MARCH 13th, 1868.] THE ILLUSTRATED PHOTOGRAPHER. "Selfish reasons have also had graphers of the day." their weight." Then, after a general flourish of trumpets, and a good deal of irrelevant matter, he says: For instance, I have produced from two ounces of nitrate of silver four hundred half-plate negatives. The chemicals were not altered in any way by me-worked every day, without giving a single failure. This work I set myself to do, and when done, everything remained in good order, and plenty of silver solution left. "To come at once to the object of this article. I will undertake, before any committee, specially appointed, to produce consecutively one thousand half-plate negatives, and, as before stated, perfectly free from every kind of imperfection. I will also point out the true cause of every failure, as well as remedy the following defects, viz., streaks in the direction of the dip, pinholes, fogging, hard, patchy, and thin negatives, needle points, greasy streaks, brain markings, marblings of various kinds, &c. I feel quite certain that I have a knowledge of the kind of change that takes place when light acts on iodide or bromo-iodide of silver; and I am not without hope of being able to demonstrate this, as I am fully persuaded it is a chemical one. Now, here is a complication of grand discoveries with a vengeance! If Mr. McLachlan succeeds in satisfying the philosophic and photographic world of their being genuine, he will have done as much for physical science as Herschel and Faraday, and more for photography than Daguerre and Talbot. Mr. McLachlan, in his letter to Mr. Sutton, quoted above, to him; yet in his note, refuses to communicate his "secret published in the Notes of January 15th, Mr. McLachlan says:"I am willing to communicate my process in strict confidence to any two or three scientific men acquainted with, but not professionally engaged in, photography," and, if they approve, he will make the whole thing public, and Speak the truth if the heavens should fall. The grand McLachlan-arcanum has, we believe, been communicated in confidence to Mr. Spiller and Mr. P. Le Neve Foster. The former is a chemist; but being a contributor to a photographic journal, is therefore ineligible as a confidante, according to Mr. McLachlan's own admission. Mr. Foster is the secretary to the Society of Arts Institution, a good practical photographer, and a man above suspicion of anything unfair. There is the gist of the whole matter. It is mere talk; but talk will not rule photography more than it will the world. Meteorological Heport FOR THE WEEK ENDING MARCH 11TH, 1868. Taken by Messrs. Negretti and Zambra with Standard Instruments, at their Establishment, 153, Fleet-street. Observations taken at 10 A.M. The readings of the maximum thermometer and amount of rainfall refer to the day preceding that on which they are tabulated. Sat. W. 547434 29-506 56 39 48 44 39-06 S.S.E. 3 0.18 Cloudy. The weather is still very unsettled, a not very remarkable fact, when reference is made to last week's general registrations, the wind continually "backing," the atmosphere well charged with moisture, and barometrical pressure violently fluctuating and decreasing, being much below the average height for England, and still falling. Taking this into consideration, and the apparent present disturbed state of the atmosphere, would be sufficient to warrant one in expecting a continuance of dull, wet, and windy weather until the wind changes its present fluctuating movement, and veers round through west to a northerly quarter, then probably finer and more settled weather will follow. Bits of Chat. 75 Another Photographic pirate has come to grief. On Saturday last a Mr. Gerson, of London-wall, was summoned to the Guildhall Police-court by Mr. Graves, and convicted on fourteen Sir R. W. Carden, in remarking on the frequency and heinous charges. He was fined £70, or fourteen weeks' imprisonment. nature of these thefts, said that in France the punishment would be imprisonment without the option of a fine, and he trusted he should see the time when that would be the law in England. Fun says, "The distressing privations of the poor minuteness of detail that we are led to suppose that the writers have been described by eye-witnesses with such photogaphic must be acquainted with at least one branch of the beautiful science-we mean the Dry Plate system." Sixty-eight of our brethren in San Francisco, Caligraphs. In their petition they represent that the tax is not less fornia, have petitioned Congress against the tax upon photothan five per cent. on gross receipts of their business; that nearly all their chemicals and photographic stock are very costly in consequence of their being highly taxed, and that the upon the purchaser, but upon the producer, the public steadily tax on sun-pictures does not, as was intended by Congress, fall refusing to pay the tax when added to the former prices of photographs, which, moreover, were never so low in price as they now are. The petition also sets forth the injustice of ardent spirits, &c.; the good which photography does in culticlassing photographs with such luxuries as tea, coffee, cigars, art, such as sculpture, oil and water-colour paintings, &c., being vating and refining public taste, and the fact of other works of