Various

“ I prefer paper iodized by the single process; because, independently of the case and economy of time, I think more rapidity of action is attained by paper so treated, as well as that greater intensity of the blacks, so requisite for producing a clear picture in after printing.
To do this, take sixty grains of nitrate of silver and sixty grains of iodide of potassium, dissolve each separately in an ounce of distilled water, mix and stir briskly with a glass rod so as to ensure their perfect mixture; the precipitated iodide of silver will fall to the bottom of the vessel ”

“ Your correspondent does not, of course, inquire what is the proper Hebrew pronunciation of the several letters, but rather what is the accented syllable in each word. To pronounce in a manner nearly approaching to the Hebrew might make the congregation stare, but would appear very pedantic to a learned ear. The safest mode is to examine the Greek of the Septuagint, or of the New Testament (if the reader does not understand Hebrew) , and observe the place of the acute accent. On that place, if it be on the penultimate or antepenultimate, the accent should be laid in English. ”

“ I would also beg to mention that a certain portion of the bromide of silver introduced into the iodized paper seems much to accelerate its power of receiving the green colour, as it undoubtedly does in the collodion. Although it does not accelerate its general action, it is decidedly a great advantage for foliage. Its best proportions I have not been able accurately to determine; but I believe if the following quantity is added to the portion of solution of iodide of silver above recommended to be made, that it will approach very near to that which will prove to be the most desirable. ”

“ Should the picture be very tardy, either from an insufficient exposure, want of light, or other cause, a few drops of a solution of pyrogallic acid, made with 3 grains to the ounce of water, and a drachm of acetic acid, will act very beneficially. It sometimes gives an unpleasant redness upon the surface, but produces great intensity upon looking through it. Until the pyrogallic solution was added, there was scarcely anything visible upon the specimen exhibited, the failure having in the first instance happened from the badness of the iodized paper. ”

“ I feel that some few words are required to explain to the Society the reasons which have induced me to call their attention to a branch of photography, which of all others has been dwelt upon most fully, and practised with such success by so many eminent photographers. ”

“ Charge of Plagiarism against Paley.—Has any reply been made to the accusation against Paley, brought forward some years ago in The Athenæum? It was stated (and apparently proved) that his Natural Theology was merely a translation of a Dutch work, the name of whose author has escaped my recollection. I suppose the archdeacon would have defended this shameful plagiarism on his favourite principle of expediency. It seems to me, however, that it is high time that either the accusation be refuted, or the culprit consigned to that contempt as a man which he deserved as a moralist. ”

“ A 1⁄4 of an ounce of gallic acid put into such a 3-ounce bottle, and quite filled up with distilled water as often as any is used, will serve a very long time.
I would also recommend that the paper should be excited upon the morning of the day upon which it is intended to be used; no doubt the longer it is kept, the less active and less certain it becomes. I have, however, used it successfully eight days after excitement, and have a good negative produced at that length of time. The general medium time of exposure required is five minutes. ”

“ In a situation so remote from the great centres of civilisation, the solution of doubts is often difficult of attainment, and there is always a risk of describing as new what may already have been entered into the long catalogue of known objects. ”

“ All papers are much improved by age; probably in consequence of a change which the size undergoes by time. It is therefore advisable that the photographer, when he meets with a desirable paper, should lay in a store for use beyond his immediate wants. ”

“ It may not be inappropriate to mention here, in reference to the minuteness attainable by paper negatives, that a railway notice of six lines is perfectly legible, and even the erasure for a new secretary's name is discernible in the accompanying specimen, which was obtained with one of Ross's landscape lenses, without any stop whatever being used, and after an exposure of five minutes during a heavy rain. The sky is scarcely so dense as could be desired, which will be fully accounted for by the dull state of the atmosphere during the exposure in the camera. ”

“ Many other ways of iodizing paper have been recommended which have proved successful in different hands. Dr. Mansell, of Guernsey, pours the iodide solution upon his paper, which previously has had all its edges turned up so as to resemble a dish; he rapidly pours it off again after it has completely covered the paper, and then washes it in three waters for only ten minutes in all: he considers that thereby none of the size of the paper is removed, and a more favourable action is obtained. ”

“ I never observed any of those who read Sabáoth, Zabúlon, and sabachtháni, read either Samaría or Cesárea. The Greek accents on Hebrew words always accord, as Hebraists know, with the tonic accent in that language.
E. C. H.
As a contribution to the desirable object of settling the pronunciation of the words mentioned, the following representation of their pronunciation in the originals is offered. The vowels are to be read as in Italian, the th as in English, and the hh as ch in German:
Hebrew. ”

“ Hence the comparatively new habit of pronouncing Σαβαώθ, Ζαβουλών, σαβαχθανί, Ακελδαμά, with a strong accent on the penultima; whereas the old-fashioned way of accenting the antepenultima makes no one stare, and is a much nearer approach to the true pronunciation. There is a curious inconsistency in the common way of reading, in English, Σαμαρεια and Καισαρεια. Samarīa is decidedly a Greek word ”

“ I believe German purists would point out Holstein, Hanover, Brunswick (not Dresden) , as the places where German is most classically spoken. I wish one of your German (not Anglo-German) readers would set us right on this point. The term Dutch, as applied to the language of Holland as distinguished from that of German, is a comparative modernism in English. High Dutch and Low Dutch used to be the distinction; and when Coverdale's Translation of the Bible is said to have been "compared with the Douche," German, and not what we now call Dutch, is meant. ”

“ At that time two brothers, who were extremely rich, sold their inheritance by the advice of Crato the philosopher, and bought diamonds of singular value, which they crushed in the Forum before all the people, thus making an ostentatious exhibition of their contempt for the world. ”

