ADAMS, ALINARI brothers + a host of doctors specialised in criminology

CONSTRAINT : to reveal the already naturally ϕed image in the retina fixed by rigor mortis.

INVENTION : optogram (1863, contempory with the discovery of the persistence of the image on the retina). An ophthalmoscope is used to ϕ the image of the murderer on the retina of the victim.

WORKS : VILLIERS DE L’ISLE D’ADAM’s story Claire Lenoir (1867) explains the procedure, as does, in less fantastical circumstances, Jules VERNE in Les Frères Kip (1902), and Jules CLARETIE in L'Accusateur (1897). A ϕ of the image on the retina of a dissected beetle’s eye is given by William FITZGERALD in Strand Magazine, vol. 9 (1895) pp. 53-54.