edges of the picture are then cut to shape, and the whole is finished.

Portraits taken in this way possess great delicacy and beauty. The pictures are pretty durable, their worst enemy being damp. They should be kept in a dry place, and care should be taken not to scratch their delicate surface by rough handling. They are not easily scratched, the surface being moderately hard. The great beauty of the pictures lies in the fact that they may not only be viewed in the ordinary way, but may be held up and examined as transparencies by transmitted light. Stereoscopic transparencies have been taken in large numbers by this process for the London Stereoscopic Company. Eburneum pictures also take colours, and, when the colouring is well done, they resemble the most delicate of ivory miniature paintings.

projections and causes the covers to open. Before withdrawing the frame, it is turned so that the projection of the hinge fits into the groove, S, fig. 3, then on pulling back the frame, the slide rises and shuts. It is then turned back and withdrawn.

The cover is retained sufficiently tight by the stiffness of the hinge, which could, if necessary, be assisted with a spring somewhat like that employed in the covers of watches; but if this arrangement of opening and shutting be considered inconvenient, it is easy enough to contrive a small pin and handle for the purpose.

The covers or flaps, B B, are made of India-rubber, leather, thin brass, felt, or any such elastic material. They are fixed with studs to the brass arm, K, and when opened inside the camera, accommodate themselves to its conical body.

The walking-stick tripod requires no further notice than to remark that the ball is permanently retained in the handle, the part, D, of the camera screws when required into it. A section of the top of this tripod is shown, with the manner of cramping the ball. C represents a sensitised glass which can be retained in place by a piece of flat spring wire partly surrounding it, W, or by the method shown in the diagram at page 285 of THE ILLUSTRATED PHOTO

GRAPHER.

It is a question which the optician must decide, whether, as the lens of this camera, it is possible to employ an objective suitable for the ordinary uses of an opera-glass. Such could be arranged in a simple mounting easy of adjustment on the eye end. Another question worth consideration is, whether the concave eye-lens could be used in actinic agreement with a suitable convex glass, and would not this utilisation cheapen by one-half the price of the photographic combination.

I consider it a mistake of some persons who repudiate the idea of an opera-glass camera. There would be a most decided advantage if the glasses and body of such an instrument could be simply and conveniently arranged for photographic purposes. It is not the person who goes seldom from home-and then not far-who can appreciate the advantages of economising space and having few requisites to carry.

As every tourist takes a stick and an opera or race-glass, then, with such an arrangement as I describe, the only extra accessories required would be a few small frames to hold the sensitised plates.

The French design recently engraved in this paper is, I fancy, neither so simple nor convenient as the idea I have expressed. And yet I by no means flatter myself that I have solved the problem, and discovered the most perfect method of converting the opera-glass body into the miniature camera; still there are some novelties in my invention which may be considered worthy of notice.

Inventors would do well to remember that public prejudice is in favour of this opera-glass utilisation; and although an instrument constructed solely for taking small pictures may act better, nevertheless the opera-glass capable of easy and alternate alteration will sell better. To contrive such is a problem pleasing in itself, and, for the benefits it would confer on photography, well worthy the attention of persons possessed of inventive ability.

The Exchange Club.

An excellent musical box, in thoroughly good condition, cost £7 10s. when new, and has had but little wear, plays eight popular tunes, will be exchanged for a Kinnear camera and landscape lens, both by a good maker, and must be in good condition, for whole plates. Any difference in cash. A trial will be required. Apply, Mr. W. Vick, photographer, Canis

cross.

Wanted, a good view lens for pictures 10 by 12, in exchange for a glass-room table, with seven changes. Address, T. L. Howe, 6, Duke-street, Cardiff.

T. H. Lloyd, of 3, Union-terrace, Neath, South Wales, would be glad to exchange 120 numbers of the English Mechanic, a quantity of screwing taps from down, an iron cylinder complete with covers, and a large fly-wheel, for a half-plate camera and lens, with baths and chemicals.

