NATURAL PHILOSOPHY. 185 



SINGULAR APPLICATION OF PHOTOGRAPHY. 



A discovery lias recently been made at the Bank of England, -which 

 will cause, it is understood, a great change to be speedily effected in 

 the character and general appearance of the notes issued by that cor- 

 poration. It has just been discovered that by means of photography 

 fac-similes can be effected by a skilful operator, with the greatest fa- 

 cility ; and that fraudulent copies of bank notes thus obtained, would 

 pass muster even with some of the most experienced judges. We are 

 not aware by what means the suspicions of the authorities of the Bank 

 were originally excited on this important subject. It is stated, how- 

 ever, that they were first caused by one of these fraudulent notes 

 having been exchanged for gold "over the counter," its spurious 

 character having escaped the generally closely scrutinising eyes of 

 the cashiers in that department. 



Under the impression, from certain indications which manifested 

 themselves on the note, that it had been fabricated by photographic 

 agency, experiments were made by one of the most eminent and ex- 

 perienced photographers in the metropolis, (whose aid was called into 

 requisition by the Bank authorities,) when it was clearly proved, by 

 the results of those experiments, that the spurious note had been man- 

 ufactured by the means suspected, viz. photography. So close was 

 the resemblance between the spurious note (thus experimentally ob- 

 tained) and the genuine one (whence the copy was taken by the pho- 

 tographer alluded to) that not only were the signature and the pri- 

 vate marks (the latter known only to the Bank officials) imitated with 

 the closest accuracy, but the very watermark itself, in all its integ- 

 rity, was as clearly and closely defined as the other more prominent 

 characteristics of the genuine document. 



The process adopted to produce these effects is well known to all 

 photographers as " the wax paper process." The photographic thin 

 negative paper after having been prepared with wax, and then ren- 

 dered sensitive by the usual method, (which need not be described 

 here,) is then in a fit state to receive the impression from the genuine 

 note, the printing, the signature, and the watermark, and in fact every 

 mark, however minute, which appears on the face of the note, being 

 clearly and distinctly traced and defined. This is termed the " nega- 

 tive," and from this " negative," obtained by such an extremely sim- 

 ple method, when adopted by a skilful manipulator, " positives " (ex- 

 act fac-similes of the note itself) might be multiplied by means of sun 

 printing to any extent. 



AVe understand that the Directors of the Bank of England, in order 



^j 



most effectually to put a stop to the possibility of frauds being perpe- 

 trated to so inconvenient and alarming an extent, by photographic 

 agency, have determined, as soon as the necessary arrangements can 

 be effected, and with the least possible delay, to entirely alter the color 

 of the paper on which their notes are produced, as well as change the 

 color of the ink used in printing them, and substitute a widely differ- 



