Lancaster daily intelligencer. [volume] (Lancaster, Pa.) 1864-1928, 1889-07-13
CELEBRATED BY A WORLD
SEMl-CENTENNlAl OF THE ART OF
SUN PICTURE MAKING.
Louis jacques Maude Daguerre-Joseph
Nicephore Niepce-Niany nsperimentsrs
Before Them - Curious Stwries About
Ancient Pictures Made by Sunlight.
Especial correspondence.


Especial Correspondence
New YORK, July 1.-THE present
year is being celebrated as a semi-cen-
tenary after fashion that is. in sew
eral points, rather remarkable. The cell
ebration is not confined to any one coun-
try. but is scattered all over the globe;
1t is not limited to any narrow bounds Of
specific date, but has spread over at least
the first half Of the year; hundreds Of
thousands of persons are the celebrants.
and yet. outside the devotees of partic-
ular branch Of scientific art, the public
knowsvery little of what is going on in
this world wide demonstration.
This is the semi-centenary year of the
discovery of the art Of making pictures
by sunlight II is also the centenary Of
the birth Of Louis Jacques Maude Da-
guerre, the discoverer of that art. These
considerations have aroused the enthusi-
asm not only of the enormous regular
army Of knights of the camera, the pro-
fessional photographers, but Of the yet
more vast multitude of amateurs, whose
joy and pride IN their beloved art finds
delighted expression this year in an intin-
itude of papers. which they read to each
other. and experiences which they mu-
tually narrate in all languages, and APP
propriate resolutions without number
To give solidity and permanencet to their
memories Of the glorious occasion, the
Photographers Association, of America
have prepared splendid Jubilee medals"
in gold and silver, bearing head of Da-
i,-r rnliava ,,,LiAh ,.,l
uted among them at their annual con-
vention in Boston, in August.
The art crystallized into practically
by Daguerre had been the dream of
many men before him, and there were
not wanting legends of its measurable
accomplishment in strange ways by
Others. 1t is recorded that one La Roche,
hundreds Of years ago. did put into
bowl some solution the secret of which
was known to him alone, the which when
steadily gazed upon by any one would
CONCEAL, retaining in its depths visible,
clear and perfect picture of the gazer.
If La Roche ever did anything Of the
sort he was in all probability piously
burned as one in league with the foul
fend. but the chances are that he never
did. Another of the historical myths In
this connection is that NJ. Charles, a
Frenchman, did in 1890 possess some
process by which sunlight produced por-
traits in dark impression upon a pre-
pared surface. The yogees of India
have from time immemorial claimed the
power to produce pictures by occult
means out Of the "astral current" or
ether, and to fix them permanently upon
material surfaces by sheer force Of will;
but one has to have quite robust faith
to believe it. In 1902 Thomas Wedge
wood published in the journal Of the
Royal institute of England "an account
of method of copying paintings upon
glass and Of making profile by the agen.
cy Of light upon nitrate of silver, with
observations by II. Davy." That was
the first recorded attempt to produce
images by the decomposing powers Of
light
In 1914 Joseph Nicephore Niepce, of
Chalons-sur- -Saone, France, entered upon
series of interesting and important ex-
periments on the chemical action Of light,
particularly with referslce To its nran.