1839.] NOTES OF THE MONTH. PHOTOGENIC DRAWING. The most surprising invention of science since the time of Sir Humphrey Davy, is that of Photogenic, or, as we prefer calling it, Lucigraphic, Drawing, by means of the sun's rays, which his sagacious mind thought possible, but which he failed to perfect. His experiments, nevertheless, became the seed of new attempts, which resulted, by a wonderful coincidence, in a simultaneous announcement of the new art in Paris and London. The following particulars from the French and English papers will give some idea of this new discovery in the fine arts. [From a French Journal of February.] MR. DAGUERRE AND HIS NEW INVENTION.-For some time past, Mr. Daguerre's discovery has been the theme of much marvellous and contradictory report. We are happy to be able to state some facts relative to this really wonderful discovery. This artist, to whom the public is indebted for the splendid subjects of the Diorama, has for several years been engaged in making investigations into the properties of light, which he has pursued with all that ardour and patient perseverance which are the true characteristics of genius. After a series of observations made during nearly fifteen years, he succeeded in collecting and retaining upon a solid surface the natural light, and to embody the fugitive and impalpable, reflected on the retina of the eye, in a mirror, or in the apparatus of the camera obscura. Figure to yourself a glass, which, after having received your image, renders the portrait ineffaceable as a painting, with a resemblance, the most faithful to nature possible: such is the wonderful discovery of Mr. Daguerre. But what, it may eagerly be inquired, is the inventor's secret? what is the substance possessed of such astonishing susceptibility, as not only to become penetrated by the luminous ray, but also to retain its impression, operating at once like the eye and the optic nerve, as the material instrument of sensation and the sensation itself? With this we are unacquainted. Messrs. Arago and Biot have made a report to the Académie des Sciences, of the effects of Mr. D.'s discovery, but they have not defined the causes of the same; they have merely given descriptions. We are indebted to the kindness of the inventor for a sight of a collection of master-pieces, designed by Nature herself; all we can do is to state our impressions. As each successive picture met our view, it was a fresh burst of admiration. What delicacy in the halftints, what depth in the tone of the shadows! how rich and velvety the effect of the parts in high relief, how salient the alto-relievo! One of the figures was a crouching Venus, seen under various points of view, each of which was a multiplied statue.Nothing could be more magical. But, it may be asked-How do you know that this was not the work of some able artist? The question is readily answered. Mr. D. placed in our hands a magnifying glass of considerable power, and then could we perceive, as in the inimitable works of nature herself, all the finely blending lines, There was a view of Paris, taken from the Pont des invisible to the naked eye. Arts; the minutest details, the interstices of pavements and brick work, the effects of humidity from falling rain-all were reproduced as in nature. On viewing the same scene through an eye-glass, the inscription over a distant shop, altogether invisible on the model, was brought forward in its proper degree of perfection. In the same manner, by the aid of a solar microscope, the most minute objects were magnified several thousand fold; even gossamers floating in the air were rendered visible; and nebulæ rendered with marvellous exactitude. From what we have here stated, some idea may be formed of the immense importance of this discovery to the student of natural history. Professor Morse, of New York, well known to the scientific world as the inventor of the Elective Telegraph, having been in Paris when Daguerre's invention was announced, had an opportunity of examining his specimens of this new invention. The following extract of a letter from Mr. Morse to one of the New York papers, gives some interesting particulars of the effects produced. "They are produced on a metallic surface, the principal pieces about seven inches by five, and they resemble aquatint engravings; for they are in simple chiaro oscuro, and not in colors. But the exquisite minuteness of the delineation cannot be conceived. No painting or engraving ever approached it. For example: In a view up the street, a 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 a powerful lens, which magnified fifty times, applied to the delineation, every letter was clearly and distinctly legible, and so also were the minutest breaks and lines in the walls of the buildings and the pavements of the streets. The effect of the lens upon the picture was in a great degree like that of the telescope in nature. "Objects moving are not impressed. The Boulevard, so constantly filled with a moving throng of pedestrians and carriages, was perfectly 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 boot black, and the other on the ground. Consequently his boots