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Published 1965
Souvenir of Clairol Carousel at the New York World's Fair 1964-65.
Description of the Clairol Carousel:
Ladies can see themselves in various hair colors, view a film on beauty and talk with experts.
Designed for women only, the carousel encloses a revolving turntable, divided into 38 individual booths in which the film is shown. Elsewhere, ladies may peer into a mirrored device to see themselves in several different hair colors, and beauty consultants provide formulas for the colors desired.
Coloured engravings of heaths :
London :Published by the Author. Printed by T. Bensley,1802-09 [1830?]
The recipe for this delicious curry is now published on my gourmet webzine :: Richly Spiced Cambodian Chicken Curry
♥
Cambodian cuisine is less known than that of its neighbours, Thailand and Vietnam. It is a colourful cuisine whose style and ingredients reveals strong influences from its neighbouring countries (though less spicy in general) and China. Influences can also be seen from the period of French occupation (including the use of caramel in certain dishes and eating curries with toasted baguette) and India (many Cambodian curries contain Indian curry powder and black pepper as opposed to chilli, which is served separately).
Published on Cape Town Tourism website
www.capetown.travel/blog/entry/sad_scenes_of_beached_fals...
View On Black I arrived at about 4.30 PM
55 whales had beached themselves Most are now dead
My photos and story :
greenpointstadium-and-capetown.blogspot.com/2009/05/33-fa...
AN EYE WITNESS ACCOUNT:
====================================
Leaving Kommetjie beach at 16:00 on the 29th March, anger, frustration and misery dominated the atmosphere.
When arriving at the beach at about 13:30 there were about 7-10 volunteers around each Whale. Half of these volunteers were children who were wetting towels as well as filling their small beach buckets with water, all to “save the whales”.
The area was closed off with red and white hazard tape none of which prevent the public in lending a helping hand. Walking the entire stretch of the kalk covered beach, at the end was one Whale with three volunteers and two students from the University of Pretoria who were part of the operation.
The problem remained we were told, that despite getting the Whale back into the water it would beach again and this particular one had done it twice already. However this did not dampen nor hinder the enthusiasm and will to want to save the whale by the three volunteers hugging the whale with their icy cold hands.
In the distance there were loud bangs and while everyone was reluctant to want to admit it, they knew what was happening. The shots seemed to be getting closer and closer and there was an almost instant grouping of the three volunteers and three bystanders. The small group pushed with as much power and might as possible but the heavy whale merely moved. There were a few more shots in the distance and again the group- more united this time to achieve their goal of saving the beautiful wild and large creature, tried to move the whale.
All of a sudden the group was stopped by the research students from Pretoria as the students were given instructions not to move the whale by their authorities. The walk back to the main beach was long and silent. The journey began from the life of the whale we tried to save, then coming across two that had been shot, and then one, then another and another and another... until reaching the authorities who were doing the shooting.
The beach was filled with civilians and small children, some crying, some running and some trying to save the whales before the authorities reached them. There seemed to be much confusion among the authorities from a civilian’s perspective.
The gunman seemed to walk so easily from whale to whale shot after shot. The authorities were announcing “people go home, vacate the beach and go home”. These instructions were ignored by all and the shots kept coming.
Not one of the civilians understood why the whales were being killed. The volunteers were frantically running from one whale to the next as the previous whale they were helping was being killed. When any of the bystanders asked a question they were told “I am not answering any questions, please leave the beach”.
I believe this whole operation was very unprofessional by the authorities; it was unsafe to fire a weapon of such destruction among children and passionate volunteers. This operation could have been conducted in a better manner if they simply had police clear the entire stretch of the beach before taking any shots. This would have taken frantic panic out of the situation and would have ensured safety of the bystanders especially the potentially psychological damage for children.
When leaving the gloomy environment there were three bulldozers with “solid waste” printed on them - devastating.
Upon arriving at the beach there was one whale which had died of natural causes and it was not realised that there would be plenty more when leaving the beach of Kommetjie.
www.news24.com/Content/MyNews24/YourStory/1162/ee4dd4d1c4... 08-05/A_sad_day_at_Kommetjie
The Postcard
A postally unused carte postale that was published by L.L.
Although the card was not posted, someone has used a pencil to write "T. Banfield" on the divided back.
The Notre-Dame de Paris Fire
The Notre-Dame de Paris fire broke out on the 15th. April 2019, just before 18:20 CEST, beneath the roof of Notre-Dame de Paris cathedral. By the time the fire was extinguished, the building's spire had collapsed, most of its roof had been destroyed, and its upper walls were severely damaged.
Extensive damage to the interior was prevented by its stone vaulted ceiling, which largely contained the burning roof as it collapsed. Many works of art and religious relics were moved to safety early in the emergency, but others suffered smoke damage, and some of the exterior art was damaged or destroyed.
The cathedral's altar, two pipe organs, and its three 13th.-century rose windows suffered little or no damage. Three emergency workers were injured, and contamination of the site and the nearby environment resulted.
French president Emmanuel Macron said that the cathedral would be restored by 2024, and launched a fundraising campaign which brought in pledges of over €1 billion. It was estimated that a complete restoration could require twenty years or more.
On the 25th. December 2019, the cathedral did not host Christmas services for the first time since 1803.
Background to The Fire
The Catholic cathedral of Notre-Dame de Paris, part of the "Paris, Banks of the Seine" UNESCO World Heritage Site, was begun in the 12th. century.
Its walls and interior vaulted ceiling are of stone; its roof and flèche (spire) were of wood (much of it 13th.-century oak), sheathed in lead to exclude water. The spire was rebuilt several times, most recently in the 19th. century.
The cathedral's stonework has been severely eroded by years of weather and pollution, and the spire had extensively rotted because fissures in its lead sheathing were admitting water.
The roof timbers were dry, spongy and powdery with age. In 2014, the Ministry of Culture estimated necessary renovations would cost €150 million, and in 2016 the Archdiocese of Paris launched an appeal to raise €100 million over the following five to ten years.
At the time of the fire, the spire was undergoing restoration, and scaffolding was being erected over the transept.
Extensive attention had been given to the risk of fire at the cathedral. The Paris Fire Brigade drilled regularly to prepare for emergencies there, including on-site exercises in 2018; a firefighter was posted to the cathedral each day; and fire wardens checked conditions beneath the roof three times daily.
Fortunately the Twelve Apostle and Four Evangelist statues at the spire's base had been removed for conservation days before the fire.
The Notre-Dame Fire
Fire broke out in the attic beneath the cathedral's roof at 18:18. At 18:20 the fire alarm sounded and guards evacuated the cathedral. A guard was sent to investigate, but to the wrong location – the attic of the adjoining sacristy – where he found no fire. About fifteen minutes later the error was discovered, but by the time guards had climbed the three hundred steps to the cathedral attic the fire was well advanced.
The alarm system was not designed to automatically notify the fire brigade, which was summoned at 18:51 after the guards had returned. Firefighters arrived within ten minutes.
Fighting the Notre-Dame Fire
More than 400 firefighters were engaged. A hundred government employees along with police and municipal workers moved precious artefacts to safety via a human chain.
The fire was primarily fought from inside the structure, which was more dangerous for personnel, but reduced potential damage to the cathedral - applying water from outside risked deflecting flames and hot gases (at temperatures up to 800 °C) inwards. Deluge guns were used at lower-than-usual pressures to minimise damage to the cathedral and its contents. Water was supplied by pump-boat from the Seine.
Aerial firefighting was not used because water dropped from heights could have caused structural damage, and heated stone can crack if suddenly cooled. Helicopters were also not used because of dangerous updrafts, but drones were used for visual and thermal imaging, and robots for visual imaging and directing water streams. Molten lead falling from the roof posed a special hazard for firefighters.
By 18:52, smoke was visible from the outside; flames appeared within the next ten minutes. The spire of the cathedral collapsed at 19:50, creating a draft that slammed all the doors and sent a fireball through the attic. Firefighters then retreated from within the attic.
Shortly before the spire fell, the fire had spread to the wooden framework inside the north tower, which supported eight very large bells. Had the bells fallen, it was thought that the damage done as they fell could have collapsed the towers, and with them the entire cathedral.
At 20:30, firefighters abandoned attempts to extinguish the roof and concentrated on saving the towers, fighting from within and between the towers. By 21:45 the fire was under control.
Adjacent apartment buildings were evacuated due to concern about possible collapse, but on the 19th. April the fire brigade ruled out that risk. One firefighter and two police officers were injured.
Damage to Notre-Dame
Most of the wood/metal roof and the spire of the cathedral was destroyed, with about one third of the roof remaining. The remnants of the roof and spire fell atop the stone vault underneath, which forms the ceiling of the cathedral's interior. Some sections of this vaulting collapsed in turn, allowing debris from the burning roof to fall to the marble floor below, but most sections remained intact due to the use of rib vaulting, greatly reducing damage to the cathedral's interior and objects within.
The cathedral contained a large number of artworks, religious relics, and other irreplaceable treasures, including a crown of thorns said to be the one Jesus wore at his crucifixion. Other items were a purported piece of the cross on which Jesus was crucified, the Tunic of St. Louis, a pipe organ by Aristide Cavaillé-Coll, and the 14th.-century Virgin of Paris statue.
Some artwork had been removed in preparation for the renovations, and most of the cathedral's sacred relics were held in the adjoining sacristy, which the fire did not reach; all the cathedral's relics survived. Many valuables that were not removed also survived.
Lead joints in some of the 19th.-century stained-glass windows melted, but the three major rose windows, dating back to the 13th. century, were undamaged. Several pews were destroyed, and the vaulted arches were blackened by smoke, though the cathedral's main cross and altar survived, along with the statues surrounding it.
Some paintings, apparently only smoke-damaged, are expected to be transported to the Louvre for restoration. The rooster-shaped reliquary atop the spire was found damaged but intact among the debris. The three pipe organs were not significantly damaged. The largest of the cathedral's bells, the bourdon, was also not damaged. The liturgical treasury of the cathedral and the "Grands Mays" paintings were moved to safety.
Environmental Damage
Airparif said that winds rapidly dispersed the smoke, carrying it away aloft along the Seine corridor. It did not find elevated levels of particulate air pollution at monitoring stations nearby. The Paris police stated that there was no danger from breathing the air around the fire.
The burned-down roof had been covered with over 400 metric tons of lead. Settling dust substantially raised surface lead levels in some places nearby, notably the cordoned-off area and places left open during the fire. Wet cleaning for surfaces and blood tests for children and pregnant women were recommended in the immediate area.
People working on the cathedral after the fire did not initially take the lead precautions required for their own protection; materials leaving the site were decontaminated, but some clothing was not, and some precautions were not correctly followed; as a result, the worksite failed some inspections and was temporarily shut down.
There was also more widespread contamination; testing, clean-up, and public health advisories were delayed for months, and the neighbourhood was not decontaminated for four months, prompting widespread criticism.
Reactions to the Notre-Dame Fire
President of France Emmanuel Macron, postponing a speech to address the Yellow Vests Movement planned for that evening, went to Notre-Dame and gave a brief address there. Numerous world religious and government leaders extended condolences.
Through the night of the fire and into the next day, people gathered along the Seine to hold vigils, sing and pray.
White tarpaulins over metal beams were quickly rigged to protect the interior from the elements. Nettings protect the de-stabilised exterior.
The following Sunday at Saint-Eustache Church, the Archbishop of Paris, Michel Aupetit, honoured the firefighters with the presentation of a book of scriptures saved from the fire.
Investigation Into The Notre-Dame Fire
On the 16th. April, the Paris prosecutor said that there was no evidence of a deliberate act.
The fire has been compared to the similar 1992 Windsor Castle fire and the Uppark fire, among others, and has raised old questions about the safety of similar structures and the techniques used to restore them. Renovation works increase the risk of fire, and a police source reported that they are looking into whether such work had caused this incident.
The renovations presented a fire risk from sparks, short-circuits, and heat from welding (roof repairs involved cutting, and welding lead sheets resting on timber). Normally, no electrical installations were allowed in the roof space due to the extreme fire risk.
The roof framing was of very dry timber, often powdery with age. After the fire, the architect responsible for fire safety at the cathedral acknowledged that the rate at which fire might spread had been underestimated, and experts said it was well known that a fire in the roof would be almost impossible to control.
Of the firms working on the restoration, a Europe Echafaudage team was the only one working there on the day of the fire; the company said no soldering or welding was underway before the fire. The scaffolding was receiving electrical supply for temporary elevators and lighting.
The roofers, Le Bras Frères, said it had followed procedure, and that none of its personnel were on site when the fire broke out. Time-lapse images taken by a camera installed by them showed smoke first rising from the base of the spire.
On the 25th. April, the structure was considered safe enough for investigators to enter. They unofficially stated that they were considering theories involving malfunction of electric bell-ringing apparatus, and cigarette ends discovered on the renovation scaffolding.
Le Bras Frères confirmed its workers had smoked cigarettes, contrary to regulations, but denied that a discarded cigarette end could have started the fire. The Paris prosecutor's office announced on the 26th. June that no evidence had been found to suggest a criminal motive.
The security employee monitoring the alarm system was new on the job, and was on a second eight-hour shift that day because his relief had not arrived. Additionally, the fire security system used confusing terminology in its referencing parts of the cathedral, which contributed to the initial confusion as to the location of the fire.
As of September, five months after the fire, investigators thought the cause of the fire was more likely an electrical fault than a cigarette. Determining the exact place in which the fire started was expected to take a great deal more time and work. By the 15th. April 2020, investigators stated:
"We believe the fire to have been
started by either a cigarette or a
short circuit in the electrical system".
Reconstruction of Notre-Dame Cathedral
On the night of the fire Macron said that the cathedral, which is owned by the state, would be rebuilt, and launched an international fundraising campaign. France's cathedrals have been owned by the state since 1905, and are not privately insured.
The heritage conservation organisation Fondation du Patrimoine estimated the damage in the hundreds of millions of euros, but losses from the fire are not expected to substantially impact the private insurance industry.
European art insurers stated that the cost would be similar to ongoing renovations at the Palace of Westminster in London, which currently is estimated to be around €7 billion.
This cost does not include damage to any of the artwork or artefacts within the cathedral. Any pieces on loan from other museums would have been insured, but the works owned by the cathedral would not have been insurable.
While Macron hoped the cathedral could be restored in time for the 2024 Paris Summer Olympics, architects expect the work could take from twenty to forty years, as any new structure would need to balance restoring the look of the original building, using wood and stone sourced from the same regions used in the original construction, with the structural reinforcement required for preventing a similar disaster in the future.
There is discussion of whether to reconstruct the cathedral in modified form. Rebuilding the roof with titanium sheets and steel trusses has been suggested; other options include rebuilding in the original lead and wood, or rebuilding with modern materials not visible from the outside (like the reinforced concrete trusses at Reims Cathedral).
Another option would be to use a combination of restored old elements and newly designed ones. Chartres Cathedral was rebuilt with wrought iron trusses and copper sheeting after an 1836 fire.
French prime minister Édouard Philippe announced an architectural design competition for a new spire that would be:
"Adapted to the techniques
and the challenges of our era."
The spire replacement project has gathered a variety of designs and some controversy, particularly its legal exemption from environmental and heritage rules. After the design competition was announced, the French senate amended the government's restoration bill to require the roof to be restored to how it was before the fire.
On the 16th. July, 95 days after the fire, the law that will govern the restoration of the cathedral was finally approved by the French parliament. It recognises its UNESCO World Heritage Site status and the need to respect existing international charters and practices, to:
"Preserve the historic, artistic and architectural
history of the monument, and to limit any
derogations to the existing heritage, planning,
environmental and construction codes to a
minimum".
On the 15th. April 2020, Germany offered to restore some of the large clerestory windows located far above eye level with three expert tradesmen who specialize in rebuilding cathedrals. Monika Grütters, Germany's Commissioner for Culture was quoted as saying that her country would shoulder the costs.
As of the 30th. November all of the tangled scaffolding was removed from the spire area, and was therefore no longer a threat to the building.
The world will now have to wait for Notre-Dame de Paris to be restored to its former magnificence.
Published by The society of czech bibliophiles in Prague (1986). Woodcut illustrations by Zdeněk Mézl.
Previously published image processed to reveal more detail.
XH558 completed her last flight on 28th October and has now been permanently grounded at Robin Hood (Doncaster/Sheffield) airport due to withdrawal of support from three major backers which resulted in the loss of its certificate of airworthiness.
For further information, including visits and tours, go to the "Vulcan to the Sky" website: www.vulcantothesky.org/
_FX06874dt
All Rights Reserved © 2015 Frederick Roll ~ fjroll.com
Please do not use this image without prior permission
image on right is mine! The original: taken in the Director's Room of the Bauhaus Weimar 2009
www.flickr.com/photos/lizinitaly/3535624519/in/set-721576...
Sustainability in Interior Design (Portfolio Skills) [Paperback] Sian Moxon (Author)
Hạ Long Bay (Vietnamese: Vịnh Hạ Long, About this sound listen, literally: "descending dragon bay") is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and a popular travel destination, in Quảng Ninh Province, Vietnam. Administratively, the bay belongs to Hạ Long City, Cẩm Phả town, and the part of Vân Đồn District. The bay features thousands of limestone karsts and isles in various sizes and shapes. Hạ Long Bay is a center of a larger zone which includes Bái Tử Long bay to the northeast, and Cát Bà islands to the southwest. These larger zones share similar geological, geographical, geomorphological, climate, and cultural characters.
Hạ Long Bay has an area of around 1,553 km2, including 1,960–2,000 islets, most of which are limestone. The core of the bay has an area of 334 km2 with a high density of 775 islets. The limestone in this bay has gone through 500 million years of formation in different conditions and environments. The evolution of the karst in this bay has taken 20 million years under the impact of the tropical wet climate. The geo-diversity of the environment in the area has created biodiversity, including a tropical evergreen biosystem, oceanic and sea shore biosystem. Hạ Long Bay is home to 14 endemic floral species and 60 endemic faunal species.
Historical research surveys have shown the presence of prehistorical human beings in this area tens of thousands years ago. The successive ancient cultures are the Soi Nhụ culture around 18,000–7000 BC, the Cái Bèo culture 7000–5000 BC and the Hạ Long culture 5,000–3,500 years ago. Hạ Long Bay also marked important events in the history of Vietnam with many artifacts found in Bài Thơ Mount, Đầu Gỗ Cave, Bãi Cháy.
500 years ago, Nguyễn Trãi praised the beauty of Hạ Long Bay in his verse Lộ nhập Vân Đồn, in which he called it "rock wonder in the sky".[8] In 1962, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism of North Vietnam listed Hạ Long Bay in the National Relics and Landscapes publication. In 1994, the core zone of Hạ Long Bay was listed by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site according to criterion vii, and listed for a second time according to criterion viii.
ETYMOLOGY
The name Hạ Long is derived from the Sino-Vietnamese 下龍, meaning "descending dragon".
Before 19th century, the name Halong Bay had not been recorded in the old books of our country. It has been called An Bang, Luc Thuy, Van Don... Late 19th century, the name Halong Bay has appeared on the Maritime map of France. "Haiphong News" published in French, has reported: " Dragon appears on Halong Bay". The story can be summarized as follows: In 1898, lieutenant Lagoredin captain of Avalangso met a couple of giant sea snake on Halong Bay three times. Not only the lieutenant but also many other sailors saw those species. The European thought that those animals looked like Asian dragon. Maybe the appearance of strange animals led to the name of Quang Ninh sea area today: Halong Bay
According to local legend, when Vietnam had just started to develop into a country, they had to fight against invaders. To assist the Vietnamese in defending their country, the gods sent a family of dragons as protectors. This family of dragons began spitting out jewels and jade. These jewels turned into the islands and islets dotting the bay, linking together to form a great wall against the invaders. Under magics, numerous rock mountains abruptly appeared on the sea, ahead of invaders' ships; the forward ships struck the rocks and each other. After winning the battle, the dragons were interested in peaceful sightseeing of the Earth, and then decided to live in this bay. The place where the mother dragon descended was named Hạ Long, the place where the dragon's children attended upon their mother was called Bái Tử Long island (Bái: attend upon, Tử: children, Long: dragon), and the place where the dragon's children wriggled their tails violently was called Bạch Long Vỹ island (Bạch: white-color of the foam made when Dragon's children wriggled, Long: dragon, Vỹ: tail), present day Trà Cổ peninsula, Móng Cái.
OVERVIEW
The bay consists of a dense cluster of some 1,600 limestone monolithic islands each topped with thick jungle vegetation, rising spectacularly from the ocean. Several of the islands are hollow, with enormous caves. Hang Đầu Gỗ (Wooden stakes cave) is the largest grotto in the Hạ Long area. French tourists visited in the late 19th century, and named the cave Grotte des Merveilles. Its three large chambers contain large numerous stalactites and stalagmites (as well as 19th century French graffiti). There are two bigger islands, Tuần Châu and Cát Bà, that have permanent inhabitants, as well as tourist facilities including hotels and beaches. There are a number of beautiful beaches on the smaller islands.
A community of around 1,600 people live on Hạ Long Bay in four fishing villages: Cửa Vạn, Ba Hang, Cống Tàu and Vông Viêng in Hùng Thắng commune, Hạ Long city. They live on floating houses and are sustained through fishing and marine aquaculture (cultivating marine biota), plying the shallow waters for 200 species of fish and 450 different kinds of mollusks. Many of the islands have acquired their names as a result of interpretation of their unusual shapes. Such names include Voi Islet (elephant), Ga Choi Islet (fighting cock), Khi Islet (monkey), and Mai Nha Islet (roof). 989 of the islands have been given names. Birds and animals including bantams, antelopes, monkeys, and lizard also live on some of the islands.
