MARVELS SHOWN BY PHOTOGRAPHY.

New Zealand Times, Volume LVII, Issue 2691, 14 December 1895, Page 2 (Supplement)

MARVELS SHOWN BY PHOTOGRAPHY.

A FEAV THINGS NOT GENERALLY KNOWN/ ■ ■ --

It was really with the object of having my portrait taken that I recently entered the studio of one of our .'best-known London “ artists in' photography " (writes a representative of Cassell’s Saturday Journal). AVhilo operating on me, however, the “ man of plates, and camera " was so voluble on, apparently, every subject which crossed his mind, that, the ordeal over, I determined to see if he would be in any way communicative with regard to his business, and tell me a few things about it not generally known. He foil into tho snare set for- him, and tho rest was easily managed. “.Photography has made, wonderful, strides of late years was my first remark. -

“ You may well say so," he replied. “ Science, art and literature are all greatly indebted to it, the detection of crime is rnado. easier, and it is found useful (in tsomo cases almost indispensable) in many other ways. “ By the aid of photography," he went on, “ we know the exact movements of a bird’s wings during flight, that a horsi has all his feet off the ground at once rduriiig one part ..of his stride, while trotting ; it can show us a picture of every movement of the mouth while forming a sentence, and, as applied to the kinetoscope, can reproduce pur actions in a lifelife manner. ’ “ With -regard - -to the ■ detection ofcrime," remarked the photographer, “ the latest development is the burglar detector. By a mechanical arrangement, the rnero act of opening the door of a rooru ora safe; strikes a match (which ignites the flash-light), and also exposes an instantaneous plate in a camera focussed on the I particular spot, thus taking a photograph, of the culprit for future use of the police witigregard to capture and identification. “ In the annals of crime photography—especially photography in conjunction with the microscope has ployed an important part in other ways. Although it is’ sometimes used by the forger in order to obtain fao-sitnile reproductions of cheques, it more often does better service by detecting the forger’s hardiwork in' connection with alterations and ■. additions to cheques, wills, and other documents. The law and police courts afford numerous illustrations of this. “ Two cases X remember, in connection with murder cases, where the, crime was brought home by the use of- photography and the microscope. In the'first a woman had been .killed, and her husband, when arrested, carried bloodstains about him. Hia defence was that those were caused while killing a pig. The jury, however, had photographs handed to them which distinctly showed two kinds of Woodhuman, and that of the pig. The man was found guilty, and confessed before being executed. “ In tbe second case a man was charged with mrirderj-atid in axe.was found in his possession, having several hairs clinging

to it. Tho defence was that the hair I came from a yellow dog kept by the | prisoner. They were , placed under the microscope and photographed, together with hair taken both from the dog and the murdered man, and placed before the jury, who had no difficulty in coming a verdict of guilty. “ But coming to something a little more entertaining than photography and crime," tho photographer continued, “let- me show you a view taken by the aid of a , telescope at a distance of twelve miles 1 Ob, yes, of course, it has been enlarged; but, as you see, everything is defined, and there is plenty of * detail ’.in the picture. “ Here are two curiosities," he then said,-producing two photographs. “One is d photograph of a railway bridge and the other ri efitfreb, and both these were proved to be Unsafe solely by the aid of photography.

“ AVith regard to the bridge, if happened this way. The masonry looked solid : enough, but engine-drivers complained that the bridge ‘ gave ’ and swayed alarmingly when a train passed over it. For weeks this was denied by the builder and others who were sent to examine it, and no other steps were taken. One day, ; however, a photographer took several i views of the bridge, and in taking one of ’ these h'e had given half the required exposure When a‘ train passed over the bridge. ; “Ho developed that plate with the others, and on looking at the negative was surprised to see that the second half of the exposure showed that while the train was passing over, the bridge had sunk very considerably, the centre being apparently several inches lower than it was before. He at. once went and took another photograph under similar conditions, and with a similar result '• and, printing a picture from the negative, oo convinced those interested in the matter that the work of partly rebuilding and strengthening tho bridge was put in band at once. The church steeple was a somewhat similar affair, and was proved to bo shaky half way up. “ Among the curiosities of photography," he then remarked, “ the so-called spirit-photographs made somewhat of a 'sensation a few years ago. You know the kind of thing I mean —a man sitting in a chair, and a visitor of ghostly appearance standing beside him. These were produced by giving what I may term two exposures on the same plate—one vary short with the ghostly visitant in the, picture, and the second to complete the photograph after tbe so-called * spirit ’ had moved out of the way. By a somewhat similar ‘ trick of tho trade ’ a photograph can be produced showing a man playing a game of chess or cards, etc., with himself, and also showing him at the back looking on at tho game. ‘ “ Photographs of mirages are produced by double printing, and tho ' latest curiosity, showing a cannon being fired, with the cannon-ball- ‘in -its flight’ coming out very plainly in the picture, is easily arranged by photographing the cannon-ball first, and adding it to the picture during tho printing process. “ It is tho general opinion of the public that a photograph is, of necessity, bound to be a correct and accurate picture. This, however, is by no moans the case. As an illustration, I may mention a case which came before the law courts not so long ago. “ Two neighbours were at loggerheads, one having built a wall between the two houses, which the other asserted stopped the light from entering his residence. The plaintiff produced a, photograph showing a prodigious wall which nearly hid his house entirely, and he would have easily won the case, only counsel on the other side also produced a photograph. In the latter the wall , appeared to be a very ordinary wall, Of 1 even liliputian dimensions as compared with the■' house , adjoining. In the end it was decided that neither photograph could be accepted ' as accurate, and the jury decided, to see l' the wall for themselves before giving their verdict.

“ A very prominent statesman once expressed an opinion that photography could not lie/'conoluded’the operator with a laugh, “ but ho speedily altered his opinion when, a few days later, a fellowM.P. produced a photograph showing the right honourable gentleman in a state of intoxication loaning against the door of a public-house in one of the slums of London 1"