The Lakeland evening telegram. (Lakeland, Fla.) 1911-1922, 1917-04-21
A Professor S
Story
By OSCAR cox

rafused for a long while to publish H.
for there were those who believed that
the professor had impaired MS n'iin'
az well as his body by too close aplii-
cation to scientific research. ll""e'e''
the heir at last assented. The paper
reads:
Holding the chair of chemistry III the
university. all the work OF III! Dram
has been devoted to the decomposition
and reconstruction of matter. ! nave
long been convinced that We must pass
through matter to get at spirit-lh ON
ar words our medium instead of being
n person must lie science. Now, ~
chemical agents we photograph matter
which we can see. More than THIS We
photograph objects we cannot see eN'
cept by the aid of the microscope. SIN
more. we photograph objects BEYOND
the range of our vision even assisted
by the telescope Ergo. may we not
nv the extension of the process nj laSl
ret picture of beings eNistIhS III
spirit FORM:
This dry scientific preface Is hut pre-
lilninary to the story | have To tell ahd
is essential 10 its understandings len
wears 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 exhausting itself. The
steam engine must have coal, the body
food As soon as ! heard of radium 1t
struck me that here was substance
akin to spirit. neither requiring fuel.
We may photograph matter even
though invisible Therefore may we
not photograph spirit?
| will not ask you to follow me In
my studies of Photographic processes
tried to penetrate the realm OF soul
l will only say that at last discover
/ ed substance which | converted into
a plate, or. rather, laid upon a plate, Q
hundred times more sensitive than any
known form OF matter 1t was one Of
many | had tried In making ordinary
photographs and failed. But on one
occasion while experimenting with 1t
l was called away. On returning sew
eral days later took the plate from
the camera to develop it.
To assign reason for this impulse
Il had no object Of which was con
sciOus-would be to leave the scientific
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 human
thought Is very common. | developed
my plate--not with the usual agents,
but others | had proved by experiment
to be far more delicate-and what was
my establishment TO see the semblance
Of human forms. The difference be-
tween them and living persons can
not explain. To get mn idea Of them
they must be seen.
Why these figures had appeared be
fore my camera | 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 | might pho
tograph my wife, provided she was &C.
customed to frequent places she had
been used to frequenting in life. There
Is window of her bedroom at which
she used to sit and look over view of
rolling ground on which were scatter
ed several of the college buildings. 1t
occurred to me to keep IA 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. / determined
to use the strongest light available.
The room faced south. the sun being
on 1t In summer from S o'clock in the
morning till about In the evening.
rugged a lsns-on the principle of the
common sunglass-outside the window
throwing on the chair a light com.
posed Of the converging rays OF the
sun. My lens was arranged to turn BY
clockwork. so that the light thrown OF
the chair would continue irrespectiv,
! OF the suns apparent motion.
exposed my plate all one very clea,
day. but found nothing on 1t when de
veloped. For FIVE successive DAYS this
sun shone well. l continued the ex
posture. After the fifth exposure faint
figure appeared on the plate. A prin
showed woman sitting In the chair.
The figure was not distinct enough
for me to tell whether or not IL wa,
that Of my wife. l mourned the i'm
perfection of my materials and sighe,
that | had none more delicate.
caught the figure at the window sew
eral times. but the impression was al
ways blurred. How | longed to nro
duce picture that would give the fea
lures OF the face, Doubtless | woul,
then see my wife looking at me n
she had often done while sitting 4,
that chair.
Soon after this l changed the has,
OF my investigations. | laid out n Sc
ries of experiments at taking picture
with the light of radium. worke