It is perhaps to the botanist that photography appeals, if 

 possible, even more than to the entomologist. What more 

 beautiful results from an artistic, and useful from a scientific 

 point of view, can be imagined than a really good collection 

 of well-executed photographs showing our wild flowers in 

 their natural surroundings? I remember at the Royal 

 Photographic Society's exhibition having seen groups and 

 collections of flowers, such as I venture to say for truthful 

 and artistic rendering could not be surpassed, and the effect 

 produced when exhibited on the screen was most admirable. 

 There is one department in the study of botany which is 

 worthy of more attention than has hitherto been accorded 

 it, and that is the photography of the commoner British 

 trees. There is room for much useful work in this direction 

 in representing these at their flowering and fruiting stages, 

 especially these latter in detail. 



It is unnecessary for me to further enlarge upon the 

 advantages of photography in the other branches of natural 

 science which more immediately concern us, such as in 

 geology and zoology generally ; its good services to these 

 sciences are sufficiently obvious. 



The introduction of ortho- or isochromatic plates some 

 few years ago was a discovery of great value to the naturalist 

 photographer amongst others. They have placed in his 

 hands the power of rendering colours in their proper order 

 of gradation in monochrome, or in other words, representing 

 colour as truthfully as is possible in black and white. It is 

 a matter of common knowledge that prior to their intro- 

 duction the blues were represented as more or less white, 

 whilst the yellows and reds were distinctly darker in shade 

 than is seen in nature. In some special cases where the 

 desired result is more difficult of attainment, or when some 

 unusual difficulty crops up, the use of a colour screen 

 between the sensitive plate and the object may be neces- 

 sary, but, generally speaking, such cases are not of frequent 

 occurrence. The employment of isochromatic plates has 

 now become so general, and their advantages over the 

 ordinary or uncorrected plate so universally recognised, that 

 there is no doubt whatever in my mind that in every subject 

 and in all kinds of photographic work their use is not only 

 beneficial, but in many cases indispensable. It must be 

 borne in mind, too, that the conditions attending their use 

 are identical with those of ordinary plates, with the single 

 exception of the necessity for greater care in the dark room 

 as to the exclusion of yellow or bright red rays of light. 



