Replies.

ADDISON'S HYMNS.

(Vol. ix., p. 373.)

After the correspondence that took place ("N. & Q.," Vol. v.), I had hoped that Addison would have been left in peaceable possession of those "divine hymns" ascribed to his pen; but this is not to be. A former correspondent, J. G. F., doubted whether they were not composed by Andrew Marvell? This inquiry was, I hope, satisfactorily answered, by myself in the first instance, and afterwards by Mr. Crossley, Vol. v., pp. 513, 548.

In No. 234. a later correspondent, S. M., asks whether the hymn "When rising from the bed of death," which he says is "taken from the chapter on 'Death and Judgment,' in Addison's Evidences of the Christian Religion," was written by Addison or Dr. Isaac Watts? In what edition of the Evidences does S. M. find either the chapter he speaks of, or this hymn? The place which it occupies is in No. 513. of the Spectator. As I have elsewhere stated, Addison was accustomed to throw a little mystery over these poems; and "the excellent man in holy orders," to whom this hymn is attributed, is unquestionably the ideal clergyman, the occasional visitor of the club, spoken of in the second number of the Spectator.

In the letter that accompanies this hymn, the supposed writer says,—

"The indisposition which has long hung upon me, is at last grown to such a head, that it must quickly make an end of me or of itself.... Were I able to dress up several thoughts of a serious nature, which have made great impressions on my mind during a long fit of sickness, they might not be an improper entertainment for one of your Saturday's papers."

What a natural remark from a writer who, Addison tells us, treats divine topics "as one who has no interests in this world, as one who is hastening to the object of all his wishes, and conceives hope from his decays and infirmities!" This sublime paper, or "series of thoughts," stamped with the peculiar beauties and polish of Addison's style, closes with the hymn in question, composed, as the writer says, "during this my sickness."

Watts survived the date of this paper above thirty-five years. Had it been his own composition, would he not have claimed the authorship, and incorporated the hymn amongst his sacred songs?

Let us not, in the pages of "N. & Q." at least, witness farther attempts to misappropriate the writings of one, whose undying fame will be cotemporaneous with the literature of England. Still, in the beautiful language of Addison's friend Tickell, may he in his hymns—

J. H. Markland.

LONGFELLOW.

(Vol. ix., pp. 174. 255.)

A communication from a gentleman, who married into a family of this name, informs me that the Longfellows of Brecon were a branch of a Yorkshire family; and that a portion of more than one family, probably from the same county, are now settled in Kent. My friend has not before had his attention turned to this subject, but he promises farther inquiry.

T. S. N.

Bermondsey.

Why should W. P. Storer suppose that the name of Longfellow originated otherwise than in the lengthy proportions of an ancestor? Surely the well-known surnames, Rufus, Longshanks, Strongbow, are sufficient to warrant us in saying that Longfellow need have nothing to do with Longueville. From what shall we derive the names of Longman, Greathead, Littlejohn, and Tallboy?

John P. Stilwell.

Dorking.

By the kindness of the Registrar-General, I am enabled to point, with some precision, to a few of the localities in which the name of Longfellow exists in this country. Upon reference to the well-arranged indexes in his office, it appears that the deaths of sixty-one persons bearing this name were recorded in the years 1838 to 1852; and of these, fifty occurred in the West Riding of Yorkshire, namely, in Leeds thirty-five; Otley, and its neighbourhood, ten; Selby four, and in Keighley one. The other instances were, in the metropolis seven, and one each in Swansea, Newport (Monmouth), Tewkesbury, and Hastings. More than one third of the males bore the Christian name of William.

It is not probable that the Longfellows are numerous in any part of England: indeed, as we know that of the general population the average annual mortality is 2.2 per cent, the sixty-one deaths in fifteen years, or four deaths yearly, might be supposed to result from about two hundred persons of the name; but inferences of this nature, except when large masses are dealt with, are often very fallacious.

May not the derivation of the name be from long fallow, of the same family as Fallows, Fellowes, Fallowfield, and Langmead, which are not uncommon?

James T. Hammack.

19. St. Mark's Crescent, Regent's Park.

C. H. quotes some lines said to have been written on a window-shutter of the "Golden Lion," Brecon, when a Mr. Longfellow was proprietor, fifty or sixty years ago:

These lines remind me of the following passage of the poet Longfellow's in his Hyperion, which, not to speak of a possible plagiarism, has at least a strange family resemblance:

"If you go to Zurich, beware how you stop at 'The Raven.' I wrote in the travellers' book—

"If you go to 'The Golden Falken' you will find it there. I am the author of those lines—Longfellow."

