8o 



RECREATION. 



and have carefully studied this photo and 

 story in question. Kindly allow me space 

 in which to say a few words in defense of 

 your correspondent, Mr. Moulthropc. 



Your contributors to the February and 

 March issues seem to put great stress on 

 the question, Why are the shadows there? 

 In consideration of the excellent camera 

 with which Mr. Moulthrope was working 

 is it not probable that the photo was 

 really taken on the instant the sun may 

 have burst through the clouds, as is often 

 the case in a shower, and not exactly when 

 it was quite dark and gloomy? I know 

 from personal experience that I could 

 have, in many instances, taken as bright 

 a photo as this appears to be in quite a 

 downpour of rain at the moment old Sol 

 would burst through the clouds, making 

 everything bright again. I think you will 

 agree with me that the photo was taken 

 under these conditions, although our 

 brother amateur did not give us this im- 

 pression; but perhaps we can understand 

 him more fully if we look back on our 

 own first experiences with a new camera. 

 One of the gentlemen speaks of the total 

 absence of umbrellas. Mr. Moulthrope 

 does not say it was raining when these 

 people left the city for the scene of the 

 disaster, so why should they burden them- 

 selves with things quite unnecessary at 

 the time, and perhaps not to be necessary, 

 although the late comers no doubt carried 

 umbrellas. In a question like this we 

 should all consider one another as brother 

 amateurs, and, recognizing the, general 

 enthusiastic spirit of every amateur pho- 

 tographer, give one another the benefit 

 of the doubt. Again, must we think that, 

 although Mr. Lee does not see several 

 thousand people in the photo, they were 

 not there? Does he think Mr. Moulthrope 

 would attempt to take a photo of the whole 

 wreck on a 4x5 plate, or that this throng of 

 people came out to clamor over the wreck, 

 to be packed around it, and to have their 

 photograph taken? Mr. Moulthrope does 

 not say these kodakers were in front of 

 him. In fact, I imagine they were all on a 

 high embankment, to obtain as fine a 

 view as possible; and no doubt they had 

 taken that position with the thought that, 

 if the sun did happen to shine at any time, 

 they would be in the right place for a 

 good view. 



In regard to their exposing their plates 

 minutes, no doubt Mr. Moulthrope no- 

 ticed some who he though were ex- 

 posing for the photo, but who were in 

 reality only preparing to do so. If I mis- 

 take not, the cars we see in the back- 

 ground belong to a wrecking train. 



Again, Mr. Lee speaks of a freight car 

 "apparently split wide open." In the con- 

 dition we see it before us I for one should 

 not like to say it was not a passenger car.' 



Aside from this, is it not possible there 

 may have been a freight car or 2 in the 

 wreck, although your correspondent calls 

 it an express train? 



I am surprised at Mr. Potter's state- 

 ment that he had never made a good photo 

 with any camera while using the 16 stop 

 and exposing 1/25 second. As I under- 

 stand cameras, the ordinary box camera's 

 shutter works, in the ordinary instan- 

 taneous exposure, at a speed of 1/25 sec- 

 ond; and as to the stop, I have been led 

 to believe that f 16 is one of the most gen- 

 eral and useful stops used. In the face of 

 this I can not understand why this gen- 

 tleman has failed to obtain fair negatives 

 from any of these everyday hand cameras. 



M. W. F. 



PHOTO HINTS. 



J. M. N. 



The amateur photographer is beset on 

 all sides with weights and measures of va- 

 rious systems, one plate or paper manu- 

 facturer giving his formulae in apothe- 

 caries' weights, another in metric terms, 

 and still another advises the use of the 

 hydrometer test. For the benefit of 

 those having no metric weights or meas- 

 ures I give the following table: 



To convert grammes into grains, mul- 

 tiply by ........ 15.5 



To convert grains into grammes, mul- 

 tiply by 0.065 



To convert cubic centimeters into 

 minims, multiply by 16.25 



To convert cubic centimeters into 

 fluid dachms, multiply by .0.26 



To convert cubic centimeters into fluid 

 ounces (avoirdupois), multiply by.. 3.6 



I advise the use of the hydrometer in 

 making up solutions, especially of sodium 

 sulphite and sodium carbonate. When 

 making a solution to get the standard, 

 use only pure fresh crystals. Reject any 

 which have become white and chalky. 

 Then weigh the exact quantity given in 

 the formula you have selected and dis- 

 solve each' salt separately in water. For 

 instance, if your formula says to dissolve 

 6 ounces of sulphite and 4 ounces of car- 

 bonate in 15 ounces of water, dissolve 

 each separately in J 1 /* ounces of water. 

 When entirely dissolved pour out some 

 of the solution into the hydrometer glass, 

 or into a graduate, and carefully make a 

 note of the hydrometer reading in some 

 place convenient for future reference. 

 Then mix your 2 solutions. When next 

 preparing the solutions from some more 

 of the same stock of chemicals you will 

 find that the same weight of the solid dis- 

 solved in the same quantity of water as 

 before will give a much lower hydrometer 

 reading than the first time, due to the 

 deterioration pf the chernicals. It is then 



