176 



Proceedings. 



[No. 9, NEW SERIES. 



prints of LeGray, Fenton, Bisson freres, and Bingham, the pro- 

 perty of the Society, and procured for the purpose of showing the 

 present state of the Art at home. 



It was also gratifying to observe that the Exhibition of this year 

 excited a much greater degree of general interest than any w r hich 

 has yet taken place in Madras, and during the month it remained 

 open to the public was visited by all classes of the community both 

 European and Native especially on Saturdays afternoon, when the 

 Band of the 2nd Regt. was in attendance by the kind permission of 

 the Officers of that Corps. 



Many circumstances conspire in this country to render the pur- 

 suit of Photographic Art more difficult and less satisfactory than 

 in the more temperate climate of Europe. The intense heat, light, 

 and frequently too in some parts of the country, an atmosphere over- 

 loaded with moisture, form formidable obstacles to the operations of 

 the Photographer in the Tropics. The utmost an amateur can gene- 

 rally accomplish here is to obtain such a picture as the process he 

 may employ affords, for few can give the time, had they even the in- 

 clination to make experiments, and it can hardly be expected under 

 such circumstances, that much original observation and researches 

 in this delightful Scientific Art should be developed. Should Col- 

 lodion be the process he selects ; the Indian Photographer very soon 

 discovers the treacherous nature of the material to which he has to 

 trust, how rapidly it becomes deteriorated in a temperature of 90 Q 

 Fahrenheit, and frequently how uncertain it becomes from day to 

 day as regards the length of exposure required to take a picture 

 whether portrait or landscape. Many kinds of Collodion which are 

 found to answer the purpose perfectly at home prove even on their 

 first arrival in India to be in an unsatisfactory state and decompose 

 so rapidly when iodized as to be next thing to useless. On this ac- 

 count the only resource the Photographer has is to make his own 

 Collodion on the spot from fresh materials, which latter also he 

 finds that in order to ensure success he has himself to prepare, as 

 both Alcohol and Ether as well as gun cotton are too frequently 

 found even when prepared with the greatest care in England to be 

 acid and decomposed, and otherwise unfit for use, on reaching this 

 country. 



