The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1897-01-17

! after al tADOSuIE 70 SluliS III lOi LNN
hours, was sprinkled over the cover Of
the plate holder. The plate holder was
then carefully covered with a dark
cloth in order that there might not
be any chance of ordinary light act
ing on the plate. The time of exposure
vari from Sc to y hours, the time
varying with different substances. a
slow plate was used with ordinary de-
Veloper and fixing bath.
Some of the negatives obtained were
much larger than others and some Pc
cuIiar effects were obtained. An eX-
animation of the plates will show this.
Figure ! is a photograph of TWO keys
and two copper cents taken in the dark
with uranium nitrate. The peculiar
effect connected with the radiation
already mentioned is that generally
more than one image of an object is
! produced on the plate (although the
object has been placed in contact with
! it,. Close inspection viii show this to
be the case. For simplicity L call the
! sharper or more pronounced image the
primary and the less distinct the sec
ondary, the latter being marked with
s.
"Of all substances tried found that
/ white graduated sugar gave the best
results. Figure , is a photograph of a
key, three copper cents and an irreg-
ular piece of glass obtained from the
light emitted from small quantity Of
! sugar secondary images marked as
usual with 50. Figure 3, however, is
! q photograph of two coins, a key and a
! piece of glass obtained from sugar, but
/ far more interesting than figure ,
/ from the fact that the emitted light
was made to pass through piece OF
wood 21a inches in thickness as well
as the plate holder, before it could
/ reach the sensitive plate.
The various images of the same OBJ
ject which appear on the plate are very
cratic, or at least irregular in the
manner of their appearance. / have
noticed as many as five images of one
object and sometimes on the same nZg-
atiVe there would be two images of
one object and only one of another
object two inches away. The element
of phosphOrescence does not seem to
enter into the process by which those
photographs are taken. Professor B.
3. Ross suggested to me that mas
much as quite number of fiuOrescent
and DhOSphOreScent substances pos
sessed high molecular weight, although
not known to be either fiuoreScent or
phOsphorescent, might give off these
rays. With this idea in mind I tried
sterein and ammonium phosphomolyb-
date. Both of these substances emit
ted the rays. Sterein gave them off
but slightly, producing a fairly clear
and sharp negative"
This is Professor McKissicks account
Of his experiments, related in q
technical manner. Its human interest,
however, is paramount Il proves that
Old Sol has been dominating US to an
even greater extent than We imagined
and the suggestion that here at least
is the connecting link between ROent-
gen rays and ordinary light, possesses
peculiar scientific interest. Taken in
connection with some recent feats of
Professor Elihu Thomson it forces the
SuppOSitiOn that very few substances
under the sun are really imperVious
to light rays. They penetrate every
thing and everywhere. The achieve
ments of Professor Thomson just
mentioned have just been announced
at the last meeting of the American
Institute Of Electrical Engineers. He
succeeded in forcing Roentgen rays
through two plates of cast iron nine
siXtenthS of an inch thick. He also
succeeded in forcing them through q
three-eighthS inch wrought iron plate
at a distance of six inches from the
platinum surface of a CrOokeS tube.
When the Becquerer theory is de-
veloped more thoroughly it viii doubt
less be found that many substances in
more or less common use are really
storage batteries of light, gathering up
Il4tA SS Nll LIS TIC Jay ana QlSDElSlD2
it during the night. This is. of course.
the picturesque way of looking at it,
but the practical element in it is not
necessarily very remote Two hours
storage of sunlight requires two
months for its dispersion Here is an
unreasonable quantity of light prac-
tcally going TO waste. 1t requires a
slight stretch of imagination TO sup
pose a system which would gather in,
so to speak, all this wasted light and
reduce 1t to disable condition. thus COM
pelllng the sun to do duty for us during
the night as well as during the day.
yet capital has been hazarded on still
more nonsensical ideas.
The hearing apparatus of the insect
IS capable OF encompassing sounds of
vibration too rapid to be measured.
Doubtless these same insects are able
20 guide themselves about in so-called
darkness by means of millions of
shafts Of what is to US unseen light.
The insect, burrowing far under
ground, might itself be a storage bat
terry OF sunlight from which much
needed rays are emitted The cat. ac-
cordnS to scientific supposition. sees
IN the dark by means of light of its
own eyes. The eye OF Won Helm
holtz on the other hand, bhotograph
ing Itself IN the dark by means of ire
own light was not able to see the an
par2tuS which became affected by it's
lght The last proves that shafts of
light can be projected through the
darkness of a quality which is far he
low the range of the human eve. but |
which can yet be reduced to so prac- !
tlcal basis as to materially affect a
plate. The fuoroscope
mas enabled US TO view the effects of
A-rays as they are taking place |
might we not go q step farther and |
devise an instrument which would
make visible and useful the sunlight
which is stored in sugar, in glucose, |
or in chalk
1t is suggested by a local scientist |
tnat this discovery of unknown light |
rays capable of being photographed |
may serve to throw some light on the |
methods pursued by spiritualist photo !
graphers. That negatives have been /
produced bearing spirit pictures pre- |
sumably taken in totally dark rooms. |
there can be little doubt, but the as
surance of the legitimacy of such pho /
tographs has always been opposed by |
scientific laws. Now the chance arises /
that some of these negatives may have |
been bona fide to a certain extent. |
The ability to take photographs in the |
dark might have been stumbled upon
by any charlaton who would naturally
make the most money out of his find /
by working 1t secretly and PLAYING on
plate, little prepared sugar and the
thing is done. The primary" image
on the plate is real enough; the sec
ondary" image which may appear
singly or in several fold, is spiritual
enough a lp1asf 70 convince tba ,,,oe+