170 Miscellanies. 



years, and having at length attained his object has declared his discove- 

 ries and claimed the invention as his own. Full and satisfactory descrip- 

 tions are promised by M. Arago and two other scientific engineers ap- 

 pointed to report on the subject, and in the interval a slight outline has 

 been given in the French papers, from which the following account is 

 taken. 



A polished metallic plate is the substance made use of, and being pla- 

 ced within the apparatus is in a few minutes removed and finished by a 

 slight mechanical operation. The sketch thus produced is in appearance 

 something similar to aquatint, but greatly superior in delicacy ; and such 

 is the extraordinary precision of the detail that the most powerful micros- 

 cope serves but to display the perfection of the copy. The first efforts of 

 the inventor were directed towards architectural subjects, and a view of 

 the Louvre and Notre Dame are among the most admired of these engra- 

 vings. In foliage he is less successful ; the constant motion in the leaves 

 rendering his landscape confused and unmeaning ; and the same objection 

 necessarily applies to all moving objects, which can never be properly de- 

 lineated without the aid of memory. But in the execution of any station- 

 ary subject, buildings, statues, flowers, the leaves of plants, or the bodies 

 of animals, the fac-simile is perfect ; and the value of the invention may 

 therefore be easily conceived. 



Several eminent artists have examined the designs, and were equally 

 delighted with the precision and delicacy of the representation. Among 

 the sketches exhibited by the projector was a marble bas-relief and plas- 

 ter imitation ; the first glance was sufficient to detect the difference be- 

 tween these two ; and in three views of a monument taken in the morn- 

 ing, noon, and evening, the spectators easily distinguished the hours at 

 which they were executed, by the difference of the light, though in the 

 first and last instances, the sun was at an equal altitude. 



But perhaps the anatomist or zoologist will derive the greatest advan- 

 tages from the discovery, the form of the animal being as easily studied 

 from the drawing as from the original, and the most powerful microscopes 

 not having hitherto detected the smallest deficiency in the details. Nor 

 is the invention devoid of interest to the astronomer, for the light of the 

 moon is sufficient to produce the usual results, requiring only additional 

 time for its operations. The following extract from "Le Commerce" is 

 sufficient to substantiate its value in this respect : — " The experiments on 

 the light of Sirius have confirmed the testimony of natural philosophy, and 

 abundantly proved that the stars are bodies of the same nature as the sun ; 

 at the request of M. Biot, M. Daguerre has submitted his apparatus to the 

 influence of the light of the moon, and has succeeded in fixing the image 

 of that luminary. We observed that the image had a trail of light some- 

 thing like the tail of a comet, and we ascribe it to the movement of the 

 body during the operation, which is of much longer duration than that by 

 the light of the sun." 