First-class stereoscopic slides for full-sized drawings and plans of magic lantern, to suit a half-plate triple lens. J. Curtis, Grape Cottage, Sleaford, Lincolnshire.

Moses Frands, of Forton-road, near Gosport, Hants, would exchange one of Solomon and Grant's patent magnesium lamps for a carte-size rolling press. The lamp has only been used

three or four times.

J. C. Kimmins says, I have a good half-plate camera, with lens by Lerebour, with tripod-stand, baths, printing-frames, passe-partouts, chemicals, and every other requisite for photographic practice, which I would exchange for a lithographic press. I have also a C.D.V. lens, by Voightlander, value £3 10s., which I would exchange for a good fern-case or aquarium. Ivy-grove, Stonehouse, Gloucestershire.

A photographic lens and watchmaker's eye-glass for a small (stationary) model engine.-W. H. Taylor, 22, Spring-gardens,

Manchester.

W. H., 17, Albion-road, Wandsworth-road, has some photographs painted in oil, which he would be glad to exchange for books or photographic apparatus.

Wanted, a complete set of photographic apparatus in exchange for a barrel organ (two barrels) which has four stops, sixty pipes, wood and metal, and plays twenty tunes. The

pipes are perfect, but the instrument is a little out of order. C. J. Hughes, Hibernia House, Bridport.

I have a photographic lens which I should like to exchange for a microscope or slides for the magic lantern. Richard South, Radford Works, Sheffield.

R. Hales has a stereo camera in good condition, which he would exchange for some useful accessory. Address, care of the Editor.

J. Green has fifty large photographs from Perthshire, which he wishes to exchange for others. Address, office of this journal.

Mr. F. B. Berger's paper on "Pure White Guttapercha," read at the recent Pharmaceutical Conference, stated that the article often sold as such would be better named oxide of zinc. He detailed a method of preparing the pure white gutta-percha from the solid masses imported. This was, how ever, considered by some of the members to be a too expensive method for common use.

Replies and Discussions.

The

MR. WALL has misunderstood what I thought I had stated very distinctly. I never meant to say that painters' canvas, or any other elastic body, after it had been long enough in tension to destroy its elasticity, would necessarily curl up. canvases he mentions have been so treated. But of course the greater or less tendency to cockle depends a great deal on the substances used in preparing them.

If he tries to prepare and paint his canvas without stretching it, he will find what I stated to be strictly true.

GEO. DAWSON.

PHOTOGRAPHY IN PRINTERS'-INK. SIR,-I should be glad to be informed, through the medium of THE ILLUSTRATED PHOTOGRAPHER, of what materials the printing-ink used in Mr. Pouncy's process consists, similar to that given by Mr. Thomas Sutton in your last number. Feeling very anxious to make a trial of the process, an answer in your next issue will greatly oblige.-Yours, &c.,

JAMES STODDARD.

Questions and Suggestions.

TO THE EDITOR OF "THE ILLUSTRATED PHOTOGRAPHER."
BRITISH PHARMACEUTICAL CONFERENCE.

SIR,-Your Norwich correspondent's suggestion with reference to the formation of such a body amongst photographers as the above is amongst chemists, I think an excellent one, and I hope to see such a conference started before next year's meeting of the British Association at Exeter. There was one feature in connection with the Pharmaceutical conference, which I do not find noticed in your correspondent's very comprehensive and interesting report, but which might form a most valuable feature in connection with a photographic conference-I mean the pharmaceutical exhibition. A good photographic exhibition held once a year in the town favoured with the presence of the association, would certainly prove a source of pleasure and profit to the art-science, and to its professors at large. Your correspondent might, I think, have given a passing word of praise to the excellent photographs with which Mr. Stoddart illustrated his suggestive paper on "Honey, its formation and changes," and also to photographs sent to show the character of the crystals of sulphate of quinine, obtained by the light of a paraffin lamp, by Mr. Elwood, of Newcastle, in illustration of his paper, A few results of a microscopical and chemical examination of the alkaloids." In the discussion which followed the latter paper, it was evident that many of the members

were practical photographers. The discussion took a turn essentially photographic. Much was said upon the character and kind of lens best suited for the production of these subjects. Mr. Stoddart advocated the use of an ordinary common lens, Mr. Brady thought special qualities not to be found in the common lenses were essential.

