The Sun.
London, England, 1848-02-25 00:00:00

LLYNVI VALLEY RAILWAY.

The ordinary half-yearly meeting, and also an extra-
ordinary general meeting of the proprietors of this com-
pany, was held 3•esterday afternoon at the offices, 449,
West Strand. Dr. Bowring, M.P., presided.
The report stated that effect had been given to the
provisions of the Amalgamation Act for incorporating
the Duffryn, Llynvi, and Porth Cawl Railway aim-
pany with this undertaking, and it now only remained
to complete the arrangement by granting the needful
authority to the directors to enable !them to issue the
new shares for the additional stock of 50,0001.(created
in lieu of the share capital of an equal amount in the old
company) to the respective proprietors entitled to claim
the same under the provisions of the Act.

The statement of the revenue arising from the traffic
over the railway, and from the harbour, from the Ist
August last (on which day possession was taken) to the
31st December last, a period of five months, showed a
total receipt of 4,1301. Os. 7d., the charge on which,
inclusive of interest on mortgages, as exhibited in the
same account, was 2,2951 15s. 5d.; thus leaving a dis-
posable balance of 1,834/. ss. 2d., out of which the
directors recommended that a dividend be declared on
the share capital of the company, 75,0801., at the rate
of 5/. per cent. per annum, being 1,5731. I Is. 10d.,
and that the remainder of 26C/. 13s. 4d. be carried
to the credit of the present half-year's account, as a
reserve, subject to the future control of the proprietors.
The directors, referring to the depressed state of the
trading community generally, and of the iron trade in
particular, which could not but exercise a most un
favourable influence over the receipts of the railway.
confined as it was at present to the conveyance of
minerals and merchandise, ventured to hope that the
results, as exhibited in the traffic accounts, would not
be unsatisfactory to the proprietors. Nothing impor-
tant has been done towards the construction of
new works dufing the past half-year, in con-
sequence of the great depression, and scarcity of
money, which had been so generally experienced; and
their operations during the present year would be con-
fined to such works only as were indispensable. When
the arrangements between the Duffryn, Llynvi, and
Forth Cawl Railway, and the LI) nvi Valley Railway
Companies were settled, it appeared that a payment of
3,000/. by the latter company (made in August last),
would not only enable the former to discharge all their
liabilities, but would leave a surplus for division amongst
their proprietors; it was, therefore, necessary to state
for the information of those parties who were pro-
prietors, by virtue of stock in the old company,
that the non-recovery of certain arrears of calls
due in respect of the Duffryn Company's 25/.
shares (viz., 2,812), and also of another amount due: for
tonnages, &c. (viz., 1,132), had placed the account of
that company in a different position from that which
was anticipated ; the payments now in advance,
and prescat liabilities, amounted to the sum of
2,9581,, the directors were, therefore, under the necessity
of carrying into effect the clause in the agreement
which provided that any surplus arising out of the debts
and liabilities above the stipulated sum, should be re-
tained out of the accruing interest, and dividends of the
new shares: they however desired to state, that they
were using every exertion for the recovery of the re-.
spective sums above stated as due, and that when they
had accomplished that object the balance would be rate-
ably divided amongst the proprietors entitled to the
same.

The following gentlemen, who were directors of the
Duffryn, Llynvi, and Porth Cawl Railway, had taken
their seats at the board of this company, in compliance
with a special clause to that effect in the Amalgamation
Act, viz.:—Sir Robert Price, Bart., M.P.; John Ilal-
comb, Esq.; David Jlalkett, Esq., and M. P. Smith, Esq.
The receipts up to the 31st December were 109,3451.,
and the payments 107,0321. 9s. 10d. ; leaving a balance
of 2,3121. 10s. 2d.

The report was received and adopted.
The proprietors having formed themselves into an
extraordinary general meeting, resolutions were passed
in accordance with the provisions of the Amalgamation Act
for the purpose ofcreating 50,000/. new stock,the amount of
capital represented by the shares in the Duffryn, Llynvi,
and Porthcawl Railway Company's undertakings, such
stock to be divided into 20/. shares, whieh were to be
considered as paid up and apportioned rateably among
the proprietors of that Company.
A dividend, at the rate of 5/. per cent., to be paid on
or after the Ist March next, was then agreed to.
The directors who had retired by rotation were re-
elected, and also H. W. Schneider, Esq., the auditor of
the company's accounts.
The meeting then separated.

PARIS ACADEMY OF SCIENCES
SITTING OF FEBRUARY 7, 1848.

Last November M. Niepce de St. Victor announced to
the Academy his discovery of an ingenious mode of
tracing or etching drawings and engravings, on paper,
glass,and metallic plates, by means of iodine. He found that
if an engraving, which had previously been submitted to
the action of the vapour of iodine (for a few minutes
only, to avoid the white parts being impregnated with
the iodine), was immediately applied to the surface of a
silver plate, with pressure, that in the course of five or
six minutes a faithful representation of the en-
graving was obtained; this plate being after-
wards exposed to the action of mercury, he ob-
tained a representation of the same kind as that
produced by the daguerreotype process. He found also
that the same effect was produced by operating on a
plate of copper with iodine vapour, and subsequent ex-
posure to the action of vapour of liquid ammonia ; he'
also found that iodine possesses the property of attach.
ing itself to designs in relief and all bodies which pre-
sented engraved surfaces, whatever their colour or
composition.
M. Poiteoin has succeeded in transferring these
etchings or tracings to plates engraved in relief or
in intaglio, by the aid of which we can take impressions;
two or three hours only are required to effect this.
He commences by exposing an engraving to the
vapours of iodine, which readily deposits itself on the
black parts only ; there are papers which produce
inverse effects. The iodized engraving he then applies,
with slight pressure, to the surface of a silver plate, or
of a plated or gilded copper plate, prepared as for
the daguerreotype process ; the black parts of the
engraving, which have absorbed the iodine,
so acts upon the silver plate that the iodine is converted
into iodide of silver on those parts of the plate which
correspond with the black in the future representation
of the design. The plate is then plunged for a
few minutes into a saturated solution of sulphate
of copper, connected with the negative pole of a
voltaic battery (composed of a few series), by
means of a slip of platinum, the plate itself being con-
nected with the positive pole of the battery. The copper
deposits itself only on the parts which had not previously
been covered by the iodide—in other words, the parts
corresponding to the white parts of the engraving; there
is thus a perfect representation of the engraving, in which
the copper represents the white and the iodide of silver
the black parts. Care must be taken that the silver plate
remains but a short time in the bath of sulphate of
copper, for if the operation be too prolonged, the entire
plate will be covered with copper. The plate having re-
ceived its deposit of copper is washed in water with
much care, then plunged into a solution of hyposulphite
of soda to dissolve the iodide of silver, which occupies
the place of the black parts of the engraving;
it is then washed in a large quantity of dis-
tilled water, dried, and heated at a temperature
sufficient to oxidise the surface of the cop-
per, which assumes different tints ; the heating must be
stopped when the copper has assumed a dull-brown co- -
lour. The plate is then cooled, and the silver, now set at
liberty from its combination with the iodine by means of