June 1, 1886.] 



♦ KNO^A^LEDGE ♦ 



251 



which, under the old condition of things, would remain 

 inaccessible to the photographer unless he were accompanied 

 by a retinue of porters. 



It is evident that the time has gone by when critics 

 could turn from the work of amateur photographers with 

 a sneering word, and we may feel sure that John Leech's 

 inimitable satires in this direction would, if published now, 

 entirely lose their point. With opportunities of " taking " 

 all kinds of different subjects, with means and leisure to 

 search the world over for unfamiliar scenes and curious 

 character-studies, the amateur worker has many advan- 

 tages over his professional brother, who is bound to consider 

 the bread and butter side of the art before everything else. 

 If there be any who hold that this fashionable hobby of 

 photography is a disadvantage to those who are professional 

 workers, let them remember for a moment that it is those 

 very amateurs whom they blame to whom the credit is due 

 of bringing the art to its present perfection. Ten or twelve 

 years ago, while the professionals were busy making their 

 living, and in numerous cases a very good living, too, by 

 taking portraits by the old collodion process, there was a 

 handful of amateur workers who wei-e spending their time and 

 money in experimenting. They wereanxiousto simplify photo- 

 grapliic manipulations by preparing the chemical film as a dry 

 surface, so that wet plates, collodion, and all their attendant 

 messes might be superseded. Gradually it leaked out that 

 these workers were elaborating new methods of procediu-e. 

 At first they might be counted on the fingers ; then they 

 increased by tens and twenties. In the meantime the pro- 

 fessionals laughed at these eiibrts, and said that the new 

 methods were toys — all verj' well for amateurs, but which 

 could never oust the old well- tried wet-plate process. Sud- 

 denly working details of gelatine plate-making were pub- 

 lished, and pictures were produced which showed theii' mar- 

 vellous capabilities. The pi'ofessionals at last woke up from 

 their sleep of fancied secuiity, and now every worker in the 

 kingdom puts his trust in the once despised gelatine plates, 

 which owe their origin to the equally despised amateurs. 



To return to the Bond Street Exhibition, we note that 

 the majority of the pictures shown naturally consisted of 

 landscape studies, for such subjects abound on every hand. 

 Next, there were bright little peeps into that happy home- 

 life which is no less characteristic of old England than are 

 its shady lanes, its breezy downs, and its chalky cliffs. 

 But beyond these there were pictures which were of pecu- 

 liar interest as being valuable from a scientific point of 

 view. We have already noticed the truthful representa- 

 tion of a lightning flash. Many other natural phenomena 

 can be far more readily pictured by King Sol, as was 

 proved by many of the subjects in this collection. A 

 geologist could trace out in more than one of them the 

 old, old story told by the rocks. Here a beautiful example 

 of stratification; there a mass of basalt, crystallised ages 

 ago, from a heaving molten mass into beautiful hexagonal 

 pillars; here, again, some isolated rock masses which, in a 

 far-off period, have been pushed from theii' bed by the 

 action of ice. But here, too, are glaciers in actual opera- 

 tion. In some most perfect photographs by ]Mr. Muller 

 (scenes in the Engadine) we can trace the very life 

 history of a glacier, from its first advent as fleecy 

 snow, then its gradual descent — a sea of ice — down 

 a winding valley ; and lastly, we can discern in its melting 

 foot the source of some mighty river. In another picture 

 is seen the gradual advance of a storm cloud over a moun- 

 tain top, which presently will expend its fury upon every- 

 thing around, including the luckless photographer who dared 

 its wrath. Close by, as a contrast, is a scene full of sunlit 

 tranquillity — an orange-gi'ove in Florida, with the luscious 

 fruit as thick upon the trees as apples in an English 



orchard. Here, too, is a collection of flints from Kent's 

 cavern (Torquay) which would delight the heart of Mr. 

 Pengelley. Lastly, let us notice some exquisite examples 

 of photo-micrography, an application of the art which has 

 recently been much developed, and which threatens to 

 supersede altogether the tedious, elaborate, but less accurate 

 work hitherto done by the cameia lucida. 



^^ e have said enough to indiaite that amateur photogiaphy 

 is no passing tkshion which will presently, like a new bonnet, 

 give ])lace to some fresh caprice. It is an occupation which 

 many take up with far more serious meaning than they 

 would a mere pastime. In good hands it represents a 

 valuable educational aid, from the necessary elementary 

 knowledge of chemistry which it forces so pleasantly upon 

 the attention of its votaries, to the study of Nature in her 

 varied aspects, a study which, to those who strive to learn, 

 is one of the highest privileges which this beautiful world 

 confers upon mankind. 



It would not be tair to close our remarks without acknow- 

 ledging the generosity of the London Stereoscopic and 

 Photographic Company in inaugurating this their second 

 exhibition of the works of amateurs. We have all the more 

 pleasure in doing so because the profits of the undertaking 

 are devoted to a most deserving charity. 



SOMETHING ABOUT THE ELEPHANT. 



CERTAIN dear old book says about the 

 lordship of man over creation, " And the 

 fear of you and the dread of you shall be 

 upon every beast of the earth "... "and a 

 little child shall lead them." 



Nowhere is the truth of these sentences 

 more distinctly seen than in the contact of 

 man with the elephant, nor more mar- 

 vellously than in the tacit subjection of its enormous mass 

 and power to the tap of a child. Many a time have I seen, 

 and with amazement, the huge animal following the lead of 

 a mere mite whose only guiding was pressure with its palin 

 on the great swaying trunk, the faintest hostile move of 

 which would have yielded momentum sufficient to have 

 destroyed the child. 



Mark this mahout mounting his elephant by its trunk ; 

 seizing the tips of its ears, he places his feet on the trunk, 

 and the dear animal at once lifts it and him upwards, und 

 thus the mahout gains his seat upon its neck. It i> 

 remarkable to see this, inasmuch as the life of the dri\ ■ r 

 is wholly at the mercy of the elephant, who can easily 

 with the faintest move of his trunk pay oflf any old grudi;.- 

 against him. 



It is remarkable to see this great animal in motion. A- 

 with the whale, so with the elephant — bulk does not add 

 clumsiness to movement, but the reverse; you will see tlif 

 elephant progressing silently, and apparently picking liis 

 steps, for each great foot is put down leisurely, not at hiip- 

 hazard. Unlike other animals, he can never get out of a \\ al I: . 

 but he can walk very fast when excited, perhaps six miles 

 an hour. ' 



Some years ago an enraged elephant was able to overt.il • 

 and kill his grasscutter, and this on a fail- and open phun 

 where .speed was in favour of the man, but of course he lunl 

 not the endurance of the elephant. 



Apropos of the silent progi-ess of the elephant, it i 

 marvellous how he can, in his wild state, move through lii 

 native forest without being heard ; nay, you may actually I n 

 beside him, yet be not aware of his presence. 



The elephant seems a link with a lost fauna, for all rou: I 