untaxed, although much more highly remunerative, and executed with comparatively insignificant expenditure for materials and tools. The petition winds up by asserting that hundreds of photographers have, in consequence of the tax, been compelled to abandon their business, and that the whole class have a struggle to maintain their position. Punch's idea of a tax upon English photographs seems to have been so well "Forewarned is received in certain influential political circles that photographers forearmed." will do well to bear the above facts in mind. The Philadelphia Photographer issued, with its February number, a specimen of the carbon process, by the eminent photographer, M. Braun, whose reproductions are just now exciting so much attention in London, and whose work It says but little for the process or the producer, being ugly in with the pantascopic camera has won him so wide a renown. tone, flat, dull, and heavy. Its middle distance and foreground sadly want separating by light and atmosphere, and the woolly details are all hazy and muddled together. A foreground tree sticks so close to the foliage of some far-away hills that it requires a very close inspection to say which is which. As a variety of negatives, taken from various points in the Swiss Alps, have been used for our Philadelphia contemporary, we hope all the specimens issued are not so bad as the one contained in our copy. The photographic art The Scientific Review says:-" is thought by many that have never tried it, a thing so simple and easy, that anyone could practise it with success. It is only preparing a surface with certain chemicals, exposing it for some time in a camera, and then washing it with other chemicals, and the thing is done. All this is, no doubt, very true; but how about the dexterity of manipulation, the accuracy of focussing, the correct judgment as to time of exposure and strength of development, and all those details which make up the difference between a beautiful sun-picture and a miserable failure? And, further; who, without genuine artistic feeling, can choose well the point of view, watch for the proper light, and, out of the panorama surrounding him, frame in his mind the picture which he desires nature to reproduce on his plate?" An American work is on the eve of publication which will contain not less than between 45,000 and 50,000 photoThe photographs graphic cabinet photographs of the most prominent citizens are by Mr. John Carbutt. of Chicago, where it will be published. ARTHUR SMYTHE. - Chloride of zinc is a very powerful attractor of wat r, and may answer your purpose. W. MYERS.-Thanks. Will write to you in a day or two. A WELL-WISHER is thanked for his vague warning. So long as we retain power, we shall be watchfully on guard against the evil spirit he appears to dread." "PAX" writes to call our attention to the rare excellence of some enlargefrom small negatives by "the best photographer in Fleetwood." He superior are they to any he has seen in London or elsewhere, and he there Mr. C. E. Brooman has recently obtained letters patent for "Improvements in Photographic Albums," being a communication from Frederick Wilhelm Marx, of Paris. The invention consists in the employment of moveable name cards or slips, and in the formation of a sort of chamber or receptacle in the leaf or passe-partout, into which the name cards can be readily inserted and again taken out independently of the pic-thinks there must be something special in their mode of production, so ture. This chamber or receptacle is formed as follows:-A piece of fabric is pasted on and behind an opening in the sheet of paper which covers each side of the internal card forming the body of the passe-partout; over the fabric is pasted on the lower edge a thin piece of paper, which also serves as a guide to the portrait, or "carte;" this is repeated on the opposite side of the leaf, or passe-partout. The name card, or the paper round the opening through which it is seen, may be ornamented by painting, gilding, or otherwise. The The Bourbouze Lamp is the name of a new French invention, which gives, it is stated, as much light as the oxyhydrogen or Drummond lamp, but is very much less costly. The combustible is coal-gas intimately mixed with air. mixture enters a tube and then passes through a metallic plate pierced with a great number of small holes, so that the gas is divided into an infinite number of small jets. These play upon a tissue of platinum wire, and it is not until the gas has passed through this tissue that it is lighted. Under the influence of the heat produced, the platinum soon becomes white hot, and it is then impossible to look at it with the naked eye. The gaseous mixture is forced through the system by a slight pressure; about one cubic mètre of gas is consumed per hour. The following extract from a paper sent by Sir David Brewster to the Scientific Review, a few days before his death, will be read with melancholy interest :-"Even under the village roof-tree we may cultivate the taste, and add to the happiness of its inmates. We may decorate their walls by permanent photographs of the finest specimens of painting and sculpture, and through the stereoscope they may gaze, as if on solid marble, upon the Apollo Belvidere, the Laocoon, and the Venus de Medicis, or upon the