68 
Professor C. Piazzi Smyth had made great use of this plan 
during his investigations at the great pyramid last winter, 
and had kindly allowed a selection of forty of his pictures to 
be exhibited to the members as illustrations. The pictures 
were exhibited by the oxyhydrogen light on the screen, and 
were admirable photographs. They consisted of a series of 
views of the exterior and interior of the tomb of King Shafra, 
recently excavated near the great sphynx. A series of four 
of these, taken to show the correct orientation of one of the 
passages, are very remarkable, having been taken two minutes 
before twelve, twelve o’clock, and two minutes past, true 
astronomical time. Views were also exhibited of the entrance 
to the great pyramid, the socket in which the corner stone 
had rested, also views of the niche in Queen’s Chamber, and 
the mysterious coffer in the so-called King’s Chamber, the 
object of so much interest and speculation. These interior 
views were taken by the aid of the magnesium light, and, 
considering the many difficulties to be overcome, are very 
good photographs. The divisions on the measuring rods 
surrounding the coffer are exceedingly plain, and by the 
application of a pair of compasses a tolerably correct measure- 
ment may be obtained. 
A paper was then read “ On Celestial Photography,” by 
A. Brothers, F.R.A.S. 
The credit of having produced the first photograph of a 
celestial object is generally given to the late Mr. Bond, of 
Cambridge, U.S.; but it appears from a paper by Professor 
H. Draper, of New York, published in April, 1864 , that in 
the year 1840 his father, Dr. J. W. Draper, was the first 
who succeeded in photographing the moon. Dr. Draper 
states that at the time named ( 1840 ), “it was generally 
supposed the moon’s light contained no actinic rays, and was 
entirely without effect on the sensitive silver compounds 
used in Daguerreotyping.” With a telescope of five inches 
