NOTES FROM THE DARK-KOOM. HOTOGRAPHY during the next few months

PHOT

will be largely confined to indoor exposures and the flash-light will frequently be called into requisition. Really good work can be done in the home at night by a proper manipulation of the flash, and indeed this source of illumination may be used to advantage on dull days as an auxiliary to daylight, as well as a substitute for it. Success depends largely on the observance of a few cardinal points. When making a picture by daylight, it is a rule that, whenever possible, the light shall come from the side. If the sun be directly behind the camera, the picture will be flat and devoid of shadows. The light coming from the right or left gives light and shade, with the appearance of relief and vigor. So it is with flash-light work. The flash must not be fired from a point near the camera, but from the right or left and above, so that the subject may be lighted just as if the picture were being made by daylight.

It is surprising that amateurs use bromide paper to such a small extent. Here is a paper on which prints can be made rapidly by either day or night, without much trouble, and involving no more steps than the making of an ordinary print. Further, bromide, or argentic paper, as it is sometimes called, is obtainable in varying thicknesses, and with matt and enameled finish. It certainly is easily manipulated. As the paper is extremely sensitive to light, the package must be opened only in the darkroom, and indeed, it must be treated with the same caution as a dry plate. first difficulty to arise will probably be to decide which side of the paper is coated. With the enameled papers, this is, of course, quite plain, but with the matt sur

The

face, no difference in the two sides of the paper is perceptible in the dark-room. If a sheet be pulled out of the package and laid on the table, however, it will curl up, the coated side being inwards; or the thumb and finger may be moistened and the paper pressed between them, when the sensitive side will adhere. Either of these tests will help the amateur over his first difficulty. Prints can be made with an exposure of about ten seconds, made at a distance of two feet from a gas burner. They must be soaked in water and then developed, washed and fixed in the same manner as a plate.

The general public is invited to the monthly meetings of the Photographers' Section of the American Institute, which are held on the first Tuesday of each month at 113 West 38th Street, New York. New apparatus is shown and described and the lantern-slide exhibition is always interesting. At the October meeting, an automatic projection lantern was shown by Mr. Edmund Hudson. With this lantern the lecturer was able to change the slides by pressure on a button and to thus conduct an exhibition without the aid of an assistant. The slides were attached to a belt driven by clockwork, the latter being released by electricity.

When it is desired to photograph a group or to make a time exposure, the cyclist may use the bicycle as a camera stand and this with greater advantage if a second wheel can be borrowed. A clip with screw for the tripod plate may be purchased for a few cents and with this the camera may be attached to the handle-bar. Two wheels locked together at the handle-bars make a firm support and the camera may thus be focused and adjusted with as much ease as if a tripod were used.

As the Racing Season Ends.

WIT

WITH the end of the Westchester Racing Association's meeting at Morris Park on Election day, the Metropolitan racing season closes, and the only points at which the thoroughbred will run in the East again this year are Washington and Baltimore. These meetings are of minor importance, and to all intents and purposes Morris Park ends a season which will be long memorable in the annals of the turf. The sport itself has been poor to a degree that has scarcely been paralleled within the memory of the present generation. But everything points to the probability that the year 1896 will be recorded in red letters as having inaugurated a more definite and stringent system of turf discipline than has been seen of recent years. Little was done till the case became so pressing that the most confirmed optimist could not close his eyes to the fact that racing matters were going awry. Then the matter was taken up with a strong hand, and while everything was done as quietly and discreetly as possible, every blow struck at turf iniquities was well aimed. The climax cannot be reached until the members of the State Racing Commission, Messrs. August Belmont, E. D. Morgan and John Sanford, meet in session. The commission is endowed with the legal powers that the Jockey Club does not possess, and can subpoena witnesses and put them on oath in due process of law. Hence those who realize how matters stand in the racing world are looking forward to the commission's session as likely to uncover a hot-bed of trickery.

Last year found us in a novel position. All the conditions of racing were changed. Mr. Belmont and his associates had come to the front and saved the turf from annihilation that threatened it after the Saratoga convention in the Fall of 1894.