modern productions of Canova, Thorwaldsen, and Chantrey. Even in the plain furnishings and simple utensils of the cottage we may refine the taste and elevate the sentiments of the hard-working children of toil. The beautiful in art and nature, equally the gift of the great Giver, may be enjoyed by the humblest of our race. The cup of cold water will taste the sweeter, and the goblet of wine the richer, when the eye rests with pleasure on their lovely forms. The village Lavinia will be "adorned the most" when she has exchanged the apparel of the ball-room for the simple drapery of a less luxuriant age. Nor will the cottage family be less joyous when, in their plot of flower-garden, they revel in the harmonies of colour, or when the mantel-piece or walls of their dwelling exhibit to them the choicest forms of art, or those scenes of the picturesque or the sublime with which modern science can so cheaply supply them. The Philadelphia Photographer points out a common defect in portraits of children, arising from their being taken with short-focus lenses to ensure rapidity, and placed so that the lens is too near to them, and looks down upon them. "The natural consequence is, that a picture is produced in which the head is enlarged and the figure dwarfed. The remedy for this is to use a very low stand for your camera, or elevate the child so as to bring the lens parallel with the face." To Correspondents. SOCIAL SAM.-We are sorry and indignant to learn that a man holding a responsible and respectable position should stoop to swindle so poor a man, but we cannot help you to expose him. A CANNON-STREET PUPIL.-We will try to obtain the information for you, although it is a little out of our way, H. H. ROBINSON.-Inclosure to hand. The price of our part is one shilling. Thanks. BRIXTON.-1. Your bath is too acid. 2. Declined with thanks. A LADY AMATEUR.-The Ladies' Own Paper is now publishing a series of less ns in drawing and painting, by Mr. A. H. Wall. We have no intention of giving such lessons at present. fore suggests that we should make some inquiries relative thereto. As we don t know how many photographers there are in Fleetwood, and think the Judgm nt of the postman on that point might not possibly prove reliable, should we address a note to "the best," we hope "the best photographer in Fleetwood," if as good natured as he is talented, will volunteer such informetion as may prove of value to his brethren of the camera. We thank Pax" very warmly for the kind services he has done us in his neighbourhood, and would do so privately were we not so excessively busy. ROBIN HOOD.-1. We must not believe in idle rumours which often, as in this case, are set afloat to serve a mischievous purpose. 2. Some people don't know the difference between "frankness" and impertinence, between honest outspeaking and downright coarseness and offensiveness. W. G. MOORE.-Some articles on Solar Enlargements have been promised us by several reliable authorities, and we hope to gratify yourself and the other subscribers who join with you by their speedy pub ication. ROBERT H. WALL.-Your namesake was born in London, and is an artist We have not yet comp eted our arrangements with foreign by profession. contributors, but shall shortly publish photographic news from the Continent at regular intervals. FRANK.-Would it not be very like car. ying coals to Newcastle, to substitute a photograph once a month for our numerous engravings? Our contemporary, the l'hiladelphia Photographer, does so, but its price is just dout le that of our monthly part, while it contains less than half our quantity of printed matter. We think the advantages are greatly in favour of our own plan. For instance, in one weekly number, at a cost of threepence, we give half a dozen examples of posing from choice photographs, where our contemporary could only give as many in six monthly numbers, at a cost of twelve shillings! It is true that these would, be photographs, but for all practical purposes the engravings are equally useful. If you want photographs of well-posed figures, translate our posings into photographs, and there they are. In our first monthly part, price Is., you have twenty-four examples of posing; it these were photographs, given with two-shilling pa ts, as many would cost you two pounds eight. Frank is sure all our s bWe fancy he is mistaken. A photographic Journal, illustrated by photographs, was published in London some years back. Although handsomely got up, it proved a failure. E. B. FENNESSY.-Photographs to hand. Many thanks for your great scribers will agree with him. kindness. H. WARNER sends us some photographs illustrative of E. R.'s paper on foregrounds, with which Mr. Warner was much struck. E. R. thanks Mr. Warner for them, and we have great pleasure in presenting our readers with a graphotyped drawing froin one of these charming little specimens. ZETA.-There is no method known of stopping out the sun's rays from a glass-house without destroying a large proportion of the actinic power. Nor is it possible any such method can be found. If your glass-house is meant for portraiture the sun's direct rays should never permeate it; they should be reduced and softened by white calico blinds, or entirely excluded by an opaque covering. A north, N. E., or N.W. light is by far the best for portraiture. All direct sun's rays should be avoided, unless when copy ing prints, &c., when they are often desirable. AMATEUR X.