HOURLY MOVEMENT OF THE WIND (IN MILES) AS RECORDED BY ROBINSON'S ANEMOMETER.-SEPTEMBER 1863. Day. 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 9 10 15 14 17 17 10 11 12 9 19 6 7 13 6 6 11 13 7 15 753242 15 15 23 17 3 11 22 15 2 9 17 5 6 16 5 9 16 15 12 3 11 19 11 11 4 11 22 10 10 4365 A &σT 96 12 11 24 10 14 14 14 10 13 12 19 11 15 10 22 9468 44 19 11 17 11 11 9 11 8 11 11 24 18 11 10 8 13 12 9 12 10 9 9 9 8 7 10 11 15 6 10 8 15 7 11 8 13 5 9 11 9 6 28 11 13 23 11 13 996 A 334 21 222222 13.5 9 12 17 9 11 13.1 9 13 11.7 442230 87 203 319 249 215 296346 462 297 115 190 141 165 198 116 202 201 170 142 407 293 283 298,226 162 166 129 373 347 136 230 9.8 A NEW KIND OF MINIATURE. A VERY ingenious and beautiful application of optical principles to the mounting of photographic miniatures has been recently made by Mr. Henry Swan, of the "Casket Portrait Company," Charing Cross. The effect of the new process is to exhibit the subject of the portraiture with life-like verisimilitude, and in natural relief. You take up a small case, and look through what appears to be a little window, and there stands or sits before you, in a pleasantly-lighted chamber, a marvellous effigy of a lady or gentleman, as the case may be. The projection of the nose, the moulding of the lips, and all the gradations of contour, are as distinct as if an able sculptor had exercised his skill; but the hair and the flesh are of their proper tint, and the whole thing has a singularly vital and comfortable look. Indeed, were it not for the reduction in size, it would be difficult to avoid the belief that an actual man or woman, in ordinary dress, and with characteristic expression, was presented to your eye. We might, indeed, compare these admirable pictures to accurate reflections of the persons themselves in a diminishing glass, and no one can see them without being struck with their marked superiority over ordinary portraits. In order to produce these beautiful and unexpected effects, two portraits, taken at a suitable angle, are arranged upon two prisms, placed almost in contact so as to form a quadrangular block. Each prism is ground to an angle of 39° or 40'; one picture is placed at the back of the combination and another at the side of the prism nearest the eye. When we try to look through the combination, the two images are combined in one stereoscopic picture, and the action is thus explained in a paper read by Mr. Swan before the British Association, at their Newcastle meeting, where the portraits were much admired :—"The reason of this curious phenomenon is, that all the rays which fall on one side of a line perpendicular to the surface of the prism next the eye suffer total reflection at the oblique inner surface of that prism, while the rays which fall on the other side are transmitted unaltered through the body of the combination. Thus it is that one of the eyes only perceives the object at the back of the prisms, while to the other the picture at the side is alone visible, that, apparently, being at the back also. It necessarily follows that if the pictures have been taken in accordance with the principles of binocular vision, the resulting image seen in the interior of the crystal will be quite solid, every detail being wrought in perfect relief with the most exquisite delicacy. To the scientific observer it will be evident that, to produce the effect intended, care must be taken not only that the picture shall not be misplaced, so as to produce the pseudo-scopic effect, but also that the image which suffers reflection shall be reverted, to compensate for the reversion which takes place when reflexion occurs. In addition to portraits destined for morocco cases, and of ordinary minature sizes, much smaller ones are taken and mounted in exceedingly pretty little caskets of fine gold. These form as elegant little shrines as any lover could wish to receive the effigy of his mistress, and far surpass any other mode yet devised of connecting portraiture with ornamental jewellery. The stereoscopic effect is quite as perfect as in the larger patterns, and the photographs are so judiciously coloured that their fidelity to nature is in nowise impaired. All the casket portraits are viewed as transparencies, the photographs being printed from ordinary negatives on small mica plates which are affixed to the prisms. We have appended Mr. Swan's rationale of his process without comment, and our optical readers can investigate this curious question for themselves. There is not the slightest doubt of the magical relief of the portraits, but we are not quite sure that the effect is entirely dependent upon the causes which Mr. Swan particularises. We recommend all who have an opportunity of going to Charing Cross, to see these portraits for