The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1898-05-04
MORSE AND DAGUERRE.
AN Interesting Interview Between the
Two Discoverers In 1899.

The following is an extract from
private letter of Professor S. T. B.
Morse to the editor of the New York
Observer, dated Paris, March 8,
1899:
"You have perhaps heard of the
daguerreotype, so called, from tho
discoverer, NJ. Daguerre 1t is one
OF the most beautiful discoveries Of
the age. l don't know if you re-
member some experiments of mine
in New Haven many years ago,
when had my painting room next
to Professor Silliman's - expert
ments to ascertain if it were posi-
bic to fix the image of the camera
obscura. I was able to produce diff
ferent degrees of shade on paper
dipped into solution of nitrate of
silver by means of different degrees
of light, but, finding that light pro-
duced dark and dark light, I pre-
sumed the production of a true i'm
age to be impracticaole and gave up
the attempt. M. Daguerre has real
lied in the most exquisite manner
this idea.
ga few days ago 1 addressed a
note to him requesting, as a
stranger, the favor to sec his results
and inviting him in return to sec
my telegraph. l was politely invited
to see them under these circum-
stances, for he had determined not
to show them again until the cham
bcrs had passed definitely on the
proposition for the government to
purchase the secret of the discovery
and make it public The day before
yesterday, the 9TH, I called Oh M.
Daguerre, at his rooms in the Do
rama, to see these admirabler results.
They are produced on metallic
surface, the principal pieces about
2 inches by 5, and they resemble
aqua tint engraving, for they are in
simple chiara oscuro and not in col
ors. But the exquisite minuteness
of the delineation cannot be con-
ceived. No painting OF engraving
ever approached it. For example,
in view UP the street distant
sign would be perceived, and the
eye could just discern that there
were lines of letters upon it, but so
minute as not to be read with the
naked eye. By the assistance of
powerful lens, which magnified SO
times, applied to the delineation,
every letter was clearly and dis
tinctly legible, and SO also were the
minutest breaks and lines in the
walls of the building and the pave
ments of the street. The effect of
the lens upon the picture was in
great degree like that of the tele-
scope in nature.
"Objects moving are not impress
ed. The boulevard, so constantly
filled with moving throng of pc
destrians and carriages, was perfect
ly solitary, except an individual
who was having his boots brushed.
His feet were compelled, of course,
to be stationary for some time, one.
being on the box of the bootblack
and the other on the ground. Con-
sequently his boots and legs are
we'll defined, but he is without body
or head, because these were in mo-
ton.
1.-THE impressions of interior views
are Rembrandt perfected. One Of
the plates is an impression of a
spider. The spider was not bigger
than the head of a large pin, but the
image, magnified by the solar micro
scope to the size of the palm of the
hand, having been impressed on the
plate and examined through lens,
was further magnified and showed
minutencss of organization hither-
to moi seen to exist.
''You perceive how this discovery
is therefore about to open Il new
field of research in the depths of
microscopic nature. We are soon to
see if the minute has discovered linn
its. The naturalist is to have new
kingdom to explore as much be-
yond the microscope as the micro
scope is beyond the naked eye.
sBut am near the end of my pa
per, and I have unhappily to give a
melancholy close to my account of
this ingenious discovery. M. Da-
guerre appointed yesterday at noon
to see my telegraph. He came and
passed more than an hour with me,
expressing himself highly gratifed
at its operation, but while he was
thus employed the great building OF
the Diorama, with his own house,
all his beautiful works, his valuable
notes and papers, the labors of
years of experiment, were, unknown
to him, at that moment becoming
tho prey of the flames. His secret,
indeed, is still safe with him, but
the steps of his progress in the dis
,tovery and his valuable researches
in science are lost to the scientific
world. | learn that the Diorama
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