Art of Photogenic Draioitig, 1 99 



§ 2. Effect and Appearance of these Images. 



The images obtained in this manner are themselves white, 

 but the ground upon which they display themselves is va- 

 riously and pleasingly coloured. 



Such is the variety of which the process is capable, that 

 by merely varying the proportions and some trifling details of 

 manipulation, any of the following colours are readily attain- 

 able : 



Sky-blue, Brown, of various shades, 



Yellow, Black. 



Rose-colour, 

 Green alone is absent from the list, with the exception of a 

 dark shade of it, approaching to black. The blue-coloured 

 variety has a very pleasing effect, somewhat like that pro- 

 duced by the Wedgwood-ware, which has white figures on 

 a blue ground. This variety also retains its colours perfectly 

 if preserved in a portfolio, and not being subject to any spon- 

 taneous change, requires no preserving pi'ocess. 



These different shades of colour are of course so many dif- 

 ferent chemical compounds, or mixtures of such, which che- 

 mists have not hitherto distinctly noticed. 



§ 3. First Applications of this Process. 



The first kind of objects which I attempted to copy by this 

 process were flowers and leaves, either fresh or selected from 

 my herbarium. These it renders with the utmost truth and 

 fidelity, exhibiting even the venation of the leaves, the minute 

 hairs that clothe the plant, &c. 



It is so natural to associate the idea of labour with great 

 complexity and elaborate detail of execution, that one is more 

 struck at seeing the thousand florets of an Agrostis depicted 

 with all its capillary branchlets (and so accurately, that none 

 of all this multitude shall want its little bivalve calyx, requiring 

 to be examined through a lens), than one is by the picture 

 of the large and simple leaf of an oak or a chestnut. But in 

 truth the difficulty is in both cases the same. The one of 

 these takes no more time to execute than the other ; for the 

 object which would take the most skilful artist days or weeks 

 of labour to trace or to copy, is effected by the boundless 

 powers of natural chemistry in the space of a iew seconds. 



To give an idea of the degree ol accuracy with which some 

 objects can be imitated by this process, I need only mention 

 one instance. Upon one occasion, having made an image of a 

 piece of lace of an elaborate pattern, I showed it to some per- 

 sons at the distance of a few feet, with the inquiry, whether it 



