40 
POPULAR SCIENCE NEWS. 
[March, 1S90. 
and fossils, have been exhibited, and various plants 
shown and named. A collection of our native 
grasses, hy Miss D. Marble, has advanced to forty 
varieties. Our herbarium contains thirty-two spec- 
imens. Our President gave' us an interesting 
lecture on geology, and a friend gave us an illus- 
trated lecture on the use of the blow-pipe in miner- 
alogy. The society was broken up by the removal 
of our Secretary and four or five members, and 
reorganized on November 6 on a different basis. 
Our members are now all adults, and we hope to do 
some more serious work. — Mrs. Lea Luquer, Sec. 
SS7, Grinnell, Iowa, [A]. — During the year, our 
Chapter has gained six active members. Two 
members spent the summer travelling in this ^tate 
and Nebraska and South Dakota. They sent home 
very interesting accounts of their travels, and many 
fine specimens. The members at home have been 
busy with the work of the Chapter. In the spring 
they found five birds never seen here before, and 
found the nests of four not before known to breed 
here. Several new and rare species of butterflies 
were collected. Six members attended the Sixth 
Convention of the Iowa Chapters, at Oskaloosa, in 
August. Our Chapter was awarded first honor for 
work done. We have divided our work into depart- 
ments, each department being given to two or more 
members. We are still working for the government 
under the departments of bird migration and for- 
estry. — Lynds Jones, Sec, Box 1766, Grinnell, Iowa. 
891, Schenectady, N. Y., [B]. — We have gained 
three new members during the year. The prepara- 
tion of note-books is now in progress, the member 
having the best to be exempted Irom all Chapter 
dues for six months. Our meetings, in which the 
greatest interest is taken, are held twice a month in 
the Union School Building. — S. Frances Winans, 
159 Lafayette Street, Sec. 
A CORDIAL invitation is extended to all our 
readers to join the Agassiz Association. 
Blanks for application will be furnished on 
request. 'Address all communications for this 
department to Harlan H. Ballard, President 
of the Agassiz Association, Pittstield, Mass. 
^ ^ 
[Written for "The Out-Door World."] 
PHOTOGRAPHY. 
THE CAMERA ABROAD.* / 
BY ELLERSLIE WALLACE, M. D. 
The first steps on German soil made by the 
arriving traveller, or "einwanderer," as they pic- 
turesquely call him, cannot oft'er anything very 
remarkable for the camera. Bremerhaven, the port 
of Bremen, is a dull seaport town, and almost the 
only objects of interest are the docks and yards of 
the North German Lloyd Steamship Company. 
These, however, will repay a visit to those inter- 
ested in marine matters. Subjects for the camera 
might be found here, but not the characteristic and 
beautiful ones of other cities and towns. A ride of 
about seventeen miles by rail brings us to Bremen, 
and here we immediately find ourselves in a city 
thoroughly European in character. The guide- 
books give short historical sketches of these old and 
famous towns, which should by no means be ne- 
glected, and 'this reading will at once make plain 
how and why the present beautiful " Contrescarpe," 
planted with fine old trees, came to take the place of 
the old city walls of the middle ages. 
Those who stay at Hillmann's Hotel on the Con- 
trescarpe, will find themselves well and centrally 
situated for excursions about the town, both in the 
old and the new quarters, and will also enjoy the 
great treat of occasionally hearing the fine military 
band play. The musicians are under strict army 
discipline, and are frequently ordered out to the 
Contrescarpe to play on Sund.iys in the forenoon, 
and sometimes, also, on week days, quite early in 
the morning. I was awakened about seven in the 
morning from my first night's rest in the Father- 
land, by this incomparable band, consisting entirely 
of wind instruments. Although greatly fatigued 
from the previous daj', the interruption to my sleep 
was a most welcome one. These open-air concerts 
have for years been a feature of German life, and 
those of our young friends — and older ones, too, for 
that matter — who are musically inclined, will find 
them very delightful. 
A short walk through the quaint, narrow streets 
brings us to the Rathhaus Platz. This is a very 
picturesque place; the Cathedral is at one end, and 
the curious old Rathhaus, or State House, at the 
side, with a colossal statue just in front, that adds 
not a little to the picturesque, old-world, and 
thoroughly German appearance of the square. A 
very effective view of this fine old building may be 
taken from the opposite side of the square, from a 
sort of raised stoop in front of the shops; and 
another one from the extreme left-hand side of the 
Cathedral, opposite the Exchange. This view will 
give the end of the Rathhaus, with the principal 
(acade nicely foreshortened, and a glimpse down the 
street leading from the square to the Church of St. 