G. Dymond.

BOOKS BURNT BY THE HANGMAN.

(Vol. ix., pp. 78. 226.)

As the subject is interesting, you will probably permit me to cite a few more examples:—In Geo. Chalmers' Catalogue, "Burnt by the hangman" is appended to a copy of Wm. Thomas' Historie of Italie, 1549; but I do not find this stated elsewhere. The opinions emitted in this work are of a free nature certainly, in respect to the governed and governing powers; but whatever was the fate of his book, I rather think Thomas (who was executed in Mary's reign) suffered for some alleged act of overt treason, and not for publishing seditious books. An Information from the States of the Kingdome of Scotland to the Kingdome of England, showing how they have bin dealt with by His Majesty's Commissioners, 1640: in a proclamation (March 30, 1640) against seditious pamphlets sent from Scotland, this tract was prohibited on account of its containing many most notorious falsehoods, scandals, &c.; it was ordered to be burnt by the common hangman. (Rymer's Fœd., as quoted by Chalmers.)

There is now before me a modern impression of an old cut in two compartments: the upper representing the demolition of the "Crosse in Cheapeside on the 2nd May, 1643;" and the lower a goodly gathering of the public around a bonfire, viewing, with apparent satisfaction, the committal of a book to the flames by the common executioner, with this inscription:

"10th May, the Boocke of Spartes vpon the Lord's Day, was burnt by the hangman in the place where the Crosse stoode, and at (the) Exchange."

That great lover of sights, Master Pepys, notices one of these exhibitions:

"1661, 28th May, with Mr. Shipley," says our gossip, "to the Exchange about business; and there, by Mr. Rawlinson's favour, got into a balcone over against the Exchange, and there saw the hangman burn, by vote of Parliament, two old acts: the one for constituting us a Commonwealth, and the other I have forgot; which still do make me think of the greatness of this late turne, and what people will do to-morrow against what they all, thro' profit or fear, did promise and practise this day."

A note to this passage in the Diary (vol. i. p. 236., 3rd edit.) supplies the defective memory of Pepys, by informing us that the last was an "Act for subscribing the Engagement;" and adds, on the same day there had been burnt by the hangman, at Westminster Hall, the "Act for erecting a High Court of Justice for trying and judging Charles Stuart." They seem to have been just then cleansing out the Augean stable of the Commonwealth: for it is added, "two more acts" were similarly burnt next day.

In A Letter to a Clergyman, relating to his Sermon on the 30th Jan., by a Lover of Truth, 1746, the lay author (one Coade, I believe), inveighing against high churchmen, reminds the preacher that he—

"Was pleased to dress up the principles of the Presbyterians in a frightful shape; but let me tell you, Sir, in my turn, that the principles of your party have been burnt, not by a rude and lawless rabble, but by the common hangman, in broad day-light, before the Royal Exchange in London, and by authority of Parliament. Perhaps," he continues, "you never heard of this contemptuous treatment of the Oxford principles, and therefore I will give it you from the Parliamentary Records:—'Anno Domini 1710. The House of Lords, taking into consideration the judgment and decree of the University of Oxford, passed in their Convocation July 21, 1683,—it was resolved by the Lords Spiritual and Temporal in Parliament assembled, that the said judgment and decree contains in it several positions contrary to the Constitution of this kingdom, and destructive to the Protestant Succession as by law established. And it was thereupon ordered, by the Lords Spiritual and Temporal in Parliament assembled, that the said judgment and decree shall be burnt by the hands of the common hangman before the Royal Exchange, between hours of twelve and one, on Monday the 17th March, in the presence of the Lord Mayor of the City of London,' &c."

Doleman's Conference about the next Succession to the Crown of England, reprinted at N. with licence, in 1681, was, in 1683, condemned by the University of Oxford, and burnt by the common hangman.

