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diplomas or certificates to assistants. But there is this wide difference between the proposed German certificates and those of the French : the latter are acquired by examina tion—and a pretty stiff examination, too—whereas the German documents are to be granted after five years’ con tinued occupation for industry, application, and good con duct, the certificate of the principal being accepted. The granting of the diplomas is to be in the hands of six members of the German Photographic Society chosen for the purpose at the annual gathering. A printed form is to accompany each application for a diploma, bearing testimony to the qualifications, conduct, and general capabilities of the candidate by the principal. Obviously, therefore, the document, when granted, will be an evidence of good conduct rather than of knowledge ; for qualifi cations that would satisfy one principal might not, perhaps, satisfy another. Rumour mentioned two names as likely to succeed that of Mr. Spottiswoode as president of the Royal Society; to wit: Professors G. G. Stokes andT. Huxley. Professor Stokes, as an old member of the Council of the Photo graphic Society, and whilom editor of its Journal, would have been a very appropriate choice ; but probably because the branch of science he represents was represented also in the person of the late president, his claims were scarcely so strong as that of his colleague. Huxley, it is very certain, will prove a most popular president. Mr. Bruce, of Duns, is one of the very few photographers who has clung to collodio-chloride printing since its introduction commercially many years ago. A dozen of the most charming cabinet portraits, with all that beauti ful gloss and softness characteristic of the process, come to us from Mr. Bruce, as he says, “ to show you that I still cling to my first love through good and bad report.” As the “good” report has it that collodio-chloride prints, unlike those on albumenized paper, do not fade, there is the quality of permanence to be added to other virtues; and in face of the exquisite results Mr. Bruce produces, we really are at a loss to know why the process is so widely neglected. We have written to Mr. Bruce, begging some practical hints from his experience on the subject, which will be new to-many, and welcome to all of our readers. M. de St. Pol Lias, a French traveller in New Zealand, has recently published the views of a Maori upon the theory of photography. This is how one of the aborigenes explained the modus operandi of the photographer. “ The white man is taking pictures of our country. Whenever he sees a nice view, he stands still, and, looking at it steadily with his big eyes, absorbs the picture inside him, making terrible grimaces the while. Then he puts his head into a bag, and spits out the view upon a glass plate, of which he carries a goodly number with him. Finally the glass is washed with water, the picture of the land scape remaining behind on the surface." “ An absolutely certain and cheap ” method of prevent ing blisters in albumenized paper is given in the Zeitunc]^ by Herr W. Paulsen, of Hamburg. After toning, the prints are rinsed one by one, and then put into water to which some ammonia has been added, say a small wine glass of ordinary liquor ammonia to two quarts of water. The prints remain herein for five minutes, and are thence taken direct to the fixing batb. After fixing, they are put into water, to which a small handful of salt is added for every two gallons, and the prints then finally washed. A correspondent asks us to tel) him how he can print block letters upon glass. We reply that the best plan is Mr. Warnerke’s, only for the purpose it is necessary to have a rolling machine with rubber rollers. A wringing machine answers the purpose, and is, indeed, what Mr. Warnerke employs. The type or letters required on the glass is first printed in the ordinary way upon a sheet of paper in any printing office; then the newly-printed sheet is placed, face downwards, upon the glass plate, and passed between rubber rollers. The glass retains the printing ink without difficulty, but if the print upon the paper is old, moistening on the back of the paper with turpentine facilitates the transfer. It is a moot point whether the use of dry plates for portraits of a large size is not likely to have a tendency towards the production of inferior pictures. The differ ence between the exposure of wet and dry plates of an extra size is considerable, and a photographer who counts the cost may often be inclined to put up with a first or second attempt, rather than go on exposing plates, each of which means a serious inroad into his profit. Of course he can increase his charge, but the remedy may be worse than the disease. I Just as it was time for the Journal of the Society of Arts to go to press, a telephone message arrived from the printers to the effect that some tabular matter referred to in Mr. Seymour Haden’s paper on “ The Relative Claims of Etching and Engraving to rank as Fine Arts,” was wanting, and it turned out that the matter in question was inscribed on enormous sheets hanging in the lecture theatre. “ Bring me my camera, and some of the last batch of whole plates! ” shouted the secretary to Mr. Burton, who happened to be in the laboratory; and in seventeen minutes’ time a Hansom was on its way to the printing office with the negatives. The compositors did not like the rum kind of copy, as it was necessary to get a boy to hold it against the light; but the Journal was got out in time to catch the post. Overheard at South Kensington. Chief-. “Ah! very good ; that is the photograph of the carbon mon-oxide spectrum which you have taken, is it ? ” Assistant: “Yes.” Chief-. “ To-morrow you had better do one of carbon di oxide.” Assistant: “ Certainly, it shall be done.” Chief: “That will do for carbon di-oxide ; you had better then try your hand on carbon tri-oxide next.” Assistant: “Carbon tri-oxide! Why, it does not exist.” Chief: “ Not exist!—nonsense; other metals give tri-oxides.”