Inquiries into human faculty and its developmentGalton, Francis
Science
Inquiries into human faculty and its development
Galton, Francis
Ability; Eugenics
The apparatus, so far as it has been described with any detail, and
ignoring what was said about an eye-hole, is little else than a
modified copying-camera, by which an image of the transparency could
be thrown on the ordinary focusing-screen, and be altered in scale
and position until it was adjusted to fiducial lines drawn on the
screen. It is conceivable that this should be done, and that the
screen should be replaced by the dark slide, and a brief exposure
given to the plate; then, that a fresh transparency should be
inserted, a fresh focusing adjustment made, and a second exposure
given, and so on. This, I say, is conceivable, but it would be very
inconvenient. The adjusting screws would be out of reach; the head
of the operator would be in an awkward position; and though these
two difficulties might be overcome in some degree, a serious risk of
an occasional shift of the plate during the frequent replacement of
the dark slide would remain. I avoid all this by making my
adjustments while the plate continues in position with its front open.
I do so through the help of a reflector temporarily interposed
between it and the lens. I do not use the ordinary focusing-screen
at all in making my adjustments, but one that is flush, or nearly so,
with the roof of the camera. When the reflector is interposed, the
image is wholly cut off from the sensitised plate, and is thrown
upwards against this focusing-screen, _g_. When the reflector is
withdrawn, the image falls on the plate. It is upon this
focusing-screen in the roof that I see the fiducial lines by which I
make all the adjustments. Nothing can be more convenient than the
position of this focusing-screen for working purposes. I look down
on the image as I do upon a book resting on a sloping desk, and all
the parts of the apparatus are within an easy arm's length.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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