-We should have been quite astonished if you had been successful, by following out the rules laid down in the Photographic Aimanac you allude to. It is quite evident that the editor who wrote the article lac never any practical know.edge of the col.odio-bromide process-unless as a failure in his own hands. Try the method i..dicated in our last. Carry it out faithfully. You will then succeed. DELTA.—A mistake into which several of the public journals fell at the same time. A REV-We prefer a soft, well-ma le cork, in the place of a glass stopper, for our collodion bottle. The photographs are just a little over-exposed, but are otherwise excellent. The Exchange Club is not forgotten. G. E.-Bichloride of platinum was used for toning prints many years ago. W. R. S.-We have questioned a professional colourist, who states he uses oil varnish obtained from the artist colourman, to which he adds a few drops of ammonia, as a medium with which to colour transparent photographs for the lantern. He describes it as he best he knows. We have su ceeded best by nrst using water-colours-transparent, of course-and then finishing with varnish and well-ground, suitable oil colours, such as are sold in tubes. DESIDERATA "--1. Good portraits may be obtai ed in an ordinary room by throwing the image of the sitter, placed facing the window, before a looking-giass, and taking the portrait from the glass. 2. If th stain is an old one, and the skin has become cauteri ed, no. 3. Iodine was not discovered before 1811, so the statemet must be untrue. 4. It was never intended for portraiture, and the quality you want is more due to chemical than to optical conditi ns. E. COX WALKER -The blotches of unequal sensitising on the prints, which you enclose, arise from using a too weak nitrate ba h. Nitrate of silver solution, of sufficient strength, say 50 or 60 grs. to the ounce of water, coagulates the albumen on the paper, and if the alb mer is quite dry, a much weaker solution will coagulate it. You will see, if you examine your patchy prints, that the albumen has been removed from those portions which show little sensiti en ss to light. In other words, there has been too much water either in your silver bath, or the paper has been damp. Consu.t 'Aliquis's" article on printing, in our last number. 44 J. ADAMS.-Hare's Universal Camera” is most ex el ently suited for the studio, but we do not recommed it for fie d-work. You cannot possibly have one camera o suit all require art. luis " improved Kinnear" would sust you better for the bulk of your work, unless you chose to invest in two. LONDON, MARCH 20th, 1868. THE GODDARD RELIEF FUND. ONSIDERING it best for all parties con cerned, when a source of public dissatisfaction and suspicion is laid bare, either for confirmation or explanation, we do not hesitate to find a prominent place for the following article from a valued contributor, who, acting promptly upon the impulses of feeling, sometimes fails to view a subject with sufficient impartiality, but who always was, and seems likely always to remain, a thoroughly fearless, outspoken man.-ED. The press has an important duty to perform. There is a class of offences against good morals and good taste, of which the law of the statute-book may or may not take account, but upon the commission of which the dread of public exposure in a newspaper acts as a mighty check. The journal which does its duty in exposing abuses becomes, although a mere sheet of printed paper, a substantial witness of civilisation. That of modern times is stable, owing, in great measure, to the existence of an honest, free press; whilst the old civilisations were unstable, mainly through the want of it. The journal which does its duty, regardless of whom it may offend, deserves the hearty support of every honest reader. Reliable in its facts, fearless, not scurrilous, in its comments, moderate but firm in its tone, it becomes a mainstay of that advanced civilisation from which all derive inestimable benefits. Then let no one blame an honest journal for the exposure of an abuse, or praise a timid journal for its amiable measures, or encourage a lying journal which, for a party purpose, perverts the truth. The columns of a bold and honest journal brace the mind of the reader. They act like a visit to the sea-shore, and the thoughts which they excite are fresh and free and genuine as the waves and winds. A man lays down such a paper braced by its perusal, and goes forth to his daily work prepared to do battle with all that is dark and foul. But a timid newspaper enervates the mind; and a lying newspaper poisons it. The first instructs, and excites to healthy action; the second leaves a man where it found him-in dressing-gown and slippers; the third makes an absolute fool of him, and inflames his bad passions. Now, what does all this tend to? What does it mean? Why is it introduced here? It is introduced here by way of preface to the exposure of an abuse, and in order to guard the reader against supposing that this article is due to ill-nature or personal pique. It is not so. Here is the abuse to which I would now call attention : The sum Exactly four years ago, the sum of