Thanking you for your kindly notice of our efforts in what, I think, all must agree in pronouncing a praiseworthy direction, and recording my full appreciation of your very best of photographic serials, I am, &c.,

A MEMBER OF THE PHARMACEUTICAL CONFERENCE.

MR. LANE'S CAMERA.

SIR,-In your last publication, Mr. J. L. Lane mentions a camera, referring your readers for further particulars to an advertisement which I cannot find. I think his size (4 by 3) will be more useful than the very ingenious and well-made little affair now sent out by Messrs. Negretti and Zambra. If Mr. Lane's camera is as portable as the last-named, it would leave little to be desired, and with one of Dallmeyer's or Ross's wide-angle lenses, many a reminiscence of foreign travel would be secured by persons who are afraid of any more extensive practice of the black art. Will any of your readers inform me where instructions in colouring can be had? I have seen most of the publications on the subject; but an ounce of practice is worth a pound of theory in such matters, and I want personal and practical lessons. Can any of your readers also inform me whether the collodio-bromide plates are found to answer in the tropics, and whether they stand long, say ages, with impunity? Yours, &c.,

PORTABLE DARK TENT.

INDICUS.

ROBERT BENECKE says, in the Philadelphia Photographer, "Some time this spring, I constructed a dark tent for outdoor work, and after actual trial in the field, I was so well pleased with its performance, that I cannot refrain from giving a description of it to the readers of your valuable journal. It combines great strength with lightness; affords plenty of elbow-room and light for working a stereoscopic plate (or even twelve by ten inch); occupies very little space when taken down; has no door or flaps, that the wind may blow open and admit daylight; and might even serve as a shelter in case of a sudden shower. In one hand may be carried the valise, with the camera-box, the tubes, and the chemicals; in the other hand, the camera-stand and the tent. I have done so without any difficulty. In the first place, I took two pieces of an old shot-gun barrel, each about seven inches long, beat them flat in the middle, and bent them, with each end at an angle with the centre. These two pieces I riveted crossways together, and in the four muzzles I fitted four hickory poles, each six feet long, forming a stand with four legs.

Now, in order not to carry four sticks, six feet long, I cut each in two, and with the aid of four brass tubes, each three inches long, I can stick them together in a similar manner as you would a fishing-rod. All these things can be had in any gun-store, and any gunsmith can do the job for you.

Over this stand goes a bag, made of three thicknesses of yellow calico, which gives plenty of light to work by, and which will make it chemically dark enough, even if the sun is shining right on it. This bag has no door. All you have to do is to lift it up and go in. It will fall down behind your back. It would be well, perhaps, to have four pockets sewed around at the bottom of it, in which to put a few stones, in case of a strong wind, but this precaution I have not found necessary in my practice, as I prefer not to take photographs in a gale. The feet of the poles being five feet apart, gives us twenty-five feet of space for preparing the plate, &c.

We e see that our contemporary, the Scientific Review, in a kindly but critical notice of this journal, takes exception to its name, saying, "We know that a photographer is a person who takes photographs, but what an Illustrated Photographer is we have yet to learn.' What's in a name? The photographer is, in this case, not "a person who takes photographs," but a weekly journal, and as that journal is illustrated, it is, of course, an ILLUSTRATED PHOTOGRAPHER. The Scientific Review might argue in this way against the names of more than half the papers and magazines of the day. The Morning Star, for instance, is not, in any sense, a star; neither is the Daily Telegraph a daily telegraph, but a newspaper.

Bits of Chat.

