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Computer Vision
This page intentionally left blank
 Computer Vision
Principles, Algorithms,
Applications, Learning
Fifth Edition

E.R. Davies
Royal Holloway, University of London, United Kingdom
Academic Press is an imprint of Elsevier
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525 B Street, Suite 1800, San Diego, CA 92101-4495, United States
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as may be noted herein).

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understanding, changes in research methods, professional practices, or medical treatment may become necessary.

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 This book is dedicated to my family.
To my late mother, Mary Davies, to record her never-failing love
and devotion.
To my late father, Arthur Granville Davies, who passed on to me
his appreciation of the beauties of mathematics and science.
To my wife, Joan, for love, patience, support, and inspiration.
To my children, Elizabeth, Sarah, and Marion, the music in my life.
To my grandchildren, Jasper, Jerome, Eva, and Tara, for constantly
reminding me of the carefree joys of youth!
This page intentionally left blank
Contents
About the Author....................................................................................................xxi
Foreword .............................................................................................................. xxiii
Preface to the Fifth Edition ...................................................................................xxv
Preface to the First Edition ................................................................................ xxvii
Acknowledgments ................................................................................................xxxi
Topics Covered in Application Case Studies .....................................................xxxv
Glossary of Acronyms and Abbreviations .........................................................xxxix

CHAPTER 1 Vision, the challenge.................................................... 1

1.1 Introduction—Man and His Senses ...............................................1
1.2 The Nature of Vision .....................................................................2
1.2.1 The Process of Recognition................................................ 2
1.2.2 Tackling the Recognition Problem ..................................... 4
1.2.3 Object Location................................................................... 6
1.2.4 Scene Analysis .................................................................... 9
1.2.5 Vision as Inverse Graphics ................................................. 9
1.3 From Automated Visual Inspection to Surveillance ...................10
1.4 What This Book Is About ............................................................12
1.5 The Part Played by Machine Learning ........................................13
1.6 The Following Chapters...............................................................14
1.7 Bibliographical Notes...................................................................15

PART 1 LOW-LEVEL VISION

CHAPTER 2 Images and imaging operations ................................. 19
2.1 Introduction ..................................................................................19
2.1.1 Gray Scale Versus Color .................................................. 21
2.2 Image Processing Operations.......................................................24
2.2.1 Some Basic Operations on Grayscale Images.................. 25
2.2.2 Basic Operations on Binary Images ................................. 29
2.3 Convolutions and Point Spread Functions...................................33
2.4 Sequential Versus Parallel Operations.........................................35
2.5 Concluding Remarks ....................................................................36
2.6 Bibliographical and Historical Notes...........................................37
2.7 Problems .......................................................................................37

vii
viii Contents

CHAPTER 3 Image filtering and morphology ................................. 39

3.1 Introduction ..................................................................................40
3.2 Noise Suppression by Gaussian Smoothing ................................42
3.3 Median Filters ..............................................................................44
3.4 Mode Filters .................................................................................46
3.5 Rank Order Filters........................................................................53
3.6 Sharp
Unsharp Masking .............................................................54
3.7 Shifts Introduced by Median Filters ............................................56
3.7.1 Continuum Model of Median Shifts................................. 57
3.7.2 Generalization to Grayscale Images ................................. 58
3.7.3 Discrete Model of Median Shifts ..................................... 60
3.8 Shifts Introduced by Rank Order Filters .....................................61
3.8.1 Shifts in Rectangular Neighborhoods............................... 62
3.9 The Role of Filters in Industrial Applications of Vision ............66
3.10 Color in Image Filtering ..............................................................68
3.11 Dilation and Erosion in Binary Images .......................................69
3.11.1 Dilation and Erosion ....................................................... 69
3.11.2 Cancellation Effects ........................................................ 69
3.11.3 Modified Dilation and Erosion Operators ...................... 70
3.12 Mathematical Morphology...........................................................70
3.12.1 Generalized Morphological Dilation .............................. 70
3.12.2 Generalized Morphological Erosion............................... 72
3.12.3 Duality Between Dilation and Erosion........................... 72
3.12.4 Properties of Dilation and Erosion Operators ................ 73
3.12.5 Closing and Opening ...................................................... 76
3.12.6 Summary of Basic Morphological Operations............... 78
3.13 Morphological Grouping..............................................................79
3.14 Morphology in Grayscale Images................................................84
3.15 Concluding Remarks ....................................................................86
3.16 Bibliographical and Historical Notes...........................................87
3.16.1 More Recent Developments............................................ 89
3.17 Problems .......................................................................................90

CHAPTER 4 The role of thresholding ............................................. 93

4.1 Introduction ..................................................................................93
4.2 Region-Growing Methods............................................................94
4.3 Thresholding.................................................................................95
4.3.1 Finding a Suitable Threshold............................................ 95
4.3.2 Tackling the Problem of Bias in Threshold
Selection ............................................................................ 97
 Contents ix

4.4 Adaptive Thresholding.................................................................97

4.4.1 Local Thresholding Methods ............................................ 98
4.5 More Thoroughgoing Approaches to Threshold Selection .......101
4.5.1 Variance-Based Thresholding......................................... 101
4.5.2 Entropy-Based Thresholding .......................................... 104
4.5.3 Maximum Likelihood Thresholding............................... 105
4.6 The Global Valley Approach to Thresholding ..........................106
4.7 Practical Results Obtained Using the Global Valley
Method........................................................................................108
4.8 Histogram Concavity Analysis ..................................................113
4.9 Concluding Remarks ..................................................................115
4.10 Bibliographical and Historical Notes.........................................116
4.10.1 More Recent Developments.......................................... 117
4.11 Problems .....................................................................................118

CHAPTER 5 Edge detection .......................................................... 119

5.1 Introduction ................................................................................119
5.2 Basic Theory of Edge Detection................................................120
5.3 The Template Matching Approach ............................................123
5.4 Theory of 3 3 3 Template Operators.........................................123
5.5 The Design of Differential Gradient Operators.........................125
5.6 The Concept of a Circular Operator ..........................................126
5.7 Detailed Implementation of Circular Operators ........................127
5.8 The Systematic Design of Differential Edge Operators............130
5.9 Problems with the Above Approach—Some Alternative
Schemes ......................................................................................130
5.10 Hysteresis Thresholding .............................................................134
5.11 The Canny Operator...................................................................136
5.12 The Laplacian Operator .............................................................139
5.13 Concluding Remarks ..................................................................143
5.14 Bibliographical and Historical Notes.........................................144
5.14.1 More Recent Developments.......................................... 145
5.15 Problems .....................................................................................145

CHAPTER 6 Corner, interest point, and invariant feature

detection ................................................................... 147
6.1 Introduction ................................................................................147
6.2 Template Matching ....................................................................148
6.3 Second-Order Derivative Schemes ............................................149
x Contents

6.4 A Median Filter
based Corner Detector ..................................151

6.4.1 Analyzing the Operation of the Median Detector.......... 152
6.4.2 Practical Results.............................................................. 154
6.5 The Harris Interest Point Operator ............................................156
6.5.1 Corner Signals and Shifts for Various Geometric
Configurations................................................................. 159
6.5.2 Performance with Crossing Points and
T-junctions ...................................................................... 160
6.5.3 Different Forms of the Harris Operator.......................... 163
6.6 Corner Orientation......................................................................164
6.7 Local Invariant Feature Detectors and Descriptors...................166
6.7.1 Geometric Transformations and Feature
Normalization.................................................................. 167
6.7.2 Harris Scale and Affine Invariant Detectors and
Descriptors ...................................................................... 169
6.7.3 Hessian Scale and Affine Invariant Detectors and
Descriptors ...................................................................... 171
6.7.4 The Scale Invariant Feature Transforms
Operator........................................................................... 171
6.7.5 The Speeded-Up Robust Features
Operator........................................................................... 172
6.7.6 Maximally Stable Extremal Regions.............................. 174
6.7.7 Comparison of the Various Invariant Feature
Detectors.......................................................................... 175
6.7.8 Histograms of Oriented Gradients .................................. 177
6.8 Concluding Remarks ..................................................................179
6.9 Bibliographical and Historical Notes.........................................180
6.9.1 More Recent Developments............................................ 182
6.10 Problems .....................................................................................183

CHAPTER 7 Texture analysis........................................................ 185

7.1 Introduction ................................................................................185
7.2 Some Basic Approaches to Texture Analysis ...........................188
7.3 Graylevel Co-occurrence Matrices ............................................190
7.4 Laws’ Texture Energy Approach...............................................193
7.5 Ade’s Eigenfilter Approach .......................................................195
7.6 Appraisal of the Laws and Ade Approaches .............................197
7.7 Concluding Remarks ..................................................................198
7.8 Bibliographical and Historical Notes.........................................199
7.8.1 More Recent Developments............................................ 200
 Contents xi

PART 2 INTERMEDIATE-LEVEL VISION

CHAPTER 8 Binary shape analysis............................................... 203
8.1 Introduction ................................................................................203
8.2 Connectedness in Binary Images ...............................................204
8.3 Object Labeling and Counting...................................................205
8.3.1 Solving the Labeling Problem in a More
Complex Case ................................................................. 209
8.4 Size Filtering ..............................................................................212
8.5 Distance Functions and Their Uses ...........................................214
8.5.1 Local Maxima and Data Compression ........................... 216
8.6 Skeletons and Thinning..............................................................218
8.6.1 Crossing Number ............................................................ 219
8.6.2 Parallel and Sequential Implementations
of Thinning...................................................................... 221
8.6.3 Guided Thinning ............................................................. 224
8.6.4 A Comment on the Nature of the Skeleton.................... 224
8.6.5 Skeleton Node Analysis.................................................. 225
8.6.6 Application of Skeletons for Shape Recognition ........... 227
8.7 Other Measures for Shape Recognition.....................................227
8.8 Boundary Tracking Procedures..................................................230
8.9 Concluding Remarks ..................................................................231
8.10 Bibliographical and Historical Notes.........................................232
8.10.1 More Recent Developments.......................................... 233
8.11 Problems .....................................................................................234

