This thesis describes an experiment carried out at Daresbury Nuclear Physics Laboratory, to measure the total cross-sections for photoproduction of hadrons, for elements ranging from hydrogen and deuterium to lead. It was originally planned to measure the proton cross-section only, for photon energies in the range 1.0 - 4.3 GeV. When the method proved very successful, it was extended to lower energies, to cover the whole resonance region, and to the other elements. The aim of the measurement with the deuterium target was of course to determine the neutron cross-section. The author played a part in all stages of the experiment. He was responsible for the design and construction of several of the scintillation counters, and for the modifications to the system required for the work with deuterium, and heavier elements. The analysis of the deuterium data was carried out to a large extent by him. The thesis deals principally with the deuterium measurements, and evaluation of the neutron cross-section. Chapter one gives a general review of photon experiments, and considers what can be learned from total cross- section measurements on protons and neutrons. Chapter two explains the basis of the method, chapter three describes its practical implementation. The next two chapters are concerned with the performance of the experiment, data-reduction and correction, and calculation of the cross-sections. In chapter six, extraction of the neutron data is described. Chapter seven is concerned with the physics results obtained from proton and neutron data. Finally, a brief survey is given of the work with complex targets.