The new Act to regulate the sale of poisons comes into force on the 31st of December next. It must prove very vexatious to dealers, and create many purposeless difficulties in selling or purchasing the various articles in daily use, having poisonous properties; but it has one truly excellent feature, viz., it will render it unlawful to sell any poison, either by wholesale or retail, unless it be sent out distinctly labelled with the name of the article, the word "poison," and the address of the vendor. The following is a list of the articles enumerated as poisonous in Schedule A, parts 1 and 2:Arsenic and its preparations.

Prussic acid.

An American contemporary says a great deal of discussion has lately taken place on the comparative merits of English and French lenses. As the average price for the former is at least double that of the latter, the question has been as to whether they were really worth the difference? This will always be a matter of opinion depending upon the views taken of the case; as to the facts, they are easily ascertained. The English opticians take more pains than the French in two respects: they polish the surfaces more finely, and they are more particular as to the quality of lenses that they will let go out of their hands. Thus, it is quite possible that the purchaser of a French lens may get as good, or nearly as good, an instrument as he would have had from an English maker, and at much less cost, but the chances are considerably against it. It cannot be denied, however, that occasionally most excellent. French lenses are purchased at very low rates. As before said, this will always be a matter of chance.

M. Civiale recommends the following treatment for fixing and toning:-In 15 ounces of water dissolve 3 ounces of sulphocyanide of ammonium. Dissolve 2 grains of slightly acid chloride of gold in a little water, and add the solution to the other, by small portions. The precipitate as first formed quickly redissolves. The print, well washed after coming from the frame, is plunged into the solution till it has obtained the required tone, and is then fixed in a solution of water 3 parts, sulphocyanide of ammonium 1 part. These baths are good till exhausted, and then can be made up with fresh materials.—Bull.

Soc. Phot.

M. Vidal objects to the indications given by the photometers, composed of layers of thin paper over bichromated paper, that those indications are not sufficient to guide the operator.-Bulletin Belge.

Of late years, iron development has pretty well superseded the pyro, as giving softer pictures, and requiring less exposure, Dr. Lisegang, under the impression that this might arise from the fact that iron is used in so much stronger solution than pyrogallic acid, made the experiment of developing with pyrogallic solution, as strong as usually used with iron, 25 grains to the ounce. With this pyrogallic developer, no longer exposure was needed than with iron, and the plate came up to printing density at once. Care was needed to avoid too great density. Stains on the glass, not brought out by iron development, came out with this, so that it was concluded that a strong pyrogallic developer would probably bring out weaker impressions of light than an iron developer.

Our contemporary the News says:-"Whilst maintaining and so admirably proving the capabilities of photography for art expression, M. Salomon, in common with most men possessed of the faculty of creative art, feels deeply the tyrannical conditions and unplastic character which belong to photography. The photographer, he remarked, in endeavouring to produce a picture, is a slave to his light, his lens, his chemicals, his sitter; the perverseness or imperfection of any of these may defeat all his efforts to realise an idea and produce a work of art; and often, when exhausted and disappointed, he has retired for relief, rest, and tranquillity to his sculptural atelier, where the modelling clay answered to every touch; no rigidly awkward muscles or perverse expression, no movement, no limited range of focus, no chemicals yielding only results out of all harmony with the aim of the artist, or giving negatives full of spots, streaks, or pinholes. Nevertheless, photography, with all its difficulties, is the subject of his intense enthusiasm, and its conditions, chemical and mechanical, are carefully studied, with a view to coax from it its most willing service to art purposes. He prepares his own collodion, and, in answer to a question as to the proportion of bromides and iodides he employs, we learn that he thinks it worth while to use constant variety to suit varying conditions of subject and of light. So also with his developer and with other controllable preparations. His most usual formula for developing is, however, as follows:-Ammonio-sulphate of iron 75 grains; glacial acetic acid 75 minims; sulphate of copper 7 grains; water 3

To Correspondents.

GAMMA. Yes. Any collodion negative on glass, whether varnished or not, can be transferred without the least danger of injuring it. But if you have not been in the habit of working the process, you had better send it, glass and all, to the carbon printer, with instructions.

G. F.-Better a part than none. The second portion of your bath is useless for photography. Throw it into the silver waste jar. As to the printingbath, it is most probably exhausted-indeed it is evidently so. Remedystrengthen it.

