THE COLOMBOPHILE 69 



in French. The letters were to relate solely to 

 private affairs, and no reference to the war 

 or political allusions were allowed. The postal 

 charge was fivepence a word, in addition to a fee 

 of sixpence for registration. Tours, then the 

 seat of the French Government, was the head- 

 quarters of the pigeon post, and here all letters 

 for Paris were in the first instance photographed, 

 on a reduced scale, on to thin sheets of paper, 

 the original writing being preserved ; but a 

 great improvement was invented by the French 

 photographer, M. Dagron. The communications, 

 whether public despatches or private letters, were 

 by his directions printed in ordinary type and 

 then micro-photographed on thin films of col- 

 lodion. These tiny pellicles measured only some 

 2 1 by 1J in., yet contained reproductions of 

 twelve to sixteen folio pages of type, conveying 

 on an average about three thousand messages. 

 The lightness of the film enabled the postal 

 authorities to put on a single pigeon as many as 

 eighteen films, having a total of more than 

 50,000 messages, but altogether weighing less 

 than half a gramme. The whole series of 

 despatches, says M. Dagron, the inventor — 

 official and private — which he and his assistants 

 made during the Siege of Paris to the number 

 of about 115,000, weighed together only about 

 one gramme, and a single pigeon could easily 

 have carried them all. 



