Microscopes could not penetrate the living processes of biology or botany, the theories remained theories absent seeing the processes in life.
NATURALIST PERSPECTIVE
No one then living understood this need better than Pillsbury. His brother had been forced to leave Cooper's MedicalCollege, where he was then teaching, in 1900 over a disagreement on germ theory, determined not objectively but by the force of authority which lacked access to seeing the process under discussion.
In his book, "Picturing Miracles of Plant and Animal Life," published by Lippincott in 1937, Pillsbury wrote," "One of the first reactions of seeing a reel of flowers growing and opening is to instill a love for them, a realization of their life struggles so similar to ours, and a wish to do something to stop the ruthless destruction of them which was fast causing them to become extinct. At that time no attempts were made to protect the flowers in any National Park, but soon enough agitation was started to show the necessity for it, and Mr. Lewis, the superintendent of Yosemite, asked me to name six flowers most necessary to protect. This was done and the next year six more were added to this number."
Pillsbury, a modest man, does not mention it was his own work which elicited the outcry for preservation. Through his movies of nature, begun in Yosemite in 1909, and lectures to garden clubs, he had done much to plant the necessity for conservation in minds across California and the nation.
Giving people visual proof worked. As Pillsbury's commentary in his book continues he provides insight into his technique for enacting change in the world, "The Yosemite Park service had been mowing the meadows for the small amount of grass they could get as food for the service horses, killing off the meadow flowers in that way. It happened that there was a conference of Park Superintendents and the Director of Parks in Yosemite that fall. I showed my pictures, talked conservation and the necessity of all parks to protect them as a valuable asset. I had still pictures of the meadows taken in early days in '95 showing them covered with flowers waist high and the same meadows as they are at this time. As a result, the next day all flowers and all living things were protected in every National Park, and the mowing machine, as the people in Yosemite expressed it, "was put on the blink."
From the first popular and easily used camera produced by George Eastman in 1888 an explosion had rippled out across the human consciousness, witnessed by Pillsbury first hand. Cameras were in the hands of ordinary people and the world of movies was beginning to take shape. Here was a medium which crashed past the gatekeepers, Pillsbury realized. He made and sold film shorts which most Americans saw before the feature movie started in the 20s and 30s, viewed in school, or at one of his own lectures. In 1926 his personal lectures were heard by 32,000 people from 57 organizations.
Pillsbury's inventions each had in common the ability to extend the scope of human vision, making these insights available to the larger public. Each of these inventions was built, published and kept in public domain, the instructions included in "Miracles of Plant and Animal Life." He refused to patent them, understanding the dangers of corporate acquisition and limitation.
In the article on the microscopic motion picture camera, published in Sunset Magazine in 1927 Pillsbury is quoted, "I believe this discovery will be of inestimable value in bacteriology and probably will lead to much greater knowledge of communicable diseases, their cause, prevention and cure." Said Pillsbury to the writer. Then he added: "This invention is to be dedicated to educational purposes. I could not think of even attempting to make money out of it. I will not commercialize it."
The use of photography opened the human mind to the idea it was possible to 'see' into worlds never before penetrable to the human eye, allowing the human mind understand the processes dynamically taking place, and move on to treating and to innovation. This has taken place in every arena for science over the last 75 years. The innovation which allowed this to happen, first in botany and then in biology was the microscopic motion picture camera, invented, built and funded by Arthur C. Pillsbury.
It is impossible to imagine science today without these applications of photography and its related technologies. It was a revolution, born through the remembered frustrations of the 1800s and the advances of corporate power he witnessed. One person can change the world, if he, or she, is determined.
(Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher).
