User:Cygnis insignis/Nature printing


 * w:Nature printing
 * w:Alois Auer
 * w:Henry Bradbury
 * wikisource:On Nature Printing

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Dr. Turnbull exhibited to the meeting, specimens of the Natural Printing Process (Naturselbstdruck,) invented by Louis Auer, of the Imperial Printing Office at Vienna. The examples shown consisted of impressions from leaves of trees, several plants, mosses, alga?, lace, and embroideries.

These were all printed in the natural colors of the objects they represented, and were executed in the most delicate and beautiful manner. By many of the members, they were thought to be the objects themselves dried and pasted on the paper. The character of the process was explained by Dr. Turnbull from information obtained from the work of Louis Auer, brought to this country by his learned friend Professor Robley Dunglison, who considers that the process will be of great utility in the studies of the blind.

Query—How can, in a few seconds, and almost without cost, a plate for printing be obtained from an original, bearing a striking resemblance to it in every particular, without the aid of an engraver, designer, &c.?

Solution—If the original be a plant, a flower, or an insect, a texture, or, in short, any lifelcsa object whatever, it is passed between a copper plate and a lead plate, through two rollers that arc closely screwed together. The original, by means of the pressure, leaves its image impressed with all its peculiar delicacies—with its whole surface, as it were—on the lead plate. If the colors are applied to this stamped lead plate, u in printing a copper-plate, a copy in the most varying colors, hearing a striking resemblance to the original, is obtained by means of one single impression of each plate. If a great number of copies are required, which the lead form, on account of its softness, is not capable of furnishing, it is stereotyped, in case of being printed at a typographical press, or galvanized, in case of being worked at a copper-plate press, as many times as necessary, and the impressions arc taken from the stereotyped or galvanized plate instead of from the lead plate. When a copy of a unique object, which cannot be subjected to pressure, is to be made, the original must be covered with dissolved gutta percha, which form of gutta percha, when removed from the original, is covered with a solution of silver to render it available for a matrix for galvanic multiplication.

This process is also applicable to the purpose of obtaining impressions of fossils or of the structure of an agate or other stone. In all the varieties of agate, the various layers have different degrees of hardness; therefore, if we take a section of an agate, and expose it to the action of fluoric acid, some parts are corroded, and others not. If ink is at once applied, very beautiful impressions can be at once obtained ; but for printing any number, electrotype copies are obtained. These will have precisely the character of an etched plate, and arc printed from in the ordinary manner. The silicious portions of fossil and the stone in which they are embedded, may in like manner be acted upon by acid; and from these either stereotyped or elcctrotyped copies are obtained for printing from.

We trust that some of our botanists will take advantage of this important discovery, and prepare a series of botanical specimens for publication, so that the public may be in possession of examples ot this beautiful process. It is rather singular that the workers in German silver and Britannia metal at Birmingham, have, for some time, been in the habit of ornamenting the surfaces of these metals, by placing a piece of lace between two plates and passing these between rollers, but no attempts were made to print from these.

Journal of the Franklin Institute By Franklin Institute (Philadelphia, Pa.) Published by Pergamon Press, 1854

NATURAL PRINTING PROCESS.

Under this term, Louis Auer, of the Imperial Printing Office, at Vienna, has patented a process invented by himself in tonjunction with Mr. Andrew Wooring, overseer of the same establishment, "for creating, by means of th« original itself, in a swift and simple manner, places for printing copies of plants, materials, lace, embroideries, originals or copies, containing the most delicate profundities or elevations not to be detected by the human eye," &c. A pamphlet giving a description of this discovery arid a series of specimens, has readied us. The examples consist of an impression from a fossil fish, from agates, the leaves of trees, several plants, mosses, algae, and the wing of a bat. These are all printed in the natural color of the objects they represent; and it is difficult to conceive anything more real than these productions. The general character of the process is told in the following pithy manner by Louis Auer, in the introductory paragraphs of his pamphlet:

