PHOTOGRAPHY OF AQUATIC ANIMALS. 51 



PREVIOUS ATTEMPTS TO PHOTOGRAPH SUBMERGED OBJECTS BY MEANS OF A 



SUBMERGED CAMERA. 



Photography by means of a submerged camera was first attempted by Dr. L. 

 Boutan, of Paris, at the seaside laboratory of Roscoff, in 1893. His work was con- 

 tinued through the seasons of 1895, 1896, 1897, and 1898, and the results have been 

 published in four communications (Boutan, 1893, 1898, 1898a, 1900). Boutan's 

 apparatus was used wholly in the sea, and he has given to his method the title "la 

 photographic sous-marine." I shall use instead the broader term subaquatic 

 photography, as indicating the wider application of the method to both fresh and 

 salt water. 



Boutan made use of three forms of apparatus, which may be designated as his 

 first (1893), second (1896), and third (1898) apparatus. Each of these will be 

 briefly considered. 



He was led to take up subaquatic photography by his study of the develop- 

 ment of the mollusk Haliotis. Finding it impossible to rear the larva? of this form 

 in aquaria and failing to collect them in their natural environment by the usual 

 methods, he decided to search for them by descending in a diver's suit. He was 

 struck by the beauty and interest of the submarine landscape and of its inhabit- 

 ants. He found it impossible to bring his experiences vividly before others by 

 mere verbal description and equally impossible, while inclosed in the cumbersome 

 garments of the diver, to make drawings, or even sketches, of what he saw. He 

 was thus led to try photography. He appears to have made no attempt to oper- 

 ate with a camera placed above the water, for, as he says, "when the surface of the 

 liquid is absolutely quiet the rays of light coming from submerged objects enter the 

 objective placed in air at the same time with the rays reflected by this mirroring 

 surface and that suffices to destroy all clearness in the images." He objected to 

 this method for the further reason that it could result in giving only a plan or 

 bird's-eye view similar to that which is obtained when landscapes are photographed 

 from the elevated car of a balloon. He therefore decided to construct an appara- 

 tus that could be used under water. It seemed to him possible to proceed on either 

 one of two principles: (1) "To have made an objective that could be immersed 

 directly in water.'' (2) "To have built a tight box in the interior of which the 

 ordinary objective could be placed protected from salt water." In his first and 

 third forms of apparatus Boutan made use of the second principle. In his second 

 attempt he made use, without success, of an objective immersed in water. 



BOUT AX'S FIRST APPARATUS (1893). 



In this apparatus Boutan made use of a detective camera of fixed focus, an 

 instrument intended to make instantaneous pictures at all distances beyond 3 or 4 

 meters without focusing. This camera was of the box form usual in detective 

 cameras. It was provided at the front with an opening for the lens and above 

 this with two openings for the finder. At the front there was on one side a lever 

 or button which controlled the shutter and at the back a rod by the movement of 

 which it was possible, without opening the box, to change the plates, a number of 

 which were carried in the magazine of the camera. 



