“Seeing Things” on the Screen.

Dominion, Volume 15, Issue 284, 26 August 1922, Page 11

“Seeing Things” on the Screen.

The Movie and the Scientist.

It was recently announced that kinematographio records are being made of surgical operations, and that these are proving of immense value in medical class work. The pictures* are thrown on) the screen so slowly that much more can bo learnt from tho picture than from watching the operation itself. The action is so much slower than tho real thing that every motion of the surgeon’s knife or hands can be analysed without difficulty. The kinoinatographic camera, hitherto used mainly for purposes of amusement, is to-day invading the field of science. Tensile tests of steer, for instance, are photographed; the methods of men employed in factories are pictured, and the results analysed by experts, with a view to obtaining greater economy by the elimination of superfluous movements. The formation of wireless high-fre-quency sparks lias been similarly photographed, and bo rapid is the action of tiie camera used for these purposes that even a “short”_ in a new rotary dynamo has been detected by its aid. Other interesting pictures which have recently been made show the behaviour ,<if biLliajrds balls when “screw” is applied, the ment® of the logs of a racehorse travelling at full speed, and the action of tho hazel twig in the bands of the water diviner, the last incidentally proving that tho movement of the twig la not controlled by the holder thereof but is purely involuntary.

The camera used for taking slow motion pictures is not the ordinary one which is employed for studio work. Curiously, the slow picture requires a fast camera, and whereas the ordinary camera takes but 16 pictures por second, the former takes no fewer than 240 a second. Naturally, it is much heavier and has a steel tripod. Even so, in order to keep it steady when in use it is necessary that it should be weighted. The legs are therefore provided with foot rest®, upon which the operator stands while taking his pictures. Incidentally, the slow motion picture camera, which curiously enough, is known as the “ultra-rapid,” ’ costs double as much as the other, the price of it being about £5OO. The chieff “camera man” of the Gaumont Film Company showed me the working of this camera and explained to me the peculiar mechanism' required for speeding the film through at the requisite pace. This film has to be specially perforated, for if the guides do not strike the holes with perfect exactitude there is certain to be trouble. Even if the film does not break the picture is thrown out of focus and blurred. Pictures taken by tho ultra-rapid camera can be projected on the screen fifteen times slower than the normal A man jumping a hurdle seems. to floaot in the air, while the flowing gown and whirling figure of a d»noer take indescribably graceful positions. —8.0., in the London “Daily MhlL”