Morning journal and courier., 1890-03-22
Railroad Notes.

Roadmaster k. K. Root of the New Eng land road has been appointed roadmaster of the Hartford division of the Consolidated road in place of Mir. J. s. Lane, who re. signed to engage in the road making busi- neas. The appointment takes effect April 1.
 Nr. Futile, the newly appointed general manager of the Consolidated road is well and most favorably remembered in Hartford, where he formerly lived for many years. He is forty four years of age and has been in active railroad life for twenty five years. He began in 1865, at the age of nineteen, as . clerk in the old Hartford, Providence and Fishkill road in this city. He advanced through various grades until he became gen eral ticket agent, and continued in this position after the road was absorbed by the New York and New England. About 1878. he resigned and removed to Boston to take the general passenger agency of the Eastern road, with headquarters in that city. He held the place six years and re- signed to become assistant to the general manager of the Boston and Maine road. A month later he accepted the position of gen. ell, and in 1886 he went to the Canadian Pa- cidc as general passenger traffic manager, with his office at Montreal. A year ago he was invited to take the commissionership of the passenger committee of the trunk lines, which he accepted and filled with ability and success.
 THE AMATEUR PHOTOGRAPHER. An Interesting Lecture Last RveninR- Amateur Photography Explained and Defended-A ShsA. Man she Firs, Amateur.
 Last evening Professor Farnam delivered the eleventh of the mechanic lectures ir North Sheffield hall before large and ap. preciative audience. His subject was "The Amateur Photographer, ," and one of great in tereat. By frequent use of stereopticor views the subject WAS made particularly graphic and Illustrative. There were sam. ples shown of the most finished effect, and also the ludicrous mistakes of the beginner Particularly interesting were @ series ol views taken by the professor himself in the west, districts where no photographer had sor Farnam acknowledged as of great assist ancs to him in his preparations was Mr. Blake, who made the chloride photos used to amateur photography, but to- the proach it, said Professor Farnam as a science, but rather in sociological view. treat it as parasite upon ths legiti mate professions. A photographer Is per- son who takes pictures by means of light and chemical process, and the amateur is one who does the same thing merely as an amuse ment. There are two parts of the work oi taking picture, preparing and printing the negative. In the old days of wet plates. the amateur photographer was necessarily re. stricted in his pursuits of the art, but by Bennett's discovery in 1878 of the gelatine dry plate, he was freed somewhat. The | trouble of these consisted in their weight and bulkiness. This was overcome by the in. vention of the celluloid film and still more 50 later by the flexible celluloid films, whicl can be put on rolls and great number oi
 amateur photography fresh start.
 The professor gave here most clever de-
 scription by means of the stereopticon of thu
 process of developing plate. The chemica l Inventions, he continued, have been nor, | important than the mechanical. Of the lat | ter the best known and most extensivel. used is the detective kodak. Tn this there i | nothing novel, but an ingenious combination of It's parts. It has Tense of short focus l with fairly wide angle. The shorter tn l focus the more rapid the exposure. I'm the kodak. It is a machine that must b
 used with discretion, and has one evil of ex
 aggerating the prospective.
 | Amateur photography is not as cheap or e
 easy as 1t appears. One thing leads to an
 other till one, unless he has big bank ac
 count, finds himself the victim of an expen
 sive luxury. But 1t inculcates a love of na
 ture, teaches the effects of lights and shsd
 ows as no artist can, and ia elevating in 1t effects upon mankind. The aarIieat am nfau
 photographer was Robert Fisher, who begal
 In 1858. He was an assistant in the chemics
 department of the Sheffield school, heuc
 Shelf. may claim the honor of being the or iginstor of the amateur art. There are nov
 about one hundred in the city.