Transcriber Note: Text emphasis denoted as _Italics_ and =Bold=.
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THE
DAGUERREIAN JOURNAL:
Devoted to the Daguerrian and Photogenic Arts.
Also, embracing the Sciences, Arts, and Literature.
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VOL. I. MARCH 1, 1851. NO. 8.
NEW-YORK:
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NO. 311 BROADWAY.
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CONTENTS.
Etching Daguerreotype Plates, by W. R. Grove 225
Valuable Receipt 228
Painting--its Origin and History, by Wm. Walcott 229
Bromine 233
Nitrate of Silver decomposed by the current
of a Galvanic Battery 235
Potassium-Cyanide or simple Cyanuret of Potassium 236
Stereo-Chromic Painting 236
Water--Spring, River and Lake 237
Isinglass 238
Papier-Mache 238
Chloride of Calcium 238
Muriate of Ammonia 238
Bromide of Silver Native Bromide of Silver and
analysis 239
Hillotypes 241
Communication, by L. L. Hill 241
Removal 243
Our Daguerreotypes--Polishing Machine--Gurney--
Thompson--McBride--Weston--Morand 243
Correspondence--Jas. Bennett Sykes--W. S. Gear 244
Ammonia 245
An Army of Subscribers 245
Strange Announcement 245
Examples of the Divisibility of Matter 246
Iron--Its Natural and Artificial Combination with Carbon 247
New Weigh-lock at Albany 249
Daguerreotyping in London 249
Quick Stuffs--Six Receipts 250
Money received 251
Answers to Correspondents 251
Notice of New Publication 251
Advertisements 252
Artists' Register 255
WILLIAM S. DORR, Printer,
101 Nassau-St., New York.
* * * * *
THE
DAGUERREIAN JOURNAL.
Vol. I. NEW YORK, MARCH 1, 1851. No. 8.
* * * * *
ETCHING DAGUERREOTYPE PLATES.
BY W. R. GROVE.
Dr. Berres of Vienna was the first, I believe, who published a process
for etching Daguerreotypes; his method was to cover the plates with a
solution of gum-arabic, and then to immerse them in nitric acid of a
certain strength. I have not seen any plates thus prepared, but the few
experiments which I have made with nitric acid, have given me a burred
and imperfect outline; and I have experienced extreme difficulty of
manipulation from the circumstance of the acid never attacking the plate
uniformly and simultaneously. My object, however, in this communication,
is not to find fault with a process which I have never perhaps fairly
tried or seen tried by experienced hands, and the inventor of which
deserves the gratitude of all interested in physical science; but to
make public another which possesses the advantage of extreme simplicity,
which any one, however unskilled in chemical manipulation, may practise
with success, and which produces a perfect etching of the original image;
so much so, that a plate thus etched can scarcely be distinguished from
an actual Daguerreotype, preserving all the microscopic delicacy of the
finest parts of the impression.
One sentence will convey the secret of this process; it is to make the
Daguerreotype the anode[A] of a voltaic combination, in a solution which
will not of itself attack either silver or mercury, but of which, when
electrolyzed, the anion will attack these metals unequally. This idea
occurred to me soon after the publication of Daguerre's process; but,
being then in the country, and unable to procure any plates, I allowed
the matter to sleep; and other occupations prevented for some time any
recurrence to it. Recently having heard much conversation as to the
practicability or impracticability of Daguerreotype engraving, I became
anxious to try a few experiments in pursuance of my original notion;
and for this purpose applied in several quarters for Daguerreotypes;
but, thanks to the exclusiveness of M. Daguerre's patent, I found that
to procure a sufficient number of plates for any reasonable chance of
success, was quite out of the question.
[A] Strictly speaking, this is a misapplication of Faraday's term;
he applied it to the surface of the electrotype; as, however, all
continental, and many English writers (among whom I may name Whewell)
have applied it to the positive electrode, and as an expression is most
needed for that, I have not hesitated so to apply it.
On mentioning the subject to Mr. Gassiot, he, with his usual energy and
liberality, offered to procure me a sufficiency of Daguerreotypes; and it
is owing to his zealous and valuable coöperation that I have been able to
get such definite results as appear worth publication.
Five points naturally present themselves to the consideration of the
experimenter on this subject: first, the quantity of the voltaic current;
secondly, its intensity; thirdly, the distance between the anode and
cathode; fourthly, the time during which the process should be continued;
and fifthly, the solution to be employed.
1st. With regard to the first element or quantity, many previous
experiments had convinced me that, to give the maximum and most uniform
quantitative[B] action of any voltaic combination, the electrodes should
be of the same size as the generating plates; in other words, that the
sectional area of the electrolyte should be the same throughout the whole
voltaic circuit. It seems strange that this point should have been so
generally overlooked as it has been; an electrician would never form a
battery, one pair of plates of which were smaller than the rest; and yet
the electrodes, which offering of themselves a resistance to the current,
from the inoxidability of the anode, are, _a fortiori_, a restriction when
of small size, have generally been formed indefinitely smaller than the
gene, rating plates; I, therefore, without further experiment, applied
this principle to the process about to be detailed.
