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JANARY 5, 1883.] THE PHOTOGRAPHIC NEWS 9 and as the barrel revolves once in twenty-four hours, the minutes or hours during which the ship has been steered North, South, East, or West is apparent. A lamp above the compass supplies sufficient light to impress the paper. A new orange or yellow dye that is likely to interest photographers is mentioned in a German contemporary. The twigs and branches of a young poplar are bruised and boiled for twenty minutes, ten pounds of wood requir ing one pound of alum and three gallons of water. The solution is first filtered hot, and, after cooling and standing some time, again filtered cold. On exposure to air and light, the dye develops a rich gold colour which bids fair to be useful for producing non-actinic mediums. We have been favoured by Herr Moll, of Vienna, with an interesting application of photography. It is a pam phlet detailing the action of a new ballet called Melusine— ballets, it may be mentioned, being a form of stage-play more in favour on the Continent than in this country. The action of the ballet is detailed in letter-press, but to describe properly the groupings and situations—the essence of a ballet—the little book contains photographs, or, rather, Lichtdruck prints, of the sketches of the artist or author. In this way a very good idea of the value of the ballet is conveyed to the reader. M. Dumas has called attention to the fact that a saturated solution of alum is one of the best mediums for extinguishing fire. As photographers have usuall y plenty of alum solution at hand, they are consequently in posses sion of a ready means for quenching any incipient conflagration. Photographers should be Liberals to a man, if they have a spark of gratitude in their breasts. Look at the patronage bestowed by Mr. Gladstone as compared to that of the late Earl Beaconsfield. The present premier, wherever he goes, accepts invitations to sit. In the north, in the south, whatever town or city he visits, he rarely refuses a photo grapher’s solicitation. The other day he visited the New Forest, and fairly delighted a photographer at Lyndhurst by a call, the result being a capital little portrait. Our old friend Dizzy, on the contrary, could rarely be pre vailed upon to give a sitting, and our readers may remember an anecdote in our “ Studios of Europe,” where we recount how Her Majesty’s request, backed by that of all the Court ladies, was necessary on one occasion to in duce the Conservative premier to be portrayed at Balmoral. A photographer in Langenwang, in Styria, sends to Vienna a picture that may be taken as a Natural History record of the country. It represents, namely, a hunter with the dead body of a wolf beside him, shot on the 12th October last. As the existence of wolves hereabouts has been considered chimerical, the photographic record is naturally of importance. It is not very far off—to wit, in the Finstermiinz Pass—that in 1873 we ourselves encountered a man conveying a dead bear he had shot the day before. We had a camera with us at the time, but unfortunately the dry plates in our slides were already impressed, otherwise we should have done well to have secured a photographic record, for bears are now so rare in the Tyrol, that many inhabitants disbelieve in their existence. Strange to say, we remember making mention of the circumstance in these columns at the time. Mr. H. T. Wood, who sends us one of his photographs of the vocal organs taken during the act of singing, tells us that it will be quite easy to secure satisfactory pictures in a small fraction of a second. Details will be found i another column. The addition of various substances to glue or gelatine with a view to rendering the same less brittle is not new, and the suggestion of the German chemist 1’urscher to add glycerine is scarcely a novel one. At the same time, photographers would do well to bear in mind that glyce rine is a most suitable material for addition when a tough and leather-like body is desired. Glycerine, it is said, has some properties in common with india-rubber, for it will blot out pencil marks from paper, so as to leave no trace behind. In respect to modifications of this kind, it may be re membered that Mr. Piercy recommends the addition of a little brown sugar to size for the painting of photographic backgrounds. Another point may also be noted. Accord ing to the Boston Journal of Chemistry, a paste made of starch, glycerine, and gypsum maintains its plasticity and adhesiveness longer than any other cement, and may be recommended, therefore, for various laboratory purposes. Professor Tyndall’s lectures are always interesting, but sometimes his illustrations are a trifle farfetched. Yester day afternoon it took him no less than ten minutes to intro duce the subject of “ fatigue spots on the retina,” the Pro fessor telling the audience how he was in the train returning from the Alps, when a bright streak across the sky met his view. He had not heard of the comet at this time, and marvelled at the brightness of the vision which dazzled him: on directing his gaze towards the darker sky, he saw a sombre outline corresponding to the radiant object. Little was said to lead the children present to connect these post-alpine observations of the Professor with one’s every-day experiences after glancing at the sun, a brightly illuminated window, or a gas flame; but it was shown how something of the same kind could be observed when a highly complex electric lantern arrangement was used. Two simple experiments were effective, and thoroughly appreciated. A glow of purple light was projected from the lantern on a white screen, and shadows on this screen were seen to recall the idea of the complementary colour, green ; and when a green light was projected, the shadows appeared purple.