" How can, in a few seconds, and almost without cost, a plate for printing be obtained from any original, bearing a striking resemblance to it in every particular, without the aid of an engraver, designer, Ac.—Solution.—If the original be a plant, a flower or an insect, a texture, or, in short, any lifeless object whatever, it is passed between a copper plute and a i'ad plate, through two rollers that are closely screwed together. The original, by means of the pressure, leaves its image impressed with all its peculiar delicacies,—with its whole surface, as it were,—on the lead plate. If the colors are applied to this stamped lead plate, as in printing a copperplate, a copy in the most varying colors, bearing a striking resemblance to the original, is obtained by means of vnn single impression of each plate. If a great number of copies are required, which the lead orm, on account of its softness, is not capable of furnishing, it is stereotyped, in case of being printed at a typographical pres?, or galvanized in case of being worked at a copperplate press, as many times as are necessary, and the impressions are taken from the stereotyped orgalvanized plate, instead of from the lead plate. When a copy of an unique object, which can not be subjected to pressure, is to be made, the original must be covered with dissolved gutta percha ; which form of gutta percha, when removed from the original, is covered with a solution of silver to render it available for a matrix for galvanic multiplication."

This process is also applicable to the purpose of obtaining impressions of fossils, or of the structure of an agate or other stone. In all the varieties of agate, the various layers have different degrees of hardness; therefore, if we take a section of an agate, and expose it to the action of fluoric acid, some parts are corroded, and others are not. If ink is at once applied, very beautiful impressions can be at once obtained ; but for printing. any number, electrotype copies are obtained. These will have precisely the character of an etched plate, and are printed from in the ordinary manner. The silicious portion of fossil and the stone in which they are imbedded may in like manner be acted upon by acid ; and from these either stereotyped or electrotyped copies are obtained for printing from. We learn that Mr. Bradbury, of the firm of Bradbury & Evans, has availed himself of this invention, and that he is now preparing a series of botanical specimens for publication, so that, very shortly, the public will be in possession of examples of this beautiful process It is not a little singular that the workers in German Silver and Britannia metal, of Birmingham, have for some time been in the habit of ornamenting the surfaces of these metals by placing a piece of lace, no matter how delicate, between two plates, and passing these between rollers. In this way every fiber is most faithfully impressed upon the metal. We are not aware, however, that any attempts to print from these imspresions have yet been made at Birmingham. The value set on the invention by the author may be judged of by the following paragraph :

"Russia has given up Jacobi's application of the Galuwnoplastik in the year 1837, and France the Daguerreotypy for general use in the year 1039; Austria has now furnished a wortljy pendant to these two inventions."— Athenaeum.

The Annals of Science By Cleveland Academy of Natural Science Published 1853 Item notes: nos. 1-2

(Coloured platesj executed in Nature's printing, "Naturselbstdruck.") The Ferns of Great Britain and Ireland; by Thos. Moore, F.L.S.;

edited by John Lindley, Ph.D., F.E.S., etc. Imp. folio. Part I.

Nature-printed by Henry Bradbury. London. 1855.

