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734 THE PHOTOGRAPHIC NEWS. [November 16, 1883. Mr. John Lessels, he has been compelled to resign, it will therefore be necessary to appoint a successor at this annual meeting. There are also five new members of Council to appoint. At the beginning of the Session the Society lost by death the services of its esteemed Secretary, Mr. Malcolm G. Dobbie, and Mr. William Dougall undertoook the duties of interim Secretary until a successor was appointed. At the second meeting of the session the interim Secretary read a minute of Council, recommending that the dual-secretaryship be abolished, and that Mr. William T. Bashford be appointed to do the whole secretarial duties for the current year. This recommendation was unanimously adopted. During the past session the Society has lost eight members by death, and thirty-nine by removals and resignations—total forty-seven ; whilst fifty-two new members have been admitted. The total number on the roll is now 392. The attendance at the monthly meetings has been excep tionally large. The matter brought before the Society has been interesting, practical, and instructive, and it has been gratifying to the executive to find that some of the communications have been reproduced on several occasions in scientific journals other than photographic. The following papers have been read :—“ An Early Taste for Art,” by Mr. Norman Macbeth, R.S.A.; “A Flexible Window for the Dark-Room,” by Mr. Andrew B. Stewart; “A New Departure in Alkaline Development,” by Mr. J. M’Kean ; “Canterbury, its Cathedralsand Antiquities,” by Dr. Alexander Hunter, F.R.C.S.E. ; “ Dry Plates and their Development,” by Mr. Samuel Tankin ; “ Notes on Commercial Photography in the United States,” by Mr. John P. Suverkrop; “Gelatine Plates for Transparencies,” by Mr. Andrew B. Stewart; “ Notes on Green Fog,” by Mr. John M. Turnbull; “ Dead-Black Sur faces for Optical Brass Work,” by Mr. William Forgan; “A View-Meter,” by Mr. Thomas H. W. Knolles; “A Camera- Director,” by Mr. Thomas H. W. Knolles ; “ Micro-Photo graphy,” by Mr. William Forgan ; “Notes on a Trip from Maine to California,” by Mr. John G. Tunny; “A New Sky-Shade,” by Mr. Norman Macbeth, R.S.A. The following items were also exhibited :—Gas-Light Photo graphs, by Mr. S. Tankin ; Moon-Light Photographs, by Mr. F. Moffat; Instantaneous Views, by Mr. Reid ; Platinum Prints, by the Hon. A. U. Erskine ; Photography by Artificial Light (Magnesium in Oxygen), by James Howie; Snowscapes, by Mr. Robert Murray, C.E.; Lantern Transparencies, by Mr. J. Macdonald; Apparatus for the Production of Micro-photo- graphs, by Messrs. William Forgan, Dr. Thomson, and Alexander Mathieson ; Micro-photographs, by Mr. Garner; a large series of American Views, by Mr. J. G. Tunny. The question-box has been made use of on several occasions, and has been the means of eliciting useful information. The Popular Meetings still continue to bean attractive feature of the Society’s operations. Two largely attended meetings were held in Queen Street Hall, the first on 24th January being “ A miscellaneous collection of Transparencies, by members of the Society,” with remarks by the Secretary ; and the second on 21st March, when the Rev. John A. Ireland delivered a lecture, “ Shetland and the Shetlanders,” illustrated by a series of trans parencies. In both these exhibitions, the Curator, Mr. J. M. Turnbull, conducted the lantern manipulations with much acceptance. The Annual Trip took place on 12th July; there was an attendance of 109; and Mr. Turnbull, who was treasurer of this excursion, reports that, from a financial point of view, it was the most successful ever held under the auspices of the Society, there being a surplus of £3 13s. The presentation print for the last year, “ Will they never come ? ” by Mr. H. P. Robinson, and for which he was awarded the gold medal of the Society at the International Prize Compe tition, has been distributed, and the presentation print for the session will be issued shortly. The thanks of the Society are due to Mr. Turnbull, who kindly allowed the use of a room free of charge for several com mittee meetings, also to the dditor of the PHOTOGRAPHIC News for the loan of photo-type blocks to illustrate a paper. The Society has also received the following presentations :— Madeira Spectroscopic, by Professor Piazzi Smyth; Year-Book of Photography and Brittth Journal Almanac, by their