In the above examples I have confined myself to those books, &c. only which were expressly consigned to the flames by the hangman. The instances of book-burning where this indignity was either not imposed, or its infliction not recorded, are numerous. Among the curiosities of literature of Elizabeth's reign, were certain books ascribed to a Dutchman, by name Henry Nicholas, translated into English, and probably imported from the Low Countries. This person, imbibing the "damnable heresies" of David George, of Leyden, became the apostle of a sect who styled themselves "The Family of Love," and their fanatical books becoming obnoxious to the dominant party, they were, by proclamation, ordered to be burnt; and, as such manifestations of the royal will usually ran, all persons were held punishable for having them in their possession. (See Herbert's Ames.) As an example of the spiritual power thus dealing with a book, apparently upon its own authority, the following may be offered:—Servetus de Trinitate, &c. (London, 1723.) This edition, which is without name of place or printer, and without date, was printed by Palmer for Osborne the bookseller; but, as soon as completed was seized at the instance of Dr. Gibson, Bishop of London, and burnt, with the exception of a very few copies. (Davis' Journey round the Library, &c.) The last unfortunate book I shall mention is the Metrical Psalms of Dod; which was also, most likely, an episcopal seizure. Mr. Holland, in his Psalmists of Britain, quoting from George Withers' Scholler's Purgatory, says, "Dod the silkman's late ridiculous translation of the Psalms was, by authority, worthily condemned to the fire," and, judging from its extreme scarcity, I should say very few escaped.

J. O.

I have not seen in your list of martyred books the following, in the year A.D. 1684: A Plea for the Nonconformists, by Thomas De Laune, Gentleman. He died in Newgate, during his imprisonment for the book, in pursuance of the following sentence:

"Ad General. Quartercal. Session. Pacis Dom. Regis tent. pro Civitat. London per adjornament, apud Justice-hall in le Old Bayly, die Mercurii Scil. Decimo Sexto die January, Anno Regis Caroli Secundi cundi nunc Ang. &c.

"Thomas De Laune Convict. pro illicite Scribend. Imprimend. et Publicand. Libel. Seditios. dert. concernen. librum Communis præcationis. Fin. 100 Marc. Et committit, etc.! Et ulterius quousq; Inven. bon. de se bene gerend. per spacium Unius Anni Integri ex tunc prox. sequen. Et quad libel. sedit. cum igne Combust. sint apud Excambium Regal. in London, et si Del. Sol. 5 shil. Wagstaffe."

In a letter containing a narrative of his trial and imprisonment, written by him from prison, occur many touches of humour. In his remarks on the sentence he says,—

"The six shillings to be paid on my discharge is to the hangman, for the faggots, I suppose."

"The Court told us that, in respect to our education as scholars, we should not be pillory'd, though ('twas said) we deserved it.... We were sent back to our confinement, and the next execution-day our books were burnt WITH FIRE (not with water, you must note), and we continue here; but, since I writ this, Mr. Ralphson had a supersedeas by death to a better place!"

In his account he affirms that, on his own confession of being the author of The Plea, and because he could find no bail, he was committed to Newgate—

"Lodged among the felons, whose horrid company made a perfect representation of that horrible place which you describe when you mention hell. A hard bench was my bed, and two bricks my pillow. But after two days and nights, without any refreshment, the unusualness of that society and place having impaired my health, which at the very best is tender, and crazy, I was removed, and am now in the press-yard, a place of some sobriety, though still a prison ubi nihil amabile est!"

Twenty years after, 1704, his Plea was republished, with his narrative, by one of his fellow-prisoners, who had been released, and who calls it "an elaborate piece"! He adds, that De Laune, being unable to pay

"the seventy-five pound, his children, his wife, and himself were imprison'd, and all dy'd in New-gate; of which myself was an eye-witness, and a companion with him for the same cause in the same prison, where I continued above a year after his death."

E. F. Woodman.

P. S.—Query, What is the meaning, in the foregoing, of the expression "at the next execution-day"? Have we any instance on record of the execution of a malefactor in front of the Royal Exchange? and, if not, did the hangman come from Newgate, after "doing duty" there, and burn the book at the Exchange?

In 1611 the books of Conrad Vorstius were publicly burnt in St. Paul's Churchyard and both the universities by the king's order. (Wilson's Life and Reign of James I., p. 120.)

On Sunday, November 21, 1613, the books of Francis Suarez, the Spanish Jesuit, were publicly burnt at St. Paul's Cross. (Court and Times of James I., vol. i. pp. 279, 280.)

C. H. Cooper.

Cambridge.

SACK.

(Vol. ix., p. 272.)

