Lacock Abbey,
Chippenham
6 April 1841
Dear Trevelyan
If Dr Brown <1> has really transmuted Carbon into Silex, &c. <2> such a discovery will raise him to the first rank amongst the Chemists of the present day. I have long been predisposed towards such a theory, from the fact of organic remains of animals, medusæ &c. being found disseminated in the chalk, apparently transmuted into flintstones: and also because certain elements, as yttria, thorina glucina & many more, occur in such minute quantity that one can hardly think them independent elements created for their own sake and utility in the material world, but rather that they are accidental & isomeric varieties of other Bodies. I shall expect with much interest the publication of Dr Brown’s discoveries.
I think the best camera is Daguerre’s <3> construction if you like to import one from Paris, you can commission Ross, optician Regent St London <4> to get a good one. He got some for me. <5> Sir D. Brewster <6> spoke to me in very high terms of the lenses made by an optician in Edinburgh no doubt it was Davidson. <7>
Yours ever truly
H. F. Talbot
Notes:
1. Samuel Brown (1817–1856), chemist.
2. Brown did not manage to prove this theory. [See Doc. No: 04238].
3. Louis Jacques Mandé Daguerre (1787–1851), French artist, showman & inventor designed a camera that was sold as a part of the complete daguerreotype outfit from the shop of François-Simon-Alphonse Giroux, of Alphonse Giroux et cie, stationers in Paris, who was related to Daguerre's wife. In August 1839, he secured the exclusive contract to market daguerreotype cameras and outfits manufactured under Daguerre's supervision. With no optical experience, Giroux turned to Charles Chevalier to make the lenses. [See Doc. No: 03968]. Also see Brian Coe, Cameras; From Daguerreotypes to Instant Pictures (London: Marshall Cavendish Editions, 1978), “Early Photographic Apparatus”, chapter 2.
4. Andrew Ross (1798–1859), London optician & author.
5. See Doc. No: 03967.
6. Sir David Brewster (1781–1868), Scottish scientist & journalist. [See Doc. No: 04163].
7. Thomas Davidson (1798–1878), scientific instrument maker and Daguerreotypist. He was the author of The Art of Daguerreotyping, with the Improvements of the Process and Apparatus (Edinburgh: 1841).