Telegram-herald., 1889-07-17


Araso
FFom the first II wzs deezned that the
discovery ~~s ~ y1assd oas that Il
siaossid oe giEsa ~ ths ~oEtas snd he
Frezek gossrszneEs. - accomplish tklzs
raoh.y literal gift 10 hanAanits 4nd az tie
same ILase IA sozae ns4-Sare Teserc the
asscoseEeE, voted oa june IS. los9.
pension II {. 800 frane. aRna@lly ~ n
Dsaguerre and gu Annually ~ n
Sistce. osle-Aslf q those amounts % te
eontinued 70 their respective widows. IN
case of their survival Whist 8 beggarly
sanl IL POW seems % have beea, sie~ea
Ia tlle golden light II the untold niiaons
gained 6y oxhess fson tas employ nasaat
Of that art and is dsve4opnentsl sun
il contented the generoas inventor aud
possibly hooked much larger then than II
does now. And then there were hoEofs,
intangible rewards, bat dear 60 French
mems hearts al least People spoke very
well Of 10th DazuerFe and Niepce while
they lived, and long after they were
dead statues were raised To their mem
ory. The one commemorative Of Is.-
guerre Mas bust put up al Corneiiles
(where he was born III 1850 by oontri-
buttons from the photographers Of the
civilized world in 1883. Niepces was a
fuH length statue. erected by French
men at his birthplace, Chalons- sur Saone,
Ia lco1-
Daguerre died ia 1851. A man named
August brassart, who made The plates
for his experiments, is said 70 be still
alive and resident in Naugatuck, Conn.
The people of Paris went almost wild
over tile new process when IL was made
known. as II was ON Aug. 10, 1889.
Everybody wanted To take sun pictures.
The fever lasted about year. Then ex-
ceedingly few continued the attempt.
The great army of amateurs dropped il
as one man. 1t was too difficult and un-
certain for any but the most patient and
persistent One in Paris wrote 10 q friend
in this country: "Do not attempt il un-
less, after making 100 failures. YOU are
ready to 60 on and make 500 more" And
he was right, in the condition OF the art
ut that time. And not only was infinite
patience demanded, but considerable
means. The silver coated copper plates
were costly; the polishing of them re-
quired skilled labor, which was not cheap;
the chemicals required were expensive.
And the results were so disproportionate!
Gradually, however, Improvements were
made.
Sir John Hersche!, rs soon as the pro-
cess was made known, pointed out that
hyposulphite of soda would be better
than strong solution Of chloride of So
dunn for washing away the iodidc of
silver that had not been acted upon by
the light NJ. Firzeau discovered a
means, by the use of chloride of gold,
for making permanent the pictures that
previously were too apt to tarnish and
deteriorate. II. Goddard, of London, in
1910, found an improvement in putting
bromide of silver, in addition TO the
iodide of silver, upon the plate. In 1S41
NJ Claudet used chlorine vapor to in
crease the sensitiveness of the plate,
thereby materially shortening the time
necessary for exposure, bringing IL from
five minutes down to one minute.
And in all this progress American
scientists were keeping well to the front.
Professor Morse, the inventor of the tele-
graph. set up in his room in the old uni
versity building on Washington Square,
New York, in 1880 the first daguerreOtype
apparatus in the United States, and with
Professor John w. Draper made the first
portrait of human face produced by
the process, which up TO that time had
only been successful in picturing statues
and other things that had to keep still
any desired length of time. Professor
Drapers wife was their first victim. The
appellation OF victim" is Justly applied,
for tho sitter's face was covered with a
white powder and she had TO sit in strong
sunlight, motionless. for half an hour.
To modify the painful effect OK tho glare
of light Professor Draper filtered out
most of the heat rays from the sunshine
poured upon the sitter by causing it to
pass through n glass tank containing a
clear blue liquid-but the process could
hardly have been pleasurable TO the vic
tim even then. 1t was not long, how
ever, before they got the time of exposure
cut down TO five minutes, then TO four,
three, and finally one. At that point il
was a practical thing for popular use in
making portraits.
So r1uch better was the work done by
the American daguerreotypers than that
produced in Europe, that over there its
superiority was affirmed to be due to
''thc greater brilliancy Of the American
atmosphere" and that was insisted upon
until some of the American artists went
over there and beat the Europeans on
their own ground But for a long time
the process continued To bo stupendOus
and amazing mystery to the general pub
lie. Among the crowds always staring
at the exposed sample pictures at the
daguerreotypcr' door. one would ex-
plain: You look in the machine and
the picture comes If you look long
enough" Another would say: 'It is
not so much tho looking. but the sun
burns it in when ycu look" And a
third: lit is not 50 much the looking.
bat the plate itself is looking glass.
and IL You sit il front OF il long
enough your shadow sticks on the
plate" And the dark room" where
The developing was done. provoked
many row through sitters resent
ing the supposed suspicion Of the artist
that they wanted to steal his art. when
be declined to leave the door standing
open that they might see him at work
J. II. COsSKILY.
What 60 Read sDd W hen 90 Road II
II your Affections grimly lead