The photographic news

• Bandzählung: 29.1885
• Erscheinungsdatum: 1885
• Sprache: Englisch
• Signatur: F 135
• Vorlage: Hochschule für Grafik und Buchkunst Leipzig
• Digitalisat: Hochschule für Grafik und Buchkunst Leipzig
• Digitalisat: SLUB Dresden
• Rechtehinweis: Public Domain Mark 1.0
• URN: urn:nbn:de:bsz:14-db-id1780948042-188500006
• PURL: http://digital.slub-dresden.de/id1780948042-18850000
• OAI: oai:de:slub-dresden:db:id-1780948042-18850000
• Sammlungen: LDP: Historische Bestände der Hochschule für Grafik und Buchkunst Leipzig
• Sammlungen: Fotografie
• Bemerkung: Seite I-II fehlen in der Vorlage. Paginierfehler: Seite 160 als Seite 144 gezählt.
• Strukturtyp: Band

• Digitalisat: SLUB Dresden
• Strukturtyp: Ausgabe

December 24, 1885.j THE PHOTOGRAPHIC NEWS. 825 The conclusion which Mr. Ryard, the well-known astronomer, has arrived at—namely, that the photgraphic plate is much less sensitive than the eye for detecting small differences in illumination, will, we are inclined to think, be disputed by many. Mr. Ranyard’s experiments, which he detailed at the last meeting of the Royal Astro nomical Society, consisted in placing] plates by various mkers in dark slides, and exposing them in steps by with drawing the shutters at intervals of seven and a half seconds. He found that under the most favourable cir cumstances no difference in tint after development could be detected after the nineteenth step, while with some of the common plates, all difference of tint was lost at the sixth step. Mr. Ranyard was therefore of opinion that there was no chance of photographing the corona under ordinary daylight conditions, as he did not think the corona acted much more intensely on the photographic plate than ordinary sunlight. It is worthy of note that both Captain Abney and Mr. Common appear to dispute Mr. Ranyard’s inferences; and, indeed, as no standard of vision, either as to accuracy or delicacy of perception, can be established, it is difficult to see how a comparison is to be instituted between a mechanical process like photography, and physi cal conditions, which are rarely alike in any two persons, and are also subject to variations in the same person, according to health and temperament. Dr. Waugh has just described in the Lancet two very serious cases of poisoning by bichromate of potash. The first case was that of a French polisher who swallowed half-an-ounce of the salt (which is largely used in this trade as a staining agent) in solution. An emetic of mustard and water was administered within five minutes, and this saved his life. The second case was that of a woman who took a similar quantity, and died in great agony fifty minutes afterwards. Only eight such cases have been previously recorded. As bichromate of potash is not mentioned in the Poisons Act, and as it is now in common use for electrical purposes and in photography, it is well to note its very dangerous properties. Lieut. Greely’s narrative of Arctic exploration will be published in January by Messrs. Bentley. It will include 100 illustrations, mostly engraved from the photographs taken by the daring operator who accompanied the American party. The negatives came back, but not the man who took them. Photographers and tourists will rejoice to hear that the mighty rock called the Buckstone, which fell from its perch in the Wye Valley last June, has been replaced. The cost of doing so was about £500. In the new House of Commons, science will be well re presented by Sir J. Lubbock (London University), Sir H. Roscoe (the only Liberal who was elected for Manchester, Professor of Chemistry in the Owen’s College), Sir E. Reed (Cardiff), and Dr. B. Foster (Chester), who is Pro fessor of M edicine in Queen’s College, Birmingham. The Lords, however, are not going to be behindhand in matters scientific. Setting aside Lord Rayleigh, who was Senior Wrangler, and has recently presided over the British Association, we hear that Lord Salisbury intends soon to publish in one . of the magazines the results of some recent discoveries he has made in chemical analysis. W. S. Gilbert turns photography to novel and dramatic account in the short but effective “ Story of a Dry Plate ” (page 828) he tells this Christmas. The nature of his tale is briefly this. A young fellow falls deeply in love with a girl on board aP. and O. steamer ; becomes her accepted lover, and having a camera with him, photographs her during the voyage on a dry plate, which, as he can find no conveni ently dark place for its development, he puts carefully by for future manipulation. In due time the steamer arrives at the Far East; he parts from his fiancee, and on returning to England, after a year or two of vicissitude, is horrified to hear of her shipwreck and death. Suddenly he bethinks him of his dry plate taken long ago, and now the only link between him and his lost love. Then, in a powerfully written passage, Mr. Gilbert de scribes the eager anxiety and feverish caution with which the hero of the tale proceeds to shut himself in a darkened room, and to effect what seems to him well-nigh like calling the dead back to life. With true dramatic art he is made to narrate the progress of the development, and how at length, as every feature he had learned to love slowly ap pears on the plate, the door is excitedly opened, his valet rushes in, and ere he can hotly upbraid him for the irreparable mischief he has done, tells him the happy news that his fiancee was saved by a passing vessel from the wreck, and is alive and well in London waiting to receive him. The story is very brief, but, like all that W. S. Gil bert writes, it is distinctly original, whilst its purely technical photographic details are given with an accuracy which leads us to suppose that the author of the Mikado is himself an amateur photographer. Be this as it may, he has certainly made a very interesting sketch out of his « Dry Plate.” Qatent ntelligence. Specifications Published during the Week. 976. Alfred Pumphrey, of Stanhope Street, Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Manufacturer, for “ Improvements in tripods for photographic purposes, applicable also to other- similar uses.—Dated 23rd January, 1885. The patentee says : - • My invention has for its object improvements in tripods for photographic purposes, applicable also to other purposes, by which means collapsing or telescope tripods are made much more secure than formerly. I make my tripod legs from several pieces of metal or other tubing, and I form, at the ends of each length, either at the outside or the inside, a screw which may be put in as a bush, or it may be formed in the body of the tube itself—that is, one end of the tube has a spigot thread, and the other a corre sponding socket thread, so that one will screw into the other easily, and such threads are better of a coarse kind. When the inside spigots and the inside of tho sockets are screwed, the lengths will collapse or telescope into a closer compass than when screwed outside, because, in the latter case, there would