Five Mile Beach weekly journal., 1914-06-05

n.y. G6G l41 oaAuC SCAClaA pan uSCA
in star photography-that is, duration
Of exposure. The stars image is
brought nearer to US by means Of the
telescope. but not near enough to be
detected by the human eye. If ! AN
be in the place I have indicated and
you have hit upon a process delicate
enough to photograph me you may
give to the world a discovery equal to
that of radium.
81 believe. as l have said. that !
shall exist after death as a material
thing, but ever If | can come lear you
nc one of your senses is sufficiently
delicate to detect me. Star %photogra-
ply has indicated the only plan by
which 1t seems possible that l should
be revealed to you"
All this was said to me by my dear
wife as coolly as If she were standing
before her working table in the labora-
tory with a rack full Of test tubes be-
fore her. I confess that. while / was
profoundly impressed with her reason
ing, / regarded any attainment of the
purpose she ~enunciated as chimerical.
Ny wife passed away soon after this
injunction. and I was fortunate in
having an object to occupy my mind
SO intimately connected with her as to
hold my attention. l began my work
within a week after consigning her
earthly body to the tomb. though l
spent much time before experimenting
IN %hinE1nn IN fha cr1h4aot
/ divided my Investigations into two
branches, the light l would use and
the plate and its preparation which
was to receive the image. l shall not
give an account of my experiments
during a term of several years. for
even to catalogue them would require
considerable space. The difficulty Of
the problem before me will appear in
this-that l must find a kind OF light
that would act with sufficient delicacy
on my plate and a plate that would
satisfactorily receive the light. l
would not have made the attempt at
all had l not remembered that my
wife had promised to guide me by
thought transference to any informa-
ton which she might possess in what
we have been accustomed to call the
spirit world. In this / had much con
fdence, because l had noticed that
when we were together 1t seemed that
one of us could never have a thought
upon something remote from what
was occupying our minds but the other
would speak of 1t. This is a common
occurrence among many persons. and
l attribute 1t to thought transference.
One morning / was sitting alone,
running over in my mind the various
metals with which 1 would expert
ment for a plate for my picture. l
had a pencil and a bit of paper be-
fore me and. unmindful of what l
wrote, laid down on the paper the let
tiers ichteptyl. There was nothing
singular in this. for it is a substance
which. though little known even to
chemists. | had some knowledge of.
Somehow 1t anne into my head to ex
pertinent with solutions Of it as a
wash for my Photographic plate. At
another time, while passing from my
home to my laboratory. suddenly l
was seized with an impression-I can
give 1t no other name-that | might
try the influence OF radium on a plate
prepared with some solution of ich-
teptyl. / finally used a solution of
nitrate of lchteptyl exposed to the
beta rays of radium.
For months l had been making ex
pertments with various combinations
Of these two. leaving my plate exposed
as to try both night and day. My
camera was clamped to point to the
spot where my wife used to work In
the laboratory. For a week | had
suspected that something not visible
had been photographed on the plate,
and by slightly changing the character
of my agents / hoped to bring it out
more distinctly. In this way some
times l obtained a more distinct i'm
preston, sometimes one less distinct
One morning l went to my camera,
took out my plate and developed it.
What l I'M about to say ] ask no
one to believe. /. surely would not
believe it myself If it had been told me
by any one else. There was a picture.
indistinct. | admit, Of my beloved wife
turned from her work table toward
me, smiling upon me as If to exclaim:
I'VE have s~ucceededp'
But our dream of attaining the emf
nence of the Curies is not-at least
now-practieable, though ! hope at
some future time it may be. / have
succeeded In producing but the one
picture. Whether for reasons unre-
vealed to me my wife will not appear
again to be photographed or whether
there were conditions Of light, atmos-
phere or chemical agents that are not
repeated l do not know. ! only know
that after trials extending, over a year
I cannot get another photograph. &f
Why not exhibit the one / have? 1t