108 Mr. Henry Bradbury [May 1 1 , 



out its history, and detailing the earlier experiments connected with 

 it, Mr. Bradbury hoped to show that he did not put forward per- 

 sonally any claim either to its origin or to its first application ; but, 

 that he spoke as one who, having perceived its value, was desirous 

 to render it an available auxiliary to the printing-press. 



Nature herself, in her mysterious operations, seems to have given 

 the first hint upon the subject : witness the impressions of Ferns so 

 beautifully and accurately to be seen in the coal-formations. 



Experiments to print direct from nature were made as far back 

 as about two hundred and fifty years— it is certain that the present 

 success of the art is mainly attributable to the general advance of 

 science, and the perfection to which it has been brought in par- 

 ticular instances. 



On account of the great expense attending the production of 

 woodcuts of plants in early times, many naturalists suggested the 

 possibility of making direct use of nature herself as a copyist. In 

 the Book of Art, of Alexis Pedemontanus, (printed in the year 

 1572,) and translated into German by Wecker, may be found the 

 first recorded hint as to taking impressions of plants. 



At a later period — in the Journal des Voyages, by M. de Mon- 

 coys, in 1650, it is mentioned that one Welkenstein, a Dane, gave 

 instruction in making impressions of plants. 



The process adopted to produce impressions of plants at this 

 period, consisted in laying out flat and drying* the plants. By 

 holding them over the smoke of a candle, or an oil lamp, they 

 became blackened in an equal manner all over ; and by being 

 placed between two soft leaves of paper, and by being rubbed down 

 with a smoothing-bone, the soot was imparted to the paper, and 

 the impression of the veins and fibres was so transferred. 



Linnaeus, in his Philosophia Botanica, relates that in America, in 

 1707, one Hessel made impressions of plants ; and between 1728 and 

 1757, Professor Kniphof, at Erfurt, who refers to the experiments of 

 Hessel, in conjunction with the bookseller Fiinke, established a 

 printing-ofiice for the purpose. He produced a work entitled Her- 

 barium Vivum [a copy of which was laid before the Members]. 

 The range and extent of his work, twelve folio volumes, and con- 

 taining 1200 plates, corroborates the curious fact of a printing-oflftce 

 being required. These impressions were obtained in a manner very 

 similar, but with the substitution of printer's ink for lamp-black, 

 and flat pressure for the smoothing-bone. A new feature at this 

 time was introduced — that of colouring the impressions by hand, 

 according to Nature — a proceeding which though certainly con- 



* Although the plants were dried in everj- case, Mr. Bradbury stated, that 

 it was by no means absolutely necessary, as he proved by the simple experi- 

 ment of applying lamp-black or printer's ink to a fresh leaf, and producing a 

 successful impression. 



