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JANUARY 26, 1883.J THE PHOTOGRAPHIC NEWS. 57 electric light in 1847; apart from this, however, here is what Mr. Robert Hunt says in 1854, in Researches on Light. “ The high sensibility of this process (iodide of iron) will be understood from an account of an experiment tried at the Royal Institution. A glass plate prepared as I have de scribed was placed in a camera-obscura properly adjusted in a dark-room, so that it was in focus to receive the image of a revolving wheel. Upon the wheel was placed a printed bill, and when the wheel was making 200 revolutions in a second, it was illuminated by a spark from the discharge of a Leyden battery. Notwithstanding this rapid motion and transient illumination, the bill was faithfully printed on the photographic tablet." M. Levitsky is nevertheless one of the most accomplished photographers of the present day. For some years prior to the death of the late Czar, M. Levitsky inhabited Paris, and took up a position in the very foremost rank among photographers of that capital. Difficulties with the Imperial House, we believe, compelled his temporary absence from St. Petersburgh, but at the present moment he holds a position in regard to the Russian Court and Russian society to which no photographer in any other capital could ever dream of attaining. His electricity-lit establishment in St. Peters- burgh is probably the finest in the world ; there is no studio proper on the premises, but elegant apartments fitted with the electric light, into which sitters are invited. The death is announced of Mr. Thomas Rodger, of St. Andrews’. As a youth, he devoted himself to the Daguerreotype and Calotype processes with such success that he was engaged by the late Sir David Brewster to under take several investigations connected with light, in con junction with that renowed physicist. Mr. Rodger was one of the first professional Calotypists, having abandoned the study of medicine to betake himself to this newest of new callings. Mr. Rodger won for himself a high position in St. Andrews’, and secured one of the first medals awarded for photographic work, that of the Edinburgh Photographic Exhibition of 1854. Among other honours that fell to his lot was a medal awarded him, also in 1854, by the Scottish Society of Arts for a paper on “ Collodion Calotype.” The proprietorship of the negative has again come under discussion, this time among the members of the Vienna Photographic Society. The question put by a member was, whether a photographer is compelled to give up to a customer his negative on payment, when no compact of the kind has been spoken of previously to the taking of the portrait ? There seems to have been only one view of the matter taken by our Austrian friends, and this was expressed by Dr. A. Leon. His opinion was that, between photographer and customer, there was a silent bargain for the delivery of certain paper prints, and only these could be claimed according to Austrian law. definite has been laid down. Still, long-continued custom points to no other conclusion. If the customer can claim anything, it is simply the image of himself limned upon the surface of the glass—but not the glass itself. In our opinion, the utmost he could demand, therefore, would be that his features be effaced on the negative. The inventor of “ signals by sunshine ”—or, to speak more correctly, the inventor of the heliograph—which played so important a role in the Afghan and Zulu wars, has been honoured with the Companionship of the Order of the Empire of India. It is said that mirrors were employed by the Greeks to guide the movements of their fleet, and it is certain that Indians long ago employed sunshine signals; but still to Mr. H. C. Mance is due the credit of furnishing our army with a most valuable means of communication, which, in combination with photo graphy, is now to be employed in the Tropics as a cheap substitute for the electric telegraph. The actual amount of bromine unloosed from its com bination with silver during and after an ordinary camera exposure has not, as far as we know, been accurately deter mined ; but the recent experiments of Mr. A. L. Henderson go far to prove that it is so considerable as to notably affect the qualities of the developer, insomuch as he finds that the treatment of a plate with a series of successive doses of fresh oxalate developer gives a clearer and bolder picture than when the developer is used in one batch ; and in the former case reversal does not set in. There are many points of interest in relation to the subject, and Mr. Hender son promises us an early paper. It also appears that the relief visible on a gelatine nega tive is likely to be due to the corrosive action of the liberated bromine ; and we understand that Mr. Haddon is working out this point. We mentioned last week that a president of the Royal Academy was the first president of the Photographic Society. At first sight, it seems something of an anomaly for fact and fancy, romance and reality, to he fostered by one and the same person ; but a parallel instance is afforded in Russian circles at this moment. The Grand Duke Viadimer, who is the official president of the Society of Fine Arts in St. Petersburg, has for a long time past looked coldly on photography and photographers, but recently pourtrayed in a St. Petersburg studio by the rapid assistance of a gelatine plate, he expressed his sur prise at the celerity of the operation. “ How long, then, does it take to secure a photograph ? ’’ asked the Grand Duke. In reply, he was told that an image could be caught in one-tenth of a second, nay in one-twentieth, one hundredth even. His Imperial Highness was fairly delighted. “ In future, then, 1 am on the side of photo graphers,” he cried, as he quitted the studio. In this country, we need scarcely say, the same opinion prevails; although, in the matter of law, nothing very Important scientific work is generally done now-a-days by the joint labour of specialists, and we are pleased to