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Some important inventions or improvements have just been bronght into snccessful operation in the practice of photography By Messrs. Beard Sharp, of Old Bond street, London. It is well known that ivory, notwithstanding its rare and valuable qualities for the purposes of the miniature-painter, has proved most intractable in the hands of the photographer, and until recently has baffled all attempts to bring it into successful usc. Messrs. Beard Sharp, however, have, to all appearance, succeeded in accomplishing this object. The process they adopt differs, we understand, very materially from any that has yet been made public, the ordinary chemicals being entirely disused in it; nor is any destrnctive agent used in "fixing," as in other processes. The metallic oxyd employed combines chemically with the substance of the ivory, aud the consequence is a picture of great pnrity and brilliancy, which it is almost impossible to remove by time or any other agency. The importance of this discovery, when the value of ivory as a ground for miniature painting is considered, cannot be overrated ; and some very beautiful colored specimens which we have inspected fully attest its practical availability, not for superseding, but for guiding and assisting, the labors of the miniature artist.—Illustrated London News.
