The Olneyville times. (Olneyville [Providence, R.I.]) 1887-1917, 1905-12-08

yourself the grandeur and beauty, the
stupendOus energy and the endlessly
varied life not only in our own land
but also in the distant countries OF the
world?
The progress OF scientific invention
now makes ii possible for hundreds
of thousands to realize this dream for
themselves and for their children.
Travel of the truest kind is within
your reach. and yet without using
either ship or railway or any OF the
ordinary bodily conveyances.
This statement Is so extraordinary
in its claims that probably no reader
of these lines will believe Ii at first.
Indeed no one could have been more
sceptical about II than the writer was
until he visited the New York estab-
lishment of Underwood & Underwood,
the business organization which Is re-
sponsble for this truly remarkable de-
velopment Of great scientific inren-
tomas wonderful in It's way as the
telephone.
The first few minutes Of my visit
were ueNOteu tO sOlne lntciSStihS oPti
cal experiments.
l was handed q neutral tinted card
on which steroscopic photographs OF
one scene were mounted in the manner
with which many people are familiar
two prints on one card, side by side
They looked like duplicate prints from
q single well-made negative.
In the photographs / saw represent
ed a field with a cluster of houses
beyond, and breaking surf on distant
sea beach: it was down In Martinique.
A couple of men stood talking in the
field close by, and could see some of
the village houses in the space be-
tween their standing figures.
was asked TO examine this also
through the stereoscope. 1t seemed
to me hardly necessary. after the In
spection had already given the twin
photographs; however, | put the card
in the rack and placed my head
against the hood of the instrument.
Here | was astonished again. | was
no longer looking at Il Photograph
was seeing out into actual space. into
an actual place, and, moreover, this
place was startlingly different from
what 1 had supposed when l looked
at the fat photograph without any
instrument! Instead Of looking from
the side of a field. found L was on 4
high bluff, dropping abruptly perhaps
five hundred feet just beyond the two
ha ha 4 hoI oil
to stand at the farther side of the
field showed up as they really were,
at least half a mile distant over ut the
other side OF ravine. L couldn't be-
lieve my eyes at first. Then | asked:
What causes this effect Of being
right there with open space all
around"
"In the few minutes we have. there
would not be time to explain fully"
was the answer, but the possibility OF
these effects Of reality depends first
of all on the principle of two-eye see
ing as distinguished from one-eye see
ing. You must begin with this prin-
cple IL you are to understand this
travel system. Most people never stop
to think why they have two eyes. If
the question occurs to them at all,
they probably fancy the second eye
is merely piece of reserve equip
ment-nature's provision against help
lessness in case of accident TO one
organ of vision"
Then my informant went on to eX-
plain that person with normal eye
sight sees very differently from per
son with only one-eye. To demonstrate
that statement, l was asked to make
two or three personal experiments.
First l held my right arm out straight
in front of me, on level with the
shoulder. the hand open, the palm to-
wards the left. Holding ii in that po-
sition l looked at the hand with my
right eye alone. keeping the left eye
shut. | found / could see the edge
OF my hand and a part OF the back of
the hand. Next, keeping arm and
hand in the same position. l closed
the right eye and used only the left
eye. That time saw the edge OF my
hand and bit of the palm. but
could not see around on the back OF
the hand as before Last OF all, L used
both eyes together. Somewhat to my
own surprise. | noticed that could
then see the edge of the hand. part OF
the palm. and also part OF the back
OF the hand. Indeed. found l actu-
ally saw part way around the hand.
The representative OF the stere-
ographers then explained that a bi.
nocular or stereoscopic camera differs
from an ordinary camera as two
eyed man differs from cripple with
only one eye. 1t has two lenses set
side by side as far apart as a persons
two eyes. One lens takes in exactly
what would be seen by the right eye
OF a person standing i'm the camera s
place. The other lens takes i'm what
would be seen by the observers left
eye. Prints made from the two mega
tives are. OF course. almost alike aud
yet never precisely alike. Their mount
ing on the stereograph card is a pro-
cess requiring exact. expert wcrkmpp.