1839, 31 de Maio - FARMERS’ REGISTER

1839 31 de Maio

FARMERS’ REGISTER T. VII Nº. 5 Pag. 258

THE DAGUERREOTIPE. From the New York Observer The following is na extract from a private letter of Professor S. F. B. Morse to the editor of the Observer, dated, Paris, March 9th. “ You have perhaps heard of the Daguereotipe, so called from the discoverer, M. Daguerre. It is one of the most beautiful discoveries of the age. I don’t know if you recollect some experiments of mine in New Haven, many years ago, when I had my painting room nest to prof. Silliman’s experiments to ascertainif it were possible to fix the image of the Camera Obscura. I was able to produce different degrees of shade on paper, dipped into a solution of nitrate of silver, by means of different gegrees of light; but finding that light produced dark, and dark light, I presumed the production of a true image to be impracticable, and gave up the attempt. M. Daguerre has realized in the most exquisite manner this idea. “ a few days ago I adressed a note to Mr. D. requesting, as a stranger, the favor to see his results, and inviting him in turn to see my Telegraph. I was politely invited to see them under these circumstances, for he had determined not to show them again, until the Chambers had passed definitely on a proposition for the government to purchase the secret of the discovery, and make it public. The day before yesterday, the 7th, I called on M. Daguerre, at his rooms in the Diorama, to see these admirable results. “ They are produced on a metallic surface, the principal pieces about 7 inches by 5, and they resemble aquatint engravings, for they are in simple chiaro obscuro, and not in colors. But the exquisite minutences of the delineation cannot be conceived. No painting or engraving ever approached it. For exemple: 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 50 times, applied to the delineation, every letter was clearly and distinctly legible, and so also were the minutest braks and lines in the walls of the buildings and the pavements of the street. 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 fet were compelled, of course, to be stationary for some time, one being on the box of the boot-black, and other on the ground. Consequently, his boots and legs are 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 then the head of a large pin; but the image, magnified by the sloar 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 depths 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 appionted 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 valuables 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 is 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 extend I know not. I am sure all friends of science and improvement will unite in expressing the deepest synpathy in M. daguerre’s lose, 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.” In the same vessel which brought the abive letter, the writer himself arrived. From him we have received some additional information respecting this veryinteresting discovery, which we cannot at present communicate. We have only room to say, that we are even more impressed with the value of the invention as a means of procuring, without labor or expense, perfect and satisfactory panoramas of all the most interesting places and scenery on the globe, and, if we apprehend its power correctly, perfect representations of the human countenance, than with its power to reveal the secrets of ”microscopic nature.” With what delight will the eye dwell on the panoramas of Jerusalem, Thebes, Constantinople, Rome, and other cities of the old world, delineated with unerring fidelity by the Daguerreotipe? With what interest shall we visit the gallery of portraits of distinguished men of all countries, drawn, not with man’s feeble, false, and flattering pencil, but with the power anf truth of light from heaven ! It may not be long before we shall witness in this city the exhibition of such panoramas and such portraits.