HF The History of Photography 600pág

Mammoth and miniature photographs 3 19
objective, and to allow for the high degree of enlargement when viewed in a microscope
the slide on which the positive was printed had to be coated with a specially
fine structure-less collodion in order to give a grain-free magnified image. Although
these 'photographic curiosities for the microscope', as they were labelled, can only
be regarded as toys-and until the Second World War they were still sold as seaside
souvenirs in the form of penholders or tiny opera-glasses incorporating a small magnifying
lens over the picture-23 more serious thought was given to practical uses for
microphotographs. Forgetful lecturers could unobtrusively read their notes in
the form of microphotographs set in their spectacle frames.24 'In a war, the most
elaborate instructions might be carried in a button, or the head of a pencil-case.' 'The
whole archives of a nation might be packed away in a snuffbox, and, should the
communication of an army be cut off by the enemy, or in the case of a beleaguered
city, a dispatch might be written and a microphotograph taken which reduced it
within the limits of a square inch at the most.' Such a microphotograph, it was suggested,
might be enclosed in a hollow bullet and shot over the enemy to the other
line, but no advice was proffered on how to find the bullet. For spies, microphotographs
have, of course, been a most valuable aid. Brewster's suggestion did not have
to wait so long as Herschel's for fulfilment. During the Russo-Japanese War it was
stated that the Japanese carried microphotographic reports under their nails, in their
nostrils, and even in their stomachs in ivory containers which resisted the gastric
juices.25
THE PIGEON POST
During the Siege of Paris in the winter of 1870--1, minute photographs played an
important role in communications between the Delegate Government at Tours (later
at Bordeaux) and the besieged capital.
On IO September 1870 carrier pigeons were taken to Tours because the breakdown
of normal communications seemed imminent. At first, the pigeons carried short
hand-written dispatches on thin paper. There was always danger of inaccuracy, for
the messages had to be copied many times as only a small proportion of the pigeons
got through. For news from Paris, messages (and fresh supplies of pigeons) could be
sent by balloon owing to the prevailing easterly winds. As the need grew for expansion
of the service, the chemist BARRESWIL, who happened to be in Tours in October,
suggested the reduction and multiplication of dispatches by photography, and the
Inspector of Telegraph Lines, DE LA FOLL YE, was entrusted with the organization of
this service.25 The messages were written in large characters and reproduced by a
local photographer by the ordinary wet collodion process on a small plate (about it
in. x 2-i in.)-a reduction to about 3
0 -and contact copies were made on thin paper.
Owing to the facility of this method, private messages as well as official dispatches
could now be sent, and for the sake of clarity the messages were set up in type. By
the beginning of November, the work was so well in hand that the public were
authorized to make use of the service for correspondence-maximum twenty words
at a charge of 50 centimes per word.
The moment NADAR (who was in charge of the balloon service in Paris) learned
that a public pigeon post was contemplated, he got in touch with PRUDENT DAGRON,
who put forward to the Government the advantages of microphotography, in which
he was regarded as a specialist in France, as Dancer was in England. Promising to
deliver daily 200 photographs each containing 1,000 words, Dagron succeeded in
obtaining a contract so remunerative to himself that the service was run at a loss. In
addition, 2 5 ,ooo francs ( £ 1 ,ooo) were paid to him and 1 5 ,ooo francs to his assistant