414 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[No. 182. 



stories of anchoring in the chimneys and steeples, 

 and would declare they heard the church bells 

 ringing beneath the water, agitated by the waves 

 or spirits of the deep. 



Tlie case of the E-onnd Towers seen in Lough 

 Neagh, I need not bring forward, as no sound of 

 bells has ever been heard from them. 



There is one lost church so famous as to occur 

 to the mind of every reader, I mean that of the 

 Ten Tribes of Israel. After the lapse of thou- 

 sands of years, we have here an historical problem, 

 which time, perhaps, will never solve. We have 

 a less famous, but still most interesting, instance 

 of a lost church in Greenland. Soon after the 

 introduction of Christianity, about the year 1000, 

 a number of churches and a monastery were 

 erected along the east coast of Greenland, and a 

 bishop was ordained for the spiritual guidance of 

 the colony. For some four hundred years an in- 

 tercourse was maintained between this colony and 

 Norway and Denmark. In the year 1406 the 

 last bishop was sent over to Greenland. Since 

 then the colony has not been heard of. Many 

 have been the attempts to recover this lost church 

 of East Greenland, but hitherto in vain. 



I could send you a Note on a cognate subject, 

 but I fear it would occupy too much of your 

 space, — that of Happy Isles, or Islands of the 

 Slessed. The tradition respecting these happy 

 isles is very wide-spread, and obtains amongst 

 nearly every nation of the globe ; it is, perhaps, 

 a relic of a primeval tradition of Eden. Some 

 have caught glimpses of these isles, and some more 

 favoured mortals have even landed, and returned 

 again with senses dazzled at the ravishing sights 

 they have seen. But in every case after these 

 rare favours, these mystic lands have remained in- 

 visible as before, and the way to them has been 

 sought for in vain. Such are the tales told with 

 reverent earnestness, and listened to with breath- 

 less interest, not only by the Egyptians, Greeks, 

 and Romans of old, but by the Irishman, the 

 Welshman, the Hindoo, and the Red Indian of 

 to-day. EiRioNNACH. 



PHOTOGRAPHIC NOTES AND QUERIES. 



Photographic Collodion (Vol. vii., p. 314.). — 

 In a former communication I pointed out the wide 

 differences in the various manipulations prescribed 

 for making the photographic gnu cotton by several 

 photographers : differences most perplexing to 

 persons of small leisure, and who are likely to lose 

 half the opportunities of a photographic season, 

 whilst puzzling over these diversities of proceed- 

 ing. Suffer me now to entreat some one to whom 

 all may look up (perhaps your kind and experi- 

 enced correspondent Dr. Diamond will do this 

 service, so valuable to young photographers) to 

 clear up the differences I will now " make a note 



of," viz. as to the amount of dry photographic gun 

 cotton to be used in forming the prepared collo- 

 dion. 



On comparing various authors, and reducing 

 their directions to a standard of one ounce of ethery 

 I find the following differences : viz.. Dr. Diamond 

 (Vol. vi., p. 277.) prescribes about three grains of 

 gun cotton ; Mr. Hennah (Directions, SfC, p. 5.) 

 about seven grains ; the Count de Montizon (Joiirn. 

 of Phot. Soc, p. 23.) eight grains ; whilst Mr. 

 Bingham (SupplemeJit to Phot. Manip.,-p.2.) directs 

 about thirty-four grains ! in each case to a single 

 ounce of ether. 



These differences are too wide to come within 

 even Mr. Archer's " long range, " that " the pro- 

 portions . . must depend entirely upon the strength 

 and the thickness required . . . the skill of the 

 operator and the season of the year." (Archer's 

 Manual, p. 17.) Cokelt. 



Filtering Collodion. — Count de Montizon, in 

 his valuable paper on the collodion process, pub- 

 lished in the second number of the Journal of the 

 Photographic Society, objects to filtration on the 

 ground that the silver solution is often injured 

 by impurities contained in the paper. It may be 

 worth while to state, that lime, and other impuri- 

 ties, may be removed by soaking the filter for a 

 day or two, before it is used, in water acidulated 

 with nitric acid ; after which it should be washed 

 with hot water and dried. T. D. Eaton. 



Photographic Notes (Vol. vii., p. 363). — I 

 wish to correct an error in my communication in 

 " N. & Q." of April 9 : in speaking of " a more 

 even film," I meant a film more evenly sensitive. 

 I am sorry I have misled Mr. Shadbolt as to my 

 meaning. I have very rarely any "spottings" in 

 my pictures ; but I always drop the plates once or 

 twice into the bath, after the two minutes' immer- 

 sion, to wash off any loose particles. I also drain 

 off all I can of the nitrate of silver solution before 

 placing the glass in the camera, and for three rea- 

 sons : — 1. Because it saves material ; 2. Because 

 the lower part of dark frame is kept free from 

 liquid; 3. Because a "flowing sheet" of liquid 

 must Interfere somewhat with the passage of light 

 to the film, and consequently with the sharpness 

 of the picture. I think it is clear, from Mr. Shad- 

 bolt's directions to Mr. Merritt, that it is no 

 very easy thing to cement a glass bath with marine 

 glue. J. L. SissoN- 



Colouring Collodion Pictures (Vol. vii., p. 388.). 

 — In your impression of Api'il 16, there is a typo- 

 graphical error of some importance relative to 

 lifting the collodion in and out of the bath : " The 

 plate, after being plunged in, should be allowed to 

 repose quietly from twenty to thirty minutes,^' &c. 

 This should be seconds. The error arose, in all 



