OCT.— mas. 1859-60.] Proceeding, 



359 



were copies of them printed for distribution to Members. Among 

 the rest he instanced a portrait of the late Duke of Wellington as a 

 young man, when he first came to this country before he attained 

 his great celebrity, and a portrait of the Abbe De Bois. 



Mr. Mitchell mentioned that he had lately been engaged in pre- 

 paring Albumenized paper for printing, and he wished to bring to 

 notice certain difficulties he had met with. The chief thing to be 

 avoided in preparing this paper is the formation of streaks, and it 

 has been recommended by some, as the best means of preventing 

 them, to exclude all currents of air in the room in which the papers 

 are hung up to dry. Mr. Mitchell's experience however showed 

 him that more than this is required. He at first prepared his pa- 

 pers by laying them gently and slowly on the surface of the Albu- 

 men, in such a way, as to exclude air bubbles, allowing each to 

 remain about half a minute, and then raising them slowly in the man- 

 ner they are put on. Mr. Mitchell found that mainpulating in this 

 way, even with the greatest care, most of his papers were still spoilt 

 by streaks. It then occurred to him to try the effect of lifting off 

 the papers from the Albumen as quickly as possible, and this prac- 

 tice he found to answer the purpose perfectly, the papers being then 

 smooth and free from streaks. 



Dr. Hunter exhibited to the Meeting a large and varied collec- 

 tion of European Photographs, among which were some fine Land- 

 scapes by Gustave Le Gray, R. Fenton, A. Laurenant, Lamb of 

 Aberdeen and Morghan of Bristol, Views of many of the old Ca- 

 thedrals, Abbeys, and antiquities of England and Scotland. Among 

 these were York Minster, Ely Cathedral, Bolton Abbey, Lincoln 

 Cathedral, Melrose and Roslyn, Kenilworth, and a few other fine 

 ruins. Also a number of Landscape Views in Wales, Aberdeen? 

 Dumbarton, Stirling and the Lothians. A fine series of Botanical 

 Photographs, some of them of a very large size, by Ross and Thom- 

 son, representing chiefly the wild plants and weedy banks of the 

 neighbourhood of Edinburgh. Several pictorial bits of nature very 

 artistically selected by Henry White of London. A few of the prize 

 landscape Photographs by Lyndon Smith, remarkable for the deli- 

 cacy of atmospheric effect ; also an instantaneous picture by Hen- 

 derson, showing very delicate gradations of tint in the sky and fo- 

 liage. It was certified that l-20th of a second was the time of ex- 



