490 ANNUAL RECORD OF SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY. 



by floating tissue-paper on an aqueous solution of shellac in 

 borax. After drying the paper in the air, it may be smoothed 

 with a warm flat-iron. Very deceptive casings for sausages 

 may be made from brown tissue-paper treated in this way; 

 and, by coloring the shellac solution with aniline, beautifully 

 colored water-proof paper may be produced, suitable for ar- 

 tificial flowers. 6 C, October 16, 1873, 414. 



FRICTION SEALING-WAX. 



At the Vienna Exposition were shown small sticks of va- 

 riously colored sealing-wax, tipped with an inflammable com- 

 pound, wmich, when ignited by friction, burns and fuses the 

 wax, permitting it to be used very conveniently, without 

 wasting or dropping, as is usually the case. The quantity 

 in each stick is sufficient for one common or tw r o small seals. 

 8 C\ October 9, 1873, 342. 



THE HELIOPICTOR. 



The Heliopictor is the name given by Dr. Stein to a simple 

 apparatus devised by him, and intended to expedite the pho- 

 tographic processes necessary in field operations, whether for 

 scientific or artistic purposes, but especially the former. He 

 also thinks his apparatus applicable to the investigations of 

 physicians with the microscope, ophthalmoscope, etc.; he sug- 

 gests, also, its special application to the observation of the 

 transit of Venus. The apparatus consists essentially of a 

 thin box that can be attached firmly to the eye end of a tel- 

 escope, and when in that position the front side of this box 

 is composed of a plain glass, the back of which is sensitized 

 for the reception of the image to be photographed. The back 

 of the box is closely sealed, as are also the sides, so that no 

 extraneous light can enter. Between the sensitized plate and 

 the metallic back is a shallow space ; sufficient, however, to 

 contain the liquid that would fill the bath in the ordinary 

 photographic dark room. Dr. Stein proposes, after the sen- 

 sitized plate has been acted on, to pour into this space by a 

 suitable funnel the liquid necessary in order to fix the photo- 

 graphic image; in other words, the box is both camera and 

 dark room combined, all the critical photographic operations 

 being performed without removing the sensitized plate from 

 the box. The compactness of this arrangement evidently 