themselves. Few will be contented to leave the studio without making arrangements to possess some specimens of the artist's skill, and all must admit that they have never before seen the stereoscopic principle so beautifully carried out. Mr. Swan's is one of those happy inventions in which art and science join, and his labours will be appreciated to the extent that they are known. THE EARTHQUAKE OF OCTOBER, 1863. ALTHOUGH earthquakes in Great Britain are by no means rare occurrences, that which occurred on the 6th of October was remarkable for an amount of violence seldom experienced in these usually quiet isles, and those who did not themselves feel the late concussion were scarcely less startled by the alarming accounts with which the newspapers were filled on the following day. Our present purpose is to endeavour to place on record the most important facts that were observed, and to supply a little earthquake philosophy, by the light of which the incidents may appear in a more interesting light. Thanks to telegrams, newspaper correspondents, and the penny post, the materials are not scanty, although few can be affirmed to be exact. In its extent the shaking was reported from a point about twenty miles off Pembroke, in the west, to some place of which the name is not given, on the Yorkshire coast, to the east. If, however, it was really felt at the latter place,* it must have been very feeble, and we are not aware of any authentic record of noticeable disturbance more east than Gad's Hill, near Rochester, where it gave Mr. Charles Dickens the sensation of a great beast uplifting itself under his bed. At Ashford, in Kent, we are assured it was not felt, and thus its eastern range was probably very small. In the absence of accurate standards of measurement, we are driven to secondary evidence in our attempt to say where the greatest violence was exerted; but no place appears to have been more strongly affected than Hereford and its vicinity, while the concussion may have been equally severe in the Black Country of Staffordshire, and on Sedgely Beacon, N.N.W. of Dudley, in the same county. It was likewise severe at Lyerney, in Gloucestershire, and was called violent at Taunton and Wellington, in Somerset. The time at which the principal shock was felt can scarcely have been the same in different localities, even making allowance for the probable difference of clocks. Everton, near Liverpool, claims to have felt premonitory rumblings at 11 P.M. of the night of the 5th; Clifford, in Herefordshire, was stated to have been affected at 2:30, and Taunton is stated to have received a violent quaking at 2:40. Of these early times we may regard that of Everton as doubtful, and that of Clifford, from which we have received more accurate information, as a decided mistake. The latest shock is stated to have been felt at Swansea and Nailsworth, which *We are informed it was not felt at Scarborough. enjoyed a parting rumble about 4 P.M., after having had their share in the earlier distribution. Sorting out, from the various communications to the daily press, a few of the most important places in the line of attack, we may make two lists, the first comprising those in which the shaking is alleged to have been experienced about 3 A.M. on the morning of the 6th, and the second including others chiefly affected at or near 3.30 a.m. of the same day. The first list, it will be seen, is rich in western names. It is as follows: The half-past three time-list comprises localities far apart The force of the earthquake was very trifling compared with the gigantic concussions of which other countries are frequently the seat, and we possess very slender means of measuring its intensity by actual reference to work performed. Mr. E. J. Lowe informs us that many persons in the neighbourhood of Beeston Observatory, near Nottingham, were awoke by the shaking of their beds and windows, and to this general testimony he adds the more precise intelligence that the motion of his earthquakependulum was from W.N.W. to E.S.E., and " the displacement of chalk by the thirty-feet rod was half an inch, the index-needle moving the chalk so as to leave an oval or rather lengthened-oval hole." He considers there must have been at least two shocks -one at 2:35 and another at 3:30 A.M. During the latter, "the zero pencils on his atmospheric recorder marked the paper in a remarkable manner." No large object is reported to have been displaced anywhere; but it is not unlikely that careful inquiries would lead to the discovery of fissures in old and weak buildings or walls; though we should think the concussion could not have had force to damage any that were sound. At Barnstaple, Liverpool, Sedgely, and some other localities, small articles are affirmed |