1869 THE BRITISH JOURNAL OF
PHOTOGRAPHY
Vol. XVI
TRANSCRIPTION CONVENTIONS:
--Italics have been retained from publications, which uses them for both titles as well as emphasis. To more easily locate image titles, I have continued this italicization when titles have been rendered in all capitols or put in quotes, however italics have NOT been used when the general subject of an image is mentioned.
--Photographer’s (or potential photographer’s) names have been bolded – see also below under “Names”
--Brackets [ ] are used to indicate supplied comments by the transcriber; parenthesis
( ) are used in the original sources. If the original source has used brackets, they have been transcribed as parenthesis to avoid confusion.
--Spelling and typos: Nineteenth-century spellings occasionally differs from currently accepted norms. In addition, British spellings also differ from American usage. Common examples are: “colour” vs. “color”; “centre” vs. “center” and the use of “s” for “z” as in “recognise” vs. “recognize. While great care has been exercised in transcribing the 19th-century journals exactly as printed, “spell check” automatically corrects many of these differences. An attempt has been made to recorrect these automatic changes, but no doubt some have slipped through. As for typographical errors, these have been checked although no doubt some have managed to slip through the editorial process. For matters of consequence, I will be happy to recheck the original sources if need be for specific references.
-- Technical articles: For the most part, articles discussing technical aspects of photography, products, etc. were not transcribed unless they are part of a larger article covering photographs. When technical descriptions are too lengthy to include, that has been noted. Exceptions have been made as the transcriber saw fit.
--Meetings of Societies: Names of officers, members attending or referenced, dates and locations of meetings have been given. The first and/or earliest meetings recorded have been transcribed in full. Beyond those early years, only if the reports are very short or discuss photographs, have the articles been copied in full; if administrative or technical in nature. Although not always possible due to time constraints on borrowed materials, when possible, I have included at least the dates of society meetings and any photographer’s names listed.
-- Related, contemporary journals: e.g., The Art-Journal, cover both photographer as well as painting, drawing, sculpture, etc.. As they frequently refer to the production of both the photographer and the painter as “pictures” it is not always possible to tell when photography is indicated. If there is doubt, these articles have been included and the names bolded, but the individuals may, in fact, not be photographers.
NAMES:
--All photographer’s names have been bolded for easy location. EXCEPTIONS: While it is likely that people working with photographic equipment and techniques are also photographers some discretion has been used and not all such names have been bolded. Names of honorary members of a photographic society are assumed to be photographers and thus bolded, when in fact, that may not be the case. Names mentioned in connection with meetings of non-photographic societies have not been bolded unless there is a known or suspected photographic association. A computer word search, however, will still enable the researcher to locate any references to specific names.
--Names: Given abbreviations for titles such as “M” for “Monsieur”, etc., it is not always possible to tell if an individual’s first name or title is being abbreviated. Thus, especially with non-English photographers, too much credence should not be put into an initial that could also serve as an abbreviated title.
--It is not always possible in lists of photographers to know when two separate photographers are partners or not, e.g., in a list, “Smith and Jones” sometimes alludes to two separate photographers and sometimes to one photographic company. Both names will be highlighted and indexed but a partnership may be wrongly assumed. Any information to the contrary would be appreciated.
NUMBERS:
--Numbers referenced in the various journals can refer to either the photographer’s image number, or an entry number in an exhibition catalog. When the number is obviously is obviously that of the photographer, it is included in the index under the photographer’s name, whereas exhibition numbers are not.
1869: BJP, Aug. 27, vol. XVI, #486, p. 411-412:
Photography at Kew Observatory.
In the report of the Kew Committee of the British Association for the Advancement of Science, 1868-69, we find the following remarks about the photographic instruments at Kew Observatory:--
The Kew heliograph, in charge of Mr. De la Rue, continues to be worked in a satisfactory manner. During the past year 274 negatives have been taken on 168 days. Forty pictures of the Pagoda in Kew Gardens, as a fixed terrestrial object at a known distance, have likewise been taken, with the object of determining, by measurements of these pictures which are taken in different parts of the telescope, both the optical distortion of the sun-pictures and the angular diameter of the sun.
