Thibodaux minerva. [volume] (Thibodaux, La.) 18??-1858, 1856-05-24
Photography can be Written with the
Speed of Speech.

perhaps US q IaiSe statement; out IL IS nOpeu tnat
those who have patiently considered what has
already been advanced will be willing to listen 10
the proofs we have to offer.
We have already said that all we deem necessa-
ry on the exceeding brevity and facility of pho
biography and those are the means, as far as it is
concerned, by which speed is to be attained in
writing. But we have no hope that we have been
able, by the tedious dullness and blindness of a
printed communication, to convey to the minds of
our readers little of the beauty and excellence
that is to be found in photography, but found only
by the initiated. Not with the free loquacity of
the tongue and the benefit of a black beard can
photography be brought to the appreciation of the
uninitiated. As well might you attempt to explain
the higher intricacies and beauties of algebra to
the arithmetical tyro. You must dear reader,
learn photography Or be content to neither under
stand or appreciate it.
We shall therefore content ourselves by present
ing such testimony as we may at the moment re-
member to have seen on record showing what
has been done by the means Of photography.
Mr.. Oliver Dyer, one Of the earliest photographic
reporters in this country, if not indeed the very
first, when associated with Mr.. E. Webster in the
publication of photographic periodical at Phila-
depha, some eight Or nine years ago, in answer to
the question that had often been most pointedly put
to him, "can public speakers actually be reported
verbatim ?'-replied, ut can be done-I have
done it often" But of all the public speeches,
sermons and lectures that have reported, only
t~o were fit for the press they were uttered by
the speakers.
When DR.. Griffin, Of Carthage, KY, in the Sup
plement to the Phonetic Advocate, then under his
CONTROL said The notion Of writing photography
with the speed Of speech is humbug," the talented
leader of the reporting corps at Washington, Henry
N. Pafkhurst, replied, in effect that be and many
Of his photographic friends felt themselves very
much aggrieved; that the article implicitly charged
them with falsehood, inasmuch as they had often
asserted their ability to make verbatim, literally
verbatim reports; and further, that they able
aud willing to demonstrate their ability to do So
The following is taken from Ben Pitman's Re-
porter for January, 1854, an engraved phono-
graphic monthly, published at Cincinnati:
"a discussion took place sometime in February
last, in London, between the Rev. Mr.. Grant, an
independent minister, and Mr.. G. j. Hollyoak on
the relative merits of secularism and Christianity
Secularism is the belief that mans welfare and
happiness in this world should alone concern him"
Referring to the excessive rapidity of the former
speaker, the g British Banner" the organ of the
independents has the following observations: "Mr
Grant closed the discussion, less by adding to the
arguments on the atonement than by summary
of the entire subject, which he had thoroughly
elaborated beforehand, and which he uttered with
a rapidty scarcely conceivable. This is one of the
most remarkable features Of this most exciting
scene. Even the late Lord Jeffrey was deliberate
speaker compared with Mr.. Grant, whose words
go forth with the rapidity of lightning.
The wonder of the performance is not diminished
by the fact that every articulation is distinct not
word is lost in the remotest corner Of the vast ed
fee. The vocal and the intellectual apparatus seem
to be perfectly adapted to each other that they
assume the appearance of special creation for
the purpose. Without break or breath or pause,
and strange to say sometimes without the slightest
motion gcsticulation, beyond extension Of one
or the other hand, he darts along with swiftness
Of which nothing in nature supplies parallel, e1-
cept, perhaps, the partridge or the plover, as,
alarmed by the report Of fowling piece, when the
motion of its wings from its rapidity is scarcely
perceptible. That even he can be reported verba-
tim, is perhaps the highest achievement Of modern
however, is the fact. One Of the reporters (for
several are engagedD devotes to Mr.. Grant his
especial attention, and defes him. Never was
there extraordinary illustration Of the power
of that wonderful art to which mankind owe so
much. In the case of this gentleman there is no
oppressive dragging with a dozen or more words in
the memory. The pen is quite match for the
tongue, that when the speaker ceases the writer
ceases. One hardly knows which most to admire,
the man of the tongue or the man Of the pen"
The gentleman here referred to, whose capabi-
ties faithfully portrayed las the man of the
penn is Mr. Read, Of London, the conductor of the
English Photographic Reporter.
1t is not pretended that all who may undertake
to write photography can accomplish all that some
others do. All men are not alike. Some talk
faster than others. Some write the common long
hand faster than others. Some write only eight
or ten words per minute, while others can make
readable record at the rate of twenty, thirty, and
even forty words per minute. So some men, as D.
Webster, seldom utter more than eighty words per
minute, while others, J. c. Calhoun, often reach
and sometimes even exceed, two hundred words
Der minute; as doubtless did Mr. Grant, of London,
when reported by Mr.. Read, who, it is well known,
has for years been able to write upwards Of two
hundred words per minute-while others will rarely
exceed one hundred.
We think we risk neither truth nor our credibity
with the candid who have accompanied US thus far
in saving that any person who will give two hours
a day, under good teacher, to the study aad
practice Of photography for one month, and then
by himself continue a daily practice Of two hours
for two more months can in that time quadruple
his present speed Of writing, be that what it may.
Legibility next. KY.
B Scholars, please write down 12,345,679,
and multiply it by nine. What is the product:
Well, now cell me by what numbers you would
mulsinlv IT. that the fiouroa IF the nroduct NAV all