Sodius

           William Henry Fox Talbot is credited with the beginning of photography with his photogenic drawing process. It involved a cameraless photographic process where he treated paper with a solution of table salt. Next he coated this paper with a light-sensitive silver salt solution. Next he placed small objects like leaves onto this treated paper and exposed it to the sun. The print was exposed until the outline of the objects could be seen on the paper.

            What the world does not know is how William Talbot was able to invent this process seemingly out of thin air. After all, inventors must adhere to the tenets of science not the supernatural. Talbot was frustrated with his inability to find a way to reproduce images onto paper in the same vein as artists who reproduce images with paint on a canvas. One night he fell asleep in his studio. He seemingly woke up in a dark cave far from home. He gets up and starts groping his way through the cave toward a far light source. He comes upon a miner who appears to be chiseling away at the cave walls. As he approaches the miner, who quickly turns around, he is bewildered at the source of light.

            The miner confronts him, demanding to know who he was and why was he in his cave. Talbot said I’m a scientist, but you look like a demon. The demon said his name is Sodius and he was mining salt from the cave walls. The confused Talbot said that salt came from the seas and oceans. We use salt for our food he exclaimed. Sodius told him what use is salt for food for I don’t need to eat but only to see. Talbot protested how can you see with salt? You but need to know a secret of illumination insisted Sodius. Just look at my light source for its main fuel is salt.

            Talbot moves closer to the bowl of salt solution with the lit wick floating on top like a lily pad on a pond. How can you use salt to brighten any cave? Sodius winks and says I know a secret of nature that your science does not know. Talbot protests that his science is based on fact and his faith is in God not some demon. Sodius laughs and sarcastically says that when you put science and religion together you get only conflict. He tells Talbot that he taught the alchemists the secret of lunar caustic which is mixed with salt to produce a light bearing fuel.

            A confused Talbot muses aloud how can this be possible? The alchemists called silver luna because they thought silver was connected with the moon. Certainly science has discovered something similar. He suddenly exclaims that back in the 13^th century Albertus Magnus discovered nitric acid. Magnus found out that nitric acid dissolves silver and creates silver nitrate. Sodius insists that you mix salt with lunar caustic and add the wick to create light for this light was similar to that formed by the sun. Talbot protests that he does not believe in any superstition espoused by a demon. A smug Sodius smiles and tells Talbot that his formula succeeded where Talbot’s science and religion failed. Talbot became angry and proclaimed get behind me demon! An angry Sodius replied depart my sanctuary and return to your conflicted world!

            William Talbot wakes up and looks around fearfully. That demon Sodius was just a nightmare from hell. A relieved Talbot suddenly remembered Albertus Magnus and what the demon called lunar caustic. There must be a connection somehow. He rushes to get salt and water and mixes it together creating sodium chloride. He than takes silver and adds nitric acid to create silver nitrate. He now mixes the sodium chloride with the silver nitrate to create silver chloride. He paused and said aloud I need something better than a candle wick to test the light. He decides to use high quality writing paper. He first coats the paper with the sodium chloride and dries it. Next he coats the paper with silver chloride and dries it. Now how do I test this paper to see if I can create images on it? He decides to place leaves on the paper and put it outside in the sunlight. He watches the paper darken around the leaves while the leaves remained much brighter by comparison. Talbot exclaimed that the treated paper was sensitive to light! I finally figured it out using science and God! He shuddered when he heard demonic laughter echoing from inside a distant cave.