Daily Republican., 1889-09-16
something Abou. rA otography.

The science OF making pictures by the
Daguerrean process, although only about
ffty years old, has made remarkable
progress. In 1889 Daguerre first pre-
sented his invention TO the world, but
tried in vain for some time to obtain
recognition. AT last, however, he called
upon the illustrious astronomer and man
Of science, Arago, who was thunder
struck at first sight Of the DaQuerreotype
plate, and expressed the greatest admira-
tion. The astronomer sent Daguerre to
the home minister, who offered him o
pension for life to disclose his secret.
On June Is, 1889, bill was presented In
the house relating to the new discovery,
In which the following paragraph ap-
pears;
"This invention Is not one which can
be protected by q patent. As soon as 1t
is known anybody can make use of 1t.
II thus follows that this process must be-
long to all the world, or remain un-
known"
Previous 10 Daugerre's invention
Niepce, another Frenchmau, had been
experimenting, and discovered process
| by which he could secure the outlines OF
an object In about twelve hours, but the
improvements made by Daguerre made
1t possible to obtain faithful representa-
tion of the entire object In as many
minutes. He, however, agreed to share
whatever benefit that might be derived
from the invention with Niepce, oonse-
quently the House, In view OF this agree
| meut granted Diguerre life pension OF
| Q, 600 francs and NIepcs 1900 francs q
year Thus. through the generosity OF
the Frsneh -Gevernment this valuable
Invention became the property OF the
world. II was decided to publish the
eecret and explain the process at the
Academy OF Sclsnces on August 10. 1889,
and on that day the building was crowded
| by the most eminent men OF France, In
cluding tho members of the Academy OF
| Fine Aria
At the appointed time Daguerre made
his appearance and fully described this
greatest Of molern inventions. The en-
tire proceedings were published In the
papers, and In lees than q mouth cameras
and the necessary apparatus for taking
pictures were displayed for sale In the
opticians windows. These were eagerly
bought by the people, and for 9 time II
seemed that all Paris had caught the
the Daguerreo.ype fever. A celebrated
painter of that day, upon looking at oIe
Of the pictures exclaimed: painting is
dead from this day." From France the
art was brought to this country, aud
then Yankee ingenuity commenced to
study ont some means Of improving on
the original Invention. The pictures
taken by the Daguerrean process.were OBJ
jeciionablo, as they were only visible by
being held at certain angle; and again
they were t permanent, as IL was found
they faded withe age.
Experiments were made which resulted
ia the ambrotype, and In course Of time
this was followed by the photograph,
upon which Dumbarless improvements
have been made within the past few
years. The twelve hours required by
Nitpce to secure the outlines OF an objCci
has been reductd to the one hundrtdtf
part OF q second to make q perfect pic
ture. Race horses flying around tn,
course are taken with the same ease al
though they were standing still, aud Il
really seems as though the science hai
reached perfection.
4 The art was iutred duced into this cit,
over forty years ago, and in 1869 A. p
BaeeheE lonatsd Al No. $40 Market street
bringing with him all tine Improvement
that had been introduced In the larg
, cities. This place bad formerly been KEEP
ty Mr.. Sexton, with whom Mr.. Beeeher'
brother Jacob had been connected for
l
Mr.. A. P. Beeeher learned the bushes
in Philadelphia In 1853, at the time wheI
little beyond dsguerreotypes wer'
known. In that year he left his nativ'
town In Connecticut for q visit to hi
cousin In the Quaker City, and was IN
duced by him to learn the business. HI
carried on business in several towns o.
New York and Pennsylvania, aud pre-
vious to coming 10 this city visited Souti
America, where he did an excellent Dusi
ness. His brother Jacob, who is still
associated with him, has been in tht
business over ~ years, nearly all o
which time has been passed IN this city
Tho Messrs. Beechcr, having been In the
business so long, have witnessed all tht
improvements that have been made II
the past 81 years, and from them tht
greater part of this brief history of pho
Biography was obtained.