With respect to the wines called Sacks, much diversity of opinion has prevailed, and although the question has been frequently discussed, it still remains, in a great measure, undetermined. It seems admitted, on all hands, that the term sack was originally applied to certain growths of Spain. In a MS. account of the disbursements by the chamberlain of the city of Worcester for 1592, Dr. Percy found the ancient mode of spelling to be seck, and thence concluded that sack is a corruption of sec, signifying a dry wine. Moreover, in the French version of a proclamation for regulating the prices of wines, issued by the privy Council in 1633, the expression vins secs corresponds with the word sacks in the original. The term sec is still used as a substantive by the French to denote a Spanish wine; and the dry wine of Xerez is known at the place of its growth by the name of vino seco. The foregoing account is abridged from The History of Ancient and Modern Wines, by Alex. Henderson, Lond. 1824. The following is taken from Cyrus Redding's History of Modern Wines, Lond. 1833:

"In the early voyages to these islands (the Canaries), quoted in Ashley's collection, there is a passage relative to sack, which will puzzle wise heads about that wine. It is under the head of 'Nicols' Voyage.' Nicols lived eight years in the islands. The island of Teneriffe produces three sorts of wine, Canary, Malvasia, and Verdona, 'which may all go under the denomination of sack.' The term then was applied neither to sweet nor dry wines exclusively, but to Canary, Xeres (i. e. sherry), or Malaga generally. In Anglo-Spanish dictionaries of a century and a quarter old, sack is given as Vino de Canarias. Hence it was Canary sack, Xeres sack, or Malaga sack."

Ἁλιεύς.

Dublin.

In reply to your correspondent, I believe sack to be nothing but vino secco, dry wine, probably identical with sherry or madeira. I once, when an undergraduate at Oxford, ordered a dozen from a travelling agent to a London wine merchant, probably from Shakspearian associations, and my belief is that what he sold me under that name was an Italian wine of some sort, bearing a good deal of resemblance to the vino panto, of which Perugia is the head-quarters.

B. D.

This is the same wine which is now named sherry. Falstaff calls it sherris sack, and also sherris only, using in fact both names indiscriminately (2 Henry IV., Act IV. Sc. 3.). For various commentaries regarding it, see Blount's Glossographia; Dr. Venner's Via recta ad Vitam longam, published in 1637; Nares' Glossary, &c. Cotgrave, in his Dictionary, makes sack to be derived from vin sec, French; and it is called seck in an article by Bishop Percy, from an old account-book at Worcester, anno Elizbethæ 34.

N. L. J.

IRISH LAW IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY.

(vol. ix., p. 270.)

What has been mistaken by your correspondent for a piece of Irish barbarity, was, until the Act 12 Geo. III. c. 20., the usual punishment awarded by the law to culprits standing mute upon an arraignment of felony (that is, without speaking at all, or without putting himself upon God and the country). The judgment in such case was:

"That the man or woman should be remanded to the prison, and laid there in some low and dark room, where they should lie naked on the bare earth, without any litter, rushes, or other clothing, and without any garment about them, but something to cover their privy parts, and that they should lie upon their backs, their heads uncovered and their feet, and one arm to be drawn to one quarter of the room with a cord, and the other arm to another quarter, and in the same manner to be done with their legs; and there should be laid upon their bodies iron and stone, so much as they might bear, and more; and the next day following, to leave three morsels of barley bread without any drink, and the second day to drink thrice of the water next to the house of the prison (except running water), without any bread; and this to be their diet until they were dead. So as, upon the matter, they should die three manner of ways, by weight, by famine, and by cold. And the reason of this terrible judgment was because they refused to stand to the common law of the land."—2 Inst. 178, 179.

In the Year-Book of 8 Henry IV. the form of the judgment is first given. The Marshal of the King's Bench is ordered to put the criminals into "diverses measons bases et estoppes, que ils gisent par la terre touts nuds forsque leurs braces, que ils mettroit sur chascun d'eux tants de fer et poids quils puissent porter et plus," &c., (as above).

It appears also, from Barrington's Observations on the Statutes, that, until the above-mentioned act, it was usual to torture a prisoner by tying his thumbs tightly together with whipcord in order to extort a plea; and he mentions the following instances where one or more of these barbarous cruelties have been inflicted:

"In 1714 a prisoner's thumbs were thus tied at the same place" (Old Bailey), "who then pleaded; and in January, 1720, William Spigget submitted in the same manner after the thumbs being tied as usual, and his accomplice, Phillips, was absolutely pressed for a considerable time, till he begged to stand on his trial. In April, 1720, Mary Andrews continued so obstinate, that three whipcords were broken before she would plead. In December, 1721, Nathanael Haws suffered in the same manner by squeezing the thumbs; after which he continued under the press for seven minutes with 250 lbs., and then submitted."