and legs were well defined, but he is without body or head, because these were in motion. "The impressions of interior views are Rembrandt perfected. One of Mr. D.'s 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 microscope to the size of the palm of the hand, having been impressed on the plate, and examined through a lens, was further magnified, and showed a minuteness of organization hitherto not seen to exist. You perceive how this discovery is, therefore, about to open a new field of research in the depth of microscopic nature. We are soon to see if the minute has discoverable limits. The naturalist is to have a new kingdom to explore, as much beyond the microscope as the microscope is beyond the naked eye. "But I am near the end of my paper, and I have unhappily to give a melancholy close to my account of this ingenious discovery. M. Daguerre appointed yesterday at noon to see my Telegraph. He came, and passed more than an hour with me, expressing himself highly gratified 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 labor of years of experiment, were, unknown to him, at that moment becoming the prey of the flames. His secret, indeed, 18 still safe with him, but the steps of his progress in the discovery and his valuable researches in science are lost to the scientific world. I learn that his Diorama was insured, but to what extent I know not. I am sure all friends of science and improvement will unite in expressing the deepest sympathy in M. Daguerre's loss, and the sincere hope that such a liberal sum will be awarded him by his Government as shall enable him, in some degree at least, to recover from his loss." Mr. Fox Talbot, an English gentleman, perfectly unconscious of Mr. Daguerre's operations, made the same discovery, and, after some years experiments, had succeeded in bringing it to even greater perfection than the other-when the announcement in Paris of the French invention astonished Europe. It was accompanied by the expression of Mr. Daguerre's determination to keep his process a secret until he should receive a national compensation. Mr. Talbot immediately communicated to the Royal Society the results to which he had arrived, with a copious description of the experiments by which he had produced them. The following are extracts from a letter addressed by him to the Secretary of the Royal Society, containing the particulars: "The subject naturally divides itself into two heads, viz: the preparation of the paper, and the means of fixing the design: "(1.) Preparation of the paper.-In order to make what may be called ordinary photogenic paper, I select, in the first place, paper of a good, firm quality and smooth surface. I do not know that any answers better than superfine writing paper. I dip it into a weak solution of common salt, and wipe it dry, by which the salt is uniformly distributed throughout its substance. I then spread a solution of nitrate of silver on one surface only, and dry it at the fire. The solution should not be saturated, but six or eight times diluted with water. When dry, the paper is fit for use. "I have found, by experiment, that there is a certain proportion between the quantity of salt and that of the solution of silver, which answers best, and gives the maximum effect. If the strength of the salt is augmented beyond this point, the effect diminishes, and, in certain cases, becomes exceedingly smail. "This paper, if properly made, is very useful for all ordinary photogenic purposes. For example, nothing can be more perfect than the images it gives of leaves and flowers, especially with a summer sun: the light passing through the leaves delineates every ramification of their nerves. "Now, suppose we take a sheet of paper thus prepared, and wash it with a saturated solution of salt, and then dry it. We shall find (especially if the paper has been kept some weeks before the trial is made) that its sensibility is greatly diminished, and in some cases seems quite extinct. But if it is again washed with a liberal quantity of the solution of silver, it becomes again sensible to light, and even more so than it was at first. In this way, by alternately washing the paper with salt and silver, and drying it between times, I have succeeded in increasing its sensibility to the degree that is requisite for receiving the images of the camera obscura. "In conducting this operation, it will be found that the results are sometimes more and sometimes less satisfactory, in consequence of small and accidental variations in the proportions employed. It happens sometimes that the chloride of silver is disposed to darken of itself, without any exposure to light: this shows that the attempt to give it sensibility has been carried too far. The object is, to approach to this condition as near as possible without reaching it; so that the substance may be in a state ready to yield to the slightest extraneous force, such as the feeble impact of the violet rays wher much attenuated. Having, therefore, prepared a number of sheets of paper with chemical proportions slightly different from one another, let a piece be cut from each, and, having been duly marked or numbered, let