k \ 0 \ t a € W - PHOTOGRAPHIC MANIPULATION, OR SYSTEM OF PRACTICE FOR THE CHEMICAL DEPARTMENT OF THE PORTRAIT GALLERY. BY S. R. DIVINE, Practical Photographer — Author of a Treatise on Albumen Photography. FEW YORK: 244 Canal Street, SEELY & BOLTWOOD. 1864. Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1863, by SEELY & BOLTWOOD, In the Clerk’s Office of the District Court of the United States for the Southern District of New York. CONTENTS. PAGE. Preface 5 CHAPTER I. Arrangements and Conveniences of the Photographic Gallery . 7 CHAPTER II. Glass, and Method of Cleaning , 17 CHAPTER III. Collodion 19 CHAPTER IY. Nitrate of Silver Bath for Negatives..,.. 29 CHAPTER Y. Development 44 CHAPTER YI. Fixing and Intensifying 48 CHAPTER YII. Imperfections of Negatives 51 CHAPTER YIII. Routine of Practice in Making Negatives 53 CHAPTER IX. Plain Paper Printing 56 IV CONTENTS. CHAPTER X. PAGE. Albumen Paper, and Method of Preparation 61 CHAPTER XI. Method of Silvering Albumen Paper, and Fuming Process with Ammonia 63 CHAPTER XII. Printing 66 CHAPTER XIII. Toning 68 CHAPTER XIY. Fixing and Washing * 74 CHAPTER XY. Imperfections of Albumen Prints 76 CHAPTER XYI. Trimming, Mounting, and Pressing Photographs 78 CHAPTER XYII. Saving Silver and Gold Solutions 80 CHAPTER XYIII. Pictures on Porcelain 84 CHAPTER XIX. Useful Recipes and Facts 88 APPENDIX. Weights and Measures 95 PREFACE It must be acknowledged that no important ad- vancement has been made in Photography for several years — or since Archer perfected the Collodion Pro- cess, and Le Grey gave us the method of Alkaline Toning. Still, very many minor improvements have been made in the details of every-day practice, and the quality of Photographs has very much improved during the last four or five years. All experienced and skillful photographers are aware of the small importance to be attached to fixed formulae, or recipes giving the exact weights and measures of the various ingredients used in Photographic compounds, and of the great import- ance of careful manipulation, directed by a correct understanding of the circumstances that produce variable effects. The author has endeavored, in the following pages, to give a System of Practice for the chemical department of photographic portraiture, describing, VI PREFACE. as accurately as possible, the difficulties which are met with in the daily routine of the gallery, and the means he has adopted to overcome them. Believing that processes are to be improved in simplifying rather than in making our present formulae more complex, the category of chemicals is limited to comparatively small range, and each substance is considered with reference to its in- trinsic value as a photographic agent, and its effect when in deficiency or excess. We have omitted all processes that we consider useless to the professional portraitist at the present time, and hence devote nearly our entire space to Collodion Negatives and Albumen Printing. We feel confident that the system' expounded in the following pages will enable all who practice it to secure uniformly successful results, provided that proper care and neatness are observed in the vari- ous manipulations, and judgment is exercised in adapting means to variable circumstances. CHAPTER I. ARRANGEMENTS AND CONVENIENCES OF THE PHOTOGRAPHIC GALLERY - . The rooms for photographic portraiture should be large and arranged with a special view to conven- ience. The light under which the sitter is placed should have a northern aspect, and should consist of a sky- light and side-light combined, in order to secure the advantages of both conjointly, or of either separately. The sky-light should be from twelve to fifteen feet high at the apex, and slope at an angle of forty-five degrees to within six feet of the floor. The side-light may ex- tend from the sky-light to within two feet of the floor. The size of the skylight may be twelve feet in length by ten feet in width, or larger. A great variety of lights have been constructed; but the kind we have indicated furnishes a means of illuminating a model in almost any manner that may be desired. Lights have sometimes been glazed with blue glass, so as entirely to exclude white light from the operating room. The in- tense illuminating rays are thus excluded, while the chemical rays are allowed to penetrate, and the light 8 BLUE LIGHTS. is soft and mild. Some eminent photographers have tried the bine light, and replaced it again with white; and others contend that there can be no reasonable objection to blue, while it possesses many advantages over white light. It would be difficult to decide be- tween the merits of the two. Both lights have been combined by placing a movable sash of blue glass under the white light, which admits of either being employed at pleasure.