624 
PROVINCIAL TRANSACTIONS. 
LIVERPOOL CHEMISTS’ ASSOCIATION. 
The Thirteenth General Meeting was held at the Royal Institution, April 21st, 1864 ; 
the President, J. Shaw, Esq., in the chair. 
Several donations to the Library and Museum were announced, and Mr. J. Glover 
read the following paper on “ Photography as an Incentive to the Study of 
Chemistry—Much has been said and written upon the artistic bearings of pho¬ 
tography, in which some of the votaries of high art have endeavoured to shade its 
lustre by pointing to its followers as men of baths, chemicals, and mechanical science. 
I am rejoiced to say, however, the claims of photography as a handmaid to art are being 
ably discussed, and are becoming partially recognized. I trust the day is not far dis¬ 
tant when she will hold the high position as an art-science which she honourably 
deserves. 
It is not, however, my intention this evening to enter upon any of these questions, 
but rather to discuss photography as an interesting branch of chemical science; one 
well calculated to engage the attention of the associates, as it places before them in a 
tangible form a large meed of reward for labour well spent. 
To those who are engaged in the laboratory, pursuing the study of chemistry as a 
chosen profession, by which they have determined, as youthful aspirants, to make head¬ 
way in the world, and whose hearts and souls are fully engaged in the object contem¬ 
plated, I now address myself. Let me fancy for a moment one of these young men 
just commencing his studies in the direction 1 have described—for instance, during his 
first attempt at crystallization. How carefully does he watch the ebullition of the eva¬ 
porating dish, and when his solution arrives at the specific gravity required, with what 
impatience does he await the cooling of the liquid, and with what eagerness he observes 
the formation of the salt. But the great feature of all to him is the gathering of that 
first crop of crystals, which, in his estimation, are the most beautiful forms he has ever 
beheld. 
Just so is it as we advance in chemical research. It is the results which repay all our 
efforts, and it is in proportion to the importance of those results that we experience de¬ 
light. Now in photography we have a combination of important and most interesting 
chemical manipulations, many of them of a complicated and delicate nature; food 
for the most enthusiastic chemist, and ground over which, although thousands have 
trodden, there is much hidden treasure; and much honoured will those men be who suc¬ 
ceed with the ploughshare of truth in bringing those hidden treasures to light. 
It is a great and indisputable fact, that some of the most important points in connec¬ 
tion with this art are but vaguely understood. I am grieved, on account of the interests 
of science, that this should be so ; but I am glad for your sakes, and for that of explorers 
generally, that the case stands as it does. Still, I would not have you suppose that 
there are no men of eminence employed in these investigations, for, all honour to them, 
we boast of having engaged the attention and anxious thought of many of the first 
chemists of our day, both in this and other lands; but still there are many conflicting 
theories, and much that is surrounded with mystery. 
“ The race is not always to the swift, nor the battle to the strong.” It is not always 
the most advanced in any branch of information that secure the golden fruit. Those 
who have been considered comparatively illiterate in scientific knowledge, have some¬ 
times been able to confound the wise; so that, unlike the phantom search for the “ phi¬ 
losopher’s stone,” there is at least hope for every one that success shall crown his efforts, 
who gives his attention to the advancement of any particular branch of inquiry. 
Following out our primary idea, which I am most anxious to enforce upon your at¬ 
tention, that in proportion to the magnitude of our results is our satisfaction increased, 
allow me to expatiate on the peculiar advantages offered by photography in this respect. 
There is not only the honour of probable success in our exploration after truth, but 
in every photographic experiment we have something in the photograph itself which 
repays us tenfold for our toil. What is more beautiful to contemplate than one of 
Nature’s truthful sun-pictures, when the various operations by which it has been pro¬ 
duced have been carried out in a satisfactory manner, coupled with the knowledge that 