three hundred and fifty-six pounds odd shillings was subscribed to relieve the destitution of an old man of seventy, who, in the early days of photography, did the art some good service. was placed in the hands of five trustees, who undertook to administer it. The old man lived two years and threequarters after the above sum for his relief had been subscribed, and then died in a hospital, having only received fron the trustees seventy-five pounds of the money. Not having received the balance which was due to him (£281), the old man made a will, in which he bequeathed it to certain friends and relations, and appointed an executor. The executor applied to the trustees for the money, but they refused to give it him, and intimated their intention to appropriate it to some other purpose than that for which it had been subscribed. He then sent round a petition to the subscribers for their signature, requesting the trustees to give up the money, as they were legally bound to do, which petition received numerous signatures. This happened eight months ago. The trustees have taken no VOL. I.-No. 7 public notice of the petition, and have issued no report; and there the matter now stands." The name of the old man was John Frederick Goddard; that of his executor is George Brothers, residing at 13, Boston-street, Park-road, Regent's-park, London. And the five trustees are Dr. Diamond, secretary of the Photographic Society, and four members of the council of that society. These gentlemen may find, before long, that it is There are subscribers to the Goddard Relief Fund whose a serious thing to have neglected the duties of a trustee. indignation is now thoroughly aroused; and before many weeks are past, the trustees may find themselves brought before a legal tribunal, as defendants in an action for breach of trust. in the Photographic Journal of Dec. 15, 1863. The original appeal on behalf of Mr. Goddard was made The letter sent by Mr. Brothers to the subscribers runs thus:13, Boston-street, Park-road, Regent's-park, London, N.W., July 31st, 1867. SIR,-You were one of the subscribers in the beginning of the year 1864 to a fund raised for the purpose of relieving the necessities of the late Mr. John Frederick Goddard, the discoverer of the use of bromine in photography, and called the "Goddard Testimonial Fund." A considerable sum was subscribed, but less than one-fourth of the amount was paid by the trustees to or for Mr. Goddard, the balance of the fund remaining in their hands. Mr. Goddard died in December, 1863, and not having received during his lifetime the balance of the fund for which he had frequently applied to the trustees, he made a will, by which he left the amount to be divided between some of his relations and friends. I have applied to the trustees, as Mr. Goddard's executor, for payment of such balance, but they refuse to recognise Mr. Goddard's right to dispose of it, and intimate their intention of applying the money to other charitable purposes. I think you would wish that your subscription, not having, as you intended, been paid to Mr. Goddard in his lifetime, should now be applied according to his wishes, as expressed in his will, and if such is your desire, I shall feel obliged by your signing and returning to me the annexed note. -I have the honour to be, sir, your very obedient servant, GEORGE BROTHERS, Executor of J. F. Goddard. One of the subscribers to whom this letter was addressed replied to this in an indignant letter, desiring to know the names of the trustees, and the amount they had received, &c. He received the following reply from Mr. Brothers : enclosure, for which I am much obliged. The names and adSIR, I am in receipt of your letter of the 1st inst., with its dresses of the trustees are as follow:-George Shadbolt, 2, Upper-Hornsey-rise, London, N.; G. Wharton Simpson, 18, Canonbury-park South, London, N.; Dr. Diamond, Twickenham-house, Twickenham, S. W.; T. R. Williains, 236, Regentstreet, London, W.; Jabez Hughes, 379, Oxford-street, London, W. The amount collected for the fund was £356 19s. 2d.; and as far as I can trace out, Mr. Goddard in his lifetime only received £75, which was paid to him in small sums, extending over two years. The trustees were desirous of purchasing Mr. Goddard because, in the original appeal which appeared in the Photoan annuity, to which he objected, on account of his age, and graphic Journa', and other photographic papers, of Dec. 15th, 1863, not one word is mentioned about purchasing an annuity, but to raise a fund to relieve his present necessities. Mr. Goddard was nearly 70 when he died, and was anxious that the money should have been paid to him, for him to have done what he liked with it, but this the trustees objected to, and so the matter went Mr. Williams was, I believe, always in favour of the money being paid to Mr. Goddard during his lifetime, and he was in favour of the money being paid to me as executor; but he, being only one out of five, I consider no blame attaches to him. There were suggestions thrown out during Mr. Goddard's lifetime of applying the fund to relieve the necessities of aged photographers generally, which of course the trustees had not the power to do. However, it was a source of great annoyance to Mr. God on. dard that the money was not given to him, which it ought to have been, and it no doubt shortened his days. The matter ought to have been settled immediately the fund closed, which was in March, 1864; and I consider the trustees are much to blame for the manner in which they have acted. Mr. Goddard was comparatively worse off after the fund was collected than he was before, as many of his friends who used to assist him pecuniarily ceased to do so, believing he was deriving the full benefit of the fund. He ended his days in a hospital.