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NIEPCE DE SAINT-VICTOR. 



NIEUWENTYT, BERNARD. 



610 



April 1849 restored to Paris. In December 1849 he was nominated 

 chevalier of the Legion of Honour in consideration of his scientific 

 labour-. 



Contemporaneously with his researches in photography upon glass, 

 M. Niepce had been endeavouring to arrive at a means of effecting his 

 uncle's idea of producing photographic images in colours. Stimulated 

 by the experiments of Sir John Herschel and M. Becquerel, who had 

 obtained, the one on silver plates and the other on paper, the colours 

 of the sular spectrum, and the somewhat similar results obtained by 

 Professor Bb'ttiger of Frankfurt-on-the-Maic, M. Nie'pcs commenced a 

 series of beautiful experiments upon coloured flames and their photo- 

 graphic images. He laid before the Academy a detailed memoir upon 

 the subject on the 4th of March 1851. This was followed by others 

 on June 2, 1851 ; February 9, 1852 ; and November 6, 1852. By the 

 method described in thi-se papers, M. Nie'pce succeeded iu obtaining 

 upon silvered plates which had been rendered sensitive by a chloride 

 of copper, images which faithfully reproduced the colours iu coloured 

 engravings, flowers both artificial aud natural, lay-figures dressed in 

 stuffs and gold and silver lace, precious stones, &c. Theso were 

 obtained both by the process of photographic printing and in the 

 camera; the li^lit and brilliant colours being obtained with compara- 

 tive ease, but the darker and more souibre colours more slowly. The 

 colours he rendered more vivid aud at the same time more lasting by 

 the action of ammonia. But beautiful as were the results, and much 

 more nearly as they seemed to approach the solution of the problem 

 of photographing the colours of nature, they proved to be only com- 

 paratively permanent. The colours soon began to fade, and eventually 

 disappeared altogether. This method M. Nie'pce named Heliochrome. 

 We have not heard that he has recently made any further progress in 

 fixing the colours, or removing the manipulative difficulties. 



The third and perhaps the most important discovery of M. Nidpco 

 de 8aint-Victor is that of producing photographically engraved steel 

 plates. In hi* first memuir on this art, which he calls Heliograpby, 

 presented to the Academy in May 1853, he claims merely to have, in 

 conjunction with M. Letuaitre the engraver, made a new application 

 of the process of his uncle, described iu the communication of M. Arago 

 to the Academy August 19, 1839. M. Nice'phore Nidpce spread a 

 coating of varnish formed of bitumen dissolved iu essence of lavender' 

 upon a copper plate, and by the usual process of exposure to the 

 action of light obtained on it a copy of an engraving, which was after- 

 wards to be engraved by the bin iu, or bit in in the manner of an 

 etching. He tried tiu iu the placo of copper, aud subsequently the 

 silvered Daguerre-plate. M. Niepce de Saint-Victor exhibited on this 

 occasion two impressions obtained from tiu plates prepared by his 

 uncle in February 1827, thus establishing the title of M. Nice'phore 

 Niepce to the original idea. At his death he left his method iu a very 

 unsatisfactory state, but iu process of time other photographers sought 

 to obtain the same cud, and before M. Nie'pce de Saint- Victor pub- 

 lished his process, Messrs. Berrea and Douues iu the first instance, and 

 subsequently Messrs. 1'izeau and Hurlimau on the Continent, and 

 Me.-sru. Claudet aud Grove in London, had endeavoured to produce 

 photographic engraving on Daguerre-plates. In some instances the 

 results wire pleasing, but iu all the processes were tedious aud 

 uncertain, and teem to have becu speedily abandoned. In March or 

 April 1853 y.r. T.Ubot published an account of some successful expe- 

 riments he had made with iteel plates faced with gelatine and 

 bichlorate of platiua. The image;, which he obtained by contact, were 

 merely of fronds of ferns, lace, and other simple objects, and the 

 manipulative difficulties have proved practically insurmountable. 

 M. Niepce de Saint-Victor published his process a mouth or two later, 

 but in a far more complete form, and he has since so far improved it, 

 that it has been made commercially available. 



N tepee's first paper on heliograpbic engraving was presented to the 

 Academy on the 23rd of May 1853, and he has continued to report his 

 progressive improvements iu 'Notes' and 'Memoirs' to the same body 

 down almost to the present time. At first hu operated by means of 

 bitumen, but he was soon led to adopt a varnish of which benzine is 

 the chief ingredient, and, as now employed, it is perfectly fluid, and 

 when spread over the polished steel plate forms a thin film so nearly 

 transparent as to be scarcely perceptible, aud so sensitive that on 

 being placed in contact with the photographic positive aud exposed 

 in the usual manner to photographic printing it receives the perfect 

 impression iu about ten minutes, or placed in the darkened chamber 

 of tiie camera receives the image directly from the object in very 

 nearly the same time. After the impression is obtained on the plate 

 it is covered with an acid, which acts freely on the sun-picture, and 

 when the more delicate parts are sufficiently ' bit in ' they are covered 

 with a composition not susceptible to thu action of the acid, exactly 

 as in etching, and the process is repeated until every part is ade- 

 quately acted upon, when of course the engraving it completed. In 

 his early plates M. Nie'pce employed fumigations, as in aqua-tint 

 engraving, to produce the proper ' grain,' but this, we believe, he does 

 not now find necessary. M. Nie'pce and his coadjutors have produced 

 very beautiful impressions from plates wholly engraved thus, both of 

 portraits and designs obtained from positives by contact and directly 

 on the steel by sunlight in the camera (he presented a plate and prints 

 obtained in thi* last way to the Academy, October 8, 1855); but 

 generally it is found necessary to touch the platen with the burin. 



