SCIENCE- GOSSIP. 



CONDUCTED BY E. FOULKES-WINKS. 



[We have the plea=ure to announce that Mr. 

 B. Foulkes-Winks has kindly undertaken the post 

 of honorary departmental editor for Photography 

 in "Science-Gossip." He is a gentleman of great 

 experience in every section of the art, so that our 

 readers may expect to gain much instruction from 

 his columns. Mr. Foulkes-Winks will shortly com- 

 mence a series of articles on Photography, dealing 

 with the subject from taking the negative, and 

 gradually leading up to the finished print. He 

 will also from time to time give particulars of new 

 apparatus, and any interesting feature that may be 

 of value to our readers working at scientific or 

 artistic photography. — Ed. S.-G.] 



The Eoyal Photographic Society.— The 

 most interesting item at present in the photo- 

 graphic world is undoubtedly the annual exhibi- 

 tion of the Royal Photographic Society at the New 

 Gallery in Regent Street. The exhibition was 

 opened to the public on October 1st, and will 

 remain open until November 3rd. The annual 

 soiree was held on September 29th, when there 

 was a large gathering of the members and their 

 friends, who were cordially received by the Pre- 

 sident of the Society, assisted by the members of 

 the Committee. The exhibition is a distinct ad- 

 vance on all previous shows, and the Society is to 

 be congratulated on the verjr fine and compre- 

 hensive exhibits it has gathered together. In 

 previous years the exhibition was held at the rooms 

 of the Society of Artists in Water Colour in Pall 

 Mall, where every class of work, apparatus, etc., 

 was crowded into one room, and many a good 

 picture was rejected solely for want of space. At 

 the New Gallery there is ample room, and what 

 should be highly appreciated by exhibitors is the 

 fact that there are separate galleries for each class. 

 Thus we have the large centre hall devoted to 

 trade exhibits, and they are very tastefully 

 arranged. Here, on our left, we have an artis- 

 tically arranged stall by Wellington & Ward, with 

 some fine specimens of bromide work. One picture, 

 on rough drawing paper, and toned a w T arm sepia, 

 is especially fine. This firm also shows samples of 

 their new films. Opposite the entrance is the 

 stall of Messrs. Goerz, where are exhibits of 

 very good work done with the Anschutz camera, 

 an interesting album of a series of views showing 

 the manufacture of their lenses ; here also 

 may be seen some very fine stereoscopic views. 

 The London Stereoscopic Company have a stall on 

 which most of the firm's specialities can be seen. 

 Specimens of work in lenses, cameras, etc., are 

 also shown by the well-known firms of Ross, Ltd., 

 Dallmeyer, Ltd., W. Watson & Sons, and Beck & Co., 

 the last-named firm showing their new " Frena " 

 folding camera, a very neat and complete instrument 

 for hand or stand ; and we understand that, in 

 addition to the firm's new Beck-Steinheil lens, 



any other lens can be fitted and the camera used 

 for varying foci. Messrs. Griffin & Co. show the 

 working of their Velox papers, and the Platino- 

 type Company exhibit specimens of platinotype 

 printings on their several grades of paper. Among 

 the many beautiful examples of this work, we would 

 draw special attention to a splendidly executed 

 picture in sepia platinotype by Van Mureke, also 

 the practical demonstrations that take place every 

 evening at 7.30 and 8.30 p.m. Kodak, Ltd., show 

 samples of their various cameras, etc., foremost in 

 interest being their anew "Panoram," which, by the 

 way , has been awarded the gold medal of the 

 Society. This camera is certainly very simple and 

 unique in construction, and no doubt will become 

 very popular as an addition to the photographic 

 outfit, as it is most useful for certain subjects where 

 an ordinary camera would be practically useless. 

 We must not pass on to the Pictorial Section with- 

 out .mentioning the most interesting exhibit of 

 colour work by Messrs. Sanger Shepherd & Co. 



In the Pictorial Section, there is such a wealth 

 of good things that it is impossible to even mention 

 many of the best. The two pictures that have been 

 awarded medals— "The Orchard,"' by W. T. 

 Greatbatch, and "Venice," by Percy Lewis, are 

 undoubtedly amongst the best at the exhibition, 

 but the Judge must have had a most difficult 

 task to decide which were the two best out of 

 some twenty exhibits, all of which are of equal 

 artistic and technical excellence. Amongst these 

 we would class such work as "The Rivetters" and 

 " Warm Work," by John H. Gash ; " The Madonna," 

 by Rudolf Eckemeyer ; " The Water Carrier," by 

 James A. Sinclair; "Clearing the Weeds," by 

 W. Thomas ; " Off to the North," by G. H. Faux'; 

 " In Adell Woods," by Dr. Llewellin Morgan ; and 

 " The Wind Bloweth from the Sea," by James Burn. 

 The predominance of carbon and platinotype this 

 year is a healthy sign, and we sincerely hope these 

 processes will continue to hold their own against 

 all less artistic and less permanent methods; 

 Surely, one would suppose that any negative con- 

 sidered good enough to print from for exhibition 

 purposes would be worth the time and trouble of 

 printing in carbon or platinotype. We would 

 strongly advise all intending exhibitors to select 

 one of these methods for such work. Of course 

 we do not wish to disparage the usefulness of 

 P.O.P. and bromide for home work and quick 

 results. For example, we cannot help regretting 

 that such a subject as " The Wind Bloweth from 

 the Sea " was not finished in a carbon process. 



The scientific, technical, and photo-mechanical 

 exhibits will be found in the gallery of the 

 exhibition, and here the student of science will 

 find many items of interest, even though he is not 

 interested in photography : such, for instance, as 

 photographs of the Great Nebulae in Orion and 

 Andromeda, with other astronomical subjects ; also 

 several frames of zoological subjects are shown, 

 and photographs of flying bullets and exploding 

 shells. There are thermometric and barometric 

 photographic records and photo-micrographs. Then 

 we have examples of some exceedingly fine photo- 

 gravures by Pellissier & Allen. T. & R. Annan & 

 Sons are awarded a medal for some of the finest 

 photogravure reproductions of paintings it has ever 

 been our pleasure to examine ; whilst Rathby, 

 Lawrence & Co. show some beautiful specimens 

 of their three-colour printing. » and the "Joly- 

 McDonough " process is well represented. 