GEORGE TOWNSON.-We do not consider it of material consequence, either to sensitiveness or vigour of negative, whether you wash off the tannin before exposure or not. We have tried both plans, and never could detect the least difference. (2) In the case you mention, it is evident the whole of the free nitrate of silver had not been washed away before applying the tannin. If uncombined nitrate of silver is left in the film, the effect will be a brown discoloration when the tannin solution has been poured on.

AMATEUR. Should you visit Hampstead and call upon Mr. Wall, he will be very pleased to point out the more picturesque spots and the best walks in that neighbourhood.

INGLIS, Montreal.-We have received three excellent specimens of cabinet photographs, one of which we should be glad to engrave, if Mr. Inglis will permit us to do so.

A. B. D.-We do not see that you will gain any advantage from altering your glass-house according to the plan you think of adopting. You seem to have only too much light-or rather some of it comes in, in a wrong direction. It is probable that by extending the opaque part of the roof by about two feet you will much improve the character of the illumination. (2) One fluid numbered grain solution. ounce of the solvent is always meant when we speak of a thirty or any other

R. HOLLINGWORTH.-We cannot think the nitrate of silver supplied to you

by the eminent manufacturer you name is impure. Look rather to the purity of the distilled water. If your bath darkened in the light before being used

at all, it is evident organic matter is present either in the silver or in the water-in all probability in the latter. Distilled water obtained from the condensed steam of steam-engines generally contains organic and other impurities derived from oil, metal, &c., yet this is the kind of aq. dis. often used by druggists.

J. B. C.-Under- exposure is the chief fault we discover in your specimens. The lighting appears to be quite right, and the posing, if not very good, is of average excellence. You will find Mr. Seymour's jottings very serviceable; nearly all our correspondents speak highly of their usefulness.

W. MYERS.-Communication to hand. Many thanks for your considerate kindness. Expect to hear from us shortly.

TWO NEW SUBSCRIBERS are thanked for their offer, of which we may be glad shortly to avail ourselves.

W. H. T.-Mr. Pouncy, Dorchester; Mr. Sutton, Le Pavillon, Codelo; Redon, d'Ille et Vilaine, France. We have no doubt these gentlemen will be glad to listen to any suggestions respecting the photographic process in printing-ink.

G. S. (Dudley).-Will be attended to next week.

RECEIVED. Communications from Messrs. Blair, Sutton, Fennessy, Triphook, and others.

JAMES BURNS.-The lens you refer to is of the deep meniscus form, and is achromatised in the usual way. (2) The Ottewill folding camera was, we believe, registered, but not patented. If you alter the design slightly you are free from all legal consequences that may ensue.

"LADY FLORENCE will thank the editor for some receipt for pasting photographs in her album. The cement she uses causes the photograph to wrinkle, and thus mars much of the beauty of the picture." Glenfield's Patent Starch, is most commonly used for this purpose. Can any of our readers suggest something better?

COFFEE-POT.-The essence of coffee, so strongly recommended by Mr. Fennessy, and since then by other photographers in other journals, can be procured of Messrs. T. and H. Smith, of 69, Coleman-street, London. JAMES HUNT.-Very shortly.

MEDICO-POETICo.-(1) You can see us in our room at the printer's every Wednesday afternoon or Thursday morning. (2) You will easily discover the address, and will find Mr. Warner very courteous and kindly to you as a stranger, and his photographs admirable specimens of practical skill and knowledge. We don't mean scientific, but technical knowledge. (3) At Solomon's, Red Lion-square.

THOMAS FORREST.-So far from thinking your customer had reason for his complaint, we consider the carte one of the prettiest little photographs of a baby we have had the pleasure of seeing for a long time past. Mr. Seymour is by no means overstocked with examples of posing. The larger the number he has to select from the more choice will doubtless be his collection. Any letters for that gentleman sent to our office will be duly and promptly delivered.

