Page:Architectural Review and American Builders' Journal, Volume 1, 1869.djvu/854

 G90 The Architectural Review and American Banders' Journal. [May, ago, the discovery was made simulta- neously in Italy, Russia, and England, that two pm*e metals, holding within themselves different degrees of electric- ity, if made to touch each other at one end, with a wet cloth between them, would exchange electricity ; and, if they were then united by metal at the other end, a complete circuit of electricity would be formed. Subsequently, t'ie discovery was made that, if this circuit were interrupted by any pure metal, that metal would be dissolved ; and, at the opposite electric pole, the dissolved iniinitesimal atoms would be reerystalized into solid metal. A practical use was soon made of these two discoveries. Sheets of gold or silver were dissolved at one electric pole, in a circuit passing through acid water, instead of a wet cloth ; and the gold and silver was, at the other pole, spread over the surface of works of art or daily use, thus constituting the process of electro-gilding and electro-silvering, or electro-plating. Copper was, in the same manner, spread (technically, deposited) over the wax impression of a form of types; and, in a few hours, a perfect copy of the t} T pes was procured. Copies of medals and medallion figures were also made by the same process. About twenty years since, wood-cuts, and the pages of books, began to be thus copied for the trade, in England, France, and the United States. To-day, the United States excel all other coun- tries, in this branch of electrotyping, both in improved apparatus, and in its general use. The more solid electrotj'pes, called copper-bronzes, have been used hi Eur- ope for several years. Antique bas reliefs have been multiplied for wall pic- tures, for panel ornaments in doors and in pieces of furniture. Hundreds of architectural ornaments are made in the bronze, bronze-gilt and oxidized silver styles. In Paris, several imperial pal- aces are ornamented with these bronzes, in inside walls, ceilings, doors, door- knobs, stair-railing, and household fur- niture — in fact, throughout. In the United States, copper-bi'onze furniture ornaments, consisting of medal- lion heads and grouped figures, caryat- ides, and rosettes, were introduced into trade, about five years ago, by an enter- prising firm in New York, and was first viewed b}" - many as a doubtful venture. Like other experiments, that of the in- troduction of bronzes was expensive ; and, at first, un remunerative ; but such has been the progress of taste and ex- pansion of fashion for these things, that, to-day, the popular demand justifies the creation of new models. As it costs no more to electrotype an elegant design than to duplicate a coarse pattern, these manufacturers find their interest to consist in frequently making a necessarily large initial outhoy for tasteful models. They thus constantly reproduce, by the battery, all those beautiful, artistic touches, which, upon brass or bronze castings, only costly hand-labor can create. The frequent visits of Americans to the capitals of Europe, tends to intro- duce among us whatever is really useful and true, in European taste, which may, with advantage, be Americanized. Prom- inent, among the educated and refined of the Old World, is the admiration of bronzes, either in the reproduction of antique subjects, or the efforts of the highest modern skill ; and there is no better sign of American development than the steady growth of the same cul- tivated and refined partiality here for bronze articles of vertu. Copper-bronze, door-lock furniture has won for itself an assured place in public favor. It is elegant in design and very durable, every article bearing a war- rantee. The first set of this furniture applied to a door in this cit}', was put on, some three years and a half since, and may yet be seen in good order. Many doors, of handsome residences here, have since been furnished with