A paper communicated to the Royal Society by Messrs. Warren De la Rue, Stewart, and Loewy, entitled Researches on Solar Physics: Heliographical Positions and Areas of Sun Spots Observed with the Kew Photo-heliograph during the years 1862 and 1863, is the first of the series of reductions of the photographic solar records. Its is in course of publication in the Transactions, and will shortly be distributed.
It is hoped that, during next winter, a paper containing the heliographical positions and areas of the spots observed at Kew during the years 1864, 1865, and 1866 may be communicated to the Royal Society, as well as a paper representing, both numerically and graphically, the spotted area of the sun during three complete solar periods, the results being partly derived from Schwabe’s and partly from Carrington’s observations, in addition to those made with the Kew photoheliograph.
Another paper by the above authors, entitled Account of Some Recent Observations on Sun Spots made at the Kew Observatory, has likewise been ordered to be published in the Philosophical Transactions.
M. Berg, of the Wilna Observatory, has during the past year received instruction at Kew in the method of taking solar photographs, and in that of measuring the positions and areas of sun spots. The Director of the Observatory with which he is connected being desirous of working along with Kew, and of following out the same methods of observation as well as the same researches.
The number of sun spots recorded after the manner of Hofrath Schwabe, together with a table exhibiting the monthly groups observed at Dessau and at Kew for the year 1868, have been communicated to the Astronomical Society, and published in their monthly notices.
We regret to mention that Hofrath Schwabe, owing to his great age, has found it necessary to discontinue his observations; but the committee have the satisfaction in stating that arrangements have been made for continuing at Kew the grouping of sun observations which has been carried on for some time according to Hofrath Schwabe’s plan, and for publishing the results annually.
A minute comparison of the records of Hofrath Schwabe with the simultaneous photographic records at Kew has revealed the great trustworthiness of his drawings, which are at present in the possession of Kew Observatory. The proposed communication already alluded to as representing the spotted area of the sun during three complete solar periods is thus rendered possible; and while it is imagined that by this means a valuable record of the past will be obtained, it is hoped that the interest now displayed in solar research will secure the uninterrupted continuance of such a record for the future.
The report points out the following sources of error in the barographic records:--
Want of definition arising from an improper adjustment of the lens ought to be noticed, but it is believed that the definition is good in the case of all the observatories. As the instrumental constants for all the various barographs have now been determined, it would hardly seem expedient to alter the position of the lens, which would alter these constants, for the purpose of procuring greater perfection in definition.
The photographic sheet which is attached to the cylinder of the barograph ought to be evenly put on without any bagging or bulging; as, if it bulged, besides giving a bad result, it might come into contact with the end of the temperature adjustment bar.
Care ought to be taken that there is no want of light, especially in the case of a low barometer’ and, finally, great precaution should be taken to avoid finger-marks and every species of bad photography.
Suppose that the sheet has been placed in an unexceptionable manner upon the barograph cylinder, the next point is for the operator to set the instrumental clock before starting to correct Greenwich mean time, as given by his chronometer. Now the instrumental clock has an arrangement for cutting off the light for four minutes every two hours, beginning to do so two minutes before an even hour and ending two minutes after it, and the practice is for the observer to read the standard barometer about five times every day at periods two minutes after even hours, as ascertained by his chronometer, or when the light should be about to be restored after having been cut off by the clock-stop. If, therefore, the instrumental clock keeps good time and its stop acts, and if the observer reads the standard barometer correctly and at the proper moment as ascertained by his chronometer, and if he finally reduces his curves properly, the near coincidence between the corresponding curve and standard readings will be a good practical test not only that all these operations have been properly performed, but also that throughout the curve the instrumental clock keeps good time with the chronometer. A further check with regard to time is afforded by the comparison made between the chronometer and the instrumental clock at the moment when the curve is taken off the cylinder, the results of which are recorded on the curve.