It was, we believe, early in 1853 that M. Louis Auer, of the Imperial Printing Office at "Vienna, was stated to have patented a process, invented by himself, in conjunction with Mr. Andrew Worring, overseer of the same establishment, "for creating, by means of the original itself, in a swift and simple manner, plates for printing copies of plants, lace, etc., containing the most delicate profundities or elevations, not to be detected by the human eye." In a pamphlet published at Vienna, Mr. Auer further relates:—" If the original be a plant, a flower, or an insect, a textile or in short any lifeless object whatever, it is passed between a copper plate and a lead plate, through two rollers that are closely screwed together. The origin.il, by means of the pressure, leaves its image impressed with all its peculiar delicacies —with its whole surface, as it were—on the lead plate. If the colours are applied to this stamped lead plate, as in printing a copper-plate, a copy in the most varying colours, bearing a striking resemblance to the original, is obtained by means of one single impression of each plate. If a great number of copies are required, which the lead-form, on account of its softness, is not capable of furnishing, it is stereotyped in case of being printed at a typographical press, or galvanized in case of being worked at a copper-plate press, and the impressions are taken from the stereotyped, or galvanized plate, instead of from the lead plate."* The publication of this pamphlet was soon followed by the first of the two wqrks which stand at the head of this notice. An early and very splendid copy was sent by His Majesty the Emperor of Austria to the Foreign Office of our country, and by Lord Clarendon, Chief Secretary for Foreign Affairs, presented to the Library of the Royal Gardens of Kew. This is indeed a charming work, yet, as far as the plates are concerned, of unequal execution, as was to be expected if the nature of the process is considered. Few who are fond of plants, and who are not artists themselves, but have, at some period or other of their lives, taken off impressions of neatly pressed dried plants, and especially of leaves, by dabbing them with printer's ink, which the nerves and other prominent parts take up, and transferring all their lines and figures upon a piece of paper, as if we were printing from a wood engraving. \Ye possess a folio volume of plants executed in India in this manner, and in proportion to the nature of the surface, so is the fidelity, or rather the clearness and distinctness, or the reverse, of the plant. If the leaves were thin and conspicuously nerved, the form and nervation would come off well: but if these sprang from a rather stout woody branch, the branch would give a blurred impression, and the portion of the leaves, prevented from coming in contact with the paper by the projecting surface of the branch, would necessarily give no impression at all; you have only half a leaf, or three-quarters of a leaf, as the case may be; and in regard to the flower, injured as it must be by pressure, especially a cluster of flowers, it is hopeless to expect anything intelligible from the transfer of the inked surface of that to paper. It is not capable of giving a clear impression. Now it is the same, or nearly the same, in nature printing: only that you print from a cast of your specimen, and you consequently fill the impressions with ink (as in a copper-plate); and though your branch or stem may be thicker than the leaves (but there is a limit to that), you can print the two by giving a greater quantity of ink to the former; and your stem or branch will be prominent in proportion, i. e. raised on the paper, so that its form is sensible to the touch. Whatever affords a clear and distinctly marked yet moderately raised surface on your plant, the same will be transferred to the paper:—but so faithful is the transfer, so true to nature (if we may use the term for our dried and compressed plants, which have been so often condemned as the opprobrium of nature), that wherever there is an indistinctness or confusion of parts, as in the case of clusters of flowers and fructifications generally, or leaves lying one over another, there will be the like obscurity in the impression.


 * See'Athena>nm'forlS53,p. 1433. At p. 1486 of the same year of the 'Athenaeum,' Messrs. Bradbury and Evans assure us that "as far as Austria is concerned, this invention was first brought into use by Mr. Worring, in 1852, but that in the year 1851, Mr. Ferguson Branson read before the Society of Arts a report of a process identically the same as "that claimed by the Austrian patentees, and even produced printed specimens to illustrate more fully the true meaning of this invention." These gentlemen (Messrs. Bradbury and Evans) go on to say that the process, for the introduction of which into this country they have taken out a patent, is in many particulars a material improvement upon Mr. Branson's invention, as well as upon that in use at Vienna.

VOL. VII. 2 B

Whatever may be the superiority of Mr. Bradbury's process over that in use at Vienna, we are not sensible of it in the instance of the work that stands second at the head of this notice; and we must maintain that Mr. Heyfleur's work on the Carpathian Cryptogams and Mr. Moore's on the British Ferns (as far as it has yet gone) are both very beautiful, and the more so because the authors have the good sense to select the kinds of plants best suited to the process; and they are both entitled to very high commendations. In the Cryptogams of Mr. Heyfleur there is a variety and richness of colour which adds greatly to the effect, and the forms are quite as graceful as the Ferns. We think nothing can be more true to nature, in colour as well as form, than the Cladophora insignis, Ag., Tab. 1. It seems the plant itself. Sticta pulmonaria, L., on the other hand, wants colour and filling up. At Tab. 3, Agaricus androsacem, L., is a blot, only showing form: and the other figures, Fungi, Lichens, and Alga, are good, in proportion as the specimens bear compression without losing their characteristic features. Tab. 4, the Jungermannue, are extremely beautiful. The rest of the plates are Mosses, and are excellent, except the capsules, which, true to their originals, exhibit them bruised and crushed by pressure. The last plate of the noble specimens of Meesia iriquetm and Mnium liffulalum would deceive an experienced Muscologist.

