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PROGRESS OF PHOTOGRAPHY; AMERICAN DAGUERREOTYPES, &c.

[Claps X.

at first appear as if a vast and powerful rival had risen upagainst and was destined to depress her in exact propor-tion to the superiority of the operations of nature overthose of man. In its success, we perhaps expect to beholda transcript of objects and compositions more elaborate andmore truthful than any the greatest genius could everhope to achieve. United to this, and in addition to therich Vandyke browns and Claude Lorraine tints of manyof the works now before us, by the agency of chemicalswhose existence is yet unknown, we may see foreshadoweda perfection of colouring as yet never imagined. Byimprovements in the camera and the daily increasingpractical knowledge of experimenters, we may expect tobehold compositions, embodying a degree of reality other-wise beyond our power of attainment. The truthfuldelineation of the various and just relations of the archi-tectural edifice; the groups of figures at its base; themiddle distance blended into the horizon by gradations sofine and truthful as to defy the utmost efforts on ourpart to surpass or even equal; are indications only of thatwhich will utimately be achieved by the photographist,rich in experience and knowledge of the processes ofphotographic art.

But this is a superficial and imperfect view of the case,—not as regards the ultimate perfection of photographyitself, but as concerning its influence upon art. "With art,doubtless, its future destiny will be closely linked; butso far from becoming a rival, it will prove a most usefulauxiliary, and a means by which the artist of merit mayrise higher in reputation and eminence. By using pho-tography as a means of replacing the purely mechanicalparts of his labour, the work of the artist may be muchlightened; and as, by speedy transit from place to place,man’s life is virtually lengthened, so by relieving hispath from that part of his labour which involves an ex-penditure of time disproportionate to the end attained,one great obstacle to the achievement of success is re-moved. Never need the artist fear that the employmentof its services in conjunction with his pencil, or hisadaptation of it in any way to his art, will ever derogatefrom that art, or render him a servile copyist; we mayrather predict that each improvement in photography willtend to place both the painter’s and the sculptor’s art ona firmer and surer basis. It is likely that time will showthat this beautiful coinpoimd of art and science will essen-tially cast its weight into the balance of art, and in futurerender itself more and more inseparable from, and essen-tial to, her interests.

That Photography will have a great tendency to depressmediocrity, we may safely predict; that, from the date ofthe general application of Photography to the illustrationof scenes daily passing around us, will commence a newera in pictorial representation; that it will greatly enrichus with authentic records of works, that would otherwisepass away without a single detaining effort from the handof the artist, owing to their being of too transient a natureto admit of the accuracy and detail necessary to give itvalue in future ages;—is attested by the various and ex-cellent representations which we now possess of theExhibition building itself, in all its stages, by the faithfuland well-executed photographic pictures of MM. Martens,Claudet, &c. Great is its usefulness as applied to tran-sitory scenes of the above kind, and incalculable will bethe advantage posterity is sure to reap from the ever in-creasing collection of such truly graphic representations ;and great service, too, will the plain and truthful recordsof Photography afford to the historian of future ages.As applied to the illustration of works of the present day,it may be of two-fold service. By its application may hesuperseded the works of individuals, in whose handsillustration is rendered a mere trade, and the directing ofwhose exertions into another channel would be a meansof removing many obstructions which hinder the advanceof art. At the same time, the many books we possess forthe education of the young, which are crowded withillustrations unfortunately but too well calculated toproduce most erroneous impressions, would at once giveway before the truthful representations of photography,which, by diffusing a more correct taste, would renderessential aid to art herself.

Let us now view Photography in its applications toscience. A process by which transient actions are ren-dered permanent, and which enables nature to do her ownwork, or in other words, which causes facts permanentlyto record themselves,—is too well fitted for the purposesof science to be long overlooked; but the difficulties to heovercome in its application, have been, and still are great,and the results proportionably few in number; we con-sider, however, that the commencement of a systematicapplication of the photographic process to the purposes ofastronomy is indicated by the daguerreotype of the moonby Mr. Whipple (451, p. 1464); and great indeed will bethe benefit conferred upon astronomical science, when weobtain permanent representations of the celestial bodiesand their relative positions, transmitted through theagency of light.* Another illustration is afforded by theself-registering apparatus of Mr. Brooke (pp. 422-42G),in which nature is made to perform the operations of acorps of observers, by an application of what must beconsidered a few only of the first principles of photo-graphy. That its application in causing instrumentswhich are continuous and delicate in their action, to re-gister their own work, must he attended with advantages—is evident to every reflecting mind ; and points to someof the further advantages science is likely to derive fromthe ultimate perfection of the photographic processes.

As applied to the preservation of documentary collec-tions, and thus indirectly to the purposes of literature, itsuse is too important to be passed over in silence. Howoften has the historian, in his search after authenticpapers, and original documents, found them only to regretthat, to posterity he must be the chronicler of events, thevouchers for which will have perished by the unavoidableravages of time, or, as in too many cases, by supineneglect. To make use of the means afforded by photo-graphy to procure fac-similes of these is a duty we owenot only to posterity, but to our forefathers. Again—asapplied to valuable documents of the present day, eithertestamentary or legislative, how important to secure pho-tographic transcripts of these, which, being of indisputableauthority, shall be also perfectly unavailable for any pur-pose other than that intended.

Let us now turn our attention to the collection beforeus, in which for daguerreotype portraits, America standsprominently forward;—France , first in order of merit forcalotypes, or sun-pictures;—England, possessing a distinctcharacter of her own, and presenting illustrations of nearlyall the processes which have as yet been adopted. America stands alone for stem development of character; herworks, with few exceptions, reject all accessories, presenta faithful transcript of the subject, and yield to none inexcellence of execution. France , in her daguerreotypes,of which she has but few, offers bright sunny representa-tions; their effect rather injured than improved by toogreat masses of sunlight; but in her calotypes she standsunrivalled, and all but rejecting the processes of Daguerre ,has concentrated all her energies in the further develop-ment of those of Talbot and his school.

Eminent amidst the exhibitors of calotypes, is M.Martens (G10, p. 1207), whose works we may say withcertainty, have never been surpassed; their colour, arrange-ment, and perfect finish, call forth the highest admiration:his success is not confined to one class of delineation inparticular, the individual works comprising his collection,being nearly all of equal merit.

On turning to the photography exhibited by the UnitedKingdom , we find Claudet (296, p. 440) leading theway, and adding to the many improvements introducedby him into the various processes of the art by presentingthe image direct instead of inverted: this is the distin-guishing feature of his collection, and is the result ofpatient and untiring research in that class of investigationpeculiar to himself.

* The success of this application of photography must hedependent, to a considerable extent, on the object-glass ofthe telescope. The Report on Telescopes will show whetherthe improvements in this department of optics are com-mensurate with the requirements of photographic repre-sentations of this class.