The Portland daily press., 1893-10-05
The Daguerrotype.

ers of that date eagerly sought and pub
lished every item of news in regard to 1T.
The master minds of the period were
astonished at it's results and its apparent
capabilities. An English journal says;
"Daguerre's ingenious discovery contln-
ues to excite very great curiosity and
admiration. It is affirmed that the En-
peror of Russia has offered him 500, ooO
francs for his Secret and he has declined
the munifcent offer. Sir John Herschel
has turned his attention to the subject,
and has already obtained pictures from
the light of Daniels great galvanic
battery. Sir David Brewster, too, has
commenced an investigation into the
matter" In America a new field for in
vestigation opened. College professors,
chemists, scientific men, in fact all
kinds OF men commencing experiment.
ing with the silver plate and camera.
The camera IN many instances pelnS
"home made'n and often constructed
from cigar box. When the experiment
ter succeeded in getting visible impress
sion, it was carried in his pocket and
shown to all friends as the result of his
skill in working the new wonder.
In March. 1910, Messrs. Woicott & john
son opened a gallery in New York, and
ammo dnced their readiness to execute
daguerrotype portraits for the public.
This was the first daguerrotype gallery
in the world
The great interest of the public was
shown by the way the crowds besleged
the door of gallery where small frame
containing half a dozen pictures was
exhibited Everybody seemed anxious
to get sight of the mysterious pict-
ures The remarks they made We're very
on the plate if you sit i'll front of the
machine. Another, If you look at the
glass steadily you grin yourself on the
plate. Another settles it all by saying,
The plate is a lookingglass and your
shadow sticks on the plate if you keep
still long enough" These and other re-
marks showed how little the general
public knew about the difficult, delicate,
mystic daguerrotype. The dark room
was also a matter beyond the compre-
hsnsion of the public. We were often
asked what we did in there. Many sup
posed we did some hocus-pocus or
slight-of-hand work, used some mysteri-
GUS words, or performed an incarnation
to conjure up the picture. There was
great anxiety to get peep into that clo-
set, where the supposed mystery was per-
of light would fog the picture or destroy
it entirely.
With Yankee promptness galleries were
soon opened in different parts of the
city. Professor Morse made pictures
for the public in the building on The
northeast corner of Beekman and Nassau
streets. He did not continue to practice
it long, as his telegraph invention abb
sorbed his whole time and attention. He
continued to take great interest in the
photograph as long as he lived. de
often called and remained for hours ex-
amining each and every new phase OF the
process. One day he was present when
picture of lady was made SO perfect
as to show the eyselashes; he quietly
studied it for awhile and then used the
well-remembered first dispatch across the
ocean through his telegraph wire,. What
hath God wrought.
Improvement came fast and the daguer-
rOtype became popular. Every family
had it's collection and an evening, visit
would bring them all to your notice for
admiration and criticism. Brady's fam
GUS gallery on the southwest corner OF
Broadway and Fulton streets is we'll re-
membered. Quincy, on Broadway. fac
ing John street, Plumb, at Murray street,
and many others were all crowded with
customers every clear day.
The time of setting (by successful ex-
periments) were reduced from three
and four minutes to half a hour minute,
and soon after to ten or twelve seconds.
All successful operators were kept busy
from morning until sunset; sitters were
often Obliged to wait for hours for an OPP
portunity to sit.
For several years all pictures were
made by slide windows, but skylights
were afterwards built as they fur
nished more light and gave better
effects One of the first skylights in
New York was built on top of granite
building corner of Broadway and Cham
bers street. 1t was made to revolve on
a track to enable the operator to follow
the sun in its travels. Elevators were
not in use then, and the aspirant for a
picture must cline half dozen flights of
Stairs to be immortalized by a daguer
rotype.
The American daguerrotypists soon
beat the world in execution At the great
Worlds Fair held in London, 1865, the
New York daguerrotypists carried off
the gold medal. And at that date the
gold medal meant great deal.
The introduction of the photograph on
paper about 1860 entirely superseded the
silver picture, and they were no longer in
demand. The writer still considers the
well executed daguerreotype the best
picture ever made with a camera. 1t
was made on plate with silver surface;
the plate must be perfectly clean and
buffed to extreme sensitiveness. 1t was
then coated with the vapors Of iodine
and bromine. After being exposed in
the camera, the image was developed
over the fumes of hot mercury. A solu-
ton of hyposulphite of soda removed the
chemicals, the picture remaining. It
was then coated with a solution of
chloride of gold, and it will not fade. 1t
does become furnished and to all appear,
ance gone, but the tarnish can be removed
bv person understanding the proper
mode Of procedure, and the picture is still
there They can be restored to their
original perfection and will last for
hundreds of years. I have scores of
them made in 1s4s and The following
day they came from the camera. An
incident well remembered was when a
lady bought case said to contain a
picture; it was completely covered by a
film and nothing could be seen on the
plate. She had been told that l could
restore it.. In a few minutes showed
it to her just as perfect as it ever was
She tainted on seeing it, as it was her
49,