340 
POPULAR SCIENCE REVIEW. 
osities and works of art in metal dispersed in tlie public and private museums 
of various nations, and with this end in view appeals to the owners and 
guardians of such collections, and those who have negatives of the required 
description, to render him assistance. In photographic portraiture, by uni- 
versal consent, the French stand prominently foremost, so much so that as 
the Times says u amongst those articles which are specially called articles 
de Paris , a good photographic portrait is now to be placed.” In the English 
department we miss most of our foremost photographers, amongst them Air. 
0. Gr. Reglandes, Air. T. R. Williams, and but too many others. Air. Alayall, 
AI. Claudet, Lock and Whitfield, Ross and other of our chief portraitists 
exhibit largely, but all show but weak and mean when contrasted with 
their rival portraitists as represented in the French collection. As landscapists 
English photographers, like English painters, carry off the palm. Why 
landscapes by English operators so far surpass others we cannot explain, but 
no one with any artistic taste or j udgment, would hesitate to attribute the 
superiority of the French portraits purely and simply to a more refined taste 
and greater knowledge of pictorial science in their producers. The English 
photographs display little merit beyond such as belongs exclusively to the 
skilful management of good tools, while the French photographers are 
evidently, as a rule, artists studying such things as lighting, posing and 
arranging, exposing and developing with considerable artistic knowledge 
and preconceived design, the former with a view to putting a picture before 
the lens, and the latter with a view to its faithful reproduction in the 
operating room. Two of the great secrets of their greater success will, we 
believe, be found to reside in the much longer exposures they give their 
plates in the camera and in the use of a developer not so rapid in its action 
as to escape control during development. The great cry in England has 
been* for short exposures and powerful developers, things which war against 
the subtle delicacies of gradations from light to dark, and from darks into 
reflected lights, which constitute one^ of the most special and striking pecu- 
liarities of the best French portraits. Refer back to past volumes of the 
English photographic journals and this craving for extraordinary rapidity 
coupled with frequent mention of the extraordinary long exposures given 
on the continent, where the light is more powerful and the atmosphere more 
pure, will be found. You will also perceive that while articles tending 
directly and indirectly to give mechanical manipulation and good tools all 
the credit of increased success crowd their pages to a wearying degree of 
sameness and repetition, papers of a truly art-educational character are 
extremely rare, in consequence, we have been informed, of the little real 
appreciation they meet with from English photographic students. Hence 
probably the inartistic and tasteless character displayed by their photographs 
when contrasted with those of our more artistic and tasteful neighbours. 
The Due de Luynes Prize . — In 1859 the French Photographic Society distri- 
buted the sum of 2,000 francs as prizes for the best researches in producing 
unalterable photographs, and as part of the sum of 10,000 francs devoted to that 
purpose by the Due de Luynes. The society then fixed upon the 1st of April, 
1864, for the further award of the remaining sum. The decision of the 
jury was however postponed and the decision announced on the 5th of last 
April awarded the 8,000 francs to AI. Poitevin for his photo-lithographic 
process published in 1855. According to this decision all the claims made 
