INTRODUCTION 



NEARLY a century has passed since the first experi- 

 ments, that amounted to anything, were made in trying 

 to reproduce the image of any object, mechanically, by 

 means of light rays. 



Niepce was, probably, the first to start these experi- 

 ments, but almost simultaneously with him Daguerre 

 commenced work along slightly different lines and he 

 gave the result of his researches to the world, while 

 Niepce hesitated to publish even the smallest details 

 concerning his, so that we have come to consider Da- 

 guerre as the real father of photography. 



For many years the advancement in the photographic 

 art was extremely slow, but for the past twenty years 

 it has advanced with enormous strides, until now we 

 have but one thing more to look forward to, the taking 

 of photographs in natural colors. To attain this object 

 scientists have been working for some years, but no 

 material results have as yet been accomplished. 



The first photographic process which was of any 

 commercial value was invented by Daguerre, and named 

 after him, "daguerreotype." This process was finally 

 perfected, after tedious years of experimenting, in 1839, 

 and held sway in both England and America for about 

 twelve years. The two most serious objections to it 

 were the cost of the plate, which was excessive, and 

 the impracticability of multiplying the reproduction, 

 owing to the opacity of the plate. 



