go Photographic Notes. 
constant presence of zickel combined with it; and yet when we 
endeavour to produce an alloy of nickel and iron we get nothing 
that resembles a meteorite. It is evident that a great mystery still 
underlies these wonderful natural productions, and that we must 
look to chemistry in order to solve it.—J/on. Mag. Pharmacy. 
A Blizzard. 
A blizzard means something as nearly as possible like the sand- 
storm of the desert, with pulverised ice in the place of sand, and 
a temperature as many degrees below freezing as the other marks 
above. At the same time there is a tremendous wind velocity, 
equal to that of the most violent gales of the stormy season at 
sea. The details of the late visitation in the United States may 
be used to illustrate the ‘‘simoom ” of Old Testament Scripture, 
the possible cause of the destruction of Sennacherib’s host ; for 
the British Medical Journal points out that ‘death is not due to 
the cold, but to suffocation; the unparalleled suddenness and extent 
of the fall of temperature converted the snow into ice-crystals, 
which were ground by the gale to a fine, dry ice-dust, and the air 
was then rendered quite unfit for respiration,” as it is when filled 
with fine sand, in the dreaded storms of the Sahara.—Swn. Sch. 
Chronicle. 
Photographic Notes. 
New Chemicals.—Photography, which during the last five-and- 
twenty years has introduced a considerable number of new 
chemicals into the market, has not yet had all its demands satisfied 
in this respect. We glean from the Jontteur de la Photographie 
that hydroguinon has now become a recognised agent for the 
development of gelatine-bromide plates in France, as in this 
country and in America. The gradual production of the image 
is thus made to occupy the space of half-an-hour, the details 
coming out with great beauty, and the shadows being very trans- 
parent. Another new chemical, which has lately been somewhat 
extensively used in photographic development, is the bisulphite of 
potash, which appears to possess certain advantages over the 
corresponding soda-salt hitherto used. |The moderate price of 
Magnesium, due principally to its use in photography, enables the 
photographer to obtain portraits at night with the greatest of ease ; 
the guests at balls and festivals are thus taken in evening costume, 