Almost all these islands are as individual towers in a classic fenglin landscape with heights from 50m to 100m, and height/width ratios of up to about six.
Another specific feature of Halong Bay is the abundance of lakes inside the limestone islands. For example, Dau Be island has six enclosed lakes. All these island lakes occupy drowned dolines within fengcong karst.
LOCATION
Hạ Long Bay is located in northeastern Vietnam, from E106°56' to E107°37' and from N20°43' to N21°09'. The bay stretches from Yên Hưng district, past Hạ Long city, Cẩm Phả town to Vân Đồn District, bordered on the south and southeast by the Gulf of Tonkin, on the north by China, and on the west and southwest by Cát Bà Island. The bay has a 120 km long coastline and is approximately 1,553 km² in size with about 2,000 islets. The area designated by UNESCO as the World Natural Heritage Site incorporates 434 km² with 775 islets, of which the core zone is delimited by 69 points: Đầu Gỗ island on the west, Ba Hầm lake on the south and Cống Tây island on the east. The protected area is from the Cái Dăm petrol store to Quang Hanh commune, Cẩm Phả town and the surrounding zone.
CLIMATE
The climate of the bay is tropical, wet, sea islands, with two seasons: hot and moist summer, and dry and cold winter. The average temperature is from 15 °C- 25 °C, and annual rainfall is between 2 meters and 2.2 meters. Hạ Long Bay has the typical diurnal tide system (tide amplitude ranges from 3.5-4m). The salinity is from 31 to 34.5MT in the dry season and lower in the rainy season.
HISTORY
SOI NHU CULTURE (16,000–5000 BC)
Located in Hạ Long and Bái Tử Long are archaeological sites such as Mê Cung and Thiên Long. There are remains from mounds of mountain shellfish (Cyclophorus), spring shellfish (Melania), some fresh water mollusc and some rudimentary labour tools. The main way of life of Soi Nhụ's inhabitants included catching fish and shellfish, collecting fruits and digging for bulbs and roots. Their living environment was a coastal area unlike other Vietnamese cultures, for example, like those found in Hòa Bình and Bắc Sơn.
CAI BEO CULTURE (5000–3000 BC)
Located in Hạ Long and Cát Bà island, its inhabitants developed to the level of sea exploitation. Cái Bèo culture is a link between Soi Nhụ culture and Hạ Long culture.
FEUDAL PERIOD
History shows that Hạ Long Bay was the setting for local naval battles against Vietnam's coastal neighbors. On three occasions, in the labyrinth of channels in Bạch Đằng River near the islands, the Vietnamese army stopped the Chinese from landing. In 1288, General Trần Hưng Đạo stopped Mongol ships from sailing up the nearby Bạch Đằng River by placing steel-tipped wooden stakes at high tide, sinking the Mongol Kublai Khan's fleet.
During the Vietnam War, many of the channels between the islands were heavily mined by the United States navy, some of which pose a threat to shipping to this day.
GEOLOGY AND GEOMORPHOLOGY
In 2000, the UNESCO’s World Heritage Committee has inscribed the Hạ Long Bay in the World Heritage List according to its outstanding examples representing major stages of the Earth’s history and its original limestone karstic geomorphologic features. The Hạ Long Bay and its adjacent areas consist of a part of the Sino-Vietnamese composite terrane having its development history from pre-Cambrian up to present day. During Phanerozoic, terrigenous, volcanogenic and cherty-carbonate sediments containing in abundance graptolites, brachiopods, fishes, corals, foraminiferas, radiolarias, bivalves and flora, separated one from another by 10 stratigraphic gaps, but the boundary between Devonian and Carboniferous has been considered as continuous. The limestone karstic geomorphology of the bay was developed since Miocene, especially the cone-shaped hills (fengcong), or isolated high limestone karst towers (fenglin) with many remnants of old phreatic caves, old karstic foot caves, marine notch caves form magnificent limestone karst landforms as unique on the world. The Quaternary geology was developed through 5 cycles with the intercalation of marine and continental environments. The present Hạ Long Bay, in fact, appeared after the Middle Holocene maximum transgression, leaving ultimate zone of lateral undercutting in the limestone cliffs bearing many shells of oysters, having the 14C age as 2280 to >40,000 y. BP. Geological resources are abundant: anthracite, lignite, oil shale, petroleum, phosphate, limestone and cement additives, kaolin, silica sand, dolomite, quartzite of exogenous origin, and antimony, mercury of hydrothermal origin. Besides, there still are surface water, groundwater and thermal mineral water on the shore of the Hạ Long - Bái Tử Long Bays and other environmental resources.
In terms of marine geology, this area is recorded as an especially coastal sedimentary environment. In the alkaline seawater environment, the chemical denudation process of calcium carbonate proceeds rapidly, creating wide, strangely shaped marine notches.
The bottom surface sediments are various from clay mud to sand, however, silty mud and clay mud are dominated in distribution. Especially, the carbonate materials originated from organisms make up from 60-65% sedimentary content. The surface sediments of coral reefs are mainly sand and pebbles of which the carbonate materials occupy for more than 90%. The intertidal zone sediments are various from clay mud to sand and gravel depending to distinguished sedimentary environments such as mangrove marshes, tidal flats, beaches etc. At the small, but wonderfully beautiful beaches, the sand sediments may be dominated quartz or carbonate materials.
The sediment layers of intertidal zone, the upper sea bed with a plain surface conserving ancient rivers, systems of caves and it's sediments, traces of ancient marine action forming distinctive notches, beaches and marine terraces, mangrove swamps are important evidence of geological events and processes taking place during Quaternary.
HISTORY OF TECTONICS
Hạ Long Bay has experienced at least 500 million years in various geological states of orogeny, marine transgression and marine regression. During the Ordovician and Silurian periods (500-410 million years ago), Hạ Long Bay was deep sea. During the Carboniferous and Permian periods (340-250 million years ago), Hạ Long Bay was at shallow sea level.
The dominated uplift movement of neotectonic and recent tectonic influenced deeply on topography of this area, and the present landscape of sea-islands was formed around 7 or 8 thousand years ago by the sea invasion during Holocene transgression begun at about 17-18 thousand years ago. Particularly from the Holocene time, from about 11,000 years ago Cat Ba - Hạ Long area has much archaeological evidence connecting variations in sea levels with the development of ancient cultures such as the Soi Nhu and Ha Long cultures.
KARST GEOMORPHOLOGY VALUE
Due to a simultaneous combination of ideal factors such as thick, pale, grey, and strong limestone layers, which are formed by fine-grained materials; hot and moist climate and slow tectonic process as a whole; Hạ Long Bay has had a complete karst evolution for 20 million years. There are many types of karst topography in the bay, such as karst field.
Hạ Long Bay is a mature karst landscape developed during a warm, wet, tropical climate. The sequence of stages in the evolution of a karst landscape over a period of 20 million years requires a combination of several distinct elements including a massive thickness of limestone, a hot wet climate and slow overall tectonic up lift. The process of karst formation is divided into five stage is the formation of the distinctive do line karst. This is followed by the development of fengcong karst can be seen in the groups of hills on Bo Hon and Dau Be Inland. These cones with sloping side average 100m in height with the tallest exceeding 200m. Fenglin karst is characterised by steep separate towers. The hundreds of rocky islands with form the beautiful and famous landscape of the Bay are the individual towers of a classic Fenglin landscape where the intervening plains have been submerged by the sea. Most towers reach a height of between 50 and 100m with a height to width ratio of about 6. The karst dolines were flooded by the sea becoming the abundance of lakes that lie within the limestone islands. For example, Dau Be island at the mouth of the Bay has six enclosed lakes including those of the Ba Ham lakes lying within its fencong karst. The Bay contains examples of the landscape elements of fengcong, fenglin and karst plain. These are not separate evolutionary stages but the result of natural non – uniform processes in the denudation of a large mass of limestone. Marine erosion created the notches which in some places have been enlarged into caves. The marine notch is a feature of limestone coastline but, in Ha Long Bay, it has created the mature landscape.
Within Ha Long Bay, the main accessible caves are the older passages that survive from the time when the karst was evolving though its various stages of fengcong and fenglin. Three main types of caves can be recognized in the limestone islands (Waltham, T. 1998):
Remnants of old phreatic caves
Old karstic foot caves
Marine notch caves
The first group of caves is old phreatic caves which include Sung Sot, Tam Cung, Lau Dai, Thien Cung, Dau Go, Hoang Long, Thien Long. Nowadays, these caves lie at various high levels. Sung Sot cave is on Bo Hon island. From its truncated entrance chambers on allege high on the cliff, a passage of more that 10m high and wide descends to the south. Tam Cung is a large phreatic fissure cave that developed in the bedding planes of the limestone dividing the fissure cave into three chambers. Lau Dai is a cave with a complex of passages extending over 300m opening on the south side of Con Ngua island. Thien Cung and Dau Go are remnants of the same old cave system. They both survive in the northern part of Dau Go island at between 20 and 50m above sea level. Thien Cung has one large chamber more that 100m long, blocked at its ends and almost subdivided into smaller chambers by massive wall of stalactites and stalagmites. Dau Go is a single large tunnel descending along a major set of fractures to a massive choke.
The second group of caves is the old karstic foot caves which include Trinh Lu, Bo Nau, Tien Ong and Trong caves. Foot caves are a ubiquitous feature of karst landscapes which have reached a stage of widespread lateral undercutting at base level. They may extend back into maze caves of stream caves draining from larger cave systems within the limestone. They are distinguished by the main elements of their passages being close to the horizontal and are commonly related to denuded or accumulated terraces at the old base levels. Trinh Nu, which is one of the larger foot caves in Ha Long Bay with its ceiling at about 12m above sea level and about 80m in length, was developed in multiple stages. Bo Nau, a horizontal cave containing old stalactite deposits, cuts across the 25o dip of the bedding plane.
The third group is the marine notch caves that are a special feature of the karst of Ha Long Bay. The dissolution process of sea water acting on the limestone and erosion by wave action crates notches at the base of the cliffs. In advantageous conditions, dissolution of the limestone allows the cliff notches to be steadily deepened and extended into caves. Many of these at sea level extend right though the limestone hills into drowned dolines which are now tidal lakes.
A distinguishing feature of marine notch caves is an absolutely smooth and horizontal ceiling cut through the limestone. Some marine notch caves had been not formed at present sea level, but old sea levels related to sea level changes in Holocene transgression, event to Pleistocene sea levels. Some of them passed preserved the development of old karstic foot cave in mainland environment or preserved the remnants of older phreatic caves. One of the most unusual features of Ha Long Bay is the Bo Ham lake group of hidden lakes and their connecting tunnel – notch caves in Dau Be island. From the island’s perimeter cliff a cave, 10m wide at water level and curving so that it is almost completely dark, extends about 150m to Lake 1. Luon cave is on Bo Hon island and extends 50m though to an enclosed tidal lake. It has a massive stalactite hanging 2m down and truncated at the modern tidal level. It has passed though many stages in its formation.
The karst landscape of Ha Long Bay is of international significance and of fundamental importance to the science of geomorphology. The fenglin tower karst, which is the type present in much of Ha Long Bay, is the most extreme form of limestone landscape development. If these karst landscapes are broadly compared in terms of their height, steepness and number of their limestone towers, Ha Long Bay is probably second in the entire world only to Yangshou, in China. However, Ha Long Bay ha also been invaded by the sea so that the geomorphology of its limestone is lands are, at least in part, the consequence of marine erosion. The marine invasion distinguishes Ha Long Bay and makes it unique in the world. There are other areas of submerged karst towers which were invaded by the sea, but none is as extensive as Ha Long Bay.
TIMELINE OF GEOLOGIC EVOLUTION
Some of the most remarkable geological events in Hạ Long Bay's history have occurred in the last 1,000 years, include the advance of the sea, the raising of the bay area, strong erosion that has formed coral, and, pure blue and heavily salted water. This process of erosion by seawater has deeply engraved the stone, contributing to its fantastic beauty. Present-day Hạ Long Bay is the result of this long process of geological evolution that has been influenced by so many factors.
Due to all these factors, tourists visiting Hạ Long Bay are not only treated to one of the natural wonders of the world, but also to a precious geological museum that has been naturally preserved in the open air for the last 300 million years.
ECOLOGY
Halong Bay is host to two ecosystems: a tropical, moist, evergreen rainforest ecosystem; and a marine and coastal ecosystem. The bay is home to seven endemic species: Livistona halongensis, Impatiens halongensis, Chirita halongensis, Chirita hiepii, Chirita modesta, Paraboea halongensis and Alpinia calcicola.
The many islands that dot the bay are home to a great many other species, including (but likely not limited to): 477 magnoliales, 12 pteris, 20 salt marsh flora; and 4 amphibia, 10 reptilia, 40 aves, and 4 mammalia.
Common aquatic species found in the bay include: cuttlefish (mực); oyster (hào); cyclinae (ngán); prawns (penaeidea (tôm he), panulirus (tôm hùm), parapenaeopsis (tôm sắt), etc.); sipunculoideas (sá sùng); nerita (ốc đĩa); charonia tritonis (ốc tù và); and cà sáy.
ENVIRONMENTAL DAAGE
With an increasing tourist trade, mangroves and seagrass beds have been cleared and jetties and wharves have been built for tourist boats.
Game fishing, often near coral reefs, is threatening many endangered species of fish.
Local government and businesses are aware of problems and many measures have been taken to minimize tourism affect to the bay environment for sustainable economic growth like introducing eco friendly tours and introducing tight waste control on resorts.
AWARDS AND DESIGNATIONS
In 1962, the Vietnam Ministry of Culture, Sport and Tourism designated Hạ Long Bay a 'Renowned National Landscape Monument'.
Hạ Long Bay was first listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1994, in recognition of its outstanding, universal aesthetic value. In 2000 the World Heritage Committee additionally recognised Hạ Long Bay for its outstanding geological and geomorphological value, and its World Heritage Listing was updated.
In October 2011, World Monuments Fund included the bay on the 2012 World Monuments Watch, citing tourism pressures and associated development as threats to the site that must be addressed. The goal of Watch-listing is to promote strategies of responsible heritage-driven development for a sustainable future.
In 2012, New 7 Wonders Foundation officially named Halong Bay as one of New Seven Natural Wonders of the world.
Hạ Long Bay is also a member of the Club of the Most Beautiful Bays of the World.
IN LITERATURE
In writings about Hạ Long Bay, the following Vietnamese writers said:
Nguyễn Trãi: "This wonder is ground raising up into the middle of the high sky".
Xuân Diệu: "Here is the unfinished works of the Beings...Here is the stones which the Giant played and threw away".
Nguyên Ngọc: "...to form this first- rate wonder, nature only uses: Stone and Water...There are just only two materials themselves chosen from as much as materials, in order to write, to draw, to sculpture, to create everything...It is quite possible that here is the image of the future world".
Ho Chi Minh: "It is the wonder that one cannot impart to others".
Phạm Văn Đồng: "Is it one scenery or many sceneries? Is it the scenery in the world or somewhere?".
Nguyễn Tuân: "Only mountains accept to be old, but Hạ Long sea and wave are young for ever".
Huy Cận: "Night breathes, stars wave Hạ Long's water".
Chế Lan Viên:
"Hạ Long, Bái Tử Long- Dragons were hidden, only stones still remain
On the moonlight nights, stones meditate as men do..."
Lord Trịnh Cương overflowed with emotion: "Mountains are glistened by water shadow, water spills all over the sky".
ANCIENT TALES
Hạ Long bay's inhabitants have developed numerous tales explaining names given to various isles and caves in the bay.
Đầu Gỗ cave (literally: "the end of wooden bars" cave): these wooden bars in this cave are the remnants of sharped wooden columns built under the water level by the order of Trần Hưng Đạo commander in order to sink Mongolian invaders' ships in the 13th century.
Kim Quy cave (literally: "Golden Turtle" cave): it is told that the Golden Turtle swam toward the Eastern Sea (international name: South China Sea) after returning the holy sword which had assisted King Lê Thái Tổ in the combat against Ming invaders from China. Next, with the approval of the Sea King, Golden Turtle continued to fight against monsters in this marine area. The turtle became exhausted and died in a cave. Consequently, the cave was named after the Golden Turtle.
Con Cóc isle (literally: Frog isle): is a frog- like isle. According to ancient tales, in a year of severe drought, a frog directed all animals to the Heaven and protested against the God. They demonstrated in favour of making rain. As a result, the God must accept the frog as his uncle. Since then, whenever frogs grind their teeth, the God has to pour water down the ground.
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Patent US6506148 - Nervous system manipulation by electromagnetic fields from monitors
Publication number US6506148 B2
Publication type Grant
Application number US 09/872,528
Publication date Jan 14, 2003
Filing date Jun 1, 2001
Priority date Jun 1, 2001
Fee status Paid
Also published as US20020188164
Inventors Hendricus G. Loos
Original Assignee Hendricus G. Loos
Export Citation BiBTeX, EndNote, RefMan
Patent Citations (16), Non-Patent Citations (5), Referenced by (3), Classifications (6), Legal Events (3)
External Links: USPTO, USPTO Assignment, Espacenet
Nervous system manipulation by electromagnetic fields from monitors
US 6506148 B2
Abstract
Physiological effects have been observed in a human subject in response to stimulation of the skin with weak electromagnetic fields that are pulsed with certain frequencies near ½ Hz or 2.4 Hz, such as to excite a sensory resonance. Many computer monitors and TV tubes, when displaying pulsed images, emit pulsed electromagnetic fields of sufficient amplitudes to cause such excitation. It is therefore possible to manipulate the nervous system of a subject by pulsing images displayed on a nearby computer monitor or TV set. For the latter, the image pulsing may be imbedded in the program material, or it may be overlaid by modulating a video stream, either as an RF signal or as a video signal. The image displayed on a computer monitor may be pulsed effectively by a simple computer program. For certain monitors, pulsed electromagnetic fields capable of exciting sensory resonances in nearby subjects may be generated even as the displayed images are pulsed with subliminal intensity.
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Claims(14)
I claim:
1. A method for manipulating the nervous system of a subject located near a monitor, the monitor emitting an electromagnetic field when displaying an image by virtue of the physical display process, the subject having a sensory resonance frequency, the method comprising:
creating a video signal for displaying an image on the monitor, the image having an intensity;
modulating the video signal for pulsing the image intensity with a frequency in the range 0.1 Hz to 15 Hz; and
setting the pulse frequency to the resonance frequency.
2. A computer program for manipulating the nervous system of a subject located near a monitor, the monitor emitting an electromagnetic field when displaying an image by virtue of the physical display process, the subject having cutaneous nerves that fire spontaneously and have spiking patterns, the computer program comprising:
a display routine for displaying an image on the monitor, the image having an intensity;
a pulse routine for pulsing the image intensity with a frequency in the range 0.1 Hz to 15 Hz; and
a frequency routine that can be internally controlled by the subject, for setting the frequency;
whereby the emitted electromagnetic field is pulsed, the cutaneous nerves are exposed to the pulsed electromagnetic field, and the spiking patterns of the nerves acquire a frequency modulation.
3. The computer program of claim 2, wherein the pulsing has an amplitude and the program further comprises an amplitude routine for control of the amplitude by the subject.
4. The computer program of claim 2, wherein the pulse routine comprises:
a timing procedure for timing the pulsing; and
an extrapolation procedure for improving the accuracy of the timing procedure.
5. The computer program of claim 2, further comprising a variability routine for introducing variability in the pulsing.
6. Hardware means for manipulating the nervous system of a subject located near a monitor, the monitor being responsive to a video stream and emitting an electromagnetic field when displaying an image by virtue of the physical display process, the image having an intensity, the subject having cutaneous nerves that fire spontaneously and have spiking patterns, the hardware means comprising:
pulse generator for generating voltage pulses;
means, responsive to the voltage pulses, for modulating the video stream to pulse the image intensity;
whereby the emitted electromagnetic field is pulsed, the cutaneous nerves are exposed to the pulsed electromagnetic field, and the spiking patterns of the nerves acquire a frequency modulation.
7. The hardware means of claim 6, wherein the video stream is a composite video signal that has a pseudo-dc level, and the means for modulating the video stream comprise means for pulsing the pseudo-dc level.
8. The hardware means of claim 6, wherein the video stream is a television broadcast signal, and the means for modulating the video stream comprise means for frequency wobbling of the television broadcast signal.
9. The hardware means of claim 6, wherein the monitor has a brightness adjustment terminal, and the means for modulating the video stream comprise a connection from the pulse generator to the brightness adjustment terminal.
10. A source of video stream for manipulating the nervous system of a subject located near a monitor, the monitor emitting an electromagnetic field when displaying an image by virtue of the physical display process, the subject having cutaneous nerves that fire spontaneously and have spiking patterns, the source of video stream comprising:
means for defining an image on the monitor, the image having an intensity; and
means for subliminally pulsing the image intensity with a frequency in the range 0.1 Hz to 15 Hz;
whereby the emitted electromagnetic field is pulsed, the cutaneous nerves are exposed to the pulsed electromagnetic field, and the spiking patterns of the nerves acquire a frequency modulation.
11. The source of video stream of claim 10 wherein the source is a recording medium that has recorded data, and the means for subliminally pulsing the image intensity comprise an attribute of the recorded data.