[B] I say the quantitative action; for where great intensity is required,
as in decomposing alkalies, &c., it may be advisable to narrow the
electrodes, so as to present a smaller surface for the reaction of the
liberated elements.
2nd. _The intensity of the voltaic current._--Here it appeared to me that,
as in the electrotype, where the visible action is at the cathode, a
certain degree of intensity throws down metal as a crystal, an increased
intensity as a metallic plate, and a further intensity as a pulverulent
mass; that degree of intensity which would show on the negative deposit
the finest impressions from the cathode, would also produce on the anode
the most delicate excavations, and consequently, an intensity which would
just fall short of the point of evolving oxygen from the plate to be
etched, would be the most likely to succeed; this point was not, however,
adopted without careful experiment, the more so, as in one instance Mr.
Gassiot succeeded in procuring a very fair etching with a series of
ten pairs of the nitric acid battery; however, the results of repeated
experiments, in which the intensity has been varied from a series of
sixteen pairs to one of the nitric acid battery, were strongly in favor of
the above idea, and, consequently, went to prove that one pair gives the
most efficient degree of intensity for the purpose required.
3rd. _The distance between the plates._--As it was proved by De la Rive,
that in an electrolytic solution, when the electrodes are at a distance,
the action extends a little beyond the parallel lines which would join the
bounds of the electrodes, and thus, that the current as it were diverges
and converges, it appeared advisable to approximate the electrodes as
nearly as possible, so as to produce uniformity of action over the whole
plate. Provided a solution be used which does not evolve gas at the
cathode, I am inclined to think that the plates may be with advantage
indefinitely approximated; but as this was not the case with the solution
I selected for the greater number of experiments, 0·2 of an inch was fixed
on as the distance, in order that the gas evolved from the cathode should
not adhere to the anode, and thus interfere with the action.
4th. _Time of continuing the operation._--This was a matter only to be
decided by experiment, and must vary for the voltaic combination and
solution employed. With a single pair of the nitric acid battery, from
twenty-five to thirty seconds, was after a great number of experiments,
fixed on as the proper time; and as the plate may at any period be removed
from the solution and examined, the first experiment should never exceed
twenty-five seconds, when, if not complete, the plate may be again
subjected to electrolysis.
5th. _The solution to be employed._--Here a vast field was open, and
still is open to future experimentalists. Admitting the usual explanation
of the Daguerreotype, which supposes the light parts to be mercury, and
the dark silver, the object was to procure a solution which would attack
one of these, and leave the other untouched. If one could be found to
attack the silver and not the mercury, so much the better, as this would
give a positive engraving, or one with lights and shadows, as in nature,
while the converse would give a negative one. Unfortunately, silver and
mercury are nearly allied in their electrical relations. I made several
experiments with pure silver and mercury, used as the anode of a voltaic
combination, but found that any solution which would act on one, acted
also on the other. All then that could be expected, was a difference of
action. With the Daguerreotype plates I have used the following:--
Dilute sulphuric acid, dilute hydrochloric acid, solution of sulphate of
copper, of potash, and of acetate of lead. The object of using acetate
of lead, was the following:--With this solution peroxide of lead is
precipitated upon the anode; and, this substance being insoluble in
nitric acid, it was hoped that the pure silver parts of the plate, being
more closely invested with a stratum of peroxide than the mercurialized
portions, these latter would, when immersed in this menstruum, be
attacked, and thus furnish a negative etching. I was also not altogether
without hopes of some curious effects, from the color of the thin films
thus thrown down; here, however, I was disappointed; the colors succeeded
each other as much as in the steel plate used for the metallochrome; but
With inferior lustre. On immersion in nitric acid of different degrees
of dilution, the plates were unequally attacked, and the etching burred
and imperfect. Of the other solutions, hydrochloric acid was, after many
experiments, fixed on as decidedly the best; indeed, this I expected, from
the strong affinity of chlorine for silver.
I will now describe the manipulation which has been employed by Mr.
Gassiot, and myself, in the laboratory of the London Institution, with
very uniform success. A wooden frame is prepared, having two grooves at
0·2 of an inch distance, into which can be slid the plate to be etched,
and a plate of platinum of the same size. To ensure a ready and equable
evolution of hydrogen, this latter is platinized after Mr. Smee's method;
for, if the hydrogen adhere to any part of the cathode, the opposite
portions of the anode are proportionably less acted on. The back and edges
of the Daguerreotype are varnished with a solution of shell-lac, which is
scraped off one edge to admit of metallic connexion being established.
