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9 The Strand 191 (February, 1895)

    Some Curiosities of Modern Photography. Part II.
    By William G. FitzGerald.


    Fig. 1.—The decapitated mule.

  1. INSTANTANEOUS photography has indeed given us many scientific curiosities. Deeming the ordinary animal and other photographs of this description too well known to need special mention, I pass to the decapitated mule which is here depicted (Fig. 1), and which certainly is one of the most extraordinary photographs ever taken. The mule was an old and worthless one which was about to be destroyed; therefore it was decided to sacrifice the animal upon the altar of science, the high priest on this occasion being Mr. Van Sothen, photographer in charge at the United States School of Submarine Engineers, Willett's Point, New York.

  2. The mule's head was to be blown off with dynamite, and the wires that conveyed the electric current to the cartridge round the animal's neck were also employed to produce a simultaneous action of a photographic shutter. A seen in the accompanying reproduction, the mule is just about to fall, and the rope by which it was tied to the stake has not had time to show the slightest movement.


    Fig. 2.—Magazine rifle bullet in transit.

  3. For the amazing details of the photography of flying bullets and other projectiles, travelling possibly at a velocity exceeding 1,400 miles an hour, I am indebted to Professor C. V. Boys, F.R.S., of the Royal College of Science, South Kensington. Fig. 2 shows a bullet from a magazine rifle immediately after having left the muzzle.

  4. A word concerning the electric spark used by this scientist is absolutely necessary. Not only did such sparks as were used by Lord Rayleigh and Professor Worthington last much too long, but a spark that was extinct within the 7-1,000,000th of a second was hardly suitable for bullet photography. Professor Boys first provided an electric spark whose duration was rather less than the I-10,000,000th of a second; in other words, that duration bore the same proportion to a second that a second does to four months. While this spark lasts, a bullet from a magazine rifle, travelling at the rate of 3,000ft. in a second, cannot go more than 1-400th of an inch. Professor Boys set up his apparatus in one of the passages of the college. The bullets were received in a box of tightly packed bran, five feet square, after having passed through an old packing case; and the spark was produced by the projectiles themselves severing some fine lead wires and thus completing the circuit. No camera entered into the experiment. Martini-Henry and Service rifles firing cordite ammunition were used; also a choke-bore sporting gun, and a rifle carrying an aluminium ball whose speed was 2,000 miles an hour.

  5. Now, I have no desire to puzzle my readers with elaborate descriptions of Professor Boys' electrical apparatus; therefore, I will simply say that the photographs here given, resulting from the experiments, are only photographs of the shadows of the bullets.


    Fig. 3.—Bullet penetrating glass plate.

    Fig. 4.—Bullet coated with glass splinters.

  6. The air waves caused by the bullets are clearly defined; and in that photo. which shows a plate of glass being struck, one may see the splinters flying backwards (Fig. 3). As in the case of falling drops, Professor Boys took photographs of various stages of flight. In one picture is seen the magazine bullet immediately after having passed through the glass; it is thickly coated with bristly particles (Fig. 4). A little later on we see it comparatively clear of glass splinters, but accompanied by the piece punched out on the first contact. This piece of glass has an air wave all to itself, and is evidently bent on accompanying its liberator (Fig. 5). A discharge from a shot gun is depicted in Fig. 6. The wad is seen behind the shower of bullets.

  7. Now, I have no desire to puzzle my readers with elaborate descriptions of Professor Boys' electrical apparatus; therefore, I will simply say that the photographs here given, resulting from the experiments, are only photographs of the shadows of the bullets.


    Fig. 5.—Bullet and piece of glass.

    Fig. 6.—Discharge from shot gun, showing wad.

  8. I may say that the photography of projectiles commenced shortly after the Crimean War, when experiments were conducted by the War Department at Woolwich Arsenal. That was in 1858. Wires were placed across the muzzle of a mortar throwing a thirty-six inch shell (the "Palmerston Pacificator"), and a photograph of its flight was electrically obtained.


    Fig. 7.—Composite photographs.

