JOURNAL 



OF THE 



ASIATIC SOCIETY OF BENGAL, 



Part II.— PHYSICAL SCIENCE. 

 No. II.— 1878. 



VI. — Tlie Application of Photography to the Reproduction of Maps and 

 Plans hy Photo -mechaiiical and other po^oc esses. — By Capt. J. Water- 

 house, B. S. C, Assistant Surveyor- General of India. 



This paper was originally submitted to the Geographical Congress at 

 Paris in 1875, but as the Proceedings of the Congress have not been pub- 

 lished and the paper may be of interest to Members of the Society, as 

 giving an account of the photographic operations for the reproduction of 

 maps, now so largely employed in this country, I have carefully revised 

 and to a great extent re-written it, so as to bring the information up to 

 date and hope that it may not be considered too much wanting in novelty 

 or too technical for the Journal. 



I. Introduction. 



Among the many useful and important artistic and scientific applica- 

 tions of photograj^hy, one of the most valuable is the reproduction by its 

 means, in absolute facsimile, of maps and plans, speedily and cheaply and 

 on any scale — either the same, larger, or smaller. So fully are these advan- 

 tages appreciated, that most civilized States now possess special photo- 

 graphic studios for the reproduction of maps, plans, &c., for fiscal, military 

 and other purposes- 



Before the introduction of lithography, about the beginning of the 

 present century, the only means by wliich maps, or indeed, pictorial sub- 

 jects of any kind, could be reproduced, was by engraving on metal plates 

 or on wood, both tedious and exi)cnsive methods. 

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