HF The History of Photography 600pág

196 The early years of photography
Thompson and of the French photographer, F. MARTENS, were referred to as 'Talbotypes
on glass' by the Jurors of the Great Exhibition, who praised their work in glowing
terms, and bestowed on the exhibitors the highest award-the Council Medal.
Of Martens's large architectural views (9t in. x 12 in.) it was said, 'For richness of
effect and perfection of definition they are the finest specimens which it seems possible
to produce.'
HIPPOL YTE BA y ARD, always ready to try something new, abandoned his own
process in favour of albumen, but except for greater sharpness of definition it is
difficult to detect any difference between these results and his earlier compositions­
Pl 94 the large straw hat and picturesquely arranged flower-pots still remain favourite
features in his charming garden scenes.
The name of another claimant to the invention of photography on glass has
recently been put forward,6 but the most that can be said for JOHANN PUCHER, a
priest of Veldes, Slovenia, is that he was an early independent worker with a glass
process of his own, devised in l 842. Though one or two notices in local newspapers
referred to Pucher's 'invention of producing transparent heliotypes on glass plates'
in the early 1840s, his method remained unknown until 185i.7 Johann Pucher (or, to
use the Slovene version of his name, Janez Puhar) exposed his glass plates to the vapour
of sulphur, and then in succession to the vapours of iodine and of mercury. As
in the daguerreotype, the mercurial vapour settled on the high lights of the picture;
a further development of the faint image was effected by bromine vapour, and the
picture was fixed by means of alcohol.
Pucher exhibited- 'Photographs on glass by a new method' in the Austrian section
of the Great Exhibition, and in 1853 the French Academie Nationale, Agricole,
Manufacturiere et Commerciale presented him with a diploma bestowing the title
'lnventeur de la photographie sur verre'. This is the document upon which the
present Yugoslav claims are based. In fact, the only French body competent at that
time to judge the value of a scientific invention was the Academie des Sciences.
Pucher apparently also described in his report to the Vienna Academy in 1851 a
method of making transparencies for projection by the magic lantern, but in this he
was anticipated, as we have seen, by the brothers Langenheim. Of this, the Yugoslav
promoters of Pucher do not appear to be aware; and, moreover, they are mistaken
in thinking that Pucher's idea of magic lantern projection makes him the originator
of photographic enlarging-a process serving an entirely different purpose.
Albumen paper. Albumen was found not only a convenient medium for the coating
of glass negatives, but was also employed for coating positive paper. The originator
of albumen paper was BLANQUART-EVRARD, who communicated a method of preparation
to the Academie des Sciences on 27 May 1850.8 The demand for a new
paper arose from a general desire to retain the sharpness and detail oi" the glass
negative on a smooth and glossy surface, which albumen provided. Sharp detail was
unobtainable on a matt paper surface such as Talbot's, and in consequence albumen
paper before long displaced the old silver chloride paper, and remained in general use
until the end of the century. At first, prints on albumen paper were fl.at, lacking the
richness of the calotype, and their ugly 'cheesy' colour was often objected to. This
defect was, however, overcome by toning the prints in a solution of chloride of gold,
introduced by P. E. Mathieu in l 84 7, which produced various shades of brown.
Albumenized positive paper could be bought ready prepared, and the consumption
of eggs necessary for its manufacture is staggering. Half a million eggs were used
annually by one London firm alone, at a time when the demand for carte-de-visite
pictures was at its height (1862).9 Thirty years later, after amateur snap-shooting had