Monday, July 14, 2008

Meeting Mr. Jensen

[I neglected to include the following entry which describes Dr. Hampton's meeting with Langdon Jensen about the commissioned slides. I offer it here to amend the omission].

October 21st, 1928

I met with Mr. Jensen today and I can not describe how satisfied I am with his slides! They are all simply marvelous and I can scarcely wait to begin experimentation upon returning home.

The first slide is of a deep reddish tint with subtle swirls of orange. It is quite an exciting combination of colors, evocative of fire light and sunsets and such. I think I would hesitate to use it on more excitable patients. I must confess to feeling a certain thrill run through me. Perhaps it is because the colors are so similar to that star [see entry from October 19, 1928]

The second slide is a pale green with a distinct spiral of blue radiating from the center. It gives the impression of a calming, tranquil, sea, I think.

The last slide is by far the most impressive. Mr. Jensen is simply a marvel at his work. The colors are just so perfectly blended so as to create a depth and sense of movement, even on this flat bit of glass. I am fortunate to have commissioned such a talented artist, for I never would have thought to use these colors in my phototherapy experiments.

The majority of the third slide is a dull gray, yet light shows through it quite well. In those places it almost looks like the lens were projecting shadows! Then, through the middle of the lens is such a bold swacth [sic] of the most vibrant yellow. The colors seem at once to be so alive and vivid and still stoic and calm and almost immobile.

Wait ‘til the boys at the sanatorium see these!