—I am, sir, your obedient servant, GEORGE BROTHERS. Such are the facts. The poor old man died in a hospital, whilst £281 remained in the hands of the trustees for his relief! The pressing questions which now arise are, what has become of that money, and the accumulated interest thereon? And have the trustees carried out the intentions of the subscribers or not, according to law? On three public occasions, photographers have subscribed generously to relieve the distressed-viz., in the cases of the widow of Scott Archer, the discoverer of the collodion process; John Frederick Goddard, the discoverer of the use of bromine in photography; and the widow of Thomas Goddard, the optician. The widow of Scott Archer died some months after the closing of the subscription list for her relief, without having received a farthing of the money! What happened in the case of J. F. Goddard has just been described. On both these unhappy occasions, leading members of the photographic society were trustees. On another occasion, Mr. Dawson and another were trustees, and it is to their credit to record that the whole fund subscribed was placed at once in the hands of a widow, and mitigated the miseries of her own deathbed a few weeks afterwards. On a fourth occasion, that of the testimonial to Mr. Hardwich, which took the form of a subscription to a new church in which he was interested, and of which Mr. Dawson and Mr. Sutton were trustees, the whole fund raised was placed at once in the hands of Mr. Hardwich, and the church was built, and he is now the officiating minister in it. How long would it take the trustees of the J. F. Goddard fund to draw up a report? Would it take them half an hour? How long would it have taken them to buy an annuity for an old man of seventy, and how promptly ought that to have been done? Could it not have been done in one morning? But what right had they to talk of an annuity at all? What right had they to keep back the money which was subscribed ostensibly for his own immediate use, and for his own voluntary disposal? What right have they now to withhold a farthing of the money for a single day, from the persons to whom he has willed it? What right have they to spend a farthing of it in any legal quibble with the executor? Or what right have they to dream of applying it to any other purpose than that special one for which it was subscribed? Lastly, what has become of the money? In whose hands now is the balance, £281 out of the £356 which was subscribed four years ago, and where has it been lying all these years? There is another question which many subscribers will no doubt be asking, viz., "Have I not a right to demand from any one of the trustees the restitution of about four-fifths of the sum which I subscribed ?" These are questions which in a few days will be presented afresh to the minds of some hundreds of subscribers to the fund, and some thousands of members of the photographic community, and with what result will soon appear. Of this the trustees of the Goddard Relief Fund may rest perfectly assured, viz., that the matter will not be allowed to drop. [Although the trustees have laid themselves open to suspicion by their indifference to public opinion, yet it should not be forgotten that they may nevertheless be perfectly conscientious in adopting the course they have laid down for themselves, and perhaps believe in its propriety and justness.- ED.] PHOTO-RELIEF PRINTING. BY GEORGE DAWSON, M.A., LECTURER ON PHOTOGRAPHY, OVER three years have now elapsed since Mr. Woodbury first announced his method of photo-relief printing, and exhibited specimen pictures by that process. His plan, as might be expected, was not then fully developed, because its success depended much on attention to many minor details of manipulation, &c., of which the principles were not well understood. Since then, under difficulties which would have discouraged and deterred any except a most energetic man, and one having faith in his idea, Mr. Woodbury has been perseveringly labouring to perfect a system of photo-printing, which I now believe (although I did not before) is destined to achieve a remarkable success, if not, in a great measure, to supersede our present methods of reproduction, at least on a large scale. Mr. Disderi, having purchased Mr. Woodbury's patent rights, has recently erected commodious premises at Brompton, for carrying out extensively this system of printing, under Mr. Woodbury's superintendence. To Mr. Disderi himself is due a great part of the success which has now been achieved; mainly by studying details of manipulation, and by a judicious division of labour, whereby the most skilled workmen are trained each to his own particular work, and is allowed to attempt no other. The establishment being now in full working order, I availed myself of a kind invitation to inspect the whole modus procedendi, which I will endeavour to describe to your readers. FIRST STAGE.