Democratic Sentinel, Volume 22, Number 6, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 12 February 1898 — SURE TEST OF DEATH. [ARTICLE]

SURE TEST OF DEATH.

A French Scientist’s Interesting Experiments in Photography. Since the discovery of the X-rays we •iave become accustomed to all manner of surprises in photography, and If these successive discoveries interest us nothing mysterious or marvelous astonishes us any longer. During the last sessions of the Biological Society, one of the most learned practitioners, Dr. Luigs, a member of tile Academy of Medicine, read a paper on the subject of some new experiments in photography. In collaboration with Mr. David, the doctor bad succedod in fixing permanently and distinctly on a photographic proof the effluvia from the fingers of an adult enjoying perfect health. . To obtain the result the two savans ’ shut themselves iu a dark room with their subject. The hand which was to he experimented upon was placed in a bath of liydroquiuone; the palmer sides of the fingers were then placed on a photographic plate covered with bromide of silver. The pose should last from fifteen to twenty minutes to he successful. The bromide plate, treated In the usual manner, furnished a proof as curious as it was Instructive. Tlie extreme tips of the fingers could be seen forming a variegated spot, standing out in hold relief from the circumference of effluvia which surrounded them. In the upper left hand corner of tho plate could be seen a fragment of skin, which had become detached in the strong acid bath, and which gave out direct effluvia under the form of vertical threads like sheaves. All the tiny white spots seen on the black background of the proof represent the effluvium dust floarting In the hydroquoinone bath. In reply to some criticisms Dr. Luigs isolated two fingers from direct contact with the plate. The result was a proof with threo impressions, similar to the first proof, and two others not so well developed, hut nevertheless convincing. “It can be seen,” said the Doctor, “that this new method of producing photographs by immersion is susceptible of fruitful results, both in physiology and pathology. Its application is simple, It requires no complicated apparatus and can be practiced by any one with some knowledge of photography.” The variations of this nervous force, * which is incessantly ejected from the tips of the fingers, may be gauged, according to the age, the sex, the different phases of the day and the emotiohs which are agitating the human subject. Thus the study of those effluvia, their density, their diminution, will permit us to experiment in the domain of the phenomena of sensibility, and perhaps also that of motivity, as we are still still ignorant of their intrinsic physiological characteristics. The doctor believes that certain temperaments, certain professions even, may present social phenomena for examination. He has proofs of the fingers of a pianist and of a mttissageur, which are absolutely curious. The effluvia of the massageUr are violently accentuated; they jut out in globules of various sizes and are very characteristic. Between the fingers of the pianist are seen fine filaments, which describe odd and distinctly marked curves. But the real advantage of Dr. Lulg’s discovery is the fact that he has enriched science by giving it a positive means of determining death.