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THE PHOTOGRAPHIC NEWS. [May 15, 1885. 318 negative in the soda developer for two hours without getting any further detail; the density was enormous. Mr. F. A. BRIDGE made it a practice to employ a strong developer, and little of it, for subjects known to be under exposed. He diluted largely with water in the case of over- exposure. Mr. Ashman said that the majority of Mr. W. Cobbs instan taneous London street views occupied from one to two hours in development. The Chairman suggested that a paper should be read on developers shortly, which Mr. Bridge promised to do. The meeting then adjourned till Thursday, June 4th, when a paper will be read by Mr. W. M. Ashman, entitled “ Hints for Summer Work.’’ Sheffield Photographic Society. The monthly meeting was held on Tuesday, the 5th instant, in the Masonic Hall, Surrey Street, Mr. W. B. Hatfield in the chair. After the usual business of the Society, Dr. T. H. Morton gave an interesting report of the members’ first trip of the season, which took place on the 20th of April, to Eyam, Midderton Dale, and Froggat. The day was very fine, and a good coach load of ladies and gentlemen, well equipped for picture hunting, left the Masonic Hall at an early hour, and after a cool but beautiful drive, arranged their battery at Fox House for the first shot, when the journey was again resumed. Many lovely pictures were noticed and wished for as we passed along the road ; but no further work was done until the whole force took up positions in the entrance corner of Eyam Churchyard, and in a short time the sacred pile, with its interesting surroundings, was imprinted in at least a dozen cameras. The interior, the cross, and other notable portions, were also secured, and then the members spread about and made their way to the Midderton Dale, working as they went, till all met at the “ Moon ” Inn, and partook of a very well-provided dinner, at which plates, variously sensitized by Mrs. Tricket, were developed and cleared in the members’ best style. After dinner the coach then conveyed the party to Froggat, where more pictures were taken, though the place would have been better a few hours earlier. There were about seventy good pic tures brought home, and many were on the table for inspection at this meeting. The May competition pictures were then brought on for judgment, the subject being “ Interiors,” and was won by a very beautiful one of Trinity Church, Highfield, by Mr. J. W. Charlesworth, an amateur ; the second in position being W. B. Hatfield. Dr. Morton showed some beautiful interiors of Newark Cathedral, which were of high quality, and were very much admired, but were not for competition. Mr. F. Barber exhibited a new and ingenious camera-holder to attach to either tricycle, boat, gate, wall, &c., or anything to get a picture in an awkward position. It was much admired, but considered dear. Mr. J. Bennett showed a number of photographs of Zulus from Africa, which were very interesting. The meeting was then adjourned. London and Provincial Photographic Association. The usual weekly meeting of this Society was held on Thursday, the 7th inst., Mr. G. Squire occupied the chair. The Chairman mentioned a curious experience of spots appearing on a negative after drying. The plate was fixed and washed in the usual way. The negative was handed to the members for inspection. Mr. A. Haddon, referring to the recent discussion on the merits of washed and unwashed emulsions, had repeated his ex periments of the previous week, using a fresh sample of gelatine and the diminished amount of water in Mr. W. E. Debenham’s corrected formula. He brought three plates to the meeting ; two were handed to the Chairman, one of which had been exposed and developed. In this undeveloped plate crystallisation was scarcely apparent in the film, the other had developed quite clear with no trace whatever of insensitive patches, or indication of stoppage of light from crystallisation. He then developed the remaining plate on the dark-room of the Association ; this was also found to be quite clear. Mr. J. Barker had made experiments with Unwashed emul sions some time back, he found that filtering the emulsion several times materially reduced the tendency to crystallize ; he had used a larger proportion of silver than that given in the formula by Mr. W. E. Debenham in the News. Mr. W. E. Debenham said if only sufficient gelatine was used to absorb the nitrate, it would result in a form of bromide, giving a vigorous image, but the plate would be slow. Mr. A. L. Henderson referred to some negatives that he had exhibited at one of the meetings. He had only used 30 grains silver to 37 ounces of emulsion. The exposure was five seconds, No. 2 stop, 2B lens, in a moderate light; this could not be said to be a slow plate. Mr. W. K. Burton handed round for inspection some prints from negatives of views taken from his window ; the same sub jects were printed both in silver and platinotype. The opinion of the members was asked as to the relative merits of the two methods of printing; the platinotype prints were much admired ; at the same time, it was generally conceded that, in some cases, the silver prints showed more and clearer detail in the shadows, with the same subject, than the platinotype. Mr. J. B. Wellington also passed round some platinotype prints. A question was asked for a reliable method to remove silver stains from negatives. Several members recommended cyanide of potassium if the stains were not too old. Mr. A. Mackie stated that rubbing the negative with a little turpentine would be found to be effective and it had the merit of being safer than cyanide. Mr. A. Cowan thought the removal of the silver in this case would be due to the friction. Mr. H. TRINKS had effectually cleared a plate of green scum by dipping his finger in turpentine and rubbing it over the plate. Mr. J. B. wellinoton referring to the yellow stain that fol lowed development with potash, remarked that this was due to the make of plate ; as a proof he passed round two negatives ; both had been developed with potash ; one was of the ordinary colour, the other showed the yellow stain ; he explained that they were from two different emulsions—one boiled, the other ammonia. Mr. C. P. Cembrano was elected a member of the Association. Photographers’ Benevolent Association. The adjourned annual general meeting took place at the offices of the Association, 181, Aldersgate Street, on the Cth instant, Mr. W. S. Bird presiding. Messrs. Hy. Dixon, F. Francis, W. M. Garner, J. 0. Woodley, Alfred Benjafield, and E. S. Baker were elected members of the Association. The action taken by the committee since February (see NEWS, February 13th) was reported to the meeting. It was pointed out that the good work done by the Society was greater than generally supposed, considering that its operations could not be published in detail. After thoroughly discussing the Association in its various aspects, it was finally resolved “ That although the response to the advertisement (see News, March 6th) was dis appointing to the wishes of the Board, the additional member ship (24) was encouraging ; and reviewing the utility of the actual benevolent work done, the efforts on behalf of the Association would be continued.” The officers for 1883 would remain in office. The next meeting will take place on June 3rd, at 8 o’clock. PIOTOGRAPHIC Society of Ireland. The last meeting of the Session was held on the 8th inst., at the Royal College of Science, Dublin, Mr. Greenwood Pim in the chair. • A letter was read from Mr. Magee expressing his just regret that unavoidable absence from town prevented him giving his paper on “ Collotype.” Dr. Scott presented two tables for verifying the correct time of exposure, at various hours and various periods of the year, as compared with that of mid-day in May or June, which he adopted as a standard. Thus, if under given conditions of lens, plate, and subject, a certain view at or about mid-day in June would require one second’s exposure, the same subject at 4 p.m. in March would require three seconds, or at 8 p.m. in February ten seconds.