Notes and Queries, Number 188, June 4, 1853

Practically, I know nothing of photography; but, from my acquaintance with the modern achromatic microscope, I venture to say that photography applied to this instrument will be of no farther use than as an assistant to the draughtsman. A reference to the plates alluded to will show how incompetent it is to produce pictures of microscopic objects: any one who has seen these objects under a good instrument will acknowledge that these specimens give but a very faint idea of what the microscope actually exhibits.

It is unfortunately the case, that the more perfect the instrument, the less adapted it is for producing photographic pictures; for, in those of the latest construction, the aperture of the object-glasses is carried to such an extreme, that the observer is obliged to keep his hand continually on the fine adjustment, in order to accommodate the focus to the different planes in which different parts of the object lie. This is the case even with so low a power as the half-inch object-glasses, those of Messrs. Powell and Lealand being of the enormous aperture of 65°; and if this is the case while looking through the instrument when this disadvantage is somewhat counteracted by the power which the eye has, to a certain degree, of adjusting itself to the object under observation, how much more inconvenient will it be found in endeavouring to focus the whole object at once on the ground glass plate, where such an accommodating power no longer exists. The smaller the aperture of the object-glasses, in reason, the better they will be adapted for photographic purposes.

Again, another peculiarity of the object-glasses of the achromatic microscope gives rise to a farther difficulty; they are over-corrected for colour, the spectrum is reversed, or the violet rays are projected beyond the red: this is in order to meet the requirements of the eye-piece. But with the photographic apparatus the eye-piece is not used, so that, after the object has been brought visually into focus in the camera, a farther adjustment is necessary, in order to focus for the actinic rays, which reside in the violet end of the spectrum. This is effected by withdrawing the object-glass a little from the object, in which operation there is no guide but experience; moreover, the amount of withdrawal differs with each object-glass.

However, the inconvenience caused by this over-chromatic correction may, I think, be remedied by the use of the achromatic condenser in the place of an object-glass; that kind of condenser, at least, which is supplied by the first microscopic makers. I cannot help thinking that this substitution will prove of some service; for, in the first place, the power of the condenser is generally equal to that of a quarter of an inch object-glass, which is perhaps the most generally useful of all the powers; and again, its aperture is, I think, not usually so great as that which an object-glass of the same power would have; and, moreover, as to correction, though it is slightly spherically under-corrected to accommodate the plate-glass under the object, yet the chromatic correction is perfect. The condenser is easily detached from its "fittings," and its application to the camera would be as simple as that of an ordinary object-glass.

However, my conviction remains that, in spite of all that perseverance and science can accomplish, it never will be in the power of the photographer to produce a picture of an object under the microscope, equally distinct in all its parts; and unless his art can effect this, I need scarcely say that his best productions can be but useful auxiliaries to the draughtsman.

I see by an advertisement that the Messrs. Highley supply everything that is necessary for the application of photography to the microscope.

    H. C. K.

—– Rectory, Hereford.

In reply to your correspondent J., I would ask if he has any photographic apparatus? if so, the answer to his question "What extra apparatus is required to a first-rate microscope in order to obtain photographic microscopic pictures?" would be None; but if not, he would require a camera, or else a wooden conical body, with plate-holder, &c., besides the ordinary photographic outfit. Part III. of the Microscopical Journal, published by Highley & Son, Fleet Street, will give him all the information he requires.

φ. (p. 506.) may find a solution of his difficulties regarding the production of stereoscopic pictures, in the following considerations. The object of having two pictures is to present to each eye an image of what it sees in nature; but as the angle subtended by a line, of which the pupils of the eyes form the extremities, must differ for every distance, and for objects of varying sizes, it follows there is no absolute rule that can be laid down as the only correct one. For distant views there is in nature scarcely any stereoscopic effect; and in a photographic stereoscopic view the effect produced is not really a representation to the eye of the view itself, but of a model of such view; and the apparent size of the model will vary with the angle of incidence of the two pictures, being smaller and nearer as the angle increases. I believe Professor Wheatstone recommends for landscapes 1 in 25, or about half an inch to every foot.

    Geo. Shadbolt.

Cement for Glass Baths.—In reply to numerous inquiries which have appeared in "N. & Q." relative to a good cement for making glass baths for photographic purposes, I send a recipe which I copied a year or two ago from some newspaper, and which seems likely to answer the purpose: I have not tried it myself, not being a photographer.

Caoutchouc 15 grains, chloroform 2 ounces, mastic ½ an ounce. The two first-named ingredients are to be mixed first, and after the gum is dissolved, the mastic is to be added, and the whole allowed to macerate for a week. When great elasticity is desirable, more caoutchouc may be added. This cement is perfectly transparent, and is to be applied with a brush cold.

    H. C. K.

—– Rectory, Hereford.

Mr. Lyte's Mode of Printing.—All persons who have experienced disappointment in the printing of their positive pictures will feel obliged by Mr. Lyte's suggestion as to the bath; but as the preparation of the positive paper has also a great deal to say to the ultimate result, Mr. Lyte would confer an additional obligation if he gave the treatment he adopts for this.

I have observed that the negative collodion picture exercises a good deal of influence on the ultimate colour of the positive, and that different collodion negatives will give different results in this respect, when the paper and treatment with each has been precisely the same. Does this correspond with other persons' experience?

