The Stereoscope and Photographic Depiction in the 19th Century

Abstract

The Stereoscope and Photographic Depiction in the 19th Century ROBERT J. SILVERMAN In 1838, Sir Charles Wheatstone, a British physicist who was one of the inventors of the telegraph, published his “Contributions to the Physiology of Vision.”1 This paper announced Wheatstone’s explana­ tion of the role of the interocular discrepancy for binocular space perception. Prior to his researches, several individuals had observed an essential component of Wheatstone’s innovation: in binocular vision, the two eyes receive slightly different images.2 Kepler and Descartes had surmised that the muscular sensations arising from the convergence of the eyes in binocular vision might play a role in measuring the proximity of objects? But Wheatstone was the first to propose that the mind fathoms visual space by combining the information from a pair of two-dimensional, monocular pictures. “It being thus established,” Wheatstone wrote, “that the mind perceives an object of three dimensions by means of the two dissimilar pictures projected by it on the two retinae, the following question occurs: What would be the visual effect of simultaneously presenting Dr. Silverman received his Ph.D. from the University of Washington in 1992, with the dissertation “Instrumentation, Representation, and Perception in Modern Science: Imitating Human Function in the Nineteenth Century.” Research for this article was supported by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities and by assistance from the University of Washington. The author wishes to thank Thomas L. Hankins, Keith R. Benson, and Bruce W. Hevly for their guidance and insight. 'Charles Wheatstone, “Contributions to the Physiology of Vision—Part the First. On some Remarkable, and hitherto Unobserved, Phenomena of Binocular Vision,” Philo­ sophical Transactions of the Royal Society 128 (1838): 371-94. Also in Nicholas J. Wade, ed., Brewster and Wheatstone on Vision (London, 1983), sec. 2.4. Since many of the important papers on this subject by Brewster and Wheatstone have been conveniently collected in Wade’s book, page references for articles contained in this volume will be given, wherever it is possible to do so, rather than the original sources. On Wheatstone, see Brian Bowers, Sir Charles Wheatstone, F.R.S., 1802-1875 (London, 1975). -Antecedents who are often cited include Euclid, Galen, Leonardo da Vinci, Giambattista della Porta, Aguilonius, Joseph Harris, and William Wells. "A. C. Crombie, “The Mechanistic Hypothesis and the Scientific Study ofVision: Some Optical Ideas as a Background to the Invention of the Microscope,” in Historical Aspects of Microscopy, ed. S. Bradbury and G. L’E. Turner (Cambridge, 1967), pp. 3-112.© 1993 by the Society for the History of Technology. All rights reserved. 0040-165X/93/3404-0006S01.00 729 730 Robert J. Silverman to each eye, instead of the object itself, its projection on a plane surface as it appears to that eye?”4 Wheatstone’s paper introduced an instrument that facilitated this test. The apparatus employed two mirrors mounted in a right angle in order to present the reflection of one perspectival drawing to each eye, thus creating a single percep­ tion of marked relief (figs. 1 and 2). Wheatstone called his device “a Stereoscope to indicate its property of representing solid figures.”5 Since its invention, the stereoscope has served as a tool for the study of vision. Wheatstone’s investigation of the mental aspect of depth perception offered a fundamental contribution to experimental psy­ chology, a field that became prominent in American and European universities in the late 19th century.6 Yet, despite its crucial role in the laboratory, the stereoscope is most immediately recognized as the consummate Victorian amusement. The stereoscope belonged to the class of “philosophical toys,” such as the kaleidoscope and the zoetrope , which provided entertainment but also illustrated scientific principles.7 The stereoscope occupied a curious cultural position during the second half of the 19th century. As Robert Hunt, a British photo­ graphic chemist, noted in 1856: “The stereoscope is now seen in every drawing room; philosophers talk learnedly upon it, ladies are de­ lighted with its magic representations, and children play with it.”8 The instrument was discussed in newspapers and magazines, in art jour­ nals, and in scientific treatises. Its widespread prominence affords an opportunity for historians to examine some features...