CHAPTER 9 Boundary pattern analysis ........................................ 239

9.1 Introduction ................................................................................239
9.2 Boundary Tracking Procedures..................................................242
9.3 Centroidal Profiles......................................................................242
9.4 Problems with the Centroidal Profile Approach .......................243
9.4.1 Some Solutions ............................................................... 245
9.5 The (s,ψ) Plot .............................................................................247
9.6 Tackling the Problems of Occlusion .........................................249
9.7 Accuracy of Boundary Length Measures ..................................252
9.8 Concluding Remarks ..................................................................253
9.9 Bibliographical and Historical Notes.........................................254
9.9.1 More Recent Developments............................................ 255
9.10 Problems .....................................................................................256
xii Contents

CHAPTER 10 Line, circle, and ellipse detection........................... 259

10.1 Introduction ................................................................................259
10.2 Application of the Hough Transform to Line Detection...........261
10.2.1 Longitudinal Line Localization .................................... 264
10.3 The Foot-of-Normal Method .....................................................265
10.3.1 Application of the Foot-of-Normal Method................. 266
10.4 Using RANSAC for Straight Line Detection ............................267
10.5 Location of Laparoscopic Tools ................................................272
10.6 Hough-Based Schemes for Circular Object Detection..............273
10.7 The Problem of Unknown Circle Radius ..................................278
10.7.1 Practical Results............................................................ 279
10.8 Overcoming the Speed Problem ................................................279
10.8.1 Practical Results............................................................ 281
10.9 Ellipse Detection ........................................................................284
10.9.1 The Diameter Bisection Method .................................. 284
10.9.2 The Chord
Tangent Method........................................ 286
10.9.3 Finding the Remaining Ellipse Parameters .................. 287
10.10 Human Iris Location ..................................................................289
10.11 Concluding Remarks ..................................................................290
10.12 Bibliographical and Historical Notes.........................................292
10.12.1 More Recent Developments........................................ 294
10.13 Problems .....................................................................................295

CHAPTER 11 The generalized Hough transform............................ 299

11.1 Introduction ................................................................................299
11.2 The Generalized Hough Transform ...........................................300
11.3 The Relevance of Spatial Matched Filtering.............................302
11.4 Gradient Weighting Versus Uniform Weighting.......................304
11.4.1 Calculation of Sensitivity and Computational Load .... 306
11.4.2 Summary ....................................................................... 307
11.5 Use of the GHT for Ellipse Detection.......................................308
11.5.1 Practical Details ............................................................ 310
11.6 Comparing the Various Methods for Ellipse Detection............312
11.7 A Graph-Theoretic Approach to Object Location.....................314
11.7.1 A Practical Example—Locating Cream Biscuits ......... 318
11.8 Possibilities for Saving Computation ........................................319
11.9 Using the GHT for Feature Collation........................................323
11.9.1 Computational Load...................................................... 325
11.10 Generalizing the Maximal Clique and Other Approaches ........326
11.11 Search .........................................................................................327
 Contents xiii

11.12 Concluding Remarks ..................................................................328

11.13 Bibliographical and Historical Notes.........................................329
11.13.1 More Recent Developments........................................ 333
11.14 Problems .....................................................................................334

CHAPTER 12 Object segmentation and shape models .................. 341

12.1 Introduction ................................................................................341
12.2 Active Contours..........................................................................342
12.3 Practical Results Obtained Using Active Contours...................344
12.4 The Level-Set Approach to Object Segmentation.....................346
12.5 Shape Models .............................................................................348
12.5.1 Locating Objects Using Shape Models ........................ 353
12.6 Concluding Remarks ..................................................................359
12.7 Bibliographical and Historical Notes.........................................360

PART 3 MACHINE LEARNING AND DEEP LEARNING

NETWORKS
CHAPTER 13 Basic classification concepts .................................. 365
13.1 Introduction ................................................................................365
13.2 The Nearest Neighbor Algorithm ..............................................367
13.3 Bayes’ Decision Theory.............................................................369
13.3.1 The Naı̈ve Bayes’ Classifier ......................................... 371
13.4 Relation of the Nearest Neighbor and Bayes’ Approaches ......372
13.4.1 Mathematical Statement of the Problem ...................... 372
13.4.2 The Importance of the Nearest Neighbor
Algorithm ...................................................................... 374
13.5 The Optimum Number of Features............................................375
13.6 Cost Functions and Error
Reject Tradeoff...............................376
13.7 Supervised and Unsupervised Learning ....................................377
13.8 Cluster Analysis .........................................................................379
13.9 The Support Vector Machine.....................................................381
13.10 Artificial Neural Networks.........................................................383
13.11 The Back-Propagation Algorithm..............................................388
13.12 Multilayer Perceptron Architectures..........................................391
13.13 Overfitting to the Training Data ................................................392
13.14 Concluding Remarks ..................................................................395
13.15 Bibliographical and Historical Notes.........................................396
13.15.1 More Recent Developments........................................ 398
13.16 Problems .....................................................................................398
xiv Contents

CHAPTER 14 Machine learning: probabilistic methods................ 399

14.1 Introduction ................................................................................399
14.2 Mixtures of Gaussians and the EM Algorithm..........................402
14.2.1 Details of the Expectation Maximization
Algorithm ...................................................................... 405
14.3 A More General View of the EM Algorithm............................408
14.4 Some Practical Examples...........................................................411
14.5 Principal Components Analysis .................................................419
14.6 Multiple Classifiers ....................................................................422
14.7 The Boosting Approach .............................................................425
14.8 Modeling AdaBoost ...................................................................428
14.8.1 Real AdaBoost .............................................................. 430
14.9 Loss Functions for Boosting ......................................................431
14.10 The LogitBoost Algorithm.........................................................435
14.11 The Effectiveness of Boosting ...................................................438
14.12 Boosting with Multiple Classes .................................................438
14.13 The Receiver Operating Characteristic......................................443
14.13.1 Performance Measures Relating to
Error Rates .................................................................. 446
14.14 Concluding Remarks ..................................................................447
14.15 Bibliographical and Historical Notes.........................................448
14.16 Problems .....................................................................................451

CHAPTER 15 Deep-learning networks............................................ 453

15.1 Introduction ................................................................................453
15.2 Convolutional Neural Networks ................................................456
15.3 Parameters for Defining CNN Architectures.............................459
15.4 LeCun et al.’s LeNet Architecture ............................................463
15.5 Krizhevsky et al.’s AlexNet Architecture .................................468
15.6 Zeiler and Fergus’s Work on CNN Architectures.....................474
15.7 Zeiler and Fergus’s Visualization Experiments ........................477
15.8 Simonyan and Zisserman’s VGGNet Architecture ...................479
15.9 Noh et al.’s DeconvNet Architecture ........................................481
15.10 Badrinarayanan et al.’s SegNet Architecture ............................484
15.11 Recurrent Neural Networks .......................................................487
15.12 Concluding Remarks ..................................................................490
15.13 Bibliographical and Historical Notes.........................................492
 Contents xv

PART 4 3D VISION AND MOTION

CHAPTER 16 The three-dimensional world ................................... 497
16.1 Introduction ................................................................................497
16.2 Three-Dimensional Vision—The Variety of Methods..............498
16.3 Projection Schemes for Three-Dimensional Vision ..................500
16.3.1 Binocular Images .......................................................... 502
16.3.2 The Correspondence Problem....................................... 504
16.4 Shape from Shading ...................................................................506
16.5 Photometric Stereo .....................................................................511
16.6 The Assumption of Surface Smoothness...................................514
16.7 Shape from Texture....................................................................515
16.8 Use of Structured Lighting ........................................................516
16.9 Three-Dimensional Object Recognition Schemes.....................518
16.10 Horaud’s Junction Orientation Technique .................................519
16.11 An Important Paradigm—Location of Industrial Parts .............523
16.12 Concluding Remarks ..................................................................525
16.13 Bibliographical and Historical Notes.........................................526
16.13.1 More Recent Developments........................................ 528
16.14 Problems .....................................................................................529

CHAPTER 17 Tackling the perspective n-point problem............... 533

17.1 Introduction ................................................................................533
17.2 The Phenomenon of Perspective Inversion ...............................534
17.3 Ambiguity of Pose Under Weak Perspective Projection ..........535
17.4 Obtaining Unique Solutions to the Pose Problem.....................538
17.4.1 Solution of the Three-Point Problem............................ 542
17.4.2 Using Symmetric Trapezia for Estimating Pose .......... 543
17.5 Concluding Remarks ..................................................................544
17.6 Bibliographical and Historical Notes.........................................545
17.6.1 More Recent Developments.......................................... 546
17.7 Problems .....................................................................................547

CHAPTER 18 Invariants and perspective ....................................... 549

18.1 Introduction ................................................................................549
18.2 Cross Ratios: The “Ratio of Ratios” Concept ...........................551
18.3 Invariants for Noncollinear Points .............................................555
18.3.1 Further Remarks About the 5-Point Configuration...... 558
18.4 Invariants for Points on Conics..................................................559
xvi Contents

