﻿222 Prof, von Kobell upon Galvanogrcvphy. 



written,) renders this beautiful union of science and art doubly 



valuable. We hope at a future time to show some examples of 

 this style of art in our pages. 



As indicated by the title, by galvanography I mean the art of 

 so copying in copper, by means of the application of galvanism, 

 pictures executed in the style of water-colors, that from the 

 plates thus produced, impressions may be struck off in the ordi- 

 nary way. 



My first experiments were instituted in the winter of 1839, 

 and the results thereof were laid before the Royal Academy of 

 Sciences of Bavaria, at their meeting on March 14th, 1840. 

 That communication was first published in Nos. 88 and 89 of 

 the Munich Gelehrte Anzeigen, and it subsequently appeared 

 in Erdmann's Journal fur praktische Chemie, (Vol. XX, Nos. 

 3 and 4, for 1840,) accompanied by specimens thrown off from 



my first galvanographic plate. The principal points in this pa- 



per appeared also in the pages of the French journal V Institute 

 and in the Bulletin Scientifique of the Petersburg Academy, 

 and translations thereof were published in the Bibliotheque Uni- 

 verselle of Geneva, and likewise in Sturgeon's Annals of Elec- 



tricity, No. 27, September, 1840. I may remark, that previous 

 to the publication of the paper in question, no experiments upon 

 this subject had appeared elsewhere. 



It was the interesting galvanoplastic experiments of Jacobi, 

 for a detailed account of which I am indebted to H. I. H. the 

 Duke of Leuchtenberg, that first directed my attention to the 

 subject before us, and while occupied in repeating those experi- 

 ments, I frequently observed that the galvanic copper extended 

 beyond the conducting surfaces and spread itself also over the 

 non-conducting surfaces, of which, especially when not smooth, 

 it formed exact copies. 



Turning this remark to account, I endeavored to cover with a 

 deposit of galvanic copper, lines traced upon silver with inspissa- 

 ted oil of turpentine and oxide of iron, and met with no particu- 

 lar difficulty in the experiment. When the edges of the pre- 

 cipitated plate were removed by filing, the two plates might be 

 separated well enough, and I found that the plate thus obtained 

 was sufficiently tenacious and compact to admit of impressions 

 being thrown off from it. 



