Soriié unexplained mysteries of photography, most of which seem to depend on some previous exposure of a plate, without the owner's knowledge, either to light or to some form of chemically active dark radiation, are thus described in a recent mumber of The American Journal of Photograph:
"Tt is no uncommon experience to find upon new plates certain images for which there seems no possible explanation, their startling and unaccountable appearance being wrapt in mystery,' causing astonishment not unmixed with uncanny feeling. 'A gentleman made an exposure upon the interior of a friend's house; he was doubtful of the time and proceeded to develop for under exposure; to his great surprise the plate developed quickly, and to his greater irprise the image was an interior quite ferent from that upon which he had exposed. The plate was from a fresh box and could not possibly have had a previous ex-sure, Another instance of the kind, having quite " sensational and tragic ending, is on record. An exposure was made upon a view. having a river in the fore-1d. The photographer, while developing this peculiar plate "was. perfectly astounded by an appearance which he had not seen while taking the photograph, and for which he could in no way account. On completing the development there was plainly revealed, in the foreground of the picture, the figure of a women, apparently cating upright in the water. Not many weeks after, to complete the mystery, the body of a Woman was found in the river at the exact spot where the photograph had been taken. Again, not long since, the daily papers were agitated over the account of 8 a erding photographer, who, upon m: an. exposure upon the exterior of a reputed haunted house, discovered at one of the windows a portrait of the murdered man through whom the house had gained its evil name. In another case three distinct images, having no connection one with the other, were imp: upon a single film. The plate was exposed upon a garden in the evening—nothing remarkable being seen—but when placed in the developer a man's hat of old fashioned shape, a child's dress, and a dog were distributed over the image of the garden. Such mysterious images were more common in the days of wet plates than now. A few years back Professor Burton investigated the matter. Upon tracing back the history of the glass he found that it had been used for other films, and the images which appeared undoubtedly arose from the remains of previous i. The old glass was thus proved to be the source of the ghost; it only deepened the scientific mystery, while it d away the supernatural." The glass traced by Burton had been washed for some weeks, immersed in strong nitric acid, and every means taken to insure chemical cleanliness, yet, in spite of all this, enough energy. remained latent to form a developable image upon the new film, whether by chemical or physical force remains to be discovered. A complete solution of the difficulty would probably throw considerable light upon the nature of photographic images in general; at least it seems to indicate that light not absolutely essential in the formation of latent images in a sensitive film.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.