168 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1891. 



THK CaiOWTri OK I'HOTOCKAPIIY. 



A good luauy people elustered thi.s inorniiig tibout u big ease iu the center of the 

 room. The growth of photograi^hie raechanism was there shown. The first camera 

 ever made in the United States — a jilain, clumsy, wooden box, bearing the date 

 1839 — stood alongside two portable tripod cameras of 1890 and looked much more 

 awkward. Tn the <(»rner is the contract of ]iartiierslii]) between Niepce and Dagu- 

 erre. 



On the upxjcr shelf in the same cast* a brass cylinder fully 2 feet in height stood 

 alongside a little scrap of mechanism that could be put in a little boy's vest pocket, 

 and unwieldy by contrast. .1 ust ])elow the old camera was the gem of the collection — 

 an original daguerreotype of Daguerre. It is in first-class cf)ndition and is a better 

 picture than many so-called photographers can products even now. The l»ig cylinder, 

 which is 6 inches in diameter, is a "rapid lens, made in 1846; the other is also a 

 rapid lens, but it was made this year, and is only an inch long and an incli in diam- 

 eter. Both lenses are for the same plate, viz, 10 by 12 inches. 



A hand camera in 1884. for a, 5 by 7 inch jilate, was as big as a full-grown valise. 

 Near the specimen in the case is :i baud caniera (»f 1890, and it is comparatively a 

 baby in point of size. 



The instantaneous "shutter" that was regariled as perfect in 1858, is nothing but 

 a brass slide with two holes in it for e.vposures. It is a crude looking affair when 

 compared with the beautiful piece of mechanism alongside it — the instantaneous 

 shutter of to-day, in which the movement of the iris of the eye is imitate<l pre- 

 cisely, aiul by which as short an exposure as the one hundred and fiftieth part of a 

 second is possible. 



The development of the Signal Service weather maps is made plain on a large 

 board, but there is no evidence to show that the weather has improved with the 

 maps. A row of mutilated poker chips is innnediately below the specimens of 

 ancient and modern meteorological prophesy. 



Side by side are the (uiginal .Joseph Francis life cai- and the car now in use liy the 

 U. S. Life-Saving Service. 



The Benjamin Franklin hand press is under glass iu the center of the room, and so 

 is a collection of time-indicators, sun dials, clepsydra, hour glasses, and watches. 

 With these latter is a chronoscope, an instrument that can cut a second into five 

 hundred parts. 



The Steinert collection of musical instruments is another center of attraction, from 

 the earliest keyed instruments, the clavichord of Mozart and Beethoven's tunes, 

 through the intermediary harpsichords and pianos down to the modein upright. 



A COM-ECTION OV TYPEWKITKRS. 



* 



A collection of typewriters has been assembled this afternoon, not fenuile opera- 

 tors, but the writing machines. Some of them arevery clumsy andhaveanextremely 

 antique appearance, although none of them are very old. 



Guns, revolvers, and knives are there iu choice variety. The history of electric 

 lighting is made plain, and a good many other lines of endeavor are clearly traced. 

 The collection is one of the most valuable and interesting ever gotten up by the 

 Museum authorities. New features are hourly being added. Chief Clerk Cox and 

 Prof. Otis T. Mason being busily engaged in the work of direction. 



Many of the object.s that formed a part of this loan collection have 

 fouud a place iu the permanent Museum collections. Among them may 

 be mentioned the collection of typewiiters made by Messrs. Wyckoff, 

 Seamans & Benedict, of New York, illustrating the development of 

 the type-bar writing m;icliin«\ Included among tlie numl>er are the 