12. The source of video stream of claim 10 wherein the source is a computer program, and the means for subliminally pulsing the image intensity comprise a pulse routine.
13. The source of video stream of claim 10 wherein the source is a recording of a physical scene, and the means for subliminally pulsing the image intensity comprise:
pulse generator for generating voltage pulses;
light source for illuminating the scene, the light source having a power level; and
modulation means, responsive to the voltage pulses, for pulsing the power level.
14. The source of video stream of claim 10, wherein the source is a DVD, the video stream comprises a luminance signal and a chrominance signal, and the means for subliminal pulsing of the image intensity comprise means for pulsing the luminance signal.
Description
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The invention relates to the stimulation of the human nervous system by an electromagnetic field applied externally to the body. A neurological effect of external electric fields has been mentioned by Wiener (1958), in a discussion of the bunching of brain waves through nonlinear interactions. The electric field was arranged to provide “a direct electrical driving of the brain”. Wiener describes the field as set up by a 10 Hz alternating voltage of 400 V applied in a room between ceiling and ground. Brennan (1992) describes in U.S. Pat. No. 5,169,380 an apparatus for alleviating disruptions in circadian rythms of a mammal, in which an alternating electric field is applied across the head of the subject by two electrodes placed a short distance from the skin.
A device involving a field electrode as well as a contact electrode is the “Graham Potentializer” mentioned by Hutchison (1991). This relaxation device uses motion, light and sound as well as an alternating electric field applied mainly to the head. The contact electrode is a metal bar in Ohmic contact with the bare feet of the subject, and the field electrode is a hemispherical metal headpiece placed several inches from the subject's head.
In these three electric stimulation methods the external electric field is applied predominantly to the head, so that electric currents are induced in the brain in the physical manner governed by electrodynamics. Such currents can be largely avoided by applying the field not to the head, but rather to skin areas away from the head. Certain cutaneous receptors may then be stimulated and they would provide a signal input into the brain along the natural pathways of afferent nerves. It has been found that, indeed, physiological effects can be induced in this manner by very weak electric fields, if they are pulsed with a frequency near ½ Hz. The observed effects include ptosis of the eyelids, relaxation, drowziness, the feeling of pressure at a centered spot on the lower edge of the brow, seeing moving patterns of dark purple and greenish yellow with the eyes closed, a tonic smile, a tense feeling in the stomach, sudden loose stool, and sexual excitement, depending on the precise frequency used, and the skin area to which the field is applied. The sharp frequency dependence suggests involvement of a resonance mechanism.
It has been found that the resonance can be excited not only by externally applied pulsed electric fields, as discussed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,782,874, 5,899,922, 6,081,744, and 6,167,304, but also by pulsed magnetic fields, as described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,935,054 and 6,238,333, by weak heat pulses applied to the skin, as discussed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,800,481 and 6,091,994, and by subliminal acoustic pulses, as described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,017,302. Since the resonance is excited through sensory pathways, it is called a sensory resonance. In addition to the resonance near ½ Hz, a sensory resonance has been found near 2.4 Hz. The latter is characterized by the slowing of certain cortical processes, as discussed in the '481, '922, '302, '744, '944, and '304 patents.
The excitation of sensory resonances through weak heat pulses applied to the skin provides a clue about what is going on neurologically. Cutaneous temperature-sensing receptors are known to fire spontaneously. These nerves spike somewhat randomly around an average rate that depends on skin temperature. Weak heat pulses delivered to the skin in periodic fashion will therefore cause a slight frequency modulation (fm) in the spike patterns generated by the nerves. Since stimulation through other sensory modalities results in similar physiological effects, it is believed that frequency modulation of spontaneous afferent neural spiking patterns occurs there as well.
It is instructive to apply this notion to the stimulation by weak electric field pulses administered to the skin. The externally generated fields induce electric current pulses in the underlying tissue, but the current density is much too small for firing an otherwise quiescent nerve. However, in experiments with adapting stretch receptors of the crayfish, Terzuolo and Bullock (1956) have observed that very small electric fields can suffice for modulating the firing of already active nerves. Such a modulation may occur in the electric field stimulation under discussion.
Further understanding may be gained by considering the electric charges that accumulate on the skin as a result of the induced tissue currents. Ignoring thermodynamics, one would expect the accumulated polarization charges to be confined strictly to the outer surface of the skin. But charge density is caused by a slight excess in positive or negative ions, and thermal motion distributes the ions through a thin layer. This implies that the externally applied electric field actually penetrates a short distance into the tissue, instead of stopping abruptly at the outer skin surface. In this manner a considerable fraction of the applied field may be brought to bear on some cutaneous nerve endings, so that a slight modulation of the type noted by Terzuolo and Bullock may indeed occur.
The mentioned physiological effects are observed only when the strength of the electric field on the skin lies in a certain range, called the effective intensity window. There also is a bulk effect, in that weaker fields suffice when the field is applied to a larger skin area. These effects are discussed in detail in the '922 patent.
Since the spontaneous spiking of the nerves is rather random and the frequency modulation induced by the pulsed field is very shallow, the signal to noise ratio (S/N) for the fm signal contained in the spike trains along the afferent nerves is so small as to make recovery of the fm signal from a single nerve fiber impossibile. But application of the field over a large skin area causes simultaneous stimulation of many cutaneous nerves, and the fm modulation is then coherent from nerve to nerve. Therefore, if the afferent signals are somehow summed in the brain, the fm modulations add while the spikes from different nerves mix and interlace. In this manner the S/N can be increased by appropriate neural processing. The matter is discussed in detail in the '874 patent. Another increase in sensitivity is due to involving a resonance mechanism, wherein considerable neural circuit oscillations can result from weak excitations.
An easily detectable physiological effect of an excited ½ Hz sensory resonance is ptosis of the eyelids. As discussed in the '922 patent, the ptosis test involves first closing the eyes about half way. Holding this eyelid position, the eyes are rolled upward, while giving up voluntary control of the eyelids. The eyelid position is then determined by the state of the autonomic nervous system. Furthermore, the pressure excerted on the eyeballs by the partially closed eyelids increases parasympathetic activity. The eyelid position thereby becomes somewhat labile, as manifested by a slight flutter. The labile state is sensitive to very small shifts in autonomic state. The ptosis influences the extent to which the pupil is hooded by the eyelid, and thus how much light is admitted to the eye. Hence, the depth of the ptosis is seen by the subject, and can be graded on a scale from 0 to 10.
In the initial stages of the excitation of the ½ Hz sensory resonance, a downward drift is detected in the ptosis frequency, defined as the stimulation frequency for which maximum ptosis is obtained. This drift is believed to be caused by changes in the chemical milieu of the resonating neural circuits. It is thought that the resonance causes perturbations of chemical concentrations somewhere in the brain, and that these perturbations spread by diffusion to nearby resonating circuits. This effect, called “chemical detuning”, can be so strong that ptosis is lost altogether when the stimulation frequency is kept constant in the initial stages of the excitation. Since the stimulation then falls somewhat out of tune, the resonance decreases in amplitude and chemical detuning eventually diminishes. This causes the ptosis frequency to shift back up, so that the stimulation is more in tune and the ptosis can develop again. As a result, for fixed stimulation frequencies in a certain range, the ptosis slowly cycles with a frequency of several minutes. The matter is discussed in the '302 patent.
The stimulation frequencies at which specific physiological effects occur depend somewhat on the autonomic nervous system state, and probably on the endocrine state as well.
Weak magnetic fields that are pulsed with a sensory resonance frequency can induce the same physiological effects as pulsed electric fields. Unlike the latter however, the magnetic fields penetrate biological tissue with nearly undiminished strength. Eddy currents in the tissue drive electric charges to the skin, where the charge distributions are subject to thermal smearing in much the same way as in electric field stimulation, so that the same physiological effects develop. Details are discussed in the '054 patent.
SUMMARY
Computer monotors and TV monitors can be made to emit weak low-frequency electromagnetic fields merely by pulsing the intensity of displayed images. Experiments have shown that the ½ Hz sensory resonance can be excited in this manner in a subject near the monitor. The 2.4 Hz sensory resonance can also be excited in this fashion. Hence, a TV monitor or computer monitor can be used to manipulate the nervous system of nearby people.
The implementations of the invention are adapted to the source of video stream that drives the monitor, be it a computer program, a TV broadcast, a video tape or a digital video disc (DVD).
For a computer monitor, the image pulses can be produced by a suitable computer program. The pulse frequency may be controlled through keyboard input, so that the subject can tune to an individual sensory resonance frequency. The pulse amplitude can be controlled as well in this manner. A program written in Visual Basic(R) is particularly suitable for use on computers that run the Windows 95(R) or Windows 98(R) operating system. The structure of such a program is described. Production of periodic pulses requires an accurate timing procedure. Such a procedure is constructed from the GetTimeCount function available in the Application Program Interface (API) of the Windows operating system, together with an extrapolation procedure that improves the timing accuracy.
Pulse variability can be introduced through software, for the purpose of thwarting habituation of the nervous system to the field stimulation, or when the precise resonance frequency is not known. The variability may be a pseudo-random variation within a narrow interval, or it can take the form of a frequency or amplitude sweep in time. The pulse variability may be under control of the subject.
The program that causes a monitor to display a pulsing image may be run on a remote computer that is connected to the user computer by a link; the latter may partly belong to a network, which may be the Internet.
For a TV monitor, the image pulsing may be inherent in the video stream as it flows from the video source, or else the stream may be modulated such as to overlay the pulsing. In the first case, a live TV broadcast can be arranged to have the feature imbedded simply by slightly pulsing the illumination of the scene that is being broadcast. This method can of course also be used in making movies and recording video tapes and DVDs.
Video tapes can be edited such as to overlay the pulsing by means of modulating hardware. A simple modulator is discussed wherein the luminance signal of composite video is pulsed without affecting the chroma signal. The same effect may be introduced at the consumer end, by modulating the video stream that is produced by the video source. A DVD can be edited through software, by introducing pulse-like variations in the digital RGB signals. Image intensity pulses can be overlaid onto the analog component video output of a DVD player by modulating the luminance signal component. Before entering the TV set, a television signal can be modulated such as to cause pulsing of the image intensity by means of a variable delay line that is connected to a pulse generator.
Certain monitors can emit electromagnetic field pulses that excite a sensory resonance in a nearby subject, through image pulses that are so weak as to be subliminal. This is unfortunate since it opens a way for mischievous application of the invention, whereby people are exposed unknowingly to manipulation of their nervous systems for someone else's purposes. Such application would be unethical and is of course not advocated. It is mentioned here in order to alert the public to the possibility of covert abuse that may occur while being online, or while watching TV, a video, or a DVD.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
FIG. 1 illustrates the electromagnetic field that emanates from a monitor when the video signal is modulated such as to cause pulses in image intensity, and a nearby subject who is exposed to the field.
FIG. 2 shows a circuit for modulation of a composite video signal for the purpose of pulsing the image intensity.
FIG. 3 shows the circuit for a simple pulse generator.
FIG. 4 illustrates how a pulsed electromagnetic field can be generated with a computer monitor.
FIG. 5 shows a pulsed electromagnetic field that is generated by a television set through modulation of the RF signal input to the TV.
FIG. 6 outlines the structure of a computer program for producing a pulsed image.
FIG. 7 shows an extrapolation procedure introduced for improving timing accuracy of the program of FIG. 6.
FIG. 8 illustrates the action of the extrapolation procedure of FIG. 7.
FIG. 9 shows a subject exposed to a pulsed electromagnetic field emanating from a monitor which is responsive to a program running on a remote computer via a link that involves the Internet.
FIG. 10 shows the block diagram of a circuit for frequency wobbling of a TV signal for the purpose of pulsing the intensity of the image displayed on a TV monitor.
FIG. 11 depicts schematically a recording medium in the form of a video tape with recorded data, and the attribute of the signal that causes the intensity of the displayed image to be pulsed.
FIG. 12 illustrates how image pulsing can be embedded in a video signal by pulsing the illumination of the scene that is being recorded.
FIG. 13 shows a routine that introduces pulse variability into the computer program of FIG. 6.
FIG. 14 shows schematically how a CRT emits an electromagnetic field when the displayed image is pulsed.
FIG. 15 shows how the intensity of the image displayed on a monitor can be pulsed through the brightness control terminal of the monitor.
FIG. 16 illustrates the action of the polarization disc that serves as a model for grounded conductors in the back of a CRT screen.
FIG. 17 shows the circuit for overlaying image intensity pulses on a DVD output.
FIG. 18 shows measured data for pulsed electric fields emitted by two different CRT type monitors, and a comparison with theory.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
Computer monitors and TV monitors emit electromagnetic fields. Part of the emission occurs at the low frequencies at which displayed images are changing. For instance, a rythmic pulsing of the intensity of an image causes electromagnetic field emission at the pulse frequency, with a strength proportional to the pulse amplitude. The field is briefly referred to as “screen emission”. In discussing this effect, any part or all what is displayed on the monitor screen is called an image. A monitor of the cathode ray tube (CRT) type has three electron beams, one for each of the basic colors red, green, and blue. The intensity of an image is here defined as
I=∫j dA, (1)
where the integral extends over the image, and
j=jr+jg+jb, (2)
jr, jg, and jb being the electric current densities in the red, green, and blue electron beams at the surface area dA of the image on the screen. The current densities are to be taken in the distributed electron beam model, where the discreteness of pixels and the raster motion of the beams are ignored, and the back of the monitor screen is thought to be irradiated by diffuse electron beams. The beam current densities are then functions of the coordinates x and y over the screen. The model is appropriate since we are interested in the electromagnetic field emision caused by image pulsing with the very low frequencies of sensory resonances, whereas the emissions with the much higher horizontal and vertical sweep frequencies are of no concern. For a CRT the intensity of an image is expressed in millamperes.
For a liquid crystal display (LCD), the current densities in the definition of image intensity are to be replaced by driving voltages, multiplied by the aperture ratio of the device. For an LCD, image intensities are thus expressed in volts.
It will be shown that for a CRT or LCD screen emissions are caused by fluctuations in image intensity. In composite video however, intensity as defined above is not a primary signal feature, but luminance Y is. For any pixel one has
Y=0.299R+0.587G+0.114B, (3)
where R, G, and B are the intensities of the pixel respectively in red, green and blue, normalized such as to range from 0 to 1. The definition (3) was provided by the Commission Internationale de l'Eclairage (CIE), in order to account for brightness differences at different colors, as perceived by the human visual system. In composite video the hue of the pixel is determined by the chroma signal or chrominance, which has the components R-Y and B-Y It follows that pulsing pixel luminance while keeping the hue fixed is equivalent to pulsing the pixel intensity, up to an amplitude factor. This fact will be relied upon when modulating a video stream such as to overlay image intensity pulses.
It turns out that the screen emission has a multipole expansion wherein both monopole and dipole contributions are proportional to the rate of change of the intensity I of (1). The higher order multipole contributions are proportional to the rate of change of moments of the current density j over the image, but since these contributions fall off rapidly with distance, they are not of practical importance in the present context. Pulsing the intensity of an image may involve different pulse amplitudes, frequencies, or phases for different parts of the image. Any or all of these features may be under subject control.
The question arises whether the screen emission can be strong enough to excite sensory resonances in people located at normal viewing distances from the monitor. This turns out to be the case, as shown by sensory resonance experiments and independently by measuring the strength of the emitted electric field pulses and comparing the results with the effective intensity window as explored in earlier work.
One-half Hertz sensory resonance experiments have been conducted with the subject positioned at least at normal viewing distance from a 15″ computer monitor that was driven by a computer program written in Visual Basic(R), version 6.0 (VB6). The program produces a pulsed image with uniform luminance and hue over the full screen, except for a few small control buttons and text boxes. In VB6, screen pixel colors are determined by integers R, G, and B, that range from 0 to 255, and set the contributions to the pixel color made by the basic colors red, green, and blue. For a CRT-type monitor, the pixel intensities for the primary colors may depend on the RGB values in a nonlinear manner that will be discussed. In the VB6 program the RGB values are modulated by small pulses ΔR, ΔG, ΔB, with a frequency that can be chosen by the subject or is swept in a predetermined manner. In the sensory resonance experiments mentioned above, the ratios ΔR/R, ΔG/G, and ΔB/B were always smaller than 0.02, so that the image pulses are quite weak. For certain frequencies near ½ Hz, the subject experienced physiological effects that are known to accompany the excitation of the ½ Hz sensory resonance as mentioned in the Background Section. Moreover, the measured field pulse amplitudes fall within the effective intensity window for the ½ Hz resonance, as explored in earlier experiments and discussed in the '874, '744, '922, and '304 patents. Other experiments have shown that the 2.4 Hz sensory resonance can be exited as well by screen emissions from monitors that display pulsed images.
These results confirm that, indeed, the nervous system of a subject can be manipulated through electromagnetic field pulses emitted by a nearby CRT or LCD monitor which displays images with pulsed intensity.
The various implementations of the invention are adapted to the different sources of video stream, such as video tape, DVD, a computer program, or a TV broadcast through free space or cable. In all of these implementations, the subject is exposed to the pulsed electromagnetic field that is generated by the monitor as the result of image intensity pulsing. Certain cutaneous nerves of the subject exhibit spontaneous spiking in patterns which, although rather random, contain sensory information at least in the form of average frequency. Some of these nerves have receptors that respond to the field stimulation by changing their average spiking frequency, so that the spiking patterns of these nerves acquire a frequency modulation, which is conveyed to the brain. The modulation can be particularly effective if it has a frequency at or near a sensory resonance frequency. Such frequencies are expected to lie in the range from 0.1 to 15 Hz.
An embodiment of the invention adapted to a VCR is shown in FIG. 1, where a subject 4 is exposed to a pulsed electric field 3 and a pulsed magnetic field 39 that are emitted by a monitor 2, labeled “MON”, as the result of pulsing the intensity of the displayed image. The image is here generated by a video casette recorder 1, labeled “VCR”, and the pulsing of the image intensity is obtained by modulating the composite video signal from the VCR output. This is done by a video modulator 5, labeled “VM”, which responds to the signal from the pulse generator 6, labeled “GEN”. The frequency and amplitude of the image pulses can be adjusted with the frequency control 7 and amplitude control 8. Frequency and amplitude adjustments can be made by the subject.
The circuit of the video modulator 5 of FIG. 1 is shown in FIG. 2, where the video amplifiers 11 and 12 process the composite video signal that enters at the input terminal 13. The level of the video signal is modulated slowly by injecting a small bias current at the inverting input 17 of the first amplifier 11. This current is caused by voltage pulses supplied at the modulation input 16, and can be adjusted through the potentiometer 15. Since the noninverting input of the amplifier is grounded, the inverting input 17 is kept essentially at ground potential, so that the bias current is is not influenced by the video signal. The inversion of the signal by the first amplifier 11 is undone by the second amplifier 12. The gains of the amplifiers are chosen such as to give a unity overall gain. A slowly varying current injected at the inverting input 17 causes a slow shift in the “pseudo-dc” level of the composite video signal, here defined as the short-term average of the signal. Since the pseudo-dc level of the chroma signal section determines the luminance, the latter is modulated by the injected current pulses. The chroma signal is not affected by the slow modulation of the pseudodc level, since that signal is determined by the amplitude and phase with respect to the color carrier which is locked to the color burst. The effect on the sync pulses and color bursts is of no consequence either if the injected current pulses are very small, as they are in practice. The modulated composite video signal, available at the output 14 in FIG. 2, will thus exhibit a modulated luminance, whereas the chroma signal is unchanged. In the light of the foregoing discussion about luminance and intensity, it follows that the modulator of FIG. 2 causes a pulsing of the image intensity I. It remains to give an example how the pulse signal at the modulation input 16 may be obtained. FIG. 3 shows a pulse generator that is suitable for this purpose, wherein the RC timer 21 (Intersil ICM7555) is hooked up for astable operation and produces a square wave voltage with a frequency that is determined by capacitor 22 and potentiometer 23. The timer 21 is powered by a battery 26, controlled by the switch 27. The square wave voltage at output 25 drives the LED 24, which may be used for monitoring of the pulse frequency, and also serves as power indicator. The pulse output may be rounded in ways that are well known in the art. In the setup of FIG. 1, the output of VCR 1 is connected to the video input 13 of FIG. 2, and the video output 14 is connected to the monitor 2 of FIG. 1.
In the preferred embodiment of the invention, the image intensity pulsing is caused by a computer program. As shown in FIG. 4, monitor 2, labeled “MON”, is connected to computer 31 labeled “COMPUTER”, which runs a program that produces an image on the monitor and causes the image intensity to be pulsed. The subject 4 can provide input to the computer through the keyboard 32 that is connected to the computer by the connection 33. This input may involve adjustments of the frequency or the amplitude or the variability of the image intensity pulses. In particular, the pulse frequency can be set to a sensory resonance frequency of the subject for the purpose of exciting the resonance.
The structure of a computer program for pulsing image intensity is shown in FIG. 6. The program may be written in Visual Basic(R) version 6.0 (VB6), which involves the graphics interface familiar from the Windows(R) operating system. The images appear as forms equipped with user controls such as command buttons and scroll bars, together with data displays such as text boxes. A compiled VB6 program is an executable file. When activated, the program declares variables and functions to be called from a dynamic link library (DLL) that is attached to the operating system; an initial form load is performed as well. The latter comprises setting the screen color as specified by integers R, G, and B in the range 0 to 255, as mentioned above. In FIG. 6, the initial setting of the screen color is labeled as 50. Another action of the form load routine is the computation 51 of the sine function at eight equally spaced points, I=0 to 7, around the unit circle. These values are needed when modulating the RGB numbers. Unfortunately, the sine function is distorted by the rounding to integer RGB values that occurs in the VB6 program. The image is chosen to fill as much of the screen area as possible, and it has spatially uniform luminance and hue.
