PHOTOGRAPH TAKEN OF BODY OF THE SAVIOUR.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 7415, 29 May 1902, Page 2

PHOTOGRAPH TAKEN OF BODY OF THE SAVIOUR.

* AMAZING RESULTS OF INVESTIGATION OF THE HOLY SHROUD AT THE CATHEDRAL OF TURIN BY THREE FRENCH SCIENTISTS. A telegram from London to, an American paper, dated April 26, says : — Professor ivos Delage, ths famous French physicist, has made a startling communication to the Academy of Science concerning that sacred relic, the Holy Shroud, preserved in the Cathedral of Turin. He says the imprint on the shroud may be rationally and accurately described as a, natural photograph of the body of the Saviour. Professor Paul Vignon. Doctor of Science, and Professor Golsen, of the Government Polytechnic School, have studied and tested the shroud for months, and the results of their investigations have been re* ported to the Academy by Professor Delage. As a trio of tho most eminent men of science in France, their may be accepted without question.' The shroud is a linen sheet, bearing a number of reddish brovn marks. According to tradition, it is' the shroijd in which the body of the Saviour was wrapped. It is recorded as being: venerated in Constantinople until the twelfth century, when it disappeared, but was recovered in 1355. Recently, the Turin Cathedral authorities permitted a photograph to be made, and the negative being developed, showed the exact position and image of the corpse. The unavoidable inference was that the marks on the shroud were in themselves a negative imprint. This extraordinary fact led the French scientists to carry out their investigation, the, results being reported by Professor Delage. The London "Lancet" and the London " Times " accept the facts as reported by Delage as full evidence of the authenticity of the shroud and of tlie strange preservation of the picture of the Saviour,. EFFECT OF OXIDISATION. Tbe "lancet" BJtys:— "Vignans photographs seem to justify the belief that a human body is either radioactive or that it gives off vapours, which exhibit a similar' action to light lipon sensitive surfaces. We have frequently Recorded tihe. fact, and it has been further elaborated by the researches of Dr W. J. Russell, F.R.S., that almost all substances are able in the dark to act on a photographic plate and produce a picture. The phenomenon would appear to be established always in the presence of an oxidising process, and Dr Russell came to the conclusion that peroxide of hydrogen was the main factor concerned. "In the case of the in which tradition says the dead Christ was enwrapped, we have the analogue probability of a photographic plate or sensitised film in the 'cloth impregnated with x oil of aloes. It- is well known that fixed oils are sensitive to oxidisation and that aloes contain constituents allied to the pyrogallic acid series which would probably turn brown in the presence of the oxidising process) "The action by wtoich, therefore, the image of the dead Christ Avas recorded on the cloth would appear to be due to chemical change rather than to the effect of light. "On this explanation an exacj> image, even tp minute details supli as. the wounds produced by the thorns aiid the marks of the 'blood drop and of flagellation by whips is not bejond the bounds of probability.; It is an intensely remarkable and interesting instance of the light which the very latest developments! of scientific research lnay throw on traditions and controversial matters in 'history." ■ The "Times" says: -r- " It is seldom we are in a position to derive from chemical sciences any direct evidence confirmatory or destructive regarding the recorded facts of history. Thejlatter lie plainly in another category and is to documentary testimony to comparative methods in tbe various fields of its application and to the still speaking witness of the ancient monuments and inscriptions that the historian and his critics have recourse to in order to attain the particular kind of truth they pursue. "Questions of historical fact, we have all been reminded, are not to be analysed and tested in the laboratory, yet, none the less, physical science does- from time to time throw an astonishingly vivid light upon the indistinctnesp of what, measured by the uncounted! aeons with which, she deals, is still a recent past. "A very striking instance of this illuminating power has, if we are to accept the conclusions which two distinguished French scientific men have arrived at, has just been afforded by the investigation which Professor Vignon has been conducting with reference to the so-called images of the body of the dead Christ imprinted' on the Holy Shroud preserved in Turin. NO DOUBT OF GENUINENESS. "Tlie shroud bears, traced in hues brown what is alleged to be the double impression of the figure of th® Lord, that is, the outlines both of the face and back, which have reproduced themselves with wonderfully distinct exactness. Vignon found that all descriptions and picture representations of the Holy Shroudi from the mediaeval period onward have recorded the same impressions visible upon it to-day, but that they are •frequently blurred or misunderstood, as nothing short of the modern photographic processes could adequately interpret them. He further satisfied himself that 4he portrait- imprinted on the shroud waiv mot a copy of any known work of nvp and was, indeed, in its life-like and commanding reality one which could aiot be reconciled with the theories of those who, building on an ambiguous legend, asserted that it was an arobaiaic painting of the Middle Ages, transformed by some means into am appearance of a photographic negative. "He then undertook a series of researches into the conditions under which' impresA sions analogous those apparent on the shroud might be produced upon a sensitive surface by another body. These researches have been suoh, in his opinion, as to corroborate certain well-known details in the Gospel. According to Scriptural tradition the winding sn,ect in which the dead Christ was laid was steeped in oil of aloes. The effect of the vapours thrown off fromrthe dead body upon these would be, so far as Vignon and 1 his collaborators have been, able by experiment, to .embrown them, producing an dmage of the kind exhibited by the shroud, those parts of the impression being the mo?t distinct where the body was in the closest contact with the impregnated linen, and tl» s hypothesis would account also for the peculiar colour of the imprints which superficially resemble dried bloodstains. As pointed out by the 'Lancet,' there is nothing inherently improbable in these conclusions." After sumJharising the '.' Lancet's " ar-r tide,* the " Times " concludes : — "It would be presumptuous, indeed impossible, on pur part to offer at present any opinion on the ultimate value which may be assigned as a result of Professor Vigr non's inquiries, but it may be said without hesitation he has raised) a question of- most absorbing interest, and that the distinguished position of both himself and his colleague, Delage, in the scientific world of France is such as to -insxire for his conclusions the most careful andl appreciative consideration of men of science everywhere, as well as from the iriUlions of the human race whose religious emotions are centred in the Divine tragedy on Calvary."

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