The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1905-12-27
Stay-at-Home Travelling
This Seeming Paradox is
Now a Delightful Reality,
Because of a Scientific Ad-
vancement as Wonderful In
Its Way as the Telephone
TOUR OF THE WORLD ......
....... IN YOUR EASY CHAIR
By ARTHUR BONSAL.

ographers then explained that q BIZ
nocular or stereoscopicFcam differs
from an ordinary camera as a two
eyed man differs from q cripple, with
only one eye. It has two :~:lensesJ set
side by side as far apart al q PERSONS
two eyes. One lens takes in exactly
what would be seen by the right eye
of a person standing in the cameras
place. The other lens takes in what
would be seen by the observers left
eve. Prints made from the two mega
tives are, of course, almost alike and
yet never precisely alike. Their mount
ing on the s~tereograph card ia a pro-
CESS requiring exact, expert workman
ship. When the s~tereograph is set in
place in the stereoscope, the right eye
sees what it would see on the spot and
the left eyee sees what it would see on
the spot. The result is analogous
to that of looking with both
eyes at your outstretched hand.
You see part way around the
near objects, and that makes them
STANDPOINT real, and'solid just as they do
in your ordinary, everyday experiences
Of sesing things insyour accustomed
surroundings. It gives to your eyes
perfect depth, perfect solidity, perfect
space.
"Thus you see," my informant con-
.tinued, "the two small prints 3X3
inches in size and about six inches in
front Of the eyes in the stereoscope
serve exactly as two windows through
which we look and beyond which we
see the object or place standing out as
large as the original object or place
would appear to the eyes of n stand
ing where the camera stood. Remark
able as these statements may seem,
when thoughtfully considered, still
they are absolutely true, based on
scientific facts which may. be found
explained in any reliable treatise on
binocular vision"
I sat back and wondered. 1t seemed
hard to realize that, in the ]stereoscope,
I could see in their natural size parts
| Of countries, cities and towns all over
the earth.
But" he went on, 1--WE now come to
a far more remarkable fact. Psyche
logists are saying that if we look at
these life-size scenes in the right way,
namely, if while looking we have
some means Of knowing definitely
where on the earth's surface we are
standing, in just what direction and
over what territory we are looking,
and If we take time to think Of our sur
roundings there. then we can gain a
distinct sense or experience Of location
in that place, or what they call genu-
inc experiences of travel. Of course,
you would not be likely to believe this
at once, but reserve your judgment for
q few minutes.
ITO furnish the knowledge. to make
this possible a new map system has
been devised and patented-an entirely
new system"
Then he proceeded to show me a
most ingenious map system of which
1 had never before heard. Like many
another bright idea it is essentially SO
simple one wonders why it had not
been devised before. He showed me
several Of the patent maps. ALI were
in the first place excellent, clear maps
Of the ordinary sort, but a clever de-
vice of conspicuous red lines showed
just where q person was to stand, i'll
whatever vicinity it might be, in what
direction he was to face and just how
much territory in a town, a house in
terror or a stretch of open country he
was to include in his outlook from that
particular point.
but what are educators saying about
this?" I asked. Much" was" the re-
ply. "Herc is what a professor of
psychology in New York University,
Professor Tough, says:
"'The essential thing for US is not
that we have the actual physical place
or object before US, as a tourist does,
rather than a picture, but that we have
some at least Of the same facts Of con-
seriousness, ideas and emotions, in the
presence Of the picture, that the tourist
/ gains in the presence of the scene.
This is entirely possible in the stereo-
scope
"But," he added, Eve do not claim
that even these experiences can be got
ten unless the stereographs are used
with certain helps and in the right
spirit. Speaking in a general way
this means we must treat the place
seen in the stereoscope as we would
treat the place itself in actual ~travel).
"To supply this need books are being
prepared by people of wide travel and
broad culture to accompany the stereo-
graphed scenes of a city or country"
Then I was shown guide books by
such men as Jesse Lyman Hurlbut, D.
D., on Palestine; DR.. u. J. Ellison and
Professor James G. Egbert, Jr., Of Co.
lumbla University. on Italy; Professor
James II. Breasted, of Chicago Univer-
| sity, on Egypt; Professor James Ricai-
ton, the veteran traveller, ON China;
George KEENAN,, the famous journalist
and lecturer, on Martinique. In these
books the authors or guides make
| their comments on the different places
seer through the s%tereosco1G in the
same natural order that THY would
treat item during an actuG journey.
They ptint out the objects c.H interest
in each 1lsc &c and give some Il the his
tory Connected with it. r 4 strives