512 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[No. 269. 



silver to the pint of water, which must not be used for 

 any other purpose ; and I develope with pyrogallic acid, 

 or gallic acid, which answers very well as for paper. The 

 above is the best method of preparing the syrup, but it 

 may be prepared with the ordinary grape sugar of com- 

 merce, if a good sample be obtained, by taking — 

 Grape sugar - - - 15 oz. 



Water - - - - 1 pint. 



Nitrate of silver - - - 3 grs. 



Alcohol - - - - 1 oz. 



Where, however, good honey, old, crystallised, and pale- 

 coloured, can be easily obtained, it can always be substi- 

 tuted for grape sugar. Should the nitrate produce a pre- 

 cipitate on first being added to the filtered solution, the 

 grape sugar should be rejected as bad. Mr. Hockin, in 

 the Strand, sells very good grape sugar. However, for 

 the instantaneous process it does not answer, probably on 

 account of the sulphosacharrate of lime it contains. On 

 the instantaneous process I must add a remark or two. 

 Great care must be taken to exclude all light but yellow 

 light ; four folds of yellow calico only just suffice. It is 

 not so much the quantity as the quality of light that 

 signifies. 



Honey appears to contain at least two kinds of sugars, 

 which exert very various actions on nitrate of silver : 

 these two sugars are, one grape sugar, and the other an 

 uncrystallisable sugar, which, spontaneously with age, 

 becomes grape sugar. In proportion, then, as the latter 

 is contained in more or less quantity, does it act more or 

 less perfectly; and when, as in a sample I have obtained, 

 it is nearly pure grape sugar, it is then the most perfect 

 substance possible for our purpose. 



Mr. Heilmann, of Pau, at present does portraits of half 

 the size of life by means of my instantaneous process, 

 with a Ross landscape lens of long focus. 



P.S. — A very useful little instrument is sold in shops, 

 under the name of " Pese sirops : " it is of French origin, 

 as the name imports. It should now be in the hands of 

 every photographer. This, when I want to make a syrup, 

 I simply place in the distilled water I am about to use 

 (having previously measured it). The instrument then 

 stands at zero. I add grape sugar, or old honey, as the 

 case may be, Avhich, in dissolving, raises the specific 

 gravity of the water; this causes the instrument to rise, 

 and when it marks twent}^, the syrup is of the requisite 

 strength. Twenty is also the specific gravity of the 

 nitrate solution I use for positive pictures, and seven for 

 collodion negatives, by this same instrument. 



r. Maxwell Lyte. 



Hotel de France, Argelfes, Hautes 

 Pyrenees, France, Nov. 30, 1854. 



Spots on Collodion Negatives. — GwENLtiAN will feel 

 greatly obliged if the Editor of " N. & Q." will inform 

 her as to the cause, and prevention, of numberless minute 

 round white spots which appear on her otherwise success- 

 ful collodion negatives, when held up to the light ; and 

 which, on printing, give the positive an appearance of 

 being dusted with fine black sand ? This does not always 

 occur in small plates. 



The Jirst English Envoy to Russia (Vol. x., 

 p. 127.). — Although the Query of A. B. has 

 already drawn two interesting Notes from very 

 able men, may I be permitted to call your readers' 

 attention to Milton's account of Sir Jerom Bowes? 

 In his Brief History of Moscovia, he tells us that 



Juan Basiliwich, having sent his ambassador, 

 Pheodor Andrewich, to England, touching matters 

 of commerce, the queen (Elizabeth) sent Sir 

 Jerom Bowes. The Dutch at that time had in- 

 truded themselves into the Muscovy trade, which 

 had been granted to the English by privilege long 

 before, and had made friends with one Shalkan, 

 the emperor's chancellor, who " so wrought " 

 that Bowes was but badly treated. Like a true 

 Englishman, he ast^erted his rights, and the su- 

 premacy of his royal mistress, and with such 

 success, that the emperor openly preferred him, 

 and loaded him with marks of distinction. Un- 

 fortunately the emperor died. Shalkan became 

 the chief power in the state, and imprisoned Sir 

 Jerom in his own house for nine weeks, and after- 

 wards sent him away " with many disgraces," 

 which, after the favour he had enjoyed from the 

 " English" emperor, must have been doubly morti- 

 fying. 



With characteristic daring, Bowes, "when ready 

 to take ship," sent back the trifling despatch he 

 had received from the new emperor, " knowing it 

 contained nothing to the purpose of his embassy," 

 and so departed. 



Milton gives the account at great length, and 

 in a very interesting manner. He evidently sym- 

 pathises with Sir Jerom, and expatiates on his 

 courage and address. There is a considerable 

 difference between the accounts A. B.'s Query has 

 called forth. I fancy, however, the Quarterly re- 

 viewer had Milton's account at hand when writing 

 his article, as some of the quotations are from 

 Milton's work. 



I may add, that Milton gives as one of his 

 authorities, a " Journal of Sir Jerom Bowes." Is 

 that "journal " to be found ? Is it in the British 

 Museum? Such a fragment would be deeply 

 interesting, and is, at any rate, worth looking for. 

 Can any of your correspondents afford a clue as to 

 its whereabouts ? J. Virtue Wynen. 



1. Portland Terrace, Dalston. 



[The document consulted by Milton is probably the 

 following: —"A Briefe Discourse of the Voyage of Sir 

 lerome Bowes, Knight, her Maiesties ambassadour to 

 luan Vasiliuich the Emperour of Muscouia, in the yeere 

 1583," contained in Hakluyt's Collection of Early Voyages, 

 Travels, and Discoveries, vol. i. p. 516., edition 1809, 4tO. 

 This document is preceded by the following : — " The 

 Queenes Maiesties Commission giuen to Sir lerome 

 Bowes, authorizing him her highnesse Ambassadour 

 with the Emperour of Moscouie;" and "The Queenes 

 Maiesties letters written to the Emperour by Sir lerome 

 Bowes in his commendation."] 



Latin Poetry (Vol. x., p. 243.). — I refer your 

 correspondent Cpl. to " N. & Q." of Nov. _27, 

 1852, for another, and as I think better, reading 

 of the quatrain beginning " Lucus, Evangelii," 

 &c. S.T. 



Leeds. 