    C. E. F.

Replies to Minor Queries

Eulenspiegel or Ulenspiegel (Vol. vii., pp. 357. 416. 507.).—Mr. Thoms's suggestion, and his quotation in proof thereof from the Chronicler, are farther verified by the following inscription and verses which I transcribe from an engraved portrait of the famous jester:

"Ulenspiegel

"Ligt Begraben zu Dom in Flandern in der grosen Kirch, auf dem Grabister also Likend abgebildet. Starb A

. 1301."

These lines are above the portrait, and beneath it are the verses next following:

"Tchau Ulenspiegeln hier. Das Bildniss macht dich lachen:
Was wurdst du thun siehst du jhn selber Possen machen?
Zwar Thÿle ist ein Bild und Spiegel dieser Welt,
Viel Bruder er verliess; Wir treiben Narretheÿen,
In dem uns dunckt, dass wir die grosten Weysen seÿen,
Drum lache deiner selbst; diss Blat dich dir vorstellt."

The portrait, evidently that of a man of large intellect, is very life-like, and full of animation. He seems to be some fifty years of age or so; he has a cap, ornamented by large feather, on his head. He is seated in a chair, has a book in his hand, and is attired in a kind of magisterial robe bordered with fur. There is a good-humoured roguish twinkle in his eyes; and I should be inclined to call him, judging from the portrait before me, an epigrammatist rather than mere vulgar jester. The engraving is beautifully executed: it has neither date nor place of publication, but its age may perhaps be determined by the names of the painter (Paulus Furst) and engraver (P. Troschel). The orthography is by no means of recent date. I cannot translate the verses to my own satisfaction; and should feel much obliged if you, Mr. Editor, or Mr. Thoms, would favour the readers of "N. & Q." with an English version thereof.

    Henry Campkin.

Reform Club.

Lawyers' Bags (Vol. vii., pp. 85. 144.).—Colonel Landman is doubtless correct in his statement as to the colour of barristers' bags; but from the evidence of A Templar and Causidicus, we must place the change from green to red at some period anterior to the trial of Queen Caroline. In Queen Anne's time they were green.

"I am told, Cousin Diego, you are one of those that have undertaken to manage me, and that you have said you will carry a green bag yourself, rather than we shall make an end of our lawsuit: I'll teach them and you too to manage."—The History of John Bull, by Dr. Arbuthnot, Part I. ch. xv.

    T. H. Kersley, B. A.

Audlem, Cheshire.

"Nine Tailors make a Man" (Vol. vi., pp. 390. 563.; Vol. vii., p. 165.).—The origin of this saying is to be sought for elsewhere than in England only. Le Conte de la Villemarqué, in his interesting collection of Breton ballads, Barzas-Breiz, vol. i. p. 35., has the following passage:

"Les tailleurs, cette classe vouée au ridicule, en Bretagne, comme dans le pays de Galles, en Irlande, en Ecosse, en Allemagne et ailleurs, et qui l'était jadis chez toutes les nations guerrières, dont la vie agitée et errante s'accordait mal avec une existence casanière et paisible. Le peuple dit encore de nos jours en Bretagne, qu'il faut neuf tailleurs pour faire un homme, et jamais il ne prononce leur nom, sans ôter son chapeau, et sans dire: 'Sauf votre respect.'"

The saying is current also in Normandy, at least in those parts which border on Britany. Perhaps some of the readers of "N. & Q." may be able to say whether it is to be found in other parts of Europe.

    Honoré de Mareville.

Guernsey.

"Time and I" (Vol. vii., pp. 182. 247.).—Arbuthnot calls it a Spanish proverb. In the History of John Bull, we read among the titles of other imaginary chapters in the "Postscript," that of—

"Ch. XVI. Commentary upon the Spanish Proverb, Time and I against any Two; or Advice to Dogmatical Politicians, exemplified in some New Affairs between John Bull and Lewis Baboon."

    T. H. Kersley, B. A.

Audlem, Cheshire.

Carr Pedigree (Vol. vii., pp. 408. 512.).—W. St. says that William Carr married Elizabeth, daughter of Edward Sing, Bishop of Cork. The name is Synge, not Sing. The family name was originally Millington, and was changed to Synge by Henry VIII. or Queen Elizabeth, on account of the sweetness of the voice of one of the family, who was a clergyman, and the ancestor of George Synge, Bishop of Cloyne; Edward Synge, Bishop of Ross; Edward Synge, Archbishop of Tuam; Edward Synge, Bishop of Leighlin and Ferns; Nicholas Synge, Bishop of Killaloe; the late Sir Samuel Synge Hutchinson, Archdeacon of Killala; and of the present Sir Edward Synge.

I cannot find that any of these church dignitaries had a daughter married to Wm. Carr. Nicholas Synge, Bishop of Killaloe, left a daughter, Elizabeth, who died unmarried in 1834, aged ninety-nine; but I cannot discover that either of the other bishops of that family had a daughter Elizabeth.

    Gulielmus.

Campvere, Privileges of (Vol. vii., pp. 262. 440.).—What were these privileges, and whence was the term derived?

"Veria, quæ et Canfera, vel Campoveria potius dicitur, alterum est inter oppida hujus insulæ, muro et mœnibus clausa, situ quidem ad aquilonem obversa, et in ipso oceani littore: fossam habet, quæ Middelburgum usque extenditur, à quâ urbe leucæ tantum unius, etc.

"Estque oppidulum satis concinnum, et mercimoniis florens, maxime propter commercia navium Scoticarum, quæ in isto potissimum portu stare adsueverunt.