Volume 5 — Miscellany.

Photographs of Churches in France.—This year's issue of transcripts from ancient Gothic buildings and portions of buildings by the Architectural Photographic Association is unusually interesting, not only on account of the beauty and clearness of the sun-pictures of which it consists, but of the subjects that have been chosen for the camera. These contain no renaissance examples or specimens of sixteenth century craft in imposing semi-barbarous fronts on noble Gothic churches of earlier date, as in the works at Belloy, Luzarches, and Verteuil. These changes had remarkable interest of their own, and were acceptable to the student who cared to see how great was the debt of the remodelling architect to his middle age forerunner. The studies now before us range from St. Georges de Boscherville, founded in 1050 by Ralph de Tancarville, chamberlain to William the Conqueror, to the very beautiful and interesting west front of the church at Civray, which, like its greater neighbor, Notre Dame de Grande, at Poitiers, also represented here, dates from the first half of the twelfth century, through the curious rather than important early church of St. Ours, at Loches, at the door of which stands a Roman altar that appears to have been used as a font; the superb portals of Notre Dame, at Chartres, of which we have five admirable photographs; St. Julien, at Le Mans; the interior of the church of St. Pierre, at Lisieux, the west front of the same, with its unequal but beautiful towers; and the church of St. Riquier, near Abbeville, which may be said to have been discovered by Dr. Whewell, and is a splendid Flamboyant work, with certain elements of decoration that assimilate it with those of perpendicular. Of this church we should very much enjoy a good interior view, on account of its value in illustrating the happy union of early French Gothic with much later Flamboyant. To these must be added a view of the very fine Flamboyant west front of St. Wulfram, at Abbeville, an admirable example of its kind, and the west front of the cathedral of St. Gatien, at Tours, a work which was begun in 1440, and brought to perfection in 1500, under Robert de Lenoncour, then archbishop. We can only find one fault in this series, that is, the excessive number of doorways it contains. A doorway, or series of portals, is one of the happiest fields for architectural art; but there is a disproportion in this respect here, where, out of twenty-two examples, we have but one interior view, that of St. Pierre, at Lisieux, and three general views, two of which comprise portals.

St. Georges de Boscherville is one of the best known examples of the early Norman churches, and remarkable for the extreme simplicity of its exterior, its fine proportions, beautiful central tower, and high octagonal spire. Interiorly, the building is much richer than without, and comparatively light in style; the west front is among the most highly ornamented examples of its kind and date in Normandy, and comprises a round-headed arch with five concentric roll-mouldings, with as many shafts in the side of the entrance, and is decorated with beaked heads, frets, cables, and chevrons to an unusual degree, and capital in design. The apse of this church, which is shown in the view before us, is very curious. The western turrets are works of the thirteenth century.

Notre Dame, at Poitiers, is too well known to the artist and antiquary to need commendation or description here; the design is a noble one, and happily illustrates the Romanesque of Poitou. It has been remarked that the window, which resembles that at Civray in position, has been converted from the original round form to a tall shape, and that this was done to admit the introduction of painted glass. We believe this is a mistake, and the window retains its pristine form. The window at Civray was certainly never circular. The canopied niches of fifteenth century work, at the sides of this window, which once disfigured the façade, have been removed by late restorers of the edifice, obviously to the improvement of the design. We do not see in the two views of the church of St. Ours, at Loches, enough to demand a double illustration: one better selected view than either of those which appear here would be enough. A general prospect of the church would have been valuable as an illustration of its four tourelles, with their roofs of stone, after the manner of those in the west front of Notre Dame, at Poitiers. Doubtless the low porch of the church at Loches, which is not shown in the photograph, prevented the selection of a more powerful effect of light and shade, and interfered with the choice of points of view. Mr. Petit has carefully analyzed this church in his Architectural Studies of France. We have also a view of the details of the doorway exterior representing the carvings of what may be called the imperfect capitals of the jambs. The glorious porches of Chartres, especially that magnificent one on the south side, are admirably represented in five photographs. These give the south doorway, north doorway, details of the north doorway, doorways of the west front; the last represents the long-robed statues of the royal saints and other features of the Porte Royale, (so called, probably because Henry the Fourth entered by it to his coronation,) after they left the restorer's hands, and is a fine, clear photograph.—Athenaeum.

