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of Edinburgh, Session 1877 - 78 . 
of silver by light, which he continued for many years. In 1835 he 
had reached the length of producing images on paper by the camera 
obscura ; but being anxious to perfect his discovery, he contented 
himself with issuing brief notices of the results in the “ Philoso- 
phical Magazine ” and the newspapers. It was not until the 31st 
of January 1839 that he communicated to the Royal Society the 
first of the papers on a process which will always be associated with 
his name. The paper is entitled “ Some Account of the Art of 
Photogenic Drawing, &c.” This paper was followed up, three 
weeks later, by a memoir, describing the process for preparing the 
paper, fixing the image, &c. The following year saw Mr Talbot’s 
crowning discovery — that which virtually established the art as it 
now exists — the development of an invisible image. 
Daguerre in France had been at work at the same subject, using 
metal instead of paper, and his discoveries were given to the world 
almost simultaneously with those of Mr Talbot, It is not necessary 
here to refer to the subsequent history of calotype. It was beautiful 
at its very birth, and its beauty was recognised nowhere more fully 
than in Scotland. Many members of the Society will remember how, 
soon after the discovery was made known, the process was employed 
by Dr Adamson and Mr D. 0. Hill to the production of life-like 
portraits in a style which has never been excelled. The simultaneous 
inventions of the daguerreotype and the calotype naturally created 
jealousies on both sides the Channel. Mr Talbot found a warm 
and able advocate in Sir David Brewster. These controversies may 
now be consigned to oblivion. If the French did injustice to Mr 
Talbot in the early days of photography, they made amends at a 
later period. At the Paris Exhibition of 1867, the Commissioners 
awarded him the great gold medal for his contributions to photo- 
graphy, although he was not an exhibitor. 
It must not be inferred from the prominence given to Mr Talbot’s 
connection with photography, that his other contributions to 
literature and science were unimportant. It is far otherwise. In 
the most recent large treatise on the differential and integral calculus, 
that of M. Bertrand, the reader will find the name of Mr Talbot 
associated with those of James Bernoulli, Fagnani, and Chasles. 
Mr Talbot was one of the early promoters of the Society of 
Biblical Archaeology, and contributed largely to their Transactions. 
Some thirty years ago, Mr Talbot, Sir Henry Rawlinson, Dr Hinks, 