The form appearing on the monitor displays a command button for starting and stopping the image pulsing, together with scroll bars 52 and 53 respectively for adjustment of the pulse frequency F and the pulse amplitude A. These pulses could be initiated by a system timer which is activated upon the elapse of a preset time interval. However, timers in VB6 are too inaccurate for the purpose of providing the eight RGB adjustment points in each pulse cycle. An improvement can be obtained by using the GetTickCount function that is available in the Application Program Interface (API) of Windows 95(R) and Windows 98(R). The GetTickCount function returns the system time that has elapsed since starting Windows, expressed in milliseconds. User activation of the start button 54 provides a tick count TN through request 55 and sets the timer interval to TT miliseconds, in step 56. TT was previously calculated in the frequency routine that is activated by changing the frequency, denoted as step 52.
Since VB6 is an event-driven program, the flow chart for the program falls into disjoint pieces. Upon setting the timer interval to TT in step 56, the timer runs in the background while the program may execute subroutines such as adjustment of pulse frequency or amplitude. Upon elapse of the timer interval TT, the timer subroutine 57 starts execution with request 58 for a tick count, and in 59 an upgrade is computed of the time TN for the next point at which the RGB values are to be adjusted. In step 59 the timer is turned off, to be reactivated later in step 67. Step 59 also resets the parameter CR which plays a role in the extrapolation procedure 61 and the condition 60. For ease of understanding at this point, it is best to pretend that the action of 61 is simply to get a tick count, and to consider the loop controled by condition 60 while keeping CR equal to zero. The loop would terminate when the tick count M reaches or exceeds the time TN for the next phase point, at which time the program should adjust the image intensity through steps 63-65. For now step 62 is to be ignored also, since it has to do with the actual extrapolation procedure 61. The increments to the screen colors R1, G1, and B1 at the new phase point are computed according to the sine function, applied with the amplitude A that was set by the user in step 53. The number I that labels the phase point is incremented by unity in step 65, but if this results in I=8 the value is reset to zero in 66. Finally, the timer is reactivated in step 67, initiating a new ⅛-cycle step in the periodic progression of RGB adjustments.
A program written in this way would exhibit a large jitter in the times at which the RGB values are changed. This is due to the lumpiness in the tick counts returned by the GetTickCount function. The lumpiness may be studied separately by running a simple loop with C=GetTickCount, followed by writing the result C to a file. Inspection shows that C has jumped every 14 or 15 milliseconds, between long stretches of constant values. Since for a ½ Hz image intensity modulation the ⅛-cycle phase points are 250 ms apart, the lumpiness of 14 or 15 ms in the tick count would cause considerable inaccuracy. The full extrapolation procedure 61 is introduced in order to diminish the jitter to acceptable levels. The procedure works by refining the heavy-line staircase function shown in FIG. 8, using the slope RR of a recent staircase step to accurately determine the loop count 89 at which the loop controled by 60 needs to be exited. Details of the extrapolation procedure are shown in FIG. 7 and illustrated in FIG. 8. The procedure starts at 70 with both flags off, and CR=0, because of the assignment in 59 or 62 in FIG. 6. A tick count M is obtained at 71, and the remaining time MR to the next phase point is computed in 72. Conditions 77 and 73 are not satisfied and therefore passed vertically in the flow chart, so that only the delay block 74 and the assignments 75 are executed. Condition 60 of FIG. 6 is checked and found to be satisfied, so that the extrapolation procedure is reentered. The process is repeated until the condition 73 is met when the remaining time MR jumps down through the 15 ms level, shown in FIG. 8 as the transition 83. The condition 73 then directs the logic flow to the assignments 76, in which the number DM labeled by 83 is computed, and FLG1 is set. The computation of DM is required for finding the slope RR of the straight-line element 85. One also needs the “Final LM” 86, which is the number of loops traversed from step 83 to the next downward step 84, here shown to cross the MR=0 axis. The final LM is determined after repeatedly incrementing LM through the side loop entered from the FLG1=1 condition 77, which is now satisfied since FLG1 was set in step 76. At the transition 84 the condition 78 is met, so that the assignments 79 are executed. This includes computation of the slope RR of the line element 85, setting FLG2, and resetting FLG1. From here on, the extrapolation procedure increments CR in steps of RR while skipping tick counts until condition 60 of FIG. 6 is violated, the loop is exited, and the RGB values are adjusted.
A delay block 74 is used in order to stretch the time required for traversing the extrapolation procedure. The block can be any computation intensive subroutine such as repeated calculations of tangent and arc tangent functions.
As shown in step 56 of FIG. 6, the timer interval TT is set to 4/10 of the time TA from one RGB adjustment point to the next. Since the timer runs in the background, this arrangement provides an opportunity for execution of other processes such as user adjustment of frequency or amplitude of the pulses.
The adjustment of the frequency and other pulse parameters of the image intensity modulation can be made internally, i.e., within the running program. Such internal control is to be distinguished from the external control provided, for instance, in screen savers. In the latter, the frequency of animation can be modified by the user, but only after having exited the screen saver program. Specifically, in Windows 95(R) or Windows 98(R), to change the animation frequency requires stopping the screen saver execution by moving the mouse, whereafter the frequency may be adjusted through the control panel. The requirement that the control be internal sets the present program apart from so-called banners as well.
The program may be run on a remote computer that is linked to the user computer, as illustrated in FIG. 9. Although the monitor 2, labeled “MON”, is connected to the computer 31′, labeled “COMPUTER”, the program that pulses the images on the monitor 2 runs on the remoter computer 90, labeled “REMOTE COMPUTER”, which is connected to computer 31′ through a link 91 which may in part belong to a network. The network may comprise the Internet 92.
The monitor of a television set emits an electromagnetic field in much the same way as a computer monitor. Hence, a TV may be used to produce screen emissions for the purpose of nervous system manipulation. FIG. 5 shows such an arrangement, where the pulsing of the image intensity is achieved by inducing a small slowly pulsing shift in the frequency of the RF signal that enters from the antenna. This process is here called “frequency wobbling” of the RF signal. In FM TV, a slight slow frequency wobble of the RF signal produces a pseudo-dc signal level fluctuation in the composite video signal, which in turn causes a slight intensity fluctuation of the image displayed on the monitor in the same manner as discussed above for the modulator of FIG. 2. The frequency wobbling is induced by the wobbler 44 of FIG. 5 labeled “RFM”, which is placed in the antenna line 43. The wobbler is driven by the pulse generator 6, labeled “GEN”. The subject can adjust the frequency and the amplitude of the wobble through the tuning control 7 and the amplitude control 41. FIG. 10 shows a block diagram of the frequency wobbler circuit that employs a variable delay line 94, labelled “VDL”. The delay is determined by the signal from pulse generator 6, labelled “GEN”. The frequency of the pulses can be adjusted with the tuning control 7. The amplitude of the pulses is determined by the unit 98, labelled “MD”, and can be adjusted with the amplitude control 41. Optionally, the input to the delay line may be routed through a preprocessor 93, labelled “PRP”, which may comprise a selective RF amplifier and down converter; a complimentary up conversion should then be performed on the delay line output by a postprocessor 95, labelled “POP”. The output 97 is to be connected to the antenna terminal of the TV set.
The action of the variable delay line 94 may be understood as follows. Let periodic pulses with period L be presented at the input. For a fixed delay the pulses would emerge at the output with the same period L. Actually, the time delay T is varied slowly, so that it increases approximately by LdT/dt between the emergence of consecutive pulses at the device output. The pulse period is thus increased approximately by
ΔL=LdT/dt. (4)
In terms of the frequency ∫, Eq. (4) implies approximately
Δ∫/∫=−dT/dt. (5)
For sinusoidal delay T(t) with amplitude b and frequency g, one has
Δ∫/∫=−2πgb cos (2πgt), (6)
which shows the frequency wobbling. The approximation is good for gb<<1, which is satisfied in practice. The relative frequency shift amplitude 2πgb that is required for effective image intensity pulses is very small compared to unity. For a pulse frequency g of the order of 1 Hz, the delay may have to be of the order of a millisecond. To accomodate such long delay values, the delay line may have to be implemented as a digital device. To do so is well within the present art. In that case it is natural to also choose digital implementations for the pulse generator 6 and the pulse amplitude controller 98, either as hardware or as software.
Pulse variability may be introduced for alleviating the need for precise tuning to a resonance frequency. This may be important when sensory resonance frequencies are not precisely known, because of the variation among individuals, or in order to cope with the frequency drift that results from chemical detuning that is discussed in the '874 patent. A field with suitably chosen pulse variability can then be more effective than a fixed frequency field that is out of tune. One may also control tremors and seizures, by interfering with the pathological oscillatory activity of neural circuits that occurs in these disorders. Electromagnetic fields with a pulse variability that results in a narrow spectrum of frequencies around the frequency of the pathological oscillatory activity may then evoke nerve signals that cause phase shifts which diminish or quench the oscillatory activity.
Pulse variability can be introduced as hardware in the manner described in the '304 patent. The variability may also be introduced in the computer program of FIG. 6, by setting FLG3 in step 68, and choosing the amplitude B of the frequency fluctuation. In the variability routine 46, shown in some detail in FIG. 13, FLG3 is detected in step 47, whereupon in steps 48 and 49 the pulse frequency F is modified pseudo randomly by a term proportional to B, every 4th cycle. Optionally, the amplitude of the image intensity pulsing may be modified as well, in similar fashion. Alternatively, the frequency and amplitude may be swept through an adjustable ramp, or according to any suitable schedule, in a manner known to those skilled in the art. The pulse variability may be applied to subliminal image intensity pulses.
When an image is displayed by a TV monitor in response to a TV broadcast, intensity pulses of the image may simply be imbedded in the program material. If the source of video signal is a recording medium, the means for pulsing the image intensity may comprise an attribute of recorded data. The pulsing may be subliminal. For the case of a video signal from a VCR, the pertinent data attribute is illustrated in FIG. 11, which shows a video signal record on part of a video tape 28. Depicted schematically are segments of the video signal in intervals belonging to lines in three image frames at different places along the tape. In each segment, the chroma signal 9 is shown, with its short-term average level 29 represented as a dashed line. The short-term average signal level, also called the pseudo-dc level, represents the luminance of the image pixels. Over each segment, the level is here constant because the image is for simplicity chosen as having a uniform luminance over the screen. However, the level is seen to vary from frame to frame, illustrating a luminance that pulses slowly over time. This is shown in the lower portion of the drawing, wherein the IRE level of the short-term chroma signal average is plotted versus time. The graph further shows a gradual decrease of pulse amplitude in time, illustrating that luminance pulse amplitude variations may also be an attribute of the recorded data on the video tape. As discussed, pulsing the luminance for fixed chrominance results in pulsing of the image intensity.
Data stream attributes that represent image intensity pulses on video tape or in TV signals may be created when producing a video rendition or making a moving picture of a scene, simply by pulsing the illumination of the scene. This is illustrated in FIG. 12, which shows a scene 19 that is recorded with a video camera 18, labelled “VR”. The scene is illuminated with a lamp 20, labelled “LAMP”, energized by an electric current through a cable 36. The current is modulated in pulsing fashion by a modulator 30, labeled “MOD”, which is driven by a pulse generator 6, labelled “GENERATOR”, that produces voltage pulses 35. Again, pulsing the luminance but not the chrominance amounts to pulsing the image intensity.
The brightness of monitors can usually be adjusted by a control, which may be addressable through a brightness adjustment terminal. If the control is of the analog type, the displayed image intensity may be pulsed as shown in FIG. 15, simply by a pulse generator 6, labeled “GEN”, that is connected to the brigthness adjustment terminal 88 of the monitor 2, labeled “MON”. Equivalent action can be provided for digital brightness controls, in ways that are well known in the art.
The analog component video signal from a DVD player may be modulated such as to overlay image intensity pulses in the manner illustrated in FIG. 17. Shown are a DVD player 102, labeled “DVD”, with analog component video output comprised of the luminance Y and chrominance C. The overlay is accomplished simply by shifting the luminance with a voltage pulse from generator 6, labeled “GENERATOR”. The generator output is applied to modulator 106, labeled “SHIFTER”. Since the luminance Y is pulsed without changing the chrominance C, the image intensity is pulsed. The frequency and amplitude of the image intensity pulses can be adjusted respectively with the tuner 7 and amplitude control 107. The modulator 105 has the same structure as the modulator of FIG. 2, and the pulse amplitude control 107 operates the potentiometer 15 of FIG. 2. The same procedure can be followed for editing a DVD such as to overlay image intensity pulses, by processing the modulated luminance signal through an analog-to-digital converter, and recording the resulting digital stream onto a DVD, after appropriate compression. Alternatively, the digital luminance data can be edited by electronic reading of the signal, decompression, altering the digital data by software, and recording the resulting digital signal after proper compression, all in a manner that is well known in the art.
The mechanism whereby a CRT-type monitor emits a pulsed electromagnetic field when pulsing the intensity of an image is illustrated in FIG. 14. The image is produced by an electron beam 10 which impinges upon the backside 88 of the screen, where the collisions excite phosphors that subsequently emit light. In the process, the electron beam deposits electrons 18 on the screen, and these electrons contribute to an electric field 3 labelled “E”. The electrons flow along the conductive backside 88 of the screen to the terminal 99 which is hooked up to the high-voltage supply 40, labelled “HV”. The circuit is completed by the ground connection of the supply, the video amplifier 87, labeled “VA”, and its connection to the cathodes of the CRT. The electron beams of the three electron guns are collectively shown as 10, and together the beams carry a current J. The electric current J flowing through the described circuit induces a magnetic field 39, labeled “B”. Actually, there are a multitude of circuits along which the electron beam current is returned to the CRT cathodes, since on a macroscopic scale the conductive back surface 88 of the screen provides a continuum of paths from the beam impact point to the high-voltage terminal 99. The magnetic fields induced by the currents along these paths partially cancel each other, and the resulting field depends on the location of the pixel that is addressed. Since the beams sweep over the screen through a raster of horizontal lines, the spectrum of the induced magnetic field contains strong peaks at the horizontal and vertical frequencies. However, the interest here is not in fields at those frequencies, but rather in emissions that result from an image pulsing with the very low frequencies appropriate to sensory resonances. For this purpose a diffuse electron current model suffices, in which the pixel discreteness and the raster motion of the electron beams are ignored, so that the beam current becomes diffuse and fills the cone subtended by the displayed image. The resulting low-frequency magnetic field depends on the temporal changes in the intensity distribution over the displayed image. Order-of-magnitude estimates show that the low-frequency magnetic field, although quite small, may be sufficient for the excitation of sensory resonances in subjects located at a normal viewing distance from the monitor.
The monitor also emits a low-frequency electric field at the image pulsing frequency. This field is due in part to the electrons 18 that are deposited on the screen by the electron beams 10. In the diffuse electron beam model, screen conditions are considered functions of the time t and of the Cartesian coordinates x and y over a flat CRT screen.
The screen electrons 18 that are dumped onto the back of the screen by the sum j(x,y,t) of the diffuse current distributions in the red, green, and blue electron beams cause a potential distribution V(x,y,t) which is influenced by the surface conductivity σ on the back of the screen and by capacitances. In the simple model where the screen has a capacitance distribution c(x,y) to ground and mutual capacitances between parts of the screen at different potentials are neglected, a potential distribution V(x,y,t) over the screen implies a surface charge density distribution
q=Vc(x,y), (7)
and gives rise to a current density vector along the screen,
j s=−σgrads V, (8)
where grads is the gradient along the screen surface. Conservation of electric charge implies
j=c{dot over (V)}−div s (σgrad s V), (9)
where the dot over the voltage denotes the time derivative, and divs is the divergence in the screen surface. The partial differential equation (9) requires a boundary condition for the solution V(x,y,t) to be unique. Such a condition is provided by setting the potential at the rim of the screen equal to the fixed anode voltage. This is a good approximation, since the resistance Rr between the screen rim and the anode terminal is chosen small in CRT design, in order to keep the voltage loss JRr to a minimum, and also to limit low-frequency emissions.
Something useful can be learned from special cases with simple solutions. As such, consider a circular CRT screen of radius R with uniform conductivity, showered in the back by a diffuse electron beam with a spatially uniform beam current density that is a constant plus a sinusoidal part with frequency ∫. Since the problem is linear, the voltage V due to the sinusoidal part of the beam current can be considered separately, with the boundary condition that V vanish at the rim of the circular screen. Eq. (9) then simplifies to
V″+V″/r−i2π∫cn V=−Jη/A, r≦R, (10)
where r is a radial coordinate along the screen with its derivative denoted by a prime, η=1/σ is the screen resistivity, A the screen area, J the sinusoidal part of the total beam current, and i=(−1), the imaginary unit. Our interest is in very low pulse frequencies ∫ that are suitable for excitation of sensory resonances. For those frequencies and for practical ranges for c and η, the dimensionless number 2π∫cAη is very much smaller than unity, so that it can be neglected in Eq. (10). The boundary value problem then has the simple solution V ( r ) = J η 4 π ( 1 - ( r / R ) 2 ) . ( 11 )
Figure US06506148-20030114-M00001
In deriving (11) we neglected the mutual capacitance between parts of the screen that are at different potentials. The resulting error in (10) is negligible for the same reason that the i2π∫cAη term in (10) can be neglected.
The potential distribution V(r) of (11) along the screen is of course accompanied by electric charges. The field lines emanating from these charges run mainly to conductors behind the screen that belong to the CRT structure and that are either grounded or connected to circuitry with a low impedance path to ground. In either case the mentioned conductors must be considered grounded in the analysis of charges and fields that result from the pulsed component J of the total electron beam current. The described electric field lines end up in electric charges that may be called polarization charges since they are the result of the polarization of the conductors and circuitry by the screen emission. To estimate the pulsed electric field, a model is chosen where the mentioned conductors are represented together as a grounded perfectly conductive disc of radius R, positioned a short distance δ behind the screen, as depicted in FIG. 16. Since the grounded conductive disc carries polarization charges, it is called the polarization disc. FIG. 16 shows the circular CRT screen 88 and the polarization disc 101, briefly called “plates”. For small distances δ, the capacitance density between the plates of opposite polarity is nearly equal to ε/δ, where ε is the permittivity of free space. The charge distributions on the screen and polarization disc are respectively εV(r)/δ+q0 and −εV(r)/δ+q0, where the εV(r)/δ terms denote opposing charge densities at the end of the dense field lines that run between the two plates. That the part q0 is needed as well will become clear in the sequel.
The charge distributions εV(r)/δ+q0 and −εV(r)/δ+q0 on the two plates have a dipole moment with the density D ( r ) = εV ( r ) = J ηε 4 π ( 1 - ( r / R ) 2 ) , ( 12 )
Figure US06506148-20030114-M00002
directed perpendicular to the screen. Note that the plate separation δ has dropped out. This means that the precise location of the polarization charges is not critical in the present model, and further that δ may be taken as small as desired. Taking δ to zero, one thus arrives at the mathematical model of pulsed dipoles distributed over the circular CRT screen. The field due to the charge distribution q0 will be calculated later.
The electric field induced by the distributed dipoles (12) can be calculated easily for points on the centerline of the screen, with the result E ( z ) = V ( 0 ) R { 2 ρ / R - R / ρ - 2 z / R } , ( 13 )
Figure US06506148-20030114-M00003
where V(0) is the pulse voltage (11) at the screen center, ρ the distance to the rim of the screen, and z the distance to the center of the screen. Note that V(0) pulses harmonically with frequency ∫, because in (11) the sinusoidal part J of the beam current varies in this manner.
The electric field (13) due to the dipole distribution causes a potential distribution V(r)/2 over the screen and a potential distribution of −V(r)/2 over the polarization disc, where V(r) is nonuniform as given by (11). But since the polarization disc is a perfect conductor it cannot support voltage gradients, and therefore cannot have the potential distribution −V(r)/2. Instead, the polarization disc is at ground potential. This is where the charge distribution q0(r) comes in; it must be such as to induce a potential distribution V(r)/2 over the polarization disc. Since the distance between polarization disc and screen vanishes in the mathematical model, the potential distribution V(r)/2 is induced over the screen as well. The total potential over the monitor screen thus becomes V(r) of (11), while the total potential distribution over the polarization disc becomes uniformly zero. Both these potential distributions are as physically required. The electric charges q0 are moved into position by polarization and are partly drawn from the earth through the ground connection of the CRT.