It was then that they showed their social and political influence, but even after the Percy-Gray law became an established fact, they had to prove their ability to administer the intricate affairs of the turf. appeared. All the old generation had practically disD. D. Withers, the elder August Belmont, John A. Morris and other men who had grown gray as the American turf came to years of discretion, were dead, and the veteran of them all, John Hunter, soon decided that he would rather play the part of an onlooker than an active administrator. The season of 1895 saw the adoption of what was perhaps a wise policy for the time being, but which inevitably entailed serious problems. The idea was to avoid public scandal in each and every case, so far as possible. This year saw the development of sundry practices which, if not actually in themselves dishonest, tended to the absolute demoralization of racing. Having become the most important factor in the management of turf affairs, Mr. Belmont's absence in Europe during a large part of the Summer necessarily retarded the process of inquiry which was begun during the Sheepshead Bay Fall meeting, and culminated in the summary action taken on his return to this country. The Racing Commission's next session will complete the unpleasant task. It is fair to presume that the vigorous policy, which has been found necessary after the conduct of racing for a year and a half under the new law, will be continued in the future. If so, brighter days are dawning for the American turf. The men who hold the authority have shown themselves capable of grappling with the most difficult questions, and the action already taken and that which is likely to follow give fairer promise for next year's racing than could possibly have been expected two months ago.

stables in England. That the owners who went abroad have been altogether successful cannot be said. With the solitary exception of Mr. Pierre Lorillard, their heavy expense accounts must show a balance on the wrong side of the ledger. The odd part of the matter is that Mr. Lorillard had no idea that he was going to have a good season. He became discontented and fretful about the way racing was handled here in 1895, and thought that by going across the Atlantic with his horses he would have more "fun." Luckily he had in John Huggins a trainer able to hold his own in any part of the world, and later in securing Lord William Beresford as a partner he executed a good stroke. The Beresfords are about the most thoroughly-posted racing family in the world, and with the aid of such a man as Lord William, who not only knows the English turf from A to Z but has raced his own and other people's horses most successfully in India, Mr. Lorillard's chances of continuing his successful career are excellent. Mr. Belmont's idea of sending a stable to England has unfortunately been frustrated owing to sickness and other troubles in his racing establishment. This is unfortunate for the chairman of the Jockey Club himself, but perhaps it is lucky for the Eastern turf in general, in that Mr. Belmont's presence seems necessary to enable the stewards to act with promptitude and coherency.

It is not necessary here to allude in any detail to the extremely poor racing that has been seen on our metropolitan race courses during the season. In the Spring it looked likely that we should have an exceptionally good lot of two-year-olds, a very high class lot of three-year-olds, and a fair assortment of all-aged horses. Not one of these hopes has been fulfilled, however. The Eastern two-year-olds were beneath contempt. They beat each other with that absolute impartiality that is the worst possible sign, and the West sent on two or three that could do pretty much as they pleased with the best we could bring out. This would have been bad enough, but the latter part of the season has witnessed a succession of victories for Western horses, other than twoyear-olds, over the representatives of the East. And the most lamentable affair of all is that there was no chance to suppose that the horses which were beating ours were real "clinkers;" it was a case of "dog eat dog" and nothing more. As for the three-year-olds, they did not come up to expectation in any particular instance. Requital proved himself a good horse, but even he had to strike his colors to the Western selling-plater, Captive, when he tried to give away twenty-four and one-half pounds in the September stakes at Sheepshead Bay. Handspring was handled with little discre

tion and was trained in such severe style that he went to pieces early in the season; and while Hastings was able to show that he was at least a pretty good colt, he was none too sound at any time and had gone to pieces before he was started in the Realization, only to meet ignominious defeat.

* *

As for the old horses, there was nothing but disaster. Henry of Navarre proved himself decidedly the best horse of the year, winning the Suburban with 129 pounds up, in impressive style, but the triumphs that the gallant chestnut might have gained during the Autumn were rendered impossible by the necessity of retiring him through the development of a big splint. Counter Tenor, who aroused high hopes by winning the Metropolitan Handicap, turned out not only rankly unsound, but an absolute cur. St. Maxim displayed good form but with no liking for a long distance, and then broke down. Clifford was never near his old form and Sir Walter developed into a regular hypochondriac among horses, having to be "jollied along" to get him to a race at all. Lazzarone was too pronounced a cripple to ever get him to the post; Rubicon degenerated into a sprinting "selling-plater;" Santa Anita and Ramapo went to England and did nothing there; Galilee could not win a race of any kind; Keenan turned out the worst kind of a counterfeit and Dorian was proved to be unspeakably bad. And so it went on down the list. Truly, whatever great and lasting methods of reform may eventually prove to date from 1896, the season in itself may go to an unwept grave. Francis Trevelyan.