  9. Submarine photographs of sponge-fishing in the Greek Archipelago have been taken by a French savant. The accompanying reproduction (Fig. 7), illustrating this industry, was kindly lent me by Mr. W. A. Gorman, of the eminent firm of submarine engineers, Messrs. Siebe and Gorman. This curious view is said to be made up of two photographs, one taken above water and one below.

  10. The beginning of photography in the bowels of the earth may be traced to Mr. Bretz, of the Kohinoor Colliery, Shenandoah, Pennsylvania. That clever engineer's apparatus consisted of a number of tin reflectors shaped to parabolic curves, which concentrated the light produced by from six to ten inches of ordinary magnesium ribbon. Later on, an installation of electric light was placed in the mine, the five arc lamps having a nominal power of 2,000 candles each.

  11. Although the light failed somewhat, out of seven exposures made, five negatives turned out well. An exposure of from eight to thirty minutes was allowed, and pyrogallic acid and carbonate of potash were used for developing. Mr. Bretz, by the way, now uses an ordinary flash-lamp, and on a recent occasion, when he burnt eight or nine ounces of powder, he succeeded in obtaining a negative measuring 22in. by 18in.—the largest subterranean photograph ever taken.


    Fig. 8.—Photograph taken from a military balloon.

  12. War balloons will no doubt figure largely in the coming European war, and as will be seen from the photographs reproduced here (Figs. 8 and 9), it is possible to obtain a complete map of the enemy's country in this way. Balloon photography, however, has its drawbacks. Captain Mantell, R.E., who turned aeronaut during the autumn manœuvres at Aldershot, declares he had to tie his camera loosely to the car, which swayed and rocked violently.


    Fig. 9.—Balloon photograph—view of Philadelphia, U.S., from an altitude of three miles.


    Fig. 10.— Microscopic message carried by a pigeon from Paris during the seige.

  13. While on the subject of war, it is interesting to note that photo-micrographic messages were in 1870 and I871 conveyed to and from beleagured Paris by means of pigeons. On a single film of collodion, weighing less than a grain, there were more than 3,000 despatches. Sixteen folio pages of printed matter, reduced to microscopic photographs, were secured to the tail feathers of one of these ornithological messengers, each of whom could in this way carry a despatch of a million words if necessary. I reproduce here, by kind permission of M. Dagron of Paris, a facsimile of an original film containing photo-micrographic despatches sent from beleagured Paris (Fig. 10)

  14. The expert in foreign stamps has in photography a powerful ally. The searching eye of the camera brings out the crude lines of bogus varieties, and even when the microscope itself fails to reveal a chemically obliterated post-mark, the ghostly strokes appeal to the sensitive plate.

  15. Galton's finger-print method of identification, which has been grafted on to the Bertillon system for use in our police departments, has proved its efficacy in a rather curious way in America. A packet of paper money was tampered with in transit between New York and New Orleans, two seals having been broken open and the notes extracted; one seal was afterwards re-fastened by thumb pressure.

  16. The expert who examined the package had thumb impressions taken of all the Express Company's employés on that route. The impressions were then magnified by photography, compared with the seal mark, and the delinquent easily discovered.

  17. Enlarged photographs of merchants' books that have been passed by accountants have been exhibited in court, and the breaking up of the paper fibre caused by fraudulent erasure has been clearly shown.

    Fig. 11.—Engraver's hand.
    Fig. 12.—Coachman's hand.

  18. The reproductions shown here illustrate the system of photographing the hands of suspected criminals, for the purpose of identification. Fig. 11 depicts the hand of an engraver, and Fig. 12 that of a coachman. The hands of the latter distinctly show the corns caused by the reins.

  19. A curious use was found for photography at the Naval Academy of Annapolis, in Maryland. The principal instructor could not induce the students to remain still during gun practice; they would start violently and stop their ears. Therefore the chief officer took a number of instantaneous photos., showing the cadets in "undignified and unwarlike attitudes." These pictures were hung up in the academy, and the young men thenceforward forced themselves to keep still during gun fire, for very fear of the camera.

  20. Heirlooms, wills, and fortifications are photographed; so are all alterations made by overseers of estates abroad owned by gentlemen and residing in this country. Mr. Traill Tavlor possesses an orange grove of a hundred acres in Florida, and his foreman in that sunny State hardly cuts down a tree without showing the whole thing to his master in a photograph.