Newspaper Zoölogy.—The Pall Mall Gazette has published the following interesting note: "The Courier de Saigon reports some extraordinary items of natural history from the land of the Anamites. There is a certain fish, called Ca-ong in the language of the country, which has distinguished itself to that degree that the king has bestowed upon it the proud title of 'Nam hai dui bnong gnan,' which, as everybody knows, means 'Great General of the South Sea.' It appears that this laudable fish is in the habit of quietly paddling round the ships near the coast until somebody tumbles overboard. He then seizes him instantly, and, instead of eating him, gently carries him in his mouth to the shore. At Wung-tau, near St. James's Cape, they keep a skeleton of this extraordinary philanthropist. It is about thirty-five feet long, possesses front teeth like an elephant, very large eyes, a black skin very smooth, a tail like a lobster, and two wings on the back."

Mechanics of Flight.—An extremely interesting paper on this subject was read by Mr. Wenham to the Aeronautical Society. The subject is too difficult and complex to be explained briefly, and therefore we will only say that Mr. Wenham has brought into the explanation of flight the effect of the forward motion in retarding descent. Imagine a parallelogram 10 ft. long by 2 ft. broad, weighing 20 lbs. Such a body would descend in still air at the limiting rate of 1320 ft. per minute, the resistance of the air put in motion by the plane balancing at that velocity the effect of gravity. If now a force be applied horizontally so as to carry the plane with its long side forward at a speed of thirty miles per hour, then the motion of the plane being both downward and forward, a great volume of air will pass under the front margin of the plane, and will be carried downward before leaving the hinder margin. The weight of air thus put in motion will be enormous, and the descending velocity of the plane proportionately reduced. Mr. Wenham calculates that the velocity of descent would in these circumstances be reduced to one fifteenth of the passive rate of descent, or would not exceed 83 ft. per minute. Each particle of air would then be moved downward eight tenths of an inch by the passage of the plane, and conversely, if this inclination were given to the plane, it would move forward without descending. Mr. Wenham finds that few birds can raise themselves vertically in the air, the exertion in that case being excessive. The eagle can only lift itself from the ground by running with outstretched wings till its velocity having become sufficient, it glides into the air as if sliding on a frictionless plane.—Popular Science Review.

A New Volcano in the South Seas.—From a letter forwarded by the English consul at Navigators' Islands, we learn that a volcano has just broken out at Manua, about two miles from the islands of Oloscqa. It was preceded by a violent shock of earthquake, which commenced on the 5th of September, and on the 12th dense thick smoke rose out of the sea. Lava was thrown up, discoloring the water for many miles round, and destroying large quantities of fish. Wherever the ashes fell on the adjacent island, they destroyed all vegetation. Up to the middle of November dense smoke was still being thrown up. It is said that the smoke rose higher than the neighboring island, which is over 2000 feet high. The consul has been unable to ascertain whether there is any bank thrown up in the water.

A Chemical Method for effectually Cleaning Glass is given in a recently published work on one of the processes of photography. It is simple, reliable, and completely efficient, and will, we doubt not, be found very useful by our readers. It is as follows: Dilute the ordinary hydrofluoric acid sold in gutta-percha bottles, with four or five parts of water, drop it on a cotton rubber, (not on the glass,) and rub well over, afterward washing till the acid is removed. The action is the same as that of sulphuric acid when used for cleaning copper; a little of the glass is dissolved off, and a fresh surface exposed. The solution of the acid in water does not leave a dead surface on the glass, as the vapor would; if a strong solution is left on long enough to produce a visible depression, the part affected will be quite bright. This method is recommended in some cases for cleaning photographic plates.