18.5 Differential and Semidifferential Invariants..............................561

18.6 Symmetric Cross-Ratio Functions .............................................564
18.7 Vanishing Point Detection .........................................................565
18.8 More on Vanishing Points .........................................................568
18.9 Apparent Centers of Circles and Ellipses..................................569
18.10 Perspective Effects in Art and Photography..............................572
18.11 Concluding Remarks ..................................................................579
18.12 Bibliographical and Historical Notes.........................................581
18.12.1 More Recent Developments........................................ 582
18.13 Problems .....................................................................................583

CHAPTER 19 Image transformations and camera calibration ...... 585

19.1 Introduction ................................................................................585
19.2 Image Transformations ..............................................................586
19.3 Camera Calibration ....................................................................590
19.4 Intrinsic and Extrinsic Parameters .............................................592
19.5 Correcting for Radial Distortions ..............................................595
19.6 Multiple View Vision.................................................................597
19.7 Generalized Epipolar Geometry ................................................598
19.8 The Essential Matrix ..................................................................599
19.9 The Fundamental Matrix............................................................601
19.10 Properties of the Essential and Fundamental Matrices .............602
19.11 Estimating the Fundamental Matrix ..........................................603
19.12 An Update on the Eight-Point Algorithm..................................603
19.13 Image Rectification ....................................................................604
19.14 3-D Reconstruction ....................................................................605
19.15 Concluding Remarks ..................................................................608
19.16 Bibliographical and Historical Notes.........................................608
19.16.1 More Recent Developments........................................ 609
19.17 Problems .....................................................................................610

CHAPTER 20 Motion ....................................................................... 611

20.1 Introduction ................................................................................611
20.2 Optical Flow ...............................................................................612
20.3 Interpretation of Optical Flow Fields ........................................615
20.4 Using Focus of Expansion to Avoid Collision..........................617
20.5 Time-to-Adjacency Analysis......................................................618
20.6 Basic Difficulties with the Optical Flow Model .......................620
20.7 Stereo from Motion ....................................................................621
 Contents xvii

20.8 The Kalman Filter ......................................................................623

20.9 Wide Baseline Matching............................................................625
20.10 Concluding Remarks ..................................................................627
20.11 Bibliographical and Historical Notes.........................................627
20.12 Problem.......................................................................................628

PART 5 PUTTING COMPUTER VISION TO WORK

CHAPTER 21 Face detection and recognition: the impact
of deep learning........................................................ 631
21.1Introduction ................................................................................631
21.2A Simple Approach to Face Detection......................................632
21.3Facial Feature Detection ............................................................634
21.4The Viola
Jones Approach to Rapid Face Detection ..............636
21.5The Eigenface Approach to Face Recognition..........................640
21.6More on the Difficulties of Face Recognition...........................643
21.7Frontalization..............................................................................645
21.8The Sun et al. DeepID Face Representation System ................649
21.9Fast Face Detection Revisited....................................................654
21.9.1 Even More Powerful Object Detection
Schemes......................................................................... 656
21.10 The Face as Part of a 3-D Object ..............................................657
21.11 Concluding Remarks ..................................................................659
21.12 Bibliographical and Historical Notes.........................................661

CHAPTER 22 Surveillance .............................................................. 663

22.1 Introduction ................................................................................664
22.2 Surveillance—The Basic Geometry ..........................................665
22.3 Foreground
Background Separation ........................................669
22.3.1 Background Modeling................................................... 669
22.3.2 Practical Examples of Background Modeling.............. 675
22.3.3 Direct Detection of the Foreground.............................. 677
22.4 Particle Filters ............................................................................678
22.5 Use of Color Histograms for Tracking......................................684
22.6 Implementation of Particle Filters .............................................688
22.7 Chamfer Matching, Tracking, and Occlusion ...........................691
22.8 Combining Views from Multiple Cameras ...............................693
22.8.1 The Case of Nonoverlapping Fields of View............... 697
xviii Contents

22.9 Applications to the Monitoring of Traffic Flow .......................698

22.9.1 The System of Bascle et al........................................... 698
22.9.2 The System of Koller et al. .......................................... 700
22.10 License Plate Location ...............................................................702
22.11 Occlusion Classification for Tracking .......................................705
22.12 Distinguishing Pedestrians by Their Gait ..................................708
22.13 Human Gait Analysis .................................................................711
22.14 Model-based Tracking of Animals ............................................713
22.15 Concluding Remarks ..................................................................716
22.16 Bibliographical and Historical Notes.........................................717
22.16.1 More Recent Developments........................................ 719
22.17 Problem.......................................................................................720

CHAPTER 23 In-vehicle vision systems ......................................... 721

23.1 Introduction ................................................................................721
23.2 Locating the Roadway ...............................................................723
23.3 Location of Road Markings .......................................................725
23.4 Location of Road Signs..............................................................726
23.5 Location of Vehicles ..................................................................728
23.6 Information Obtained by Viewing License Plates
and Other Structural Features ....................................................731
23.7 Locating Pedestrians ..................................................................734
23.8 Guidance and Egomotion...........................................................739
23.8.1 A Simple Path-Planning Algorithm.............................. 742
23.9 Vehicle Guidance in Agriculture ...............................................742
23.9.1 3-D Aspects of the Task ............................................... 746
23.9.2 Real-Time Implementation ........................................... 747
23.10 Concluding Remarks ..................................................................747
23.11 More Detailed Developments and Bibliographies
Relating to Advanced Driver Assistance Systems ....................749
23.11.1 Developments in Vehicle Detection ........................... 750
23.11.2 Developments in Pedestrian Detection....................... 752
23.11.3 Developments in Road and Lane Detection............... 754
23.11.4 Developments in Road Sign Detection ...................... 755
23.11.5 Developments in Path Planning, Navigation,
and Egomotion ............................................................ 757
23.12 Problem.......................................................................................757
 Contents xix

CHAPTER 24 Epilogue—Perspectives in vision ............................ 759

24.1 Introduction ................................................................................759
24.2 Parameters of Importance in Machine Vision ...........................760
24.3 Tradeoffs.....................................................................................762
24.3.1 Some Important Tradeoffs ............................................ 762
24.3.2 Tradeoffs for Two-Stage Template Matching.............. 763
24.4 Moore’s Law in Action..............................................................764
24.5 Hardware, Algorithms, and Processes .......................................765
24.6 The Importance of Choice of Representation............................766
24.7 Past, Present, and Future............................................................767
24.8 The Deep Learning Explosion ...................................................768
24.9 Bibliographical and Historical Notes.........................................769

Appendix A: Robust statistics ...............................................................................771

Appendix B: The sampling theorem .....................................................................789
Appendix C: The representation of color .............................................................793
Appendix D: Sampling from distributions............................................................797
References..............................................................................................................801
Index ......................................................................................................................847
This page intentionally left blank
About the Author
Roy Davies is Emeritus Professor of Machine Vision at
Royal Holloway, University of London, United Kingdom.
He has worked on many aspects of vision, from feature
detection and noise suppression to robust pattern
matching and real-time implementations of practical
vision tasks. His interests include automated visual
inspection, surveillance, vehicle guidance, and crime
detection. He has published more than 200 papers and
three books—Machine Vision: Theory, Algorithms,
Practicalities (1990), Electronics, Noise and Signal
Recovery (1993), and Image Processing for the Food
Industry (2000); the first of these has been widely used internationally for more
than 25 years, and is now out in this much enhanced fifth edition. Roy is a fellow
of the IoP and the IET, and a senior member of the IEEE. He is on the Editorial
Boards of Pattern Recognition Letters, Real-Time Image Processing, Imaging
Science, and IET Image Processing. He holds a DSc from the University of
London, he was awarded BMVA Distinguished Fellow in 2005, and Fellow of the
International Association of Pattern Recognition in 2008.

xxi
This page intentionally left blank
Foreword
It is an honor to write a foreword for Roy Davies’ new edition of Computer and
Machine Vision, now entitled Computer Vision: Principles, Algorithms,
Applications, Learning. This is one of the major books in Computer Vision and
not just for its longevity, having now reached its Fifth Edition. It is actually a
splendid achievement to reach this status and it reflects not only on the tenacity
and commitment of its author, but also on the achievements of the book itself.
Computer Vision has shown awesome progress in its short history. This is part
due to technology: computers are much faster and memory is now much cheaper
than they were in the early days when Roy started his research. There have been
many achievements and many developments. All of this can affect the evolution
of a textbook. There have been excellent textbooks in the past, which were neither
continued nor maintained. That has been avoided here as the textbook has contin-
ued to mature with the field and its many developments.
We can look forward to a future where automated computer vision systems
will make our lives easier while enriching them too. There are already many
applications of Computer Vision in the food industry and robotic cars that will be
with us very soon. Then there are continuing advancements in medical image
analysis, where Computer Vision techniques can be used to aid in diagnosis and
therapy by automated means. Even accessing a mobile phone is considerably
more convenient when using a fingerprint and access by face recognition con-
tinues to improve. These have all come about due to advancements in computers,
Computer Vision, and applied artificial intelligence.
Adherents of Computer Vision will know it to be an exciting field indeed. It
manages to cover many aspects of technology from human vision to machine
learning requiring electronic hardware, computer implementations, and a lot of
computer software. Roy continues to cover these in excellent detail.
I remember the First Edition when it was first published in 1990 with its
unique and pragmatic blend of theory, implementation, and algorithms. I am
pleased to see that the Fifth Edition maintains this unique approach, much appre-
ciated by students in previous editions who wanted an accessible introduction to
Computer Vision. It has certainly increased in size with age, and that is often the
way with books. It is most certainly the way with Computer Vision since many of
its researchers continue to improve, refine, and develop new techniques.
A major change here is the inclusion of Deep Learning. Indeed, this has been
a major change in the field of Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition. One
implication of the increase in computing power and the reduction of memory cost
is that techniques can become considerably more complex, and that complexity
lends itself to application in the analysis of “big data.” One cannot ignore the per-
formance of deep learning and convolutional neural networks: one only has to
peruse the program of top international conferences to perceive their revolution-
ary effect on research direction. Naturally, it is early days but it is good to have

