The Photographic Image

Abstract

THE history of a discovery which has been developed to such a remarkable degree of perfection as photography has naturally been a fruitful source of discussion among those who interest themselves in tracing the progress of science. It is only my presence in this lecture theatre, in which the first public discourse on photography was given by Thomas Wedgwood at the beginning of the century, that justifies my treading once again a path which has already been so thoroughly well beaten. If any further justification for trespassing upon the ground of the historian is needed, it will be found in the circumstance that in the autumn of last year there was held a celebration of what was generally regarded as the jubilee of the discovery. This celebration was considered by many to have reference to the public disclosure of the Daguerreotype process, made through the mouth of Arago to the French Academy of Sciences on August 10, 1839. There is no doubt that the introduction of this process marked a distinct epoch in the history of the art, and gave a great impetus to its subsequent development. But, while giving full recognition to the value of the discovery of Daguerre, we must not allow the work of his predecessors and contemporaries in the same field to sink into oblivion. After the lapse of half a century we are in a better position to consider fairly the influence of the work of different investigators upon modern photographic processes.