* There is nothing to be gained by constructing lights * We extract the following description of Mr. Bogardus’ Model Sky- light from the American Journal of Photography : “The light fronts the south. This is the capital fact about it. Of course we know it is not the first light which has been made to face the south- But we believe it to be the first that was deliberately and de- signedly so constructed, a southern aspect being preferred to any other. The top light is fourteen feet square ; the bottom or side-light, meeting the top light, is ten feet high and fourteen feet wide. The upper edge of the top light is fifteen feet from the floor. The top light has, it will be seen, a pitch of about twenty degrees. The glass of these lights is the ordinary white ground glass; but the glazing is double, and we have only described the outside. Six inches within, and parallel to the ground glass, are sashes glazed with blue glass. There are four sashes for the bottom light, sliding lightly on rollers. The operation of the whole contrivance is this: the pure sunlight easily gets through the ground glass, but the rays are diffused and softened ; these diffused rays meet the blue glass, and every thing in them which is not wanted is held back, and only the uncontaminated chemical force passes down nto the room.” The sitters are made to face the sun, and, accordingly, the position of the background is constantly changed durfng the day. On bright days, with a lens at full aperture, the sitting is less than one second. MANAGEMENT OF LIGHT. 9 of extraordinary hight, as some have been made, for the effect of such is to throw the light too perpendicu- larly upon the face of the subject, the same as would be caused by placing him too directly under an ordi- nary light. There should be sufficient distance be- tween the sky-light and walls which form the sides of the room to admit of the sitter being placed more or less in the light, and to allow the backgrounds to be shifted forward or backward, according as they are wanted light or dark. The light should be furnished with movable screens of blue muslin or cambric, in order to shut out such portions of light as are detrimental to artistic effect. The light should generally fall angularly upon the face of the subject, so as to cast the shadows down- ward and one side. Full and specific directions for lighting models can not be given,, for no rules can be given which will apply under all circumstances, and the artist must be directed by his own judgment and good taste in adapting lights to different figures and faces. The light should be so disposed as to render promi- nent the most pleasing characteristics, and at the same time conceal or ameliorate natural defects in the subject. It is necessary to have a reflector or white screen on a movable frame, to diminish the amount of shadow on 10 BACKGROUNDS AND INSTRUMENTS. the side of tlie model which is turned away from the direct light. BACKGROUNDS. The camera room should be provided with a number of backgrounds varying in tint, in order that one may always be selected best suited to the complexion and attire of the subject. Backgrounds may be prepared by stretching muslin on a frame, and painting with a mixture of burnt um- ber and whiting in water, a little glue being added for sizing. The mixture should be laid on with a white- wash brush, and great care taken to secure an even coating, free from brush marks that may show in the background of the finished photograph. A background should have a dull surface, and those painted in oil are not so good, on account of a glossy reflection they give in certain lights. INSTRUMENTS. The instruments for portraiture should be the very best that can be selected, for the quality of the picture depends, in a great degree, upon the excellence of the lenses used in its production. The manufacture of camera tubes has reached a great degree of perfection, and superb instruments of both American and foreign make are to be found in market. Among the foreign LENSES. 