xxiii
xxiv Foreword

guidance as we have here. The nature of performance is always in question in any

system in artificial intelligence and part of the way to answer those questions is
to consider more deeply the architectures and their basis. That again is the func-
tion of a textbook for it is the distillation of research and practice in a ratiocinated
exposition. It is a brave move to include Deep Learning in this edition, but a nec-
essary one.
And what of Roy Davies himself? Following his DPhil in Solid State Physics
at Oxford, he later developed a new sensitive method in Nuclear Resonance
called “Davies-ENDOR” (Electron and Nuclear Double Resonance) which
avoided the blind spots of its predecessor “Mims-ENDOR.” In 1970 he was
appointed as a lecturer at Royal Holloway and a long series of publications in pat-
tern recognition and its applications led to the award of his Personal Chair, his
DSc and then the Distinguished Fellow of the British Machine Vision Association
(BMVA), 2005. He has served the BMVA in many ways, latterly editing its
Newsletter. Clearly the level of his work and his many contacts and papers have
contributed much to the material that is found herein.
I look forward to having this Fifth Edition sitting proudly in my shelf, repla-
cing the Fourth that will in turn pass to one of my student’s shelves. It will not
stop there for long for it is one of the textbooks I often turn to for the information
I need. Unlike the snapshots to be found on the Web, in a textbook I find it
placed in context and in sequence and with extension to other material. That is
the function of a textbook and it will be well served by this Fifth Edition.

Mark S. Nixon
University of Southampton, Southampton, United Kingdom
July 2017
Preface to the Fifth Edition
The first edition of this book came out in 1990, and was welcomed by many
researchers and practitioners. However, in the subsequent two decades the subject
moved on at a rapidly accelerating rate, and many topics that hardly deserved a
mention in the first edition had to be solidly incorporated into subsequent edi-
tions. For example, it seemed particularly important to bring in significant
amounts of new material on feature detection, mathematical morphology, texture
analysis, inspection, artificial neural networks, 3D vision, invariance, motion anal-
ysis, object tracking, and robust statistics. And in the fourth edition, cognizance
had to be taken of the widening range of applications of the subject: in particular,
two chapters had to be added on surveillance and in-vehicle vision systems. Since
then, the subject has not stood still. In fact, the past four or five years have seen
the onset of an explosive growth in research on deep neural networks, and the
practical achievements resulting from this have been little short of staggering. It
soon became abundantly clear that the fifth edition would have to reflect this radi-
cal departure—both in fundamental explanation and in practical coverage. Indeed,
it necessitated a new part in the book—Part 3, Machine Learning and Deep
Learning Networks—a heading which affirms that the new content reflects not
only “Deep Learning” (a huge enhancement over the older “Artificial Neural
Networks”) but also an approach to pattern recognition that is based on rigorous
probabilistic methodology.
All this is not achieved without presentation problems: for probabilistic
methodology can only be managed properly within a rather severe mathematical
environment. Too little maths, and the subject could be so watered down as to be
virtually content-free: too much maths, and many readers might not be able to
follow the explanations. Clearly, one should not protect readers from the (mathe-
matical) reality of the situation. Hence, Chapter 14 had to be written in such a
way as to demonstrate in full what type of methodology is involved, while provid-
ing paths that would take readers past some of the mathematical complexities—at
least, on first encounter. Once past the relatively taxing Chapter 14, Chapters 15
and 21 take the reader through two accounts consisting largely of case studies,
the former through a crucial development period (2012
2015) for deep learning
networks, and the latter through a similar period (2013
2016) during which deep
learning was targeted strongly at face detection and recognition, enabling remark-
able advances to be made. It should not go unnoticed that these additions have so
influenced the content of the book that the title had to be modified to reflect
them. Interestingly, the organization of the book was further modified by
collecting three applications chapters into the new Part 5, Putting Computer
Vision to Work.
It is worth remarking that, at this point in time, computer vision has attained a
level of maturity that has made it substantially more rigorous, reliable, generic,
and—in the light of the improved hardware facilities now available for its

xxv
xxvi Preface to the Fifth Edition

implementation (in particular, extremely powerful GPUs)—capable of real-time

performance. This means that workers are more than ever before using it in seri-
ous applications, and with fewer practical difficulties. It is intended that this edi-
tion of the book will reflect this radically new and exciting state of affairs at a
fundamental level.
A typical final-year undergraduate course on vision for Electronic Engineering
and Computer Science students might include much of the work of Chapters
1
13 and Chapter 16, plus a selection of sections from other chapters, according
to requirements. For MSc or PhD research students, a suitable lecture course
might go on to cover Parts 3 or 4 in depth, and several of the chapters in Part 5,
with many practical exercises being undertaken on image analysis systems. (The
importance of the appendix on robust statistics should not be underestimated once
one gets onto serious work, though this will probably be outside the restrictive
environment of an undergraduate syllabus.) Here much will depend on the
research programme being undertaken by each individual student. At this stage
the text may have to be used more as a handbook for research, and indeed, one of
the prime aims of the volume is to act as a handbook for the researcher and prac-
titioner in this important area.
As mentioned in the original Preface, this book leans heavily on experience I
have gained from working with postgraduate students: in particular, I would like
to express my gratitude to Mark Edmonds, Simon Barker, Daniel Celano, Darrel
Greenhill, Derek Charles, Mark Sugrue, and Georgios Mastorakis, all of whom
have in their own ways helped to shape my view of the subject. In addition, it is
a pleasure to recall very many rewarding discussions with my colleagues Barry
Cook, Zahid Hussain, Ian Hannah, Dev Patel, David Mason, Mark Bateman,
Tieying Lu, Adrian Johnstone, and Piers Plummer, the last two of whom were
particularly prolific in generating hardware systems for implementing my research
group’s vision algorithms. Next, I would like to record my thanks to my British
Machine Vision Association colleagues for many wide-ranging discussions on the
nature of the subject: in particular, I am hugely grateful to Majid Mirmehdi,
Adrian Clark, Neil Thacker, and Mark Nixon, who, over time, have strongly
influenced the development of the book and left a permanent mark on it. Next, I
would like to thank the anonymous reviewers for making insightful comments
and what have turned out to be extremely valuable suggestions. Finally, I am
indebted to Tim Pitts of Elsevier Science for his help and encouragement, without
which this fifth edition might never have been completed.
Supporting materials:
Elsevier’s website for the book contains programming and other resources to
help readers and students using this text. Please check the publisher’s website
for further information: https://www.elsevier.com/books-and-journals/book-
companion/9780128092842.

Roy Davies
Royal Holloway, University of London, United Kingdom
Preface to the First Edition
Over the past 30 years or so, machine vision has evolved into a mature subject
embracing many topics and applications: these range from automatic (robot)
assembly to automatic vehicle guidance, from automatic interpretation of docu-
ments to verification of signatures, and from analysis of remotely sensed images
to checking of fingerprints and human blood cells; currently, automated visual
inspection is undergoing very substantial growth, necessary improvements in
quality, safety, and cost-effectiveness being the stimulating factors. With so much
ongoing activity, it has become a difficult business for the professional to keep up
with the subject and with relevant methodologies: in particular, it is difficult for
them to distinguish accidental developments from genuine advances. It is the pur-
pose of this book to provide background in this area.
The book was shaped over a period of 10
12 years, through material I have
given on undergraduate and postgraduate courses at London University, and con-
tributions to various industrial courses and seminars. At the same time, my own
investigations coupled with experience gained while supervising PhD and post-
doctoral researchers helped to form the state of mind and knowledge that is now
set out here. Certainly it is true to say that if I had had this book 8, 6, 4, or even
2 years ago, it would have been of inestimable value to myself for solving practi-
cal problems in machine vision. It is therefore my hope that it will now be of use
to others in the same way. Of course, it has tended to follow an emphasis that is
my own—and in particular one view of one path towards solving automated
visual inspection and other problems associated with the application of vision in
industry. At the same time, although there is a specialism here, great care has
been taken to bring out general principles—including many applying throughout
the field of image analysis. The reader will note the universality of topics such as
noise suppression, edge detection, principles of illumination, feature recognition,
Bayes’ theory, and (nowadays) Hough transforms. However, the generalities lie
deeper than this. The book has aimed to make some general observations and
messages about the limitations, constraints, and tradeoffs to which vision algo-
rithms are subject. Thus there are themes about the effects of noise, occlusion,
distortion, and the need for built-in forms of robustness (as distinct from less suc-
cessful ad hoc varieties and those added on as an afterthought); there are also
themes about accuracy, systematic design, and the matching of algorithms and
architectures. Finally, there are the problems of setting up lighting schemes which
must be addressed in complete systems, yet which receive scant attention in most
books on image processing and analysis. These remarks will indicate that the text
is intended to be read at various levels—a factor that should make it of more last-
ing value than might initially be supposed from a quick perusal of the contents.

