or Mrs. Jones or Mrs. Robinson, King Solomon, who could point out so sagaciously the parentage of unauthenticated babies, would be puzzled to guess.  But it is enough for the poor mother, whose eyes are blinded with tears, that she sees a print of drapery like an infant’s dress, and a rounded something, like a foggy dumpling, which will stand for a face:  she accepts the spirit-portrait as a revelation from the world of shadows.  Those who have seen shapes in the clouds, or remember Hamlet and Polonius, or who have noticed how readily untaught eyes see a portrait of parent, spouse, or child in almost any daub intended for the same, will understand how easily the weak people who resort to these places are deluded.

There are various ways of producing the spirit-photographs.  One of the easiest is this.  First procure a bereaved subject with a mind “sensitized” by long immersion in credulity.  Find out the age, sex, and whatever else you can, about his or her departed relative.  Select from your numerous negatives one that corresponds to the late lamented as nearly as may be.  Prepare a sensitive plate.  Now place the negative against it and hold it up close to your gas-lamp, which may be turned up pretty high.  In this way you get a foggy copy of the negative in one part of the sensitive plate, which you can then place in the camera and take your flesh-and-blood sitter’s portrait upon it in the usual way.  An appropriate background for these pictures is a view of the asylum for feeble-minded persons, the group of buildings at Somerville, and possibly, if the penitentiary could be introduced, the hint would be salutary.

The number of amateur artists in photography is continually increasing.  The interest we ourselves have taken in some results of photographic art has brought us under a weight of obligation to many of them which we can hardly expect to discharge.  Some of the friends in our immediate neighborhood have sent us photographs of their own making which for clearness and purity of tone compare favorably with the best professional work.  Among our more distant correspondents there are two so widely known to photographers that we need not hesitate to name them:  Mr. Coleman Sellers of Philadelphia and Mr. S. Wager Hull of New York.  Many beautiful specimens of photographic art have been sent us by these gentlemen,—­among others, some exquisite views of Sunnyside and of the scene of Ichabod Crane’s adventures.  Mr. Hull has also furnished us with a full account of the dry process, as followed by him, and from which he brings out results hardly surpassed by any method.