A Record-Breaking Year in Athletics.

TH

HE outdoor athletic season just closed has been an eventful one, and international interest was more than once aroused. The percentage of record performances has scarcely reached the average, but lack of quantity was more than offset by the quality of the feats by which old figures were supplanted. In short distance running the heroes of the season did the most execution, but the scarcity of recordbreaking in the other departments of sport was due more to the high standards already existing than to any decadence of form among the present crop of champions. Had M. F. Sweeney not become a professional, a new high jumping record would have been within the possibilities, while the enforced retirement of Stephen Chase, the sequel of a series of unfortunate accidents, reduced hurdle racing to a very moderate grade. But even with these and other minor drawbacks, the best figures for 1895

The year's sport opened in classic fashion with the revival of the ancient Olympic games at Athens. Strange to say, the old countries, which were expected to fall easy victims to the glamor of romantic history, sat on the fence until it was too late, and it remained for America to step into the breach and furnish sport in the Stadeon at Athens such as the ancient Greeks never dreamt of. Conservative England, as usual, fought shy of a tournament in which their A. A. A. had not absolute control, and with the Britishers sulking at home, our athletes were well rewarded for their round trip of eight thousand miles. Our most successful performer was Thomas Burke, of Boston. Burke's athletic career since has furnished one of the most startling chapters in the history of the season. At the annual

championship meeting of the Amateur Athletic Union in September, he essayed the biggest task attempted by a modern athlete and realized his ambition after one of the greatest races ever run. The event was Burke's favorite distance of a quartermile, and although there were several other starters, the only serious opposition came from Bernard J. Wefers, who had found his triumphs up to two hundred and twenty yards growing monotonous and became ambitious to try the quarter. Burke led all the way, however, and although Wefers reached his rival's shoulder when they straightened out at the head of the stretch, Burke responded in most resolute style and fairly outstayed his opponent, winning by two yards. The time was officially returned as 48 seconds, one-twentieth of a second behind the American record of 48 seconds, established by the famous L. E. Myers some years ago. Three of the watch-holders thought Burke had beaten the old figures, but one timer's watch registered 49 seconds, and the intermediate watches showed 48 seconds, so these figures were ultimately accepted. The track was slow and uncertain and the general consensus of expert opinion is that Burke practically broke the record. As his admirers believe he can beat this performance whenever a favorable opportunity is offered, they accept the ruling with good grace. Some weeks later, Burke ran six hundred yards through a big handicap field in the world's record time of 1 minute and II seconds. Two other world's records were also broken at the same meeting. Jerome Buck, of Hoboken, ran a quarter mile over hurdles in the unprecedented time of 56 seconds, while R. Sheldon, of Yale, hurled the discus 111 feet and 8 inches.

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Discus throwing is an importation from the Greeks, which is being taken up enthusiastically in this country. For many centuries it was exclusively a Greek sport, but since Captain Garrett, of the Princeton team that went to Greece, beat the natives so cleverly at Athens last Spring, Americans have adopted the game. The missile resembles in outline two good-sized saucers placed face to face and soldered together. It weighs about four and a half pounds, and is thrown in a manner that makes the competition very interesting for spectators. Sheldon, so far, seems to be the best exponent of the game here, but his record is almost certain to be surpassed next season, as all the weight-throwing experts industriously studying the rudiments of the sport. While our weight-throwers have confined themselves to normal efforts this year, there has been great activity on the other side of the ocean in this department. An Irishman named Flanigan is credited with throwing the hammer more than two feet beyond Mitchell's record mark, and under American rules, but the figures have yet to be officially accepted. Another feature of the past season has been the series of professional races in England between F. E. Bacon and Thomas P. Conneff, the ex-amateur American champion long-distance runner, who crossed over in order to meet the English flyer. The change of climate handicapped Conneff from the first, but Bacon would not agree to any postponement, and the races naturally resulted disastrously for the visitor. These races are but the thin end of the wedge of professional running, and there are many discredited amateur athletes now on the track, and more professional match racing may be looked for in the near future.

