Authentic Science Fiction Monthly No. 52 — page 73: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

AUTHENTIC SCIENCE FICTION A.U. down to 120 A.U.—is not transmitted by optical glass. Quartz will permit the transmission down to 1,600 A.U., but even this is not perfect. Its main use is in the detection of forgeries, whether written or painted, repairs to documents and the dating of documents, by photograph- ing the fluorescence of the material upon which the ultra- violet light impinges. In other fields such as microphotography (the exam- ination of miniature photo- graphs by microscope) reduc- tion of grain will permit the use of even smaller films. In this instance, microfilms are going to be a boon for record- ing purposes -in the British Museum (which has recently had to cut down the number of books it accepts, due to space difficulties) and the American Cellar Reserve of the Library of Congress. The smaller these films can be made, the more records can be kept in the storage space available. 72 In all scientific researches, industrial photography, map- ping photography, and all instances where grain is one of the worst bugbears in enlarge- ment, these films will bring joy to their operators. To ama- teur photographers, the pos- sibility of enlargements of 20 in. by 16 in. with absolutely no grain will be the fulfilment of all their present dreams. To the ordinary person, the man in the street, it will mean nothing directly, although sci- entific advances with the aid of these developments will probably benefit him in- directly. One final suggestion— stereoscopic photographs will probably not widen their field while it is necessary to use spectacles of one form or another. The effort of taking out a pair of spectacles every time a person wants to look at an advertisement or a picture will probably be more than the general public will stand. Until the tri-di of our stories is evolved, stereophotography will be a rare thing. comiclooks.cormn