Morning journal and courier., 1883-09-20
Photography.
It's Paat and Future-Daguerre and His DtscOvery-some Marvellous Feats-Re. mafntng ImPeEfectioms.
 From tha Inrdnz, TaIaar.nl,

DtscOvery-Some Marvellous Feats-Re. maintng Imperfections.
 tFrom the Lendon TeIegrAph.I
 Everybody knows that in 1902 Sir Hum- phrey Davy published in the Journal of the Royal Institution tan account of a method
 of copying paintings upon glass, and of mak-
 ing profiles by the agency of light upon ni-
 trate of silver" Josiah WedRwood was as-
 sociated with Davy in the experiments; and
 they succeeded in obtaining copies, on pre-.
 pared leather and on paper of leaves, the
 wings Of insects, and other small objects as
 shown in the solar microscope. What were
 practically photographic experiments were
 also about this time carried out in B very
 furtive manner by Matthew Boulton and his
 friends at Soho. near Birmingham but for
 some occult reason which has never trans
 pired-thesopposition of the Royal Academy
 of Arts has been absurdly given as among
 the cause.-the experiments of the first
 English photographers, of whom the late Lord Brougham claimed to have been one,
 were abandoned
 Daguerre was very clever French scene
 painter, who, struck by the marvellous ef-
 fects produced by the panorama which, if it
 was not absolutely invented by the American,
 Robert Fulton, was at least exhibited by that
 Promethean genius in Paris and Brussels lats
 in the last century, improved on the device
 In conjunction with one M. Bouton, and pro
 duced the diorsma which was brought over
 to England some sixty years ago, and domi-
 ciled in building in the Regents Park, af-
 terward converted into 8 Dissenting chapel,
 But ever since 1914 French named Niepce de St. Victor had been making strenuous ef- forts to produce pictures by means of light.
 After some ten years he came in contact with
 Daguerre, and eventually went into partner
 ship with him. In 1927 Niepce sent an ac
 count of his discoveries to the Paris Academy
 or Sciences; but as he kept his processes se-
 cret the academy, in accordance with their
 rules, declined to deal with him. Niepce
 died In 1885, and it was not until 1889 that
 Daguerre publicly exhibited the exquisitely
 beautiful pictures taken by his process He made the secret known to all the world in
 July, 1889, the French government having previously guaranteed him pension of G. GOO francs year for life, an annuity of f. GOO francs being also secured to the family of Niepce. Between Daguerre and Niepce then, the honors of the discovery of daeuer- reotyping on silvered plates may be equally divided but the father of photography as it | at present exists and Hourishes was a private English gentleman, MT. Fox Talbot, who, on the 31st of January, 1889, six months before l the publication or Daguerres process, com municated to the Royal society an account of | his photographic discoveries while in the | following February he published the details | of preparing Q sensitive paper for photo graphic pictures. MT. Fox Talbot had been practising his method ever since 1884, and | nao oeVseo It even carrier but the patent | fact of the communication of the Talbotype l to the Royal society six months before the | publication of the daguerreotype method in | France at once dlsposes of the strange state | ment made by a contemporary, that it had | been conceded that the honor of priority be- longed to Daguerre.
 There are, however, yet more photograph honors which, in modified degree, may be claimed by divers skilfuI operators M Claudet introduced the accelerating process. and his studio and that of MT. Beard were the two hrst daguerreotyping establishments set up In London. Then MT. ColIen adopted the Talbot or Calotype as 8 means for taking portraits Next came the waxed- paper pro- cess andthe albumenized glass process but both these methods were destined to be su- perseded by the collodion plan, discovered by MT. F. Scott Archer in 185O If everybody had his due at having conduced to the devel- opment of photography, claim could be set up to the award of at least memorial tablet so BaptIsta Porta, who in the sixteenth cen ! tury invented the camera obscura without the aid of which the most expert of photo grsphers would labor in vain; and something might even be done in grateful memory of Doctor Wollaston, who in 1907 invented the camera lucida, incessant experiments with | which melted Fox Talbot to the almost des perate endeavor to ascertain whether he could not draw as well With ray of light as with pencil. Nor, finally should we forget the discovery made many years since by Herr Moser, of Koenigsberg, that light constant Y emanates from all bodies, even in com- plete darkness; and that, when two bodies are put near each other, the one impresses on the other an image of itself. If sovereign, for example, be placed on a piece of ground glass on a warm mantelshelf, and be left for 1alf an hour, a beautiful image of the coin | nay be developed by simply exposing the ylass to the vaper of mersury. Similarly he number of a watch on the inner case hereof will impress itself, although it does lot come in contact with it, on the inside of he outer case. It may fairly be said that Vheresoever there is light there is also in ' ome shape or form photography apparent ! ] F latent; but of the photographic art the s athers and founders were, 1ndeniabIy, | i liepce and Daguerre in France, and Fox Tal- 1 'ot in England. There were indubitably ] aany guessers at photography, just as Hero s f Alexandria, the Marquis of Worcester, nd Solomon de Caux guessed at the steam T pgine; but it was reserved for the French i cene. painter and the English private gentle nan to do practically for photography that | 7hich Watt and Stephenson did for steam {
 A UNIVERSAL, !