Evening star., 1928-11-04

The motion picture industry now Is
the largest consumer of silver in the
United States, not excepting the United
States Mint, according to the Bureau
of Mines. Silver, the precious metal
which for centuries has held high rank
as a medium of exchange and ma
terial for the fashioning of adornmentS,
now plays it's largest role unseen. But
the romance of the situation is that in
doing so it makes it possible for
thousand other things to be seen.
Silver is of the very essence OF photo
graphic reproduction. The old-fasn-
ioned Photographic plate OF glass; tne
film used in the pocket camera ana
the movie reel alike render their serV-
ice because of silver.
All of the tourists in the world could
not have made very much OF an inn
preston on the output OF silver with
their cameras, but. with the develop
ment of the six-reel motion picture, the
demand has increased to such a point
that it exceeds all others.
Not even the family plate, jewelry,
umbrella handles and cane bands use
as much silver as the movies The sill
yer dollar, half dollar, quarter and dime
even fall below the movie film as Gus
toners of the mines.
The process is, in general terms, as
follows: Silver Is combined with cnlorlne
This operation must be performed n
absolute darkness. The combination L
called silver chloride. This is then maze
! into liquid by the addition OF aloumen
| It is not dissolved, as that term car
scarcely be applied to silver cnlorloe
but is suspended. The MIN tnen L
passed through a bath OF tnlS nquio
| az. De
This is the infiammable type of film
but recently an inflammable film hal
been made of a resinous composition
Either type has to pass through TIT
silver chloride bath before 1t becomes
Photographic.
How Light Reacts.
The very secret of the film is that
| having been coated with silver cnlorlo'
in darkness and kept in darkness unit
used, exposure to the light-the TIMES
speck of light-reacts upon 1t IN sucf
| way as to reproduce upon the MIN
surface the shadows and lights before II
In the final analysis, picture Is notn
ing more than an arrangement OF lgn
and shadow Some such arrangement
are in the form of a landscape ant
some in the form of human face, but
reduced to its simplest form, a. pictur
is merely an arrangement OF light ant
shade.
James Abbott Mcneil Whistler. one o
the most distinguished artists of modern
times was very sensitive to this fact ant
frequently gave titles to his painting
indicative Of this sensitivity. One will
find a portrait of man bearing NJ
title or name beyond Arrangement II
Black and White" or Arrangement II
Grey and Silver"
The human eye itself, of course, is
camera, but 1t sees gradations of shade
called colors, while the inanimat
camera, or rather the film, sees every
thing merely as black or white of vary
ing intensity. The trained artist see
these colors more readily than one VIII
is not. 1t might be more accuratel
stated that the artist recognizes colors
Others may actually see them but no
recognize them Thus, snow often
painted In varying shades of blue an
purple and the representation is faithful
The artist sees the blue in the snow
really merely sky reflection, just a
the blue or green sea is, whereas tn
layman almost instantly rejects the ide
that the snow can be anything bu
white.
While not noting the colors, the silve