206 Mr. Talbot's Accowit of the 



illuminated by the sun. An hour or two afterwards I opened 

 the box, and I found depicted upon the paper a very distinct 

 representation of the building, with the exception of those 

 parts of it which lay in the shade. A little experience in this 

 branch of the art showed me that with smaller camerce obscurcc 

 the effect would be produced in a smaller time. Accordingly 

 I had several small boxes made, in which I fixed lenses of 

 shorter focus, and with these I obtained very perfect but ex- 

 tremely small pictures : such as without great stretch of ima- 

 gination might be supposed to be the work of some Lilliputian 

 artist. They require indeed examination with a lens to dis- 

 cover all their minutiae. 



In the summer of 1835 I made in this way a great number 

 of representations of my house in the country, which is well 

 suited to the purpose, from its ancient and remarkable archi- 

 tecture. And this building I believe to be the first that was 

 ever yet known to have dra'wii its cwn j^icture. 



The method of proceeding was this : having first adjusted 

 the paper to the proper focus in each of these little camera:, I 

 then took a number of them with me out of doors and placed 

 them in different situations around the building. After the 

 lapse of half an hour I gathered them all up, and brought 

 them within doors to open them. When opened, there was 

 found in each a miniature picture of the objects before which 

 it had been placed. 



To the traveller in distant lands, who is ignorant, as too 

 many unfortunately are, of the art of drawing, this little inven- 

 tion may prove of real service; and even to the artist himself, 

 however skilful he may be. For although this natural process 

 does not produce an effect much resembling the productions 

 of his pencil, and therefore cannot be considered as capable 

 of replacing them, yet it is to be recollected that he may often 

 be so situated as to be able to devote only a single hour to the 

 delineation of some very interesting locality. Now, since 

 nothing prevents him from simultaneously disposing, in dif- 

 ferent positions, any number of these little camera:, it is evident 

 that their collective results, when examined afterwards, may 

 furnish him with a large body of interesting memorials, and 

 with numerous details which he had not had himself time either 

 to note down or to delineate. 



§ 10. Delineations of Sculpture. 



Another use which I propose to make of my invention is 

 for the copying of statues and bas-reliefs. I place these in 

 strong sunshine, and put before them at a proper distance, 

 and in the requisite position, a small camera obscura contain- 



