broken glass speculum with the tips of the
fingers of each hand, he quickly immersed the polished face in the
fourfold solution, letting one side go in first, and then the rest of
the face, till the glass rested about half an inch deep in the tray, its
face being perfectly covered all over.

"Now watch," continued the lecturer; "the magic change has commenced,
the metallic silver is forming," and as he spoke he kept on rocking the
glass to and fro upon the two bits of wood.

"Why, it has turned all of a dirty black," said Tom, "and as thick as
thick," as the rocking went on. "Why are you doing that, uncle?"

"So as to make a regular film come all over, and cause all the solution
to be in motion, and give up its silver," was the reply.

"Is it a failure, Brandon?" said the Vicar quietly.

"I hope not," said Uncle Richard; "but of course I am a perfect novice
at this sort of thing. It does look though as if I had made a mess
instead of a grand experiment."

"Yes, the water has turned pretty inky and thick."

"Hurrah!" shouted Tom enthusiastically; and he caught up a duster and
began to wave it in the air.

"What is it, Tom?"

"Hurrah!" yelled the lad. "Silver! Look, look!"

"I do not see any," said the Vicar, taking out his eye-glasses to put
on, "only a greasy look on the top of the dirty water."

"No, sir, silver--silver," cried Tom excitedly. "I can see no end of
tiny specks floating. Look, uncle. Don't you see?"

"Yes, Tom, you are right," said Uncle Richard, working away at rocking
the glass to and fro.

"Oh yes, I can see it now, glittering on the surface," cried the Vicar,
as excitedly as the boy. "Wonderful! quite large filmy patches
floating. My dear Brandon, it really is very grand."

"Let me rock it now, uncle, to rest you," cried Tom.

"No; only a few minutes more, Tom, and then it may rest and finish."

"How long does it take?" said the Vicar.

"Oh, from ten to twenty minutes," said Uncle Richard; and at the end of
a quarter of an hour, which had passed very quickly, so interested were
they all, he ceased rocking the glass and left the face immersed in the
murky solution, which had resembled very dirty blackish water, with
faint traces of silvery film on the surface.

At the end of another five minutes the film was in larger patches, and
at the end of another similar lapse of time Uncle Richard declared his
experiment so far at an end, and lifted the piece of glass out dripping