The wooden frame with its two plates is now fitted into a vessel of glass
of porcelain, filled with a solution of two measures hydrochloride acid,
and one distilled water, (sp. gr. 1.1), and two stout platinum wires,
proceeding from a single pair of the nitric acid battery, are made to
touch the edges of the plates, while the assistant counts the time; this,
as before stated, should not exceed thirty seconds. When the plate is
removed from the acid, it should be well rinsed with distilled water; and
will now (if the metal be homogeneous) present a beautiful sienna-colored
drawing of the original design, produced by a film of the oxychloride
formed;--it is then placed in an open dish containing a very weak solution
of ammonia, and the surface gently rubbed with, very soft cotton, until
all the deposit is dissolved; as soon as this is effected, it should be
instantly removed, plunged into distilled water, and carefully dried. The
process is now complete, and a perfect etching of the original design
will be observed; this, when printed from, gives a positive picture, or
one which has its lights and shadows as in nature; and which is, in this
respect, more correct than the original Daguerreotype as the sides are not
inverted; printing can therefore be directly read, and in portraits thus
taken, the right and left sides of the face are in their proper position.
There is, however, _ex necessitate rei_, this difficulty, with respect to
prints from Daguerreotypes,--if the plates be etched to a depth sufficient
to produce a very distinct impression, some of the finer lines of the
original must inevitably run into each other, and thus the chief beauty of
these exquisite images be destroyed. If, on the other hand, the process
be only continued long enough to leave an exact etching of the original
design, which can be done to the minutest perfection, the very cleaning
of the plate by the printer destroys its beauty; and the molecules of the
printing ink being larger than the depth of the etchings, an imperfect
impression is produced. For this reason it appeared to me, that at
present, the most important part of this process is the means it offers
of multiplying indefinitely Daguerreotypes, by means of the electrotype.
An ordinary Daguerreotype, it is known, will, when electrotyped, leave
a faint impression; but in so doing it is entirely destroyed; and this
impression cannot be perpetuated; but one thus etched at the voltaic
anode, will admit of any number of copies being taken from it. To give an
idea of the perfect accuracy of these, I may mention, that in one I have
taken, on which is a sign-board measuring on the electrotype plate 0.1 by
0.06 of an inch, five lines of inscription can, with the microscope, be
distinctly read. The great advantages of the voltaic over the chemical
process of etching, appear to me to be the following:--
1st. By the former, an indefinite variety of menstrua may be used; thus,
solutions of acids, alkalies, salts, more especially the haloid class,
sulphurets, cyanurets, in fact, any element which may be evolved by
electrolysis, may be made to act upon the plate.
2nd. The action is generalized; and local voltaic currents are avoided.
3rd. The time of operation can be accurately determined; and any required
depth of etching produced.
4th. The process can be stopped at any period, and again renewed if
desirable.
The time I have given is calculated for experiments made with one pair
of the nitric acid battery; it is, however, by no means necessary that
this be employed, as probably any other form of voltaic combination may
be efficient. It would seem more advisable to employ a diaphragm battery,
or one which produces a constant current, as otherwise the time cannot
be accurately determined. It is very necessary that the silver of plates
subjected to this process be homogeneous. Striæ, imperceptible in the
original Daguerreotype, are instantly brought out by the action of the
nascent anion; probably silver, formed by voltaic precipitation, would be
found the most advantageous. I transmit with this paper some specimens
of the prints of the etched plates, and of electrotypes taken from them;
and in conclusion would call attention to the remarkable instance which
these offer, of the effects of the imponderable upon the ponderable: thus,
instead of a plate being inscribed, as "drawn by Landseer, and engraved by
Cousins," it would be "drawn by Light, and engraved by Electricity!"
* * * * *
A valuable receipt, which every Daguerreian should have in his memory,
has been suggested from the fact that one of our fraternity lost his hand
by an accidental cut, caused while fitting a likeness in a locket, by the
points of copper cutting the palm of his hand, in such a manner as to
render amputation necessary. _White of eggs is the best antidote against
the poison of copper._
* * * * *
For the Daguerreian Journal.
PAINTING--ITS ORIGIN AND HISTORY.
BY WILLIAM WALCUTT.
There is no doubt of painting being coeval with written language, or
it may be said, that the simple representation of figures, on tablets
prepared for the purpose, were the first means used by men to record
particular events, actions, and so forth, and may therefore be dated back
farther than any written language; and, indeed, may be considered the
foundation from which it sprung, it being not improbable, because it is so
natural, that the very first dwellers on the earth may have recorded their
young history by means of representations of corporeal objects.
Many will say that such rude delineations were not painting, but
everything has its beginning. From these simple lines has the perfection
of painting sprung, what Artist does not remember the feeble attempts he
made at representations when but a child; does he not remember them with
pleasure, and did he not then, and does he not now, consider them, feeble
as they were, paintings? The first efforts at delineation were painting,
without regard to color, or without regard to their truth in delineation.
The origin of what may now be called painting, as an art instructive or
decorative, is altogether involved in obscurity--authorities differing
widely on the subject. Pliny dates its invention to a period antecedent
to the siege of Troy, and other writers after. The Egyptians boasted of
possessing the art six thousand years before the Greeks, but this has
always been doubted. They certainly practised painting at a very early
period, and Cambyses destroyed all the monuments of art he found in
Egypt, as much as was in his power, which is some argument in favor of
the statement; and hence all such monuments as display specimens of the
art, must be posterior to his invasion. The remains of Egyptian painting,
now extant, are but poor representations of the human, and other figures,
showing a meagre advance in the art, being weakly and falsely drawn with
no natural grouping or attempts at sentiment. The Phoenicians were an
early cultivated people, and have the credit of first inventing letters,
and therefore may, by the best authority, lay claim to the invention of
painting. King Solomon, one thousand years before Christ, held their
ingenuity in such high regard, that he employed them as the master workmen
in building his temple, and the scriptures describe the magnificence of
the columns and their capitals, and the borders and cornishes and the
doors, besides the great brazen sea, supported by twelve oxen. The coins
also of this people, that have come down to us, show in design, and
execution, a good condition in the arts.
