R. Meldola

“ It must not be forgotten that in this most interesting branch of chemical physics we are in a period either of provisional hypothesis, or, worse still, of no hypothesis at all, so that valuable additions to our knowledge of physical and chemical laws should be forthcoming. ”

“ M. Becquerel's result, it will be remembered, was obtained by a film of silver iodide, first insolated or exposed to diffused light and then to the action of the spectrum. Here, again, is another question—the precise action of insolation on sensitive plates—demanding explanation at the hands of the physicist. The practical aspect of Dr. Vogel's discovery need not here be discussed at length. Attention may be called to the well-known difficulty of getting reds or yellows to imprint themselves in portraiture, a difficulty which now bids fair to be overcome. ”

“ Van Monckhoven, [3] have failed to obtain other than negative results.
In a communication made to the French Academy on the 27th of last month, however, the well-known physicist, M. Edmond Becquerel, stated that some experiments made at his instigation by M. Deshaies at the Conservatoire des Arts et Métiers had been productive of positive effects, and that some of Dr. Vogel's results with coralline and aniline green had been reproduced. M. Becquerel, however, does not confine himself to bromide films; similar results have been obtained by iodized collodion in which coralline was dissolved. ”