    Fig. 13.—Prehistoric footprint revealed by photography.

  21. The camera is even called upon to decide the genus of prehistoric fauna. When the geologist discovers indistinct marks upon certain strata, and has reason to believe that such marks were made by animals of bygone ages, he takes a photograph of the spot, and on developing his plate he finds the lines brought out most clearly. Here, for example, is a section of a rock bearing the footprint of the cheirotherium, an extinct reptile (Fig. 13). This rock was found at Storeton, in Cheshire.

  22. Contemning the photo-maniac who causes photographs of himself, his wife, and his near relations to be reproduced on the family china, Mr. Traill Taylor tells an interesting story of the wonders of applied photography. An English gentleman had a big apple-tree of which he was inordinately fond, trained against his garden wall. Fearful of pruning it himself, however, he took a sharp photo and sent it to an expert gardener et Hyères—it might have been Timbuctoo. In due course the photo. was returned, showing certain pencil marks through numerous branches These the gentleman had lopped off by a "handy man," while he himself directed operations, photograph in hand.

  23. In many Continental cities where passport are required, the holder's photograph is impressed upon the document; and at Tacoma, in Washington, electors are photographed as they record their votes.

  24. It may interest my lady readers to know that famous costumiers seldom place in the window their choicest confections in costume or the last "sweet thing" in bonnets, lest perhaps the pirate pattern seeker should come along with his or her (generally her) kodak. Then, again, patterns of costly lace have been photographically stolen without a camera at all, but simply by means of a sheet of paper rendered sensitive with bichromate of potash or nitrate of silver, and then dried. A sheet of glass completes the apparatus.


    Fig. 14.—How the Chinese manufacture Pearls.

  25. Here is a curious photograph taken by Mr. Hepworth with a vertical camera (Fig. 14). It illustrates an equally curious industry carried on by the wily Chinese at the expense of the guileless "foreign devil." Living pearl mussels are taken from the Chinese rivers; little balls of wax or leaden gods are introduced into the shells, and then the mussels are returned to their native element. In due time the pellets and figures become coated with pearl; the latter are sold at a huge profit, while the former are palmed off upon unsuspecting Europeans as real pearls of great size and faultless shape. The illustration shows shells filled with "pearls" and the little figures of the god Buddha.

  26. That eminent photo-micrographer, Mr. Andrew Pringle, of Bexley, and his brother, Mr. R. Hunter Pringle, were recently employed in an interesting manner by the Royal Commission on Agricultural Depression. These gentlemen toured through the Maldon Division of Essex, taking photographs of land and farms that had gone out of cultivation. They returned with quite a host of pictures showing thistles growing in fields, and ruined farmhouses, which appealed to the Commission far more powerfully than the most eloquent speech would have done.

  27. The camera, as everyone knows, is one of the most indispensable articles in a war correspondent's outfit; and as the battlefield of the future will be comparatively smokeless, the correspondent will be enabled to make still greater use of photography. Mr. Melton Prior states that he can make a sketch in less time than he can take a photograph; yet the last time he was "on the war-path," Mr. Prior carried three cameras in his saddle-bags.

  28. By the way, if the records of the photography of the dead are not cheerful, they abound in interesting detail and even comic incident. About five years ago a well-known Oxford Street photographer was sent for to photograph a woman in her coffin. When the picture was developed, one finger was found to be out of focus. "Now," argued the photographer, "if the body had slipped, the whole would be out of focus; therefore I conclude that only the finger moved." He drove back in a cab with a doctor, and it was then found that the woman was not really dead, but merely in a sort of a trance. This is a fact.

  29. The vagaries of the camera, too, are distinctly amusing. Mr. F. P. Cembrano, of the Royal Photographic Society, shows a photo. of a tiny burn, or brooklet, in Scotland on the banks of which is an equally small village. Yet up this little rill of water is steaming a colossal ironclad of the Royal Sovereign class, with all her mighty guns and fighting towers, and thousands of tons displacement. Another whimsical photo. depicted a castle in Edinburgh, out of the topmost windows of which a number of sheep were placidly gazing.


