History and Practice of the Art of Photography | Page 5

chalk in aquafortis to the consistence of milk, and add to it a
strong solution of silver; keep this liquor in a glass bottle well stopped;
then cutting out from a piece of paper the letters you would have appear,
paste it on the decanter, and lay it in the sun's rays in such a manner
that the rays may pass through the spaces cut out of the paper and fall
on the surface of the liquor the part of the glass through which the rays
pass will be turned black, while that under the paper remains white; but
particular care must be observed that the bottle be not moved during the
operation."
Had not the alchemists been so intent upon the desire to discover the
far famed philosopher's stone, as to make them unmindful of the
accidental dawnings of more valuable discoveries, this little experiment
in chemistry might have induced them to prosecute a more thorough
search into the principle, and Photogenic art would not now, as it is, be
a new one.
It is even asserted that the Jugglers of India were for many ages in
possession of a secret by which they were enabled, in a brief space, to
copy the likeness of any individual by the action of light. This fact, if
fact it be, may account for the celebrated magic mirrors said to be
possessed by these jugglers, and probable cause of their power over the

people.
However, as early as 1556 the fact was established that a combination
of chloride and silver. called, from its appearance, horn silver, was
blackened by the sun's rays; and in the latter part of the last century Mrs.
Fulhame published an experiment by which a change of color was
effected in the chloride of gold by the agency of light; and gave it as
her opinion that words might be written in this way. These incidents are
considered as the first steps towards the discovery of the Photogenic
art.
Mr. Wedgwood's experiments can scarcely be said to be any
improvement on them since he failed to bring them to practical
usefulness, and his countrymen will have to be satisfied with awarding
the honor of its complete adaptation to practical purposes, to MM.
Niepce and Daguerre of France, and to Professors Draper, and Morse of
New-York.
These gentlemen--MM. Niepce and Daguerre--pursued the subject
simultaneously, without either, however being aware of the
experiments of his colleague in science. For several years, each pursued
his researches individually until chance made them acquainted, when
they entered into co-partnership, and conjointly brought the art almost
to perfection.
M. Niepce presented his first paper on the subject to the Royal Society
in 1827, naming his discovery Heliography. What led him to the study
of the principles of the art I have no means, at present, of knowing, but
it was probably owing to the facts recorded by the Alchemists, Mrs.
Fulhame and others, already mentioned. But M. Daguerre, who is a
celebrated dioramic painter, being desirous of employing some of the
singularly changeable salts of silver to produce a peculiar class of
effects in his paintings, was led to pursue an investigation which
resulted in the discovery of the Daguerreotype, or Photogenic drawing
on plates of copper coated with silver.
To this gentleman--to his liberality--are we Americans indebted for the
free use of his invention; and the large and increasing class of
Daguerrean artists of this country should hold him in the most profound
respect for it. He was not willing that it should be confined to a few
individuals who might monopolise the benefits to be derived from its
practice, and shut out all chance of improvement. Like a true, noble

hearted French gentleman he desired that his invention should spread
freely throughout the whole world. With these views he opened
negociations with the French government which were concluded most
favorably to both the inventors, and France has the "glory of endowing
the whole world of science and art with one of the most surprising
discoveries that honor the land."
Notwithstanding this, it has been patented in England and the result is
what might have been expected: English pictures are far below the
standard of excellence of those taken by American artists. I have seen
some medium portraits, for which a guinea each had been paid, and
taken too, by a celebrated artist, that our poorest Daguerreotypists
would be ashamed to show to a second person, much less suffer to
leave their rooms.
CALOTYPE, the name given to one of the methods of Photogenic
drawing on paper, discovered, and perfected by Mr. Fox Talbot of
England, is precisely in the same predicament, not only in that country
but in the United States, Mr. Talbot being patentee in both. He is a man
of some wealth,