EDITORIAL AND GENERAL. 



4oc> 



alas, too common. I will not try to por- 

 tray in type my disgust, my pain, at 

 such art horror. I failed to do full 

 justice to it orally, although I tried. 



And 1 brought down upon my de- 

 fenceless head a storm of protest, some 

 even indignant, because 1 didn't "ap- 

 preciate such beautiful things." 



"But don't you always find it so in 

 nature?" 



"I never saw a birch tree without 

 half the bark stripped off in just that 

 way?" 



I imagine that they were right. If 

 the}- were, I pray that to such extent 

 at least, art may not tell the truth. 



1 do not like the truth — no, oh, no; 

 not that kind ! 



PHOTOGRAPHING THROUGH A CAT'S 

 EYE. 



That surely is a catchy title and so 

 thought the lady who requested me 

 to give a lecture on the subject. I had 

 previously lectured in that town, 

 thinking, as is always my habit, that 

 according- to the motto of Trni Guidi<: 

 to Nature "commonplace nature" 

 should develop "uncommon interest." 

 And I had also hoped that where there 

 is so much good material there might 

 be some intelligent manifestation of 

 interest. 



But this time the request came for 

 "something different." "Can't you tell 

 us about a photograph through a cat's 

 eye and such things?" 



"Oh, yes; that will be easy. I can 

 say that there is a crystalline lens in 

 a cat's eye, a fact that almost every- 

 body knows, and, as of course every- 

 body also knows, that a crystalline lens 

 will allow light to pass through it and 

 that such an arrangement (camera- 

 like) can transmit the light to a sensi- 

 tive plate and that a photograph, even 

 if a mighty poor one, will be the result. 

 I can say these things and for a list 

 of 'such things' I can call off for the 

 rest of the evening the names of other 

 animals, insects and birds that have 

 eyes through which light may pass. 

 After I have talked thus for an hour, 

 don't you think I would do well to 

 make it clear that such a lens is not 

 of much help in photography ; that a 



better result may be obtained without 

 a lens — with a pin hole aperture or with 

 an ordinary camera from which the 

 lenses have been removed and the 

 shutter stopped down to pin hole 

 size? What is the use of using the 

 cat's eye when even the cheapest leas 

 of any ordinary camera will take a 

 much better photograph?" 



"No joking," she protested. "Don't 

 you think it is really a good subject 

 and would take?" 



"Yes; it would 'take,' especially the 

 'such things' and any similar 'stunts' 

 that you may have seen in the news- 

 papers." 



"But there's much in the subject 

 itself; I know you can make it inter- 

 esting." 



"Yes; I would treat the subject as 

 the clergyman treats his sermon, mak- 

 ing it firstly, secondly, thirdly and 'to 

 conclude.' First I would tell of the 

 particular cat whose eye was taken. 

 I well remember our old cat — very 

 interesting. I found her with other 

 kittens in the haymow and she lived 

 with us for more than a dozen years 

 — just the lovingest, laziest cat you 

 ever saw and a very good rat catch- 

 er (at times J. She was the ideal family 

 cat and 1 could prepare a really good 

 lecture that would be interesting" to 

 any lover of cats, telling of all her 

 traits and " 



"No, no. That isn't what we want 

 — not a lecture on family cats but a 

 scientific lecture to tell us how you 

 photograph through " 



"Just the thing. I am intensely in- 

 terested in photography. I will tell 

 about my Zeiss and Goerz lenses ; how 

 I arrange the light and background ; 

 how it seems sacrilegious to use sun- 

 light to make such photographic per- 

 versions and distortions as not rarely 

 come to me or such as I see in ribbon- 

 like films hung up to dry in certain 

 establishments that "develop" for 

 amateurs. The best lenses are not too* 

 good in photography and the art is 

 worth practising well " 



But here the lady interrupted me. 

 She said I was hopelessly incorrigible 

 as a joker, a refutation that I have 

 never merited. She further explained 

 that she thought I did not understand 



