ON MAGNESIUM. 
17 
on the spot by Mr. Brothers, and the negative being inserted in the magic lantern a 
gigantic likeness of the venerable savant was projected on the screen. The same ex¬ 
periment was repeated, with Sir Charles Lyell for a subject, in the Bath Theatre, when 
Professor Roscoe lectured on light to one of the evening assemblies of the British Asso¬ 
ciation. 
To photographers the magnesium light will prove an inestimable advantage. Smoke, 
fog, and night need no longer interfere with their operations. A busy man, who cannot 
afford to lose a forenoon in order to catch the sunshine, may have his likeness taken in 
the quiet and leisure of an evening at home. Photographs under such circumstances 
are much more likely to.possess that ease and naturalness, which are so difficult to attain 
under the ordinary conditions of out-of-door costume, an ascent to a house-top by a 
tedious flight of stairs, and a pose in the glare of a glass-house amid theatrical furniture. 
As a Quarterly Reviewc u ^serves:— 
“The new magnesiun i promises to dispense with the necessity of a glass studio 
with all its discomfort for uhe sitter, and all the temptation to meretricious decoration 
which it appears to hold out to the photographer. The metal magnesium, the oxide 
and carbonate of which is a familiar medicine, is itself rare. It will burn like a candle,* 
and it emits a light peculiar for its wonderful richness in chemical ravs; but until 
recently the cost of isolating it has been so great, that its capabilities have never ad¬ 
vanced beyond the rank of a chemical curiosity. Recent discoveries have, how'ever, faci¬ 
litated its manufacture, and i' has come into partial use among photographers. A nega¬ 
tive of Sir Charles Lyell was taken at the recent meeting of the British Association. °A 
slight further reduction in cost [a reduction w-hich has been made since this was 
written] will enable photographers to use it for the purpose of taking likenesses in the 
houses of their sitters ; and the sitter’s gain in personal comfort will be duly registered 
in the improved expression of the picture.” T 
Nor are portraits taken by magnesium light in any sense makeshifts. It is quite within 
the truth to say, that they are equal to, and undistinguishable from sun-pictures. Of 
course the skilful handling of the new light is only to be acquired after some practice. 
The light will probably develope a melancholy branch of art—the portraiture of tho 
dead. We say melancholy, but more in a conventional than a sincere sense. The faces 
of the dead frequently assume a sweet, a saintly, a severe, a statuesque beauty rarely 
present in life. By the aid of magnesium, this beauty may readily be perpetuated and 
divested of painful accessories. Some such memorials we have seen, and they have only 
to be known to become common. 
As soon as it was discovered that photography was possible by magnesium, it was sug¬ 
gested that the interiors of the Pyramids, of catacombs, caves, and other underground 
and dim regions might be revealed in faithful pictures, and studied under the stereoscope. 
The suggestion was soon acted upon. Professor Piazzi Smyth, the Scottish Astronomer- 
Royal, having gone upon an exploring expedition to the Pyramids, took with him a 
quantity of magnesium wire, and thus reports on its use to his friend Mr. Spiller, of 
Woolwich Arsenal:—• 
“ East Tomb , Great Pyramid, Feb. 2, 1865. 
“My dear Sir,— We have been here now about three weeks, and are settled down at 
last to the measuring ; the chief part of the time hitherto having been occupied, in con¬ 
cert with a party of labourers furnished by the Egyptian Government, in clearing aw r av 
rubbish from important parts of the interior, and in cleansing and preparing it for nice 
observation. 
“ The magnesium-wire light is something astounding in its power of illuminating 
difficult places. With any number of wax candles which Ave have yet taken into either 
the kings’ chamber or the grand gallery, the impression left on the mind is merely seeing 
the candles and whatever is very close to them, so that you have small idea whether you 
are in a palace or a cottage ; but burn a triple strand of magnesium wire, and in a moment 
you see the whole apartment, and appreciate the grandeur of its size and the beauty of its 
proportions. This effect, so admirably complete, too, as it is, and perfect in its way, pro- 
* No, not quite like a candle. Magnesium wire should be held downwards, say at an 
angle of 45°, in burning. No more than a paper spill or a wood match will magnesium 
burn with certainty if the lighted end be held upright. 
t Article “Photography” in the c Quarterly Review ’ for October 18G4, page 517. 
VOL. VIT. * C 