11 makers, Voightlander & Son, perhaps, stand unrivaled, • and we shall institute a comparison between their in- struments and those made in this country by C. C. Har- rison, and Holmes, Booth & Haydens. The Voightlander portrait cameras have a shorter focus than the American, cause more curvature of the image, and do not give the same depth of focus. They define very sharply, however, where the focus does fall, have a great illuminating power, and work in less time than any other variety of lenses extant. They are not so well adapted for taking full length figures as the American instruments, as they will not define so sharply from head to foot, on account of the curvature of field before mentioned. For taking negatives of chil- dren they are almost indispensable, by reason of their great rapidity. The Voightlander and American instruments for cartes de visite are made of the sizes J, J, and J, with or without central stops. In rooms that allow the camera to be placed at sufficient distance for pictures of all kinds, the | size instrument is preferable to the smaller sizes. The tubes furnished with central stops, or the expanding diaphragm, are also much to be pre- ferred, on account of their great convenience. The boxes to which tubes are to be fitted should be of very perfect construction, especially those which are 12 THE DARK ROOM. designed to multiply pictures upon one plate, as a very little derangement, from warping or other cause,’ will occasion much trouble and inconvenience. A copying camera, used also for views, may be ex- temporized by taking out the back lens of a \ portrait tube, and turning the front lens round so that the other side is presented to the object. Such a lens, when at- tached to a f- box, which admits of sufficient extension by the bellows arrangement, furnishes adequate means for enlarging small miniatures to f- size. When small pictures are to be made larger than j- size, it is better to make a \ negative, and print with a solar camera. In making views or copies of architecture where the lines are required to be perfectly straight, and absolute freedom from distortion is necessary, it is better to use an orthoscopic tube, or one of Harrison’s globe lenses, which are, probably, the most perfect instruments of their kind. The solar camera is an indispensable instrument in every first-class gallery. The best form is probably that in which the condensing lens is presented directly to the sun, and made to revolve with it, instead of using a reflector and stationary lens and box. THE DARK ROOM. The room for preparing plates and developing should be convenient to the sky-light, in order to save as THE DARK ROOM. 13 many steps as possible. It should not be smaller than six by ten feet, and should, if possible, be well venti- lated. It should have a constant source of water from a reservoir supplied by a hydrant or cistern, and a sink to wash plates over. It should be arranged with shelves for bottles of chemicals, plate-holders, etc. A great many dark rooms at the present time are lighted by means of yellow glass, or a window screened with yel- low cloth or paper. In our practice we have discarded yellow daylight altogether, and would recommend op- erators to use a small gas or lamp light by the side of the sink where the plate is developed. The reason is obvious. With the yellow window the amount of light varies nearly every hour in the day, and the appearance of the negative, during devel- opment, varying with different lights, the operator is oftentimes deceived in regard to the degree of develop- ment required. The sink may be made with two compartments, each supplied with a cock for washing. The plate is developed over one compartment and slightly washed with water ; the excess of silver is carried down in the sink, which is plugged to prevent it from running away. The silver is precipitated perfectly by the iron in the developer, and after settling over night, the water in the sink may be nearly all drawn off by the 14 WASHING YATS. waste-pipe, which should rise an inch above the bot- tom. The other compartment of the sink is used for the final washing after developing and fixing. THE PRINTING ROOM May be built upon the roof of the building, and should have windows fronting east, south, and west, with shelves projecting from the outside and inclining downward, on which to place the printing frames. The roof, or a portion of it, should consist of glass, that the printing may be carried on in stormy weather. A small, dark room for silvering paper should be con- tained in one end. WORK ROOM. Every gallery should contain a room of good size for cleaning glass, compounding chemicals, and for all general purposes of the photographic business. It should be liberally provided with shelves, drawers, etc., for storing chemicals and materials. WASHING VATS. Two or three vats, supplied with running water, are a necessary convenience for washing prints. The water may be let in through a pipe running round the sides of the sink, and perforated with small holes, allowing the influx of a number of small streams, which serve to keep the prints in motion and perform the washing more thoroughly. COLLODION NEGATIVE PROCESS. GLASS AND METHOD OF CLEANING. 