JOURNAL AND PROCEEDINGS 



record. Later at the estate at Gras we learn that he had recourse 

 to the camera, for in a letter to his brother he relates the use of 

 paper to receive the image, to the fixing of the colors and to the 

 fact that the highlights came out black and that the shadows were 

 white. 



In 1826 he makes mention of the use of bitumen of Judea, a 

 kind of asphaltum spread upon metal plates. When exposed un- 

 der a transparent engraving this solution suffered a change on those 

 parts upon which light had acted most vigorousl)^ — a change that 

 became evident by the resistance to the solvent properties of the 

 essence of lavender. A menstrum in which the unchanged bitumen 

 which the opaque part of the engraving had protected from light 

 was still soluble. It is therefore specialh' worthy of notice that 

 this process is reall}^ the first known negative image. 



In summing up Niepce's achievements one must credit him 

 with the first '^Fixing of tlie Image,'''' in a way strangely suggest- 

 ive of development, though not strictl}' such because of physical, 

 not a chemical nature. By his asphaltum method he thus obtained 

 the first direct photographic records that have any claim to per- 

 manenc}^ and the first indirect results by photo-engraving — possibly 

 the most important phase of the subject in the present da}^ aspect. 

 Niepce's memory is honored by a portrait statiie in one of the 

 squares of Chalons. On the estate the stone marks his grave. 



We now come to " Dagurre," a name with which we are per- 

 haps more familiar, and to whom we, the fellows of the craft and 

 the few others, owe so much. We find that the author of this pro- 

 cess known b}^ his famous name was born at Corneilles, about ten 

 miles from Paris, on the iSth day of November, 1787. In the 

 earh^ days of his education and development he showed an aptitude 

 for drawing. In 1803 it is recorded that he was employed by a 

 famous scene painter at Paris, and that his work was then attract- 

 ing general admiration. In 182 1 Dagurre got the idea of the 

 " Dioroma," which he at once put to good effect. In 1824 he was 

 engaged with experiments by which he hoped to fix the image of 

 the camera obscura. 



