414 
POPULAR SCIENCE REVIEW. 
cleared out at a date not earlier than 1847 ; and that, instead of Miss 
Wilkinson disposing of the old camera in ignorance of its use, she had 
herself frequently used it. A lady, it is also stated, remembered Miss 
Wilkinson taking what she called “ sun -pictures” somewhere about 
twenty-eight years ago. And other evidence has been obtained by Mr. 
Smith, which it is said will prove that this lady produced photographs at 
a still earlier period. Moreover, the said long “hermetically” closed 
library appears to have been always in daily use. At the same meeting, 
another early photograph appeared, said to have been taken in Edinburgh 
in 1834. After the publication of these facts, several suggestions and 
statements were advanced in the pages of our various contemporaries. 
A correspondent of the Journal of the Society of Arts , in whom we 
recognize a gentleman well acquainted with the subjects of etching and 
engraving, affirmed that the pictures were really aqua-tint engravings, 
and pointed out as evidence the mark of the plate in the proofs examined, 
&c., accounting for the impressions being removable with rubbing, by 
supposing they were obtained on a surface of gelatine, and that this 
gelatine having perished the impressions were no longer adhesive. Dr. 
Henry Lee, in a letter published in the Illustrated London News said : — 
“ In confirmation of the statement made by the old man formerly in the 
employ of Matthew Boulton, Esq., I very well remember having heard 
from my mother many of the particulars, which leave me no doubt of the 
truth of his statement.” The matter will again be brought before the 
Photographic Society, when it is hoped some more important evidence 
than mere hearsay or assertion will set this matter fairly at rest. 
Exhibition of the London Photographic Society. — It has been definitely 
settled that the next exhibition of the London Photographic Society will 
be held in that very small room in which the pictures of the “ Society of 
Female Artists ” now are, and that it is to remain open during the months 
of May, June, and July. In consequence of the small space which will be 
at the disposal of the Hanging Committee, touched and painted photographs 
are to be excluded. We question the policy of this arrangement. In the 
first place, photographic exhibitions are largely supported by photographers 
whose leisure hours are certainly not found during the bright weather and 
the London season ; and in the next, the most popularly attractive feature 
of photographic exhibitions is the painted portraits of public characters 
and noble personages. The conversation of the visitors at such exhibitions 
has demonstrated this to us veiy clearly upon several occasions, when 
friends, relatives, and admirers sought little beyond the latter productions, 
while the critical remarks upon the untouched photographs were as evi- 
dently those of the art’s amateur or professional practitioners. For the 
months selected outdoor attractions have certainly the better chance of 
success. 
New Process of Photographic Printing. — In Le Moniteur de la Photo- 
graphic M. Liesegang has recently called attention to a process of printing, 
by which that costly material, nitrate of silver, may be abandoned in 
favour of less expensive metals. M. Obernetter, of Munich, is the inventor 
of this process, which is thus described. The plain positive paper is 
floated for two minutes on a bath prepared as follows : — 
