Apeil 30. 1853.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



437 



rey, and the Nonpareil, will not, I think, be 

 allowed to be just by the experience of your 

 readers ; the existence of the last-named apple for 

 three centui-ies, supposing it to be true, has not 

 secured it exemption from the general fate. 



H. C. K. 

 ■ Rectory, Hereford. 



PHOTOGRAPHIC CORRESPONDENCE. 



Glass Baths. — Several of your correspondents 

 finding a difficulty in making glass baths, I beg to 

 communicate the way in which they may be very 

 easily manufactured. Having obtained two pieces 

 of patent plate glass, grind the edges, which may 

 readily be done by a scythe sand-stone, where 

 other contrivances- are not handy. Cut for 

 the bottom of the bath a slip of the same glass 

 three-quarters of an inch in breadth ; and for the 

 sides, from ordinary window-glass, four wedges, 

 being about three-fifths of an inch at one end, 

 tapering down to the thickness of the piece of 

 plate glass at the bottom. If several pieces are 

 cut off" promiscuously, four may be selected which 

 have exactly the same angle, so as to form an even 

 support to the sides. The glass being perfectly 

 clean, dry, and as warm as can be conveniently 

 held by the hand, fix the bottom and then the 

 sides by means of the very best sealing-wax, which 

 will perfectly adhere to the glass. If the com- 

 moner sorts of wax are used, some marine glue 

 must be added to it to temper it. The side slips 

 should be fixed a quarter of an inch apart, so as 

 to form a cavity, which must be entirely filled up 

 with wax. The wax may be used as in sealing a 

 letter in the first instance ; but, in order to give 

 the whole bath solidity, and expel every particle 

 of air from between the glass, I use a heated 

 pointed iron, as a plumber does in the act of sol- 

 dering. This, passed over the external parts of 

 the wax, also gives it a hardness and smooth finish. 



These details may appear trifling, and others 

 may have more ingenious modes of accomplishing 

 the object ; but having used baths so constructed 

 upwards of twelve months without leakage, I be- 

 lieve they will be found to be most economical, 

 and far more to be relied on than gutta percha. 

 A good bath so made should require about six 

 ounces of solution of nitrate of silver to take a 

 picture eight inches square. Your observations 

 in a former Number, respecting the uncertainty 

 of gutta percha, I have found to be perfectly true. 

 Samples of gutta percha constantly vary; and one 

 may contain impurities acted upon by the chemi- 

 cals, which another does not. A small rim formed 

 by sealing-wax dissolved in spirits of wine, and 

 applied twice or thrice along the upper edge of 

 tbe bath, is sufficient to protect the prepared glass 

 from adhering to the front of the bath when in 

 use. H. W. D. 



Securing Calotype Negatives. — Will any of your 

 correspondents be good enough to say what they 

 consider the best method of securing a calotype 

 paper negative for a few days or a week, in cases 

 where it may be difficult, from lack of conveniences 

 during that time, to use hyposulph., with its con- 

 sequent washings, &c. ? Some, I believe, recom- 

 mend bromide of potassium; some, the iodide; 

 others, common salt : but I should like to know 

 which is considered the hest; what strength, and 

 how applied. Also, whether any subsequent 

 treatment is necessary previous to the final appli- 

 cation of the hypo W. T. 



jacplie^ ta jMCnor ©uerteif. 



Wood of the Cross (Vol. vii., pp. 177. 334.).— 

 I find, in your I79th Number, p. 334., a com- 

 munication on " The Wood of the Cross." Men- 

 tion is made of the several kinds of wood of which 

 the cross is said to have been made — elder, olive, 

 &c. It is a somewhat curious coincidence, that 

 yesterday I was with a farmer in his garden, and 

 observing on several apple-trees some luxuriant 

 mistletoe, I remarked that it was principally 

 found on that tree, sometimes on the oak, but 

 rarely on other trees. The farmer, after inquir- 

 ing whether it could be propagated by cuttings, 

 &c., asked if I had ever understood that our Sa- 

 viour's cross was made of mistletoe ? On replying 

 in the negative, and remarking that it was alto- 

 gether unsuitable for such a purpose, he rejoined, 

 that, previously to that event, it was a large strong 

 tree, but subsequently had been doomed to have 

 only a parasitical (not that he used the term) ex- 

 istence. 



As Cetrep said " I never heard of our Lord's 

 cross having been made of elder wood," so I would 

 also add, I never heard before of its being made 

 of mistletoe. Did any one else ever hear of this 

 tradition? S. S. S. 



Bishops^ Laivn Sleeves (Vol. vi., p. 271.). — 

 J. G. T. has inquired concerning the date and 

 origin of the present robes of Anglican bishops. 

 Mr. Trevor thus describes the bishop's dress in 

 Convocation, which is the proper dress of the 

 episcopate : 



" The chimere is the Convocation habit of a doctor 

 of divinity in Oxford, made of silk instead of cloth, as 

 the rochet is an alb of lawn in place of linen, honoris 

 causa : the detachijig the sleeves from the rochet, and 

 sewing them to the upper garment instead, is obviously 

 a contrivance of the robe-makers. Dr. Hody says that 

 the scarlet robe worn by the bishops in the House of 

 Lords is the doctor's gown at Cambridge ; the first arch- 

 bishops after the Reformation being of that university. 

 (^Hody, 140.) At Parker's consecration he appeared 

 first in a scarlet gown and hood; then at the Holy 

 Communion he and two of the consecrating bishops 



