AMERICAN INSTITUTE. 653 



appear, not disguised, but in verity. Here, the Laplander, drawn 

 by his dogs in a rude sledge on the frozen snow, takes his seat 

 beside the dark skinned African who is surrounded by the ever 

 verdant and luxuriant foliage of the torrid zone. Each animal, 

 from every part of the earth, sea, and sky, and the products of 

 every clime and country, may jjass, at pleasure, in review before 

 the astonished admirer, as no artist can delineate. History, 

 geography, architecture, mineralogy, and agriculture, are not 

 alone benefited by it; but tlie embellishments of manufacturers 

 in the various arts have received a new imi^etiis which carries 

 them forward with an increasing force; each different branch is 

 being enlarged, and at the same time lending its aid to the per- 

 fection of the whole. Painting, engraving, lithography, poetry, 

 glass staining, calico printing, and other branches, indicate the 

 progress tliey have made in a manner not to be mistaken. 



One cannot pass along Broadway without being attracted by 

 the beautiful pliotographs, colored and plain; pastel, colored and 

 painted in oil, which are placed in the doors of artists to pro- 

 claim the excellence of the work within. 



I might have mentioned before, that astronomy has not been 

 passed by without benefit. Whipple, of Boston, has given to the 

 world a map of the moon, executed by herself, while otliers have 

 partially succeeded in taking impressions from the fixed stars. 



I do not intend to give the modus opercmdt of the various pro- 

 cesses, nor to describe the photographic apparatus most in use, 

 but it seems only justice to call your attention to the astonishing 

 successful labors of our fellow citizen, C. C. Harrison, in the 

 manufiicture of that most difficult of all work, the Camera; these 

 are not behind the best optical instruments made in tlie world, 

 although Mr. Harrison has not the matlieraatical assistance of a 

 Petzval, nor the early training of a working optician. His suc- 

 cess will be best appreciated by the man of science, who well 

 knows the difficulty of working achromatic lenses of such enor- 

 mous diameter as three, four and six inches, to less than one foot 

 focus; yet in these he has contrived to reduce the spherical aber- 

 ration to a mere fraction, and the chromatic almost to a perfect 

 nonentity. Some of Mr. Harrison's instruments are even much 