The scriptures abound in references to the arts. When Jacob took away the
daughter of Laban, she stole and secreted from search some of her father's
household gods. One of the great commandments, is that the children of
Israel shall "not make unto themselves any graven image, or any likeness
of any thing that is in the heavens above, or in the earth beneath, or in
the waters under the earth." As before mentioned, the temple of Solomon
appears to have been richly and elaborately decorated with works of art;
and the IV chapter Ezekiel commences with these words: "Thou also son of
man, take thee a tile, and lay it before thee, and portray upon it the
city, even Jerusalem." And in the XXIII chapter, 14 verse, it is written
thus: "For when she saw men portrayed on the wall, the images of the
Chaldeans portrayed with vermilion, girded with girdles about their loins,
exceeding in dyed attire upon their heads." Also in the VII chapter, 10
verse: "So I went in and saw and beheld every form of creeping things, and
abominable beasts, and all the idols of the house of Israel, portrayed
upon the wall round about." Also in Numbers XXXIII chapter and 52 verse:
"Then he shall drive out all the inhabitants of the land from before you,
and destroy all their pictures, and destroy all their molten images."
The Persians, the Arabians, and the Parthians, from their peculiar
education, have no claims whatever to the art of painting, a rude
representation of the human figure, with them, was considered as vulgar
as the appearance of a naked person. Their figures are almost invariably
clothed in clumsy draperies, profusely painted. They were worshippers of
fire, and used no representations of their deity; and it is a curious
fact, that, in their successful invasion of Egypt, they carried away with
them no taste for the arts, or imbibed any of the religious principles of
that polytheistic country.
The art of painting appears to have remained in the same state in China,
without any particular change from time immemorial. They have never
attempted anything beyond mere imitation, and that entirely devoid of
taste or truth. The human figure, with them, is a ludicrous deformity, and
their perspective is gained, by piling one object above another, until the
picture as all ground and no sky. Invention and Imagination were never
known among them; and, although the elaborateness of many of their works
is astonishing, yet with such a people, it would be useless to look for
the origin and progress of art.
The arts of the Etruscans are famous for the vases they produced. Etruria,
in its ancient state, was one of the most powerful and civilized countries
in Italy. Though the history of this nation is involved in obscurity, as
the Romans tried every means in their power to destroy all its claims to
refinement, yet there are sufficient proofs remaining of the height and
perfection to which they carried the fine arts. Near the town of Civita
Vecchia stood the ancient Etruscan city of Tarquinia, near which are
found numbers of sepulchral grottoes, many of which are decorated with
paintings and figures much in the style of those on the Etruscan vases.
Some of the pictures represent combats, and others dances of females,
executed with considerable spirit. The pottery before mentioned, however,
affords the greatest number of their specimens of the art of design; the
forms displayed in the contour of the vases, no less than the paintings
with which they are decorated, show the wonderful attainment in elegance
of design, purity of form, and ingenuity of delineation. The power over
line, and the facility of execution they reached, may be easily conceived
from the absorbent nature of the material upon which they wrought. No
retouching was possible; but the whole must have been completely arranged
in the mind of the artist before it could be struck off. Pliny states,
that in his day, the town of Ardea, an ancient city of Etruria, contained
some paintings which he ascribes to a period anterior to the founding of
Rome, and mentions with surprise their then perfect state of preservation.
At Lacurium also, he describes some pictures of Atalanta and Helen, which
were simply painted on the wall, and exhibited great merit in execution.
These Caligulo, after a fruitless attempt, failed in removing. Cere,
another Etruscan city, boasted some paintings of an early date. All these
specimens, although of remote date, have no positive clue by which to
ascertain anything positive as to the origin of the art of painting. And
we are obliged to turn to Greece for the foundation from whence sprung
works still the admiration of the world.
Religion was the motive of Greek art; it was, therefore, natural that
they should endeavor to invest their own authors, for they considered
themselves of divine origin, with the most perfect forms; and as man
possessed that exclusively, they completely and thoroughly studied the
elements of his constitution. The climate was favorable to the development
of that form, and the establishment of exercises by their civil and
political institutions, created models in nature, which elevated Greek art
to the highest excellence.
The next step of the art was the monogram, which is the outline of figures
without light or shade, with the addition, however, of parts within the
outline. From this the monochrom, or painting with a single color, and
a white ground, then covered with punic wax, first amalgamated with a
resinous pigment generally of a red, sometimes of a dark brown or black
color, was the next advance. Through this inky ground, the outlines were
traced with a firm though plyant style, called a cestrum: the line could
be altered by the finger or a sponge, and easily replaced by a new one.
