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are copied and rendered legible. Maps, plans, the most 

 intricate designs, are reproduced with perfect accurac)-. 

 Librarians tell us of its value for copying obscure title pages, 

 books in antique spelling, priceless illustrations, far more ac- 

 curately and cheaply than can be done by hand. It 

 has become an indispensable agent in most hospitals for 

 reproducing anatomical details and morbid growths. Sections 

 of all kinds, bacteria, the minutest organisms, magnified 

 by the highest power of the microscope are rendered as no 

 hand could possibly depict them. In astronomy, splendid 

 maps of the moon's surface, the solar spots, the spectra of 

 comets have been reproduced ; while the smallest stars have 

 been registered, the transit of Venus recorded, and the sun's 

 corona photographed not only during an eclipse but in broad 

 daylight. At the Observatories, so admirably has this process 

 been found adapted to register meteorological and electrical 

 measurements that out of many thousand hours' observations 

 not one has been lost by a photographic error. Photography 

 has completely displaced hand painting of slides for the 

 lantern, and converted what was little more than an in- 

 teresting toy into a most valuable illustrator for the lecturer 

 and the educationalist. 



As a feature in our commercial system the practice of 

 photography has taken an important place, giving employment 

 to many thousands of professional operators and their de- 

 pendents. In one photographic almanac alone I found 

 this year no less than 211 pages full of advertisements of 

 articles appertaining to this art alone, proceeding from 197 

 different firms. There are in England and Scotland 42 

 independent Societies devoted to the pursuit of photography, 

 of which 23 have sprung up in the last four years ; to say 

 nothing of photographic sections of scientific societies like 

 our own ; and lastly I may state that in the past year (1884) 

 alone, 123 applications have been made for patents connected 

 with photographic inventions in the English Patent Office. 



