Seeing History in the Spectrum of Light

As I strayed into the study of an eminent physicist, I observed hanging against the wall, framed like a choice engraving, several dingy, ribbon-like strips of, I knew not what... My curiosity was at once aroused. What were they? ... They might be shreds of mummy-wraps or bits of friable bark-cloth from the Pacific, ... [or] remnants from a grandmother's wedding dress... They were none of these... He explained that they were carefully-prepared photographs of portions of the Solar Spectrum. I stood and mused, absorbed in the varying yet significant intensities of light and shade, bordered by mystic letters and symbolic numbers. As I mused, the pale legend began to glow with life. Every line became luminous with meaning. Every shadow was suffused with light shining from behind, suggesting some mighty achievement of knowledge; of knowledge growing more daring in proportion to the remoteness of the object known; of knowledge becoming more positive in its answers, as the questions which were asked seemed unanswerable. No Runic legend, no Babylonish arrowhead, no Egyptian hieroglyph, no Moabite stone, could present a history like this, or suggest thoughts of such weighty import or so stimulate and exalt the imagination.

Notes:

Noah Porter describes his first magical encounter with spectroscopy.

Folksonomies: wonder spectroscopy

Taxonomies:
/society/sex (0.577074)
/business and industrial/energy/electricity (0.515680)
/home and garden/home furnishings/lamps and lighting (0.297786)

Keywords:
Light Noah Porter (0.990535 (neutral:0.000000)), eminent physicist (0.803262 (neutral:0.000000)), magical encounter (0.790377 (neutral:0.000000)), friable bark-cloth (0.779838 (negative:-0.284837)), ribbon-like strips (0.769712 (neutral:0.000000)), choice engraving (0.767335 (positive:0.345020)), significant intensities (0.751988 (positive:0.473747)), Moabite stone (0.748752 (negative:-0.246903)), Runic legend (0.740153 (negative:-0.272433)), pale legend (0.737783 (neutral:0.000000)), mighty achievement (0.734899 (positive:0.445617)), wedding dress (0.734581 (neutral:0.000000)), Solar Spectrum (0.726931 (neutral:0.000000)), Babylonish arrowhead (0.723262 (negative:-0.336604)), symbolic numbers (0.721012 (neutral:0.000000)), carefully-prepared photographs (0.719332 (neutral:0.000000)), mystic letters (0.718344 (neutral:0.000000)), Egyptian hieroglyph (0.704983 (negative:-0.294849)), weighty import (0.702790 (positive:0.587329)), knowledge (0.528166 (positive:0.474825)), history (0.513853 (positive:0.233447)), dingy (0.505744 (neutral:0.000000)), shreds (0.499104 (negative:-0.284837)), curiosity (0.490110 (negative:-0.455792)), grandmother (0.483447 (neutral:0.000000)), proportion (0.480944 (positive:0.564053)), remnants (0.479678 (neutral:0.000000)), spectroscopy (0.473106 (neutral:0.000000)), portions (0.465715 (neutral:0.000000)), shade (0.464909 (positive:0.473747))

Entities:
Noah Porter:Person (0.981002 (neutral:0.000000)), physicist:JobTitle (0.818233 (neutral:0.000000)), Pacific:GeographicFeature (0.694740 (negative:-0.284837))

The Sciences of Nature Versus the Science of Man: A Plea for the Science of Man

Books, Brochures, and Chapters>Book: Porter , Noah (1871), The Sciences of Nature Versus the Science of Man: A Plea for the Science of Man, Retrieved on 2012-06-21

Source Material [books.google.com]

Folksonomies: history and criticism