When the whole was settled, it was suffered to dry, and covered with a
brown encaustic varnish; the lights were worked over again, and rendered
more brilliant with a more delicate point, according to the gradual
advance from mere outline to some indication; and at last to masses of
light and shade--thence to the superinduction of different colors, or the
invention of polychrom, which, by the addition of the pencil to the style,
raised the stained drawing to a legitimate picture, and at length produced
that vaunted harmony--"the magic scale of Grecian color."
The period at which the pencil supplanted the cestrum cannot be
ascertained. Apollodorus in the 93d Olympiad, and Zeuxis, in the 94th, are
said to have used it with freedom and power. Parrhasins painted the battle
of the Lapithtæ and centaurs on the shield of Minerva for Phidias, to
enable Mys to chase it. It was nearly a century after this that Appelles
and Protogenes had a competition in drawing lines with the pencil, in
which "delicacy and evanescent subtlety being the characteristic, some
notion of their mechanical skill may be formed."
Encaustic painting was accomplished by using the colors in wax, as they
are used now in oil, drying them by a fire, and polishing the surface by
dry friction.
Polygnotus is the first great name that appears in history, that any
satisfactory data of the arts may be commenced from. He lived about
400 years B. C. So great was his success in the Poecile at Athens, and
the Desche, or public hall at Delphi, that in a great council of the
Amphyctons, it was solemnly decreed "that his expenses, whenever he
travelled in Greece, should be borne at the public charge." His pictures
were admired by Pliny, at the distance of six hundred years.
The first painting on record is the battle of Magnete, by Balarchus, and
purchased by Candaules, King of Lydia, for its weight in gold, or, as some
say, a quantity of gold coins equal to its surface.
After Aglaophon, Phidias, Panenus, Colotes, and Evenor, the father of
Parrhasins, came Apollodorus, the Athenian. This painter applied the
essential principles of Polygnotus to the delineation of the species, by
investigating the leading forms that discriminate the different classes
of human qualities and passions. The acuteness of his taste led him
to discover, that, as all men were connected by one general form, so
were they separated by some peculiar individuality. Pliny and Plutarch
considered Apollodorus as the first colorist of his age, and it is very
probable, by their descriptions, that he was the inventor of local color
and tone. Zeuxis succeeded to Apollodorus, and by uniting in one figure
the most perfect parts of many models, produced an ideal form, which,
in his opinion, constituted the supreme degree of human beauty. Lucian
describes a picture he exhibited at the Olympic Games as remarkable for
its invention. It represented a female centaur, suckling her young. It was
carried off from Athens by Sylla, but lost on the voyage to Italy.
Parrhasins, a native of Ephesus, but a citizen of Athens, was the son of a
disciple of Evenor, and contemporary of Zeuxis. By his subtle examination
of outline, "he established that standard of divine and heroic form, which
raised him to the authority of a legislator, from whose decisions there
was no appeal." He was a thorough master of allegory, from the fact of
his embodying by signs, universally understood, the Athenian people. In a
competition with Timanthes, he had the mortification of being declared, by
a majority of votes, inferior to him. The subject for competition, was the
contest of Ajax and Ulysses for the arms of Achilles.
The sacrifice of Iphigenia in Aulis, by Timanthes, acquired the greatest
celebrity of all the ancient pictures. Quintilian says that it was painted
in contest with Colotes of Teos--an artist from the school of Phidias,
and crowned with victory at its rival exhibition. This picture, which has
been the subject of unlimited praise by the ancient critics, has been
in modern times objected to, from the circumstance of Timanthes hiding
the face of Agamemnon, the father of the victim, to be immolated in his
mantle, unable, as it was supposed by his art, to express the entire agony
of his grief. Sir Joshua Reynolds observes thus: "If difficulties overcome
make a great part of the merit of art, difficulties evaded can deserve
but little commendation." The French critic Falconet, has also condemned
the artifice. But Fuseli answers these objections very reasonably by
saying,--"The subject of Timanthes was the immolation of Sphigenia.
Sphigenia was the principal figure, and her form, her resignation, or
her anguish, was the painter's principal task; the figure of Agamemnon,
however important, is merely accessary, and no more necessary to make
the subject completely tragic, than that of Dytemnestra, the mother--no
more than that of Priam, to impress us with sympathy at the death of
Polyxenia." Again, "they ascribe to impotence what was the forbearance
of judgment." Timanthes felt like a father; he did not hide the face of
Agamemnon, because it was beyond the power of his art--not because it
was beyond the possibility, but because it was beyond the dignity of
expression--because the inspiring feature of paternal affection at that
moment, and the action which of necessity must have accompanied it, would
either have destroyed the grandeur of the character, and the solemnity of
the scene, or subject the painter, with the majority of his judges, to
the imputation of insensibility. The same expedient was resorted to by
M. Angelo, in the figure of Abijam, and by Raphael in the expulsion from
paradise.
These were the artists who formed the second school of art, and
established its end and limits. On it was founded the third period of
style, in which refinement induced a grace and beauty not to be surpassed.
