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trouble, and we wonder this style of ornamentation has not been taken up. Some years ago we pointed out how carbon impressions could be transferred and developed upon hard composite and paraffin candles very readily, and there is little doubt a sale could be found for such articles de luxe. Carbon tissue is generally developed in water of about 90° F., and the melting point of hard candles is some 30® higher. As an instance of the depreciation in the value of silver, we were recently told that a firm occupied in fitting silver articles, work that necessitates a good deal of boring and filing, has of late ceased to collect their waste, the cost of saving and separating the filings not being compensated for by the value of the precious metal. Photographers should benefit by the depreciation of silver more than most people. It is doubtful whether any but photographers with established connection can afford to do without the club system. Many men, however, think a club somewhat derogatory, though the reason why, is difficult to see. Two or three of the largest businesses in London are based entirely on “ clubs,” and the number of sitters who daily trip up the staircase of a well-known city establishment is something astonishing. A correspondent tells us that in a club he has formed he has found it beneficial to soothe the susceptibilities of sitters. To do this he drops the word “ club ” altogether; and does not make it a sine qua non that a certain number of members shall be guaranteed. Practically his method comes to this : “ weekly payments taken,” and anybody who chooses to pay on this plan can do so. Of course it involves a little trouble in collection, but at present he finds the system pay, and is likely to con tinue it. Note on development:—Mr. Cowan recently stated that in developing studio negatives, he always aimed upon getting density, for the simple reason that it was an easy matter to weaken a gelatine plate, while, on the contrary, a portrait negative could not be very satisfactorily intensi fied. In landscape photography, however, it is not so certain that the reverse is not sometimes the best plan— viz., to bring out every detail without caring for density, and then intensifying, if necessary, with a double treat ment of bichloride of mercury and ammonia. We have lately seen some startling examples of working in the last-named fashion, our friend always permitting his negatives to dry, so as to secure a proof print for inspection, prior to intensifying. The first proofs examined side by side with prints from the intensi fied negatives, were but mere spectres ; indeed, many a photographer would have thrown away a negative that gave such weak and ghostly images, and yet the brilliancy and vigour, no less than the surprising detail of the later prints, were really marvellous. Indeed, the change from bad to good seemed almost incredible. “ But I cannot too strongly urge the thorough fixing and washing of plates thus intensified,” was our friend’s important dictum. The artists who draw weekly cartoons in Punch, Moon shine, Fun, Judy, &c., have obviously to be very ready in the matter of composing pictures. A subject is given, and within a few hours their cunning brain and facile pencil must execute a well-balanced sketch that shall be not only witty and effective, but must possess pretensions as an art production. Thus their experience in composition is very wide, and since they must ever be quick and ready with their art-knowledge, it is from them more especially that the photographer—who has also his wits about him if he wants his negative to have art attributes—is likely to learn something. The two following hints, then, from one of our most famous cartoonists, deserve to be noted. No.l.—“Uni formity is dead against art composition, and a composition balanced uniformly like a pair of scales is an abomination.’ No. 2.—“ To connect two objects with a shadow should be a last resource; shadows are the most facile means at one’s disposal for composing a picture, but for this very reason they must be used with great discretion.” A correspondent asks if there is any restriction as to taking photographs on the Continent. We can only reply, that “no sketching permitted near the fortifications,” is a notice still in vogue in many parts of Europe, and if sketch ing is not permitted, the camera is scarcely likely to be welcomed. The restriction is, however, of no account in Switzerland, where there are no fortifications now-a-days, and is only likely to embarrass the tourist photographer who travels the Tyrol near the Austrian frontier. In the latter case, the incentive to use the camera is very great, for fortresses are met with in the most romantic of situa tions, at the foot of deep frowning precipices, or rocky defiles where silvr’y crag and black pine trees present attractive pictures. We ourselves once had a curious photographic experi ence in the Tyrol. We were staying a few days at Win- disch Matrei, located in a sequestered valley in the Gross- Glockner district, between the Glockner and Venediger Glaciers. A low cart passed us on the road one afternoon, loaded with yellow crockery, and propelled by two Italians. The incident was so trivial, it would have been forgotten forthwith, but for the fact that next day, sauntering down the valley towards the little town of Lienz, we saw the same hand-cart of crockery drawn up in a retired spot not far from the road, apparently deserted by its owners. Not a soul was visible in the neighbourhood, but on our making a halt—we were a pedstrian party with knapsacks —there presently peered over a low wall one of the Italian faces. And then, our eyes attracted to the spot, we saw for the first time the tube of a photographic lens directed up the valley. It was not a small lens, but measured a good four inches in diameter, while a glance at the camera showed this to be a fine mahogany brass-bound instrument. What poor Italian crockery-men did with apparatus of this kind it was not our province to enquire ; but that they were effecting a quiet survey upon Austrian soil was a matter beyond all doubt.