respec tive editors; an enlarged autotype photograph of the members attending the annual trip to Dirlton, by Mr. M’Ghie ; two framed pictures by Mr. Pettit; The Journal of the Photographic Society of Great Britain. Mr. H. H. Pillans read a report of his intromissions during the past year, from which it appeared that there remained a balar ce at the bank and in treasurer’s hands amounting to £87 Ils. 9d. The election of office-bearers was then proceeded with. The President (Mr. John Lessels) having been compelled to resign through serious illness, the Council recommended for the office Mr. Norman Macbeth, R.S.A, who, however, under medical advice, and in deference to the wish of his family, while respect fully acknowledging the honour offered, was constrained to de cline. The following elections then took place :— President—Mr. William Nielson. Vice-Presidents—Mr. Craig- Christie and Mr. J. G. Tunny. Council (to fill vacancies)—Messrs. A. B. Stewart, A. M. Forbes, Thomas Wardale, Jun., Samuel Tamkin, and J. M. McKean. The Secretary was instructed to convey the thanks of the Society to Mr. Lessels for the many services it had received at his hands during the time he has so efficiently acted as its presi dent, to inform him of its extreme solicitude on his behalf, and express the hope that he might be speedily restored to health. A cordial vote of thanks was awarded to Mr. A.T.Niven, C.A., who still continued to audit the accounts. The thanks of the Society having been accorded to Mr. James Henderson, retiring vice-president, and to the five retiring members of council, Mr. Norman Macbeth, R.S.A., read a paper “A Ferrous- Oxalate Developer ” (page 727), after which the meeting ad journed till Wednesday, 5th December. PHOTOGRAPHIC Society of Ireland. The annual meeting was held in the Royal College of Science Professor J. Emerson Reynolds in the chair. The minutes of the previous meeting having been read and con firmed, Messrs. W. Hogg and J. Roberts were elected members; and Messrs. C. J. Smith, John Chancellor, and Dr. Pearsall were proposed for membership. The following report and statement of accounts of the council were presented:— “ In bringing before you once more the report of the work done during the past year, we have much pleasure in announcing the continued increase of members, 17 having been elected curing the year, so that the number at present on the list is 77. The ordinary monthly meetings have been, on the whole, well attended, when the following communications were laid before you;—“Ona Reliable Mel hod of Drying Gelatine Films," by J. V. Robinson ; “ With the Camera in North Italy,” by Green wood Pim; “A Fortnight in the West of Ireland,” by Chas. W. Watson; “On Halation, or Blurring,” by Alex. Conan; “On Crystoleum Photography,” by J. V. Robinson; “On Micro Photography,” by Dr. Scott; “ On Electricity for Dark Room Illumination,” by Chas. W. Watson ; “ On the Present State of Amateur Photography, and its Probable Future,” by J. V. Robinson. Besides the above communications, a number of instructive and interesting subjects have been laid before you, and various novelties in apparatus have been brought under your notice. And we have to again express our thanks to those mem bers who have contributed to the general information, and hope that the supply of papers in the coming session may be fully sus tained. The annual out-door excursion and lantern exhibition were held as usual. We have also to express our thanks to the council of the Royal College of Science for the use of their premises during the year, and to Professor Barrett for the use of his laboratory. The statement of accounts showed a balance in hand of £39 19s. Id. It was agreed that tho report of council and statement of accounts be adopted, and that the council be re-elected. Mr. Greenwood Pim communicated a paper on “ Isochromatic Plates ” (see page 730). There was a well-sustained debate on this, in which Messrs. Alex. Conan, J. V. Robinson, J. Woodworth, T. Mayne, and others took part. Dr. Scott exhibited a photograph of the “Vocal Organs while Singing. At the close of the meeting, the President in his aldress drew particular attention to the various theories and experiments which have arisen from time to time on the action of light on the sensi tive film, Captain Abney’s recent researches in this direction claiming a large share of attention. The albums of the Society were also placed on the tables.