# x-ray glasses **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [August 27, 2000, 5:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/x-ray-glasses/30909 "2000-08-27T05:22:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![m3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/6f9a4e/32.png) [@m3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/m3)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2000, 5:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/x-ray-glasses/30909/1 "2000-08-27T05:22:51Z")
Did anyone ever actually order those x-ray glasses from the back of comic books? What did they actually send you? ---
**Author:** ![m3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/6f9a4e/32.png) [@m3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/m3)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2000, 6:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/x-ray-glasses/30909/3 "2000-08-27T06:08:08Z")
Good to know I wasn’t missing out all of this time 😉 ---
**Author:** ![richman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/5e9695/32.png) [@richman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/richman)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2000, 6:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/x-ray-glasses/30909/4 "2000-08-27T06:14:03Z")
I bought a lot of that stuff. The “miniature camera” might have worked, but I couldn’t get anyone local to do the film, and a friend with a darkroom developed it by guessing the film speed, and it came out blank. The rubber vomit looked real only if soaked with water, which was ok. I got lots of people with the rubber “1/2 melted Good Humor bar” sitting on the carpet. They were so mad! ---
**Author:** ![Soup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/977dab/32.png) [@Soup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Soup)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2000, 12:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/x-ray-glasses/30909/5 "2000-08-27T12:28:51Z")
I’ve got a pair of “x-ray specs” hanging from the lamp on my drawing board. They look like “some names” describes, with one more feature: the cardboard lenses have two small eyeholes cut into them, covered with a piece of clear film. This creates the “x-ray” optical illusion. When you put on the glasses and look at your hand, each lens catches the light at a different angle, distorting the light enough to slightly split and blur the image of your hand. Where the two blurred images of the hand overlap, it appears darker (the “bones”) while the outer edges are lighter and blurry (the “skin”). ---
**Author:** ![m3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/6f9a4e/32.png) [@m3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/m3)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2000, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/x-ray-glasses/30909/6 "2000-08-27T17:18:02Z")
cool… would have been worth my 99 cents or whatever it was. I would have been sorely dissapointed at not being able to see the girls nekkid though. ---
**Author:** ![divemaster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/divemaster/32/78_2.png) [@divemaster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/divemaster)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2000, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/x-ray-glasses/30909/7 "2000-08-27T17:56:34Z")
I ordered the X-ray glasses from a comic book, oh, I guess about age 7. Yes, I was all set to be able to look through girls’ clothes. Imagine my disappointment when the specs arrived. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![silent\_rob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9a140/32.png) [@silent\_rob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silent_rob)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2000, 5:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/x-ray-glasses/30909/8 "2000-08-28T05:02:40Z")
They still make X-Ray Specs. I work at a magic/novelties store, and we sell them. They work like **Soup** said, when you look through them towards a light source and then pute you hand in front of your eyes, it gives the illusion of being able to see the bones. **richman** , I have a couple of those mini-cameras, and still use them on occasion. Very fun. There’s a place around here that I have gotten the film developed at.