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Scientific American Supplement, No. 415, December 15, 1883试读：
THE GERMAN NATIONAL MONUMENT.--WAR AND PEACE.
In our SUPPLEMENT No. 412 we gave several engravings and a full description of the colossal German National monument "Germania," lately unveiled on the Niederwald slope of the Rhine. We now present, as beautiful suggestions in art, engravings of the two statues, War and Peace, which adorn the corners of the monumental facade. These figures are about twenty feet high. The statue of War represents an allegorical character, partly Mercury, partly mediæval knight, with trumpet in one hand, sword in the other. The statue of Peace represents a mild and modest maiden, holding out an olive branch in one hand and the full horn of peaceful blessings in the other. Between the two statues is a magnificent group in relief representing the "Watch on the Rhine." Here the Emperor William appears in the center, on horseback, surrounded by a noble group of kings, princes, knights, warriors, commanders, and statesmen, who, by word or deed or counsel, helped to found the empire--an Elgin marble, so to speak, of the German nation.WAR. THE GERMAN NATIONAL MONUMENT. PEACE.
A writer in the London Lancet ridicules a habit of being in great haste and terribly pressed for time which is common among all classes of commercial men, and argues that in most cases there is not the least cause for it, and that it is done to convey a notion of the tremendous volume of business which almost overwhelms the house. The writer further says that, when developed into a confirmed habit, it is fertile in provoking nervous maladies.
THE ART ASPECTS OF MODERN DRESS.
At a recent conversazione of the London Literary and Artistic Society, Mr. Sellon read a paper upon this subject. Having expressed his belief that mere considerations of health would never dethrone fashion, the lecturer said he should endeavor to show on art principles how those who were open to conviction could have all the variety Fashion promised, together with far greater elegance than that goddess could bestow, while health received the fullest attention. Two excellent societies, worthy of encouragement up to a certain point, had been showing us the folly and wickedness of fashionable dress--dress which deformed the body, crippled the feet, confined the waist, exposed the chest, loaded the limbs, and even enslaved the understanding. But these societies had been more successful in pulling down than in building up, and blinded with excess of zeal were hurrying us onward to a goal which might or might not be the acme of sanitative dress, but was certainly the zero of artistic excellence. The cause of this was not far to seek. We were inventing a new science, that of dress, and were without rules to guide us. So long as ladies had to choose between Paris fashions and those of Piccadilly Hall, they would, he felt sure, choose the former. Let it be shown that the substitute was both sanitary and beautiful, capable of an infinite variety in color and in form--in colors and forms which never violated art principle, and in which the wearer, and not some Paris liner, could exercise her taste, and the day would have been gained. This was the task he had set himself to formulate, and so doing he should divide his subject in two--Color and Form.
In color it was desirable to distinguish carefully between the meaning of shade, tint, and hue. It was amazing that a cultured nation like the English should be so generally ignorant of the laws of color harmony. We were nicely critical of music, yet in color were constantly committing the gravest solecisms. He did not think there were seventeen interiors in London that the educated eye could wander over without pain. Yet what knowledge was so useful? We were not competent to buy a picture, choose a dress, or furnish a house without a knowledge of color harmony, to say nothing of the facility such knowledge gave in all kinds of painting on porcelain, art needlework, and a hundred occupations.
An important consideration in choosing colors for dress was the effect they would have in juxtaposition. Primary colors should be worn in dark shades; dark red and dark yellow, or as it was commonly called, olive green, went well together; but a dress of full red or yellow would be painful to behold. The rule for full primaries was, employ them sparingly, and contrast them only with black or gray. He might notice in passing that when people dressed in gray or black the entire dress was usually of the one color unrelieved. Yet here they had a background that would lend beauty to any color placed upon it.
Another safe rule was never to place together colors differing widely in hue. The eye experienced a difficulty in accommodating itself to sudden changes, and a species of color discord was the consequence. But if the colors, even though primaries, were of some very dark or very light shade, they become harmonious. All very dark shades of color went well with black and with each other, and all very light shades went well with white and each other.
