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192 THE PHOTOGRAPHIC NEWS. [April 17, 1862. Uulk in th Studio. Photography and Astronomy.—Mr. Warren De la Rue delivered the Bakerian lecture, at the Royal Institution, on Thursday evening last, in which he described his photographic operations in Spain, in connection with the great eclipse. After the lecture the Astronomer Royal made some interesting re marks on the immense value attaching to photography as a recorder of such phenomena, its superiority consisting in the absolute certainty of its testimony, whilst that of any individual was apt, under such circumstances, to be warped, coloured, or disordered by the intense excitement of the moment, arising even out of honest interest in the subject. Photography was subject to no such sources of error, and hence the great value of its record. Photographic Washing Trough and Well Baths.— Wo have received from Messrs. Bland and Co., some earthenware vessels, manufactured by Mr. G. Elliot, for photographic purposes, which supply a want and are well worthy of attention. The first is intended for washing prints, and is a large earthen ware circular pan, something like a foot-bath about 15 inches in diameter and a foot deep. At the bottom is an aperture which communicates with a syphon moulded in the earthenware and forming part of the pan. This principle, as our readers know, as been suggested and used before in washing prints, but we have never seen it so neatly carried out. The batii being placed beneath a tap the flow of which is properly regulated, will, as soon as it is full, commence to empty itself, and so keep up a steady flow’ of water : whilst the solution of hypo being of greater specific gravity than water, will sink to the bottom of the vessel and be carried off first all the way. If the mouth of the pipe giving the suppy be turned a little to one side so that the stream enter the pan at an angle, a rotary motion will be communicated to the prints, which will aid the completeness of the operation. The other vessel is a very convenient form of the horizontal well bath, which will be very useful for exciting large plates with a very small quantity of solution. Instead of being formed like the ordinary horizontal baths, quite flat, the well, or portion where the solution is held, is placed at an angle with the portion in which the plate is laid. When the solution is in the well that part rest flat on the table, the other portion in which the plate is laid being elevated at about an angle of 45°: when this is quickly lowered into a horizontal position, the solution flows evenly over the plate. Eor experiments, travel ing, and other purposes, this will be found very useful. Photographic Albums.—We have received from M. Bour- quin an album for photographic portraits, which has some points of novelty in ornamentation. In addition to an elegant binding of morocco, studded with bosses of gilt metal, it is adorned with an imitation of Tunbridge ware, or inlaid wood. The pattern is printed in oil on a veneer of light wood, and then French polished. The imitation is perfect, and the ornamental effect very good. The interior of the book is also of a very supe rior character, the mounts being of fine card, with a delicate tint, which gives an excellent effect to the photograph. A cor respondent of a daily paper remarks on this notice :—“ Is it for the sake of the postal revenue, or from a desire of the authori ties to patronise obsence art—or do they lack the legal power to destroy such pernicious things? Her Majesty’s customs at once seize and destroy all obscene prints and the like productions, whether imported with merchandise or in passengers’ baggage, and occasionally the police and the Society for the Suppression of Vice show activity in prosecuting the miscreants who, for gain, pander to the morbid passions and sensual vice. Your readers may blush for their country when they read such a public official notice, if the Postmaster-General does not; and, I hope that the notice may be withdrawn for a more strin gent one. Obscene Photographs, &c., in Book Packets.—A notice has been issued by the Post Office authorities, stating that on the 1st of May next, and thenceforward, all photographs, drawings, prints, or other things, which may be obviously and unquestionably of an obscene character, will be excluded from the privileges of the book post, and must not be sent in open covers to any place in the United Kingdom, or to the Colonies, or to any foreign part. It is added that it will be the duty of postmasters to send forward in envelopes, as unpaid letters, any packet which may seem to them clearly to fall within the mean ing of this prohibition. toning by all means ; do not commence the old system. re' PYROXYLINE.—We generally prepare our own soluble cotton. Wereti say that we do not know of any house that supplies a trustworthyI We have repeatedly tried samples from different photographic cherjd and have unwillingly come to the conclusion that they have been Pn of waste batches, which were unfit for the manufacture of collodpe, sale. We have recently been favoured by Mr. England with a sa, pa" the pyroxyline he uses, and which he gets direct from Paris, but" not yet had an opportunity of trying it. t age Ax Amateur SUBSCRIBER.—Mr. England’s dark slide and instanture' shutter were made, he informs us, by Mr. John England, manufac 1 photographic apparatus, 56, Upper Charles Street, Fitzroy Square. 7 TEESDALE.