The masters of this period were--Appelles, Protogenes, Aristides,
Euphranor, Pausius, and the pupils of Pamphilius, and his master Eupompus.
The last named artist was of Sicyon; and his authority was so great, that
out of the Asiatic and Grecian chords of painting he formed a third, by
dividing the last into the attic and Sicyonian. Pliny says that, when
consulted by Zysippus on a standard of imitation in art, he pointed to
the crowd passing by--observing that nature, not an artist, should be the
object of imitation. Pamphilius, a Macedonian, the master of Appelles,
adopted the doctrines of Eupompus. To the art of painting, he joined the
study of mathematics, and held, that, without the aid of geometry, no
artist could arrive at any perfection. In Appelles, we are told by Pliny,
unrivalled excellence was found. Grace was his powerful and peculiar
faculty, in which he surpassed all his predecessors. His Venus Anadyomene,
which was long after purchased by Augustus for one hundred talents, or
£20,000 sterling, was esteemed the most faultless creation of the Grecian
pencil, the most perfect example of that simple yet unapproachable grace
of expression, of symmetry of form, and exquisite finish, in which may be
summed up the distinctive beauties of his genius. Hotogenes was next to
him in merit. The most celebrated of his works was his figure of Jalysus,
with his dog, which occupied him seven years. Aristides, of Theles,
and cotemporary of Appelles, was the first, who, by the rules of art,
obtained a perfect knowledge of expressing the passions and affections of
the mind. In one figure, he expressed the anguish of maternal affection,
and the pangs of death. Euphranor, the Isthmian, and pupil of Aristides,
is said to have carried this refinement of expression still further.
Skilled in Sculpture, as well as in Painting, his conceptions were noble
and elevated; his style masculine and bold; and he was the first who
distinguished himself, by imparting majesty to his heroes.
Asclepiodorus, the Athenian sculptor, as well as painter, was as the
latter, celebrated for the beauties of a correct style, and the truth of
his proportions. Appelles allowed himself to be, in these respects, as
much his inferior to this artist as he was to Amphion on the good ordering
and disposition of his figures. About this period appeared Nichomachus,
Nichophanes, Pyreicas and others. Nichias, an Athenian, 322 B. C., was in
great repute for the great variety and noble choice of his subjects, for
the mode of distributing his lights and shadows, and for great skill in
the representation of animals. In Rome, 300 B. C., Fabius, a noble Roman,
painted the Temple of Health, and gloried so much in the art, that he
assumed the name of Pictor. Without a further enumeration of masters, for
a long period after the reigns of Vespasian and his son Titus, painting,
as well as sculpture, continued to flourish in Italy. Even under their
successors Domitian, Nerva and Trojan, they met with as much encouragement
as they did in the most palmy days of Greece, although painting was used
in mere ornamental decorations--that is, to a great extent, and artists
had sunk, for the most part, to the standard of mere mechanics. Under
Adrian, Antonine, Alexander Severns, Constantine, and Valentinian, the art
of painting continued to be an object of interest; but at length, in the
reign of Phocus, with the fall of the Empire, with the rest of the noble
arts and sciences, it was involved in the common heap of ruins.
(To be continued.)
* * * * *
BROMINE.
We give the folk wing interesting combination and experiments with
bromine, as found in Hill's Treatise:--
"Discovered in 1826, by M. Balard, a young chemist of Montpellier, France.
He named it _Muride_, because obtained from the sea; but it acquired its
present name from a Greek word, signifying _rank_, or _dead odor_." It
exists in nature in very small quantities. It is found in the waters of
every sea which has been tested for it: it is also found in many mineral
and salt springs. We have not been able to determine to whom belongs the
honor of discovering its use as an accelerator in Daguerreotype. Having
corresponded with Prof. Morse, (who was certainly one of the first who
took portraits by the Daguerreian process,) Dr. Draper, and others, to
whom this honor has been awarded, they refuse to claim it. Prof. Silliman,
who is supposed to know everything relating to science, writes to me that
he does not know this. I am quite inclined to place the wreath on the brow
of the inventor of the Magnetic Telegraph.
Process.--When common salt is prepared from sea-water by evaporation and
crystallization, a liquid remains which goes under the name of _bittern_.
This liquid on passing chlorine through it, is tinged with a deep yellow
color. The liquid is now distilled, and the vapor passed over a substance,
(muriate of lime), which has a powerful attraction for water. A small
quantity of bromine is thus obtained.--Another method is to agitate the
chlorinated bittern with a portion of sulphuric ether. The ether dissolves
the bromine, from which it receives a beautiful red tint, and on standing,
rises to the surface. Agitate this solution with caustic potash, and the
bromide of potassium and bromate of potassa will be formed. Evaporate the
liquor and the bromide of potassium will be left from which bromine may be
distilled.
