272 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[No. 257. 



Where the pictures sent are small, they should be ar- 

 ranged several in one frame. 



For example: a frame 26 inches by 21, inside mea- 

 surement, will contain, with sufficient margin, four works 

 of the size of 9 inches by 7. 



All communications should be addressed to the Hon. 

 Saaretary of the Photographic Society, 21. Regent Street. 



The Society have since issued forms of application for 

 space for the use of intending exhibitors, copies of which 

 may be had upon application to the Secretary. 



Restoration of old Collodion. — I have found a sliglit 

 improvement on the process of Mk. Crookes for restor- 

 ing the old collodion, which consists in the substitution 

 of a plate of clean zinc for one of silver in decolorising 

 the collodion. I place two or three slips of sheet zinc 

 scraped bright into the bottle with the collodion, and 

 after two or three days it becomes quite transparent, and 

 loses all its red colour. The reason why I prefer using 

 the zinc to the silver is, that the presence of silver in the 

 collodion is in mj' estimation very objectionable, and that 

 the silver will not act beyond a certain point, i. e. will not 

 decolorise very dark collodion : as far as my experience 

 goes, cadmium I find to answer very well, and also me- 

 tallic arsenic, which seems to accelerate at the same 

 time; and, probably, all metals fonning soluble iodides 

 give a similar result. F. Maxwell Li'te. 



Luz, Hautes Pyrenees. 



Buckle's Brush. — In an article entitled "Hints upon 

 Iodizing Paper" (Vol. x., p. 192.), Dr. Diamond calls a 

 Buckle's brush " a bungling contrivance." As I have 

 found it the most useful of all contrivances for applying 

 solutions to paper, I hope you will allow me to say a word 

 in its favour. Tiie charge against it is, that " it always 

 causes a deal of roughness on the surface of the paper." 

 I am sure there is no necessity for this, and I think when 

 it occurs the epithet bungler would be more appropriate to 

 the operator than the brush. For applying the iodizing 

 solution to paper, no doubt a camel's-hair brush will 

 answer as well; but the great advantage of a Buckle's 

 brush are conspicuous when solutions which readily decom- 

 pose are to be used, and when, in consequence, a perfectly 

 cl«an brush is required each time — .-is in exciting and 

 developing with gallo-nitrate. In addition to being most 

 economical of chemicals, it assures in this case the most 

 perfect cleanliness and facility of manufacture. I have 

 not the pleasure of knowing Mr. Buckle, but I take the 

 opportunity of thanking him for an invention which I 

 consider the secret of success in calotype.* 



Henry Ta\t>or. 



Godalming. 



Christening Ships (Vol. x., p. 66.). — I have 

 always considered this to be more a Pagan than 

 a Christian ceremony, a relic of the ancient 

 Ifbation rather than a " caricature of the sacra- 

 ment of baptism." In modern Greece, when a 



[* Whatever may be the merits of the invention, " the 

 secret of success in calotype" does not depend on the use 

 of a Buckle's brush, as some of the finest specimens 

 vre have ever seen have been produced without its aid. 

 In saying this, we do not mean to undervalue the in- 

 genuity of the invention. — Ed. "N. & Q."] 



ship is launched, the bow is decorated with 

 flowers, and the captain takes a jar of wine, which 

 he raises to his lips and then pours out upon the 

 deck. 



It is more than probable that many nautical 

 customs, superstitions (the broom at the mast- 

 head when a vessel is for sale, shaving when cross- 

 ing the line, whistling for wind, &c.), and even 

 technical terms, might be derived from a very 

 remote antiquity. 



Even if we descend to a comparatively modern 

 period, we may find that sailors have preserved 

 among them the technical terms of their pro- 

 fession, though numberless terms of other trades 

 and professions have become obsolete within the 

 last two centuries. Scarcely the half of the tech- 

 nical terms of various trades and professions that 

 may be found in that most curious omnium ga- 

 /Ae?'«m, Randle Holme's Academy ofArrnory, would 

 be understood by their respective craftsmen at the 

 present day, whereas every nautical term in the 

 much earlier production, A Ship of Fooles^ would 

 be understood by the modern seaman. 



W. PiNKEETOW. 



Kaleidoscope ("Vol. x., p. 164.). — The object 

 described by Mtuevl has not the slightest i*esera- 

 blance to a kaleidoscope ; but is a toy often seen 

 now, and much more frequently from fifty to one 

 hundred years ago. An object Is painted upon a 

 flat surface, the nature of which it is almost Im- 

 possible to ascertain ; but place the convex side 

 of a cylindrical mirror in the proper focus, and 

 every part Is reflected in its proper place, and the 

 object is immediately recognised. Or, the process 

 may be reversed ; the picture may be painted upoa 

 a convex surface, and reflected upon a plane. 



E. H. 



JEther's quotation from Swedenborg's A7-cana 

 Ccelestia evidently does not apply to anything 

 resembling the beautiful and useful invention of 

 Sir David''Brewster. The kaleidoscope is not an 

 "optical cylinder :" the instrument is triangular, 

 and merely placed in a cylinder for the conveni- 

 ence of handling. Swedenborg refers to and 

 plainly describes the " cylindrical mirror ;" a well- 

 known toy, by which distorted pictures are made 

 to appear in their proper proportions. It is de- 

 scribed in the Encyclopcedia Britannica, vol. xvi. 

 p. 513. Sam. C. 



Your correspondent J^ther has made an In- 

 genious guess, as he will see ; and still bptter, has 

 given a very good example of a mode of judgment 

 which is by no means uncommon in the settlement 

 of Inventions. To a person who is not in pos- 

 session of the key, his suggestion seems very plau- 

 sible ; though It must be objected that Sweden- 

 borg would hardly have called a kaleidoscope _ an 

 optical cylinder. Brewster's Instrument consists 