    Fig. 15.—"Curfew shall not ring to-night."

  30. The photograph reproduced in Fig. 15 simply demonstrates that photography can, by a combination of negatives, be made to depict that which is ipso facto impossible. The beautiful story of the girl who in this way prevented the Curfew Bell from ringing in order to delay the moment of her lover's execution is too well known to bear narration in detail.

  31. The amateur photographer who is also an angler is well aware that his camera will back him up when boasting of his piscatorial prowess. One photo. I saw represented a huge fish, the length of which appeared to equal that of a 2ft. rule, which was also shown. In reality the "take" was a little dace or carp; and while being photographed it had been held very close to the lens. The rule, of course, was taken some distance away.

  32. One of my authorities was once engaged by both sides in a law case. A company, whom I will call the City Lands Improvement Company, wanted to abolish a certain court leading from Lombard Street to King William Street, and were willing to establish in its stead a passage through one of their own buildings. The company's plea was that the court was a dingy, not to say dirty, one, and furthermore, that it was haunted by loafers of questionable character.

  33. Counsel for the other side, representing merchants having offices in the court, stoutly maintained that the passage was well lighted and eminently respectable. Photographs were handed in from both sides. The first photo. showed a narrow, disreputable looking alley, strewn with rubbish and fallen hoarding; the other picture, however, showed the court in dispute to be a fairly broad, well-lighted City thoroughfare, frequented by merchants of thriving appearance. These photographs were taken for the House of Lords Committee, but the matter was amicably settled.

  34. Here is another case: The Shuttle Machine Company vacated their premises in Cheapside, and another sewing-machine dealer moved in. In order to trade upon the established reputation of the company, the second tenant left the old name on the windows and over the door, but added the word " Late " in very minute characters for his own protection.

  35. The Shuttle Company waxed wroth, brought an action, and engaged a photographer to take a view of the offending shop-front from a tailor's window opposite. When this photograph was produced in court, it was handed to the presiding judge with a powerful glass, whereupon his lordship was able to perceive that what appeared to the eye to be a mere ornamental dash, was in reality the protecting word "Late." The photographer himself, by the way, was not aware of this. The aggrieved sewing-machine company secured an injunction.


    Fig. 16.—A submarine explosion.

    Fig. 17.—Blowing up dock wall, Newport, by dynamite.

  36. In Fig. 16 we have depicted a submarine explosion on the occasion of the removal of a dangerous rock at Hellgate, New York. Our next reproduction (Fig. 17) shows a tremendous dynamite explosion during the destruction of an old dock wall at Newport, Monmouthshire.

  37. The most interesting law case ever decided by photography was that intrusted to Mr. J. Traill Taylor. The facts were as follows: A collision occurred in New York Harbour between a White Star and a Cunard liner; and when the collision seemed imminent, an amateur photographer on board the latter vessel took a snap-shot of the approaching liner. Both companies put in claims for damages.

  38. First of all, Mr. Taylor procured the dimensions of both steamers; the approximate speed of both at the time the photo. was taken; also the height of the masts. He then retired to a park at Crouch End, armed with compasses and measuring lines, and, subsequently, worked out a little mathematical problem, the vessels being represented by bricks.

  39. After a trip to the Mersey to satisfy himself on a few minor points in the construction of a Cunarder, Mr. Taylor worked out his theory, based upon the fortuitous photograph, before the combined committees of both companies, using books this time to represent the two vessels.


    Fig. 18.—The mysterious capital.

    Fig. 19.—How the capital was made.

  40. One of the most eminent architects in the kingdom once showed the accompanying photograph (Fig. 18) to a number of his colleagues. Had they ever seen such an exquisitely carved capital? They had not; and they said so. Then arose disputes as to the precise nature of the architecture. Finally sundry big wagers were made, and then the architect gravely proceeded to explain the structure of the column and its capital. This he did by producing his Malacca walking-stick and a few sprigs of succulent brocoli, such as are seen in Fig. 19. "Naturally enough, however, after many abstruse disquisitions on mediæval architecture had been given on the subject of the mysterious pillar, this explanation of the photograph was received in silent disgust.

