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408 THE PHOTOGRAPHIC NEWS. LJONE 26, 1885. article unless delivered to them free of conveyance and other charges. All cases and packages sent to the Exhibition must be ad dressed “ The Royal Cornwall Polytechnic Society, Falmouth,” and must bear the name and address of the owner; the covers to be fastened with screws. The exhibitor must write on the back of each picture his name and address, its title, whether it is an original or a copy, the name of the artist, and whether he is a professional or an amateur. Exhibitors must enter all articles intended for exhibition on forms provided for the purpose by the Society, which may be obtained from the Secretary, or any of the above-named author ised agents. Forms can be obtained from the Secretary, and must be re turned on or before September 5th. The Society will not be answerable for loss of or damage to any article sent to the Exhibiiion, but every care will be used to prevent injury while in the Society’s possession. After admission no article may be removed until after the close of the Exhibition. Discretionary power is vested in the officers of the Society as to exhibiting any article sent. The judging in all departments of the Exhibition will take place on Monday, September 21st. The Art Union of Cornwall (under the sanction of the Board of Trade) selects its prizes from the works exhibited by profes sional artists. The drawing for prizes will take place at the Polytechnic Hall during the Exhibition. Information respect ing the Art Union may be obtained from the Honorary Secre tary, Wallace W. J. Sharpe, Falmouth. Any further informa tion may be obtained personally, or by letter, on application to the Secretary, Edward Kitto, F.R.Met. Soc., Polytechnic Hall, Falmouth. Jotes. Like many others, Hr. Neuhaus, of Berlin, finds that by allowing freshly-developed gelatino-bromide plates to remain for about five minutes in a saturated solution of alum, the chance of frilling taking place in the fixing bath is reduced to a minimum ; but Dr. Neuhaus worked under exceptionally trying conditions: in the Sandwich Islands, where the water used was at a temperature of nearly ninety degrees Fahrenheit. Vanity Fair says of a fancy dress ball at Lancaster Gate: “A noticeable feature was introduced by taking photo- graphs of the guests by limelight.” There is no particular novelty in this. Had Vanity Fair also stated that the photographs were taken by amateurs, there would have been something worth notice. But now that the Princess of Wales has begun to practise photography, perhaps we shall not have to wait long before it is the fashion for guests at balls to seek a change from the mazy dance in photographing one another. A wag might describe it as a new version of “ sitting to partners.” A scientific revolution of the first importance is fore shadowed by a new method of preparing light-sensitive selenium plates, just discovered by Mr. Charles E. Fritts, of New York. A paper on the subject was read recently before the Berlin Academy of Sciences by Dr. Werner Siemens, who described Mr. Fritts’ plates as consisting of a thin homogeneous sheet of selenium spread upon a metal plate, and covered over with a fine gold leaf. The illumination of the gold leaf by direct sunlight, it appears, increases the conductivity of the selenium plate to an enormous extent. Some of the plates sent by Mr. Fritts to Dr. Siemens showed very curious properties, for instead of showing sensitiveness to light, they generated electro motive force. Writing later, Mr. Fritts says he has dis covered the conditions upon which the electro-motive light-action depends, and with more perfect means for constructing the plates he believes he can accomplish the conversion of the greater portion of the energy of light into electrical energy, and, if so, we may, ere long, see the photo electric plate competing with the dynamo-electric machine itself! Excellent portraits of the members of the new cabinet were issued by the Pall Mall Gazette some twenty-four hours before its formation; all these portraits being tracings from photographs etched into relief by the zinc process, originals being by Elliott and Fry, The Stereo scopic Company, Maull and Fox, and Bassano. A regu larly illustrated daily paper should now be a thing of the near future. King Oko Jumbo has developed a curious partiality for photography, and amongst the resources of civilization he takes back to the native land over which he asserts a regal right, a complete photographic apparatus will have a pro minent place. Possibly his Majesty thinks that by dint of assiduous practice he will then be in a position to “take” his old and indefatigable rival, Ja-ja, at a dis advantage. According to the Figaro, the publication of the fact that an album is kept at the Paris Morgue, in which photo graphs of all corpses found in the Seine or elsewhere are placed, has led to several applications being made to the Morgue authorities for the right to publish selections from their ghastly post mortem photographs. As considerable sums were offered for the privilege, it would seem that the enterprising publishers have full confidence in the ghastly and morbid taste of a large section of the public. Amateur photography might well form an important function of antiquarian, architectural, and historical societies. The summer outings of such bodies are very pleasant, doubtless, but they too frequently degenerate into mere picnics. A few members are, perhaps, thoroughly up in the subject, but the rank and file areapt to get a little bored. The gentlemen, too, who undertake to explain the various points of interest, are not always heaven-born orators, and when they are closely hemmed in by a crowd of listeners, the voice is hemned in as well, and only a few get the benefit of the special knowledge which is displayed on such occasions. Now, if cameras were busy at work, how much more interesting these gatherings would be, to say nothing of the valuable store of archaeological memoranda which would be accumulated. It is now stated that Messrs. Braun have undertaken to photograph the Blenheim Raffaelle. It may be presumed that the picture will be copied with the cracks in all their integrity. Certainly if it be true that it is cracked, and