Show Tne Daguerreotyp0 In a late issue of The Times it I was claimed that the honor of taking tak-ing the first daguerrean portrait of J I a living person was not due to Prof I t John W Draper but to Mr A S Wolcottof New York As I was a resident of New York at the time Daguerres process was brought i from Paris and was intimate with j i the gentlemen who were the first toi try the novel process I wish to tell I what I know about it Daguerres discovery was reported to the world in January 1839 The 19th of August Au-gust of the same year Daguerre il lastrated big process by experiments in the presence of Arago and a large company of distinguished persons As Daguerres pictures rEquired an exposure of twenty minutestoo long for taking portraitshe stated that living objects could not betaken I be-taken they could not keep still long enough By order of the French government govern-ment the secret was purchased of Daguerre and published A pamphlet pam-phlet describing the process was brought to New York by a Mr Seger who took it to Prof Morse of telegraph fame Morse was quick to see that a new field of art industry indus-try would be opened He took it I to his inbtrument maker George W I Prosch and said Make the apparatus appa-ratus described in the pamphlet as soon as you can In a few days it was done and the first trial was a picture of the old Brick Church Dr Springs and the city hall In the foreground stood a hack and horses on the stand and the dii ver sleeping on his seat The picture was a great curiosity Proschs shop was I in the basement of the old Morse Building No 142 Nassau street The camera was placed on the steps I leading to the basement This was I the first daguerreotype of still life taken in this country It was done in October in less than a month after Segers arrival As Prosch did work for the institution I represented repre-sented Rutgers Female Institute I was in his shop almost every day and saw him making the camera for Professor Morse I saw this first picture many times which was a great curiosity Besides Messrs Morse and Prosch I frequently met Dr James R Chilton chemist and Dr John W Draper who were deeply interested inter-ested in the new art I experimented experi-mented a little myself The first thing of importance was to get a good working acromatic lens and the second chemicals more sensitive sensi-tive to the action of light than iodine Draper succeeded in both Ie had a good lens and was successful suc-cessful in preparing a bromide of iodine which greatly reduced the time for exposing the plate The end was achieved in his taking the first portrait of the human face by Daguerres process Morse afterwards tried it and took a portrait of his daughter Prosch immediately opened a daguerrean gallery at the corner of Broadway and Liberty street I was the tirat to sit for my portrait By means of a mirror suspended outside of a window the light of the sun was thrown directly upon my face Of course my eyes were closed and the portrait was without those important features of the human hu-man face These daguerreotypes for I had severalI used to exhibit in my lectures till they entirely faded out The process of gilding was not then known About this time or soon rafter others went into the business and among the most successful suc-cessful was A S Wolcott who opened rooms in the granite building build-ing No 2T3 corner of Broadway and Chambersstreet immediately made his acquaintance and set for my portrait Several of these are still in my possession Wolcott contrived con-trived an elliptical mirror which he used in place of a lens which possessed pos-sessed the advantage of presenting the picture in its right position and not reversed as in case of the lens but it had the serious disad vantage of limiting the size of the plate and representing parts which are at all distant from the centre in a very confused manner Still Wol cott was snccessf in taking the best portraits in the city lie was not ready to the work till the spring of 1849 He described his apparatus in Prof Mapes American Depository Deposit-ory a shortlived journal but in no instance can I hud in that journal jour-nal that he took the first portrait nor was It claimed for any one else than Draper for that was conceded by all those early daguerrean workers work-ers About the year I860 the question ques-tion of priority was raised by the friends of Volco1 in the American Institute A committee of investigation was appointed consisting of Messrs f Mendez Cohen Samuel D Tillman and Charles A Seeley members of the institute call on Dr Draper and learn from him what he had to say on the subject They did so and Dr Draper sent them afterwards after-wards a written statement which was published in his Scientific remoirs which appeared from the I press of Harper Brothers in ISiS The friends of Wolcott were unwilling un-willing to give a written statement I This did not satisfy the committee I and the subject was dropped VFol I c tt had died in London many years before Priority to an invention inven-tion is always determines in favor of the party who is the first to publish pub-lish it in some newspaper or journal jour-nal That is the universal rule Now let us apply it I will quote from Drapers memoirs just referred ferred to He says page 215 This memoir contains the first published description of the process for taking daguerreotype portraits That it was possible by photogenic processes such as the daguerreotype daguerreo-type to obtain likenesses from life was first announced by the author of this volume in a note to the editors of the Philosophical London fag azine dated March 31st 1840 page 535 Tne first portraits to which allusion is made in the following I memoir were produced 1839 almost I immediately after Daguerres discovery dis-covery was known in America In the Edinburgh Review for January Jan-uary 1843 there Is an important article on photography In that the invention of the art of taking photographic pho-tographic portraits is attributed to its true source the author of this book It says lIe was the first we believe who under the brilliant Summer sun of New York took portraits by the daguerreotype daguerreo-type Why does the champion of Wolcott challenge the record of the past so soon after the death of Draper Dra-per Why did not he do it before It is like digging into his grave for hidden treasure If he can bring a well authenticated date prior to tbat just noted viz March 31 1840 in favor of his claim then it will be time to reverse the tables but if not then let the honor remain as a memorial of the great and world renowned scientist CirARiEsE WEST Brooklyn Feb 101833 New York Times |