A much-vexed question with ladies was, "What will suit my complexion?" The generally received opinion was that the complexion was pink, either light or dark, and colors were chosen accordingly, working dire confusion. But no one living ever had a pink complexion unless a painted one. The dolls in the Lowther Arcade were pink, and their pink dresses were in harmony. No natural complexion whatever was improved by pink; but gray would go with any. The tendency of gray was to give prominence to the dominant hue in the complexion. When an artist wished to produce flesh color he mixed white, light red, yellow ocher, and terra vert. The skin of a fair person was a gray light red, tinged with green; the color that would brighten and intensify it most was a gray light sea green, tinged with pink--in other words, its complementary. A color always subtracted any similar color that might exist in combination near it. Thus red beside orange altered it to yellow; blue beside pink altered it to cerise. Hence, if a person was so unfortunate as to have a muddy complexion, the worst color they could wear would be their own complexion's complementary--the best would be mud color, for it would clear their complexion.
Passing on to the consideration of form in costume, the lecturer urged that the proper function of dress was to drape the human figure without disguising or burlesquing it. An illustration of Miss Mary Anderson, attired in a Greek dress as Parthenia, was exhibited, and the lecturer observed that while the dress once worn by Greek women was unequaled for elegance, Greek women were not in the habit of tying their skirts in knots round the knees, and the nervous pose of the toes suggested a more habitual acquaintance with shoes and stockings.
An enlargement from a drawing by Walter Crane was shown as illustrating the principles of artistic and natural costume--costume which permitted the waist to be the normal size, and allowed the drapery to fall in natural folds--costume which knew nothing of pleats and flounces, stays and "improvers"--costume which was very symbolization and embodiment of womanly grace and modesty.
A life-sized enlargement of a fashion plate from Myra's Journal, dated June 1, 1882, was next shown. The circumference of the waist was but 12¾ in., involving an utter exclusion of the liver from that part of the organization, and the attitude was worthy of a costume which was the ne plus ultra of formal ugliness.
Having shown another and equally unbecoming costume, selected from a recent issue by an Oxford Street firm, the lecturer asked, Why did women think small waists beautiful? Was it because big-waisted women were so frequently fat and forty, old and ugly? A young girl had no waist, and did not need stays. As the figure matured the hips developed, and it was this development which formed the waist. The slightest artificial compression of the waist destroyed the line of beauty. Therefore, the grown woman should never wear stays, and, since they tended to weaken the muscles of the back, the aged and weak should not adopt them. A waist really too large was less ungraceful than a waist too small. Dress was designed partly for warmth and partly for adornment. As the uses were distinct, the garments should be so. A close-fitting inner garment should supply all requisite warmth, and the outer dress should be as thin as possible, that it might drape itself into natural folds. Velvet, from its texture, was ill adapted for this. When worn, it should be in close fitting garments, and in dark colors only. It was most effective when black.
Turning for a few moments, in conclusion, to men's attire, the lecturer suggested that the ill-success of dress reformers hitherto had been the too-radical changes they sought to introduce. We could be artistic without being archaic. Most men were satisfied without clothes fairly in fashion, a tolerable fit, and any unobtrusive color their tailor pleased. He would suggest that any reformation should begin with color.
ARTISANS' DWELLINGS, HORNSEY.
The erection of artisans' dwellings is certainly a prominent feature in the progress of building in the metropolis, and speculative builders who work on a smaller scale would do well not to ignore the fact. The Artisans, Laborers, and General Dwellings Company (Limited) has been conspicuously successful in rearing large blocks of dwellings for artisans, clerks, and others whose means necessitates the renting of a convenient house at as low a rental as it is possible to find it. We give an illustration of a terrace of first-class houses built by the above company, who deserve great praise for the spirited and liberal manner in which they are going to work on this the third of their London estates--the Noel Park Estate, at Hornsey. On the estates at Shaftesbury and Queen's Parks they have already built about three thousand houses, employing therein a capital of considerably over a million sterling, while at Noel Park they are rapidly covering an estate of one hundred acres, which will contain, when completed, no less than two thousand six hundred houses, to be let at weekly rentals varying from 6s. to 11s. 6d., rates and taxes all included. The object has been to provide separate cottages, each in itself complete, and in so doing they have not made any marked departure from the ordinary type of suburban terrace plan, but adopting this as most favorable to economy, have added many improvements, including sanitary appliances of the latest and most approved type.
