magazine of Science and art. 
55 
PHOTOGRAPHY.; 
We extract, from a recent number of the Photogra- 
)hic Society of England, a portion of the address de- 
ivered by the President, Sir F. Pol loch, Lord Chief 
Baron, at the annual meeting, held Feb. 5, 1857. In 
allusion to the process of Photography, to which we 
directed attention in June last, the Chief Baron makes 
some admirable suggestions, the value of which will be 
more highly estimated here than in England. Banished 
as we are from the realms of art, this wonderful pro¬ 
cess bids fair to cnablo us to behold its master-pieces 
collected from the galleries of the Louvre, of Italy, of 
Dresden, and of Munich, not reproduced by the uncer¬ 
tain hand of the engraver, but by the unerring pencil 
of the sun’s rays. The Chief Baron says— 
“I cannot avoid noticing, too, one*fact, which has 
struck my own mind. I believe few persons are una¬ 
ware, that by the combination of photography and the 
electrotype process, curious and very interesting sub¬ 
jects are presented to the public, by which the art of 
engraving is, in some measure, superseded by photogra¬ 
phic efforts, combined with the electro-galvanic battery. 
I allude to the process discovered by Mr. Pretsch. it 
is discovered that gelatine treated by a certain process, 
and exposed to the light, has the thickness of its surface 
so affected, that if yon could convert the substance into 
a plate of copper in its then form, it would be compe¬ 
tent to print upon paper. As that is not the case, a cast 
of it is taken by gutta percha, and then by the electro¬ 
type process the cast of gutta percha is taken on copper, 
and thus you get on copper that which is a substitute 
for the original substance. There is no doubt some 
assistance is necessary' from an engraver, but with very 
little assistance you can obtain a copper-plate capable of 
printing. Of course the copper is in its purest, and, 
therefore, in a very soft state, but commercially the 
effect is, that you can produce au engraving having all 
the spirit and character of the original.” 
As an instance of the rapid progress that the art of 
Photography is making in England, we may mention 
that a class for the study of the art has been formed in 
the King’s College, Tiondon, under Mr. llardwich, as 
lecturer. The report of the Photographic Society as¬ 
serts—“ that this recognition of photography as one of 
the educational wants of the time is most significant, 
and must be hailed with satisfaction by every lover of 
the art.” 
SANITARY* REFORM OF TOWNS AND 
CITIES. 
Bt Dr. Bland. 
(Continued from last Month) 
The materials for the carrying out of this last 
series of sanitary improvements, are not only ample 
but of the utmost readiness of access as well as ap¬ 
plication—in fact, on the spot, both the best kind of 
stone for constructing the massive faeoments, steps, 
or for any other similar purposes, as well as an 
abundance of fragments of rock, and debris, and 
earth, for filling up the basin, and this exclusive of 
the almost inexhaustible amount of material of the 
hestdescription, for the same purpose, derivable 
from the Sand-hills, stretching along its southern 
border, hitherto complained of as u mischievous 
nuisance, and which in the above operation, might 
perhaps have been completely “ used up,” or as 
much so, as might have been deemed desirable, “ in 
the carrying of it out.” 
Next would come, “ Farm Cove, ” in the 
“ Domain,’’ tho head and side shores of which call 
loudly for the *' dredge,” and, with this, the water¬ 
line platform, broad, though not so broad as that at 
Itushcutteror U'oolloomooioo, but protected with a 
similar massive stone facing, and furnished with the 
low steps before described, descending towards the 
water, or itself forming a continuous line of steps 
along its entire length, arid this again surmounted 
with a plateau or terrace; in this instance, from the 
comparative lowness of the contiguous surface, per¬ 
haps notmorc than some 14 or 16 feet in height, and 
possibly about 40 or 50 feet broad. The whole of 
this portion of tho gardens, at least as far upwards 
as the present wall (which perhaps it would be well 
to replace with a Eomowhat more eligible contri¬ 
vance,) with perhaps some extent of the lower por¬ 
tion of the inner gardens, themselves being raised 
also in due proportion. This space might thus have 
formed, for its extent, one of the most exquisite pe¬ 
destrian promenades in the universe. On tho land 
side profusely adorned with beds of rare and beau¬ 
tiful plants, and on the water side, illuminated, for 
the most part, by the brilliant waters of the Cove, 
the air from which no longer, as hitherto, loaded 
with mephitic vapours, reekuig from daily accumu¬ 
lating masses of pollution, would have imparted 
wherever practicable, the reality, as well as the feel¬ 
ing, of health and strength; while tho entire Cove, 
by merely flinging across its embouchure, the pro¬ 
tective fine© already descrioed, would have formed 
a hath of magnificent dimensions, the head of the 
Cove, as usual, being reserved for the sex—tho 
Cove itself for swimmers, where the most salutary, 
and, in a climate like ours, most desirable of all 
gymnastics might, at due times, and under other duo 
regulations, have been indulged in, to any desirable 
extent, in waters, as at Rushcutter and Woolloo- 
mooloo, incessantly renewed by tho operation of the 
tides. 
Baths, such as the above, if health bo a blessing, 
surely are well worthy of intense national concern, 
and the provident attention and care of a wise and 
paternal Government 1 
Sydney Cove, in due order, comes next. Here, 
some years since, the main alterations would have 
consisted of the clearing out of the head of the Cove 
and the contiguous shores, and thus restoring this 
Cove to its original depth, and general dimensions, 
such as thev were when the Colony was first settled, 
when vessels could come up and unload, where there 
is now dryland—while the extensive water frontages 
now almost exclusively private property, might, and 
doubtless ought, the whole of them, to have been re¬ 
tained as public reserves in perpetuity, convertible 
from time to time, as called for, into public quays 
or wharves, capable of almost unlimited extension, 
stretching by degrees, always somewhat in advanco 
of the public demand, along the entire margin of 
every Cove or Bay, found fit, or that could bo spared, 
for such purposes. 
As a sanitary measure this would have been of 
high importance, by not only preserving to the City 
a means of securing the full play of a free current 
of pure air, Iroin a great variety of directions, unin¬ 
terrupted by walls or other enclosures ; but by its 
creating an endless scries of broad, healthy prome¬ 
nades, well suited for the use of the rapidly increas¬ 
ing masses of our population, especially on Sundays 
and holidays, where all ages might congregate for 
tho enjoyment, not only of the fresh air, but a due 
proportion of pedestrian exercise, and that, perhaps 
in most instances, close to their own doors. 
The Circular Quay, built throughout of solid ma¬ 
sonry, raised perhaps somewhat above its present 
level, and no where less than about 100 feet in 
breadth, would then have formed a fitting com¬ 
mencement to this extensive, broad, waterline-ro.id, 
furm'shed as from time to time required, with their 
due proportion of well constructed public stores. 
While on this subject, 1 cannot but notice a prac¬ 
tice too prevalent hitherto,—that of alienating to 
individuals tho greater portion, if not the whole, of 
the most important sites in the City, and its environs 
—so much so, indeed, that scarcely a foot of ground 
within the precincts of this City and its purlieus 