xxvii
xxviii Preface to the First Edition

Of course, writing a text such as this presents a great difficulty in that it is

necessary to be highly selective: space simply does not allow everything in a sub-
ject of this nature and maturity to be dealt with adequately between two covers.
One solution might be to dash rapidly through the whole area mentioning every-
thing that comes to mind, but leaving the reader unable to understand anything in
detail or to achieve anything having read the book. However, in a practical sub-
ject of this nature this seemed to me a rather worthless extreme. It is just possible
that the emphasis has now veered too much in the opposite direction, by coming
down to practicalities (detailed algorithms, details of lighting schemes, and so
on): individual readers will have to judge this for themselves. On the other hand,
an author has to be true to himself and my view is that it is better for a reader or
student to have mastered a coherent series of topics than to have a mishmash of
information that he is later unable to recall with any accuracy. This, then, is my
justification for presenting this particular material in this particular way and for
reluctantly omitting from detailed discussion such important topics as texture
analysis, relaxation methods, motion, and optical flow.
As for the organization of the material, I have tried to make the early part of
the book lead into the subject gently, giving enough detailed algorithms (espe-
cially in Chapter 2: Images and imaging operations and Chapter 6: Corner, inter-
est point, and invariant feature detection) to provide a sound feel for the
subject—including especially vital, and in their own way quite intricate, topics
such as connectedness in binary images. Hence Part I provides the lead-in,
although it is not always trivial material and indeed some of the latest research
ideas have been brought in (e.g., on thresholding techniques and edge detection).
Part II gives much of the meat of the book. Indeed, the (book) literature of the
subject currently has a significant gap in the area of intermediate-level vision;
while high-level vision (AI) topics have long caught the researcher’s imagination,
intermediate-level vision has its own difficulties which are currently being solved
with great success (note that the Hough transform, originally developed in 1962,
and by many thought to be a very specialist topic of rather esoteric interest, is
arguably only now coming into its own). Part II and the early chapters of Part III
aim to make this clear, while Part IV gives reasons why this particular transform
has become so useful. As a whole, Part III aims to demonstrate some of the prac-
tical applications of the basic work covered earlier in the book, and to discuss
some of the principles underlying implementation: it is here that chapters on
lighting and hardware systems will be found. As there is a limit to what can be
covered in the space available, there is a corresponding emphasis on the theory
underpinning practicalities. Probably this is a vital feature, since there are many
applications of vision both in industry and elsewhere, yet listing them and their
intricacies risks dwelling on interminable detail, which some might find insipid;
furthermore, detail has a tendency to date rather rapidly. Although the book could
not cover 3D vision in full (this topic would easily consume a whole volume in
its own right), a careful overview of this complex mathematical and highly impor-
tant subject seemed vital. It is therefore no accident that Chapter 16, The three-
 Preface to the First Edition xxix

dimensional world, is the longest in the book. Finally, Part IV asks questions
about the limitations and constraints of vision algorithms and answers them by
drawing on information and experience from earlier chapters. It is tempting to
call the last chapter the Conclusion. However, in such a dynamic subject area any
such temptation has to be resisted, although it has still been possible to draw a
good number of lessons on the nature and current state of the subject. Clearly,
this chapter presents a personal view but I hope it is one that readers will find
interesting and useful.
Another Random Scribd Document
with Unrelated Content
quart. In Cuba you pay $2.50 for a bottle of wine, and $12 for a
quart of champagne.
Pascal wrote that man was the “glory and scum of the universe.”
Much of the scum of the United States has floated to Havana. The
lure of “spiritual” elixirs (there is a vermouth in town known as
“Vaticano”) has brought a “bum” element to the island. Havana has
become a convention city for crooks who frequent the race-track,
saloons and gambling hells. Most appropriately has the outline of
Cuba been compared to the hammer-headed shark. Fights and
brawls are common; city jails are full of American drunks and
toughs. Cuba has imported laborers from Haiti to raise cane, but the
worst “Cain-raisers” have come from the United States. Sterne said,
“An Englishman does not travel to see Englishmen”—an American
does not care to journey here to meet such Americans.
The tourist, robbed right and left, need have little fear of the
Havana señorita stealing away his heart. Her beauty is largely
mythical. As a rule, the Cuban woman looks as if she had used a
barrel of flour to powder her face, and her body is built on barrel-
hoop lines. To powder she adds paint—mamma and her daughters
are about the only paintings one finds in town. After viewing and
reviewing these Spanish “beauties” (so inferior to our American
beauties in the garden of love), one does not feel inclined to
purchase the books sold here in the stores: “The Art of Kissing in
Twelve Lessons”; “The Art of Caressing in Twelve Lessons.” Taken all
in all, the Havana “angel” is an adorable, endurable inutility—an
expensive luxury on which to hang fine clothes and diamonds.
Pythagoras made it a rule to review every night what he had done
during the day. Were she to follow his example, I fear she would
soon be through, for she appears to be master of the art of doing
nothing that is important.
Havana harbors many “ladies” of that species one calls ladies only
between quotation marks. God made Cuba, but the Devil invented
some of Havana’s pastimes. The Cuban is “revolting” in his pleasures
as well as in his politics. Streets along the water-front are lined by
open bars and brothels brilliantly lighted—a mistake, because most
of the inmates resemble female Calibans.
The witchery of the old time wanton is no more. With Flaubert one
laments the passing of the fille de joie: “In olden times she was
beautiful when she walked up the steps leading to the temple, when
on her shell-like feet fell the golden fringe of her tunic, or when she
lounged among Persian cushions, twirling her collar of cameos and
chatting with the wise men and philosophers. She was beautiful
when she stood naked on the threshold of her cella in the street of
Suburra, under the rosin torchlight that blazed in the night, slowly
chanting her Campanian lay, while from the Tiber came the refrains
of the orgies. She was beautiful, too, in her old house of the Cité
behind the Gothic windows, among the noisy students, when
without fear of the sergeants, they struck the oaken tables with their
pewter mugs. She was beautiful when she leaned over the green
cloth and coveted the gold of the provincials; then she wore high-
heels and had a small waist and a large wig which shed its perfumed
powder on her shoulders, a rose over her ear and a patch on her
cheek. Fear not that she will ever return, for she is dead, quite
dead.”
Ten miles from town is situated the notorious “Casino” which is
trying to emulate Monte Carlo with its glare, gold and girls. If you
win anything there, you are lucky to get back to town with it without
being murdered or robbed. Recently a young man, who made a
fortune over night here, disappeared, and all they found of him was
his leg. Not long ago a stark-naked woman was found dead near the
Casino. The mystery has not yet been cleared up. At the gate
entrance of this palatial gambling-hell, I noticed policemen taking
the license number of every auto that arrived, to keep track of the
chauffeurs, many of whom are crooks and cut-throats. If you do
survive, and reach Havana in safety, the size of your bill makes you
feel very “automobilious.” Sad but true, it is easier to locate some of
our United States diplomatic officials at the Casino at night, than in
their offices during the day.
 The Havana Oriental race-track has a bad name even among
sports. There was no exhibition of fine, fast horses or fast time,
simply a fast set who threw the races to the bettors who gave the
most graft. Boozing, betting and profanity were the characteristics of
the human race at the horse-race. Yet foreign, literary, dramatic and
musical reviews are crowded out of newspaper columns for daily
ads. and write-ups on the elevating amusement of the Casino and
race-track.
One cannot make an inventory of paradise in Havana without
mentioning the carnival. At the Malecon I watched the Señoritas
throw kisses and confetti—the confetti was six inches deep—and I
wondered how it would be cleared up till I remembered the number
of “rakes” there were on the boulvards. The Cuban’s idea of heaven
is an endless Mardi Gras where he may throw star-dust confetti and
waltz with the angels. However, the Havana carnival lacks the
spontaneity and gayety of Nice, Venice and Martinique, it being more
of a fashion show.
The populace takes little note of time save in the dance. All
society, from A to Z, thronged the theatres and club-houses where
they revolved like automata on a music-box. I witnessed one ball in
a small hall where six policemen were stationed to keep the dancers
within the bounds of decency.
Cuba has declared a moratorium, yet the people are neither
paying each other nor the United States, and act as if sugar were up
to 25 cents a pound. They cry for financial aid, yet I witnessed a
Sunday carnival where $75,000 was foolishly thrown away like so
much confetti.
The Havana youth is a dissipated dude who improves his mind by
strutting and staring on the piazzas, and accosting women with
insulting looks and words. With him cursing passes for rhetoric. His
time and money are well spent at race-track, cock-pit, roulette table
and the harlot’s house. He is familiar with all liquors except the
stimulating wine of progress.
 God has made Cuba beautiful with her altar-like mountains, smile
of the sea, waving palms, fragrant fruits and flowers and sweet
cane-fields, but Satan has entered this Eden and left his slimy trail.
Cuba, “The Pearl of the Antilles,” has been trampled under the hoofs
of human swine. Too often the C in Cuban character stands for
cupidity, carnality, crookedness, cabals, charlatanism, “Caramba”
cursing, and contempt for Americans.
Lot left Sodom and was saved. As I sailed away from Havana, I
said with Solomon, “Vanity, vanity, all is Havanaty.”

* * *

The Garter
Consider the garter. It toileth not; neither doth it sin. It stretcheth
far, yet giveth not. When comes night it relaxeth, yet morn finds it
willing and ready, yea, happy to take, up its appointed task. It hath
no visible means of support; it upholds its end and other things; it is
the tie that binds. Without it our lives would indeed be loose lived. It
enters far into the career of woman, yet, blows no horn about it. It
hideth modestly. Once off the shelf of a blatant shop it retireth for
life and man sees it no more.