The most important entrance to Noel Park is by Gladstone Avenue, a road 60 ft. wide leading from the Green Lanes to the center of the estate. On either side of this road the houses are set back 15 ft., in front of which, along the edge of the pavement, trees of a suitable growth are being planted, as also on all other roads on the estate. About the center of Gladstone Avenue an oval space has been reserved as a site for a church, and a space of five acres in another portion of the estate has been set apart to be laid out as a recreation ground, should the development of the estate warrant such an outlay. The remaining streets are from 40 ft. to 50 ft. in width, clear of the garden space in front of the houses. Shops will be erected as may be required.SUGGESTIONS IN ARCHITECTURE.--A ROW OF COMFORTABLE DWELLINGS.
The drainage of the estate has been arranged on the dual system, the surface water being kept separate from the sewage drains. Nowhere have these drains been carried through the houses, but they are taken directly into drains at the back, having specially ventilated manholes and being brought through at the ends of terraces into the road sewers; the ventilating openings in the roads have been converted into inlet ventilators by placing upcast shafts at short intervals, discharging above the houses. This system of ventilation was adopted on the recommendation of Mr. W.A. De Pape, the engineer and surveyor to the Tottenham Local Board.
All the houses are constructed with a layer of concrete over the whole area of the site, and a portion of the garden at back. Every room is specially ventilated, and all party walls are hollow in order to prevent the passage of sound. A constant water supply is laid on, there being no cisterns but those to the water-waste preventers to closets. All water pipes discharge over open trapped gullies outside.
The materials used are red and yellow bricks, with terracotta sills, the roofs being slated over the greater part, and for the purpose of forming an agreeable relief, the end houses, and in some cases the central houses, have red tile roofs, the roofs over porches being similarly treated. The houses are simply but effectively designed, and the general appearance of the finished portion of the estate is bright and cheerful. All end houses of terraces have been specially treated, and in some cases having rather more accommodation than houses immediately adjoining, a slightly increased rental is required. There are five different classes of houses. The first class houses (which we illustrate this week) are built on plats having 16 ft. frontage by 85 ft. depth, and containing eight rooms, consisting of two sitting rooms, kitchen, scullery, with washing copper, coal cellar, larder, and water-closet on ground floor, and four bedrooms over. The water-closet is entered from the outside, but in many first-class houses another water-closet has been provided on the first floor, and one room on this floor is provided with a small range, so that if two families live in the one house they will be entirely separated. The rental of these houses is about 11s. to 11s. 6d. per week. Mr. Rowland Plumbe, F.R.I.B.A., of 13 Fitzroy Square, W., is the architect.--Building and Engineering Times.
ENLARGING ON ARGENTIC PAPER AND OPALS.
By A. GOODALL.[Footnote: Read before the Dundee and East of Scotland Photographic Association.]
The process of making gelatino bromide of silver prints or enlargements on paper or opal has been before the public for two or three years now, and cannot be called new; but still it is neither so well known nor understood as such a facile and easy process deserves to be, and I may just say here that after a pretty extensive experience in the working of it I believe there is no other enlarging process capable of giving better results than can be got by this process when properly understood and wrought, as the results that can be got by it are certainly equal to those obtainable by any other method, while the ease and rapidity with which enlarged pictures can be made by it place it decidedly ahead of any other method. I propose to show you how I make a gelatino bromide enlargement on opal.
[Mr. Goodall then proceeded to make an enlargement on a 12 by 10 opal, using a sciopticon burning paraffin; after an exposure for two and a-half minutes the developer was applied, and a brilliant opal was the result.]
