The Palatka news and advertiser. [volume] (Palatka, Fla.) 1908-19??, 1910-06-03
HE STUDIED
TOO HARD
By HARRIET L. GEDDES
Copyright. 1910. BY American Press
Association.

manuscript was found among his pa
pers:
Holding the chair of chemistry in
the university, all the work of my
brain has been devoted to the decom-
position and reconstruction of matter.
! 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 can 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 picture Of beings
existing In spirit form?
This dry scientific preface is but pre-
nminary to the story have to tell and
is essential to its understanding Ten
years ago 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 new
impulse to my Investigations. Radium
is the first substance known to exert
power without exbausting itself The
steam engine must have coal, the body
food. AS soon as | heard Of radium 1t
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
though Invisible. Therefore may We
not photograph spiritf
] will not ask you to follow me in
my studies Of Photographic processes.
I tried to penetrate the realm Of soul
] will only say that l at last discov-
cred a substance which / converted
into a plate-or, rather, laid upon q
plata hundred times more sensitive
than any known form Of matter. 1t
was one Of many had tried In max
ing ordinary photographs and failed.
But on one occasion while experiment
ing with it was called away. On
returning several days later took the
plate from the camera, and 1t occur
red to me to develop 1t.
To assign a reason for this impulse
Il had no object Of which l was con-
scious-w would be to leave the scien-
tIfc field and enter that Of psychology.
am convinced that was impelled by
one In the spirit world to develop the
plate. Such direction given to hui
man thought is very common. l de-
veloped my plate-not with the usual
agents, but others had proved by ex-
pertinent to be far more delicate-and
what was my establishment to see the
semblance Of human forms. The diff
ference between them and living per-
sons l cannot explain. To get an idea
Of them they must be seen.
Why these figures had appeared be. |
fore my camera l do not know. / |
could never get them again. If they
were spirits they had happened to be |
where they would be photographed.
pondered long on how l might |
my wife, provided she was
accustomed to frequent places she had |
been used to frequenting 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 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,
thought, ordinary light is not strong
enough for the purpose. I determined
to use the strongest light available.
The room faced south. the sun being
On It in summer from o'clock in the
till about In the evening. l
1gged lense-on the principle Of the
common sunglass-outsfde the window,
throwing a light on the chair compos-
ID Of the converging rays Of the sun.
Ny lens was arranged to turn by
.lockwork so that the light thrown on
he chair would continue irrespective
# the suns apparent motion.
exposed my plate all one very clear
lay, but found nothing on it when de-
reloped. For five successive days the
run shone brightly. I continued the
exposure. After the fifth exposure a
amt figure appeared on the plate. A
,rint showed a woman sitting IN the
hair.
The figure was not distinct enough
or me to tell whether or no 1t was
hat Of my wife. mourned the i'm
'erfection Of my materials and sighed
hat l had none more delicate.
aught the figure at the window sew
raj times, but the impression was al
vays blurred. How ! longed to pro-
uce picture that would give the {
eatures of the face! Doubtless I
vould then see my wife looking at me
s she had often done while sitting in
hat chair.
Soon after this changed the basis
( my investigations. | laid out Sc I
les Of experiments at taking pictures
nth the light OF radlum. worked
nd thought so necessarily that at last
~ friends interfered. thinking l
rould break down. They interrupted I
he, however. just as had succeeded. {
have made a number Of photographs |
T my wife holding out her arms to
lie and wearing that smile.
ION the day this last paragraph was
ritten Professor Koopman was taken
, a sanitarium. where he died)
Eleotionsering and Drink.
Liquor formed very serious item OF
d time election expenses In England
or an election dinner In Fortarshirr :