Oct. i8, 1877] 



NA TURE 



525 



than one conversation with him at that time on the sub- 

 ject, and he only yielded, .ind in favour of amateurs, after 

 much solicitation on the part of the late Lord Rosse 

 and Sir Charles Eastlake, who thereupon became the 

 first president of the Photographic Society." 



The accompanying extract from the correspondence 

 which appeared in the Times of August 13, 1852, between 

 the inventor of the Calotype process and the presidents 

 of the Royal Society and Royal Academy, shows the 

 spirit in which the two latter approached the subiect of 

 the patent rights, and the generous tone in which the 

 former responded : — 



" The art of piiotography on paper," Lord Rosse and 

 Sir Charles Eastlake write, "of which you are the in- 

 ventor, has arrived at such a degree of perfection that 

 it must soon become of national importance ; and we 

 are anxious that, as the art itself originated in England, 

 it should also receive its further perfection and develop- 

 ment in this country. At present, however, although 

 England continues to take the lead in some branches of 

 the art, yet in others the French are unquestionably 

 making more rapid progress than we are. It is very 

 desirable that we should not be left behind by the nations 

 of the Continent in the improvement and development of 

 a purely British invention ; and, as you are the possessor 

 of a patent right in this invention, which will continue 

 for some years, and which may, perhaps, be renewed, we 

 beg to call your attention to the subject, and to inquire 

 whether it may not be possible for you, by making some 

 alteration in the exercise of your patent rights, to obviate 

 most of the difficulties whicla now appear to hinder the 

 progress of art in England. Many of the finest applica- 

 tions of the invention will probably require the co- 

 operation of men of science and skilful artists. But it is 

 evident that the more freely they can use the resources 

 of the art, the more probable it is their efforts will be 

 attended with eminent success. As we feel no doubt that 

 some such judicious alteration would give great satisfac- 

 tion, and be the means of rapidly improving this beautiful 

 art, we beg to make this friendly communication to you 

 in the full confidence that you will receive it in the same 

 spirit — the improvement of art and science being our 

 common object." 



This letter is dated " London, July," and Fox Talbot 

 replied as follows, under date " Lacock Abbey, July 30": — 



"... I am as desirous as any one of the lovers of 

 science and art, whose wishes you have kindly undertaken 

 to represent, that our country should continue to take the 

 lead in this newly-discovered branch of the fine arts ; and, 

 after much consideration, I think that the best thing I 

 can do, and the most likely to stimulate 10 further 

 improvements in photography, will be to invite the emu- 

 lation and competition of our artists and amateurs by 

 relaxing the patent right which I possess in this inven- 

 tion. I therefore beg to reply to your kind letter by 

 offering the patent (with the exception of a single point 

 hereafter mentioned) as a free present to the public, 

 together with my other patents, for improvements in the 

 same art. . . . The exception to which 1 refer, and which 

 I am desirous of keeping in the hands of my own 

 licensees, is the application of the invention to photo- 

 graph taking for sale to the public. This is a branch of 

 the art which must necessarily be in comparatively few 



hands With this exception, then, I present my 



invention to the country, and trust that it may realise our 

 hopes of its future utility." 



In the Phil. Mai^. iii. 1S33 will be found a very curious 

 paper, which might interest -Sir Wm. Thomson (who, 

 however, has probably read it), " On the Velocity of 

 Electricity ; a proposed method of ascertaining the 

 greatest depth of the ocean." Crystallography and optics 

 came in for a considerable share of Talbot's attention. 

 In 1836, in the Comptes Rcndus, we find him describing 

 researches on borax crystals, and besides various papers 



on the subject mentioned produced in 1836, he gave the 

 Bikerian lecture of that year, the subject being " Facts 

 relating to the Optical Phenomena of Crystals." In 1842 

 he read a paper at the British Association " On the Im- 

 provement of the Telescope," and another in 1847 " On a 

 New Principle of Crystallisation." He describes in the 

 Astronomical Society's Memoirs (xxi.) a total eclipse of 

 the sun, July 28, 1851, observed at Marienburg, Prussia, 

 and in the British Association Report for 1871 will be 

 found a paper by him " On a New Method of estimating 

 the Distances of some of the Fixed Stars." 



The subject of heat also had its attractims for his 

 many-sided mind, and in 1836 he contribute I to the 

 Phil. Miig. papers on the Repulsive Power ol ileat and 

 on Radiant Heat. Even botany received a share of his 

 attention, for we find in the Transactions of the Edinburgh 

 Botanical Society for 1868 a " Note on Vellozia elegans 

 Irom the Cape of Good Hope." 



But the half is not told, and it would take up more 

 space than we can spare, even were it quite appropriate 

 in these pages, to refer to his numerous contributions in 

 literature and archaeology to the Royal Society of Litera- 

 ture (of which he was vice-president), the Society of 

 Biblical Archeology, and by other methods. Orientalists 

 will call to mind that Talbot was one of the first who, 

 with Sir Henry Rawlinson and Dr. Hincks, deciphered 

 the cuneiform inscriptions brought from Nineveh. He 

 was the author of several books of much interest and 

 learning, and in his " Pencil of Nature," a fine quarto 

 published in 1844, and probably the first work illustrated 

 by photographs, he describes the origin and progress of 

 the conception which culminated in his invention. 



THE PHOTOGRAPHIC EXHIBITION 



THE Photographic Exhibition which is now open at 

 5A, Pall Mall East, is well worthy of a visit by all 

 lovers of the art-science, exemplifying as it does the pro- 

 gress that has been made in dry-plate processes. The 

 perfecting of these processes must have a marked effect 

 on the future of photography, as v/hen they are capable 

 of being employed under all circumstances, the heavy 

 paraphernalia attendant on the wet process nay be con- 

 signed to the lumber-room, and the worker in the field or 

 laboratory need only be dependent on his box of sensitive 

 plates and his camera. We cannot enumerate all the 

 processes, examples of which are exhibited. We may 

 mention, however, that the simple bromide of silver 

 emulsion either held on the plate embedded in collodion 

 or gelatine appears to bear away the palm for excellence, 

 unless it be the process with which Mr. England has pro- 

 duced his splendid collection of Swiss views, in which (though 

 no information is given in the catalogue regarding it), we 

 think we can trace the delicacy due to albumen in the 

 sensitive film, combined probably in some way or another 

 with bromide of silver. Another feature of the exhibition 

 are the enlargements which are shown by various exhi- 

 bitors, amongst whom we may name, as being specially 

 worthy of mention, the Woodbury Company, the Royal 

 Engineers, and the Autotype Company. The enlarge- 

 ments taken by Mr. E. Viles with the microscope are also 

 worthy of more than a passing remark. They are all 

 beautifully executed, but perhaps the picture of the pro- 

 boscis of the common blow-fly should be specially singled 

 out, being almost perfectly enlarged to 200 diameters. 

 We believe that a comparatively low-power objective was 

 employed, and that from the small negative obtained by 

 it an enlargement in Monckhoven's solar camera was 

 produced. These pictures are hung too high to be well 

 seen, and Mr. Viles perhaps might be persuaded to show 

 them at some of this season's scientific soirees. As 

 regards the application of photography to scientific pur- 

 poses there are no other examples to be found in the 

 exhibition, a matter which we deeply regret, seeing the 