Barrington also says in the text:

"As it is very unusual for criminals to stand mute on their trials in more modern days, and it was not unfrequent, if we go some centuries back in English History, it may not be improper to observe, that the occasion of its being then more common, was to prevent forfeitures, and involving perhaps innocent children in their parents' guilt. These forfeitures only accrued upon judgment of life and limb, and, to the disgrace of the crown, were too frequently levied with the utmost rigour. The sentence, however, hath continued to be put into execution till the late Act of Parliament (12 Geo. III. c. 20.) properly abolished it."

He mentions two other cases, one of which happened at the Sussex assizes, under Baron Thompson, and the other at Cambridge, in 1741, when Baron Carter was the judge. I do not think there are any more modern instances than these, for they are the only ones cited by counsel in General Picton's case, in justification of inflicting torture on a prisoner. (State Trials, vol. xxx.) The Marquis Beccaria, in an exquisite piece of raillery, has proposed this problem with a gravity and precision truly mathematical:

"The force of the muscles and the sensibility of the nerves of an innocent person being given, it is required to find the degree of pain necessary to make himself guilty of a given crime."—1 Bl. Com. 327. n.

A prisoner standing mute at the present day would be sentenced to undergo the punishment that would be awarded to him, if found guilty of the crime laid to his charge.

Investigator.

Manchester, April 4, 1854.

Blackstone (book iv. chap. 25.) speaks of the cases in which punishment of "peine forte et dure" was inflicted according to the ancient law. It would occupy too great space to quote what he says on this point, and, therefore I must refer your correspondent to his work itself, where he will also find an inquiry into its origin. The punishment is described almost in the words of your correspondent's quotation; thus:

"That the prisoner be remanded to the prison from whence he came, and be put into a low, dark chamber; and there be laid on his back, on the bare floor, naked, unless where decency forbids, that there be placed upon his body as great a weight of iron as he could bear, and more; that he have no sustenance, save only, on the first day, three morsels of the worst bread, and, on the second day, three draughts of standing water, that should be nearest to the prison door; and in this situation this should be alternately his daily diet, till he died, or (as anciently the judgment ran) till he answered."

Blackstone farther intimates that this punishment was abolished by statute 12 Geo. III. c. 20., which shows, of course, that it continued to be according to law for more than thirty years after the date mentioned by Abhba.

R. O.

The punishment, or more properly torture, alluded to by Abhba, was the "peine forte et dure," commonly applied in the early part of the last century to such criminals as refused to plead. Many died under it in order to save their estates, &c. from forfeiture to the crowns. In my forthcoming anecdotes of "The Eighteenth Century," several cases are cited from the newspapers of the time; but, as the MS. is now in the printer's hands, I cannot refer to them. Writing from memory, I think that the last case in which this torture was applied at the Old Bailey in London was in 1735, and reported in the London Magazine of that year. The "Press-yard" at Newgate derives its name from being the scene of these tortures.

Alexander Andrews.

JOB XIX. 26.

(Vol. ix., p. 303.)

Perhaps the best mode in which I can comply with Mr. C. Mansfield Ingleby's request, is to send for insertion in the "N. & Q." my MS. note on the text in question:

The difficulties which the reader experiences, on reading the authorised version of this passage, are by no means trifling. Every one knows that the words printed in Italics are not to be found in the original; the strictly literal rendering, according to the construction put upon the verse by our translators, would therefore run thus:

To say the least of it, "it is hard to be understood." The three words in Italics, arbitrarily introduced, make the passage by no means more intelligible.

The erudite author of the marginal readings (see "N. & Q.," Vol. ix., p. 108.) felt the difficulty, and therefore proposed another translation, which is,—

By an effort of violent criticism, עורי might be translated my awaking; but it will require an extraordinary critical mind to turn נקפו זאת into though this body be destroyed.

The difficulties seem to have originated with the misapprehension of the proper meaning of the verb נקף here. Instead of translating it according to its primitive signification, viz. to surround a foreign sense has been palmed upon it, viz. to destroy. Job, no doubt, meant to say thus:

Thus the literal meaning demonstrates a connecting link between verses 25 and 26. The authorised version and the marginal reading seem to lack that link:

But would you know when this at length is to take place? It will come to pass when a shaking of the dry bones shall take place, when bone to bone shall be joined, when sinews and flesh shall come upon them, and skin cover them above; that is, when the skeleton of my mutilated body shall be raised a glorified body. In other words,—

The most ancient translators have evidently put this construction upon the verse under consideration. The Chaldee paraphrase runs thus:

אתפח does not mean here inflated, as some suppose. The Syriac version translates the word נקפו by the word אתכרך, which means surround, wind round. The Vulgate has the following version of the patriarch's prophetic exclamation:

Jerome evidently knew not what to do with the word זאת, and therefore omitted it. He might have turned it to good account by translating it erit hoc.

