REVIEWS. 
297 
the reader a foretaste of the delights he is about to offer him, and there is 
not much of exaggeration in the picture. But there is another sketch 
which he draws of the opposite side, not so pleasant a picture it must he 
confessed, yet not wanting either in graphic sketches or in interesting 
episodes. Indeed, the whole hook, while unsurpassed as a scientific memoir, 
is almost unequalled as a pleasant scientific treatise. 
PHOTOGRAPHIC CHEMISTRY.* 
W E think the author of this hook has succeeded in producing a tolerably 
accurate and withal a popular treatise on the subject of photography, 
hut we certainly do not think that greater results have been achieved. At 
the same time we believe that such a work was wanting, and that a consider- 
able deal of good may be effected by its circulation among amateurs. We 
have many in this country who pursue photography as an amusement, and 
often with the very best artistic results, yet are extremely ignorant of the 
different applications of the science, or of the many wonderful attempts that 
have been made by its workers to apply it to perfect colour-painting. The 
author in his preface points out the many applications of which photo- 
graphy is capable. It is quite true that it brings before us pictures of nearly 
everything in the u heavens above and in the earth beneath,” and we may 
soon expect it to work for us in the “ waters under the earth ; ” u it registers 
the movements of the barometer and thermometer ; it has found an alliance 
with porcelain-painting, with lithography, metal and book typography ; it 
makes the noblest works of art accessible to those of slender means ” — as wit- 
ness the South Kensington photography of the masterpieces of Dresden and 
elsewhere 1 u It may thus be compared to the art of printing, which confers 
the greatest benefit by multiplying the production of thought, for it conveys 
an analogous advantage by fixing and multiplying phenomena. But it does 
more than this. A new science has been called into being by photography, 
the chemistry of light — it has given new conclusions respecting the opera- 
tions of the vibrating ether of light.” 
The author endeavours to give a popular sketch of the nature of 
photography, beginning at the very commencement. He describes and 
illustrates by a series of cuts and photographs the various processes 
which have to be gone through in the several operations. Then he describes 
the methods distinguished as portrait photography, landscape photo- 
graphy, levelling by photography, and photographing the heavenly bodies. 
He next deals with the several applications of photography, giving a brief 
chapter to each. It is in this department that we find most fault with his 
teaching, which we must confess seems to us of an exceedingly “ popular ” — 
using the word in the very worst sense — flimsy and imperfect character. Let 
us take one example — the chapter on micro-photography : in less than four 
* u The Chemistry of Light and Photography in its Application to Art, 
Science, and Industry.” By Dr. Hermann Vogel, Professor in the Royal 
Industrial Academy of Berlin. London : H. King & Co. 1875. 
