From the specimen here given it is sufficiently manifest, that the whole
cabinet of a Virtuoso and collector of old China might be depicted on
paper in little more time than it would take him to make a written
inventory describing it in the usual way. The more strange and fantastic
the forms of his old teapots, the more advantage in having their pictures
given instead of their descriptions.
And should a thief afterwards purloin the treasures—if the mute testimony
of the picture were to be produced against him in court—it would certainly
be evidence of a novel kind; but what the judge and jury might say to it,
is a matter which I leave to the speculation of those who possess legal
acumen.
The articles represented on this plate are numerous: but, however numerous
the objects—however complicated the arrangement—the Camera depicts them
all at once. It may be said to make a picture of whatever _it sees._ The
object glass is the _eye_ of the instrument—the sensitive paper may be
compared to the _retina._ And, the eye should not have too large a
_pupil:_ that is to say, the glass should be diminished by placing a
screen or diaphragm before it, having a small circular hole, through which
alone the rays of light may pass. When the eye of the instrument is made
to look at the objects through this contracted aperture, the resulting
image is much more sharp and correct. But it takes a longer time to
impress itself upon the paper, because, in proportion as the aperture is
contracted, fewer rays enter the instrument from the surrounding objects,
and consequently fewer fall upon each part of the paper.
[PLATE IV. ARTICLES OF GLASS.]