A History and Handbook of Photography. By G. Tissandier. Edited
by J. Thomson, F.R.G.S. (Sampson Low and Co.)—The universality of the art of photography tends to lessen our wonder at the great stride of science which it presupposes. Its magic-like working has ceased to call forth the admiration it once possessed, although its first products were rustic, compared with the classical excellence it has now attained. This capital handbook will tend to raise photography once more to its true position as a science, and to a high place amongst the fine arts. The history of the invention by Daguerro is probably known to all, bat his connection with his collaborateur Niepee, and the anecdote of the poor and unknown pioneer who was the first photographer, and showed his work to Chevalier, the famous Parisian optician, is not so well known, and this forms the most interesting part of the historical sketch. The discoveries of English scientists, to whom the author gives scant credit, are amply supplied in notes by the editor, and form a valuable addition to the text. All advice and hook-instruction that amateurs may require, from the simplest operation to the most complex. may be found here, with recipes of the mixtures required for every kind of sensitiver and developer. The remainder treats of the adaptation of photography to scientific purposes in astronomy and geology, and in microscopic and meteorological observations, with a description of the principal instruments employed. Its use in war for the conveyance of despatches by means of carrier-pigeons is fully treated, the contents of several newspapers having been reproduced on a thin film of collodion, weighing less than a grain. This is the best handbook we have seen on the subject, being popular, yet precise, and not too scientific to be of use to any but specialists.
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