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232 THE PHOTOGRAPHIC NEWS. [May 14, 1869. faith whatever in spiritualism, swore that they had themselves pre pared the plates and adjusted the camera when Mumler took the living likeness, and that, nevertheless, the spectre came out from the negative, vague and yet palpable to vision. The question was, in deed, puzzling how the attenuated shadow of a shade, invisible to mortal eye, should chemically affect the collodion on the plate of glass. But yesterday the delightful mystery was cleared up, to the satisfaction of all but confirmed spiritualists, by the production, on the part of the prosecution, of other photographers, who showed that Mumler’s ghosts could be evoked in many ways, by a lens intro duced into the camera, by the imposition of a positive plate upon the negative, and the transmission of light through it in the bath, &c. Pictures were exhibited in court in all respects as curious as Mumler’s which had been produced by these methods. The decision has not as yet been rendered in the trial, but whether the police commissioner shall succeed in putting a stop to this miserable mode of swindling or not, he deserves the thanks of the community for the exposure he has made of it, and the rational explanation he has given of a trick well calculated to unsettle weak minds. THE PHOTOGRAPHIC MARKET. In a recent letter to our excellent contemporary, the Phila- delpTiia Photographer, on the state of photography in Ger many, Dr. Vogel gives some interesting details of what he calls the photographic market, or the trade in published photographs. He says :— “ One of our best photographers, Mr. Milster, once made the remark that it was not only the photographer’s duty to make pictures, but also to sell them, and that the former was of no use without the latter. There are people who under stand the latter to perfection, but who are perfectly ignor ant of the former. It is, further, an indisputable fact that, under circumstances, prints which suit the momentary whim of the public will find readier and larger sales than those that comply with every requirement of true art. And so it must happen that the photographer—who, like the artist, has to work for his daily bread—will try every thing to please the public taste, and his efforts are crowned with success so long as the fancy of the public sustains him. “ Three years ago children’s pictures were in fashion here. You have many of the charming still-life pictures of Loescher and Petsch : children of both sexes playing at ball, teasing each other, bathing, sleeping, or at their toilet, &c. These pictures were made by the thousands. They were very handsome, and it seemed as if the public appetite would never become sated. Soon, however, there appeared imitators, who understood to sell, but not to make. The prices were reduced, the pictures became common, and in two years the business was killed. Loescher and Petsch have lately sold their plates to a wholesale dealer in these articles, whose agents peddle the pictures about the country. Shortly after the children’s pictures, representations of flowers made their appearance : roses and forget-me-nots, camelias and acacias, coloured to nature, filled the shop windows. One might have supposed that these, as auxili aries to school instructions, would have maintained their place ; but far from it, the public soon grew tired of them, and they and their predecessors disappeared. “ At present handsome girls are in vogue. You will, perhaps, say that they have always been in vogue ; and really a pretty little face in the modern received style seems more attractive in the show-case of the photographer than the so-called ‘ studies ’ of the painter, representing, gene rally, the wrinkled features of an old man. “ Now, however, the show-case picture has become an article of trade, which is manufactured by the thousands. A photographer here has published a collection under the title of 1 Berlin’s Celebrated and Famous Ladies and you will find, in the same album, princesses of the court, prin cesses of the theatre, and princesses of the demi-monde in sweet harmony side by side. “ Formerly the business of dealing in handsome girls in effigy was managed with some delicacy, but now the name is given with the beauty without the least compunction. Handsome girls are hunted up by photographers, and taken rom wherever they can be found: from the theatre, the street, the ball-room, or the factory; and many of them are in such demand that I would not be surprised if they would ask a compensation for having their pictures taken. So far this has only been done in very few exceptional cases. It is strange that these—in many cases indecent—pictures are sent in large quantities to England. A dealer whom I asked for information in this respect told me that young ladies there placed them in their albums. I cannot vouch for the truth of this assertion, and only express the hope that these modern products of our art may be shorter-lived than their predecessors. “ Already a new kind has appeared alongside of these in decent representations. It is stereos representing real still- life scenes, decent in every respect, very charming, and of much artistic value. They represent fortune-tellers playing cards, girls at the spinning-wheel, ladies reading a letter, girls looking out of the window, and many other subjects; they are so elegant, showing so much study in every parti cular, that the severest art-critic finds nothing to find fault with ; and the subjects are so well selected that they must give to any one looking at them general satisfaction. The originators are again Loescher and Petsch, who have al ready produced so much that is beautiful. I am curious to know how long these pictures will hold their own. “ I have thus given you a picture of our photographic market, and, by discussing at length the theme of ' selling,' almost forgotten the theme of ‘ making but here, also, there is much novelty. Our friend Mr. Wharton Simpson will have advised you of the publication of Albert’s process. The publication caused considerable excitement, but the opinion is general that Albert employs in his process a peculiar press arrangement on which success depends. Un fortunately, the introduction of the process has been re tarded by the long-continued sickness of Mr. Albert.” RETOUCHING THE NEGATIVE. BY DR. VOGEL. The complaint is very frequent that lead-pencil retouch does not well take hold of the varnished surface of the negative ; and Mr. Kurtz, in New York, recommends to rub the var nish with pulverised pumice-stone. A similar recommenda tion has been made here, and Mr. Grasshoff, our well-known painter and photographer, proposed, for the same purpose, to rub the negative with powder of ossa sepia. This mate rial is very soft, and the powder can be produced by rubbing a piece of it with the finger-nails. The minute scratches which are thus made in the varnish do not interfere in the least with the copying process. Still another way is to rub the varnish with a tuft of cotton dipped in oil of turpentine ; such a surface takes the lead-pencil splendidly, but is apt to repel the india-ink a little, which is used for heavy covering. With negatives that have to stand long use, it becomes a matter of necessity to protect the retouch as well as the negative itself, and hence it is best to retouch before var nishing. Many of our photographers cover for this purpose the negatives with a solution of gelatine of the strength of 1 : 25, or a solution of gum arabic of the same proportion. On the dry layer of gum or gelatine it is easy to draw with lead-pencil, or india-ink also can be used, but it requires more practice. The retouched negative is then varnished as usual, and the retouch is as safe from injury as the collo dion film itself. Experience, however, has taught us, unfortunately, that the gelatine film is apt to become spotted in damp weather, and Grasshoff’s process is in this respect preferable. He covers his negatives with amber varnish, diluted with from 8 to 10 parts of oil of turpentine. The negatives are put away to dry for about twelve hours, and retouched with lead-pencil; afterwards they are varnished as usual.. The best pencils for retouching are the so-called Siberian, which are made of the splendid graphite of the Briskal lake.—Philadelphia Photographer.