capnography 的词源

最初也称为 kapnography，意为“通过烟雾（或火焰产生的碳）进行绘画的艺术”，这个词诞生于1871年，源自希腊语 kapnos（意为“烟”），参见 capnomancy，再加上 -graphy 后缀。相关词汇包括 Capnographic 和 kapnographic。

Kapnography—if we are called on to christen the new Art—may be said to be the very reverse of photography. In the one, the subtle play and reflexion of light is imprisoned by the magic chemistry of the sunbeam ; in the other the human imagination guides the hand to trace designs on the very type of change and emblem of destruction. To fix the faces seen in the fire, or to delineate the ever-changing forms of the clouds, does not seem to be a more unpromising task, than that of producing Alps and glaciers, forests and châlets, waterfalls and wood-hung streams, out of very vapour of combustion—the smoke of a candle. [The Art-Journal, vol. X, 1871]

如果我们要为这种新艺术命名，可以说，kapnography 实际上是摄影的完全反面。在摄影中，光的微妙变化和反射被阳光的魔法化学所捕捉；而在 kapnography 中，人类的想象力引导着手腕，在变化的象征和毁灭的标志——烟雾中勾勒出图案。要固定火焰中看到的面孔，或描绘云朵中不断变化的形态，似乎并不比从燃烧的蒸汽——蜡烛的烟雾中创造阿尔卑斯山、冰川、森林、châlets、瀑布和悬挂在树林中的溪流这项任务更具挑战性。[《艺术杂志》，第十卷，1871年]