* * *

All the world knocks a knocker.

 Questions and Answers

Dear Captain Billy—I am writing a scenario on army life. Could

you suggest an appropriate title?—Amy Tour.
How about: “Rumors From the Seventh Pew.” All soldiers will
appreciate it, I am sure, and especially the Pugetites from Seattle
who live on the Sound.

* * *

Dear Captain Bill—A friend and myself have an argument and

we wish you to settle it. Where hangs the sign: “Don’t leave your
seat until the machinery stops running”?—Sultan of Kokomo.
Well, your sultanic majesty, the only place I recall having seen
such a sign was on a merry-go-round, but it might also have
appeared on our Robbinsdale trolley.

* * *

Dear Captain Billy—How can I become adept in the shimmy

dance?—Flora Daw.
Walk fast; stop quick. Continue this motion.

* * *

Dear Captain Billy—Why do girls roll their stockings?—Noah

Count.
Because they are afraid the teddy bears will chew the tops off of
them.
 * * *

Dear Uncle Billy—While sitting in front of a bath house at Hot

Springs I fell asleep and soon found myself swinging in a hammock
in a shaded nook of the dells of Wisconsin. Nearby sat a young lady
magnificently gowned in a low neck and short skirt creation, with her
feet on a sugar barrel reading to me from the Whiz Bang. In the
distance came a short, fat man carrying two bottles of Hamm’s
Export just off the ice. I was about to reach for a bottle when the
heavy hand of Friend Mac touched me on the shoulder and
awakened me. What I want to know is, what should I do to Mac for
shaking me out of my dream before the climax.—Ham Spear.
Your story reminds me of some of my dreams in the Islands, when
someone would always awaken me before the Colonel had time to
hand me the discharge papers I was dreaming about. I would
suggest you pour hot water on Mac next time he slumbers. He will
then dream of entering the gates of hell.

* * *

Dear Skipper—I’m in love with a fat girl and she insists on sitting
on my lap. Advice, please.—Kennett B. Goode.
Suggest that you place an ironing board over the arms of a chair.
You could then hold her on your lap indefinitely and not get tired.

* * *

Dear Skipper Bill—Can you give me the name of a rare and

almost extinct bird?—School Johnnie.
Old Crow.

* * *

Dear Skipper Billy—Give me a definition of falling in love which

“in the spring turns a young man’s fancy,” etc.—Bob Wire.
 Love is a feeling that you feel when you feel you’re going to feel a
feeling that you’ve never felt before.

* * *

Dear Captain Billy—What is a Whiffem Poof?—Geo. Logical.

A Whiffem Poof, Geo., is a small fish that swims backward to keep
the water from running into its eyes.

* * *

Dear Captain Billy—Can you give us a new phrase or word to

describe the bedroom movies in which ladies are shown in the filmy
robes du nuit, etc.—Screen Hound.
How would it be to call such pictures “Filmies”?

* * *

Dear Captain Billy—Would you recommend walking on an

empty stomach as an aid to digestion?—Horace D’Oevers.
Walking on an empty stomach is excellent for indigestion, but be
careful who you walk on.

* * *

Dear Skipper Billy—What is your idea of the height of

imagination?—Ross Field.
To sit on a cake of ice and have someone throw limburger cheese
in your face and imagine you are having a sleigh ride.

* * *

Dear Bill—Who was the best known enlisted man in the United
States army?—Count Lehman.
Joe Latrine.
 * * *

Dear W. B. Bill—I’m a bashful young man. How can I have a

girl?—Busch Wah.
Wiser men than I have puzzled over this question and never found
a solution. However, I don’t see why you want one.

* * *

Dear Captain Bill—Who is it that attracts all the town girls to the
depot, and who always suspects the playing card manufacturers,
and who causes the farmer to load his shotgun?—Watt Hoe.
Traveling Men, of course, God bless ’em.

* * *

Dear Skipper—What is considered the safest place on a

battleship?—Otto Know.
I believe if I were a sailor during an engagement that I might find
it necessary to seek the seclusiveness of “the head.”

* * *

Dear Captain Bill—Will you please tell me what is a Nymph?—

Farmer Boy.
A Nymph, my boy, is a hasher with a good form who gets a job in
a bathing girls’ show exhibiting her Prowess.

* * *

Democratic as he is, even the bootlegger treats his friend, the cop,
from the bottle reserved “For Officers Only.”
 Limber Kicks

Of sweethearts she has quite a few,

They come from near and far;
But the sailor who comes there each night
She calls her evening’s tar.

* * *

“Won’t you step into the parlor?”

Said the spider to the fly.
“You bet your life I’ll not,” she said.
And winked her other eye.
“You must think I’m easy,
And that you are very sly,
No knock-out drops in mine, sir,
For I’m a Spanish fly.”

* * *

Mary had a little lamb,

A joyous, youthful mutton;
And when they played at parlor games
’Twas Mary got the butt’n.

* * *
Little Mary had a monkey
On a painted stick,
She sucked the paint all off one day,
It made poor Mary sick.

* * *

The boy sat on the moon-lit deck,

His head was in a whirl;
His eyes and mouth were full of hair,
And his arms were full of girl.
 Whiz Bang Editorials
“The Bull is Mightier Than the Bullet”

ife is a jest and all things show it; I thought so once but now I

L
know it,” is Gay’s gloomy epitaph in Westminster Abbey. Did
he receive this impression when he walked the streets of
London? In his poem, “Trivia,” he tells us how to walk the
streets, what to wear, the good people to address, the
industrious ones to encourage, and the bad folks to pass by.
Poe, in his “Man in the Crowd,” writes of the mass of people, and
of beggar, tramp and peddler; of the modest, pretty girl; of the
women of the town like the statue in Lucian “with a surface of Parian
marble and with interior filled with filth”; and of a man who walked
all the crowded streets of London to get away from himself.
De Quincy visits the Strand and says: “There one feels like a single
wave in the total Atlantic—like one plant in the forest of America.”
The loneliness of his heart oppresses him among the crowd of
unending faces which have no friendly word for him, and he stands
“among hurrying figures of men weaving to and fro, seeming like a
masque of maniacs or a pageant of phantoms.”
Stand on the corners, walk the streets of our own big cities, the
capitals of the Old World, or far-away countries, and behold the
extremes of work and idleness, vice and virtue, sickness and health,
innocent mirth and mad amusement. The people follow each other
like the waves of a storm-tossed sea, and long after you have
returned to your room their walking, talking, laughing and crying
comes to you like the sad moan of the sea trying to be at peace.
 Nature is the place to study God in the book of field, mountain
and ocean. City streets are the place to study man in the sham,
struggle and sin of life.
In the afternoon and evening, work gives way to play. All classes
meet and mingle on the street; silk and cotton, glove and hard hand,
auto and carriage, revel in a democracy of delight. It is as necessary
and natural to play as to work, and we must have rest, recreation
and rejoicing.
At night good people say an early “Good night,” read their Bible,
pray, put out the light, and snore. The Devil begins just then to light
his red lamp and lead his votaries into paths that too often end in
disease of body, darkness of mind, and death of soul. Next morning
high society may hush up the disgrace and infamy, but guilty hearts
know their own bitterness and that evening’s comedy has turned to
morning’s tragedy.
Cities resemble a Demon’s brain, and the women of the night are
its evil thoughts. There are too many wantons with powdered face,
brazen look and leering laughter; too many giddy girls with bare
necks and shoulders, abbreviated skirts and hobbled feet walking
the streets.
If there were no girls,—but there are more girls than boys, and
necessarily for wives and mothers to fill the vacancies caused by
war, vice and death. If there were no streets,—but streets are
essential as arteries of commerce, avenues of friendly meeting and
public parade.
Morning, noon and night we walk the street and see dishonesty,
impurity, poverty and disease,—old and young jostling each other in
seeming joy; but their tell-tale faces speak of a heart with a secret
grave of shame, where they fear they may stumble over a ghastly
grinning skull that will mock their joy.
It will take more than Art Galleries, Symphony Concerts, Parks,
Vice Commissions and Grand Jury reports to make the streets of city
life clean and its boys and girls good citizens. The cure for sin is not
a piece of court-plaster to cover over wrong, but the Gospel of hand,
head and heart that trains a child’s soul, mind and will in the way he
should go so that when he is old his steps will not depart from it.

* * *

he merits and demerits of prohibition and the lawful

T
consumption of the grand old hootch of the good old days
have been subject to warm debates as far back as history can
be traced. Here’s one from Hollinshed’s Chronicles of 1577:

We distinguisheth three sortes thereof—Simplex,

Composita, Perfectissima—Beying Moderately taken,
sayeth he, it sloweth age, it strengthen youth; it helpeth
digestion; it cutteth fleume; it abandoneth melancholie; it
relisheth the taste; it lighteneth the mynd; it quickeneth
the spirites; it cureth the hydropsie; it healeth the
strangury; it pounceth the stone; it repelleth gravel; it
puffeth away ventositie; it kepyth and preserveth the bed
from whyrlyng, the eyes from dazelyng, the tongue from
lispyng, the mouth from snafflyng, the teethe from
chatteryng, the throte from ratlyng, the reason from
stieflyng, the stomach from womblyng, the harte from
swellyng, the bellie from wirtchyng, the guts from
rumblyng, the hands from shiveryng, the sinoews from
shrinkyng, the veynes from crumplyng, the bones from
akyng, the marrow from soakyng—and trulie it is a
sovereign liquor if it be orderlie taken.

