eye of some person
who is close to and looking steadfastly
at you. You will see reflected in the
eye of the other your own face, clear
and distinct, with not vestige of
inc missing. Now this is just what 7
happens when the BEETLE looks at Won
only your eyes are reflected several t
hundred times. S
This is what the photograph taken r
~ DIR. Allen shows. 1t is one of the
most remarkable combinations OF diff
erent branches of science that the Il
world has yet seen. n