Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1899-01-12

S,rCrcd VI. NORM.
NJ GinOry looked at this slender young
man with his long blond hair, his eyes
as blue as the waters Of a lake, his face
pale and wearing the peculiar look COM
mon to searchers after the mysterious
The students and the others gathered
about their master, remained mOtiOnless
and listened intently as to a lecture.
And, DR.. Erwin went on frigidly,
eff we had found absolutely nothing
we would at least have kept silent about
an unsuccessful research, it is useless to
say. Think, then, my dear master, the
exterior objects must have imprinted
themselves ON the retina, did they not,
reduced in SIZE according to the size of
the place wherein they We're reflected?
They appeared there; they certainly ap-
peared there. There isl beg your par
don for referring to it, but it is to these
others (and DR.. Erwin designated NJ.
Ginory, his registrar, and Bernardet-
there is III the retina Il substance of a
red color, the pourpre retinien, very
sensitive to the light. Upon the deep
red of this membrane objects are seen
white, and one can fix the image. NJ.
| Edmond Perrier, professor III the Muse
um of Natural History, reports (yOu
know it better than l, my dear MASTER,
in IA work On animal anatomy and phys
| iologv which our students are all fl
miliar with, that he made an expert
ment. After removing rabbits eye, a
living rabbit 5 eye-ycs, science Is cru
he placed it in "a dark room, so that
he could obtain upon the retina the i'm
age Of some object, Il window, for in
stance, and plunged it Immediately into
solution Of alum and prevented the
decomposition of the pOurpre retinien,
and the window could plainly be seen,
fixed on the eye. in that black chamber
which we have under our eyebrows, in
| tho orbit, is a stOrehouse, stOrehouse
OF images which are retained. like the
image which the old Danes eye held of
| the VOLTS nose and teeth, and-who
knows?--perhaps it is possible to ask Of
dead mans eye the secret Of what it
saw when living,
This was put in more scientific terms
by the young Danish doctor, the sub
|
sible The young man had listened with
the attractive sympathy which is dis
played when anything novel is explain
cd Rigid upon the marble slab, the
victim seemed to wait for the result of
the discussion, deaf to all the confused
sounds about him, his eye fixed upon
the infinite, upon the unknowable
which he now knew.
It was however, this insensihle body
which had caused the discussion Of
what was an enigma to savants. What
was the secret of his end, the last word
of his agony? Who made that wound
which had ended his life? And, like a
statue lying on its stone couch, the
murdered man seemed to wait. What
they knew not he knew. What they
wished to know he still knew perhaps
This doubt alone, rooted deep III NJ
Ginory's mind, was enough TO urge him
to have the experiment tried, and eX-
cusing himself for his infatuation he
begged NJ. Norm to grant permission
20 try the experiment, which some of
the doctors had thought would be sue
cesSful.
"Wo shall be relieved even if we do
not succeed, and we can but add our
defeat to the others.
NJ NORM $ face still bore its skeptic-
al smile, But, after all, the examining
magistrate was master of the situation,
and since young DR.. Erwin brought the
result of the Denmark cXporiment-a
contribution new i'll these researches
to add weight to the matter the pro-
fessor requested that he should not be
asked to lend himself to an experiment
which he declared i'll advance would be
u perfectly useless one
There was II Photographic apparatus
at tho morgue as Mt tho prefecture,
used for anthropomctry. Bernardot,
moreover, lad his kodak in his hand.
Ono could photograph the retina as
soon as tho membrane was separated
from tho eye by the autopsy and when,
like the wing of butterfly, it had been
fastened to piece of cork, And, while
Bernardot was accustomed to all thC
horrors of crime, yet he felt his heart
beat almost to sutfocation during this
operation.
I:e noticed that M. Ginory became
very pale and that he bit his lips, cast
ing occasional plying glancos toward
the dead man. On the contrary, tn,
young men hent over the body anC
studied it with the admiration aud 20,