Sir Walter Scott brought out the point that prohibition is as

intemperate as drunkenness, when he wrote:

“Know, foolish Saracen,” replied the Christian without

hesitation, “that thou blasphemest the gifts of God....
“The juice of the grape is given to him that will use it
wisely, as that which cheers the heart of man after toil,
refreshes him in sickness and comforts him in sorrow. He
who so enjoyeth it may thank God for His wine cup as for
His daily bread; and he who abuseth the gift of Heaven is
 not a greater fool in his intoxication than thou in thine
abstinence.”

* * *

iterary criticism is prone to make a great deal of bother about

L
something that nobody cares two pins for, but sometimes,
after the fabric of discussion has been thoroughly masticated,
literary criticism does come down to bed rock and agree on
one point which is incontrovertible. Among the subjects in
which there is at present a universal agreement is the declaration
that the American short story is the highest in perfection of any form
of fiction that is put out in the world. Even the French, artists as
they are, must take a back seat when it comes to the writing of tales
that are brief and effective.
It was the coruscating Ouida who emphasized the fact that
flowers of the most exquisite beauty have their origin in the
backyard heaps—wonderful passion blossoms bloom gorgeously in
surroundings that are the worst. The connection has never been
established, but the coincidence is indisputable, that the vaunted
American short story, so clean morally and so harmless that the
most modest virgin may read it without fear of being corrupted, is
modeled upon the naughty story, conspicuously American in its
construction, which would paralyze with horror any virgin who
should happen to lend to its recital an attentive ear.
If one could but divest himself of his moral pulchritude, what
paeans of praise would be poured forth in honor of that sinful and
abhorrent thing, the naughty story! It is so brilliant, so forceful, so
perfectly filed down and sharpened and polished until its edge is like
the edge of a Damascus blade and its point is finer than a needle’s!
Instinctively the teller of such a tale flings aside every detail which is
not absolutely essential to the narrative. There is not a word too
much. There is not a trace of description which, could be dispensed
with. All—all is sacrificed to the exigency of brevity and to the final
effect.
 * * *

A Song Without Music

My sweetheart’s a mule in the mine; I drive her without any line;
on the bumper I sit, and tobacco I spit, all over my sweet Jenny’s
spine.

* * *

Our Monthly Motto

Wine, women and song are the ruination of man, so I’ve
cut out singing.

* * *

Baseball Extra
The game opened with Molasses at the stick and Smallpox
catching. Cigar was in the box with plenty of smoke. Horn played
first base and Fiddle on second base. Backed by Corn in the field
made it hot for the umpire. Apple, who was rotten. Axe came to bat
and chopped. Cigars let Brick walk and Sawdust filled the bases.
Song made a hit and Twenty scored. Cigar went out and Balloon
started to pitch, but went straight up. Then Cherry tried, but went
wild. Old Ice kept cool in the game until he was hit by a pitched ball,
then you ought to have heard Ice scream. Cabbage had a good head
and kept quiet. Grass covered lots of ground and the crowd cheered
when Spider caught a fly. Bread loafed on third base and bumped.
Organ, who played a fast game, put out Lightning. In the fifth inning
Wind began to blow what he could do. Hammer began to knock and
Trees began to leave. The way they roasted Peanuts was a fright.
Knife was put out for cutting first base. Lightning finished pitching
and struck out six men. In the ninth Apple told Fiddle to take first
base and then Song made a hit. Trombone made a slide and Meat
was put out on the plate. There was a lot of betting on the game.
But Soap cleaned up. The score was 1-0. Door said if he had pitched
he would have shut them out.

* * *

Jonah to the whale: How far are we from land?

Whale: Three thousand miles.
Jonah: Don’t leave me, big boy!
 Smokehouse Poetry

Introducing, in our July issue, George J. Liebst, alias

“The Hobo Jungle Poet of the West!” Swing under
Number Nine of the Santa Fe line with our knight of
the bumpers and beams next issue and attend, in
verse, Mr. Liebst’s “Hobo Convention” at Portland,
Oregon! The author explains that the clickitty-clack of
the wheels on the rails, as he hears them from a
swinging position on the rods of Number Nine, furnish
the metre of his jungle poem. He tells you who was at
the great convention—

“Texas Slim from Lone Star,

”And Jack, the Katydid;
“Lonesome Lew from Kalamazoo,
“And the San Diego Kid.”

Put on your hobo clothes and travel with the Whiz

Bang to the “convention” in the July issue!
Next month we’re to witness a great ball game, in
which the Mighty Casey, who, as you may recall, struck
out in the famous ninth and lost the same for Mudville,
stages a comeback! Get ready for this “curve.” It’s a
home-run winner!

* * *
 Way down in the Garden of Eden
Was Adam with Eve on his knee.
They never sat down,
But just laid around,
In the Shade of the Old Apple Tree.

* * *

The Island By the Sea

The following lines were written by a soldier of the

United States army while under restriction and
confinement as a general prisoner at Alcatraz Island,
California. There has been a dread about this military
citadel which is only equalled in the regular army by
the Philippine prison of Bilibid. Both are looked on as
dark hell-hole dungeons for the regular soldier.

By An Alcatraz Prisoner
Only a short ride from ’Frisco,
On a rock resting out in the sea;
A dungeon for “soldier convicts—”
The home of the U. S. D. B.

There we lay on our bed of hard metal,

And think of our life among men,
Ever wishing our life was far distant,
Or could be lived over again.

The death-colored chambers of madness,

Where all rights are evermore gone;
Oh, is there no chance for freedom,
Will we never again see the dawn?

To be beaten and thrown in a dungeon,

Where the eyes of mankind are blind;
To be left for dead in this hell-hole of dread,
Eternally losing your mind.

So, hear the cries from the “big-house,”

From the souls who go down in the strife,
Where souls are evermore striving
And thrown by the wayside of life.

Oh, list to the cry from the inmates;

Assist in this hour that is blue,
For the ones who are good and the ones who are bad
Are as good or as bad as you.

* * *

I was born in the spring, I died in the fall,

But I won’t tell St. Peter, I lived in St. Paul.

* * *

Dusty Holden’s Filosophy

This life is but a game of cards,
Which every one must learn.
Each shuffles, deals and cuts the deck
And then a trump does turn;
Some show up a high card,
While others make it low,
And many turn no cards at all—
In fact, they cannot show.

When hearts are up, we play for love

And pleasure rules the hour,
Each day goes pleasantly along,
In sunshine’s rosy bower.
When diamonds chance to crown the pack,
That’s when men stake their gold,
And thousands then are lost and won,
By gamblers, young and old.

When clubs are trump, look out for war,

On ocean and on land,
For bloody deeds are often done,
When clubs are held in hand.
At last up turns the darkened spade,
Held by the toiling slave,
And a spade will turn up trump at last,
And dig each player’s grave.

* * *

Department Store Gossip

 “Lizzie went out with that floorwalker clown,
She said he was filled full of booze
And made her get out and walk back to town,
But there wasn’t no mud on her shoes.

“Far be it from me to run a girl down,

Mistakes I will always excuse,
But when one declares she walked back to town
I look for the mud on her shoes.”

* * *

“Fifi” Stillman’s Lullaby

Rock-a-bye baby, little Jay Leeds,

Daddy has women more than he needs;
Through a divorce I’ll get lots of cash,
Because your dear daddy was a little too rash.

* * *

The Poppy’s Answer

Publication in the May issue of the Whiz Bang of “In

Flanders Fields” has brought many requests for “The
Poppy’s Answer,” and thus, by special permission of the
author, we offer it herein.

By D. H. Winget
In Flanders fields we poppies grow,
That all the passing world may know
We herald peace—surcease of pain,
For those who fought now live again,
Not in cold stone or mortal arts,
But in the depth of loving hearts,
We bloom afresh above our dead,
Our blossoms deck our hero’s bed
In Flanders fields.

Our Father called us into bloom,

To deck and shield each soldier’s tomb
To bask and glint in glory’s stream,
And fashion every soldier’s dream,
As ’neath our roots he sweetly sleeps,
Each poppy true her vigil keeps,
And gently to the breeze she yields
Her soothing breath
In Flanders fields.

* * *

The Girl In the Garden

She lifts her skirts from danger,

With her left hand, while her right
Grasps the nozzle, and the stranger
Gets a very shocking sight.

The neighbors gaze with rapture,

And their interest daily grows,
For they like to see her sprinkle,
And they like to watch the hose.

* * *
 His eyelids closed, his breath came fast,
His eager lips met hers;
They parted ere the week had passed—
She had a set of furs.

* * *

Past, Present and Future

You’ve heard the tale of Daphne of a hundred years ago?

You haven’t? Well, I’ll tell you. It’s a thing you ought to know.
Though pretty smart at most things (for her age was seventeen)
She didn’t know the proper way to wear a crinoline.
For instance, when the winter winds came tearing through the town
She made the most ridiculous attempts to hold it down;
And thus it was that often as she tacked across the street
The people got a view of her that wasn’t only feet.

You’ve heard, of course, the story of the Daphne of today?

You haven’t? Well, I’ll tell you. It’s funny in a way.
In spite of all the teachings of the Grundies and the Prims,
She hasn’t yet discovered how to cover up her limbs.
For instance, though the crinoline perplexes her no more,
She’s in the same predicament, precisely, as before.
And when she’s sprinting for a bus, with little time to lose,
The people get a view of her that isn’t only shoes.

