1 87 1.] The Dawn of Light Printing. 303 



than those of a pioneer in science of some half century ago. 

 He writes to his brother Claude in England : — 



" I send you herewith four new prints — two large and 

 two small ones — which I have obtained of sharper definition 

 by the adoption of a very simple process, which consists in 

 contracting by means of a disc of cardboard the diameter 

 of the lens. The pigeon-house is reversed on the pictures, 

 the barn (or rather the roof of the barn) being on the left 

 instead of the right. The white mass which you perceive 

 to the right of the pigeon-house, and which appears some- 

 what confused, is the reflection upon the paper of the pear 

 tree, which is some distance farther off; and the black spot 

 near the summit is an opening between the branches of the 

 tree. The shadow on the right indicates the roof of the bake- 

 house, which appears somewhat lower than it ought to be, 

 because the cameras were placed about five feet above the 

 floor. Finally, those little white lines marked above the 

 roof of the barn are the reflection upon the sensitive film of 

 some trees in the orchard. The effect would be more 

 striking if, as I told you, the lights and shadows could be 

 inverted. I shall confine myself to remedying this defect 

 previously to endeavouring to fix the colours." 



Another letter, written on the 2nd of June, contains further 

 proof of the successful nature of the photographic results, 

 in these words : — " The colour of the pigeon-house near 

 the yard is of a brownish tint, but above the doorway, and 

 near the pig-stye, there is a white patch, which will be found 

 distinctly reproduced on the specimens." 



We see. therefore, that beyond all doubt Niepce in 1816 

 produced a real photographic landscape, as perfect in truth, 

 from a scientific point of view, as any of the negatives 

 taken at the present day. But his researches did not by 

 any means end here; Niepce knew almost as well as we do 

 now what were the principal defects of his process, and 

 laboured diligently to overcome them. Our limited space 

 precludes us, unfortunately, from making any further extracts 

 from these highly interesting letters, which form so perfect 

 a history of his experiments ; but within a month of the 

 last communication we find our hero hard at work to 

 discover some chemical agent capable of being bleached, 

 upon which the solar rays might be impressed, so as 

 to obtain a picture in its natural lights. One after 

 another were all the then known compounds, that he 

 thought likely to suit his purpose, experimented with, 

 but none were found sufficiently sensitive for manipu- 

 lation in the camera. Many, also, were the ingenious 



