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November 23, 1883.] THE PHOTOGRAPHIC NEWS 745 be the value of a painting containing a number of portraits of the Royal Family, nearly all of which were executed from photographs. In an action brought by Mr. M’Lach- lan, an artist, against Messrs. Agnew, the well-known picture dealers of Manchester, tbc plaintiff stated that the painting referred to, took him nine years, and that he had travelled about to various foreign courts to obtain the photographs. The point in dispute was the right to repro duce the work by photography, the plaintiff claiming the sole right, and contending that this right had been infringed by the defendants. As there was a dispute also as to the custody of the picture, the plaintiff was ordered to deposit the picture in court, and then make such application as he should think fit. All this litigation will of course add to the value of the picture, which by the time the dispute is settled will become almost priceless. The brilliant author of “ Autour de Vie,” the dramatic version of which, though a failure, has for the moment been the talk of Paris, has shown a modesty in regard to her photographs which is not to be discovered in her writings. “ Gyp ” will not allow her photographs to appear in the shop windows, and she is no doubt right. It cannot be agreeable to be identified by the gaping crowd as the author of sketches which, however witty and lively, sin against morality. A correspondent about to purchase a photographic business is desirous of knowing whether there is any fixed principle by which the value of a good will can be determined. He points out that at one time a stock of negatives was worth some consideration, as in ther age for cartes-de-visite, people frequently ordered “ repeats,” but that now repeats are the exception, and not tho rule. The value of a well- established business is generally considered equal to the nett profits for a year and a-half or two years. According to Dr. Vogel, life-size portraits are not so popular in London as in other capitals of Europe. In Vienna they are most seen, next comes Faris, then London, and lastly, Berlin. But in America, says our esteemed colleague, big portraits are to be found everywhere. Even in small towns, studios are provided with enlarging appa ratus for the production of life-size pictures. Fifteen minutes, Dr. Vogel tells us, is usually the exposure given to secure such enlargements on paper. Printing on fabric by the Platinotype process is going on apace. The other day we mentioned the fact of an order to the extent of sixteen hundred pounds having been given for d’oyleys to be impressed with a photograph of Mr. Irving, which were required for the American market: and now portraits of other celebrities, printed also on linen by Platinotype, are to be produced in hundreds for table cloths, napkins, maps, &c. It is a fast way of marking one’s linen, for the more a photograph is washed, the more permanent is it likely to be. Is amateur photography more practised in America than in England? One would think so from the frequent refer ences to photography in American newspapers and periodicals. Would, for instance, the fun in the following paragraph which appears in Puck, the leading comic journal iu New York, be appreciated by English readers : “The amateur photographer now comes home from the country and finds that the negatives that he sent back to town to develop at his leisure have been so thoroughly smashed by the express company that they can be utilised only on the back fence as an abattis to discourage cats.” The Russian illustrated journals are more fortunate than the English ones. A collection of eighty-eight drawings by Grenza has been discovered in the library of the Academy at St. Petersburg, and the Grand Duke Vladimir Alexandro- vitch, who occupies the post of president of the Academy, has given from his private purse a sufficient sum to permit the illustrated journals to reproduce them by photography. It will be long before this example is imitated by the wealthy possessors of art-treasurers in England. Here is a problem for photo-cricketers to solve. A great cry has gone up during the past summer about unfair bowling, and in the case at least of one very deadly bowler, the complaint is made that he throws the ball instead of delivering it in the orthodox fashion. Now, although it is perfectly plain for everybody to see how a man delivers his ball, the action is so swift that it is impossible for any one to demonstrate and prove afterwards in what particular the bowling is wrong. Un the other hand, a rapid photo graph taken at the moment of delivering the ball would show very clearly how high the bowler’s arm is raised, and the kind of muscular action he exerts. With an electric shutter, the exposure might be made by hand. The photographer simply waits till he himself sees the ball in the act of delivery, and then exposes. Quick as the bowler moves, he does not act with the celerity of the photographer’s sight and nerve; for M. Charpentier has recently proved “ that the time elapsing between a person seeing a signal and being able to repeat it with his forefinger (say, to press an electric key) is about Y of a second.” The bowler could not assume his position of delivery, and recover from it as well, in the time, and hence his action—whether legitmate or illegiti mate—could well be recorded by photography. Patent Entelligence. Notice to Proceed. 347b. Richard Brown, Robert William Barnes, and Joseph Bell, all of Liverpool, in the county of Lancaster, for an invention of “ Improvements in means for and methods of producing designs upon paper or other fibrous or soft material, or upon metallic surfaces.”—Dated 14th July, 1883. Specification Published during the Week. 1650. R. Reynolds and F. W. Branson.—Photographic “ shutters ” for instantaneous photography. Our improvements have reference to an arrangement of shutter whereby the rapidity in the movement of the flap and drop portions may be adjusted or timed independantly of each other. The flap is raised from the aperture in the shutter by means of a coiled spring provided within a suitable adjustable box on the