1840                Corner of Lodge Alley and Eighth Streets, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

1840 February 8.  National Gazette and Literary Register.  (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.)  February 8, 1840, Vol. XX, No. 6072, P. 2.

To the Editors of the National Gazette.  Gentlemen—The notice which you have taken in the Gazette of Friday evening of specimens of Daguerreotype some time since produced in this city appears to me to require as an act of simple justice, a statement that my own are not by any means the only pieces which have been produced in this country prior to the arrival of the collection of Paris pictures for exhibition, in the hands of a French gentleman now in New York.  It is due to Mr. Joseph Saxton, Dr. Paul B. Goddard, Mr. Robert Cornelius and Mr. James Swain, to mention that each has made a number of successful attempts in the execution of the process of M. Daguerre.  They have moreover obtained their success by the means of apparatus entirely constructed in this country and by steps of the process considerably varied from the directions of the inventor of the art.  It may in addition be as well to recollect that three or four lectures on Daguerreotype have been given at as many successive monthly meetings of the Franklin Institute, by different members of that Institution and that the entire body of directions published by Daguerre, has been some time ago Translated by Mr. Frazer and published in the Journal of the Institute.

As M. Daguerre was pensioned by the French government for making known all that he had discovered and all which he should hereafter discover in regards to this art, it was doubtless the declaration of this fact, vouched by the first scientific authority in France, by the chambers and the throne of that nation, which induced scientific men and others on this side of the Atlantic to believe that in procuring the apparatus and following the instructions of the inventor they would not be liable to more than the ordinary chance of failure in imitating a new process, whether they should be favored by any personal instructions or not, and the degree of excellence and fidelity to nature attained in this city is entirely due to the labors and ingenuity of those who have devoted themselves to the practice and dissemination of the new and beautiful art, aided of course by the published instructions which the liberality of the French nation had caused to be made known to the world. 

I am, gentlemen, very respectfully, your obedient servant, Walter A. Johnson.

1840 July 4.  The Newport Mercury.  (Newport, Rhode Island.)  Vol. LXXIX, No. 4,082, P. 1.

The manner in which daguerreotype miniature likenesses are taken is thus described in the Mechanics’ Magazine.

Mr. Cornelius and Dr. Goodman (sic.) are now occupied at their establishment corner of Lodge Alley and Eighth Sts. Philadelphia, in taking likenesses, which are about seven by five inches in neat metallic gilt frames, and, are taken for five dollars.  As the likenesses are true the owners are, very often, too little flattered by the sun to be pleased with his painting, but as a French artist said to a friend of mine who complained that he had made him look like an assassin, the hellographist might reply “Sir, that is not my fault.”

The mode of proceeding of Dr. Goodman (sic.) and Mr. Cornelius is in this wise: out of the window of their room having a southern exposure, is projected horizontally, and at full length, a large looking glass to receive the rays of the sun, which are thrown up against another large mirror, so slanted, as to throw the light against the person whose likeness is to be taken, sitting at the opposite side of the room with his face to the window.  To soften the intense light thrown on the face by the mirrors, which would otherwise be intolerable, there is, suspended from the ceiling, a circular glass plate about three eights of an inch thick, of a very deep purple tinge, (which had once been used in the laboratory of the distinguished chemist, Dr. Hare,) for exciting electricity.

When the operate is seated on his chair, and subjected to the light transmitted through the purple glass, you would suppose all Mr. Cornelius wished was to make the fellow “look blue” but he will be relieved from such apprehension very soon, as it is only necessary to sit half a minute, or perhaps a minute, till the sun has, by his powerful pencil, trans mixed every lineament of your features with all their beauties and blemishes, in imperishable lines upon the plate of silver.  Before the person, and about four feet in front of him is a bureau, on top of which, is a mahogany tube or box, six or seven inches square and eighteen inches long open at both ends.  I the end next to the person (to be represented) is fixed a double convex lens about the size of a common burning glass, by which the figure of the face and bust is diminished to the proper size for the plate of silver on which the likeness is to be fixed.—When the person is seated, the, strong light is thrown from the mirrors through the purple plate upon the face, and bust and reflected thence through the lens and box and is transmitted to the plate of prepared silver fixed at the other end of the box.  Half a minute or more is sufficient to trace imperishably the delineation of the plate.

1866 July 6.  The Philadelphia Inquirer.  (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.)  July 6, 1866, P. 4.

Paul B. Goddard, M. D.  Philadelphia has seldom lost a more eminent member of the medical profession than Paul Beck Goddard, who died on last Tuesday, having been ill but a short time.  With Dr. Goddard’s skill in medicine and surgery our citizens are well acquainted.  His talents were of the highest order, and his knowledge of the great science was wonderful in its grasp and extensiveness.  In our population of three-quarters of a million it is doubtful whether there are a hundred intelligent persons who have not heard of his abilities as a physician,  At one time he was Demonstrator of Anatomy in the University of Pennsylvania, where he acquired a most enviable reputation.

After the first battles of the war he received a commission from the Government as Volunteer Surgeon, and was placed in charge of one of the United States Hospitals located in Philadelphia.  In this capacity, by his untiring efforts, and earnest, whole souled zeal [he] rendered efficient service to the noble cause of the Union, and won the gratitude of our wounded heroes and their friends.

Dr. Goddard was a man who attained great popularity by reason of his intelligence, geniality of heart, and benevolent nature,  In his death the profession, generally, parts with one of its brightest ornaments.