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THE PHOTOGRAPHIC NEWS. Vol. XI. No. 438.—January 25, 1867. CONTENTS. Employment of Women in Photography 37 dilver in the Whites of Albumenized Prints 38 On the Precipitation of Pure Silver. By Wm. Crookes, F.R.S. 38 Photographs on Season Tickets at the International Exhibition 39 Another Panoramic Camera 39 Critical Notices 40 The Scope of Photography.—No. 2. By Nelson K. Cherrll 41 Sharpness and Softness v. Hardness. By Lux Graphicus 42 Nitrate of Magnesium, etc., in the Printing Bath 43 Photography: Its Social and Economic Position 43 page Stains on Cardboard. By Dr. J. Schnauss... : 44 Photography, with a Consideration of the Scientific Principles on which it is Based. By Jabez Hughes 45 The Carbon Process in France 46 Correspondence—The Diffusion of Focus Controversy—Sharp ness v. Hardness—Irish Moss Developer—Developing Powders—The Diffusion of Focus Controversy—Calculation of Focal Distances * 46 Talk in the Studio 48 To Correspondents 48 EMPLOYMENT OF WOMEN IN PHOTOGRAPHY. Alexander Dumas, in a characteristic paper which we pub lished in our last volume, describes the scene in a photo graphic atelier in Vienna, in which he sat for a portrait to a lady who was the operator; and he concludes by expres sing a conviction that photography is a profession pre eminently suited for young ladies. The question of the employment of women, especially of the more cultivated classes, has long been felt to be one of the most important social problems of the age, and few of the attempts to solve it by training girls to the • performance of handicrafts formerly practised exclusively by men have been suffi ciently successful to induce wide-spread repetitions of the experiment. Photography possesses so many branches which might be deemed peculiarly suited to the female capacity, requiring neat-handed skill rather than strength, and delicacy of taste rather than endurance, that it is some • what surprising that so little female labour has been employed in the productive departments. It is true that some ladies have been amongst the greatest ornaments of the art. Nothing finer than the photographs of the deeply lamented Lady Hawarden were ever exhibited. The pictures of Lady Joscelyn used to be amongst the gems of the photographic exhibitions. Some of the photographs of Mrs. Cameron, notwithstanding that we have felt it our duty to condemn her style generally, are full of art feeling; and we occasionally receive from lady correspondents examples of charming photography. Yet, as a profession, photography proper includes very few ladies. If we remem ber rightly, the London Directory, under the head of photo graphy, does not give the names of more than two or three ladies. Painting, as a profession, on the other hand, includes a large number of ladies, many of whom take high rank as artists. It is true that in certain departments of professional pho tography there are many young ladies engaged. For attendance in the reception-room they are almost exclusively employed. For touching-out spots, and sometimes for tint ing, as also in mounting, females are largely employed. But in the various departments of printing, for which they would seem especially fitted, very few girls are engaged ; whilst (except in their own establishments) we have never heard of ladies being engaged as operators. What is more singular, and more to be regretted, is the fact that, as far as we can learn, where the experiment has been tried of employing female labour in printing, it has been in the majority of instances a decided failure. One gentleman who has been for many years in the profession, and a somewhat extensive employer of labour, in answer to some enquiries on the subject, stated that his experience in employing girls or young ladies was that he obtained about one whose services were worth retaining in every twenty he tried. Another gentleman, who for some years tried the experiment, stated that it was generally troublesome and unprofitable, and that the employment of men and girls, in an isolated printing establishment, finally issued in cases of shame and sorrow, which induced him forthwith to abandon the experiment. Others inform us that female printing is a failure, except under strict and constant supervision. Mr. Woodbury, who, in organizing his photo-relief printing establishment in Manchester, resolved to try the experiment of training female hands to the work, recently informed us that without constant watching the waste was most disastrous ; in one instance the printing of some specimens intended for pre sentation with a contemporary having been left to the girls, thousand after thousand of useless prints were produced, so that he was finally unable to select two thousand satis factory pictures out of something like seven thousand which had been worked off. These facts are somewhat saddening to those earnestly interested in the social problems of the day. To what is the frequent failure of the attempts to utilize female labour due? Charles Dickens, in “Mugby Junction,” seems to suggest that, under some circumstances, the attractions of the “ Bandolining Room” absorb the chief attention; but no such department is to be found in the photographer’s printing establishment, and in many other places where the attempts to employ female labour in various handicrafts usually pursued by men have failed. It is certainly not from inaptitude, or mental or physical incapacity, that im perfect success is due. We fear that the cause lies deeper, and is to be found in the fact that, whilst a youth com mencing to learn a trade looks upon it as the employment in which his future income for life must be obtained, a girl looks upon it as a temporary task, from the performance of which she may obtain an income for a few years until she shall marry, the consummation to which she looks forward as a matter of course. The youth, however lacking in earnestness, feels, as a rule, that he must learn his business, and he generally graduates from the lowest stage, mastering all its branches, often commencing without any remunera tion at all. A girl or young lady is generally placed at some specific duty for which she may be supposed to be suited, and at which she may at once earn some remunera tion. If naturally apt, as most girls are, she readily acquires facility in mounting, touching-out, &c. ; but she rarely aims at anything higher, and rarely feels any deep sense of responsibility as to the very careful performance of the task in which she is engaged, unless kept under close super vision. She is light-hearted and careless; the task is a temporary one, with which she hopes in a few years to be