PALLAS says:-"Mr. Sutton's appreciation of a process of carbon in oil-colours interests me very much, and I would gladly purchase specimens if I only knew where to procure them. Surely when the inventions of a man are noticed so favourably in a paper, it can be only regarded as a kind return of courtesy if the man advertises in its columns; at any rate it is due to the readers, whose interest and curiosity is excited, to tell them where the article may be seen or purchased."

B. W., in a letter to Mr. Seymour, says :-" I suppose, according to some, it is the sign of an inartistic photographer to be benefited by these published posings. I most cheerfully subscribe myself, by that rule, a very inartistic one indeed, for I never look on a group of your posings without feeling myself benefited, and pleasurably so, too. I think them more calculated to raise the status of the general run of photographic portraiture, than any single thing that has appeared in our journals for years; they are far more interesting to me than discussions about baths, developers, and processes," &c. ARTHUR JAMES.-You are perhaps using cadmium collodion, which sometimes becomes glutinous, even when kept in a well-stoppered bottle; there UNSUCCESSFUL.-Change your collodion, as the fault is in it. See our advertisement pages.

is nothing new in the fact.

JURY.-(1) We are sure you will never obtain anything satisfactory by that process. (2) Common salt is an efficient antidote to the poisonous effects of nitrate of silver when taken immediately. (3) A little alcohol added to your collodion will probably improve it. (4) Try hypo.

C. L. S.-We shall be able to give the information shortly.

W. II. DAKIN.-Your formula is correct. Nothing but experience won by practice can help you; one person's mode of doing it successfully will probably prove but a blunder in the hands of another.

ANGLO-AMERICAN.-The Philadelphia Photographer is sent out from its office to British subscribers very irregularly. In order to get our own copy early, we sent our subscription direct to the American publisher. Nevertheless, it seldom reaches us until late in the month, and when it does come, having been by that time reproduced in its English contemporaries, it contains stale news. Our American correspondents, who get it earlier, generally send us a copy when it contains any information of importance, which we republish; but the copy sent by the publishers always comes lagging in long after. If you read all the English photo journals, you need not purchase our expensive Philadelphia contemporary. Humphrey's Journal, our other American photographic contemporary, reaches us promptly and regularly. W. H. K.--We shall wait until the specification is published, and shall then devote an article to the subject. If the process is rightly described in our contemporary, it appears to us to be unnecessarily complicated and troublesome, and besides, there must be an element of both danger and expense in the frequent casting, recasting, and in the delicate operation of building up to ensure sufficient depth. The objection to the other process you name was found, we believe, in the difficulty of regulating the pressure between the lates of glass to the swelling of the gelatine, so as to avoid the lateral extension of the raised surfaces.

W. WARREN, of 34, Grey Friars'-street, Northampton, asks for Mr. J. L. Lane's address.

LONDON, AUGUST 28th, 1868.

THE BRITISH ASSOCIATION FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF SCIENCE.

(From our own Reporter.)

A PRELIMINARY GOSSIP.

