THE CAMERA 



39r 



vice that the photographer uses when he 

 wishes to have the camera see the speci- 

 men at the best advantage. He places 

 back of the white specimen a black 

 background, and back of the black speci- 

 men a white background. Sometimes 

 one can thus "hang up" a white snow 

 background behind the tree, not by mov- 

 ing the background to a convenient 

 place, but by moving one's self so 

 that the background shall be in 

 such a position that every detail 

 of the tree may be perfectly seen. 

 On a bright morning when the ground is 

 covered with a light coat of snow, go to 

 the edge of some valley, where you may 

 look across and see the outlines of trees 

 on the lower part of an opposite bank. 

 If one cannot get into such a position, 

 or if a tree is not in this favorable situa- 

 tion, one can nearly always "hang up" 

 the sky behind it. We all look down 

 too much ; look up and the view will be 

 specially good if your looking up is to- 

 ward the bare branches. Can anything 

 be more exquisite in beauty or in detail 

 than the accompanying photograph of an 

 apple tree, and also the one, on the front 

 cover, of a bare sycamore — bare in more 

 senses than one? Not only have the 

 leaves of the sycamore fallen, but the 

 photograph shows that the branches have 

 shed their outer layer of bark and have 

 left the inner coat in its clean, beautiful 

 whiteness. These photographs were not 

 taken in distant lands, but within a short 

 distance of our own Arcadia. I trust 

 they will be recognized by local residents 

 as trees that they have often noticed and 

 admired at Adams Corner. The apple 

 tree is in a field just north of the trolley 

 junction and the sycamore a few rods 

 south of that end of the Sound Beach 

 line. If our camerists will look upward 

 for a time they will find it a good exer- 

 cise. Some day we will show other re- 

 sults of the editor's efforts to portray 

 natural beauty. In the meantime he 

 invites the co-operation of other cam- 

 erists. Let us have an exhibition of this 

 beauty of bare branches that will be 

 reallv worth while. 



The Shortest Scientific Poem. 

 The Antiquity of Microbes. 



Adam 

 Had 'em. 



That Invited Lens Talk. 



BY GEO. W. KELEOGG, ROCHESTER, N. Y. 



The Guide to Nature for January, 

 1910, invited readers to talk about 

 lenses and, during the time which has 

 intervened, has published one response 

 to that invitation, a talk out of the or- 

 dinary : for it was based on a lens- 

 user's experience instead of the lens- 

 catalogue-maker's stereotyped state- 

 ments. 



The insinuation that the writer 

 rushed into print in envy, ignorance 

 and anger is not justified by the con- 

 tents of the article. Every grade of 

 lens which was mentioned was classi- 

 fied according to its merits and in the 

 order which was its due : the anastig- 

 mat first place; the rectilinear second; 

 the single third. There was a con- 

 spicuous absence of the customary ad- 

 vertising of lenses by some favorite 

 maker; there was no abuse or con- 

 demnation of any make or grade of 

 lenses. The writer was not handicap- 

 ped by obligations for favors received, 

 for he had bought, had paid the price 

 asked in cash, and without dickering, 

 for every lens that he owns. The 

 writer was consistent, for he recom- 

 mended no sacrifice which he had not 

 made. 



The discussion was fair ; it was from 

 the view point of the many, to whom 

 the ownership of an anastigmat is, at 

 present, an impossibility; it was not a 

 throwing of mud, stones, or a calling 

 of names. The writer has facts with 

 which to prove his assertions, and does 

 not need, in order that he may make an 

 appearance, to heap abuse upon his op- 

 ponent, or his opponent's lenses. The 

 good anastigmat is the best, for the 

 scope of its usefulness is greatest. 



Of the statements in that article, two 

 — two only — have been challenged. As 

 to the first, I concede that my op- 

 ponent is right: "The reader can hope 

 to afford." On the second, I "stand 

 pat" : the credit which is due the lens, 

 "twenty-five per cent."; and the "sev- 

 enty-five per cent." of credit, or dis- 

 credit, which belongs to the man who 

 uses the lens. Is it one hundred per 

 cent, lens because a dozen exposures 

 result in a dozen failures from under 