Properties.--At common temperatures, it rapidly volatilizes, giving red
vapors of a most disagreeable smell. Its color, when held between the
eye and the light is a deep hyacinth red. Like oxygen, chlorine, and
iodine, it is a non-conductor of electricity, and a negative electric. It
boils at 116·5°, and congeals at 40 Fahr. into a brittle solid. It is a
powerful poison; even its vapor would no doubt prove fatal, if inhaled in
large quantities. A single drop placed in the beak of a bird destroys it
instantly. Operators cannot be too cautious in using it. A very small drop
spattered in the eye would destroy the sight. Bromine is very corrosive. A
lighted taper burns for a few moments in its vapor, with a flame green at
its base, and red at the top, and is then extinguished. It is soluble in
water, alcohol, and ether; the latter is the best solvent. With water at
32° Fahr., if forms a _hydrate_, in crystals of a fine red color. It gives
to a solution of starch an orange color. Chlorine will displace it from
all its combinations with hydrogen.
Chloride of Bromine.--Formed by transmitting a current of chlorine through
bromine, and condensing the disengaged vapors by a freezing mixture.
The factitious article is more simply formed, and is equally good as
an accelerator, but not as quick. See page 25, Part I. M. Bissou, a
Frenchman, found that the real chloride of bromine is so sensitive, that
Daguerreotype proofs are taken by it in half a second. He succeeded in
taking persons and animals in the act of walking.
Bromic Acid may be obtained by pouring sulphuric acid upon a dilute
solution of bromide of baryta, and evaporating. No interest.
Bromide of Baryta.--Boil of protobromide of iron with moist carbonate
of baryta; carefully evaporate and it will crystallize in white rhombic
prisms, which have a bitter taste, are slightly deliquescent, and soluble
in water and alcohol.
Bromide of Carbon.--Formed by mixing one part of periodide of carbon
with two of bromine. Two compounds are formed, the _bromide of carbon_,
and the _sub-bromide of iodine_; the latter is removed by a solution of
caustic potassa. It is liquid at common temperatures, but crystallizes
at 32° Fahr.; sweet to the taste, and of a penetrating ethereal odor;
distinguished from the protiodide by the vapor which it emits on being
heated. The _periodide of carbon_ is made by mixing an alcoholic solution
of pure potash and of iodine. It forms crystals of a pearly lustre,
sweet to the taste, and of a saffron odor. The _protiodide_ is formed by
distilling a mixture of the preceding compound with corrosive sublimate.
Sweet in taste, and of a penetrating ethereal odor.
Bromide of Magnesium.--Dissolve magnesia in hydrobromic acid. It
will crystallize in small acicular crystals, of a sharp taste, very
deliquescent and soluble.
Bromide of Sulphur.--Pour bromine on sublimed sulphur. There is formed an
oily liquid of a reddish tint.
Bromide of Phosphorus, is formed by bringing phosphorus and bromine into
contact in a jar filled with carbonic acid gas. Vaporizes by heat, and is
decomposed by water.
Bromide of Silicon, is prepared by burning silicon in the vapor of
bromine. A very dense, colorless liquid, emitting dense fumes. We have
used this article as an accelerator, and it produces a beautiful but
singular picture. It works quick, but possesses no particular advantage.
Bromide of Zinc.--Prepared by digesting a solution of bromine with zinc
filings. The iodide is formed in a similar manner. No interest.
Hydrobromic Acid.--Mix the vapor of bromine with about an equal bulk of
hydrogen gas, and introduce a coil of red-hot platinum wire. Red-hot
iron answers equally well. The combination takes place slowly without
explosion. Or, it may be formed by placing a small piece of phosphorus in
a glass tube filled with water, and dropping it upon a little bromine.
The hydrobromic acid passes over in the form of a gas, and may be
passed through water, which will absorb it. _Hydriodic Acid_ is formed in
the same way, using iodine in place of the bromine. Hydrobromic acid is
decomposed instantly by chlorine and nitric acid.
The French and German bromine is generally considered the best; but the
American manufacture is by no means to be rejected, as it is frequently
very excellent. Bromine is sometimes adulterated with naphtha.
* * * * *
NITRATE OF SILVER.
DECOMPOSED BY THE CURRENT OF A GALVANIC BATTERY.
Mr. Matteucci has observed that the black deposit obtained on the cathode,
in the electrolysis of this salt, instantaneously becomes white when the
current ceases; that it does not occur except when the solution is weak,
because from strong solutions, crystalline silver is at once deposited;
that if a portion of the deposit, after it has became white, be suspended
between the electrodes while the current passes, those portions towards
the anode again become _black_, if the experiment is made in a solution
of the nitrate, but not if in mere acid water; it will, however, occur if
a mere drop of nitrate is added to the solution, if a plate of a glass is
interposed between the electrodes, the phenomenon does not occur; this
is attributed to the great reduction of intensity. It is suggested "that
the black deposit is formed, of oxide of silver, which is preserved by
the passage of the current, and which, when the current ceases, passes
immediately to the metallic condition."
* * * * *
OXIDE OF SILVER.
Place pieces of silver in a glass vessel,, and pour on them about equal
parts of water and strong nitric acid; the metal will soon dissolve,
giving off fumes of nitric oxide. Should the solution have a green hue,
which is invariably the case, unless the metal has been obtained fine from
the refiners, it indicates the presence of copper, in which case immerse
some pieces of copper in the solution, and the nitric acid, by elective
affinity, will combine with the copper; and a precipitate of pure silver,
in the form of grayish powder, will take place. Throw away the liquid and
wash the silver precipitate several times in sulphuric acid and water, and
afterwards in water alone. Then re-dissolve it as before, in nitric acid
and water; and a _solution of pure nitrate of silver_ will be obtained.
