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December 4.--I went this morning, by
invitation of Monsieur Francois Gouraud, to see a collection of the views made by
the wonderful process lately discovered in France by Monsieur Daguerre, which is
called by his name. Mr. Gouraud is the pupil and friend of the inventor, and
comes to this country to make known the process. The pictures he has are
extremely beautiful,-they consist of views in Paris, and exquisite collections of
the objects of still life. The manner of producing them constitutes one of the
wonders of modern times, and, like other miracles, one may almost be excused for
disbelieving it without seeing the very process by which it is created. It
appears to me a confusion of the very elements of nature. It is nothing less than
the palpable effect of light occasioning in a reproduction of sensible objects.
The reflection of surrounding images created by a camera, obscured upon a plate
of copper, plated with silver, and prepared with some chemical substances, is not
only distinctly delineated, but left upon the plate so prepared, and there
remains forever. Every object, however minute, is a perfect transcript of the
thing itself; the hair of the human head, the gravel on the roadside, the texture
of a silk curtain, or the shadow of the smaller leaf reflected upon the wall, are
all imprinted as carefully as nature or art has created them in the objects
transferred; and those things which are invisible to the naked eye are rendered
apparent by the help of a magnifying glass. It appears to me not less wonderful
that light should be made an active operating power in this manner, and that some
such effect should be produced by sound; and who knows whether, in this age of
invention and discoveries, we may not be called upon to marvel at the exhibition
of a tree, a horse, or a ship produced by the human voice muttering over a metal
plate, prepared in the same or some other manner, the words "tree," "horse," and
"ship." How greatly ashamed of their ignorance the by-gone generations of mankind
ought to be!