Richard Hill Norris (1830–1916) was a British physiologist, spiritualist and photographer. From the 1880s he began microscopic photography of blood corpuscles and was a pioneer of

micrography Micrography (from Greek language, Greek, literally small-writing – "Μικρογραφία"), also called microcalligraphy, is a Jewish form of calligrams developed in the 9th century, with parallels in Christianity and Islam,collodion Collodion is a flammable, syrupy solution of nitrocellulose in Diethyl ether, ether and Alcohol (chemistry), alcohol. There are two basic types: flexible and non-flexible. The flexible type is often used as a surgical dressing or to hold dressings ...

photographic plate.

Life

Norris studied medicine at the

University of Edinburgh The University of Edinburgh (, ; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a Public university, public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Founded by the City of Edinburgh Council, town council under th ...

, developing an early interest in microphotography; mainly taking pictures of frogs' blood. In 1856 he invented the first dry collodion photographic plate, during 1858 founding the Patent Dry Collodion Plate Company in

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands, within the wider West Midlands (region), West Midlands region, in England. It is the Lis ...

- one of the first commercial producers of photographic materials in the world. From 1862 to 1891 he was Professor of Physiology at Queens College in

. In 1878 he was elected a Fellow of the

Royal Society of Edinburgh The Royal Society of Edinburgh (RSE) is Scotland's national academy of science and letters. It is a registered charity that operates on a wholly independent and non-partisan basis and provides public benefit throughout Scotland. It was establis ...

, their proposers being Sir Thomas Richard Fraser, John Gray McKendrick, Alexander Dickson and Alexander Buchan. He was President of the Birmingham Philosophical Society. Sometime within April 1882 he complained to

The Lancet ''The Lancet'' is a weekly peer-reviewed general medical journal, founded in England in 1823. It is one of the world's highest-impact academic journals and also one of the oldest medical journals still in publication. The journal publishes ...

, stating Giulio Bizzozero had plagiarised pieces of his work. He was still patenting photographic processes in 1888, By December 1890 having gone into partnership with Harold William Southall of

Edgbaston Edgbaston () is a suburb of Birmingham, West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. It lies immediately south-west of Birmingham city centre, and was historically in Warwickshire. The Ward (electoral subdivision), wards of Edgbaston and Nort ...

, founding the Birmingham Dry Collodion Plate and Film Company; In concurrence constructing a sizable factory within Yardley, Birmingham which initiated production in 1893. However, this company failed and was liquidated in 1895. Norris was also involved in microscopic studies of metals heating and cooling together with George Gore at the Institute of Scientific Research in Birmingham. His personal interests extended deeply into spiritualism, considering himself an amateur medium - becoming involved in seances and automatic writing. He believed in allopsychism,

mesmerism Animal magnetism, also known as mesmerism, is a theory invented by German doctor Franz Mesmer in the 18th century. It posits the existence of an invisible natural force (''Lebensmagnetismus'') possessed by all living things, including humans ...

and hypnotism, Engaging in studies of Christine Beauchamp. He did not publish any of his thoughts on spiritualism however corresponded with several parties such as

Alfred Russel Wallace Alfred Russel Wallace (8 January 1823 – 7 November 1913) was an English naturalist, explorer, geographer, anthropologist, biologist and illustrator. He independently conceived the theory of evolution through natural selection; his 1858 pap ...

William Crookes Sir William Crookes (; 17 June 1832 – 4 April 1919) was an English chemist and physicist who attended the Royal College of Chemistry, now part of Imperial College London, and worked on spectroscopy. He was a pioneer of vacuum tubes, inventing ...

, Emma Hardinge and Samuel Guppy.

Family

In 1852 he was married to Ann (1827-1901). Their son Richard Hill Norris (1853-1919) was also a doctor; Other sons included Arthur Kingsley Norris and Benjamin Stuart Norris. His brother was Joseph Norris, Victorian photographer.

Publications

*''On Stasis of Blood and Exudation'' (1862) *''On the Laws and Principles Concerned in the Aggregation of Blood Corpuscles'' (1869) *''On the Extrusion of the Morphological Elements of the Blood'' (1871) *''On the Physical Principles Concerned in the Passage of Blood Corpuscles through the Walls of the Vessels'' (1871) *''The Physiology and Pathology of the Blood'' (1882)

References

1830 births 1916 deaths 19th-century English photographers Alumni of the University of Edinburgh English inventors English spiritualists Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh Photographers from Birmingham, West Midlands British physiologists {{UK-photographer-stub