Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 15.djvu/553

Rh first time last year, under the title of composite portraiture. I showed that it was possible in many ways to combine two or more portraits into a single one, if they are of the same size and taken in the same attitude. I have produced the combination by various optical means, such as the convergence of images from different magic lanterns upon the same screen, and by a small apparatus which is, in fact, six cameras in combination, in which six different images may be simultaneously viewed, and afterward thrown upon the same photographic plate. In addition to these is the plan I originally employed, of throwing carefully adjusted images of different portraits in succession upon the same portion of the same sensitized photographic plate. It is by the latter process that blended memories are illustrated. In all these methods the general result is substantially the same, subject only to such discrepancy as will always exist between a photograph and the image from which it is made. A composite portrait is in all cases produced, in which the whole of the components coexist. It is surprising with what excellent effect we can combine the features of persons who are not too dissimilar in their general appearance. We obtain from them a composite portrait that is identical with no one of the components, but which comprises all, each having its own fractional share in the total effect. I have made several composites from medals of historical personages; such as from different coins bearing the effigy of Alexander the Great, none of which are closely alike. Thus I have brought out the common features of all of them and produced what is presumably a nearer approach to the ancient ideal type than has ever previously existed. I am much indebted to the kindness of Mr. R. Stuart Poole, the learned curator of the magnificent collection of medals and gems in the British Museum, for having selected the best and most suitable specimens, and having procured plaster casts of them for me, whence my photographs were made. The portraits on coins are very convenient for composites, as they are pure profiles. I have also various criminal types, composed from the photographs of men convicted of heinous crimes. They are instructive as showing the type of face that is apt to accompany criminal tendencies, before (if I may be allowed the expression) the features have become brutalized by crime. The brands of Cain are varied; therefore the special expressions of different criminals do not reënforce one another in the composite, but disappear. What remain are types of faces on which some one of the many brands of Cain is frequently destined to be set. I am particularly struck by three of these types that were each deduced from six or seven components; two of the groups are of men convicted of manslaughter and crimes of violence, the other of habitual thieves. These three composites are as alike as brothers; the compound composite gives a low class of face, but not one, I think, that most persons would associate with especial villainy. I have also two other composites very like these three, and I find that,