In our model the charge distribution q0 is located at the same place as the dipole distribution, viz., on the plane z=0 within the circle with radius R. At points on the center line of the screen, the electric field due to the monopole distribution q0 is calculated in the following manner. As discussed, the monopoles must be such that they cause a potential φ0 that is equal to V(r)/2 over the disc with radius R centered in the plane z=0. Although the charge distribution q0(r) is uniquely defined by this condition, it cannot be calculated easily in a straightforward manner. The difficulty is circumvented by using an intermediate result derived from Excercise 2 on page 191 of Kellogg (1953), where the charge distribution over a thin disc with uniform potential is given. By using this result one readily finds the potential φ*(z) on the axis of this disc as φ * ( z ) = 2 π V * β ( R 1 ) , ( 14 )
Figure US06506148-20030114-M00004
where β(R1) is the angle subtended by the disc radius R1, as viewed from the point z on the disc axis, and V* is the disc potential. The result is used here in an attempt to construct the potential φ0(z) for a disc with the nonuniform potential V(r)/2, by the ansatz of writing the field as due to a linear combination of abstract discs with various radii R1 and potentials, all centered in the plane z=0. In the ansatz the potential on the symmetry axis is written φ 0 ( z ) = α β ( R ) + b ∫ 0 R β ( R 1 ) W , ( 15 )
Figure US06506148-20030114-M00005
where W is chosen as the function 1−R1 2/R2, and the constants a and b are to be determined such that the potential over the plane z=0 is V(r)/2 for radii r ranging from 0 to R, with V(r) given by (11). Carrying out the integration in (15) gives
φ0(z)=αβ(R)−b{(1+z 2 /R 2)β(R)−|z|/R}. (16)
In order to find the potential over the disc r<R in the plane z=0, the function φ0(z) is expanded in powers of z/R for 0<z<R, whereafter the powers zn are replaced by rnPn(cosθ), where the Pn are Legendre polynomials, and (r,θ) are symmetric spherical coordinates centered at the screen center. This procedure amounts to a continuation of the potential from the z-axis into the half ball r0, in such a manner that the Laplace equation is satisfied. The method is discussed by Morse and Feshbach (1953). The “Laplace continuation” allows calculation of the potential φ0 along the surface of the disc r0, the parts (13) and (19) contribute about equally to the electric field over a practical range of distances z. When going behind the monitor where z is negative the monopole field flips sign so that the two parts nearly cancel each other, and the resulting field is very small. Therefore, in the back of the CRT, errors due to imperfections in the theory are relatively large. Moreover our model, which pretends that the polarization charges are all located on the polarization disc, fails to account for the electric field flux that escapes from the outer regions of the back of the screen to the earth or whatever conductors happen to be present in the vincinity of the CRT. This flaw has relatively more serious consequences in the back than in front of the monitor.
Screen emissions in front of a CRT can be cut dramatically by using a grounded conductive transparent shield that is placed over the screen or applied as a coating. Along the lines of our model, the shield amounts to a polarization disc in front of the screen, so that the latter is now sandwiched between to grounded discs. The screen has the pulsed potential distribution V(r) of (11), but no electric flux can escape. The model may be modified by choosing the polarization disc in the back somewhat smaller than the screen disc, by a fraction that serves as a free parameter. The fraction may then be determined from a fit to measured fields, by minimizing the relative standard deviation between experiment and theory.
In each of the electron beams of a CRT, the beam current is a nonlinear function of the driving voltage, i.e., the voltage between cathode and control grid. Since this function is needed in the normalization procedure, it was measured for the 15″ computer monitor that has been used in the ½ Hz sensory resonance experiments and the electric field measurements. Although the beam current density j can be determined, it is easier to measure the luminance, by reading a light meter that is brought right up to the monitor screen. With the RGB values in the VB6 program taken as the same integer K, the luminance of a uniform image is proportional to the image intensity I. The luminance of a uniform image was measured for various values of K. The results were fitted with
I=c 1 K γ, (20)
where c1 is a constant. The best fit, with 6.18% relative standard deviation, was obtained for γ=2.32.
Screen emissions also occur for liquid crystal displays (LCD). The pulsed electric fields may have considerable amplitude for LCDs that have their driving electrodes on opposite sides of the liquid crystal cell, for passive matrix as well as for active matrix design, such as thin film technology (TFT). For arrangements with in-plane switching (IPS) however, the driving electrodes are positioned in a single plane, so that the screen emission is very small. For arrangements other than IPS, the electric field is closely approximated by the frin
The Hope Diamond
•Catalog Number: NMNH G3551-00
•Locality: India
•Weight: 45.52 ct
Gift of Harry Winston, Inc in 1958.
Over 100 million visitors have experienced the beauty of the Hope Diamond since Harry Winston donated it to the Smithsonian Institution in 1958. Learn more about this remarkable gem using the tiles below.
Timeline
The French Kings: 1668-1792
1668-1669: Tavernier’s Diamond
King Louis XIV was fond of beautiful and rare gems, especially diamonds. In December of 1668, the explorer Jean-Baptiste Tavernier met with the king to share a collection of diamonds collected on his recently completed trip to India. In February of 1669, King Louis XIV purchased the lot of diamonds, including a large blue diamond weighing 112 3⁄16 old French carats (approximately 115 modern metric carats) for 220,000 livres (Bapst 1889). In recognition of this transaction, the king honored Tavernier with the rank of nobleman (Morel 1988).
It is commonly assumed that Tavernier acquired the diamond on his last journey to India (1664-1668) and that it came from the Kollur Mine of the Golconda region. However, evidence for both source and timing is circumstantial, as Tavernier makes no mention of the acquisition of the diamond in the published accounts of his journeys. The Kollur Mine is considered a likely source because it was known for producing large and colored diamonds (Post and Farges 2014), but there were several diamond mines throughout India during the time of Tavernier’s voyages, and the diamond could have come from any one of them. The diamond must at least have originated in India, as India was the only commercial source of diamonds in Tavernier’s time.
1669-1672: Creating the French Blue
King Louis XIV ordered one of his court jewelers, Jean Pittan the Younger, to supervise the recutting of the 115-carat blue diamond. The king likely ordered the stone recut because of differences between Indian and European tastes in diamonds: Indian gems were cut to retain size and weight, while Europeans prized luster, symmetry and brilliance. It is not known who actually cut the diamond, but the job took about two years to complete. The result was an approximately 69-carat heart-shaped diamond referred to as “the great violet diamond of His Majesty” in the historic royal archives. At that time, “violet” meant a shade of blue. Today, the diamond is most commonly known as the “French Blue” (Post and Farges 2014).
An inventory of the French Crown Jewels from 1691 reveals that the French Blue was “set into gold and mounted on a stick.” In 2012, a computer simulation revealed that eight central facets on the pavilion of the French Blue were cut so as to be visible when one looked through the face of the gem (Farges et al. 2012). When the stone was set in gold, the effect would be the appearance of a gold sun in the center of the blue diamond. Post and Farges (2014) proposed that the stone was cut this way to show the colors of the French monarchy, blue and gold, symbolizing the divine standing and power of King Louis XIV, the Sun King. The diamond was not worn as a piece of jewelry or kept with the French Crown Jewels, but rather was stored in the King’s cabinet of curiosities at Versailles, where he could show it to special guests.
1749: The Order of the Golden Fleece
Louis XIV’s great-grandson, Louis XV, inherited the royal jewels when he ascended to the throne. Around 1749, King Louis XV tasked the Parisian jeweler Pierre-André Jacqumin with creating an emblem of knighthood of the Order of the Golden Fleece. The finished emblem featured a number of spectacular gems, including the French Blue Diamond, the 107-carat Côte de Bretagne spinel (carved into the shape of a dragon and originally thought to be a ruby), and several other diamonds. It was rarely worn, functioning instead as a symbol of the king’s power (Post and Farges 2014).
1791: The Capture of Louis XVI
Amidst the turmoil of the French Revolution, King Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette attempted to escape France, but were apprehended and returned to Paris. The French Crown Jewels, including the French Blue Diamond in the Order of the Golden Fleece, were turned over to the revolutionary government and moved to the Garde-Meuble, the Royal Storehouse, where they were put on view for the public once a week until 1792. On visiting days, the doors of the armoires would be opened and a selection of mounted and unmounted jewels could be viewed in special display cases.
1792: The Theft of the French Crown Jewels
On the night of September 11th, 1792, a group of thieves climbed through the first-floor windows of the Garde-Meuble into the room where the French Crown Jewels were stored and escaped with some of the jewels. At the time, no one in the storehouse even realized that a theft had taken place: The seal on the door to the room had not been broken, and no guards were stationed inside of the room. The thieves returned over the following nights to steal more of the jewels. By the evening of September 17th, the group of thieves had grown to about fifty. Acting loudly and carelessly, they attracted the attention of the patrol, putting an end to one of the most curious thefts in history (Morel 1988).
By then, the Order of the Golden Fleece was gone. The French Blue Diamond has not been seen since.
From Europe to America: 1812-1958
1812: A Blue Diamond Appears in London
It is now clear that the French Blue resurfaced in London nearly 20 years later, although no one seems to have recognized it at the time. It had by then been recut to a smaller (though still spectacular) gem, which we know today as the Hope Diamond.
The first reference to this diamond is a sketch and description made in 1812 by the London jeweler John Francillon:
The above drawing is the exact size and shape of a very curious superfine deep blue Diamond. Brilliant cut, and equal to a fine deep blue Sapphire. It is beauty full and all perfection without specks or flaws, and the color even and perfect all over the Diamond. I traced it round the diamond with a pencil by leave of Mr. Daniel Eliason and it is as finely cut as I have ever seen in a Diamond. The color of the Drawing is as near the color of the Diamond as possible.
Francillon does not mention where the diamond came from or who had cut it, nor does he connect it to the French Blue.
Intriguingly, the Francillon Memo is dated just two days after the twenty-year statute of limitations for crimes committed during the French Revolution had passed. The diamond may have resurfaced at this time because the possibility of prosecution and of France reclaiming the diamond was eliminated, making the owner comfortable enough to share the diamond with others (Winters and White 1991).
1813-1823: Mr. Eliason’s Diamond
Several other British naturalists and gem experts made note of a large blue diamond in London in the years following Francillon’s memo. In the 1813 and 1815 editions of his book, A Treatise on Diamonds and Precious Stones, mineralogist and gem connoisseur John Mawe writes that “there is at this time a superlatively fine blue diamond, of above 44 carats, in possession of an individual in London, which may be considered as matchless, and of course of arbitrary value.” Similarly, James Sowerby, a naturalist known for his illustrations of minerals and other objects, wrote that “Daniel Eliason, Esq. has in London, a nearly perfect blue Brilliant, of 44½ carats, that is superior to any other coloured diamond known” (Sowerby 1817).
By 1823, the diamond was no longer in Eliason’s possession. Mawe returned to the subject of the blue diamond in the 1823 edition of his book, writing that:
“A superlatively fine blue diamond weighing 44 carats and valued at £30,000, formerly the property of Mr. Eliason, an eminent diamond merchant, is now said to be in the possession of our most gracious sovereign… The unrivaled gem is of a deep sapphire blue, and from its rarity and color, might have been estimated at a higher sum. It has found its most worthy destination in passing into the possession of a monarch, whose refined taste has ever been conspicuous in the highest degree” (Mawe 1823)
According to Mawe, then, Eliason had parted with the diamond and it had come into the possession of George IV, the King of England. However, no evidence linking the Hope Diamond to the king has been found in the British royal archives, and we do not know whether George IV ever possessed it as either owner or borrower (Post and Farges 2014).
1839: Henry Philip Hope’s Gem Collection
Henry Philip Hope (1774-1839) was a wealthy British banker with an affinity for fine art and precious gems. An 1839 catalogue of his gem collection mentions a large blue diamond weighing 45.5 carats. The diamond would take his name, becoming known as “Hope’s Diamond” or the “Hope Diamond.” The catalogue describes the diamond as “a most magnificent and rare brilliant, of a deep sapphire blue, of the greatest purity, and most beautifully cut” (Hertz 1839). It was set in a medallion with smaller, rose-cut, colorless diamonds surrounding it and a pearl that dropped from the bottom of the medallion as a pendant. Unfortunately, Hope does not record when or where he acquired the diamond in his 1839 catalogue.
Henry Philip Hope died in 1839, leaving his possessions to his three nephews: Henry Thomas, Adrian, and Alexander. In his will, Henry Philip Hope divided his money and property amongst the brothers, but did not leave instructions for the division of his gem collection. Given the immense value of his collection, the Hope brothers argued for years over who would inherit it. In 1849, after ten years of dispute, the brothers reached an agreement: the property went to Adrian, the Hope Pearl and around 700 precious gemstones went to Alexander, and the Hope Diamond and seven other gems went to Henry Thomas (Kurin 2006).
1851: The Great London Exhibition
Henry Thomas Hope loaned the Hope Diamond for display at the Crystal Palace during the Great London Exhibition. According to a catalogue from the exhibition, 28 diamonds from the Henry Philip Hope Collection were exhibited. This suggests that the brother of Henry Thomas, Alexander, must have contributed diamonds to the display effort since Henry Thomas had only inherited eight gems from his uncle and Alexander had inherited the rest (Kurin 2006).
1858: The French Blue Connection
Today, we are certain that the Hope Diamond is the recut French Blue. However, it took 46 years after Francillon described the modern Hope for someone to connect the two diamonds. The French gemologist Charles Barbot was first, speculating in his 1858 book, Traité Complet de Pierres Précieuses, that the Hope Diamond was cut from the French Blue (Post and Farges 2014).
Later authors continued in this track. In 1870, Charles W. King wrote about a likely connection between the two blue diamonds in his book, The Natural History of the Precious Stones and of the Precious Metals. On the subject of “Hope’s Blue Diamond” King writes “suspected to be that of the French Regalia (stolen in 1792), and then weighing 67 car., and afterwards re-cut as a brilliant to its present weight of 44½ carat.”
In 1882, Edwin Streeter wrote about the diamond’s provenance in his book, The Great Diamonds of the World: Their History and Romance:
The disappearance of Tavernier’s rough blue from the French regalia, followed by the unexplained appearance of a cut gem of precisely the same delicate blue tint, and answering in size to the original after due allowance made for loss in cutting, leaves little or no room for doubting the identity of the two stones… It thus appears that the rough un-cut Tavernier, the French “Blue,” lost in 1792, and the “Hope,” are one and the same stone. (Streeter 1882, p. 214).
1887: The Extravagant Life of Lord Francis Hope
Henry Thomas Hope left his possessions, including the Hope Diamond, to his wife Anne Adéle Hope when he passed away in 1862. Anne, in turn, decided to leave the family treasures not to her daughter, Henrietta (whose husband was careless with money and often on the verge of bankruptcy) but to her grandson, Francis Hope. In her 1876 will, Anne named Francis as heir to the family treasures, stipulating that the estates and heirlooms were to be used during his lifetime and then passed on to another Hope descendant. Anne passed away in 1884, and Francis Hope claimed his inheritance when he turned 21, three years later (Kurin 2006).
Lord Francis Hope was less prudent than his grandmother might have hoped. He lived extravagantly, quickly spending his inheritance on traveling, entertainment, and gambling and sinking into tremendous debt. In 1892, he met a showgirl in New York City named May Yohé, a glamorous and charming actress from Pennsylvania. Hope and Yohé married in 1894 and continued to live well beyond their means. To avoid bankruptcy, Hope appealed to his relatives for permission to sell a portion of the family art collection, claiming that he could no longer afford to care for the paintings. After years of litigation, the family finally agreed to allow Hope to sell a selection of the paintings, but the sale was not enough to save him from financial crisis. In 1901, after more litigation with his family, Lord Francis offered the Hope Diamond for sale (Patch 1999).
1901-1907: Crossing the Atlantic
In 1901, Lord Francis Hope sold the Hope Diamond to London diamond merchant Adolf Weil, who sold the diamond to Joseph Frankel’s Sons & Co. of New York shortly thereafter. Simon Frankel sailed to London from New York to finalize the purchase. One source reported that Frankel paid $250,000 (~6.7 million 2014 dollars) for the diamond (Patch 1999).
Frankel brought the Hope Diamond back to New York to try to sell it in America, but received no reasonable offers. By 1907, the market for diamonds had sharply declined due to a slow economy, and Frankel’s company faced the possibility of bankruptcy (Kurin 2006). The Hope Diamond sat locked away in a New York safe deposit box while Frankel tried to find a buyer.
1908-1909: Selim Habib and Rumors of a Curse
Joseph Frankel’s Sons & Co. finally found a buyer for the Hope Diamond in 1908: Selim Habib, a Turkish diamond collector and merchant who purchased the Hope Diamond for a reported $200,000 (~5 million 2014 dollars). According to the New York Times, Selim Habib soon had financial troubles, and in 1909, he sold his gem collection, including the Hope Diamond (Kurin, 2006). His financial difficulties and a later, incorrect report of his death at sea contributed to the growing myth of a curse on the Hope Diamond.
Habib’s collection was put up for auction at the Hotel Drouot in Paris, France on June 24, 1909. Jeweler and gem expert Louis Aucoc oversaw the auction, withdrawing the Hope Diamond from the sale before selling it to jeweler C. N. Rosenau for 400,000 francs (Kurin 2006).
1910: Cartier acquired the Hope Diamond
Cartier, a French jewelry house, purchased the Hope Diamond from jeweler C.N. Rosenau in 1910. The Hope Diamond arrived in the U.S. on November 23, 1910, where it was valued at $110,000 for customs plus the $10,000 duty for an unmounted gem (Patch 1999).
Pierre Cartier took on the responsibility of selling the Hope Diamond. Pierre was a talented salesman: Charming, smooth-talking, and sophisticated, he was experienced in the art of selling to wealthy customers, Americans in particular, having worked at Cartier’s New York office.
By this time, the art of developing colorful narratives for famous gems was already well established. Intriguing histories helped with gem sales, and in turn, gave the purchaser an interesting tale to tell admirers at various events. Cartier thus began to fabricate a fanciful story around the Hope Diamond that included a curse, which he would pitch to potential buyers (Kurin 2006).
1912: The McLeans buy the Hope Diamond
In 1912, Pierre Cartier sold the Hope Diamond to an American couple, Ned and Evalyn Walsh McLean. The sale was the result of two years of work.
Pierre identified the McLeans as potential buyers shortly after Cartier purchased the Hope Diamond. Both Evalyn and Ned were heirs to American fortunes, Evalyn’s from mining and Ned’s from newspapers. They were previous, big-spending clients of Cartier, having purchased the 94.8-carat Star of the East Diamond from Cartier in 1908 while they were on their honeymoon. Pierre arranged to meet with them in 1910 while they were on vacation in Paris. He presented his embellished tale of the Hope Diamond’s extraordinary provenance to the McLeans, including the curse that brought bad luck to all who owned it. Evalyn was fascinated with the story and told Pierre that she believed objects that brought bad luck to others would bring good luck to her. Despite her interest, she initially declined to purchase the blue diamond because she did not like its setting (McLean 1936).
Pierre, a persistent man, did not let an old-fashioned setting prevent him from securing the sale. He took the Hope Diamond to New York, where he had it reset into a contemporary mounting. In the new mounting (essentially the same mounting it is in today), the Hope was framed by 16 colorless diamonds and could be worn as part of a head ornament or a diamond necklace. Pierre returned to Washington and left the newly set Hope with Evalyn and Ned over a weekend.
Pierre’s strategy was successful—Evalyn adored the Hope Diamond, and several months later agreed to purchase it from Cartier, settling on a price of $180,000 (Patch 1999) plus the return of an emerald and pearl pendant with diamond necklace that she no longer wanted (McLean 1936). The Hope Diamond became Evalyn Walsh McLean’s signature in the high society of Washington, D.C. She wore it frequently, layered with her other important gems and jewelry, to events and the lavish parties she hosted. Evalyn would even let her Great Dane, Mike, wear the Hope Diamond on his collar.
1947-1949: Evalyn Walsh McLean Passes Away
Evalyn Walsh McLean died from pneumonia on April 26, 1947. She dictated in her will that all of her jewelry be held in trust until her youngest grandchild turned twenty-five, at which point her jewels were to be divided equally by all of her grandchildren. Two years after her death, however, the court ordered the sale of her jewelry collection to pay off debts and claims against her estate (Patch 1999). The Hope Diamond, the Star of the East Diamond, and the rest of her jewelry collection were purchased by jeweler Harry Winston of New York.
1949-1958: Winston and the Court of Jewels
In 1949, Harry Winston purchased the Hope Diamond along with the rest of the Evalyn Walsh McLean’s jewelry collection. Winston incoporated McLean’s jewelry into the Court of Jewels, a traveling exhibition of gems supplemented by a jewelry fashion show. Large and famous diamonds, including the Hope Diamond, the Star of the East Diamond, and the 127-carat Portuguese Diamond (now also part of the Smithsonian’s collection), were featured as part of the show. The exhibit travelled throughout America from 1949 to 1953 to teach the public about precious gems and raise money for civic and charitable organizations (Harry Winston, Inc.). Harry Winston once stated: “I want the public to know more about precious gems. With so much expensive junk jewelry around these days, people forget that a good diamond, ruby, or emerald, however small, is a possession to be prized for generations” (Tupper and Tupper 1947).
At the Smithsonian: 1958-Present
1958: The Hope Diamond comes to the Smithsonian
In 1958, Harry Winston donated the Hope Diamond to the Smithsonian Institution. On November 10th, the Hope arrived at the Smithsonian in a plain brown package shipped by registered mail (and insured for a sum of one million dollars). Mrs. Harry Winston presented the Hope Diamond to Dr. Leonard Carmichael, Secretary of the Smithsonian, and Dr. George S. Switzer, Curator of Mineralogy. The Hope Diamond was exhibited in the Gem Hall at the National Museum of Natural History and almost immediately became its premier attraction.