The above note has been penned upwards of five years ago, and I transcribe it now, without a single alteration, for the benefit of Mr. C. Mansfield Ingleby and his friends.

Moses Margoliouth.

Wybunbury, Nantwich.

PHOTOGRAPHIC CORRESPONDENCE.

Photographic Experiences.—We have received from our valued correspondent Dr. Mansell, of Guernsey, a suggestion to which we are happy to give publicity, and to the promotion of which we shall be very glad to lend the columns of "N. & Q." Our photographic readers are probably aware that the Talbotype process is increasing in favour; we have recorded Dr. Diamond's strong testimony to its advantages. Mr. Llewellyn has just described his process (which is strikingly similar) in the Photographic Journal; and in a recent number of La Lumière the Vicomte Vigier confirms the views of our countrymen. Dr. Mansell, who has given our readers the benefit of his experience, well remarks that in all his acquaintance with physical science, he knows nothing more remarkable than that Mr. Fox Talbot should not only have discovered this beautiful process, but likewise have given it to the world (in 1841) in so perfect a form, that the innumerable experiments of a dozen years have done nothing essential to improve it, and the best manipulators of the day can add nothing to it. It is, however, with a view to testing some of the points in which photographers differ, so as to establish which are best, that Dr. Mansell suggests, that a table giving,

would, if carefully and honestly stated by some twenty or thirty photographers, be extremely valuable. Of this there can be little doubt, and we hope that our scientific photographic friends, will respond to this suggestion. We for our parts are ready to receive any such communications, and will, at the end of the month, collate and arrange them in such form as may best exhibit the results. It is obvious that, in a matter of such a nature, we at least should be furnished with the names of our correspondents.

The Céroléine Process.—The unfavourable state of the weather has prevented me from making many experiments as to the value of the process given in your 234th Number, but I have seen enough to convince me that it will effect a great saving of trouble, and be more sensitive than any modification of Le Gray's process that has yet been published. It will, however, be rather more expensive, and, in the hands of persons unaccustomed to chemical manipulations, rather difficult; but the solutions once made, the waxing process is delightfully easy.

William Pumphrey.

On preserving the Sensitiveness of Collodion Plates.—The Philosophical Magazine of the present month contains a very important article by Messrs. Spiller and Crookes upon this great desideratum in photographic practice. We have heard from a gentleman of considerable scientific attainments, that, from the few experiments which he had then made, he is convinced that the plan is quite feasible. We of course refer our readers to the paper itself for fuller particulars as to the reasoning which led the writers to their successful experiment, and for all enumeration of the many advantages which may result from their discovery. Their process is as follows:

"The plate, coated with collodion (that which we employ contains iodide, bromide, and chloride of ammonium, in about equal proportions), is made sensitive by immersion in the ordinary solution of nitrate of silver (30 grains to the ounce), and after remaining there for the usual time, is transferred for a second solution of the following composition:

Nitrate of zinc (fused) 2 ounces.

Nitrate of silver 35 grains.

Water 6 ounces.

The plate must be left in this bath until the zinc solution has thoroughly penetrated the film (we have found five minutes amply sufficient for this purpose, although a much longer time is of no consequence); it should then be taken out, allowed to drain upright on blotting-paper until all the surface moisture has been absorbed (about half an hour), and then put by until required. The nitrate of zinc, which is still retained on the plate, is sufficient to keep it moist for any length of time, and we see no theoretical or practical reason why its sensitiveness should not be retained as long: experiments on this point are in progress; at present, however, we have only subjected them to the trial of about a week, although at the end of that period they were hardly deteriorated in any appreciable degree. It is not necessary that the exposure in the camera should be immediately followed by the development, as this latter process can be deferred to any convenient opportunity, provided it be within the week. Previous to development, the plate should be allowed to remain for a few seconds in the original thirty-grain silver-bath, then removed and developed with either pyrogallic acid or a protosalt of iron, and afterwards fixed, &c. in the usual manner."