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August 3, 1883. | THE PHOTOGRAPHIC NEWS. Walk in the Studis Dish. The bottom dish Paper, or cherry fabtie. Cover. Dish. luxury of the development of a dry collodion plate. He agreed with Mr. Banks, that it seemed almost impossible to fog a plate with the developer. In developing a much over-exposed plate he had increased the dose of soda to over fifty’ drops of a satu rated solution per ounce, and the plate was in the developer forty minutes, still there was no fog. With the particular plates he was using he had found a difficulty in procuring sufficient intensity with the use of soda alone. He therefore developed with soda, and when the details were well out, intensified by the use of a few drops of the usual mixture of ammonia and bromide. By this means any amount of intensity could be obtained. Mr. H. N. Atkins had found it extremely slow in its action on an under-exposed picture. Mr. Wynne exhibited a sheet of Swan’s ruby paper. Mr. H. A. WHARMBY said he had used ruby paper of this kind over a gas flame, with perfect freedom from fog in the plates devel ped by this light. The Chairman called attention to a Scorah finder camera exhibited by Mr. Ryley, which was sold at 7s. Cd. Mr. P. H. Phillips thought that the simplest and best finder for the purpose consisted of a couple of sights on the camera. The meeting, which was well attended, then adjourned till the last Thursday in August. negatives taken on the occasion. Mr. Atkins’ prints were in silver and in platinotype, and the latter seemed to be fuller of detail than the former. The Hon. Secretary announced a donation to the library by’ the Chairman of his recent work on photography. The Chairman stated that arrangements were being made for an excursion, in the month of August, to Gorseworth, near Macclesfield. Members who were desirous of going were requested to forward their names to Mr. J. H. Day. Mr. R. Crowe then read his paper on “Practical Aids to Instantaneous Photography,” (see page 486). Some extremely clever pictures of swans, geese, street views (taken from the top of an omnibus), and of Blondin in various positions on the high rope, were passed round by Mr. Crowe. The Chairman, after expressing his appreciation of Mr. Crowe’s appliances, and of the results which he had exhibited, asked for information as to the stop used and the exact extent of the exposure. . Mr. Crowe replied, that he invariably used the full aperture of his lens, and thought that the average length of exposure was a quarter of a second. The street views had been taken on omni buses en route to and from business. He (Mr. Crow) gave an amusing description of his adventures on omnibuses in the struggle to obtain striking street views, and of the disasters which had occasionally occurred before he had perfected his appliances. He thought the most useful shutter would be one on Mr. Kirkby’s principle— to work between the lenses. The Rev. H. J. Palmer said that Mr. Crowe’s stand would be of special value on board steamers, for the purpose of taking instantaneous seascapes and views of the shore. Mr. CnoWE observed that he had found a difficulty in the usual excessive thickness of the top rail ; but, on most steam boats, a lower rail could be used for his stand. The Chairman, in thanking Mr. Crowe on behalf of the meet ing for his very useful communication, wished to call special attention to the excellence of the street pictures, which he had seldom seen exceeded. Mr. CROWE passed round two instantaneous negatives of Tal-y-Cafn ferry—one taken upon one of the most expensive plates in the market, and the other upon one of the cheapest. He pointed out that there was not much to choose between them. Mr. J. A. Forrest exhibited some very fine pictures taken by him at Tal-y-Cafn in the June excursion of the Society. The Chairman called the attention of the meeting to the circulars on the table of the coming Exhibition of the Photo using two of the circular-stamped soup plates, about six inches in diameter, used commonly by emigrants, and readily to be obtained in Goree Piazza, Liverpool. Taking one of these, he bored three holes one inch in diameter in the bottom, and laid it, bottom- upwards, on the table. He treated another in the same way, and then, taking a sheet of parch mentised ruby paper, or cherry fabric, he made a cylinder with a couple of pins. A para flin, lamp with an inch wick, was placed on the bottom tin, the cylinder of paper was slipped over the lamp, and the second tin capped the cylinder. To prevent light reaching the ceiling mit air at one side. through the top holes, a third smaller tin was laid on the top, and tilted to one side to allow ventilation. The tins fit into each other, take up little room in the portman teau, and the paper lies flat. When in use, the paper goes round the tins once and a-half, thus giving a dark and a light side to the lantern ; and the light, while thoroughly safe for so-called “ thirty-times’ ” plates, is so abundant that the seconds hand of a watch can be easily seen at ten feet distance. Mr. E. Phipps, in referring to development by hydrokinone, asked if the members present had tried the samples kindly pre sented by Mr. Banks at the last meeting. He had experimented with Mr. Banks’ sample ; and with some he had purchased, the action was slow and steady, suggesting the almost forgotten is slightly raised from the table to ad- graphic Society of Great Britain, and said he feared that the proposed charge of five shillings to exhibitors would act upon many photographers as a prohibitive measure. Mr. H. N. Atkins said that, in recently trying to devise a portable lamp for a holiday excursion, he had finally decided on The Out-door Gathering of the South London Society.— About twenty members of this Society sat down to tea at the “ Bull and Bush,” Hampstead, on Saturday evening last, Mr. Mawdsley having previously photographed them as a group in the garden of the Inn. The Rev. F. F. Statham occupied the chair, and a very pleasant evening was spent. On Mr. Bridge raising the question as to a second out-door gathering, it was found that a very large proportion of those present would shortly leave town, so it was determined not to organise a second meeting. The Launch Accident on the Clyde.—Messrs. Goodall and Stevens are good enough to send us an interesting picture of the ill-fated Daphne, lying on her side in the Clyde, in the act of being raised from the bed of the river. A Fast Train.—Mr. A. Campbell Swinton sends us a photo graph of the Special Scotch Express, the train being taken diagonally, with the steam in full blast, trailing behind. More over, the separate bursts of steam emanating at each stroke of the piston are to be made out, so that there is here further evidence of the train being at full speed. Ives’ Phototypic Block Process.—We have received from the Heliotype Printing Company, of Boston, Mass., a series of speci mens which fully illustrate the considerable value cf this most practical method of making type blocks from negatives after nature. Their considerable depth, and the decided outline of the ruled stipple, renders them specially adapted for machine printing. Ives’ blocks are frequently used to illustrate Earper's Magazine, which is said to have a circulation of over 170,000. The Printing Trades’ Exhibition at the Agricultural Hall.—Although as regards numbers of exhibits this Exhibition falls short of the preceding ones, there is much to interest the photographer, or even the casual visitor. Albums, card-mounts, and other articles of stationary used by the photographer, are to be seen in various stages of manufacture, and a photographer who can wander round the Agricultural Hall without gathering some ideas in handicraft calculated to expedite his work must be dull indeed. The most notable photographic exhibit consists of a good display of pictures by the ink-photo process of Messrs. Spi ague and Co. ; and our readers will remember that we were the first to present a specimen of this process to the photographic public. Among Messrs. Sprague’s specimens we noticed most of the illustrated supplements which he has executed for the Photographic News, and we could not but feel gratified to notice that Mr. H. P. Robinson’s “ Merry Tale ” was placed in the position of honour, directly facing the entrance to Mr. Sprague’s recess. “ Do you send out many of your ink photos as type blocks ?” we asked. “ No,” was the answer ; “ we prefer to print by the litho method, as it is quick, cheap, and requires next to no making ready ; in fact, most of our orders are finished before the type block could be etched. We etched that picture into relief for Messrs. Cassell; but I think the litho print is best.” Messrs. Sprague appear to have realised a