1962: A Visit to France
With the encouragement of First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy, the Hope Diamond was loaned for a month to the Louvre Museum for the exhibition “Ten Centuries of French Jewels.” It was displayed with two famous diamonds, the Regent (a 140.50-carat brilliant cushion cut diamond) and the Sancy (a pale yellow 55.23-carat pear-shaped diamond). Also on display was the Côte de Bretagne, a red spinel carved in the shape of a dragon that, along with the French Blue Diamond, had been part of Louis XV’s elaborate emblem of the Order of the Golden Fleece. This exhibition marked the reunion of these two gems after 170 years. In return, the Louvre’s masterpiece, Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa, was loaned to the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. from January 8 to February 3, 1963.
1965: At the Rand Easter Show in South Africa
The Hope Diamond was loaned to DeBeers and traveled to Johannesburg, South Africa for the Rand Easter Show, one of the largest consumer exhibitions in the world. The Hope Diamond was the main attraction in the jewel box in the Diamond Pavilion. Surrounded by a cluster of diamonds, it was exhibited on a finely woven spider’s web supported by the bare branches of a rose bush and illuminated from above.
1982: At the Metropolitan Museum of Art
In November 1982, Ronald Winston, son of Harry Winston, hosted 1,200 guests in the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Engelhard Court. (Kurin 2006) For the glittering gala, the Hope Diamond was reunited with the Star of the East (a 94.80-carat pear-shaped diamond previously owned by Evalyn Walsh McLean) and the Idol’s Eye (a 70.21-carat rounded pear-shape diamond exhibited at the Rand Easter Show in 1965).
1997: The New Harry Winston Gallery
The Hope Diamond was put on display in the Harry Winston Gallery of the newly completed Janet Annenberg Hooker Hall of Geology, Gems and Minerals in the National Museum of Natural History. The diamond is mounted on a rotating pedestal so that it can be viewed from all four sides of the vault.
2009-2010: Celebrating 50 years at the Smithsonian
In September 2009, the Hope Diamond was removed from its setting and exhibited unmounted for the first time ever. To celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Hope Diamond at the Smithsonian, an online contest was used to select a commemorative necklace from one of three designs submitted by Harry Winston, Inc. The winning entry, “Embracing Hope”, was designed by Maurice Galli. This modern design consisted of three-dimensional ribbons set with baguette-cut diamonds wrapping the Hope Diamond in an exquisite embrace. The Hope Diamond was set in the Embracing Hope necklace and displayed for over a year before being returned to its original Cartier mounting.
2017: The Hope Diamond Today
Today, the Hope Diamond remains one of the most popular objects at the Smithsonian, attracting millions of visitors every year. Even now, the Hope retains much of its mystery, and Smithsonain scientists continue to study it to better understand its eventful history and rare beauty.
Grading the Hope
For many years, the weight of the Hope Diamond was not precisely known, with reports of its weight ranging from 44 carats to 45.5 carats. On November 13, 1975, the Hope Diamond was removed from its setting and found to weigh 45.52 carats.
Gemologists from the Gemological Institute of America (GIA) visited the Smithsonian in 1988 to grade the Hope Diamond. They observed that the gem showed evidence of wear, that it had a remarkably strong phosphorescence, and that its clarity was slightly affected by a whitish graining that is common to blue diamonds. They described its color as fancy dark grayish-blue and its clarity as VS1 (Crowningshield 1989).
In 1996, the Hope Diamond necklace was sent to Harry Winston, Inc. for cleaning and minor restoration work. The diamond was removed from its setting and re-examined by the GIA. In this report, the Hope’s color was described as a a natural fancy deep grayish-blue (reflecting a change in GIA’s nomenclature for grading, not a change in the assessment of the diamond).
How much is the Hope Diamond worth?
We at the Smithsonian like to say that the Hope Diamond is priceless. Its size, color, and eventful history, as well as its long tenure at the heart of the Smithsonian’s gem collection, make it a true American treasure. In any case, it’s not for sale!
What can we say about the value of a gem like the Hope, if we’re not going to commit to a specific number? A large part of a gem’s value comes from its physical properties: color, clarity, cut, and carat weight. But other, less tangible factors can also increase the value of a gem. For example, as Pierre Cartier recognized a hundred years ago, an eventful, well-documented history is important, as are the tastes and means of an individual buyer. The price of an individual stone reflects the confluence of these and other factors.
Blue diamonds like the Hope are very rare, and the money being spent to purchase them is enormous. Several large blue diamonds have fetched tens of millions of dollars at auction in recent years:
•The 9.75 carat, Fancy Vivid Blue Zoe sold at Sotheby’s in 2014 for $32.6 million
•The 13.22 carat, Fancy Vivid Blue Winston Blue sold at Christie’s in 2014 for $24.2 million
•The 35.56 carat, Fancy Deep Grayish Blue Wittelsbach-Graff sold at Christie’s in 2008 for $24.3 million
Less well-documented are private sales, where famous stones such as the Heart of Eternity and the Wittelsbach-Graff may have fetched even higher prices.
Computer Modeling
A computer modeling study of the Tavernier, French Blue and Hope diamonds was conducted. The results support the long-held theory that the diamonds are in fact the same stone, concluding that the Hope Diamond is likely the only surviving piece of the diamond originally sold to King Louis XIV–the rest having been ground away during the various recuttings. This research, conducted by Jeffrey Post, Smithsonian curator of the National Gem Collection, Steven Attaway, engineer and gem cutter, and Scott Sucher and Nancy Attaway, gem cutting experts, was featured on the Discovery Channel. The film, “Unsolved History: Hope Diamond,” premiered Feb 10, 2005.
In 2007, a lead cast of the French Blue diamond was discovered in the mineral collection of the Museum National d’Histoire Naturelle in Paris, permitting additional refinements to the modeling study.
Boron in Blue Diamonds
The blue color in the Hope Diamond and others like it is caused by trace amounts of boron. The Hope Diamond was tested to measure its chemical composition and determine the concentration of boron. This study used various spectroscopic methods and time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectroscopy to analyze for boron in natural type IIb blue diamonds, including the Hope Diamond and the Blue Heart Diamond (also a part of the Smithsonian’s National Gem Collection). The study found that, on average, the Hope Diamond contains about 0.6 parts per million boron.
Phosphoresence of the Hope Diamond
Curator Dr. Jeffrey Post led a team from the Smithsonian and the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory to investigate the intense, red-orange phosphorescence exhibited by the Hope Diamond after exposure to ultra-violet light. They discovered that all type IIB blue diamonds exhibit similar phosphorescence behaviors and that the specific phosphorescence spectral properties might be unique to each individual blue diamond, enabling the researchers to essentially “fingerprint” each stone.
The Postcard
A postally unused carte postale that was published by A. Bourdier of Versailles. The card has a divided back.
The Gardens of Versailles
The Gardens of Versailles are situated to the west of the palace. They cover some 800 hectares (1,977 acres) of land, much of which is landscaped in the classic French formal garden style perfected here by André Le Nôtre.
Beyond the surrounding belt of woodland, the gardens are bordered by the urban areas of Versailles to the east and Le Chesnay to the north-east, by the National Arboretum de Chèvreloup to the north, the Versailles plain (a protected wildlife preserve) to the west, and by the Satory Forest to the south.
In 1979, the gardens along with the château were inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List due to its cultural importance during the 17th. and 18th. centuries.
The gardens are now one of the most visited public sites in France, receiving more than six million visitors a year.
The gardens contain 200,000 trees, 210,000 flowers planted annually, and feature meticulously manicured lawns and parterres, as well as many sculptures.
50 fountains containing 620 water jets, fed by 35 km. of piping, are located throughout the gardens. Dating from the time of Louis XIV and still using much of the same network of hydraulics as was used during the Ancien Régime, the fountains contribute to making the gardens of Versailles unique.
On weekends from late spring to early autumn, there are the Grandes Eaux - spectacles during which all the fountains in the gardens are in full play. Designed by André Le Nôtre, the Grand Canal is the masterpiece of the Gardens of Versailles.
In the Gardens too, the Grand Trianon was built to provide the Sun King with the retreat that he wanted. The Petit Trianon is associated with Marie-Antoinette, who spent time there with her closest relatives and friends.
The Du Bus Plan for the Gardens of Versailles
With Louis XIII's purchase of lands from Jean-François de Gondi in 1632 and his assumption of the seigneurial role of Versailles in the 1630's, formal gardens were laid out west of the château.
Claude Mollet and Hilaire Masson designed the gardens, which remained relatively unchanged until the expansion ordered under Louis XIV in the 1660's. This early layout, which has survived in the so-called Du Bus plan of c.1662, shows an established topography along which lines of the gardens evolved. This is evidenced in the clear definition of the main east–west and north–south axis that anchors the gardens' layout.
Louis XIV
In 1661, after the disgrace of the finance minister Nicolas Fouquet, who was accused by rivals of embezzling crown funds in order to build his luxurious château at Vaux-le-Vicomte, Louis XIV turned his attention to Versailles.
With the aid of Fouquet's architect Louis Le Vau, painter Charles Le Brun, and landscape architect André Le Nôtre, Louis began an embellishment and expansion program at Versailles that would occupy his time and worries for the remainder of his reign.
From this point forward, the expansion of the gardens of Versailles followed the expansions of the château.
(a) The First Building Campaign
In 1662, minor modifications to the château were undertaken; however, greater attention was given to developing the gardens. Existing bosquets (clumps of trees) and parterres were expanded, and new ones created.
Most significant among the creations at this time were the Versailles Orangerie and the "Grotte de Thétys". The Orangery, which was designed by Louis Le Vau, was located south of the château, a situation that took advantage of the natural slope of the hill. It provided a protected area in which orange trees were kept during the winter months.
The "Grotte de Thétys", which was located to the north of the château, formed part of the iconography of the château and of the gardens that aligned Louis XIV with solar imagery. The grotto was completed during the second building campaign.
By 1664, the gardens had evolved to the point that Louis XIV inaugurated the gardens with the fête galante called Les Plaisirs de L'Île Enchantée. The event, was ostensibly to celebrate his mother, Anne d'Autriche, and his consort Marie-Thérèse but in reality celebrated Louise de La Vallière, Louis' mistress.
Guests were regaled with entertainments in the gardens over a period of one week. As a result of this fête - particularly the lack of housing for guests (most of them had to sleep in their carriages), Louis realised the shortcomings of Versailles, and began to expand the château and the gardens once again.
(b) The Second Building Campaign
Between 1664 and 1668, there was a flurry of activity in the gardens - especially with regard to fountains and new bosquets; it was during this time that the imagery of the gardens exploited Apollo and solar imagery as metaphors for Louis XIV.
Le Va's enveloppe of the Louis XIII's château provided a means by which, though the decoration of the garden façade, imagery in the decors of the grands appartements of the king and queen formed a symbiosis with the imagery of the gardens.
With this new phase of construction, the gardens assumed the design vocabulary that remained in force until the 18th. century. Solar and Apollonian themes predominated with projects constructed at this time.
Three additions formed the topological and symbolic nexus of the gardens during this phase of construction: the completion of the "Grotte de Thétys", the "Bassin de Latone", and the "Bassin d'Apollon".
The Grotte de Thétys
Started in 1664 and finished in 1670 with the installation of the statuary, the grotto formed an important symbolic and technical component to the gardens. Symbolically, the "Grotte de Thétys" related to the myth of Apollo - and by association to Louis XIV.
It represented the cave of the sea nymph Thetis, where Apollo rested after driving his chariot to light the sky. The grotto was a freestanding structure located just north of the château.
The interior, which was decorated with shell-work to represent a sea cave, contained the statue group by the Marsy brothers depicting the sun god attended by nereids.
Technically, the "'Grotte de Thétys" played a critical role in the hydraulic system that supplied water to the garden. The roof of the grotto supported a reservoir that stored water pumped from the Clagny pond and which fed the fountains lower in the garden via gravity.
The Bassin de Latone
Located on the east–west axis is the Bassin de Latone. Designed by André Le Nôtre, sculpted by Gaspard and Balthazar Marsy, and constructed between 1668 and 1670, the fountain depicts an episode from Ovid's Metamorphoses.
Altona and her children, Apollo and Diana, being tormented with mud slung by Lycian peasants, who refused to let her and her children drink from their pond, appealed to Jupiter who responded by turning the Lycians into frogs.
This episode from mythology has been seen as a reference to the revolts of the Fronde, which occurred during the minority of Louis XIV. The link between Ovid's story and this episode from French history is emphasised by the reference to "mud slinging" in a political context.
The revolts of the Fronde - the word fronde also means slingshot - have been regarded as the origin of the use of the term "mud slinging" in a political context.
The Bassin d'Apollon
Further along the east–west axis is the Bassin d'Apollon. The Apollo Fountain, which was constructed between 1668 and 1671, depicts the sun god driving his chariot to light the sky. The fountain forms a focal point in the garden, and serves as a transitional element between the gardens of the Petit Parc and the Grand Canal.
The Grand Canal
With a length of 1,500 metres and a width of 62 metres, the Grand Canal, which was built between 1668 and 1671, prolongs the east–west axis to the walls of the Grand Parc. During the Ancien Régime, the Grand Canal served as a venue for boating parties.
In 1674 the king ordered the construction of Petite Venise (Little Venice). Located at the junction of the Grand Canal and the northern transversal branch, Little Venice housed the caravels and yachts that were received from The Netherlands and the gondolas and gondoliers received as gifts from the Doge of Venice.
The Grand Canal also served a practical role. Situated at a low point in the gardens, it collected water that drained from the fountains in the garden above. Water from the Grand Canal was pumped back to the reservoir on the roof of the Grotte de Thétys via a network of windmill- and horse-powered pumps.
The Parterre d'Eau
Situated above the Latona Fountain is the terrace of the château, known as the Parterre d'Eau. Forming a transitional element from the château to the gardens below, the Parterre d'Eau provided a setting in which the symbolism of the grands appartements synthesized with the iconography of the gardens.
In 1664, Louis XIV commissioned a series of statues intended to decorate the water feature of the Parterre d'Eau. The Grande Command, as the commission is known, comprised twenty-four statues of the classic quaternities and four additional statues depicting abductions from the classic past.
Evolution of the Bosquets
One of the distinguishing features of the gardens during the second building campaign was the proliferation of bosquets. Expanding the layout established during the first building campaign, Le Nôtre added or expanded on no fewer that ten bosquets between 1670 and 1678:
-- The Bosquet du Marais
-- The Bosquet du Théâtre d'Eau, Île du Roi
-- The Miroir d'Eau
-- The Salle des Festins (Salle du Conseil)
-- The Bosquet des Trois Fontaines
-- The Labyrinthe
-- The Bosquet de l'Arc de Triomphe
-- The Bosquet de la Renommée (Bosquet des Dômes)
-- The Bosquet de l'Encélade
-- The Bosquet des Sources
In addition to the expansion of existing bosquets and the construction of new ones, there were two additional projects that defined this era, the Bassin des Sapins and the Pièce d'Eau des Suisses.
-- The Bassin des Sapins
In 1676, the Bassin des Sapins, which was located north of the château below the Allée des Marmoset's was designed to form a topological pendant along the north–south axis with the Pièce d'Eau des Suisses located at the base of the Satory hill south of the château.
Later modifications in the gardens transformed this fountain into the Bassin de Neptune.
-- Pièce d'Eau des Suisses
Excavated in 1678, the Pièce d'Eau des Suisses - named after the Swiss Guards who constructed the lake - occupied an area of marshes and ponds, some of which had been used to supply water for the fountains in the garden.
This water feature, with a surface area of more than 15 hectares (37 acres), is the second largest - after the Grand Canal - at Versailles.
(c) The Third Building Campaign
Modifications to the gardens during the third building campaign were distinguished by a stylistic change from the natural aesthetic of André Le Nôtre to the architectonic style of Jules Hardouin Mansart.
The first major modification to the gardens during this phase occurred in 1680 when the Tapis Vert - the expanse of lawn that stretches between the Latona Fountain and the Apollo Fountain - achieved its final size and definition under the direction of André Le Nôtre.
Beginning in 1684, the Parterre d'Eau was remodelled under the direction of Jules Hardouin-Mansart. Statues from the Grande Commande of 1674 were relocated to other parts of the garden; two twin octagonal basins were constructed and decorated with bronze statues representing the four main rivers of France.
In the same year, Le Vau's Orangerie, located to south of the Parterrre d'Eau was demolished to accommodate a larger structure designed by Jules Hardouin-Mansart.
In addition to the Orangerie, the Escaliers des Cent Marches, which facilitated access to the gardens from the south, to the Pièce d'Eau des Suisses, and to the Parterre du Midi were constructed at this time, giving the gardens just south of the château their present configuration and decoration.
Additionally, to accommodate the anticipated construction of the Aile des Nobles - the north wing of the château - the Grotte de Thétys was demolished.
With the construction of the Aile des Nobles (1685–1686), the Parterre du Nord was remodelled to respond to the new architecture of this part of the château.
To compensate for the loss of the reservoir on top of the Grotte de Thétys and to meet the increased demand for water, Jules Hardouin-Mansart designed new and larger reservoirs situated north of the Aile des Nobles.
Construction of the ruinously expensive Canal de l'Eure was inaugurated in 1685; designed by Vauban it was intended to bring waters of the Eure over 80 kilometres, including aqueducts of heroic scale, but the works were abandoned in 1690.
Between 1686 and 1687, the Bassin de Latone, under the direction of Jules Hardouin-Mansart, was rebuilt. It is this final version of the fountain that one sees today at Versailles.
During this phase of construction, three of the garden's major bosquets were modified or created. Beginning with the Galerie des Antiques, this bosquet was constructed in 1680 on the site of the earlier and short-lived Galerie d'Eau. This bosquet was conceived as an open-air gallery in which antique statues and copies acquired by the Académie de France in Rome were displayed.
The following year, construction began on the Salle de Bal. Located in a secluded section of the garden west of the Orangerie, this bosquet was designed as an amphitheater that featured a cascade – the only one surviving in the gardens of Versailles. The Salle de Bal was inaugurated in 1685 with a ball hosted by the Grand Dauphin.
Between 1684 and 1685, Jules Hardouin-Mansart built the Colonnade. Located on the site of Le Nôtre's Bosquet des Sources, this bosquet featured a circular peristyle formed from thirty-two arches with twenty-eight fountains, and was Hardouin-Mansart's most architectural of the bosquets built in the gardens of Versailles.
(d) The Fourth Building Campaign
Due to financial constraints arising from the War of the League of Augsburg and the War of the Spanish Succession, no significant work on the gardens was undertaken until 1704.
Between 1704 and 1709, bosquets were modified, some quite radically, with new names suggesting the new austerity that characterised the latter years of Louis XIV's reign.
Louis XV
With the departure of the king and court from Versailles in 1715 following the death of Louis XIV, the palace and gardens entered an era of uncertainty.
In 1722, Louis XV and the court returned to Versailles. Seeming to heed his great-grandfather's admonition not to engage in costly building campaigns, Louis XV did not undertake the costly rebuilding that Louis XIV had.
During the reign of Louis XV, the only significant addition to the gardens was the completion of the Bassin de Neptune (1738–1741).
Rather than expend resources on modifying the gardens at Versailles, Louis XV - an avid botanist - directed his efforts at Trianon. In the area now occupied by the Hameau de la Reine, Louis XV constructed and maintained les Jardins Botaniques.
In 1761, Louis XV commissioned Ange-Jacques Gabriel to build the Petit Trianon as a residence that would allow him to spend more time near the Jardins Botaniques. It was at the Petit Trianon that Louis XV fell fatally ill with smallpox; he died at Versailles on the 10th. May 1774.
Louis XVI
Upon Louis XVI's ascension to the throne, the gardens of Versailles underwent a transformation that recalled the fourth building campaign of Louis XIV. Engendered by a change in outlook as advocated by Jean-Jacques Rousseau and the Philosophes, the winter of 1774–1775 witnessed a complete replanting of the gardens.
Trees and shrubbery dating from the reign of Louis XIV were felled or uprooted with the intent of transforming the French formal garden of Le Nôtre and Hardouin-Mansart into a version of an English landscape garden.
The attempt to convert Le Nôtre's masterpiece into an English-style garden failed to achieve its desired goal. Owing largely to the topology of the land, the English aesthetic was abandoned and the gardens replanted in the French style.
However, with an eye on economy, Louis XVI ordered the Palisades - the labour-intensive clipped hedging that formed walls in the bosquets - to be replaced with rows of lime trees or chestnut trees. Additionally, a number of the bosquets dating from the time of the Sun King were extensively modified or destroyed.
The most significant contribution to the gardens during the reign of Louis XVI was the Grotte des Bains d'Apollon. The rockwork grotto set in an English style bosquet was the masterpiece of Hubert Robert in which the statues from the Grotte de Thétys were placed.
Revolution
In 1792, under order from the National Convention, some of the trees in the gardens were felled, while parts of the Grand Parc were parcelled and dispersed.
Sensing the potential threat to Versailles, Louis Claude Marie Richard (1754–1821) – director of the Jardins Botaniques and grandson of Claude Richard – lobbied the government to save Versailles. He succeeded in preventing further dispersing of the Grand Parc, and threats to destroy the Petit Parc were abolished by suggesting that the parterres could be used to plant vegetable gardens, and that orchards could occupy the open areas of the garden.
These plans were never put into action; however, the gardens were opened to the public - it was not uncommon to see people washing their laundry in the fountains and spreading it on the shrubbery to dry.
Napoléon I
The Napoleonic era largely ignored Versailles. In the château, a suite of rooms was arranged for the use of the empress Marie-Louise, but the gardens were left unchanged, save for the disastrous felling of trees in the Bosquet de l'Arc de Triomphe and the Bosquet des Trois Fontaines. Massive soil erosion necessitated planting of new trees.