The clock may sometimes possibly stop, or the clock-stop may go wrong. Without discussing minutely these possibilities, it may be sufficient to state that when any such misadventure occurs the curve ought to be inspected by the Director of the Central Observatory.
There still remains the question of date. The security that a curve is rightly dated depends ultimately on the strong improbability that an observer at any of the observatories should make a mistake with regard to the first day of the week. When, therefore, he returns the barograph journal filled up, we may be quite certain that the observations entered on the line with Sunday were really made on that day, although he
may possibly put the wrong day of the month on the form beside it.
Again: the photographic operator, when he takes off a curve, should mark on the back in pencil the day of the week and month when the curve was taken off, and should also, after drying, write upon its face the hour and day of putting on and taking off as recorded by the journal. If, therefore, the accuracy of the observer in assigning the proper day of the month to Sunday be checked at Kew as each week’s journals are transmitted to that establishment, and if it also be seen that the date written in pencil on the back of the curve corresponds to that written on its face, and if the times of starting and ending of the curve, as describe in front, are found to agree with the curve itself as measured by a simple time scale, there can hardly be any doubt that the curve has been properly dated; if there still remain any doubt it will be dispelled when the tabulations from that curve are examined, and it is found that the tabulated readings agree well with the simultaneous readings of the standard barometer.
1869: BJP, Aug. 27, vol. XVI, #486, p.415:
Contemporary Press.
Successful Observations of the Great Solar Eclipse. (Daily News).
The most interesting results cannot fail to accrue to science from the success with which the American astronomers have been able to observe the great eclipse of August 7th. In many respects, this eclipse was even better suited to the requirements of photographers and spectroscopists than the eclipse of last year. It did not, indeed, last quite so long, but the operations of the photographer were not interfered with by the effects of the tremendous heat of the tropics; and again, the eclipsed sun was not, as in 1868 (in India), close to the point overhead, so that observers could watch the eclipse with more comfort, and therefore with greater attention. The track of the moon’s shadow—the real shadow we mean, not the penumbra—lay across the eastern parts of Siberia, thence to the part of America which formerly belonged to Russia, thence with a south-easterly course across the very heart of the United States from Minnesota to North Carolina; and the shadow left the earth at a point close by the Bermuda Isles.
The American astronomers availed themselves worthily of the favourable opportunity thus presented to them. Along the line of the eclipse several observing parties were stationed; spectroscopy and the difficult process of celestial photography were successfully applied; and a set of ob servers devoted themselves to the search for Vulcan, or any other planets which may exist within the orbit of Mercury. Nor were meteorological observations neglected. The phenomena presented by the red prominence naturally occupied a large share of attention.
The recent researches of astronomers have revealed so many striking and interesting facts respecting these objects, that it was looked on as a matter of extreme importance to secure fresh observations of the prominences under the favourable circumstances of a total eclipse. Astronomers have indeed managed to make the prominences visible without the aid of an eclipse; but the red flames are thus seen “as through a glass darkly.” It is only during a total eclipse that their most striking features can be distinctly recognised. And then there are particular reasons for looking on them with interest at the present time. Their association with the solar spots has long been a subject of attention, and now the sun’s face is in an unusually spotty state, is seamed and furrowed by the great faculous waves, and, in fact, indicates in a number of striking ways the approach of the period of maximum disturbance. Thus the red prominences are just now more than usually significant. They can teach us much, it may be, respecting the laws of that strange periodic process of disturbance which forms one of the most perplexing problems presented to the astronomer.