Bernard J. Wefers, of Georgetown University, proved to be the star record-breaker of the season. Since the palmy days of L. E. Myers, America has never produced such a sprinter, and it is doubtful if he has a peer throughout the world, even in the professional ranks. During the season just ended, Wefers has equalled the world's record of 9 seconds for the one-hundredyard dash, and that of 11 seconds for one hundred and twenty yards. He has reduced the world's record for two hundred and twenty yards to 21 seconds, and the three-hundred-yard record to 30 seconds. The last performance was around a cramped oval track near New York in a race that was almost a walk-over. Under the adverse circumstances, it is almost entitled to rank with Harry Hutchens's professional record of 30 seconds made under favorable conditions in Scotland.

Hugh S. Hart.

To Organize Professional Bicyclists.

HE withdrawal of the support of the manufacturers of the country from the racing talent, teams and individuals, has unquestionably had its effect, for while without question, the racing that has been seen upon the National Circuit this year has been of a high order, many of the crack riders protest that their expenses of training and attendance have far exceeded their profits, and not a few of them have declared their intention of either joining the professional ranks another year, or of secretly putting a price upon their services to any clubs or race promoters who want them, or else of confining their individual circuits to the immediate vicinity of their respective towns.

To my mind, the only solution of this whole problem, if bicycle racing is ever to become a thoroughly recognized sport, with men in every way fit to command popular attention, and draw fees at the gate, is the organization of racing teams upon much the same plan as that upon which the baseball teams of the country are organized. For instance, if half a dozen great cities in the East, and as many in the West, would support racing teams in every way representative of their cities, and if the organizations behind these teams would provide race tracks, with grand stands and other accommodations for the comfort of patrons such as are provided by the ball clubs and the horse racing clubs of the country, it is not improbable that public interest and enthusiasm, to say nothing of sectional pride, would be aroused, while it is certain that the talent of each club would be as carefully nursed and improved as is the talent of the National League of ball clubs. I do not know that the time is ripe for such an undertaking, but I should be inclined to predict its success, if during the coming Fall, the scheme were projected, and the months of the Winter improved to the end of making all preparations for a series of big intersectional and intermunicipal contests, beginning with the opening of next year's racing season. Certain it is that the projectors of such an undertaking would have an almost exhaustless source from which to draw upon for material-a far greater source than have the ball clubs of the country to-day, for the reason that the public is just now as enthusiastic over cycling, as it was over baseball in the palmiest days of the game's career, and by that I mean nothing detrimental to the wide popularity and the grand qualities of the national game itself.

More than once during the past year or two, the name of Mr. A. G. Spalding has been associated with rumors to the effect that a National League of Cyclists was to be formed for the promulgation of just such

a racing circuit as I have suggested. In each and every instance, however, it has been denied by Mr. Spalding, and the rumor has, without doubt, in each instance, been unfounded. Should the time ever be really ripe, however, for the organization of the cycle racing talent upon lines similar to that of the National League of baseball players, I believe that the suggestions of Mr. Spalding would be invaluable, and that if perchance he could be to any extent interested in outlining the plans for its organization and methods, its success would be assured. C. P. H.

The Extermination of Game.

PROFESSOR F. A. LUCAS, of the

National Museum at Washington, has

recently compiled a list of the game birds and animals of this and other countries, which have of late years become extinct, and of those whose ranks have been so decimated by the rifle of the hunter or by the onward march of civilization as to render it likely that they will have become extirpated within the near future. The causes which have led up to this result and the notes made by the Professor during his researches, are interesting. He says:

"Every one knows of the frightfully rapid extinction of the American bison or buffalo in this country. This, according to American scientists, is the saddest of all cases of the extinction of species. The wild buffalo is practically gone forever, and in a few more years, as Prof. Hornaday, the superintendent of the National Zoological Park, has said, when the whitened bones of the last bleaching skeleton shall have been picked up and shipped East for commercial uses, nothing will remain of him save his old well-worn trails along the water courses, a few museum specimens, and regret for his fate. The area once inhabited by the American bison extended almost from the Atlantic to the Pacific coast. The animals were gradually shot off in the eastern and middle sections of the United States, Canada and Mexico, and in 1870 they were divided in two herds, which ranged through parts of Kansas, Colorado, Texas and New Mexico, Dakota, Montana, Wyoming and the north of the Dominion. In 1880, the herds were still further diminished; they occupied only parts of Wyoming, Montana, Dakota and Colorado, together with a small breeding ground to the north in Canada. The greatest slaughters were in 1870 and 1873, and from 1880 to 1883, at which time the herd was reduced to a small number in the Yellowstone Park, another small herd in Montana, and a third small herd to the north in the Dominion of Canada.

"The extermination of the buffalo over