part, he soon produced perfect specimens, by which he obtained an honour. able mention from the class of fine arts of the Institute.

"Count Lasteyrie was also highly successful; but as his establishment had cost him a considerable sum, it was natural that he should employ lithography as the means of covering his expenses; and this art having once become with him an object of speculation, he thought it right not to make his treatise public; thus Paris possessed two considerable lithographic establishments, "Unfortunately for the progress of lithography, instead of mutually communicating to each other the discoveries which they made, both Englemann and Lasteyrie became jealous of one another, and made a secret of the whole process.

"At this time, the committee of the School of the Royal Roads and Bridges obtained from the director-general the permission of establishing a lithographic press. As I was then one of the oldest of the pupils, I was entrusted with the management of the establishment." Manual Int. p. vi. In these establishments, the art has been carried to great perfection; and many of their productions are fully equal to those of the presses at Munich. The collection of prints at the latter may be compared with the best copperplate-engraving, in point of sharpness and high finish. Into England, lithography was introduced by M. Andrè, but was scarcely at all practised in London, till it was revived by M. Ackerman; and several other establishments are now carried on in that city, by M. Hullmandell and others, chiefly employed in printing chalk drawings, circular letters, and fac-similes of handwriting. A press has also been for many years employed at the office of the Horse Guards. The first lithographic establishment in Scotland has recently been begun in this city by Mr. Ruthven, the well-known inventor of the improved printing press, who has been applying himself for years to gain a knowledge of the art, and who has besides rendered an essential service to the cause of lithography, by a very simple improvement on the rolling press of the engravers, by which it is made to combine the high pressure necessary for lithographic works with the facility of ordinary printing; Mr. Lizars, has also, we understand, been cultivating lithography, and preparing to carry it on along with the engraving; and a society has been formed here to encourage these promising beginnings. Lithography has thus been 20 years in extending from the centre to the extremities of Europe; but such in general, is the slow progress of every new art. Printing itself did not come into general use throughout Europe, until 30 years after its first invention, and 10, or perhaps 20, after it began to be practised with success in several cities, both in Germany and Holland. There can be little doubt, therefore, that lithography, as it becomes better known and understood, will, in like manner, advance with increased rapidity.

We may now explain more particularly the nature of the principal materials, and the leading operations in lithography,

The stones which are found to answer best the purposes of lithography, are of the same kind with those first used by Senefelder, and are still also found in greatest abundance, and of largest dimensions, in the same quarry. This is situated at the village of Solenhofen, near Papenheim, in Bavaria, 3 leagues from the town of Neuburgh, on the Danube. The inhabitants there are almost all stone-masons; and the country abounds so much in this species of stone, that no want of it need be felt for centuries to come. When the ground is uncovered, they appear lying in horizontal strata, which split easily into slates of various thickness, and which, from the quarries of Kellheim, now exhausted, have received the name of Kellheim-stone plates. The stone itself is a species of marble, or limestone of a very compact earthy texture, and of a uniform yellowish white, or fawn colour, nearly resembling a hone, or razor stone. It is chiefly composed of lime and carbonic acid, with about one-sixth part of argillaceous, and one-fiftieth of silicious earth; and in nitric, muriatic, and other acids, it is accordingly almost entirely dissolved. It is rather lighter than marble, and rather heavier than chalk.

Stones, however, possessing nearly the same qualities, have been found in other places; and as every stone, indeed, is more or less fit for the printing, which effervesces with an acid, and imbibes watery and greasy liquids with facility, there can be no doubt that lithographic fossils are extensively distributed in the mineral kingdom. Near Chateauroux and Chatellerault, in France, stones have been found, possessing, in some respects, an advantage over those of Bavaria. In England, also, the Bath stone, or Whitelias limestone, is found to answer the purpose. In order to withstand the pressure necessary in the printing, a stone one foot square must not be less than one 14 inch in thickness; and one three feet square, must be at least 2 inches thick. When too thick, they are cut by a saw; and when not thick enough, they may be cemented to another stone or hard substance. They are polished by rubbing them face to face, with sand and water interposed, until they become, when cleaned, uniformly white and of an even grain, similar to that of a sheet of vellum paper; a higher polish is obtained when requisite, by rubbing with pumice-stone instead of sand.

"Different grains are given, according to the nature of the drawings: fine and delicate drawings require a very fine grain; while bold and spirited ones require a coarser one: this leads us to remark, that lithographic drawings generally fail in point of effect; and we are of opinion, that this is chiefly occasioned by the uniformity of the grain which is given to the stone.** Manual, p. 34.

In the production of aerial perspective, this rule is especially to be observed.

The chief ingredients in the lithographic ink, are wax, soap, and lamp black. For drawing on the stone, any greasy liquid might indeed serve as an ink, and any fat substance for chalk; but to give these materials the same commodious form as the ink and chalk already in the hands of artists, the others are added in order that the ink may be formed into sticks like China ink, and used with a pen, or hair pencil, in the same manner; and the chalk into ordinary crayons. The composition of M. Raucourt is tallow candle, virgin wax, shell lac, and common soap in equal quantities, and coloured to the requisite darkness with lamp black of the finest quality. "The soap," says he, "is the only one of the above compounds whose proportion "must never vary; its office is to render, by the alcali it con"tains, the other ingredients soluble in water." For chalk, his composition is, tallow, 2 oz.; wax, 2 oz.; common soap, 11⁄2 oz.; and shell lac, 1 oz.