  41. That photography has made many changes in the painter's art, few can deny. Had Landseer been a kodaker, the paws of his massive lions in Trafalgar Square would not have been so faulty as they are; nor, possibly, would the eyes of his horses and dogs have been so large. In a general way, an artist can tell when photography has entered too largely into the conception of a painting; for one thing, the perspective is somewhat distorted. However this may be, I am satisfied that "Photography versus Art " is a sore subject with those concerned. Lady Butler was, I believe, the first English artist to portray a horse walking with three legs on the ground. Consequently, a small force of police were required to keep back the crowds that came to get a glimpse of her picture, "The Roll Call," when it was hung. Lady Butler took Meissonier as her authority for this artistic innovation; and it is common knowledge that the French Government provided that great master with a little railway, in order that he could travel along the road with horses, sketching as he proceeded.

  42. As will be occasionally seen in this article, certain experts devote themselves to particular branches of photography. The name of Captain Hayes is associated with equine photography, and he himself has travelled all over India, China, and South Africa, armed with a hand-camera. As the result of an argument with Mr. John Charlton, the chief artist of the Graphic, Captain Hayes once produced a photograph of a horse with all four legs on the ground, yet showing a decided sense of movement.

  43. All sorts of odd means are devised to make horses that are going to be photographed look smart. The official photographer at the Royal Military Repository tells me he has a shrill whistle blown at the critical moment; or the sergeant-major who assists him opens an umbrella sharply, causing the horse to prick up its ears.


    Fig. 20.—"Canine Leap-frog."

  44. Fig. 20, "Canine Leap-frog," by Mr. Dresser, of Bexley, is one of the most successful instantaneous photographs ever taken. Infinite patience and ingenuity are required to get such pictures.

  45. Another famous animal photographer, Mr. Frederick Haes, found that the best way to get a good photo. of a rhinoceros was to direct the animal's attention to a boy clad in a bright blue coat. "Wild animals," adds Mr. Haes, "have a strange objection to a man in his shirt-sleeves."

  46. Certainly one of the most interesting marvels of photography is that the mysterious eye of the camera sees objects which are absolutely invisible to the human eye, the telescope, or the microscope.

  47. An expert can take a sheet of paper prepared with gelatine and bichromate of potash, and can photograph on it a secret letter, containing, it may be, treasonable matter. This done, he may sit down and write a garrulous letter about the crops, the weather, and the baby's health. The recipient, of course, cares for none of these things, but wets the sheet with plain water, holds it up to the light, and literally reads between the lines. When dry, the document defies detection, and it can be moistened and dried again as often as the recipient pleases.

  48. Mr. Traill Taylor tells me that a room which appears visually quite dark may be full of the ultra-violet rays of the spectrum, and, paradoxical as it may seem, photographs may be taken in that dark light. Dr. Gladstone, F.R.S., has traced invisible drawings on white cardboard, the "ink " used being such fluorescents as mineral uranite and disulphate of quinine. When photographed, the drawings have come out bold and clear.

  49. Mr. Taylor relates a funny story concerning a young lady of scientific, and at the same time mischievous, proclivities.

  50. This young lady painted upon her fair brow with fluorescent liquid a death's head and cross-bones, and she then demurely visited a photographer's to have her portrait instantaneously taken. All went well until the operator had developed the plate, and then it became evident that he was having a row with his assistant, whom he blamed for coating a dirty plate. After apologies, a second negative was taken, and then the operator fetched his master from downstairs. A third attempt was made, when sounds of a heated altercation were heard, followed by a scuffle.


    Fig. 21.—Tongue of a Blowfly—Magnified.

  51. The photographer, pale and excited, requested his fair sitter to withdraw, as there was electricity in the air which was unfavourable to photography. The lady insisted on taking away a negative showing the hideous insignia on her forehead. It is a fact that the photographer requested the vicar of his parish to say a few prayers in his studio, after the departure of his mysterious visitor. I reproduce here a fair specimen of the result achieved, from the union of the microscope and the camera. Fig. 21 represents the tongue of a blowfly, of course, magnified many hundred diameters.

