Mach, Ernst(1896) on Stereoscopic Application of Roentgen's Rays

8/9/2019 Mach, Ernst(1896) on Stereoscopic Application of Roentgen's Rays

1/4

egeler Institute

ON THE STEREOSCOPIC APPLICATION OF ROENTGEN'S RAYSAuthor(s): Ernst MachSource: The Monist, Vol. 6, No. 3 (April, 1896), pp. 321-323Published by: Hegeler InstituteStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/27897339.

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2/4

Vol. VI.

April,

1896.

No.

3.

THE MONIST.

ON

THE

STEREOSCOPICPPLICATION

F

ROENTGEN'S

RAYS.1

THIRTY

years

ago

I

described

in

the

Proceedings

of

the

Vienna

Academy

of

Sciences'1

a

procedure

for

obtaining

transparent

ste

reoscopic pictures

of

invisible

bodies,

machines,

anatomical

objects,

and so forth. The stereoscopic impression is interrupted, a part of

the

object

is

withdrawn,

the

exposure

is

repeated,

and

so

on,

as

often

as

is

necessary.

In

this

manner

parts

normally

concealed

or

en

closed

are

made

to

appear

on

the

picture

with

perfect

distinctness.a

1

Communicated

as

a

comment

on

the article

in

No.

441

of

The

Open

Court\

The

New

X-Rays.

2

Ueber

wissenschaftliche

Anwendungen

der

Photographie

und

Stereoscopie.

Sitzung

vom

uten

Mai,

1866.

3

See

my

Popular

Scientific

Lectures,

Chicago,

Open

Court

Publishing

Com

pany, 1895, page 73. The passage runs substantially as follows :

The

stereoscope

can

visualise

for

us

things

which

we

never

see

with

equal

clearness

in

real

objects.

You

know

that if

you

move

around

much

while

your

pho

tograph

is

being

taken,

your

picture

will

come

out

like that

of

a

Hindu

deity,

with

several heads

or

several

arms, which,

at

the

spaces

where

they

overlap,

show

forth

with

equal

distinctness,

so

that

we

seem

to

see

the

one

picture

through

the

other.

If

a

person

moves

quickly

away

from

the

camera

before

the

impression

is

com

pleted,

the

objects

behind

him

will

also

be

imprinted

upon

the

photograph

;

the

person

will look

transparent.

Photographic

ghosts

are

made in

this

way.

'

Some

very

useful

applications

may

be

made of this

discovery.

For

example,

if

we

photograph

a

machine

stereoscopically,

successively

removing

during

the

ope

ration

the

single parts

(where

of

course

the

impression

suffers

interruptions),

we

obtain

a

transparent

view,

endowed with all the marks of

spatial

solidity,

in

which

is

distinctly

visualised

the

interaction

of

parts

normally

concealed.

I

have

em

ployed

this

method

for

obtaining

transparent

stereoscopic

views

of

anatomical

struc

tures.

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3/4

322

THE

MONIST.

At

the

time,

I could

not

have

foreseen

that

this

procedure,

which

furnishes wonderful

results,

but

frequently

entails

great

labor,

should

be

destined

to

undergo

so

striking

a

simplification.

When

R?ntgen's

discovery

was

made

known,

I

requested

Dr.

I.

M.

Eder,

of

Vienna,?for

I

am

not

now

in

a

position

myself

to

undertake

experiments

in

photography,?to

attempt

a

stereoscopic

photograph

with

the

x

rays,

which he

performed

with

beautiful and

successful

results

(February

13,

1896).

Since lenses

cannot

be

em

ployed

in

this

process,

resource was had to the

following

procedure.

A

mouse

was

placed

on

a

piece

of black

cardboard,

beneath

which

lay

a

photographic

plate,

and the

whole

was

irradiated

by

a

Crookes's

tube.

Then,

without

disturbing

the

mouse,

the

plate

was

changed

and

the

position

of the

Crookes's

tube

shifted. The

two

photographic

shadow-pictures,

thus obtained

from

two

different

points,

could

now

be combined

into

a

phantom-picture

of

the

mouse,

in

which

the

whole

skeleton

appears

in

marvellously

distinct and

solid outlines. By the injection of substances into the blood-vessels,

these

also could

be obtained.

The

pictures

obtained

in

this

manner

would

never,

of

course,

rival the

perfection

of

the

photographs

taken

by

my

old

method,

but

on

the other

hand,

the

process

is

incomparably simpler,

it

necessi

tates

no

detailed

preparations,

and,

most

important

of

all,

in

many

cases,

photographs

by

it

may

be

obtained

of

a

living,

undissected

man.

Naturally

I

have also

attempted

to

obtain

two

R?ntgen

shadow

pictures

of the

same

anatomical

object

on

a

fluorescent

screen,

and

by

the

intermediation

of

photography

to

combine

the

two

directly

into

a

stereoscopic

result.

But

the

attempt

failed,

owing

to

the

weakness

of the

fluorescence

even

at

short

distances

from

the

source

of

radiation.

Beyond

doubt, however,

means

will

be

devised

for

augmenting

the fluorescent

effect,

probably

by

the

construction

of

windows

of different

material

from

glass,

which

greatly

obstructs

the

passage

of

the

,#-rays

nd

permits only

a

small fraction of their

effect

to

issue

from

the Crookes's

tube.

Then

a

surgeon

may

ob

tain

a

direct

stereoscopic

view,

say,

of

a

stone

in the bladder

and of

the

position

of

his

operating

instrument.



4/4

on

the

stereoscopic application

of

r?ntgen's

rays.

323

It

is difficult

to

determine

whether the

x-rays

are

longitudinal.

Since

they

can

neither be

refracted

nor

reflected,

there

is

little

hope

of their

being

polarised.

But

so

long

as

the

absence

of

polarisation

is

not

demonstrated,

it

cannot

be asserted that the

^c-rays

are

longi

tudinal.

The

jc-rays

cannot

consist

of isolated

impacts,

as

Huygens

con

ceived

light

\

but

they

must

be

periodic

and

short-waved,

for

other

wise such

sharp

shadows could

not

be

produced.

As

yet,

no

dif

fraction has been shown.

The

non-appearance

of

??ttv

ction-bands

might

be

explained

by

composition

from

widely-varying

wave-lengths.

But

the

separation

of the

wave-lengths

by

absorption

also

appears

to

present

formid

able

difficulties. There

can scarce

be

a

thought

of

short-waved

ultra-violet

light,

for ultra-violet

light

can

be

refracted,

and

just

the

shortest

waves are

absorbed

by

thin laminae of

air.

In

fact,

the

ques

tion

grows

constantly

more

difficult

and

more

interesting.

Rarely

has a discovery so fascinated me, and I should take great pleasure

in

experimenting

on

these

questions,

were

that

not

primarily

R?nt

gen's

own

privilege.

E. Mach.

Vienna.


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Mach, Ernst(1896) on Stereoscopic Application of Roentgen's Rays

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