17 CHAPTER II. GLASS, AND METHOD OF CLEANING. The varieties of glass sold by stock dealers, for neg- atives, are numerous, and we shall speak of those most commonly used. The kind known as French Crystal, | white, is an excellent article for plates not larger than j- size. The panes are slightly curved, and hence, for larger plates, they are not suitable, the curvature often throwing the picture out of focus. This glass is generally quite free from stains and patches, known as rust, which appear on bad samples of glass after developing. The green German plate is much used, and is well adapted for large negatives, as the glass is thick and perfectly flat, and well suited for withstanding the pressure of the printing frame. This glass is some- times badly affected with rust. The English Crown glass combines every desirable quality for negative plates not larger than J size. It is too much warped to admit of its being used for larger plates. 18 GLASS AND METHOD OF CLEANING. For very fine negatives polished plate glass is of course the best, but it is too expensive for general use. The first step in the operation of cleaning glass is to immerse the plate in undiluted commercial nitric acid containing nitrate of mercury. One ounce of quicksil- ver is added to every quart of acid, which dissolves and forms the' nitrate. The use of nitrate of mercury is to prevent some kinds of metallic iridescence which appear after development, although it will not cure all kinds of rust. The dish for containing the acid may be of earthen or wood well coated with wax. The glasses are allowed to remain for any convenient length of time, and when wanted for use, they are taken out, thoroughly rinsed with water, and reared up to drain and dry. The glass is next placed in a vice, and cleaned with alcohol rubbed over the plate with a piece of cotton flannel. If the plate has been carefully washed, there is no necessity for scouring it with rotten-stone or other polishing powder. COLLODION. 19 CHAPTER III. COLLODION. Negative collodion is one of the most important chern- ical mixtures employed in photography, and requires the very best quality of the different ingredients. The character of negative collodion is determined more by the pyroxyline or soluble cotton than any chemical in its composition. It is more difficult to find a good sample of negative cotton in market than any other article in the whole category of photographic chemicals. We are of opin- ion that a great degree of misapprehension prevails among operators concerning the proper qualities of cotton for negatives. Most operators rely upon perfect solubility as a criterion for good cotton, overlooking en- tirely its other qualities. A sample of cotton which makes a fine film for negative impressions, may or may not dissolve without sediment ; but in many cases, not to say a majority, & certain amount of flocculent matter is left undissolved. A short, powdery cotton is unfit for negatives, not giv- ing a film of sufficient intensity. The best variety of 20 PYROXYLIN E. cotton for negative collodion is long in the fibre, and not very much altered in texture from ordinary cotton, but somewhat harsher to the touch. In dissolving in the mixture of ether and alcohol it exhibits no tendency to aggregate in little glutinous lumps resembling wheat grains, which fall to the bot- tom (which is the case with the short variety), but re- mains loos&and flocculent, a great portion of it floating on the surface of the solution until dissolved. If too little changed from the texture of raw cotton, it is not sufficiently soluble, and the film, after development, will contain semi-transparent markings resembling in form those used to represent a chain of mountains on a map. A suitable article of cotton will be taken up in large quantity by the solvents giving the collodion body, and will flow into a smooth homogeneous film on the plate. That which makes a gelatinous, slimy collo- dion, must be rejected as useless. Good pyroxyline is a veq^ uncertain article. of manu- facture, and those chemists whose cotton stands in highest repute do not invariably make a uniform qual- ity. Pyroxyline dissolves in ether and alcohol mixed in almost any proportion ; but about equal parts of each are perhaps best for collodion. If a much larger proportion of ether is used, the collodion sets too COLLODION. 