“ All early writers in Greece believed in the existence of certain regions situated in the West beyond the bounds of their actual knowledge, and, as it appears, of too fugitive a nature ever to be fixed within the circle of authentic geography. ”

“ Having selected your paper as free from blemishes as possible, which is most readily ascertained by holding it up to the light (as the rejected sheets do perfectly well for positives, it is well to reject all those upon which any doubt exists) , mark the smoothest surface;—the touch will always indicate this, but it is well at all times not to handle the surfaces of papers more than can be avoided. There is much difference in various individuals in this respect; some will leave a mark upon the slightest touch, whereas others may rub the paper about with perfect impunity. ”

“ The flourishing state of this Society, which is constantly receiving an accession of new Members, indicates the great number that have lately commenced the practice of photography, and to those I hope my observations will not prove unacceptable, because of all others the calotype process is undoubtedly the simplest, and the most useful ”

“ Some prefer to use the hypo, quite hot, or even boiling, as thereby the size of the paper is removed, allowing of its being afterwards readily waxed. [9] I have always found that pouring a little boiling water upon the paper effectually accomplishes the object; some negatives will readily wax even when the size is not removed. ”

“ Now as regards the sound of Cowper, the same class of authorities, old deeds, court rolls, and parish registers, appears to lead to a different conclusion from that of your other correspondents. We have now no Cowper family of Norfolk origin; of Coopers we have multitudes: the names of whose forefathers were written Couper or Cowper; and if written as pronounced, the analogical inference is that the original pronunciation was Cowper, Cooper being merely the modern way of spelling; and curiously enough, the parish of Hoo, in this county, is called and now usually spelt How. ”

“ Testimonials from the best Photographers and principal scientific men of the day, warrant the assertion, that hitherto no preparation has been discovered which produces uniformly such perfect pictures, combined with the greatest rapidity of action. ”

“ It is astonishing how much colouring matter a negative so treated will give out, even when to the eye it appears so clean as not to require it.
Footnote 10: (return)
Mr. Shadbolt suggested a remedy for the disasters referred to by Dr. Diamond with regard to the gutta-percha vessels. Gutta-percha is perfectly soluble in chloroform. Mr. Shadbolt therefore showed that if the operator carries a small bottle of chloroform with him, he would be able to mend the gutta-percha at any moment in a few seconds. It was not necessary that the bottle should hold above half an ounce of chloroform. ”

“ The head is short and narrow, with small ears, like those of a rat; the eyes are black, piercing, and very bright. Their chief food is rats, mice, young chickens, little birds, and eggs. They frequent mole-hills, and are often caught in the traps set for the moles; they are destroyed by ferrets and dogs. These mousehunts live, for the most part, in holes beneath the roots of trees, or in old buildings."
The above description of the Mousehunt is given in The History of a Field-mouse by Miss Black. ”

“ The labour required for such an investigation cannot be at all appreciated by those who have not directed their energies towards such an object. The rocky coasts and sandy beaches of the sea, the valleys and hills of the interior, the pastures, mossy banks, thickets, woods, rocks, ruins, walls, ditches, pools, canals, rills, and rivers, were all to be assiduously searched. ”

“ In the first place, we never used to like in the sense of to lie, the nearest approach to it is to lig. And in the next place, the verb to like, to please, to feel or cause pleasure, to approve or regard with approbation, as a consequential usage (agreeably to the Dutch form of Liicken (Kilian) , to assimilate) , is common from our earliest writers. Instances from Robert of Gloucester, Chaucer, and North, with instances also of mislike, to displease, may be found in Richardson and others in Todd's Johnson. ”

“ If upon the removal of the paper from the dark frame, the picture is very apparent, by first applying little gallic acid, and immediately afterwards the mixed solutions, less likelihood is incurred of staining the negative, which will be more evenly and intensely developed. ”

“ The existence of the Myrtle Bee as a distinct species has been denied by ornithologists, and as I think the question is more likely to be set at rest by public than by private correspondence, I trust C. Brown will not consider that I am presuming too much on his kindness if I ask him to send me farther information on the following points: What was the exact size of the bird in question which he had in his hand? What was its size compared with the Golden-crested Wren? Was it generally known in the neighbourhood he mentions, and by whom was it known? By the common people as well as others? ”

“ IMPROVEMENT IN COLLODION.—J. B. HOCKIN & CO., Chemists, 289. Strand, have, by an improved mode of Iodizing, succeeded in producing a Collodion equal, they may say superior, in sensitiveness and density of Negative, to any other hitherto published; without diminishing the keeping properties and appreciation of half tint for which their manufacture has been esteemed.
Apparatus, pure Chemicals, and all the requirements for the practice of Photography. Instruction in the Art.
THE COLLODION AND POSITIVE PAPER PROCESS. By J. B. HOCKIN. Price 1s., per Post, 1s. 2d. ”

“ Who was "True Blue?" If it were not for his wife Eleanor, one would take him to be some kin to "Eclipse" or "Highflyer." Lysons makes no mention of such a person; nor, I am assured by a friend who has made the search for me, does Lipscomb; although another friend referred me there under the conviction that he was not only named, but that his history was given. The kind {589}of tombstone is sufficient to show that he was a person of some property, and yet he has not only no "Esq." affixed to his name, but it is without the prefix "Mr." One can scarcely doubt that the name is not a real one. ”

“ TEACHING A DOG FRENCH.
"N. & Q." the other day (Vol. viii., p. 464.) contained a curious tale of a cat: will you insert as a pendent the following one of a dog? The supposition that D. Julio was some obnoxious Frenchman protected by the Government, seems necessary to account for the "teachyng a dogg frenche" in front of his door constituting such a dire offence. His name occurs, if I remember rightly, in Dr. Dee's Diary (Cam. Soc.) ”