20 



EECKEATIVE SCIENCE. 



ideas and scientific induction. In one part 

 he settles a question as to a South. American 

 tribe ; in another he suggests and carries out 

 completely h.is system of the Geography of 

 Plants, and shows us how we may judge of 

 the climate, the heat, the soil, and the gene- 

 ral nature of a country by its indigenous 

 vegetation. In a third he teUs us the politi- 

 cal history of a nation, and takes its social 

 and economical measure. Little of import- 

 ance is omitted. He is equally reliable on 

 aU points. 



During bis sojourn in Paris, Humboldt 

 was the savant of the day. AU learned men 

 flocked to hear him and see him. He worked 

 with some who are stiU foremost in the 

 march of science. He wrote with Gay Lus- 

 sac, Leopold de Buch, and Arago. He was 

 sought for and honoured by kings and princes. 

 He was elected member of the chief scientific 

 societies of the world, and he was entrusted 

 with more than one political mission. He 

 had long been ennobled by the King of 

 Prussia, whom he accompanied to Naples. 

 Monarchs delighted to confer on him their 

 orders of knighthood and of merit ; but at 

 the death of the philosopher, when heralds 

 sought to chronicle these gewgaws, to give a 

 fictitious brilliancy to the great man, aU, 

 save one modest star, which he often wore, 

 were found neglected, tarnished, and covered 

 with dust, in the drawer of that old bureau, 

 at which he had so often sat, pen in hand, to 

 chronicle his thoughts and his discoveries. 

 Hain Fbiswell. 



WATEK-GLASS IN PHOTOGEAPHY. 



Now that Dr. Johann Puchs (formerly 

 Professor of Mineralogy at the University 

 ' of Munich) is dead, and therefore indifferent 

 to praise or criticism, men are taking great 

 interest in his inventions relating to water- 

 glass, sometimes called soluble glass — inven- 

 tions which promise yet to do good service 



in many a department of science, art, and 

 manufactures. Fuchs died on the 5th of 

 March, 1856, at the advanced age of eighty- 

 two. A few months before his death, of 

 which he is said to have had a presentiment, 

 he was induced to write a pamphlet describing 

 the principles, and some of the applications of 

 his discoveries, in order, as he nobly says, "to 

 render the experience gained by myself and 

 others available for further investigations." 

 In a thoroughly unselfish spirit he disclosed 

 every detail that could in any way assist 

 future workers. For a translation of this 

 pamphlet, this country is lately indebted to 

 H.R.H. the Prince Consort, who has chosen 

 the journal of the society of which he is the 

 patron (the Society of Arts) as the medium 

 of its publication ; the Rev. John Barlow, 

 M.A., having previously, in 1854, given a 

 popular exposition of the subject to the 

 members of the Royal Institution, on one of 

 their Friday evenings. The chemical prin- 

 ciples of Fuchs' invention have also been for 

 some years explained, and the results exhi- 

 bited, at the lectures on chemistry delivered 

 at our Government School of Mines and 

 Museum of Geology, Jermyn Street, by its 

 eminent Professor of Chemistry, Dr. Hof- 

 mann. Added to these sources of informa- 

 tion, we have the report of an Imperial 

 French commission, sent to LUle to examine 

 the works of M. Kuhlmann, a distinguished 

 follower of Fuchs, and to whom great credit 

 is due for his ingenuity, enthusiastic per- 

 severance, and success. This latter report is 

 translated in the Athenceum journal. 



We can here only attempt to open the 

 subject for our readers, photographic and 

 others, leaving them, should they feel in- 

 cited to further inquiry, to pursue the matter 

 under the authorities just named. 



The story of Fuchs' life, in relation to 

 his invention, is the old, old sad one of too 

 many benefactors of our species — a story of 

 disappointed early hopes, and a life of costly 

 struggle against apathy, ignorance, prejudice, 



