Macon beacon. [volume] (Macon, Miss.) 1859-1995, 1871-10-07
Nothing New Under the sun.

Photography only adds another in
stance to the many records which
prove the truth Of Solomoa's saying:
1.-The thing that hath been Is that
which shall be, and there is no new
thing under the sun" .#....-
! Humbolt, In his Cosmos, states that
the Chinese had magnetic carriages
with which 10 guide themselves across
the great plains of Tartary, 1000 years
before our era, on the principle Of the
compass. The prototype Of the steam
engine has been traced to the @oli-
pyle of Hero of Alexangria. The Ro.
mans used movable types to mark
their pottery and indorse their books,
Mr.. Layard found in Nineveh a mag
nifying lens of rock crystal, which
Sir D. Brewster considers true opti-
ca! lens, and the origin of the micro
scrope, The principal Of the stereos-
cope, invented by Professor Wheat
stone, was known to Euclid, describ'
ed by GaIen 1,500years ago, and more
! fully in 1893, A. D., in the works Of
Baptista Porta. The Thames tunnel,
thought such novelty, was an
tlcipated by that under the Euphrates
at Babylon; and the ancient Egyph-
ans had Suez canal. Such examples
might be indefinitely multiplied, but
we turn to photography. NJ. Jobard,
in his N0uvelles Invention aux Expo
sitions Universities, 1857, says trans
latlon from German was discovered in
Russia, 800 years old, which contains
a clear explanation of photography.
The old alchemists understood the
properties of chloride of silver in Iela-
ton to light, and Its Photographic ac-
ton is explained by Fab1cius in De
Rebus Metallicis, 1865. The daguer-
reOtype process was anticipated by
De la Roche in his Giphantic, 1760
though it was only the statement of
a dreamer. .t#
In DR.. Hooper's Rational Recrea-
tions, 1774, Is the following method of
writing on glass by the rays Of the
sun. "Dissolve chalk In aquafortis to
the consistence of milk, and add to
that q strong dissolution of silver.
Keep this liquor in glass decanter,
we'll stopped. Then cut out from a
paper the letters yal would have ap-
pear, and paste the paper on the de-
cante', which you are to place In the
sun, III such manner that its rays
may pass through the spaces cut out
of the paper, and all on The surface OF
the Ii, uUr. The part Of the glass
through which the rays pass will turn
black, and that under the paper will
rersain white.n
In 1902, Thomas Wedgwood and
Sir Humphrey Davy contributed to
the Journal Of the Royal Institution
paper on "An Account Of q Method Of
Cupplng Paintings upon Glass, and
of making Prollles by the Agency Of
Light upon Nitrate Of Silver" Let
us take an extract or two from this
paper, first reminding our readers that
Daguerre did not announce his inven-
tion till 1889 ''WhHe paper or white
leather,n says the memoir, "moisten-
ed with solution Of nitrate OF silver
undergoes no change when kept in 8
dark place; but, on being exposed tC
the daylight, 1t speedily changes color
and, after passing through .dlilereh'
shades of gray aud brown, becomes
at length nearly black. The altera'
tions Of color take place more speedily
in proportion as the light is intense
When the shadow Of any figure il
: thrown upon the prepared surface, th'
part concealed by it remains white
and the other parts speedily become
dark. For copying paintings on glass
the solution should he applied oE
leather; and in this case It is NOR
readily acted on than when paper i
, used. The copy OF a painting, o
the profile, Immediately after be
, ing taken, must be kept in any oh
scQre place. The instruments Wodg
/ wood and Davy used were the camer
, obscura and the solar microscope; tn
images produced, however, by tn
J former were "found too faint TO pro
, duce In any moderate time all ehec
upon the nitrate of silver,n Dav
. says: "Nothing hut method ofpr
! venting the unshaded parts of tn
: delineations from being colored by ex
t posure to the day is wanting, to rende
3 this process as useful as it is elegant.