SPIRIT PHOTOGRAPHS.

Grey River Argus, Volume XIV, Issue 1738, 28 February 1874, Page 4

SPIRIT PHOTOGRAPHS.

[FROM THE MELBOURNE ARGUS.] Tlie poet laureate tells us that the wise of hesirt will not be disconcerted at temporary triumphs of a turbulent faction, because they may be— " Certain, if knowledge bring the sword, That knowledge takes the sword away." We may derive a similar consolation from the reflection that if science enables the unscrupulous to practice certain delusions upon the public, science will also enable ub to detect and expose them. A few months ago, the sect of table-rappers was excited by the intelligence that some skilful operator had succeeded in taking what he called spirit-photographs. As a matter of course they were greatly in demand, and we dare say theingeniousphotographer made a good deal of money by the trick. His modus operandi has recently been brought to light. At a meeting of the British Association at Bradford, Dr Gladstone exhibited some interesting examples of the application of washes of a solution of bisulphate of quinine to sheets of white paper. With this solution he wrote some letters on a card. They were invisible to the eye; but when subjected to the operation of the camera they came out with great distinctness in the resulting photograph. A fanciful description is given in tne Journal of Photography of a young lady who heard the paper read, went home and procured some of tbe solution, and delineated a death's head and cross-bones upon her forehead. She then went to a photographer to have her likeness taken, and the poor man was horrified by the discovery of the insigna of the King of Terrors legibly depicted on the forehead of his sitter in the negative. Subsequent experiments were attended by similiar results, and the conclusion he came to was, that the young lady must be related to the " carlin " who plucked out the tail of Tarn O'Shanter mare. At any rate, an intelligible explanation is now afforded of certain phenomena which appeared to border on the marvellous, for in this application of fluorescence, as the Journal of Plwtography observes, we may " discover a means whereby the so-called 'spiritphotographs' may be talced under what are known as test conditions, for upon a ' plain background — that is, one plain to the eye of sence — may really exist forms and figures which shall be perfectly visible in a photograph, and visible not merely in a hazy and dim manner, but with a considerable degree of boldness"