Restoration
With the restoration of the Bourbons in 1814, the gardens of Versailles witnessed the first modifications since the Revolution. In 1817, Louis XVIII ordered the conversion of the Île du Roi and the Miroir d'Eau into an English-style garden - the Jardin du Roi.
The July Monarchy; The Second Empire
While much of the château's interior was irreparably altered to accommodate the Museum of the History of France (inaugurated by Louis-Philippe on the 10th. June 1837), the gardens, by contrast, remained untouched.
With the exception of the state visit of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert in 1855, at which time the gardens were a setting for a gala fête that recalled the fêtes of Louis XIV, Napoléon III ignored the château, preferring instead the château of Compiègne.
Pierre de Nolhac
With the arrival of Pierre de Nolhac as director of the museum in 1892, a new era of historical research began at Versailles. Nolhac, an ardent archivist and scholar, began to piece together the history of Versailles, and subsequently established the criteria for restoration of the château and preservation of the gardens, which are ongoing to this day.
Bosquets of the Gardens
Owing to the many modifications made to the gardens between the 17th. and the 19th. centuries, many of the bosquets have undergone multiple modifications, which were often accompanied by name changes.
Deux Bosquets - Bosquet de la Girondole - Bosquet du Dauphin - Quinconce du Nord - Quinconce du Midi
These two bosquets were first laid out in 1663. They were arranged as a series of paths around four salles de verdure and which converged on a central "room" that contained a fountain.
In 1682, the southern bosquet was remodeled as the Bosquet de la Girondole, thus named due to spoke-like arrangement of the central fountain. The northern bosquet was rebuilt in 1696 as the Bosquet du Dauphin with a fountain that featured a dolphin.
During the replantation of 1774–1775, both the bosquets were destroyed. The areas were replanted with lime trees and were rechristened the Quinconce du Nord and the Quinconce du Midi.
Labyrinthe - Bosquet de la Reine
In 1665, André Le Nôtre planned a hedge maze of unadorned paths in an area south of the Latona Fountain near the Orangerie. In 1669, Charles Perrault - author of the Mother Goose Tales - advised Louis XIV to remodel the Labyrinthe in such a way as to serve the Dauphin's education.
Between 1672 and 1677, Le Nôtre redesigned the Labyrinthe to feature thirty-nine fountains that depicted stories from Aesop's Fables. The sculptors Jean-Baptiste Tuby, Étienne Le Hongre, Pierre Le Gros, and the brothers Gaspard and Balthazard Marsy worked on these thirty-nine fountains, each of which was accompanied by a plaque on which the fable was printed, with verse written by Isaac de Benserade; from these plaques, Louis XIV's son learned to read.
Once completed in 1677, the Labyrinthe contained thirty-nine fountains with 333 painted metal animal sculptures. The water for the elaborate waterworks was conveyed from the Seine by the Machine de Marly.
The Labyrinthe contained fourteen water-wheels driving 253 pumps, some of which worked at a distance of three-quarters of a mile.
Citing repair and maintenance costs, Louis XVI ordered the Labyrinthe demolished in 1778. In its place, an arboretum of exotic trees was planted as an English-styled garden.
Rechristened Bosquet de la Reine, it would be in this part of the garden that an episode of the Affair of the Diamond Necklace, which compromised Marie-Antoinette, transpired in 1785.
Bosquet de la Montagne d'Eau - Bosquet de l'Étoile
Originally designed by André Le Nôtre in 1661 as a salle de verdure, this bosquet contained a path encircling a central pentagonal area. In 1671, the bosquet was enlarged with a more elaborate system of paths that served to enhance the new central water feature, a fountain that resembled a mountain, hence the bosquets new name: Bosquet de la Montagne d'Eau.
The bosquet was completely remodeled in 1704 at which time it was rechristened Bosquet de l'Étoile.
Bosquet du Marais - Bosquet du Chêne Vert - Bosquet des Bains d'Apollon - Grotte des Bains d'Apollon
Created in 1670, this bosquet originally contained a central rectangular pool surrounded by a turf border. Edging the pool were metal reeds that concealed numerous jets for water; a swan that had water jetting from its beak occupied each corner.
The centre of the pool featured an iron tree with painted tin leaves that sprouted water from its branches. Because of this tree, the bosquet was also known as the Bosquet du Chêne Vert.
In 1705, this bosquet was destroyed in order to allow for the creation of the Bosquet des Bains d'Apollon, which was created to house the statues had once stood in the Grotte de Thétys.
During the reign of Louis XVI, Hubert Robert remodeled the bosquet, creating a cave-like setting for the Marsy statues. The bosquet was renamed the Grotte des Bains d'Apollon.
Île du Roi - Miroir d'Eau - Jardin du Roi
Originally designed in 1671 as two separate water features, the larger - Île du Roi - contained an island that formed the focal point of a system of elaborate fountains.
The Île du Roi was separated from the Miroir d'Eau by a causeway that featured twenty-four water jets. In 1684, the island was removed and the total number of water jets in the bosquet was significantly reduced.
The year 1704 witnessed a major renovation of the bosquet, at which time the causeway was remodelled and most of the water jets were removed.
A century later, in 1817, Louis XVIII ordered the Île du Roi and the Miroir d'Eau to be completely remodeled as an English-style garden. At this time, the bosquet was rechristened Jardin du Roi.
Salle des Festins - Salle du Conseil - Bosquet de l'Obélisque
In 1671, André Le Nôtre conceived a bosquet - originally christened Salle des Festins and later called Salle du Conseil - that featured a quatrefoil island surrounded by a channel containing fifty water jets. Access to the island was obtained by two swing bridges.
Beyond the channel and placed at the cardinal points within the bosquet were four additional fountains. Under the direction of Jules Hardouin-Mansart, the bosquet was completely remodeled in 1706. The central island was replaced by a large basin raised on five steps, which was surrounded by a canal. The central fountain contained 230 jets that, when in play, formed an obelisk – hence the new name Bosquet de l'Obélisque.
Bosquet du Théâtre d'Eau - Bosquet du Rond-Vert
The central feature of this bosquet, which was designed by Le Nôtre between 1671 and 1674, was an auditorium/theatre sided by three tiers of turf seating that faced a stage decorated with four fountains alternating with three radiating cascades.
Between 1680 and Louis XIV's death in 1715, there was near-constant rearranging of the statues that decorated the bosquet.
In 1709, the bosquet was rearranged with the addition of the Fontaine de l'Île aux Enfants. As part of the replantation of the gardens ordered by Louis XVI during the winter of 1774–1775, the Bosquet du Théâtre d'Eau was destroyed and replaced with the unadorned Bosquet du Rond-Vert. The Bosquet du Théâtre d'Eau was recreated in 2014, with South Korean businessman and photographer Yoo Byung-eun being the sole patron, donating €1.4 million.
Bosquet des Trois Fontaines - Berceau d'Eau
Situated to the west of the Allée des Marmousets and replacing the short-lived Berceau d'Eau (a long and narrow bosquet created in 1671 that featured a water bower made by numerous jets of water), the enlarged bosquet was transformed by Le Nôtre in 1677 into a series of three linked rooms.
Each room contained a number of fountains that played with special effects. The fountains survived the modifications that Louis XIV ordered for other fountains in the gardens in the early 18th. century and were subsequently spared during the 1774–1775 replantation of the gardens.
In 1830, the bosquet was replanted, at which time the fountains were suppressed. Due to storm damage in the park in 1990 and then again in 1999, the Bosquet des Trois Fontaines was restored and re-inaugurated on the 12th. June 2004.
Bosquet de l'Arc de Triomphe
This bosquet was originally planned in 1672 as a simple pavillon d'eau - a round open expanse with a square fountain in the centre. In 1676, this bosquet was enlarged and redecorated along political lines that alluded to French military victories over Spain and Austria, at which time the triumphal arch was added - hence the name.
As with the Bosquet des Trois Fontaines, this bosquet survived the modifications of the 18th. century, but was replanted in 1830, at which time the fountains were removed.
Bosquet de la Renommée - Bosquet des Dômes
Built in 1675, the Bosquet de la Renommée featured a fountain statue of Fame. With the relocation of the statues from the Grotte de Thétys in 1684, the bosquet was remodelled to accommodate the statues, and the Fame fountain was removed.
At this time the bosquet was rechristened Bosquet des Bains d'Apollon. As part of the reorganisation of the garden that was ordered by Louis XIV in the early part of the 18th. century, the Apollo grouping was moved once again to the site of the Bosquet du Marais - located near the Latona Fountain - which was destroyed and was replaced by the new Bosquet des Bains d'Apollon.
The statues were installed on marble plinths from which water issued; and each statue grouping was protected by an intricately carved and gilded baldachin.
The old Bosquet des Bains d'Apollon was renamed Bosquet des Dômes due to two domed pavilions built in the bosquet.
Bosquet de l'Encélade
Created in 1675 at the same time as the Bosquet de la Renommée, the fountain of this bosquet depicts Enceladus, a fallen Giant who was condemned to live below Mount Etna, being consumed by volcanic lava.
From its conception, this fountain was conceived as an allegory of Louis XIV's victory over the Fronde. In 1678, an octagonal ring of turf and eight rocaille fountains surrounding the central fountain were added. These additions were removed in 1708.
When in play, this fountain has the tallest jet of all the fountains in the gardens of Versailles - 25 metres.
Bosquet des Sources - La Colonnade
Designed as a simple unadorned salle de verdure by Le Nôtre in 1678, the landscape architect enhanced and incorporated an existing stream to create a bosquet that featured rivulets that twisted among nine islets.
In 1684, Jules Hardouin-Mansart completely redesigned the bosquet by constructing a circular arched double peristyle. The Colonnade, as it was renamed, originally featured thirty-two arches and thirty-one fountains – a single jet of water splashed into a basin center under the arch.
In 1704, three additional entrances to the Colonnade were added, which reduced the number of fountains from thirty-one to twenty-eight. The statue that currently occupies the centre of the Colonnade - the Abduction of Persephone - (from the Grande Commande of 1664) was set in place in 1696.
Galerie d'Eau - Galerie des Antiques - Salle des Marronniers
Occupying the site of the Galerie d'Eau (1678), the Galerie des Antiques was designed in 1680 to house the collection of antique statues and copies of antique statues acquired by the Académie de France in Rome.
Surrounding a central area paved with colored stone, a channel was decorated with twenty statues on plinths, each separated by three jets of water.
The Galerie was completely remodeled in 1704 when the statues were transferred to Marly and the bosquet was replanted with horse chestnut trees - hence the current name Salle des Marronniers.
Salle de Bal
This bosquet, which was designed by Le Nôtre and built between 1681 and 1683, features a semi-circular cascade that forms the backdrop for a salle de verdure.
Interspersed with gilt lead torchères, which supported candelabra for illumination, the Salle de Bal was inaugurated in 1683 by Louis XIV's son, the Grand Dauphin, with a dance party.
The Salle de Bal was remodeled in 1707 when the central island was removed and an additional entrance was added.
Replantations of the Gardens
Common to any long-lived garden is replantation, and Versailles is no exception. In their history, the gardens of Versailles have undergone no less than five major replantations, which have been executed for practical and aesthetic reasons.
During the winter of 1774–1775, Louis XVI ordered the replanting of the gardens on the grounds that many of the trees were diseased or overgrown, and needed to be replaced.
Also, as the formality of the 17th.-century garden had fallen out of fashion, this replantation sought to establish a new informality in the gardens - that would also be less expensive to maintain.
This, however, was not achieved, as the topology of the gardens favored the Jardin à la Française over an English-style garden.
Then, in 1860, much of the old growth from Louis XVI's replanting was removed and replaced. In 1870, a violent storm struck the area, damaging and uprooting scores of trees, which necessitated a massive replantation program.
However, owing to the Franco-Prussian War, which toppled Napoléon III, and the Commune de Paris, replantation of the garden did not get underway until 1883.
The most recent replantations of the gardens were precipitated by two storms that battered Versailles in 1990 and then again in 1999. The storm damage at Versailles and Trianon amounted to the loss of thousands of trees - the worst such damage in the history of Versailles.
The replantations have allowed museum and governmental authorities to restore and rebuild some of the bosquets that were abandoned during the reign of Louis XVI, such as the Bosquet des Trois Fontaines, which was restored in 2004.
Catherine Pégard, the head of the public establishment which administers Versailles, has stated that the intention is to return the gardens to their appearance under Louis XIV, specifically as he described them in his 1704 description, Manière de Montrer les Jardins de Versailles.
This involves restoring some of the parterres like the Parterre du Midi to their original formal layout, as they appeared under Le Nôtre. This was achieved in the Parterre de Latone in 2013, when the 19th. century lawns and flower beds were torn up and replaced with boxwood-enclosed turf and gravel paths to create a formal arabesque design.
Pruning is also done to keep trees at between 17 and 23 metres (56 to 75 feet), so as not to spoil the carefully designed perspectives of the gardens.
Owing to the natural cycle of replantations that has occurred at Versailles, it is safe to state that no trees dating from the time of Louis XIV are to be found in the gardens.
Problems With Water
The marvel of the gardens of Versailles - then as now - is the fountains. Yet, the very element that animates the gardens, water, has proven to be the affliction of the gardens since the time of Louis XIV.
The gardens of Louis XIII required water, and local ponds provided an adequate supply. However, once Louis XIV began expanding the gardens with more and more fountains, supplying the gardens with water became a critical challenge.
To meet the needs of the early expansions of the gardens under Louis XIV, water was pumped to the gardens from ponds near the château, with the Clagny pond serving as the principal source.
Water from the pond was pumped to the reservoir on top of the Grotte de Thétys, which fed the fountains in the garden by means of gravitational hydraulics. Other sources included a series of reservoirs located on the Satory Plateau south of the château.
The Grand Canal
By 1664, increased demand for water necessitated additional sources. In that year, Louis Le Vau designed the Pompe, a water tower built north of the château. The Pompe drew water from the Clagny pond using a system of windmills and horsepower to a cistern housed in the Pompe's building. The capacity of the Pompe 600 cubic metres per day - alleviated some of the water shortages in the garden.
With the completion of the Grand Canal in 1671, which served as drainage for the fountains of the garden, water, via a system of windmills, was pumped back to the reservoir on top of the Grotte de Thétys.
While this system solved some of the water supply problems, there was never enough water to keep all of the fountains running in the garden in full-play all of the time.
While it was possible to keep the fountains in view from the château running, those concealed in the bosquets and in the farther reaches of the garden were run on an as-needed basis.
In 1672, Jean-Baptiste Colbert devised a system by which the fountaineers in the gardens would signal each other with whistles upon the approach of the king, indicating that their fountain needed to be turned on. Once the king had passed a fountain in play, it would be turned off and the fountaineer would signal that the next fountain could be turned on.
In 1674, the Pompe was enlarged, and subsequently referred to as the Grande Pompe. Pumping capacity was increased via increased power and the number of pistons used for lifting the water. These improvements increased the water capacity to nearly 3,000 cubic metres of water per day; however, the increased capacity of the Grande Pompe often left the Clagny pond dry.
The increasing demand for water and the stress placed on existing systems of water supply necessitated newer measures to increase the water supplied to Versailles. Between 1668 and 1674, a project was undertaken to divert the water of the Bièvre river to Versailles. By damming the river and with a pumping system of five windmills, water was brought to the reservoirs located on the Satory Plateau. This system brought an additional 72,000 cubic metres water to the gardens on a daily basis.
Despite the water from the Bièvre, the gardens needed still more water, which necessitated more projects. In 1681, one of the most ambitious water projects conceived during the reign of Louis XIV was undertaken.
Owing to the proximity of the Seine to Versailles, a project was proposed to raise the water from the river to be delivered to Versailles. Seizing upon the success of a system devised in 1680 that raised water from the Seine to the gardens of Saint-Germain-en-Laye, construction of the Machine de Marly began the following year.
The Machine de Marly was designed to lift water from the Seine in three stages to the Aqueduc de Louveciennes some 100 metres above the level of the river. A series of huge waterwheels was constructed in the river, which raised the water via a system of 64 pumps to a reservoir 48 metres above the river. From this first reservoir, water was raised an additional 56 metres to a second reservoir by a system of 79 pumps. Finally, 78 additional pumps raised the water to the aqueduct, which carried the water to Versailles and Marly.
In 1685, the Machine de Marly came into full operation. However, owing to leakage in the conduits and breakdowns of the mechanism, the machine was only able to deliver 3,200 cubic metres of water per day - approximately one-half the expected output. The machine was nevertheless a must-see for visitors. Despite the fact that the gardens consumed more water per day than the entire city of Paris, the Machine de Marly remained in operation until 1817.
During Louis XIV's reign, water supply systems represented one-third of the building costs of Versailles. Even with the additional output from the Machine de Marly, fountains in the garden could only be run à l'ordinaire - which is to say at half-pressure.
With this measure of economy, the fountains still consumed 12,800 cubic metres of water per day, far above the capacity of the existing supplies. In the case of the Grandes Eaux - when all the fountains played to their maximum - more than 10,000 cubic metres of water was needed for one afternoon's display.
Accordingly, the Grandes Eaux were reserved for special occasions such as the Siamese Embassy visit of 1685–1686.
The Canal de l'Eure
One final attempt to solve water shortage problems was undertaken in 1685. In this year it was proposed to divert the water of the Eure river, located 160 km. south of Versailles and at a level 26 m above the garden reservoirs.
The project called not only for digging a canal and for the construction of an aqueduct, it also necessitated the construction of shipping channels and locks to supply the workers on the main canal.
Between 9,000 to 10,000 troops were pressed into service in 1685; the next year, more than 20,000 soldiers were engaged in construction. Between 1686 and 1689, when the Nine Years' War began, one-tenth of France's military was at work on the Canal de l'Eure project.
However with the outbreak of the war, the project was abandoned, never to be completed. Had the aqueduct been completed, some 50,000 cubic metres of water would have been sent to Versailles - more than enough to solve the water problem of the gardens.
Today, the museum of Versailles is still faced with water problems. During the Grandes Eaux, water is circulated by means of modern pumps from the Grand Canal to the reservoirs. Replenishment of the water lost due to evaporation comes from rainwater, which is collected in cisterns that are located throughout the gardens and diverted to the reservoirs and the Grand Canal.
Assiduous husbanding of this resource by museum officials prevents the need to tap into the supply of potable water of the city of Versailles.
The Versailles Gardens In Popular Culture
The creation of the gardens of Versailles is the context for the film 'A Little Chaos', directed by Alan Rickman and released in 2015, in which Kate Winslet plays a fictional landscape gardener and Rickman plays King Louis XIV.
Published!
My photo of Trafalgar Square was published as the the lead image in an article on London in the Italian magazine "Meridiani" (no. 206)
Funny thing is, this image was submitted to +Getty Images (Through "GettyWants") and was rejected by them! Their loss & my gain, in the long run! I negotiated the fee for myself :)
(Because it was across two pages, I couldn't scan it, so here is a photo!) The original can be seen here goo.gl/ZELPt
#publlished
This photo is published under Creative Commons Attribution-Share-Alike Licence, means you are free to use this photo with attribution under same licence. When giving attribution, please use following;
Owner: Thai National Parks
Link: www.thainationalparks.com/khao-yai-national-park/guided-tours
Thanks to www.flickr.com/photos/michaelbarnes/ for the cover preview.
Photosho is a new All Canadian content independent Magazine put together by Mike and Rachel Barnes thanks guys for choosing my photo .
For more info on the magazine Here is there flickr group www.flickr.com/groups/photosho/ and the magazines web site www.photosho.ca/issue1.html
Published in :
1. POTD in www.photographyvoice.com dated 3rd August '2011
2. Asian Photography and Imaging magazine. Issue : September '2011
This photograph was published online in an article in IN YOUR AREA - COMMUNITY NEWS on March 8th 2024 entitled:
'' Wood pigeon quandary and a trip to remember - Writer Sean Wood casts his mind back to a fortuitous trip to Dublin '' by Emma Boff.
With headquarters located at Reach Plc, Floor 23, One Canada Square, Canary Wharf, London E14 5AB this is a UK news and community website for many areas of the country.
The image had previously been selected for sale in the GETTY IMAGES COLLECTION on June 27th 2020 CREATIVE RF gty.im/1252613682 MOMENT ROYALTY FREE COLLECTION, becoming my 5,289th published (I now have 7000+).
©All photographs on this site are copyright: DESPITE STRAIGHT LINES (Paul Williams) 2011 – 2020 & GETTY IMAGES ®
No license is given nor granted in respect of the use of any copyrighted material on this site other than with the express written agreement of DESPITE STRAIGHT LINES (Paul Williams) ©
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Photograph taken at an altitude of Seventy metres at 08:02am on Friday 26th June 2020, of a an adult Male Woodpigeon (Columba palumbus)off Chessington Avenue in Bexleyheath, Kent.
Wood pigeons are the largest and most common pigeon in the UK, and forms part of the Dove and pigeon family, genus Columba, family Columbidae. Known locally as the 'Culver' in Southeast England, their name is often written in two forms, either as Woodpigeon or as Wood pigeon. Polumbus is the ancient Greek for “a diver”, derived from kolumbao meaning “to dive, swim, or plunge”. κόλυμβος is the Ancient Greek for Columba, which means “a diver”. These game birds are a protected by The Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 and with over five and a half million breeding pairs in the UK, they are classed as he UK conservation status, meaning they are of least concern.
