Courier Democrat. (Langdon, N.D.) 1891-1920, 1910-07-07
HE STUDIED
TOO HARD
By HARRIET l.. GEDDES
Copyright. 1910. by American Press
Association.

the university. all the work Of my
brain has been devoted to the decom-
position and reconstruction Of matter.
I have long been convinced that we
must pass through matter to get at
spirit-in other words. our medium
instead of being a person must be sci
ence. Now, by chemical agents we
| photograph matter which we ear see.
More than this, we photograph objects
we cannot see except by the aid Of the
telescope. Still more, We photograph
objects beyond the range Of our vision
even assisted by the telescope. Ergo.
may we not by the extension Of the
process at last get a picture Of beings
existing in spirit form?
This dry scientific preface is but pre-
liminary to the story l have to tell and
is essential to it's understanding. Ten
years ago l married Louisa Markham.
Five years ago she died. Since then
my scientific studies have run in but
one view, to bring her within the sight
Of my mortal eyes.
The discovery of radium gave a new
impulse to my investigations. Radium
is the first substance known to exert
power without exhausting itself. The
steam engine must have coal, the body
food. AS soon as l heard Of radium it
struck me that here was a substance
akin to spirit, neither requiring fuel.
But since radium is matter. reasoning
from analogy. spirit may also be mat
ter. We may photograph matter even
not photograph spirit!
I will not ask you to follow me in
my studies of Photographic processes.
I tried to penetrate the realm Of soul.
I will only say that I at last discov-
cred a substance which l converted
into a plate-or, rather. laid upon a
plate-a hundred times more sensitive
than any known form of matter. 1t
was II of many 1 had tried in max
ing ordinary photographs and failed.
But on one occasion while experiment
ing with it 1 was called away. On
returning several days later I took the
plate from the camera. and it ecu
red to me to develop it.
To assign a reason for this impulse
Il had no object Of which I vas On
scious-would be to leave the scien-
tifc field and enter that Of psychology.
I am convinced that I was impelled by
one in the spirit world to develop the
plate. Such direction given to hui
man thought is very common. 1 de-
veloped my plate-not with the usual
agents, but others 1 had proved by ex-
| pertinent to be far more delicate-and
what was my astonishment to see the
semblance Of human forms. The diff
ference between them and living per-
son / cannot explain. To get an idea
Of them they must be seen.
Why these figures had appeared be-
fore my camera 1 do not know. I
could never get them again. If they
were spirits they had happened TO be
where they would be photographed.
l pondered long on how l might
photograph my wife. provided she was
accustomed to frequent places she had
been used to f~requenting in life. There
is a window of her bedroom at which
she used to sit and look over a view
of rolling ground on which were scat
tered several Of the college buildings.
1t occurred to me to keep a plate con
stantly exposed bearing on the chair
she had used in this window in the
hope that she would come there.
A weeks exposure failed to show
any impression on the plate. Possibly.
I thought. ordinary light is not strong
enough for the purpose. l determined
to use the strongest light available.
The room faced south. the sun being
on it in summer from s o'clock in the
morning till about 3 in the evening. l
rugged a lense-on the principle Of the
common sunglass-outside the window.
throwing a light on the chair compos-
ed of the converging rays of the sun
MY lens was arranged to turn by
clockwork so that the light thrown on
the chair would continue irrespective
of the suns apparent motion.
I exposed my plate all n very clear
day. but found nothing on it when de-
veloped. For five successive days the
sun shone brightly. l continued the
exposure. After the fifth exposure a
faint figure appeared on the plate. A
print showed a woman sitting in the
chair.
The figure was not distinct enough
FOR me to tell whether or no it was
that of my wife. I mourned the i'm
perfection Of my materials and sighed
that / had none more delicate.
caught the figure at the window sew
eral times. but the Impression vas al
ways blurred. How I longed to pro-
duce a picture that would give the
features of the face! Doubtless
would then see my wife looking at me-
as she had often done while sitting in
that chair.
Soon after THU l changed the basis
Of my Investigations. I laid out a Sc.
ries of experiments at taking pictures
with the light Of radium. I worked
and thought SO necessarily that at last
my friends interfered. thinking ]
would break down. They interrupted
me-. however. inst as I had succeeded