Nature of the Earth eaten by the People of Borneo.—The Chemical News gives us the composition of the clay which is eaten so extensively by the natives of Borneo. It states that some years ago the manager of the Orange-Nassau colliery, near Zandjermasin, in the island of Borneo, found that many of his work-people (natives) consumed large quantities of a kind of clay; a sample of this material was forwarded to Batavia for analysis, and the following is the result in 100 parts:

Pitcoal resin, (organic matter volatile at red heat)15.4

Pure carbon 14.9

Silica 38.3

Alumina 27.7

Iron pyrites3.7

Total 100.0

Photography at the Paris Exhibition.—On the whole, the art-science of photography plays its part well at the great French International Exhibition, and in the collective displays of various nations we find its numerous and diverse applications, improvements, and modifications fairly represented. The Austrian collection is a very attractive one, and contains some of the very best specimens of photo-lithography yet produced; its specimens of portraiture from life-size downward are of a very excellent character, and, like those of France, Prussia, and Russia, are decidedly superior to the English. In the Darmstadt contributions are some interesting specimens by Dr. Reissiz, exhibited to illustrate his theory of photogenic action. In the Prussian department a large portrait lens attracts attention; it is fourteen inches in diameter, and covers a square of thirty inches. The French department contains some interesting specimens of photographic-engraving process, of enamelled photographs, and of enlargements from microscopical photographs, amongst which is one of a flea enlarged to the size of a small pig. Amongst the novelties and applications of photography to decorative art are photographs of a singular character, illustrative of a new process called "Chrysoplasty." They represent goldsmiths' work, ancient armor, draperies embroidered with gold and silver, bronze statuary, philosophic instruments, etc., and are apparently in the same metals as the originals. This process is a secret one, but the inventor, Mr. Boeringer, is prepared to produce such photographs from any negatives which may be sent him for that purpose. He is at present making a large collection of specimens from antique curiosities and works of art in metal dispersed in the public and private museums of various nations, and with this end in view appeals to the owners and guardians of such collections, and those who have negatives of the required description, to render him assistance. In photographic portraiture, by universal consent, the French stand prominently foremost, so much so that, as The Times says, "amongst those articles which are specially called articles de Paris, a good photographic portrait is now to be placed." In the English department we miss most of our foremost photographers, amongst them Mr. O. G. Reglandes, Mr. T. R. Williams, and but too many others. Mr. Mayall, M. Claudet, Lock and Whitfield, Ross, and other of our chief portraitists exhibit largely, but all show but weak and mean when contrasted with their rival portraitists as represented in the French collection. As landscapists English photographers, like English painters, carry off the palm. Why landscapes by English operators so far surpass others we cannot explain, but no one with any artistic taste or judgment would hesitate to attribute the superiority of the French portraits purely and simply to a more refined taste and greater knowledge of pictorial science in their producers. The English photographs display little merit beyond such as belongs exclusively to the skilful management of good tools, while the French photographers are evidently, as a rule, artists studying such things as lighting, posing and arranging, exposing and developing with considerable artistic knowledge and preconceived design, the former with a view to putting a picture before the lens, and the latter with a view to its faithful reproduction in the operating room. Two of the great secrets of their greater success will, we believe, be found to reside in the much longer exposures they give their plates in the camera, and in the use of a developer not so rapid in its action as to escape control during development. The great cry in England has been for short exposures and powerful developers, things which war against the subtle delicacies of gradations from light to dark, and from darks into reflected lights, which constitute one of the most special and striking peculiarities of the best French portraits. Refer back to past volumes of the English photographic journals, and this craving for extraordinary rapidity coupled with frequent mention of the extraordinary long exposures given on the continent, where the light is more powerful and the atmosphere more pure, will be found. You will also perceive that, while articles tending directly and indirectly to give mechanical manipulation and good tools all the credit of increased success crowd their pages to a wearying degree of sameness and repetition, papers of a truly art-educational character are extremely rare, in consequence, we have been informed, of the little real appreciation they meet with from English photographic students. Hence probably the inartistic and tasteless character displayed by their photographs when contrasted with those of our more artistic and tasteful neighbors.—Popular Science Review.