We hear, therefore, with pleasure that these objects were not only seen with unusual distinctness, but have been photographed successfully, and have revealed under spectroscopic research a new and interesting feature. So soon as the totality had commenced a red prominence appeared on the left side of the sun, resembling a tongue of flame projected horizontally. Presently another was made out, projecting vertically downwards from the lowest point of the sun. In the telescope, however, many more were seen; and doubtless when the photographs have been enlarged, it will be found—as on former occasions—that many prominences existed which even the telescope did not reveal. For Mr. De la Rue, F.R.S., who has mastered more successfully than any other astronomer the difficulties of celestial photography, has noticed that the prominences are sometimes of such extreme delicacy as to reveal themselves only by the influence of their chemical rays. One of the prominences was carefully analysed under the spectroscope of Professor Winlock, who detected no less than eleven lines in its spectrum. Thus the observations of M. Rayet last year, during the eclipse in India, are more than confirmed. He announced the existence of eight lines, but, as no one else had seen them, considerable doubt rested on the observation., Now we may look upon it as certain that these enormous flames, which reach tens of thousands of miles from the sun’s surface, contain other elements in combustion than the hydrogen hitherto alone proved to exist in them. What those elements are our spectroscopists will doubtless soon learn. Messrs. Janssen and Lockyer have not hitherto been able to detect the lines seen by Mr. Winlock, but perhaps Mr. Huggins may be able to see them when his new and powerful telescope has been mounted and set in action.
1869: BJP, Oct. 1, vol. XVI, #491, p. 472:
How the Solar Eclipse was Photographed.
Major Curtis thus described in our Philadelphia contemporary the means employed by the party with which he was connected in photographing the solar eclipse:--
The telescope used was the large equatorial of the United States Naval Academy, at Annapolis, Md., loaned by Admiral Porter for the expedition. This instrument has an object-glass seven and three-quarter inches clear aperture and nine and a-half feet focal length. It was fitted up with a camera box of such proportions as to carry negative plates seven inches square, upon which the image of the sun enlarged by an eyepiece appears four inches in diameter. Two spider line position wires, crossing each other at right angles, were adjusted in the eyepiece at an angle of 45° to a parallel of declination. The arrangement for making the exposures was as follows:--At a distance of about two and a-half inches from the end of the eyepiece a partition ran across the camera box, perforated with an aperture just large enough to admit the entire cone of rays from the eyepiece. Immediately in front of this partition there slipped freely through rebated slots in the side of the box a slider of wood twenty inches long, pierced with two apertures of the same size as the hole in the fixed partition. These apertures were fitted up differently—one with an instantaneous slide for use during the partial phases of the eclipse, and the other with a simple sliding shield, to allow of more prolonged exposures during the totality. Either aperture could be brought over the hole in the fixed partition by simply running the slider to and fro for a few inches, and in either position the latter was held in place by a spring bolt on the side of the camera box. The instantaneous slide was a rectangular plate of sheet brass, having a slot in it, whose width could be varied at pleasure. From the merest slit to a rectangular aperture half-an-inch in diameter. This slide ran freely on two brass guide-rods, around one of which was coiled a fine steel wire spring, to give the instantaneous motion. The slide, when drawn up against the spring, was held by a wire loop catching over a little pin projecting from a hair trigger attached to the free end of the wooden slider. This loop was released by the lightest touch upon the trigger, so that the timing of the exposures could be made with the utmost accuracy. The second aperture in the slider, for use during the totality, was fitted up with a movable shield of very thin brass, which could be rotated to and fro by being attached to a catgut cord to a milled head at the end of the slider, near the trigger of the instantaneous slide. By means of these two apertures in the wooden slider, the change from the arrangement for the partial phase exposures to that for the totality could be made in an instant of time.
