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38 THE PHOTOGRAPHIC NEWS. [January 16, 1890. years.* When such circumstances as these are con sidered, and when it is remembered what myriads of suns can be seen lavishly scattered like luminous dust in space, man feels his own insignificance, and is raised, for the time, above thought of the mean aims and low ambitions of earth ; he can somewhat realize how, before the gaze of the Eternal, “ ages likes flies in summer heats pass by,” and can feel in sympathy with the dream of the poet:— “ God called up from dreams a man into the vestibule of Heaven, saying, ‘ Come thou hither, and see the glory of my house.’ And to the servants that stood around his throne he said, ‘ Take him, and undress him from his robes of flesh : cleanse his vision, and put a new breath into his nostrils ; only touch not with any change his human heart—the heart that weeps and trembles.’ It was done ; and, with a mighty angel for his guide, the man stood ready for his infinite voyage ; and from the terraces of Heaven, without sound or farewell, at once they wheeled away into endless space. Sometimes with the solemn flight of angel wing they fled through Zaarahs of darkness, through wildernesses of death, that divided the worlds of life ; sometimes they swept over frontiers that were quickening under prophetic motions from God. Then, from a distance that is counted only in Heaven, light dawned for a time through a sleepy film ; by unutterable pace, the light swept to them ; they, by unutterable pace, to the light. In a moment the rushing of planets was upon them ; in a moment the blazing of suns was around them. “ Then came eternities of twilight, that revealed, but were not revealed. On the right hand and on the left, towered mighty constellations, that, by self repetitions and answers from afar, that, by counter-positions, built up triumphal gates, whose architraves, whose archways rested, rose at altitude by spans that seemed ghostly from infinitude. Without measure were the architraves, past number were the archways, beyond memory the gates. Within were stairs that scaled the eternities below ; above was below, below was above, to the man stripped of gravitating body : depth was swallowed up in height insurmountable—height was swallowed up in depth un fathomable. Suddenly, as thus they rode from infinite to infinite—suddenly, as thus they tilted over abysmal worlds, a mighty cry arose, that systems more mysterious, that worlds more billowy, other heights and other depths, were coming, were nearing, were at hand. “Then the man sighed, and stopped, shuddered, and wept. His overladen heart uttered itself in tears ; and he said, • Angel, I will go no farther ; for the spirit of man acheth with this infinity. Insufferable is the glory of God. Let me lie down in the grave, and hide me from the persecution of the infinite ; for end, I see, there is none.’ And from all the listening stars that shone around issued a choral voice, " The man speaks truly : end there is none, that ever yet we heard of ! ’ ‘ End is there none ? ’ the angel solemnly demanded : ‘ Is there indeed no end ? and is this the sorrow that kills you ? ’ But no voice answered, that he might answer himself. Then the angel threw up his glorious hands to the Heaven of Heavens, saying, ' End is there none to the universe of God. Lo ! also there is no beginning.’ ” Torquay Photographic Association.—The monthly meet ing was held at St. Winifred’s on Tuesday evening, 13th, when a paper on “ Platinotype’’ was read by Mr. Geo. Edwards. Afterwards some successful experiments in development were made. Mb. CROOKES :—Mr. William Crookes, who was the editor of this journal at the time of its foundation, and an active worker in photographic research, has been elected president of the Institution of Electrical Engineers, and last night delivered an able and interesting presidential address to the members. Its subject was " Electricity in transitu: from plenum to Vacuum. ” ♦ The Orbs of Heaven. 0. M, Mitchell, A.M., Director of the Cincinnati Observatory. ON PAINTING A PLAIN BACKGROUND. In an article last week on “ Backgrounds and Acces sories,” we remarked upon the notable improvement which has taken place in the choice and use of such aids to photographic art, and traced that improvement to the culture which has been acquired by workers owing to the rapid progress in aitistic knowledge generally in this country. The educated photographer of to-day knows well enough that he can produce with a plain background a far more artistic effect than he can by hanging behind his sitter a meritricious land scape or palatial interior, and that, by shading por tions of such a plain background, and by illuminating other portions, as can easily be done by a few simply arranged curtains and reflectors, he can produce all those effects of light and shade which are attained by the best artists in oil colours. The simplest kind of plain background can now be purchased in the form of fabric of convenient width and in any tone of colour which the photographer may desire. A woven material has also been introduced, in which a gradual shade from light to dark is brought about in the operation of weaving. In another form of shaded background the base is of paper, while the shading is produced by lithographic printing. So that it will be seen that the worker has his choice of several kinds of backgrounds. But there are many photographers who hardly believe in anything unless it be their own handiwork and home-made, and for such workers we have a great respect, for from them come the little inventions and clever notions which are so valuable to the fraternity at large. Such a man will take a delight in making for himself that which often it would cost him less to buy, even when he does not take his own labour into account. Still he is happier for having done the work himself, is proud of his achievement, and sleeps the sleep of the just with that feeling of “ something attempted, something done ” which, according to Longfellow, makes the lot of a village blacksmith such a happy one. But although a man can do many things in the way of simple and ordinary carpentry—such as fitting up shelves, making boxes, picture frames, and the like—he generally experiences an utter failure in his first attempts at making and painting a background. And the reason of this is not far to seek. The work is of an unusual character, and embraces certain technicalities which an amateur cannot very well get a mastery of, unless he have an opportunity of getting behind the scenes; and we use the term in its most literal sense, for the operation of painting a background for photographic purposes is akin to that of painting a scene for a theatre. If, then, we can learn a little regarding the materials employed in theatrical work to produce such wonderful illusions on the stage, we shall soon conquer the difficulties involved in painting a background. The best course for the tyro to pursue is to attempt at first nothing but a plain background in one even tint of monochrome. Seven feet by six is a serviceable size, and he will require a strong wooden frame of