I hate, of course, to moralize, to lecture or to prate,

But troubles have their ending if the troubled only wait;
And probably, if Daphne’s good, and patient as a saint,
The skirt will pass to savages, and she will have their paint;
And that will keep its proper place, whate’er her attitude,
And satisfy the conscience of the most exacting prude—
Unless a rainstorm comes along that nothing does by halves,
And then we’ll get a view of her that won’t be only calves!

—A. B. M.
 * * *

The Pleasure Pier

(Ocean Park, California)

One night as I strolled on the sand,

The hour of twelve was near,
By chance my wandering footsteps led
Me underneath the pier.
Ye Gods! the people I saw that night,
As I strolled along my way;
Behind each piling they ’rose like ghosts
And silently faded away.
I saw there men, and women, too;
And friends I held most dear,
And I turned and fled (for I wasn’t alone),
As I strolled beneath the pier.

* * *

Jeu D’Amour
By Enid R. Clay
 March winds were blowing when we met—
(And so the game was started)
You blew a breath of love to me
That left me broken-hearted.

June roses scented all the air—

(The game seemed so worth winning).
Their glory mingled with your kiss,
And never thought it sinning.

And still for some the March winds blow,

And roses perish never;
For all my play—and some must lose—
Forever and forever.

* * *

Christmas at the Workhouse

It was Christmas at the workhouse,

And the convicts gathered there.
They were sitting at the table,
Partaking of their fare,
When the warden quietly entered,
And he shouted through the cells,
“Merry Christmas, good old convicts,”
And the convicts answered “Bells.”

Now this made the warden angry,

And he swore by all the Gods,
“You shall have no Christmas pudding.
You’re a dang big bunch of slobs.”
Then spoke the oldest convict,
With a voice that was not pure,
“Just take that Christmas pudding,
And shove it in the sewer.”

—By Dan Moriarty.

 * * *

Underneath the Barroom Floor

’Twas a balmy summer evening

And a goodly crowd was there
But it wasn’t in the barroom
For the barrooms now are bare.

* * *

The Maiden’s Lament

That Perkins’ boy is awfully slow

Parley vou.
That Perkins’ boy is awfully slow
Parley vou.

That Perkins’ boy is awfully slow

He believes me when I tell him “no.”
Hinkey dinkey parley vou.

* * *

A Lady’s Query
By W. D. Nesbit
 Is it ladylike to giggle?
Is it ladylike to wink?
Is it ladylike to ride a horse a-straddle?
Is it ladylike to wiggle?
Is it ladylike to drink?
Is it ladylike upon the beach to paddle?

Is it ladylike to mutter?
Is it ladylike to stare?
Is it ladylike to do those fancy dances?
Is it ladylike to sputter?
Is it ladylike to swear?
Is it ladylike to use expressive glances?

Is it ladylike to gurgle?
Is it ladylike to joke?
Is it ladylike to boast of being wealthy?
Is it ladylike to burgle?
Is it ladylike to smoke?
Is it ladylike to know that you are healthy?

Is it ladylike to shiver?
Is it ladylike to weep?
Is it ladylike to walk through forests shady?
Is it ladylike to quiver?
Is it ladylike to peep?
Is it ladylike to be a little lady?
 Budd’s Bundle of Bunk

BY BUDD L. McKILLIPS
“My,” said the old lady after her first night auto ride into the
country, “the people who fix automobiles will make a lot of money
tomorrow. Every few blocks there was a car standing with nobody
around it. It was so dark that I couldn’t see if they were smashed
up, but I guess the people must have walked back to town.”

* * *

Omar Up To Date

What is it the bootlegger buys

One-half so vicious as the stuff he sells?

* * *

Blank Verse
 EMIL ASKED CLARA
TO TAKE
A WALK WITH HIM
AND PICK FLOWERS,
BUT
CLARA’S BROTHER
CAME ALONG,
AND SO
THEY PICKED FLOWERS.

* * *

Mrs. Bloolaw laid down her newspaper with an angry snort. “I see
where they are talking about reviving the ‘Passion Play’; another of
those disgraceful shows, I suppose.”

* * *

“How much,” asked John Burroughs in his daily Nature column,

“does it cost to set a tree out in the street?”
Some festive friends of ours set a bartender out in the street in
the days B. P. and if memory is correct it cost them $10 and costs.

* * *

“People Who Ride in Our Car Never Have to Walk Back Home”
advertises a St. Louis automobile agency. The girl in the house next
door says a hat pin gives her the same assurance.

* * *

If there’s one secluded spot

That I would like to own
And fence about, ’tis that small plot
Where my wild oats were sown.
 * * *

She asked him if he’d take a seat,

But he, his blushes hiding,
Replied that he preferred to stand,
For he’d been horseback riding.

* * *

The porcupine may have his quills,

The elephant his trunk,
But when it comes to common scents
My money’s on the skunk.
 Film Feast Fights

Ah! Now the dainty damsels of the screen have the

excitement for which their artistic temperaments crave!
For the edification of the filmland folk, Los Angeles
hotels have introduced the prize fight as a dinner
attraction, partly supplanting the dinner dansant, and
here we have diminutive Bebe Daniels cavorting at one
of these film fight feasts, rubbing elbows with effete
Kid McCoy, whose barefoot partner, as Richmond
states, put on her shoes and walked out.

ociety prize fights are the latest in Los Angeles and Pasadena.

S
The winter tourists, society people and so on have fallen.
Didn’t Anne Morgan set the example in New York? Main dining
rooms have been turned into prize rings, where, during a lull
in the supper dance, the fighters, their seconds, water bottles,
cuspidors and other necessary adjuncts are led forth.
No, prizefighters don’t generally have cuspidors; they generally
spit in the water bucket or on the floor; anyhow, they spit. They
can’t help it.
The swell hotels of Pasadena and Los Angeles already have staged
their preliminary fistic functions. There is no bunc about the fights,
at least so far as appearance and appurtenances are concerned. The
men wear regulation ring clothes and, as everyone knows, this
means they can’t wear much more than most of the women present,
who shriek with delight and false alarm at the thud of brawny fists
on hairy breasts and bloody noses.
 Whiz Bang is not long-haired, consequently can’t be against a
good boxing contest or a fight, whatever it is they call them. But one
may entertain an opinion that some things were meant for men and
if there is anything a man is better fitted for, or can do better, than
women, for heaven’s sake let him do it.
The Alexandria-Alec, as it popularly is known, initiated the fad in
this burg. The society editors must have been there for one thing,
judging from elite galaxy of names which appeared next day.
Kid McCoy also was there, appearing somewhat better in his tux
than most of the non-athletic looking gentlemen present. The Kid
emerged recently from his ninth (or was it his fifteenth?)
matrimonial experiment. He married a dancer of the films, a bare-
footed one. But evidently she put on her shoes and walked out.
The literary lights were somewhat in evidence. Guy Price, Eddie
Moriarity and H. M. Walker, with the assumed or naturally bored air
that seems to mark the popular newspaper sporting writers, were
taking in the innovation or being innovated in the taking in,
whichever it was. Moriarity and Walker said who won the fights and
from their dour looks one would never judge they write funny titles
for Semon and Lloyd.
Tom Mix jumped into the ring as referee. Those who watched paid
well for it. But there was dinner, of course, and a dance, thrown in.
Bebe Daniels was one of the first on the floor. Not that Bebe
seemed overly excited about it. But the proud looking young man
who trotted her out seemed not without fear that his appearance
with the fair Bebe might be overlooked if he didn’t get an early start
upon the ball room boards.
But Bebe was worth looking at; incidentally, one of the few
modest looking women on the floor. They say she is stuck up. They
say that about most of the really stellar female attractions of the
screen. But the insider opines that Bebe’s bored look combines a
sense of humor and the common sense of a young girl who finds
that the glitter and night adulation are mostly 18 carat bunc. Yet
Bebe danced and danced.
As we have said before, society doesn’t know what to do about
the picture stars, especially if they are starettes. But to miss seeing
them, so one can talk about what they wore and whom they were
with, that would be ultra ignoramus, as one might aptly say. Just
what a bunch of supposedly high bred society women, Miss Morgan
to the contrary, can see in the spectacle of two men slamming each
other around the ring passeth, no doubt, some portion of the male
element.
Sounds like we are getting sermony. Far be it from us. There are
worse things than women in evening garb gushing over mostly
naked men fighting in the main dining room of our swell hotels.
One thing about Mary and Doug.; they are fairly exclusive. Some
of the younger stars might do well to emulate them. Yet, perhaps
before a star becomes a luminous planet it must do its sparkle; cast
its lesser light, until the fact that it does not glow at every gay party
can cause more comment than the mere presence, thereat, would
cause.
Mary and Doug. are becoming more talked of because they stay
home than because they step out. Of course, Mary and Doug. have
something to chat of among themselves again, now that Nevada is
talking marriage annulment again.
We still remain firm in our predictions of months ago that Nevada
has more talk than annulment in her system, so far as the Fairbanks
family is concerned.

* * *

An Arkansas Honeymoon
A young, newly married couple boarded a through train, bound for
Little Rock to spend the honeymoon. The young man at once began
looking for the Pullman conductor, it being a night train. Finally he
found that official and began: “Say, Mister, me an’ my wife here just
got married an’ we want the best ’commodations you’ve got on this
train.”
“You are looking for a berth, I presume?” queried the conductor.
“Thunderation! No!” shouted the irate groom. “Didn’t I tell you
that me an’ my wife just got married?”

* * *

A London man who went to Dublin to join the Royal Irish

Constabulary was arrested as insane. In view of the present
condition of Ireland the evidence against him seems conclusive.