_Originator of Collodion Process_ (Vol. vii., pp. 47. 92. 116.).--The
fairest way of deciding M. Le Gray's claims would be, to quote what he
really says.
Willat's pamphlet, published in 1850, entitled _A Practical Treatise, &c._,
by Gustave Le Gray, translated by Thomas Cousins, ends with an appendix,
which runs thus:
"I have just discovered a process upon glass by hydrofluoric ether, the
fluoride of potassium, and soda dissolved in alcohol 40°, mixed with
sulphuric ether, and afterwards saturated with collodion; I afterwards
re-act with aceto-nitrate of silver, and thus obtain proofs in the
camera in five seconds in the shade. I develope the image by a very
weak solution of sulphate of iron, and fix with hyposulphite of soda. I
hope by this process to arrive at great rapidity. Ammonia and bromide
of potassium give great variations of promptitude. As soon as my
experiments are complete I will publish the result in an appendix. This
application upon glass is very easy: the same agents employed with
albumen and dextrine, give also excellent results and very quick. I
have also experimented with a mucilage produced by a fucus, a kind of
sea-weed, which promises future success. I hope by some of these means
to succeed in taking portraits in three or four seconds."
I know not at what time of the year the pamphlet came out, nor whether the
appendix was subsequently added; but any copy containing it was bought
about the middle of August, 1850.