Ausgarius, the tower of which makes a pretty bit of 
distance in the picture. If the front of the Rath- 
haus is attempted, it should be done before noOn, 
and care taken to choose a time when there is no 
market being held in the square. The farmers put 
up umbrellas, and have heaps of stuff of all sorts 
littering up the pavement, and it makes a very poor 
foreground for such a fine specimen of ancient 
German architecture. Permission from the town 
authorities could doubtless be obtained to make 
views of the great hall on the second fioor of the 
building. However this may be, the visitor should 
by no means neglect to visit the cellar of the build- 
ing. The Bremen Rathskeller is famous for its 
great wine casks, second in antiquity and capacity 
only to the great tun at Heidelberg. The cellar is 
used as a restaurant, and the great casks are shown 
on payment of a small fee. 
The Cathedral is rather a plain structure, com- 
pared to many of the continental churches, but it 
has an imposing appearance on the square; and a 
visit to the crypt, where the air is so dry that bodies 
are said to keep indefinitely without decomposition, 
will repay the curious. 
The country around Bremen has numerous 
features in common with Holland, although the 
ground does not lie quite so low. To put a photo- 
graphic meaning to this expression, let me say that 
there is absolutely nothing to take, save here and 
there a thatched barn with its cross-timbers, and an 
occasional windmill. These windmills, however, 
are fi-equently very picturesque, and some of the 
larger ones quite imposing. A good-specimen will 
well be worth an exposure. The question might 
arise, whether to take it while at rest, or to try an 
instantaneous exposure while the huge arms were 
rapidly turning. I must leave this to the amateur 
to decide for himself, merely hinting that the latter 
will require a very quick shutter and a quick plate. 
These mills, even when quiet, . are picturesque 
objects; and a nice, sharp negative, with the expos- 
ure well timed, and a sky with clouds back of the 
arms, relieving their delicate wood-work, will be a 
very pretty addition to the stock of negatives. 
My route led me from Bremen to Dresden, via 
Leipzig. Those who may follow in this track will 
find much to interest them in a city like Leipzig, in 
an historical point of view, and some fine modern 
buildings to photograph. The new Book Exchange 
makes a very fine picture, and there are numerous 
private houses that are beautiful enough to devote a 
plate or two to. There are but few ancient build- 
ings of any interest here. 
In Dresden, there are plenty oC subjects. The 
Russian Chapel is a beautiful specimen of its class, 
and makes a very effective photograph, as I can say 
from my own experience. The various churches, 
also, are picturesque, and may be conveniently 
photographed, owing to there being plenty of space 
around them. None but those who have experi- 
enced the difficulties of getting good photographic 
views of buildings when obliged to work "close-on," 
as it is tecjinically termed, can fully appreciate the 
value of these open spaces. 
A few days' work in Dresden, and I was obliged to 
leave for the charming old town of Nuremberg, of 
which I will speak in my next. 
PRACTICAL PHOTOGRAPHIC POINTS. 
Sulphite of Soda in Developing. — Having 
found on analysis that numerous .samples of sul- 
phite of soda, sold as chemically pure, contained 
carbonate of soda, I have worked with a specially 
prepared sample, absolutely free from carbonate. 
One hundred c. cm. of a 25 per cent, solution of 
this salt, with 1% grammes of Pyro. added, devel- 
oped the picture under normal conditions (.'), more 
slowly, indeed, than the commercial salt, or than a 
bath to which carbonate of soda had been added ; 
by allowing time, the required density is obtained. 
The fog appearing on under-exposed and over- 
developed plates is not seen when using this 
developer. Plates exposed in the worst possible 
light have been left soaking in this developer for 
from eight to nine hours w;ithout veiling or frilling. 
The solution may be used repeatediv, and in well- 
corked bottles will keep for a long time. I have 
kept a bath for five months in which eight to ten 
plates had been developed ; there was hardly any 
discoloration, and it worked as well as a fresh solu- 
tion. After many trials, I have come to the conclu- 
sion that the above conditions are the best, and that 
carbonate of soda should only be added when the 
development proceeds too slowly. — P.\UL Poire, in 
Annals of the French Academy of Sciences. 
We have frequently in these columns deprecated 
the use of ruby light in the developing-rooni, on 
account of tli£ strain upon the eyesight. Every 
now and then we find ourselves supported in this 
view by the experience of some operator of ability, 
or even of world-wide fame. An article in the 
Archiv, describing the studio of Schaarwachter, in 
Berlin, says: "In the dark-rooms the work is not 
done>by ruby light, but by a combination of green, 
orange, and opal glass, which admits a light almost 
white. It not only saves the eyes, but makes it 
much easier to observe and control the develop- 
ment." 
Those of our readers who are old-fashioned 
enough to possess a rolling-press for prints, will be 
pleased to know that it has been recommended as a 
speciallv valuable form of physical exercise by high 
medical authorities. They declare that there is no 
class of machines, in the use of which an equal 
amount of bodily exerci.se can be expended in a 
given time without over-fatigue, to compare with 
those worked by a winch, or — what amounts to the 
same thing — by the turning of a large wheel by a 
handle. The theory is, that the whole muscular 
system is brought into play, but particularly those 
portions about the hips, the spine, and the arms. 