There are a variety of ways in which the drawing is executed in the stone, each having its peculiar advantages and defects. They may all be arranged into the elevated, the engraved, and the mixed styles: in the first, the drawing being transferred to the stone, or executed on it with prepared chalk, or ink, resists the action of the acid, and is consequently elevated above the rest of the stone, on which only the acid takes effect. In the engraved method, again, the whole of the stone is covered with an etching ground, to resist the acid; and the lines of the drawing being cut through this with a sharp pointed needle, are afterwards sunk or engraved by the acid, or else by cutting into the stone itself. The elevation on the one hand, however, and the depression on the other, are both extremely inconsiderable; and hence arises the third, or mixed style, where, by a striking peculiarity in lithography, both elevated and engraved lines are printed from the same slate. The elevated method is mostly in use in this country, and also in France, on account of the facili ties it presents both for drawing and printing, and the number of impressions it allows to be taken from the same drawing. The engraved style, however, admits of greater variety and expression. It has been employed with great success in Germany; and, in the hands of skilful engravers, is capable of yielding admirable specimens. The mixed style has not yet been much cultivated; though it is undoubtedly capable, by combining the advantages of both, of producing the finest effect. To the elevated style belong chalk drawings, pen and ink drawings, and drawings in imitation of wood cuts. For chalk drawings,

the stones must be chosen hard and clean, and prepared with a granular texture, which should vary according to the nature of the drawings, and even in the different parts of each, according to the delicacy or boldness of the lines. From its easy execution, the chalk manner has been greatly practised; and many highly finished drawings have shown of how great a degree of perfection it is susceptible. Ink drawing with the steel pen and hair pencil, has also been much cultivated, and is applicable to all kinds of writing and printing, and to drawings, where great nicety is not required; and may, in time, also be employed for the higher productions of art. The stones for this purpose must receive a very fine polish; and the ink must be thickened a little, to prevent its spreading on the stone prepared for carrying it, by washing it with a solution of oil in spirits of turpentine, with soap water, or by any other means. In these drawings, the steel scraper for rubbing out any of the lines, which, in chalk drawings, would destroy the grain of the stone, is of great utility. With it we can scrape out the lines any number of times, give sharpness to their edges, or divide a line into any number of parts or dots. The scraper also enables the artist to imitate wood-cuts in lithography with great ease, by merely covering the stone with printing ink, and scraping it away where the plate is to be light; the finer lines and touches being then executed with the pen or pencil on this white ground. The method of making transfers, is one of the most important applications of lithography. The ink used for this purpose is the same as that used for drawing, and the paper requires merely to be sized, with a mixture of gamboge, with gum, starch, or glue. Of the drawings in the engraved style, one of the most striking kind is that where the drawing itself appears white on the dark ground of the plate,an arrangement which is managed in lithography with great ease, and produces, in many cases, a very striking effect. The drawing is executed or transferred, with blackened gum-water, on a stone previously washed with a solution of weak aquafortis; and the drawing being dry, the roller is applied, and the whole surface of the stone covered with printing ink, which also adheres to the drawing so long as the latter continues dry, but the moment it is wetted, and rolled again with the same roller, it appears perfectly white and clean. In all these different methods, before any drawing is executed on the stone, all traces of any former design must be obliterated by rubbing down the stone till they disappear.

The drawing being executed, the next object is to prepare the stone for printing; by the application of acid, which is poured or floated over its surface, and afterwards of gum-water,

a process sufficiently simple, yet most essential to the production of good impressions, and therefore requiring to be done with care. The acid should be diluted with about 100 times its weight of water, but varying in strength for different stones and drawings. If too strong, it carries off the delicate lines of the drawing, and if too weak, the drawing imbibes too much printing ink, which accumulates on the stone, and soils the impressions. The use of the acid, according to Senefelder, is chiefly to prepare the stone for receiving the gum-water, which repels the printing ink still more effectually than pure water. According to the Manual, the object of the acid and gum "is first to clean off the dust which, in graining or polishing the stone, may have filled up its pores; secondly, by corroding slightly the surface to destroy those small greasy particles which might by accident have adhered to the stone, and might thereby soil the impression; thirdly, by increasing the pores of the stone, to enable it to imbibe wet with more facility; fourthly, to render the chalk or the ink insoluble in water, by means of the acid which unites itself to the alkali contained in them; in fine, the gum-water is poured on the stone to fill up its pores, and hinder it from receiving the printing-ink where it ought not.'

The stone being thus prepared, is ready for the press, and it is now that the greatest difficulties in lithography begin to occur. But we must refer, for the details of the process, to the above works, where the various processes are described with minuteness, together with the precautions to be observed, the errors to be avoided, and the remedies to be used. We may only remark, in general, that the operation is entirely similar to that of the common type-printing with the ink-roller, only that between the throwing off of the successive impressions, the stone is regularly wiped with a sponge moistened in gum-water. The pressure also required for stone impressions, is much greater than with types, and perhaps even exceeds what is necessary for engravings. This circumstance has introduced into lithography a peculiar kind of press, termed the scraper. The stone, together with the frame in which it is fixed, is drawn by force under the edge of a board or scraper, which is strongly pressed against its surface,—a skin of leather being interposed between them. The friction here, and consequent waste of power, must be enormous; and the whole machine seems to be but a rude, unskilful, and imperfect contrivance. The rolling press already mentioned, as used by Mr. Ruthven, works with far less power, with much more facility, and throws off impressions with equal perfection. It cannot fail, therefore, we imagine, to prove a valuable acquisition to the lithographer. Instead of being dragged under a scraper, the stone and its frame are here made to pass between two rollers, which are not, however, fixed and immoveable, either up or down, as in the ordinary press of