They can weigh between 480-550g with a length from 40-42cm and a wingspan of 75-80cm.The common wood pigeon was originally described by Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus (Carl Von Linne after his ennoblement) in his 1758 and 1759 tenth editions of 'SYSTEMA NATURAE', where it was placed with all the other pigeons in the genus Columba and coined the binomial name Columba palumbus which is from the Latin palumbes for a wood pigeon. Of the five subspecies recognised worldwide, the Madeira species is now extinct.
Wood pigeon is also eaten regularly in the UK, a meaty bird with a distinctive deep gamey flavour. It is low in fat and high in protein and iron with a delicate texture that can be enjoyed at any time of the year. Commercially bought whole Wood pigeons sell from as little as a few pounds each.
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Nikon D850 Focal length 600mm Shutter speed: 1/200s Aperture f/6.3 iso320 Image area FX (36 x 24) NEF RAW L (8256 x 5504). NEF RAW L (14 bit uncompressed) Image size L (8256 x 5504 FX). Focus mode AF-C focus. AF-C Priority Selection: Release. Nikon Back button focusing enabled. AF-S Priority selection: Focus. 3D Tracking watch area: Normal 55 Tracking points.AF-Area mode single point & 73 point switchable. Exposure mode: Shutter Priority mode. Matrix metering. Auto ISO sensitivity control on (Max iso 800/ Minimum shutter speed 125). White balance on: Auto1. Colour space: RGB. Active D-lighting: Normal. Vignette control: Normal. Nikon Distortion control: Enabled. Picture control: Auto (Sharpening A +1/Clarity A+1)
Sigma 60-600mm f/4.5-6.3DG OS HSM SPORTS. Lee SW150 MKI filter holder with MK2 light shield and custom made velcro fitting for the Sigma lens. Lee SW150 circular polariser glass filter.Lee SW150 Filters field pouch.Nikon GP-1 GPS module. Hoodman HEYENRG round eyepiece oversized eyecup.Manfrotto MT057C3-G Carbon fibre geared tripod. Neewer Gimbal tripod head with Arca Swiss quick release plate.055XPROB Tripod 3 Sections (Payload: 5.6kgs). Mcoplus professional MB-D850 multi function battery grip 6960.Two Nikon EN-EL15a batteries (Priority to battery in Battery grip). Matin quick release neckstrap. My Memory 128GB Class 10 SDXC 80MB/s card. Lowepro Flipside 400 AW camera bag.
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LATITUDE: N 51d 28m 28.12s
LONGITUDE: E 0d 8m 10.47s
ALTITUDE: 57.0m
RAW (TIFF) FILE: 130.00MB NEF: 93.0MB
PROCESSED (JPeg) FILE: 22.00MB
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PROCESSING POWER:
Nikon D850 Firmware versions C 1.10 (9/05/2019) LD Distortion Data 2.018 (18/02/20) LF 1.00
HP 110-352na Desktop PC with AMD Quad-Core A6-5200 APU 64Bit processor. Radeon HD8400 graphics. 8 GB DDR3 Memory with 1TB Data storage. 64-bit Windows 10. Verbatim USB 2.0 1TB desktop hard drive. WD My Passport Ultra 1tb USB3 Portable hard drive. Nikon ViewNX-1 64bit Version 1.4.1 (18/02/2020). Nikon Capture NX-D 64bit Version 1.6.2 (18/02/2020). Nikon Picture Control Utility 2 (Version 2.4.5 (18/02/2020). Nikon Transfer 2 Version 2.13.5. Adobe photoshop Elements 8 Version 8.0 64bit.
...for an unknown person that suffers from leukemia.
A bag full of blood stem cells for a Hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (bone marrow).
The donation is anonymous,
I do not know who's gonna get it - the recipient does not know who I am.
Maybe I will be informed if everything went okay... we will have to wait for X-mas...
Two weeks after my donation of stem cells (bone marrow) I am still doing very well
see details here (preparations) and here (donation).
Today I received a little 'thank-you'-box from the centre that coordinates all the bone marrow donations for western Germany (http://www.wsze.de") and an additionall address that I did not know yet.
This is for all the american friends out there!
Yep, for informational purposes for everybody in the Americas: south, latin and US/CN.
Take a look at the web site of the NATIONAL MARROW DONOR PROGRAM™:
Information is also available in other languages
www.marrow.org/TRANSLATIONS/SPANISH/index.html
www.marrow.org/TRANSLATIONS/CHINESE/index.html
www.marrow.org/TRANSLATIONS/KOREAN/index.html
www.marrow.org/TRANSLATIONS/VIETNAMESE/index.html
www.marrow.org/TRANSLATIONS/TAGALOG/index.html (yes Phillippines!)
PLEASE LOOK AT THIS:
www.jonahchuang.com/dnn/Home/tabid/36/Default.aspx
Feel free to share this,
the more people know about it, the more may help to save a life!
Spread the news...
veröffentlicht auf / published on
Three of my photos are in the Alaska Pocket Wildlife Guide available at ultimaterivers.com. Nice guide with viewing tips and locations for Alaska's birds and mammals.
No need for comments...
My stocklist
I don't normally publish more than one or two shots of a subject, but this old theater has so much character, and there is just so much to see, that I decided it deserved multiple views.
The Rivoli Theater, in South Fallsburg NY, in the heart of what was once referred to as the "Jewish Catskills" and "The Borscht Belt". Opened in 1910 as a vaudeville house and later became a movie house. It was expanded in the 1930's with a remodel in an Art Deco style motif. It was renovated again in 2002 and is used for live performances by the Sullivan County Dramatic Workshop. It is open, and the show on the marquee is the next performance.
Mathew Brady took this photo on March 27, 1863 and it was published as a stereoview from the Brady negative by E & H.T. Anthony around the same year. The delegation of Indians from the Southern Plains with their interpreter, John Smith, met with President Lincoln at the height of the Civil War. The purpose was to secure peaceful relations and dissuade the Indians from joining forces with the Confederacy.
Seated in the front row are, left to right – Standing in Water, War Bonnet and Lean Bear of the Cheyenne; and Yellow Wolf, Kiowa, who wears a large silver Peace Medal given to his tribe by President Thomas Jefferson. Two Indian men and two women are seated in the middle row and seven Indian men stand in the last row. In the back, obscured behind the figure of John Smith, two top hats reveal the presence of other visitors. At left, partially hidden by a potted plant is a young boy wearing a hat seen in profile regarding the Indian visitors.
Less than two years after this historic photograph, all four Indian Peace delegates seated in the front row were dead. Yellow Wolf succumbed to pneumonia days later and was buried with his Peace Medal in Congressional Cemetery. War Bonnet and Standing in Water were killed by the Colorado Territory Militia in the Sand Creek Massacre on November 29, 1864. On May 16, 1864, mistaken for a hostile, Lean Bear protested that he had “visited the home of the white Father” but fell under a volley from the same militia. [From the Journal of the White House Historical Association, Washington, D.C. November 25, 2009]
(Note: An inexpensive viewer can turn the side-by-side images on the computer screen into a 3-D image. The viewer is available from the following source:
This little booklet, written by Gill, was published by Faber but printed at Gill & Hague's press in High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire.
The Postcard
A postally unused carte postale that was published by CAP of Paris. The card has a divided back.
The Arab League Park
What is now known as The Arab League Park (Arabic: حديقة جامعة الدول العربية) is an urban park in Casablanca, Morocco.
It is located in the centre of the city, west of Hassan II Boulevard, east of Roudani Boulevard and Algiers Street, and south east of the Church of the Sacred Heart.
The park covers 30 acres of land, and is bisected by Moulay Youssef Boulevard. As of 2019, it remains officially closed to the public after renovations started March 2016, though it had been expected to re-open in September 2018.
History of Parc Lyautey
The French architect and urban planner Albert Laprade was appointed to redesign the central park of the city under the supervision of Henri Prost in 1913.
It was named Parc Lyautey in honour of Hubert Lyautey, the first French Résident Général in Morocco.
Lyautey moved some arches from the old Portuguese prison, also known as the Prison of Anfa, east toward what is now Hassan II Boulevard, to decorate the park, serving as a support for a pergola.
Casablanca
Casablanca, located in the central-western part of Morocco bordering the Atlantic Ocean, is the largest city in Morocco.
It is also the largest city in the Maghreb, as well as one of the largest and most important cities in Africa, both economically and demographically.
Casablanca is Morocco's chief port and one of the largest financial centers on the continent.
According to a 2014 population estimate, the city has a population of about 3.35 million in the urban area and over 6.8 million in the Casablanca-Settat region.
Casablanca is considered the economic and business center of Morocco, although the national political capital is Rabat.
The leading Moroccan companies and international corporations doing business in the country have their headquarters and main industrial facilities in Casablanca.
The Port of Casablanca is one of the largest artificial ports in the world. Casablanca also hosts the primary naval base for the Royal Moroccan Navy.
Albert Laprade, Architect
Casablanca's new quarter was designed by the French architect Albert Laprade. He was born in Buzançais, Indre on the 29th. November 1883. He was the only son of a wholesale grocer and a seamstress from Châteauroux.
Between 1910 and 1914 Laprade worked in the studio of René Sergent, an uncle by marriage, who designed townhouses and chateaux lavishly decorated in the Louis XV style.
He was called up in 1914 with the outbreak of the Great War. In 1915 he was wounded at Ypres and sent to Rouen to recover, but was unable to return to the field.
Laprade then worked in town planning, and was given the tasks of redesigning the great central park in Casablanca, and then planning a new indigenous town.
Laprade first made many drawings of local architectural motifs in an effort to understand the interaction of stylistic elements with social functions.
His goal was to develop an elegant urban architecture based on modern technology that would be appropriate to the stylistic tastes and way of life of the Moroccan people.
His new Médina in Casablanca was separate from the earlier French quarter and very different in design. Laprade followed Moroccan traditions in the division between interior courtyards and the street.
His new quarter, in neo-Moorish style using modern materials, technology and sanitary principles, included pedestrian walkways, courtyard houses, markets, communal ovens, mosques, schools and public baths.
Casablanca and the French
In June 1907, the French attempted to build a light railway near the port which would have passed through a graveyard.
As an act of resistance and protestation, the locals attacked the French, riots ensued, causing a few soldiers to be wounded and one general to be killed.
In response, the French attacked by ship, bombarding the city from the coast, and landing troops inside the town, which caused severe damage to the town with 15,000 dead and wounded.
The French claimed that it was to restore order there. This effectively began the process of colonization, although French control of Casablanca was not formalised until 1910. Under the French rule, Muslim anti-Jewish riots occurred in 1908.
Humphrey Bogart
The famous 1942 film 'Casablanca' (starring Humphrey Bogart) underlined the city's colonial status at the time - depicting it as the scene of a power struggle between competing European powers. The film has a cosmopolitan cast of characters.
Hubert Lyautey
The park in the photograph is named after Hubert Lyautey, who was born in Nancy, French Empire, on the 17th. November 1854.
Louis Hubert Gonzalve Lyautey was a French Army general and colonial administrator. After serving in Indochina and Madagascar, he became the first French Resident-General in Morocco from 1912 to 1925.
Early in 1917 he served briefly as Minister of War. From 1921 he was a Marshal of France. He was dubbed the French empire builder, and in 1931 made the cover of Time.
Hubert Lyautey - The Early Years
Lyautey's father was a prosperous engineer, and his grandfather a highly decorated Napoleonic general. His mother was a Norman aristocrat, and Lyautey inherited many of her assumptions: monarchism, patriotism, Catholicism and belief in the moral and political importance of the elite.
In 1873 he entered the French military academy of Saint-Cyr. He attended the army training school in early 1876, and in December 1877 was made a lieutenant.
After graduating from St. Cyr, two months' holiday in Algeria in 1878 left him impressed by the Maghreb and by Islam. He served in the cavalry, and made his career serving in the colonies and not in a more prestigious assignment in metropolitan France.
Hubert Lyautey in Morocco
In 1903 Hubert was posted to command first a subdivision south of Oran, and then the whole Oran district. His official task was to protect a new railway line against attacks from Morocco. French commanders in Algeria moved into Morocco largely on their own initiative, early in 1903.
Later in the year Lyautey marched west and occupied Bechar, a clear breach of 1840's treaties. The following year he advanced further into Morocco, in clear disobedience to the Minister of War, threatening to resign if he were not supported by Paris.
The French Foreign Minister issued a vague disavowal of Lyautey, because he was concerned at clashing with British influence in Morocco. As it turned out, Great Britain, Spain and Italy were placated by France agreeing to allow them a free hand in Egypt, northern Morocco and Libya respectively, and the only objections to French expansion in the region came from Germany.
Lyautey met Isabelle Eberhardt in 1903, and employed her for intelligence missions. After her death in 1904, he chose her tombstone.
Early in 1907 Émile Mauchamp, a French doctor, was killed in Marrakesh, possibly as he was attempting to lay the groundwork for French expansion. Lyautey then occupied Oujda in eastern Morocco near the Algerian border. Having been promoted to division general, Lyautey was Military Governor of French Morocco from 4 August 1907.
After taking Oudja, he went to Rabat to put pressure on the Sultan, getting embroiled in a power struggle between the Sultan and his brother, with Germany and France taking sides in the dispute.
On the 14th. October 1909, in Paris, the openly homosexual Lyautey married Inès Fortoul, née de Bourgoing, widow of Joseph Fortoul, an artillery colonel who had committed suicide. She was also a god daughter of former Empress Eugénie and president of the French Red Cross, who had just organized the Red Cross in Morocco. The marriage was childless.
Hubert returned to France in 1910, and in January 1911 he took up command of a corps at Rennes.
In 1912 Lyautey was posted back to Morocco, and relieved Fez, which was being besieged by 20,000 Moroccans. After the Convention of Fez established a protectorate over Morocco, Lyautey served as Resident-General of French Morocco from the 28th. April 1912 to the 25th. August 1925. Sultan Moulay Hafid abdicated at the end of 1912, replaced by his more pliable brother, although the country was not fully pacified until 1934.
Hubert Lyautey in the Great War
On the 27th. July 1914, Resident-General Lyautey received a cable from Paris from the undersecretary of foreign affairs Abel Ferry. Hubert was quoted as telling his officers:
"They are completely mad. A war between
Europeans is a civil war. This is the most
monumental foolishness that they have
ever done."
However, like many professional soldiers, he disliked the Third Republic, and in some ways welcomed the outbreak of war:
"Because the politicians
have shut up".
The same day War Minister Messimy told Lyautey to prepare to abandon Morocco except for the major cities and ports, and to send all seasoned troops to France. Messimy later said this had been a "formal" order.
At the outbreak of war Lyautey was commanding 70,000 troops, all members of the Armée d'Afrique or part of La Coloniale. Under French law, metropolitan conscripts might only under very exceptional circumstances be made to serve abroad.
Initially he sent two Algerian-Tunisian divisions to the Western Front, then another two, plus two brigades of Algerians serving in Morocco, and a brigade of 5,000 Moroccans.
Over seventy battalions of Algerians and Tunisians served on the Western front, while one Moroccan and seven Algerian regiments of Spahis (cavalry) served dismounted on the Western Front – others fought in Macedonia or – mounted – in the Levant.
In 1914, 33 officers, 580 soldiers and the weapons of two battalions were lost in an expedition near Khenifra. Although this was to prove the only incident in Morocco during the war, Lyautey was worried about the threat of jihad as a result of German propaganda in Morocco, and many of the remaining legionnaires were German.
Four territorial regiments were sent from the south of France and served alongside the mobilised European colonists. By mid-1915 Lyautey had sent 42 battalions to the Western Front, receiving in return middle-aged reservists (whom to his delight were regarded as seasoned warriors by the Moroccans), battalions of Tirailleurs Sénégalais and Tirailleurs Marocains, as well as irregular Moroccan goumiers.
With 200,000 men Lyautey had to hold down the Middle Atlas and the Rif, suppressing rebellions by Zaians at Khenifra, Abd al Malik at the Taza, and al Hiba in the south, the latter aided by German U-boats. Lyautey argued that Verdun and Morocco were part of the same war.
Lyautey disregarded advice to concentrate major forces in a few cities and took a personal risk by spreading them all over the country. In the end, his gamble proved right as he had a psychological edge over potentially mutinous tribal chiefs. Lyautey had 71,000 men by July 1915. He insisted France would win the war, and continued with the usual trade fairs and road and rail construction.
Hubert Lyautey as Minister of War
Lyautey served as France's Minister of War for three months in 1917, which were clouded by the unsuccessful Nivelle Offensive and the French Army Mutinies.
Lyautey was apparently surprised to receive a telegram offering him the job on the 10th. December 1916 and demanded, and was given, authority to issue orders to Nivelle (the new Commander-in-Chief of French forces on the Western Front) and Sarrail (Commander-in-Chief at Salonika).
Sniveler's predecessor Joffre had enjoyed much greater freedom from the War Minister and had also had command over Salonika.
Prime Minister Aristide Briand, not going into detail about Joffre's removal, replied that Lyautey would be one of a War Committee of five members, controlling manufacturing, transport and supply, and thus giving him greater powers than his predecessors.
Lyautey replied "I shall answer your call". Lyautey had to spend a good deal of time touring units and learning about the Western front.
Lyautey was strongly disliked by the political Left, and when Briand reconstructed his government in December 1916, Painlevé declined to stay part (he had been Minister of Public Instruction and Fine Arts) as he was reluctant to be associated with Lyautey.
However doubts about the replacement of Joffre by Nivelle rather than Philippe Petain also played a role (Painlevé was later himself Minister of War for much of 1917, then briefly Prime Minister late in the year).
Lyautey was met with a fait accompli as Nivelle, whom he would not have chosen, had been appointed Commander-in-Chief by the acting War Minister Admiral Lacaze, whilst munitions under Albert Thomas (formerly Under-Secretary for War) were hived off into a separate ministry assisted by the industrialist Louis Loucheur as Under-Secretary of State.
Lyautey had hoped to rely on Joffre, Ferdinand Foch and de Castelnau, but the first soon resigned from his job as advisor, Foch had already been sacked as commander of Army Group North, de Castelnau was sent on a mission to Russia, and Lyautey was not permitted to revive the post of Chief of the Army General Staff.
Lyautey was hard of hearing and inclined to dominate conversation. As minister and cabinet member, he preferred to deal directly with the British government via the British Embassy, to the annoyance of the British CIGS Robertson (at a time when generals of both countries tried to prevent politicians from "interfering" in the details of strategy), who disliked Lyautey.
On the train to the Rome Conference (5th./6th. January 1917) Lyautey stood before a map lecturing the British delegation on their Palestine campaign. Robertson, a man of notorious bluntness, listened to the lecture then asked Lloyd George "Has he finished?" before retiring to bed.
Robertson told Lloyd George "That fellow won’t last long". He wrote to the King’s adviser Clive Wigram on the 12th. January:
"Lyautey is a dried-up person of the Anglo-Indian
type who has been in the colonies all his life and
talks of nothing else. He talks a good deal.
He has no grasp whatever of the war as yet, and I
should doubt if he remains long where he is now."
Lyautey attended the infamous Calais Conference on the 27th. February 1917, at which Lloyd George attempted to subordinate British forces in France to Nivelle.
After a serious argument had broken out between Lloyd George and the British generals, Lyautey claimed that he had not seen the proposals until he boarded the train for Calais.
On being shown Nivelle's plan, Lyautey declared that it was "A plan for the Duchess of Gerolstein" (a light opera satirising the army).
Hubert contemplated trying to have Nivelle dismissed, but backed down in the face of traditional Republican hostility to military men with political aspirations. Lyautey shared his concerns about Nivelle with Petain, commander of Army Group Centre, who would eventually replace him.
Lyautey refused to discuss military aviation even at a closed session of the French Chamber, and at the subsequent open session declared that to discuss such matters even in closed session would be a security risk.
He resigned as Minister of War after being shouted down in the Chamber on the 15th. March 1917, and after several leading politicians declined the post of Minister of War, Aristide Briand's sixth cabinet (12th. December 1916 – 20th. March 1917) fell four days later.
Hubert Lyautey's Homosexuality
Lyautey has been called:
"Perhaps France's most distinguished –
or infamous – homosexual."
Prime Minister Georges Clemenceau – whom Lyautey despised, as he did most politicians – is quoted as having said:
"Here is an admirable and courageous man
who always had balls up to his ass. It's just a
shame that they are not always his."
It has been speculated that Lyautey might have provided Marcel Proust with the model for the character of the homosexual Baron de Charlus in his magnum opus Remembrance of Things Past.
The actual evidence for Lyautey being a homosexual is primarily circumstantial, but it was widely regarded as an open secret at the time, and one which Lyautey did not make any effort to hide. Robert Aldrich writes that he liked hot climates and "The masculine company of young officers".
Lyautey's wife is said to have told a group of her husband's young officers that
"I have the pleasure of informing you
that last night I made you all cuckolds."
She was implying that the officers were all paramours of her husband, and that she had had sex with Lyautey the night before.
Lyautey's homosexuality, or at the very least his "homophile sensuality" or "Greek virtues", was in some ways connected with his time in Morocco. Lyautey's sexual preference for men was not caused by his sojourn in Morocco, as there were those who objected to his appointment as commander there because he was a homosexual.
The Death of Hubert Lyautey
Hubert died at the age of 79 on the 27th. July 1934 in Thorey, French Republic. He was initially laid to rest in Morocco and re-interred in 1961 in Les Invalides in Paris.