-PREPARING THE TISSUE. A clean glass plate is smeared over with bees'-wax, which is then rubbed till the coating is infinitesimally thin. A strong-bodied and tough collodion is poured over the waxed side of the glass, in the usual way, and allowed to dry. The plate is coated on the collodion side with a strong aqueous and hot solution of gelatine, containing bichromate of ammonia or potash, and a little Prussian blue (the purpose of the colouring matter at this stage will be explained by-and-by). This latter operation is performed in the dark room, because gelatine with bichromate is sensitive to light. The plate is then placed on a levelling stand till the gelatine, by cooling, loses its flowing properties and sets in a uniformly thick film. film has set, the plate is put into a closed drying-box containing fused chloride of calcium, which soon desiccates the gelatine, by absorbing from it the moisture. The compound film of collodion and gelatine can now be easily raised from the glass in one unbroken sheet, by cutting round the edges with a knife and gently lifting it up. little delay as possible the tissue should be subjected to the next operation. When the SECOND STAGE.-IMPRESSING THE TISSUE. With as To get the best results, a suitable negative, viz., one of ordinary silver-printing density, is selected. The collodion side of the tissue is placed in contact with the negative in a common printing frame, and subjected to the direct solar rays, which should fall perpendicular to the surface of the glass, otherwise the image will lose much of its sharpness, for the following reason:-As the actinic impression has to be made through an appreciable thickness of insensitive collodion intervening between the surface of the negative and the sensitive gelatine, and has also to penetrate through the latter to some considerable depth, any parallax or change of relative positions of the different parts of the negative, arising from various obliquities of the light, would seriously affect sharpness of definition, and, to some extent, truthfulness of delineation. An illustration, familiar to most photographers, wili make the above remark plain. If a negative is printed from, on a sensitive silver-paper placed on the wrong side of the glass, a confused image is the result, and that in increasing proportion to the thickness of the glass and the diffusion of the light. But if anyone tries the experiment of The mould, from which the die is made, is now complete. FOURTH STAGE. MAKING THE PRINTING DIE. In making the printing dies a composition of lead and type metal is used, and it is prepared specially for this quarter of an inch thick, the collodio-gelatine mould is process. On a block of the composite metal, about a laid, gelatine side downwards; it is then put into a byof over a hundred tons. The result is a sharply-defined draulic press, and subjected for a few minutes to a pressure and reversed-relievo image on the metallic surface. The high lights are, of course, now raised, and the shadows depressed. Most strange as it may appear, the gelatine mould, although thus squeezed with such enormous pressure against a metallic body apparently harder than itself, has not suffered in the least, and may be used for taking Mr. Woodbury tells me there is no limit, so far as he knows, many similar impressions, all as sharp as the first one! to the number of dies that may be struck from it. printing from the wrong side of a negative on very thin glass, by placing and keeping it quite perpendicular to the sun's rays, at the same time excluding, as far as possible, all diffused light, he will find his print nearly, if not quite as fine as if the paper had been in immediate contact with the negative image itself. It is for this reason that diffused light is not admissible in the Woodbury process; and here it is where a considerable amount of ingenuity has been displayed by the inventor. He has constructed a printing stand for solar work, each stand being capable of holding several printing frames. It consists of a deep box (about two feet and a half), made of deal, and partitioned off, like a bottle-basket, throughout its whole depth, to about three inches from the bottom, with the same material stained a dead black, into many compartments. Each compartment is for the reception of a printing frame, which is shoved into its place through a slot cut in the side near the bottom of the box. This slot is closed up while the negatives are being exposed to the solar rays. The box is mounted on a stand, having horizontal and altitude motions, which enables the operator, who stands by during the time of exposure, to direct the sun's rays, whatever quired, by a circular saw driven by the gas engine, and is may be their direction, quite perpendicular to the surface bevelled on the upper edges with a knife or file. It is of the glass negative. The shadows on the sides of the now ready for the printers. When I say printers, I do blackened partitions above the negative are his directing not mean it to be understood that Woodbury's is a printing guides. In sunshine the exposure is not long, about the process in the usual acceptation of the term. It is a castsame