  52. Without expressing an opinion of my own, I should like to touch upon the so-called psychic or ghost photography, conducted in the presence of a spiritualistic medium. When one learns, by the way, that Professor Crookes, F.R.S., and Dr. Alfred Russel Wallace have investigated the subject, believe in it, and possess collections of spirit photos., one is almost tempted to think that there must be "something in it."


    Fig. 22.—A Spirit Photographer.

  53. The best-known experiment in ghost photography was conducted by Mr. Traill Taylor in the presence of the well-known medium, Mr. David Duguid—a truly reassuring name, at any rate. Mr. Taylor not only used his own unopened packages of dry plates and conducted the developing himself, but he set a watch upon his own camera in the guise of a duplicate one of the same focus. And yet ghosts appeared—spirits of departed friends, all nicely draped (Fig. 22).


    Fig. 23.—A Telescopic Stellar Photograph.

  54. But, perhaps, when I turn to stellar photography the average reader will be able to form a more adequate conception of the marvels of modern photography.

  55. As well as peering into the depths of the earth and the sea, and making visible the invisible, the omniscient eye of the camera defeats the telescope on its own ground, or, rather, in its own element. In an area which did not contain one visible star, ten thousand have been found by photography. We have photos. of lunar mountains, and egg-shaped masses of hazy nebulae which the human eye, aided by the most powerful telescope in existence, could never have discovered (Fig. 23).

  56. Here is the weapon of the New Astronomy. A gigantic telescope, fitted as a camera, and carrying a plate of great sensitiveness, is exposed in the ordinary way, as a telescope only would be. The apparatus is driven by a huge clock, which causes the telescope to follow the stars for fifteen or twenty minutes, during which time a vast number of otherwise invisible astral bodies impress themselves on the plate. The eye of the camera, be it noted, does not tire; the longer it gazes, the more its sensitive vision takes in. The very composition of the stellar worlds has been determined by modern photography.

  57. The man who has tackled the photography of animal locomotion in the most extraordinary, and at the same time most thorough, manner is unquestionably Professor Muybridge, of Pennsylvania University. It is interesting to learn how this scientist came to adopt the business of his life.

  58. In 1872, Muybridge was official photographer to the United States Government on the Pacific Coast, and while at San Francisco, a dispute arose between two wealthy residents as to whether a fast-trotting horse had at any moment his four feet off the ground.

  59. After experimenting for a few days, taking as a model the celebrated trotting horse, "Occident," who trotted a mile in two minutes and sixteen seconds, about a dozen negatives were obtained, which plainly showed that for some portion of his stride, at least, the horse was entirely free from contact with the ground. Indeed, seeing that some trotting-horses take a twenty-foot stride, it is difficult to understand why the dispute ever arose.


    Fig. 24.—The Horse in Motion.

  60. The apparatus now used by Professor Muybridge consists of an electrically controlled battery of twelve cameras, so arranged that a regulated succession of exposures can be made in any given time. When completed, his pictures are combined in an instrument of his own invention called the zoöpraxiscope, and projected on to a screen by an optical lantern, the result being that one finds it hard to believe one is not actually looking at the moving original.

  61. When the professor lectured at the Royal Institution, there were among his audience the Prince and Princess of Wales and their daughters, the Duke of Saxe-Coburg, Sir Frederick Leighton, Professors Huxley, Gladstone, and Tyndall, and the late Lord Tennyson. On the screen before this imposing assembly horses walked, ambled, and leaped over hurdles in a perfectly natural manner; athletes and kangaroos jumped; birds flew; monkeys climbed trees; and ladies danced and carried on a fan flirtation. Yet the majority of the photographs, seen singly, seemed to depict ungraceful and impossible attitudes. Fig. 24 shows a really extra-ordinary series of Muybridge's photographs. The famous mare "Sallie Gardner," belonging to the well-known American sportsman, Leland Stanford, is shown running at a high rate of speed over the Palo Alto track. The negatives of these photographs were made at intervals of 27in. of distance, and about the 25th part of a second. They illustrate consecutive positions assumed in each 27in. of progress during a single stride of the mare. The vertical lines shown in the photograph were 27in. apart; and the exposure of each negative was rather less than the 2,000th part of a second.