Smyrna times., 1889-10-16
The Marve1s of Photography.

A letter just published in the New
YORK Tribune from Mr.. George R.
lockwood gives some interesting in
formation in regard to the history of
photography not generally known, and
ana at the same time discusses some of
Ihe latest inventions tending to widen
the use of this art in it's adaptabilitv to
the purposes of literature and science
1t ls not generally known that the art
oI making sun pictures, photography.
IN TACT, is a hundred years old Yet il
Is now put beyond question by docu
Inehts ana pictures which have sur
VlVed 0O years before Daguerre and
Nlepce, OF France, and Fox Talbot of
england, invented the art, photogra-
phy was successfully practiced. passed
away and was forgotten. In other
words it was lost art. which the av-
periments of the Frencbmen and
Enghshman revived in 1888. acting in
Gepehdently of each other and un-
known to each other. Daguerrre dis
covered the principle of the daguerre.
o type, and Talbot a species of sun
printing on paper. So far as thew
were concerned their inventions were
just as original as though thew had
never been known to man before Vet
real sun pictures on paper and on silver
plates have been brought 70 LIGHT
which have been in existence certainly
more than.a century. The discovery
concerning this forgotten era in pho
Iography was made, according to Mr.
hockWood, IN the year Of 1854 bv the
curator OF the British Museum of nat
ents and Inventions, and the prints and
plates, as well as documentary evi-
dence OF most conclusive kind are in
the possession OF museum. The pic
lures Which survive are copies of
Murlllo, West and others, and the
color does not sink into the paper. but
may be wiped from the surface bv a
damp finger. Concerned in the first
experiments were such inventors as
Wedgwood, Watt and others. of the
Lunar Society, the records of which
appertalnlng to pho tography are pre-
served. 1t is considered that of tho
results reached fifty years ago DAG.
uerre's was by far the most valuable
original and practicable; in fact. il is
doubtful If the inventions of the other
two would ever have been of practical
value but for Daguerre's more com
plete process. The fact NAV have
been forgotten that Prof Morse the
inventor of the telegraph, brought the
daguerrean process to this cOuntrv
hrst, and had the first gallery built in
America, "the first tabernacle of the
sun, as 1t was called, in the western
hemisphere. He was before the French
Academy in Paris with his telegram
at the same time Daguerre was there
win his sun pictures, and they ex-
changed ideas, or ''swapped them. i" as
the Interchange would have been called
very generally in America in those
days. The development in photoyra-
ply and the progress it is making
every day is shown not by the latest
Hash light novelty so much as in Drint. !
ing and engraving. Some of the won.
uers IN these lines are the reproduction
OF pictures for weekly and monthly
publications in few hours. Not onlv |
TINS, but whole books, letter press and |
have been entirely reDro- |
duced by photography, and at a price
ana with a rapidity truly astounding
Mr.. lockwood mentions the case of y
noted English publisher. who. Iearning
that one of his books had been renub.
llshed in America, declared that the
American edition was full of errors
knowing that a work of such magni-
tude could be put into tvpe and
hurriedly without errors. He
was greatly confused when informed
that the entire volume, page after
page, had been photo-engraved. The
Britannica, which has
Just been published in New York. was
reproduced by the same art. Mr
lockwood himself not long ago repro.
produced the whole of the oratorio of
- Elijah" music and words, and the
merit OF the work is not only in the
,heapness oft reproduction, but in
,he freedom from all anxiety concern
ng its accuracy. OF course no proof
reading is necessary, as the sun makes
40 mistakes. Invention is busy max
ng extensive improvements in the
ietalls Of this printing and engraving
branch of the art, so that letter. press
md pictures may be transferred to
PAPER on reels and printed from,
instead of plates with wonderful ra,
'idity, and of course with absolute
Iccuracy.-BaItimOre Sun.