186 THE CONVERSAZIONE. 



of Baddesley Clinton Church ; Ii'on Gates in Garden, Packwood ; Tower 

 of Edgbaston Church. Mr. J. R. Hohiday exhibited Photographs, selected 

 from a large number which have been taken dui'ing the last three years, 

 of Warwickshire Churches, and Old Houses in the Midland Counties, 

 principally Wai'svickshire, Woi-cestcrshire, and Gloucestershire. The 

 two last-named counties furnished several specimens of the 

 very interesting class of houses built in the seventeenth century, of stone 

 and timber. The photographs of these, exhibited at the Conversazione, 

 were taken at Laverton and Child's Wickham ; and there were some of a 

 fourteen century house at Broadway. The Laverton and Child's 

 "Wickham houses are being rapidly improved off the face of the earth, 

 and several have entirely disappeared since Mr. HoUiday photographed 

 them, their places being supplied by hideous modern erections. The 

 Warwickshire houses, of which there were photogi'aphs exhibited, were 

 mostly of the sixteenth century, and comprised a very interesting 

 example from Knowle, and Goscot Hall, near Redditch. Of Churches, 

 there were photographs of Hampton-in-Arden, Brailes, Packwood, 

 Curd worth, Wotton Wawen, Wappeubury, Lap worth, "UTiitchurch, and 

 others. There were also the Nature series of Portraits of Scientific 

 Worthies, exhibited by Mr. W. R. Hughes ; a set of tinted etchings from 

 old Dutch paintings, by Mr. W. P. Marshall ; photographs of Pumping 

 Engine Stations of the Birmingham Corporation Waterworks, by Mr. 

 R. M. Lloyd; old engi-aved copper-plates, by Mr. C. T. Parsons; Greek 

 and Roman remains from Fayoum, Eg>'pt, by Mr. J. Courtenay Lord ; 

 Roman Pottery, from Leicester, by Mr. W. J. Harrison ; Stone Hatchets 

 and Indian Potteiy from the Cordilleras, Central America, by Dr. 

 Schwarz ; and Rubbings froin Ancient Brass and Stone Cross, and Fhnt 

 Implements, by Mr. Lawson Tait. 



Of other exhibits which contributed to the interest of the Conversa- 

 zione we can only specify Mr. A. Pumphrey's ingenious method for pro- 

 diicing in exact i'ac-simile an unlimited number of copies of pen and ink 

 drawings, &c., (see " Midland Naturahst," p. 132,) which was exhibited 

 in operation all through the evening ; another, but quite different 

 process, exhibited by Mr. J. Pumphrey, for easily and rapidly producing 

 a nuinber of copies of letters and other manuscripts, written with the 

 exhibitor's special " aniline ink ;" Di\-ing Apparatus and Dress used 

 in submarine operations and flooded mines, &c., exhibited by Mr. 

 J. Place ; and a steady and useful revolving table for microscopical work, 

 with slate top and substantial iron stand, exhibited by Mr. T. Bolton. 



In concluding this account of a most pleasant and instructive exhi- 

 bition, we must not omit to state that the success of the Conversazione 

 was mainly due to the excellent arrangements made by Mr. W. P. 

 Marshall, (who undertook the general management,) and Messrs. J. 

 Morley and C. Pumphrey, Rev. H. W. Crosskey, Messrs. W. B. Grove, J. 

 Le\'ick, and others. 



EXCURSION TO DUDLEY. 



On the following day, Tuesday, May 28th, Members of the Union 

 and their friends, to the number of nearly 400, made an excursion to 

 Dudley and the neighbourhood, under the auspices of the Dudley and 

 Midland Geological and Scientific Society and Field Club, representatives 

 of which received the pai'ty at the Tipton Station of the Great Western 

 Railway, and conducted them in the first instance to the Open Coal Work 

 at Foxyards, where the Ten-yai'd Coal Seam exposes its point of outcrop 

 on the east side of the obtruding ridges of the Dudley Castle Hill and 

 the Wren's Nest. Mr. Thomas Latham, the Earl of Dudley's Mine 

 Agent, gave interesting information as to the mode of getting the 

 coal, and under his dii'ection a fall of coal was displayed. The 