Place this in an evaporating dish, or a saucer, and apply the heat of a
spirit-lamp, or place the saucer by the fire-side, till some portion of
the liquid is driven off in vapor. Allow the residue to cool, and it will
shoot out into long colorless transparent crystals, which are _nitrate
of silver_. They must be handled with care, as they possess the property
of staining animal and vegetable substances with an almost indelible
black;--fused nitrate of silver being the lunar caustic of surgery, and
the main ingredient of marking-ink. Next prepare some _lime-water_, by
stirring lime into water and filtering the solution. As lime is very
sparingly soluble in water, requiring, at 60° Fahrenheit, 750 times its
weight, it is necessary to make an abundant supply. Place the lime-water
in a glass or other vessel, and drop in it a few crystals of nitrate of
silver; the colorless solution will instantly assume an unsightly brown
hue; and, after remaining quiescent for a time, the _oxide of silver_
will subside in the form of a dark brown precipitate. The liquid is then
poured off, and the precipitate is washed with water. Before throwing away
the liquid, fresh lime-water should be added to it; and if the dark hue
recurs, the precipitate must be allowed to subside again; if no change
takes place, it may be inferred that the silver is all extracted. The
oxide of silver should not be dried, but be kept in bottles with water.
* * * * *
POTASSIUM.
CYANIDE OR SIMPLE CYANURET OF POTASSIUM.
Before entering into the preparation of this ingredient, I may
mention that the _prussiate of potash_ of commerce has, by many young
experimentalists, been mistaken for the above article, because it is
often sold, by those unacquainted with chemical technicalities, under
the name of _cyanuret of potassium_. It is, in chemical parlance, termed
_ferro-cyanuret_, from its containing a certain portion of iron; and
differs in its properties, very materially, from the _simple_ salt. It
is of a bright yellow color, and is converted into the colorless, simple
cyanuret in the following manner:
Take 4 ounces of the yellow prussiate, break it in small pieces, and well
dry it on a plate of iron; then reduce it in a mortar to exceedingly fine
powder. Dry and pound in like manner one and a-half oz. of carbonate
of potash. Incorporate the two ingredients thoroughly. Place a Hessian
crucible in the fire; and when it attains a red heat, throw into it the
prepared mixture, and closely cover the crucible. Keep up the heat, and
the contents of the crucible will soon fuse; and the fluid mass will
become red-hot. After this, immerse in it, from time to time, a hot glass
rod; the mass which adheres, is in the early stages of the process brown
on cooling; as the heat is continued, it appears yellowish, and finally,
colorless and transparent. The operation is then complete: the crucible
must be removed; and after its contents have been allowed to settle, the
fused mass may be poured off; the greater portion of which consists of the
_simple cyanuret of potassium_. This salt is very deliquescent, and must
therefore be retained in close bottles: it will readily be recognized by
its powerful odor,--that noticed in peach blossoms. The mere mention of
prussic acid entering largely into its composition, will be sufficient to
induce my reader to exercise common caution in handling it.
Having these ingredients prepared, take one pint of pure rain or distilled
water; add to it two ounces of the cyanuret of potassium, shake them
together occasionally, until the latter is entirely dissolved; and allow
the liquid to become clear. Then add a quarter of an ounce of oxide of
silver, which will very speedily dissolve; the dissolution may be hastened
by heat, and after a short time, a clear transparent solution will be
obtained.--_Walker._
* * * * *
STEREO-CHROMIC PAINTING.
A new mode of fresco painting, called _Stereo-chromie_, which has for a
long time excited attention among the artists of Germany, has it appears
been perfected by a pupil of Kaulbach, in his own studio in Munich. The
design is Kaulbach's, and the work was executed under his superintendence.
It represents the figure and character of a Prophet, and will be sent to
the London Exhibition. 'The figure, grand and majestic as it really is,
cannot be expected to convey to the English public anything but a faint
idea of the genius and skill of Kaulbach,' but as a specimen of this new
and wonderful mode of painting, it will be regarded, by artists, with the
greatest curiosity.
_Stereo-chromie_ was discovered by _Obergrath von Fuchs_, a distinguished
chemist; and is considered by German artists as one of the greatest
discoveries of the age. They claim for it great advantage over ordinary
fresco and encaustic painting, in its superior durability and the power
which it affords the artist of retouching and glazing his picture.
The colors are mixed with water, the whole being permanently fixed
by occasional sprinklings of water, in which a certain proportion of
fluoric-acid (_Flassspath saurs_) is mixed.
_Stereo-chromie_ is in fact a preserver of the wall on which it is
painted, By a certain chemical action of the solution sprinkled over the
picture, while in progress, the whole ground on which it is placed, and
the picture itself becomes one hard flinty mass, the very colors of which
are converted into the hardest stone.