This method of engraving is now being practised to a considerable 

 extent in Paris, several skilful artists and engravers having devoted 

 themselves to the process, and there can be little doubt that it will 

 eventually produce a great change in the method of illustrating works 

 ou art, science, aud natural history, as well as books of travels and 

 descriptions of places. 



It ought jperhaps to be mentioned here that the mode of photo- 

 graphic engraving called ' photo-galvanography," by which many very 

 effective engravings of a considerable size have been produced (under 

 a patent) iu this country, and for the carrying ou of which a company 

 has been formed, is entirely different from as well as more recent than 

 that of M. Nidpce. Photo-galvanography is the invention of Herr 

 Pretaob, late manager of the Imperial (government) Printiug-0ffi.ce at 

 Vienna the productions of which while under his direction were one 

 of the features of the Qreat Exhibition of 1851. The photo-galvano- 

 graphic process is a somewhat complex aa well as a very curious one. 

 From au ordinary positive on glass or paper a reversed picture is 

 obtained on a glass plate coated with gelatiue ; this is acted ou in a 

 peculiar way so as to form a raised picture, from which a mould u 

 taken ; from this, in the galvanic trough, a copper matrix is obtained; 

 aud from this again a second copper plate, which, after being touched 

 upon with the burnisher aud burin, or scraper, yields the impression, 

 being in fact like au ordinary engraved copper plate. The process 

 admits of various modifications, one of which produces plates for 

 surface-printing, like wood-blocks, that is, along with ordinary type. 



The scientific merits of M. Nie'pce having been brought under the 

 notice of the Emperor Napoleon III., he, in order that Nie'pce might 

 be enabled to pursue his researches more freely, named him, in 

 February 1854, Commandant of the Louvre. M. Nie"pco has since 

 steadily prosecuted his labours, chiefly seeking to perfect his photo- 

 graphic process. In 1855 he published the various memoirs which he 

 had drawn up on hu three grand discoveries photography upon 

 glass, heliochrome, and heliograph ic engraving under the title of 

 ' llecherches Photographiques ; ' aud in 1856 he published a 'TraitS 

 Pratique de Gravure sur Acier et sur Verre.' From the title of the 

 last work it will be seen that he has conceived the practicability of 

 engraving photographically ou glass as well as on steel, aud he appears 

 to have thus arrived at some very pleasing results. He has also by 

 another modification of his process obtained photographic etchings ou 

 marble, aud by tilling the incised parts with mastic, oxychloride of 

 zinc, or different colouring matters, produced the effects of beautiful 

 mosaics; aud it is said that the process promises to afford a new 

 method of ornamentation to the architect and decorator. It ouly 

 remains to add that M. Nie'pce de Saint-Victor, though described by 

 hU friendly biographer as a poor man, "and one who will probably 

 always remain poor, for he possesses two qualities which wiu esteeui 

 aud respect, but do not enrich, modesty and disinterestedness " has 

 iu ever)' instance not only nobly refused to secure his inventions for 

 his own benefit, but published in ample detail the processes by which 

 ho has attained his results. 



NIEUVVELANDT, WILLEM VAN DEN, a Dutch author and 

 artist, was born at Antwerp iu 1584. He at first followed the manner 

 of Paul Bril, whom he accompanied to Italy, but after his return, 

 when he fixed himself at Amsterdam, he chietly painted architectural 

 compositions ruins, baths, mausoleums, triumphal arches, and other 

 subjects of that class. These works of his pencil, iu which he showed 

 how diligently he had studied the ancient monuments of Koine, were 

 eagerly sought after, aud many of them w ere engraved. He himself 

 also possessed considerable skill in engraving aud etching. 



His literary works consist of six tragedies, namely, ' Saul,' ' Claudius 

 Dornitius,' ' Nero,' ' Livia," ' Cleopatra,' and ' Sophonisba ; ' all of which 

 display taleut. The ' Nero,' which was brought out at Antwerp iu 

 1618, at the expeuse of the city, met with extraordinary success. He 

 also wrote a poem entitled ' Von deu Mensch ' (' Man, or the Vanity 

 of the World '), whereiu he expatiates ou the emptiness of all human 

 pursuits. He died at Amsterdam in 1635. 



NIEUWENTYT, BERNARD, was born on the 10th of August 

 1654, at Westgraafdyk, a village of North Hollaud. His education 

 was conducted with a view to his entering the church, of which his 

 father was a minister; but evincing an early indifference to an eccle- 

 siastical life, he was left by his parent to the free choice of a profession. 

 He accordingly commenced the study both of law and physic, having 

 previously applied himself to the study of logic, in order the more 

 effectually " to restrain aud fix his imagination, aud acquire the habit 

 of reasoning correctly." He appears to have excelled as a public 

 speaker, to which circumstance, aud the general amiability of his 

 character, may be attributed his influence in the provincial states, as 

 also in the government of the town of Purmereud, wlierein he resided, 

 and of which he was burgomaster. As a physician he is said to have 

 been celebrated ; aud able and equitable as a magistrate. He was a 

 zealous but not very able supporter of the doctrines of Descartes, and 

 his mathematical writings, though now valueless, obtained a tempo- 

 rary popularity in consequence of their author being one of the first 

 opponents of the infinitesimal calculus. His objections, which Mon- 

 tucla designates "a mere tissue of absurdities," were replied to, first 

 by Leibnitz (' Leipzig Acts,' 1(JU4), and afterwards by MM. Bernoulli 

 and Herman, the latter of whom showed to the satisfaction of mathe- 

 maticians, that their adversary kuew little or nothing of the calculus 



