away from her eyes sufficiently to obtain a
sight of him. Then she sat swaying her body
to and fro, and making gestures with her
unnerved arm, which seemed intended as the
accompaniment to a fit of laughter, though
her face was stolid and drowsy.

"Eigh lad? What, yo'r there?" Some
hoarse sounds meant for this, came mockingly
out of her at last; and her head dropped
forward on her breast.

"Back agen? " she screeched, after some
minutes, as if he had that moment said it.
"Yes! And back agen. Back agen ever and
ever so often. Back? Yes, back. Why not?"

Roused by the unmeaning violence with
which she cried it out, she scrambled up, and
stood supporting herself with her shoulders
against the wall; dangling in one hand by the
string, a dunghill-fragment of a bonnet, and
trying to look scornfully at him.

"I'll sell thee off again, and I'll sell thee
off again, and I'll sell thee off a score of
times! " she cried, with something between a
furious menace and an effort at a defiant
dance. " Come awa' from th' bed! " He was
sitting on the side of it, with his face hidden
in his hands. " Come awa' from 't. 'Tis
mine, and I've a right to 't!"

As she staggered to it, he avoided her with
a shudder, and passed—his face still hidden—
to the opposite end of the room. She threw
herself upon the bed heavily, and soon was
snoring hard. He sunk into a chair, and moved
but once all that night. It was to throw a
covering over her; as if his hands were not
enough to hide her, even in the darkness.

BUSY WITH THE PHOTOGRAPH.

IT may be as well, just now, to " take
stock" in respect to our photographic
and stereoscopic knowledge: to see how
far the photograph and the stereoscope,
up to the present time, have been
rendered available for useful purposes. The
principles involved in the processes and
apparatus, with an account of explanatory
details, occupied two papers in former
volumes.* The present article may be
considered in some sense supplementary to
those. Let us first say a little concerning
these beautiful arts in their artistic
applications.

* Vol. vii. p. 54; vol. viii. p. 37.

How astonishing that the sun's light
should be made to engrave a steel plate!
We know that electricity can do something
of this kind, on copper if not on steel; but
really it seems even yet more marvellous and
beautiful that such deeds can be achieved by
the agency of light. Attempts have been
made, during many years, to complete the
photographic process by engraving the plate
impressed with the image; that is, by causing
the photographic image to engrave itself, by
chemical aid alone, without requiring it to
be touched in any way by the hand of
artist or engraver. It was a bold thing to
hope, but seemingly not too bold; for just
about a year ago Mr. Talbot announced that
he had actually succeeded in the attempt. To
understand the mode of proceeding, it may
be necessary to bear in mind that Mr. Talbot
gives the name of positive etching to an
etching of such a kind that the impressions
struck off from it represent the objects
positively, or as they are in nature. Well, then;
the objects most successfully engraved are
said to be such as can be placed in contact
with the metallic plate—the leaf of a fern,
the light, feathery flowers of a grass, a  piece
of lace, and so forth. Objects which cast a
broad and uniform shadow, such as the
opaque leaf of a fern or other plant, produce
an etching, which, when printed off, delineates
the original in a manner something between
an aquatint engraving and an Indian ink
drawing. Even a photograph on paper can,
be made to engrave itself on steel. The
minute chemistry of the matter we need say
nothing about; but the processes are somewhat
as follow:—A salt of potash is dissolved
in a solution of isinglass, and is spread over
the steel plate; it is dried by artificial
warmth; the selected object is laid on the
prepared plate, and is pressed down
close to it by a piece of plate glass; the
sun's rays are allowed to act through the
glass upon the object and upon the steel
plate. The part of the steel plate covered
by the object is protected from the action
of the solar rays, and remains yellow and
unaltered; but those portions which are
not covered by the object become to some
extent chemically acted upon, and
assume a brownish hue. The glass and the
object being removed, the plate is steeped in
water, by which most of the unchanged
layer or film of potash and isinglass is
washed off, leaving the metallic steel more
nearly exposed than in the other parts.
Another chemical solution, prepared from
platinum, then has the effect of etching the
plate in these exposed parts. Mr. Talbot
describes the etching as being so complete,
that it appears almost as if the shadow of
the object had itself corroded the metal. If
a veil of black crape be laid upon the metal
plate, every thread of it becomes engraved
or etched with wonderful precision and
distinctness; and if two thicknesses of the crape
are placed upon the metal, obliquely to each
other, the resulting engraving offers us
confusion, but with the help of a lens the lines
belonging to each of the folds can be
distinguished from those of the other. An
analogous process was discovered by some
French photographers; and there can
hardly be a doubt that great results will be
produced by and by, in the production of
engraved copies by these means.

Mighty Sol, portrait painter and artist in
general, seems to be pretty nearly Indifferent
to the material on which he works, provided