them be placed side by side in a very weak, diffused light for about a quarter of an hour. Then, if any one of them, as frequently happens, exhibits a marked advantage over its competitors, I select the paper which bears the corresponding number to be placed in the camera obscura. "(2.) Method of fixing the images. After having tried ammonia, and several other re-agents, with very imperfect success, the first thing which gave me a suc. cessful result was the iodide of potassium, much diluted with water. If a photogenic picture were washed over with this liquid, an iodide of silver is formed which is absolutely unalterable by sunshine. This process requires precaution; for if the solution is too strong, it attacks the dark parts of the picture. It is requisite, therefore, to find by trial the proper proportions. The fixation of the pictures in this way, with proper management, is very beautiful and lasting. The specimen of lace which I exhibited to the Society, and which was made five years ago, was preserved in this manner. "But my usual method of fixing is different from this, and somewhat simpler, or at least requiring less nicety. It consists in immersing the picture in a strong solution of common salt, and then wiping off the superfluous moisture, and drying it. It is sufficiently singular that the same substance which is used in giving sensibility to the paper, should also be capable, under other circumstances, of destroying it; Dat such is, nevertheless, the fact. "Now, if the picture which has been thus washed and dried is placed in the sun, the white parts color themselves of a pale lilac tint, after which they become insensible. Numerous experiments have shown to me that the depth of this lilac tint varies according to the quantity of salt used relatively to the quantity of silver. But, by properly adjusting these, the images may, if desired, be retained of an absolute whiteness. I find I have omitted to mention that those preserved by rodine are always of a very pale primrose yellow; which has the extraordinary and very remarkable property of turning to a full gaudy yellov whenever it is exposed to the heat of a fire, and recovering its former color again when it is cold." The Literary Gazette mentions that Sir John Herschel has devoted his attention to the subject, and has already, as it states, made curious progress, inasmuch as he has obtained the pictures from the light of Daniell's great galvanic battery. Sir David Brewster, too, we are informed, has taken up the investigation; and when such men set to work we may look for much to follow. HENNEPIN'S TRAVELS. Since writing the Article on Hennepin's Travels, in our last, we have been so fortunate as to procure a copy of the Recueil de Voyages àu Nord, in the fifth volume of which was republished the copy of Tonti, to which we supposed the map, mentioned by the North American Review as correcting the erroneous latitude of the text, must have been attached. We find that there was no map attached to this edition; and, further, that, although published in the year 1734-thirty-seven years after the original edition in Paris-it gives the same latitude for the mouth of the Mississippi, viz: between the twenty-second and twenty-third degrees, on which an important point of the controversy turned. The views in favor of Hennepin's authenticity, given in our Number for April, receive, therefore, an additional corroboration; and, as the question is curious, the North American Review will oblige the literary public by giving all the necessary information relative to this map, and the edition to which it was attached, which it would appear, from the text of its article, to have seen as well as the editor of Joutel's Journal. The views expressed in our last, respecting Hennepin's Travels, having excited some attention, we are gratified in being able to state, that a friend, about to visit Paris, has promised to interest himself in examining minutely the existing records of early French exploration in the West-an examination which cannot fail to be productive of very interesting results, which, we trust, in good time, to communicate to our readers NOTICE. It is proper to state, that one of the Editors of the Democratic Review, Mr. O'SULLIVAN, has been compelled, by impaired health rendering it necessary for him to go abroad, to withdraw from the duties, and consequently from the responsibility, of that position. All communications, therefore, which have, heretofore, been addressed to the Editors jointly, will, henceforward, be addressed to Mr. Langtree singly. I. RECENT AMERICAN POETRY. Bianca Visconti, or the Heart Overtasked, by N. P. Willis. The Ruins of Athens; Tilania's Banquet, a mask; and other Geraldine, Athenia of Damascus, and Miscellaneous Poems, II. LORD DURHAM'S REPORT. Report on the Affairs of British North America, from the III. SONG TO ALICE. IV. SCENE FROM 'DON CARLOS." V. SONG. I met thee and thy brow was calm. VII. NOTES OF THE MONTH. Montgomery's Guatemala.-Al Abri-Photogenic Drawing.-Western Literature.- TITLE PAGE AND TABLE OF CONTENTS TO VOLUME V. Page 539 542 595 580 589 587 THIS NUMBER CONTAINS SIX SHEETS, OR NINETY-SIX PAGES. |