APPLIED STEREOSCOPY 21 1well known that the vogue for daguerreotypes began to die out
before 1860, but nevertheless stereo-daguerreotypes were made
and in demand! And since that time, while equipment has been
improved, there has not been one fundamental addition to the
known physical laws of stereoscopy. Basically we practice today
the same system that has been used almost a century.
Throughout the full life of stereoscopic reproduction, dating
from the first observations of Wheatstone in 1833 and the work of
both Wheatstone and Brewster through the following decade,
stereoscopic photography has been in unbroken and consistent
use. Since the beginning of the century it has been of great value
in X-ray work; and it has proven to be the most successful photo-
graphic medium for medical reproduction. It has been used in
engineering and construction as well as in many other professions.
In schools, stereograms have been used for visual education for
years, and it is curious to note that although the average adult is
wholly unfamiliar with the art, there is one company whose busi-
ness in stereograms is said to amount to more than a million dol-
lars a year, and has been at a corresponding level for years past.
Just a year or so ago stereo was generally acknowledged to be
dead and buried, a relic of the horse-and-buggy days. A few
months ago, the photographic world was amazed by the rapidity
with which its popularity was growing, surpassing the famed rise
of the miniature camera. Today those not in stereo are seriously
concerned, and one commonly hears conjectures as to how soon
planar photography will pass out of existence except for special-
ized work. That is an event which, of course, will come to pass
eventually, because no system of photography can expect to be
permanent until its reproduction of reality is perfect. Stereo itself
will pass on before the advance of superstereo in which we shall
have the scene projected in space, not with an appearance of space
as we now have, but an actual projection in space around which
we can walk and examine from every angle. Oh, yes, that will
come-sooner than many of you think. But when it does, it will
have color, motion, sound-and perhaps odor as well. When that is
accomplished there remains but one more step, the re-creation of
the scene in such a way that the human spectator can enter the
scene while retaining normal spatial relationships which would