—A lens intended to cover a plate 10 by 8, will, of course, plate 9 by 7 still better ; but you must bear in mind in using “ou J longer focus, and covering a plate larger than you intend to use, -jf elude a less angle in the picture ; that is, everything will be 0s bof, scale, and there will be less subject in the picture than if a lens 0efipil, focus were used. You will however gain the advantage of better.cins. A and less perceptible distortion, by practically cutting off the mare, te using cyanide to reduce the density of an over intensified negareb, is great danger of the half tones being attacked first, and the PI, nded? I injured ; great care should be exercised in its use. We have hi order to the publisher. Several correspondents in our next. • Uo Uorresponents. South London - Photographic Exhibition.— NoTICE. Exhibitors.—We are desired to announce that a mod cation has been made in Rule 7. Exhibitors, instead! sending untouched duplicates in the same frame as colour pictures, are requested to send them in separate frames. I T. K. Heaton.—We believe the rules are reprinting. We will inquirel if any are in existence send you a copy. If not we will do so as S00 I they are reprinted. N. B., Newbury.—We can only recommend you to read the various arta and communications on the subject of mealiness which have appeu during the last few months in our pages. Do you take care to lei] toning bath stand a few hours before use ? We believe that several cat induce mealiness ; but it is only the printer who can tell the probable C on examining his own operations, carefully comparing them with then sible or probable causes of this defect. WELLWISHER.— An optician will make you the mounting, or get it made for: ANNESLEY Free.—The best mode of removing either black or white vart from a plate, must depend entirely upon the solvent originally used ip a varnish. Almost all black varnishes maybe dissolved by means of’ pentine or benzole. The white varnish may be dissolved by benzoles chloroform if it were of the class applied cold. If it be a spirit varnis will be more difficult, but strong alcohol may remove it. Any methog, toning and fixing together is uncertain as regards permanency. You J better be content to secure this quality even at the cost of a little trou We are obliged by your kind intentions. .. N. sends us some defective prints and observes : “ The progress of civ^g tion in photography is productive of new diseases—as elsewise. Ib never had such results as these in former days, before the introductio, the acetates and phosphates into the toning bath. Have my PF ‘measles’’ examine them by transmitted light. I have ascertained cause of failure. J wed too mucJt of the acetate {and phosphede of)r*^ with the chloride of gold, and it attacked the albumen of the paper, loi, a case of under-fixing, or of imperfect washing. The only question I is, have these prints the ‘measles ?’ The disease is new to me, andl' sire to be able to recognise it.” The specimens sent are very decided malignant cases of “ measles and with all deference to our corresP dent’s judgment and ability, we should unhesitatingly pronounce the®; imperfect fixation The mottled dirty yellow effect is due to decomp hyposulphite of silver, which is in the body of the paper, and underne the albumen, as may easily be ascertained by splitting away the albul with a penknife. The cause of the imperfect fixation is not so clear may proceed from hypo too weak, or too old ; or from too short immet Or it may be from impure hyposulphite of soda. Francis B.—You will find information on the Solar Camera on pp. 247 253 (Nos. 142 and 143), of our fifth volume ; and on p. 110 (No. 96), fourth volume. J North Briton.—The information on the subject of bees, regarding" you inquire, is in the letter of our Paris correspondent, on p. 222 (No." of our fourth volume. J 0. K. Walker.—Your vignette head is very good. The other is just a hard. With practice and care you will succeed. F. M. 8.—If you had been a careful reader of our pages, you would ascertained that there is no especial secret in what is called prodt, negatives by the positive process. The phrase simply means that a " tive collodion and iron development arc used, and the amount ofprias vigour required, obtained by intensifying. If your positive collo give a somewhat vigorous image, you may use it as it is ; if not, S little of some intense negative collodion. If your positive bath be fe acidified with nitric acid, it will be scarcely suitable for the purpose, s bath should be nearly neutral. Expose a little longer than for a posil. Omit all nitric acid from the developer ; use about 15 grains of prot phate of iron, and 15 minims of glacial acetic acid in an ounce of wate developing, do not stop short so soon as for a positive, but continut. development as long as any additional detail can be obtained : taking" however not to continue it until thereis a foggy deposit on the shad Now wash, and then pour on to the plate a solution made as follotj pyrogallic acid, 2 grains; citric acid, 1 grain; distilled water, 1 0U When this flows freely without greasy lines, return it to the develo cup, add about ten drops of a 20-grain solution of silver kept for the pose, and again pour on the plate ; keep them moving, and whele desired intensity is obtained, wash and fix. Sometimes the intensity, readily secured : if the pyro and silver decompose and become discoln before the negative is sufficiently intense, wash it off and repeat the ° tion. This is a very brief description of the operations ; but we Sd enter into them more fully here. See articles on Iron Negatives, Modes of Intensifying, in the Photographic News Almanac, where will obtain all the information you require. Good results depend ne intelligence, skill, and care than on secret processes. Use the o 1 THE So far will bo depart of good annual present guidan present collodi asmigl and wi magnit snch D collodi landsc Wortl of Nap cacy of Piper which the fini tion, a Rejlan the cor might advanc with c In tl care pt best pi space r must h must b eflicien engage ommi in the labour Sine Tegard We bef -Dr, ' ames Lord I in anol have 1 in scie than tl is one and al in an fession to the propri graphi that h five, h satisfa think more i the wl The