In the' Ferns of Great Britain and Ireland,' the only two species represented (on three plates) are Polypodium vulgare, with its varieties, and, in our copy at least, P. Pkeyopteris; and here, in all the fronds, and there is no stinting of specimens on the noble pages, the greens are of the same unvarying pale, somewhat verdigris cast, happily a good deal relieved by the deep brown of the caudices and roots. As the art is a new one, and no doubt capable of improvement, we may be permitted to say that the depth of surface-green on the fronds is insufficient, so that they have too much the character of what are usually called skeleton leaves; the nervation is of too prominent a character, and the parenchyma wants substance; the green of it is of the same filmy nature as seen in some of the more delicate hymenophylloid Ferns. If this deficiency be not- remedied in the species of Polystichum, especially when the upper surface requires to be represented, the effect will be more injurious than in the present plates.

Notwithstanding the defects we have ventured to mention, arising perhaps from the present imperfect nature of the process, we are sure there are few botanists, especially Pteridologists, who will not think the present a most acceptable publication, and that our acknowledgments are due alike to Dr. Lindley and Mr. Moore and Mr. Bradbury for the respective parts they have taken in it. Judging from the specimen of the descriptions, Tabs. I., II., III. (all devoted to the well-known Poly- podium vulgare), that department is carefully and well executed by Mr. Moore. The preface is from the pen of Dr. Lindley. We look for the continuance of the work with great satisfaction.

Part II. of this fine work has just reached us, with its three plates, viz.—Plate III., Polypodtum vulgare, vars. Camiricum and crenatum; Plate V., Poli/podiam Dryopteris ; and Plate VI., Polypodium Uoberti- anum, Hofl'm. (P. calcareum, Sm. and most authors, save those who consider it, and probably with much justice, a variety of P. Dryopteris). English authors who adopt this name of Hoffmann do not seem to be aware that it appears under that name in the Fl. Germ., only in the unpaged Addenda et Emendanda* (not at "p. 10 of vol. ii."). And aa it is, further, not included in the index of that work, there is ample excuse for Smith and succeeding authors being ignorant of its existence; add to which, the specific character of Hoffmann is miserably unsatisfactory, and does not give one single point of distinction between it and P. Dryopteris ; so that, ill our opinion, it would have been better to have left it in its original state of obscurity. Be that as it may, the portrait of the plant in the work before us is an admirable one, only wanting in what this style of " printing" is sadly deficient, viz. the glands and pubescence. Setting aside the glands and pubescence (and we know that in many other Ferns their absence or presence affords no specific distinction), we appeal to these two figures of P. Dryopleris and P. calcareum, " Nature's own printing," and ask if there is any tangible feature by which they can be separated as species ? or any characters which would not in other cases be considered mere modifications of one and the same form ?


 * It is true that Mr. Moore quotes, as it were, another work of Hoffmann,' Flora de 1'AHemagne,' in addenda (1795), giving no volume. We are ourselves ignorant of any work of Hoffmann bearing that title; bat Pritzel explains the matter, and lets us into a secret. " Adest," says Pritzel, " etlam titulus gallicus (et anglicus ?): ' La Flore de 1'Allcmagne, ou Etrenncs Botaniques.'" The work which is generally quoted under the title of ' Deutaehlauds Mora,' in iny copy, probably to suit the more scientific market, has ' Mora Germanica' for its only title. The first volume, in two parts, bears date, Part I., 1800, Part II., 1804 (being a second edition); the second volume (Cryptogamia) is dated 1795, and seems never to have gone to a second edition; it is in the addenda to this that the Fern in question appears.

(notices of Books) [Hooker's Journal of Botany and Kew Garden Miscellany By Sir William Jackson Hooker Published by Reeve, Benham, and Reeve, 1855 v. 7

The letters of Charles Dickens