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600 THE PHOTOGRAPHIC NEWS. ^September 21, 1883. them highly complicated, and after their experiments had been completed, they compared the spectra they had obtained with the solar spectrum. The coincidence observed by these com parisons led to the “inevitable conclusion that we must have some derivation of benzine and ethyl present either in our atmosphere or in the sunSolar spectra taken at different times of the day proved the former supposition to be untenable, although Captain Abney states that recent experiments lead him to believe that such derivations exist in space. These investigations largely confirm, and are confirmed by, those of Dr. Huggins, on the composition of cometary matter. Dr. Huggins has shown by the spectrum the existence of hydro carbons not only in comets, but also in nebulous matter, and his results accord with those of Captain Abney and Colonel Festing, whence Captain Abney deduces “ that there is no doubt what ever in my mind that as spectroscopic science advances, so we fhall be able to place more and more compounds in the stars, in the sun, and in cometary matter.”—Engineering. Eotes. A Limited Liability Company for working Mr. Wood bury’s stannotype process was formed last week. It is called Woodbury, Treadaway, and Co. The late president of the Manchester Photographic Society, Mr. Leader Williams, is set down to read a paper on the Manchester Canal before the British Association. No picture will be received after nine p.m. on Friday next for the Pall Mall Exhibition; frames by hand are to be sent to the Gallery, 5, Pall Mall East, but packing cases must be forwarded to Mr. James Bourlet, 17, Nassau Street, Middlesex Hospital. The Eye, a Chicago paper, with Mr. Gentile as its ener getic photographic editor, seems to be taking a forward position in the States; its published account of the Mil- wauke Convention appeared many days in advance of other journals. Should the Dead Sea Canal be constructed, we are likely to have bitumen of Judea very cheap, for this substance, so frequently used now in photo-etching processes, is found in large quantities in the bed and shores of the Dead Sea. Luminous photographs are being spoken of once more as a means of house decoration, so we may as well remind our readers how they are made. A photograph—collotype or carbon prints are preferable, as they are not liable to fade—is brushed over with a mixture of castor oil and turpentine, the superfluous liquid being removed by a soft rag or cotton-wool. Then the luminous paint is applied— this is now included in Judson’s series of cheap dyes and paints—and the picture is finished. Such photographs may be either rendered luminous by daylight, or by burn ing an inch of magnesium wire close to them. The decision of the London and Provincial Photographic Association, that all new members on their first attend ance shall be introduced to the chairman and the members, is an excellent idea. It is no uncommon thing to see men who are reserved by nature holding aloof, or holding their tongues, simply for the want of the personal introduction which would at once make them at home. It also often happens that these quiet men possess much information, which is never unearthed for the want of “ drawing-out.’’ At the same time, this official introduction, to be effective, must be done with some tact. To the nervous man, a formal introduction to the chairman, followed by a series of introduction to the members, would be rather formid able, and at the end of the ceremony might leave him in rather a bewildered condition. So far as we can make out, the principal feature of the balloon journey to Cherbourg, undertaken last week by Mr. Simmons and his photographic friend Mr. C. J. Small, was, that at one stage of their journey they observed the balloon most distinctly upon the focussing-screen of the camera, apparently upside down. This fact, and the cir cumstance that the snap-shutter of the camera failed to act, are indeed the only two experiences of a definite nature contained in a whole column of the Times ; though what strikes the reader most forcibly is the puzzle why two gentlemen should choose an evening—or, rather, night— excursion for taking photographs from a balloon. Mr. R. Welch, of Belfast, very justly calls our attention to the “ wrongs ” Ireland suffers at the hands of photo graphers, and especially tourist photographers. Their cold neglect of Erin’s beauties is all the more to be regretted since the north of Ireland, with its Giants’ Causeway, Crosses, Cashels, Cisternian abbeys, Crom lechs, &c. (they all begin with C, apparently), may now be included in a circular tour, to be taken on the railway for less than a sovereign. Moreover, adds Mr. Welch, “ the hotels are excellent, and the charges very moderate, for there is good competition.” The most interesting feature of Messrs. Brown, Barnes, and Bell’s Luxotype invention, of which we publish the details on another page, consists in imprinting a grain or stipple over a photographic picture, and then subjecting the combination device “ to artistic manipulation.” In this way is obtained something which acts as a “mother print,” from which a block can be made by the usual phototype, zincotype, or Woodburytype methods. It must be understood that the production of a “ mother print ” in definite grain or stipple is the main problem in making blocks from ordinary negatives, as the production of the type becomes now easy and certain, only well- known modes of working being involved. If the “ mother print ” is made in a fatty or transfer ink, as in one form of the Ives’ process (page 498 present vol.), the work is much simplified, as no re-photographing is required, the transfer being merely put down on zinc and etched at once into relief. One word more about the patent of Messrs. Brown, Barnes, and Bell. They take “ any half-tone picture or photograph, and give it a stippled, grained, or tinted