The exposures actually used during the eclipse were excessively long, owing to the unfortunate weather that prevailed at Des Moines. Though the sky was cloudless and clear enough for observations with the eye, yet the dense haze that filled the air, rendering the whole western sky white instead of blue, was fatal to quick photographic work. During the partial phases, instead of two inches, the entire aperture of the object-glass, large as it was, and the whole diameter—half-an-inch—of the instantaneous slide had to be used to secure sufficient exposure, and during the totality the two plates, for which alone there was time, were exposed respectively sixty-six and forty-five seconds; and even with this excessive exposure the development of the image was very slow. There were obtained in all one hundred and twenty-two negatives of the eclipse—two being of the totality. These latter were timed exactly right for the red protuberances, and show the most exquisite detail in the structure of these strange appendages to the sun, especially in a group of faint fantastic forms on the eastern limb, which, throwing out long tongues of light, have the appearance of delicate flickering flames, in many cases entirely disconnected with the surface of the sun. The corona, stronger in some parts than in others, is also shown around the entire periphery of the moon. The large size of the negatives—the moon’s disc being represented over four inches in diameter—adds to the
Distinctness and beauty with which the fainter and more delicate prominences are depicted; and it is believed that, as photographic representations of the form and structure of the red protuberances, these negatives stand unequalled.
Our plan of operations was as follows:--Seven negative baths were used, standing in a trough of water to keep them cool; four plate-holders, and a large wooden trough with grooved sides similar to a negative rack, and capable of holding one hundred and fifty negatives. This was filled with a weak solution of hyposulphite of soda and provided with an overflow pipe. The wall of the dark room adjoining where the telescope stood was fitted with two dark valves or dumb-waiters, by which the plate-holders could be passed in and out of the dark room without the admission of light or the necessity of any of the operators—he at the telescope—took the plate-holder from the dumb-waiter, placed it in the camera, adjusted the telescope, exposed, noting the time by a chronometer standing at his elbow strapped to a tripod stand, returned the holder to the dark room by the second dumb-waiter, and recorded the time of exposure on a sheet of paper tacked to a shelf. The fourth operator took the plate from the holder, developed, washed, and then dropped it into one of the grooves in the large fixing-trough. There the plates remained, slowly fixing, till after the eclipse was over, when they were taken out in the same order in which they were put in, washed and numbered with a diamond. By this even distribution of labour, and by the help of the dumb-waiters and the large fixing-trough, negatives were taken at the rate of one every even minute during the eclipse—one hundred and twenty-two in all—with the utmost ease and deliberation. Each operator had about fifteen seconds to spare with each exposure, so that all were enabled to perform their duties coolly and carefully.
Negatives of the sun were also taken on eight different days preceding the eclipse and on the two following, and preserved as records of the appearance of sun-spots before and after that event.
There was nothing unusual in the photographic processes employed. A cadmium and ammonium collodion was used, a forth-grain bath slightly acidified with nitric acid, a rather weak iron developer, and hyposulphite of soda fixing bath.
In connection with the solar photography, I also made an elaborate series of photographic experiments, to determine the exact amount of actinic force received from the sun at different hours of the day according to its height above the horizon. These experiments were conducted for eight different days, and comprise seventy-nine photographic tests of the sun’s chemical power.
1869: BJP, Dec. 10, vol. XVI, #501, p.598:
Photographs of the Eclipse.—Dr. Morton, Professor of Chemistry in the University of Pennsylvania, has forwarded to Mr. William Crookes, F.R.S., photographs of the phenomena of totality. By combining in the stereoscope pairs of these, separated by intervals of about half-a-minute of time, the black globe of the moon appears projected far in front of the luminous prominences and the corona, which are, therefore, clearly seen to belong to the sun. Glass transparencies from negatives specially selected for this purpose, and appropriately mounted, would show these phenomena in a very striking manner.
1869: BJP, Dec. 10, vol. XVI, #501, p.598:
The Recent Destruction of Mr. Blanchard’s Studio.—We regret to have to supplement the notice that we gave last week of the destruction of Mr. Blanchard’s studio, by the announcement that neither the studio nor any portion of its contents were insured. Preparations are in active progress for the speedy erection of a new and much improved structure, in which every appliance in lighting and general convenience will be rendered available for the production of those highly artistic portraits for which Mr. Blanchard has now acquired such a reputation. Special arrangements are also being made by which a greater number of pupils in the various branches of the art may be received than was possible under previous circumstances.