1840                Pennsylvania Medical College, 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 March 20.  The Farmers’ Cabinet.  (Amherst, New Hampshire.)  March 20, 1840, Vol. XXXVIII, No. 30, P. 1 & 2.

The Daguerreotype.  We have on several occasions, given our readers, statements relative to the wonderful discovery of Mr. Daguerreotype in Paris.  Professor Johnson, of the Filbert street College, has produced many beautiful specimens of the Daguerreotype, some of which may be seen at the Merchant’s Exchange.  The view of that noble edifice and also of the Bank of the United States are very fine.

Mr. Gourard has also lectured on this discovery in New York.  The rationale of the process as stated by that gentleman, is given in the Albion.  The plates which are to receive the impression, must be of nineteen parts thickness of copper and one of silver; they must be of the best and purest material, without which precautions they will be all useless, the silvered surface must be polished in the highest degree of art, and every care must thenceforth be taken to preserve that surface from moisture of from oleaginous contact.  In particular they must be perfectly dry at the time the operator commences the application of chemical preparations.

The operator takes two balls of fine cotton, on one of which he pours a solution of nitric acid, being sixteen parts to one of acid, and then rubs it with a circular motion, every where and evenly over the plate; with the other ball the plate is then rubbed dry.  This is done three times, and then the surface is ready to receive the vapor of Iodine.  The Iodine is in a shallow, wide-mouthed cup, covered over with a very wide-woven gauze, and placed at the bottom of a wooden box.—The plate is then put upon a ledge near the top of the box, with the prepared face downwards and the lid closely[shut].  From this time all the operations must be conducted as nearly in the dark as the operator can allow himself to see in.  In about ten minutes the vapor of Iodine has communicated to the prepared surface of the plate a tint of deep gold color, and is now to be placed in the Camera Obscura.  On taking the plate out of the Iodine box, it is immediately covered with a thick dark baize to protect it from both moisture and the attack of light, until placed in a proper position to receive the required reflection.  The camera obscura is then properly adjusted to the object, and the plate is inserted.  It remains there during the space of from eight to fifteen minutes, according to the state of the atmosphere, and the strength of the light, when the picture will be completed.  The length of time must be an effort of the judgement and experience, it cannot at once be given as a rule; of course the plate cannot be removed from the camera until this part of the operation be completed, and, during the time this is in progress, there ought not to be the least vibration in the vicinity of the instrument.  When the plate now containing the impression, is withdrawn, from the camera obscura, it is placed in a box, as in the operation of the Iodine, at the bottom of which is a quantity of mercury.  To the bottom of this box a spirit lamp, lighted, is applied, and kept there until the tempture of the mercury is at 65 degrees of Reaumur, when the lamp is withdrawn.  In a very few minutes, the vapor of mercury is sufficiently spread over the face of the plate, and is withdrawn from thence.—Philadelphia Saturday Courier.

We learned from the N. Y. Dispatch, that a young American artist in that city (A. S. Wolcott) has introduced some striking improvements in the use of this instrument.  He has made an apparatus by which he can take miniatures likenesses from life, in a more distinct [ ? ] than any specimens which have previously been produced.  In fact, his portraits are nearly as though they were drawn with India ink upon paper.  Each particular shade of the face and dress is given with astonishing exactness, and if the likenesses be examined with a microscope, it presents each fiber of the [tint].  By the old mode it required it some ten or fifteen minutes to perfect a Daguerreotype picture, whereas, with a perfectly clear atmosphere, Mr. Wolcott only requires a sitting of one minute—Ports. Jour.