Sir Isaac Newton, in his Opticks (1704), explains the principle of the camera obscura with single convex lens and its analogy with vision in illustration of his seventh axiom, which aptly embodies the correct solution of Aristotle’s old problem. He also made great use of the simple dark chamber for his optical experiments with prisms, &c. Joseph Priestley (1772) mentions the application of the solar microscope, both to the small and portable and the large camera obscura. Many patterns of these two forms for sketching and for viewing surrounding scenes are described in W.J.’s Gravesande’s Essai de perspective (1711), Robert Smith’s Compleat System of Optics (1738), Joseph Harris’s Treatise on Optics (1775), Charles Hutton’s Philosophical and Mathematical Dictionary, and other books on optics and physics of that period. The camera obscura was first applied to photography (q.v.) probably about 1794, by Thomas Wedgwood. His experiments with Sir Humphrey Davy in endeavouring to fix the images of natural objects as seen in the camera were published in 1802 (Journ. Roy. Inst.).
(J. Wa.)
CAMERARIUS, JOACHIM (1500-1574), German classical scholar, was born at Bamberg on the 12th of April 1500. His family name was Liebhard, but he was generally called Kammermeister, previous members of his family having held the office of chamberlain (camerarius) to the bishops of Bamberg. He studied at Leipzig, Erfurt and Wittenberg, where he became intimate with Melanchthon. For some years he was teacher of history and Greek at the gymnasium, Nuremberg. In 1530 he was sent as deputy for Nuremberg to the diet of Augsburg, where he rendered important assistance to Melanchthon in drawing up the Confession of Augsburg. Five years later he was commissioned by Duke Ulrich of Württemberg to reorganize the university of Tübingen; and in 1541 he rendered a similar service at Leipzig, where the remainder of his life was chiefly spent. He translated into Latin Herodotus, Demosthenes, Xenophon, Homer, Theocritus, Sophocles, Lucian, Theodoretus, Nicephorus and other Greek writers. He published upwards of 150 works, including a Catalogue of the Bishops of the Principal Sees; Greek Epistles; Accounts of his Journeys, in Latin verse; a Commentary on Plautus; a treatise on Numismatics; Euclid in Latin; and the Lives of Helius Eobanus Hessus, George of Anhalt and Philip Melanchthon. His Epistolae Familiares (published after his death) are a valuable contribution to the history of his time. He played an important part in the Reformation movement, and his advice was frequently sought by leading men. In 1535 he entered into a correspondence with Francis I. as to the possibility of a reconciliation between the Catholic and Protestant creeds; and in 1568 Maximilian II. sent for him to Vienna to consult him on the same subject. He died at Leipzig on the 17th of April 1574.
See article by A. Horawitz in Allgemeine deutsche Biographie; C. Bursian, Die Geschichte der klassischen Philologie in Deutschland (1883); J.E. Sandys, Hist. Class. Schol. (ed. 1908), ii. 266.
CAMERARIUS, JOACHIM (1534-1598), German botanist and physician, son of the classical scholar of the same name, was born at Nuremberg on the 6th of November 1534. After finishing his studies in Germany he visited Italy, where he graduated as doctor of medicine. On his return he was invited to reside at the courts of several princes, but preferred to settle in his native town of Nuremberg, where he had a botanical garden and formed extensive collections. He wrote a Hortus Medicus (1588) and several other works. He died at Nuremberg on the 11th of October 1598.
CAMERARIUS, RUDOLF JAKOB (1665-1721), German botanist and physician, was born at Tübingen on the 12th of February 1665, and became professor of medicine and director of the botanical gardens at Tübingen in 1687. He died at Tübingen on the 11th of September 1721. He is chiefly known for his investigations on the reproductive organs of plants (De sexu plantarum epistola, 1694).