MICROGRAPHY AND MICROPHOTOGRAPHY 139 



reduced or enlarged to almost any extent, and it thus 

 becomes possible to form letters which are inconceivably 

 small. The instrument by which this is accomplished is 

 known as a pantagraph, and it has, within a few years, 

 become quite popular as a means of reducing or enlarging 

 pictures of various kinds, including crayon reproductions 

 of photographs. Its construction and use are, therefore, 

 very generally understood. It was by means of a very 

 finely-made instrument embodying the principles of the 

 pantagraph that the extraordinarily fine work which we 

 are about to describe was accomplished. 



It is obvious, however, that in order to produce very fine 

 writing we must use a very fine pen or point and the finer 

 the point the sooner does it wear out, so that in a very 

 short time the lines which go to form the letters become 

 thick and blurred and the work is rendered illegible. As 

 a consequence of this, when the finest specimens of writing 

 are required, it is necessary to abandon the use of ordinary 

 points and surfaces and to resort to the use of the diamond 

 for a pen, and glass for a surface upon which to write. One 

 of the earliest attempts in this direction was that of M. 

 Froment, of Paris, who engraved on glass, within a circle, 

 the one-thirtieth of an inch in diameter, the Coat of Arms 

 of England lion, unicorn, and crown with the following 

 inscription, partly in Roman letters, partly in script : " Honi 

 soit qid mat y pensc, Her Most Gracious Majesty, Queen 

 Victoria, and His Royal Highness, Prince Albert, Dieu et 

 mon droit. Written on occasion of the Great Exhibition, 

 by Froment, a Paris, 1851." 



The late Dr. Barnard, President of Columbia College, 

 had in his possession a copy of the device borne by the seal 

 of Columbia College, New York, executed for him by M. 