We now come to the paper process, and most effective enlargements can be made by it also; indeed, as a basis for coloring, nothing could well be better. Artists all over the country have told me that after a few trials they prefer it to anything else, while excellent and effective plain enlargements are easily made by it if only carefully handled. A very good enlargement is made by vignetting the picture, as I have just done, with the opal, and then squeezing it down on a clean glass, and afterward framing it with another glass in front, when it will have the appearance almost equal to an opal. To make sure of the picture adhering to the glass, however, and at the same time to give greater brilliancy, it is better to flow the glass with a 10 or 15 grain solution of clear gelatine before squeezing it down. The one fault or shortcoming of the plain argentic paper is the dullness of the surface when dry, and this certainly makes it unsuitable for small work, such as the rapid production of cartes or proofs from negatives wanted in a hurry; the tone of an argentic print is also spoken of sometimes as being objectionable; but my impression is, that it is not so much the tone as the want of brilliancy that is the fault there, and if once the public were accustomed to the tones of argentine paper, they might possibly like them twice as well as the purples and browns with which they are familiar, provided they had the depth and gloss of a silver print; and some time ago, acting on a suggestion made by the editor of the Photographic News, I set about trying to produce this result by enameling the paper with a barium emulsion previous to coating it with the gelatinous bromide of silver. My experiments were successful, and we now prepare an enamel argentic paper on which the prints stand out with brilliancy equal to those on albumenized paper. I here show you specimens of boudoirs and panels--pictures enlarged from C.D.V.--negatives on this enamel argentic.
[Mr. Goodall then passed round several enlargements from landscape and portrait negatives, which it would have been difficult to distinguish from prints on double albumenized paper.]
I have already spoken of the great ease and facility with which an argentic enlargement may be made as compared with a collodion transfer, for instance; but there is another and more important point to be considered between the two, and that is, their durability and permanence. Now with regard to a collodion transfer, unless most particular care be taken in the washing of it (and those who have made them will well know what a delicate, not to say difficult, job it is to get them thoroughly freed from the hypo, and at the same time preserve the film intact), there is no permanence in a collodion transfer, and that practically in nine cases out of ten they have the elements of decay in them from the first day of their existence. I know, at least in Glasgow, where an enormous business has been done within the last few years by certain firms in the club picture trade (the club picture being a collodion transfer tinted in oil or varnish colors), there are literally thousands of pictures for which thirty shillings or more has been paid, and of which the bare frame is all that remains at the present day; the gilt of the frames has vanished, and the picture in disgust, perhaps, has followed it. In short, I believe a collodion transfer cannot be made even comparatively permanent, unless an amount of care be taken in the making of it which is neither compatible nor consistent with the popular price and extensive output. How now stands the case with an argentic enlargement? Of course it may be said that there is scarcely time yet to make a fair comparison--that the argentic enlargements are still only on their trial.
I will give you my own experience. I mentioned at the outset that seven or eight years ago I had tried Kennet's pellicle and failed, but got one or two results which I retained as curiosities till only a month or two ago; but up to that time I cannot say they had faded in the least, and I have here a specimen made three years ago, which I have purposely subjected to very severe treatment. It has been exposed without any protection to the light and damp and all the other noxious influences of a Glasgow atmosphere, and although certainly tarnished, I think you will find that it has not faded; the whites are dirty, but the blacks have lost nothing of their original strength. I here show you the picture referred to, a 12 by 10 enlargement on artist's canvas, and may here state, in short, that my whole experience of argentic enlargements leads me to the conclusion that, setting aside every other quality, they are the most permanent pictures that have ever been produced. Chromotypes and other carbon pictures have been called permanent, but their permanence depends upon the nature of the pigment employed, and associated with the chromated gelatine in which they are produced, most of pigments used, and all of the prettiest ones, being unable to withstand the bleaching action of the light for more than a few weeks. Carbon pictures are therefore only permanent according to the degree in which the coloring matter employed is capable of resisting the decolorizing action of light. But there is no pigment in an argentic print, nothing but the silver reduced by the developer after the action of light; and that has been shown by, I think, Captain Abney, to be of a very stable and not easily decomposed nature; while if the pictures are passed through a solution of alum after washing and fixing, the gelatine also is so acted upon as to be rendered in a great degree impervious to the action of damp, and the pictures are then somewhat similar to carbon pictures without carbon.
I may now say a few words on the defects and failures sometimes
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