But on the occasion of our present visit the dull, quiet, old city was scarcely recognisable. We reached it on the Wednesday morning of the great science congress, and found the narrow, irregular streets crowded with visitors, and displaying most unusual signs of life and bustle. The chief thoroughfares were gay with flags, banners, and showy devices, more or less tasteful, and its lions were evidently undergoing such a close and constant examination as they have not been subjected to for-who shall say how many years? Chief amongst these leonine attractions is the castle, a noble relic of grim feudal days, which stands on an eminence in the centre of the town. It dates from the reign of William the Conqueror, and was built by Roger Bigod on the site, it is said, of an ancient citadel, supposed to have been erected about 575. It was converted into the county jail in the fourteenth century. After the castle comes the cathedral; which is a fine specimen of Anglo-Norman ecclesiastical architecture, and possesses many remarkable and noteworthy features. It was founded by Herbert, Bishop of Thetford, known by the not very flattering surname of Lozinga, or "The Liar," in the year 1096. As it now stands, the cathedral is a cruciform structure, consisting of a nave, aisles, transept, choir, and a chancel with aisles and four chapels. It is not seen to advantage as a whole, in consequence of its low situation, and the surrounding houses. We were pleased, however, to observe that much has been done since we were last here to improve the cathedral, both in this and in other respects. The cloisters and the south front have been laid more open to the view, and much has been done in the way of restoration or renovation. The interior of the cathedral conveys a much more imposing impression than the contemplation of the exterior, and is strikingly grand. The magnificent roof, exceedingly richly and elaborately ornamented, is, moreover, very curious, being, we believe, unlike any other in the country. Ancient sculptural work abounds in all parts of the building, and the number of carved figures it contains, both within and without, must be singularly large. There are some wonderfully fine specimens of oak carving in the choir, and the new west subscription window, in memory of the late Bishop Stanley, is very effective. The gateways you pass through on your way to the cathedral are truly picturesque and interesting. The oldest is that known as St. Ethelbert's, and some years ago, the chapel above it was used as the concert-room of an adjoining tavern. The Erpingham gate dates from 1428, and was built in way of penance by Sir Thomas Erpingham, to atone for the sin of having espoused the cause of the reformer Wycliffe, and as a means of escaping from the prison into which this heretical act had brought him. Next in importance to the castle and cathedral, perhaps, is St. Andrew's Hall, which was originally the nave of a church belonging to a convent of Black Friars, destroyed in 1413 by fire. It is now very gaily decorated, both within and without, and is the city hall. Nearly a thousand persons have sat down in it at a civic feast without inconvenience; so you may readily judge its size and

VOL. I.-No. 30.

There are, however, other lions to which we may devote a line or two in passing. In the museum the scientific The student will find much to interest and instruct. "Gun" mammalion collection is of special interest, and the ornithological collection is perhaps the finest, or at least one of the finest, in the kingdom. It possesses not less than two thousand two hundred and fifty specimens of birds of prey alone. These have been collected from every known country, and some of them are very rare, if not unique.

At noon, on Wednesday, an excellent and attractive flower-show was opened in Chapel-field, to the great delight of the ladies. Some spoke of it as a failure, but we were very pleased with it. A number of fine specimens of various species were shown, amongst which figured Japanese and Chinese plants, exotics, gloxineas, cornifera, orchids, greenhouse and stove plants. The show of fruit was, all must confess, a very fine one.

There is a very excellent collection of pictures being exhibited in the town, consisting of about three hundred specimens in oil and water, most of them by artists well known in our London exhibition rooms, where, I observe, many of the works have before figured. Local talent does not come out very strong.

Then, again, we have had the fifth annual meeting of the British Pharmaceutical Conference, which commenced the day before our arrival (Tuesday), in the Lecture Hall, St. Andrew's. This association, established in 1863, although holding its head-quarters in London, meets for the advancement of scientific pharmacy, and "to promote brotherly feeling and good-will," once a year, in one of the provincial towns. As we hear that a new photographic society is shortly to be organised, we commend this idea to the consideration of its promoters, as one worthy their emulation. The circular issued by this body says, "Seeing obvious difficulties in the way of forming a Pharmacy Section of the British Association, those anxious in the matter determined to organise an independent body, whose ranks should be open to anyone interested in the progress of pharmacy, and who would be willing to contribute a small annual subscription to defray whatever expenses might be incurred. The result was, that a meeting took place on the occasion of the assembly of the members of the British Association at Newcastle-on-Tyne, in September, 1863, the body was named The British Pharmaceutical Conference,' rules were formed, an executive committee was chosen, and Bath fixed upon as the place of the first annual meeting."

This body now numbers 562, and its meetings were well attended and profitably occupied. The following extract from its executive committee's report will show photographers the excellent effect its plans have secured, and perhaps inspire some of our enterprising brethren to "go and do likewise":

"In connection with the meeting for 1867 it is gratifying to the committee to be able to record that the unanimity with which the Dundee chemists welcomed the conference

The same difficulties would prevent the formation of a Photoraphic Section.