The annals of the American academy of political and social science (Nov 1926)

The Motion Pictuhe in Science 67 the production of pure steel from the common ore, and so with countless other productions. A scientific study through the moving picture industrial activities has brought about a tremendous economic gain through observations showing useless expenditures of energy. For example, a girl employe was filmed at a desk writing in a large book. The inkstand is at her left. Each time she dips the pen in the inkwell she must reach across the desk. The picture was made with the inkwell at the right and at the left. An efficiency expert caught the extra motion and the inkwell was moved to the right. In a week's time the achievement in the girl's work had increased enormously — over thirtythree per cent. Scientific application of a study of the minutest details in railroad safety devices by slow and normal photography has proved of tremendous aid both for the employe and the public. The cinema is finding application in every branch of science; phenomena of earth, in the heavens and the depth of the sea are being recorded. The most accurate and extensive observations of the total eclipse of the sun in January of 1924 were made by means of the moving picture camera; the most remarkable solar corona, probably the best eclipse of history, was thereby given permanent record. The graphic revelations of minute detail, enlarged for study and portrayed through microphotography are some of the observations hitherto unavailable for general scrutiny; the study of a drop of pond water teeming with life is presented as a world of miniature and with a vividness hardly appreciated even by the microscopist. The so-called " Synthechrome " process, developed by the CarpenterGoldman laboratories, a process for cartoon and technical animation and color, has made it possible to secure sharp outlines, definite colors and complete detail in drawings. Imaginary lines, movements, etc., may be differentiated from the visable elements of a diagram; electrical, magnetic and mechanical phenomena are thus easily visualized and physiological and biological facts demonstrated. This process is also being used largely in the study of medical subjects. Just as the drop of water with its abundance of living matter is studied under the microscope and filmed for further study, so the red blood corpuscles of the human being, as well as the various forms of micro-organisms and their movements and changes, are enlarged for screen study and demonstration. Medical and Surgical Value In no branch of science does the moving picture offer greater possibilities than in medicine and surgery. Its application in this field opens a vista of great depth. As a means of graphically recording histories as embodied in the film patients, as well as for the purpose of recording and studying deformities of motion, moving pictures are unique. The unraveling of the mystifying appearances of motor disturbances of the nervous system can be accomplished only by methods other than those afforded by the unaided eye. A direct approach to this study is furnished by means of the normal and more particularly by the slow-motion camera. In an attempt to analyze and record disturbances of motility, one is impressed by the inadequacy of our nomenclature for describing certain forms of abnormal motion, and words and phrases in common use are not only nondescriptive, but as terminology they are nondescripts. Just as the slow-motion camera has been utilized in the study of the curves of high explosive projectiles, so in medicine have