as that for ordinary printing under the same circum-ing process just in the same sense and in the same way as bas-relievos are turned out of their plaster moulds. stances. The die thus made is trimmed all round to the size re Unfortunately for Mr. Woodbury, the sun does not always shine in our country, and very seldom in London. A pity if it did; for we have farmers, millers, and ducks, besides astronomers, brickmakers, and photo-relief processes. Each has a tolerably even share of our climatic vicissitudes. But Mr. Woodbury has soared above them all, and can make his own climate, or rather light. A gas engine, by Le Noir, of Paris, of three-horse power, driving a powerful magnetoelectric machine, on the principle of M. Nollet, of Paris, affords from its charcoal points an artificial light of extraordinary intensity and steadiness. When the sky is overcast, or in foggy days, this is the sort of illumination adopted, and it answers nearly, if not quite as well, as sunlight, except that the exposure requires to be much prolonged-about four hours. Six or eight negatives, how-scraped off. The whole is then varnished. ever, can be subjected to these artificial rays at the same time, by ranging them in a circle round the charcoal points. For the successful practice of the Woodbury process, such an appliance is a necessity in London during the winter FIFTH STAGE.-CASTING OR PRINTING FROM THE DIE. glass for transparencies eminently suited for windows, To get pictorial representations from the metallic die, on decorative and other purposes, the die is placed on a level marble slab, and rubbed over with a little oil. A small pool of aqueous solution of gelatine, impregnated with any desired transparent pigment, kept at hand in a warming apparatus, is poured on the middle of the die. Immediately a glass plate, also warm, is pressed thereon by the hand for an instant, and left in position till the gelatine sets, which might be in about two or three minutes. After that the glass, with the picture firmly attached to it, may be removed, and the superfluous pigment round the edges months. THIRD STAGE.-DEVELOPING THE IMAGE, OR MAKING THE When the exposure is completed, the next thing is to wash away the unimpressed gelatine. For this purpose the collodion side of the tissue is pasted down flatly, with a benzolic solution of India-rubber, on a piece of clean glass, and the edges varnished. The whole is placed in a dish of warm water, which dissolves off all the gelatine where light has not at all acted, and the rest exactly in proportion to the actinic impression, leaving a depressed surface in the high lights corresponding to the densest portions of the negative, and a gradually increasing relief through all intermediate tones up to the deepest shadows. The film still attached to the plate is dried, and can then be easily detached in one unbroken sheet by cutting round the edges, and gently raising it. At this stage the value of a little Prussian blue, mixed with the bichromated gelatine, is obvious. Pure gelatine, when in thin stratum, is transparent, and any inequalities in the raised surface could hardly be properly appreciated, unless some pigment mixed with it should, by its varieties of depth of tone when viewed by transmitted light, convey to the mind a truthful idea of a thickness which is immeasurable by foot-rule. Prussian blue is the best to use, because it offers little obstruction to the passage of the chemical rays through the gelatine during exposure. Some two years ago I felt convinced, from the uncertain cial use could ever be made of the Woodbury process. I attempts made by the inventor himself, that no commersitely beautiful transparencies of an immense variety of am now convinced to the contrary, after seeing the exquisubjects turned out at the rate of more than one a minute by a single workman. One man, be it recollected, can work several dies, and as the die requires oiling only once for five or six impressions, little time is wasted in preliminary preparations. Besides on transparent glass, the impressions can also be made on any flat non-absorbent surface, and viewed not as transparencies, but by reflected light, like an ordinary photograph on paper. Indeed, the latter medium is an excellent one when the surface of the paper is made nonabsorbent by special preparations. In proof, I noticed, while walking over Mr. Disderi's establishment, at Brompton, piles of pictures taken on paper, which, had they not been in the photo-relief department, I should have mistaken for excellent silver prints. The paper process is worked rather differently from the other, a pressure frame instead of the hand being used to press the pliant medium in close contact with the pigmented die. The rationale of the final casting on glass, paper, &c., is very apparent. The die, or metallic impression from the gelatine mould, is something like a queen's head on a coin, but not in such high relief. A hot aqueous solution of gelatine, containing any desired translucent colouring matter, is poured on the oiled die, or on the glass, or other supporting medium of the picture, no matter which it is poured upon. Before the gelatine has had time to set, the die and supporting medium are pressed in close contact. The most elevated portions of the die squeeze out all the |