← Back to letters04/29/18 An attached letter, unsigned and also typed with the text in Spanish, contained a series of instructions for operating the small device. It was necessary to place it on a porous mat (filter) or a spongy material (such as expanded polystyrene). One only had to approach this box and pronounce (by pressing the vowels) the diphthong "iiiiaaaa". With some hesitation, I decided to test it. The whole affair seemed incoherent and strange to me. Although the idea that it could be an explosive artifact with acoustic excitation crossed my mind, I quickly dismissed it as excessively childish and romantic. However, I thought it prudent to take the device to the faculty and not to share my fears with my wife. I recall that it was a Monday and during the holidays. (N.B.: Handwritten addition "3-1-66" above) I asked the janitor for the keys to the laboratory, and I found myself examining and measuring the dimensions of this box, although I did not dare to insert any tool into the perforations that appeared on the back. There was also no sound from any device inside. Examining the openings under the light of a lamp showed no part of any mechanism. At the bottom of one of them and aligned, one seemed to distinguish something like a fine silver or chrome needle. In the end, I decided to follow the instructions. I placed the strange device on a dust rag, the only one I found somewhat washed, and I pronounced the vowels in front of the screen as advised by the attached note. I had to repeat it two more times, changing the position of my mouth. The screen suddenly lit up so abruptly that instinctively I recoiled from the device. There appeared an evidently stereoscopic image with great depth. It seemed to be a microscopic preparation, although my attention was drawn to the fact that unlike what happens with the vision through the eyepiece of a regular microscope, the different planes of the deep visual field were not lost in focus, and one could observe details in total clarity at all points. Obviously, it was impossible for me to identify the nature of the image that moved actively on the screen. A viscous mass seemed to flow transversely at high speed. Evidently, the image recorded a histological preparation visualized with great magnification, although lower than those obtained with electron microscopes. The most extraordinary was the dynamic vision of the process, the clarity of its chromatics, and the perfect relief of the image. Later, I learned that it was the visualization of the synapse between two adjacent dendrites corresponding to two chained neurons. The molecular structure of acetylcholine could be surprisingly distinguished, as such was the definition of the image. The most astonishing part was that it was not an image recorded by any method similar to magnetic recording (N.B.: sic) or cinematographic, but the actual course of a physiological preparation "in vitro" placed inside the device, which implies having unknown techniques to prevent cellular necrosis of the studied tissue. That same night (N.B.: There is a handwritten indication added above: "Monday 3-1-66") I called the unknown again. I recognized that I was very impressed by the experience and begged him to reveal the identity of the images seen at that moment. Furthermore, I did not know how to stop the operation of the device. He provided me with ample information and also guided me on how I could see three more images corresponding to as many other histological preparations contained within the device, which he called something like "ulodooisagii". Additionally, he informed me that an individual foreign to all this would pass by my home to pick it up after forty-eight hours. The next day (N.B.: Handwritten indication added: 4-1-66) I approached a friend to ask for a Japanese brand camera "Canon" without explaining the true reason. He lent it to me loaded after guiding me on its operation. (My photographic experiences have never exceeded the use of a "Contax" which I use a lot in the laboratory). I now have a tape of about seven meters taken at a speed of 18 frames per second, which includes not only various views of the device attached to a graduated reference ruler but also various sequences of the physiologico-histological processes visualized in the device. I used film 848 / 1373.
Lettre Ummite#850