v/n.J TRA7ELS, 1839. i?13 



metallic ; and in the case of those on glass, the glass 

 appears wholly uncoated. The sensitive surface which 

 is first applied must therefore be either wholly trans- 

 parent like varnish, and whiten slightly on exposure to 

 light, like chilled varnish, or, what is more probable, 

 the unchanged portions of the composition are subse- 

 quently removed by some chemical action. The con- 

 sequence of this is, that if you look along any of these 

 plates, so as to get a specular reflection, the picture is 

 reversed, the lights becoming dark, as in Talbot's process. 

 ' I am also inclined to think that this composition 

 is easily soluble, at least in Niepce's process ; for he 

 showed me on one of his pictures a blot made by a 

 touch of the finger, where a bunch of flowers should 

 e been. ... In our presence M. Arago promised 

 Daguerre to advise the Ministry to give him a pension, 

 and, if they declined, he proposed to bring the matter 

 himself before the Chamber. The same evening I left 

 Paris by diligence for Dijon, en route for Chalons and 

 Lyons/ 



To Miss FORBES. 



' LYONS, May 20. 



'. . . . I arrived here a few days ago, and am 

 astonished by the magnificence of the panoramic views 

 which Lyons commands ; I do not think I have e 

 seen anything to equal them. ... I am on my way to 

 the South of France probably first to the Velay, right 

 bank of the Rhone, then to Avignon, where please write, 

 u have occasion, as I am quite at sea as to future 

 ngements. I came down the Sa6ne to-day in a 

 steamer from Chalons, a blissful change from a diligence, 

 yesterday travelled from Dijon through a country 

 filial with imperishable names. Tin* man whose 

 -tn would not warm on the plain of Marat In n 

 would be less inhuman than he whose blood does not 

 ilate more freely in the < nviruns of Pomanl, Vnlnay, 

 and Chaml)- .-1 \\hos.- ilr,-is an- n>t <1< \ated by tin* 



unity of the " clos de Vougeot" although it would 

 le Johnson himself to make that sonorous/ 

 R 2 