21 quickly, not allowing time to manipulate tbe plate till a perfectly even film is obtained, while, if the alcohol be in excess, the film will be somewhat rough and grainy, and too rotten. In making collodion, the ether may first be put into a bottle, and the cotton introduced till it fills the ether to the surface or very nearly. On adding an equal quantity of alcohol, the resulting plain collodion will be about the right consistency. It should be tried by pouring out on a glass, however, and if too thin, add more cotton ; if too thick, put in more solvent. Shake the mixture till the cotton is dissolved. The plain col- lodion should be set aside in the dark to settle, as light decomposes both ether and pyroxyline, and generates acid. It may be decanted and iodized in a few days, or as soon as it is perfectly clear, or it may remain for months without deterioration if not sensitized. If col- lodion requires to be prepared as soon as possible, the iodizing compounds may be introduced as soon as it is first made, and it is ready for use when sufficiently cleared by standing. The alcohol and ether should be of the best quality obtainable, and we may here allude to the most com- mon impurities of those articles. The alcohol sold in market is very frequently contaminated with essential oils, and especially fusil oil, giving it a bad odor, and 22 COLLODION. very much injuring it for photographic purposes, as they promote decomposition and derangement of the silver bath. Alcohol for collodion should be at least 95 per cent, strong, and devoid of any disagreeable smell. The Co- logne spirits of distillers is generally well suited for collodion. So far as we are aware, absolute alcohol is unknown in market, although spirit ranging from 95 to 91 per cent, is frequently sold as such. If the alcohol is too weak, the collodion will set in a grainy film, very much resembling the texture of cloth — the same effect that is produced by adding too much water to collodion. The ether of commerce almost always contains alco- hol, and sometimes water, the latter being present in what is known as washed ether. Pure concentrated ether contains neither alcohol nor water, and is recom- mended in preference to washed ether. Ether, by ex- posure to light, is partially decomposed, acetic acid be- ing slowly formed. It should be tested with litmus paper before being used for collodion. Acid in any of the ingredients causes rapid deterior- ation of the collodion, liberating free iodine, which pro- duces a red color, and soon renders the collodion inert and worthless. The method of exciting collodion, or rendering it sen- IODIDES AND BROMIDES. 23 sitive with iodides and bromides, next demands onr consideration. A great number of combinations of iodine and bromine, with different bases, have been employed ; but very few of them are well suited for negative collodion. Those which are not soluble with- out the addition of water to the^collodion we have re- jected in our practice, for a first-rate article of cotton will not bear weak solvents. Those iodides which toughen the film are also excluded, because they de- stroy intensity/ The best iodides are undoubtedly those of ammonium and sodium, both being perfectly soluble in ether and alcohol, and leaving the collodion in that limpid condition that forms a porous film, which is one of the first conditions of intensity. It is true they are not so stable as some other iodides, but when employed in conjunction with bromide of cadmium, they are sufficiently so for all ordinary purposes. Bro- mide of cadmium is perfectly soluble in ether and al- cohol, and having the effect of staying the decomposi- tion of collodion, is probably the best bromide that can be used. We have employed simply iodide of ammo- nium and bromide of cadmium for negative collodion during the last two years. With regard to the proportions of iodide and bromide that should be introduced into collodion, a great variety of opinions exist, and very erroneous notions have 24 IODIDES AND BROMIDES. obtained concerning the effect of 'bromide. The preva- lent idea is, and the author adopted the same view in a former work, that bromide, beyond certain propor- tions, lowered intensity and reduced the vigor and con- trast of the negative. From a number of careful ex- periments, made with a view to the solution of this question, we confidently assert that bromide has no effect whatever in reducing the density or contrast of the negative. We have employed a collodion sensitized entirely with bromide, and obtained negatives on the first development with iron, of proper intensity and every other desirable quality for printing, although the plate required a very long exposure in the camera. Next we gradually introduced iodide with the bromide, and obtained similar results with a diminution of time. We have, therefore, arrived at the conclusion, that the effect of bromide is simply to reduce the time necessary for exposing the sensitized plate to light. The proportions of iodide and bromide necessary to secure the maximum of sensitiveness we have not fully determined, but they are probably somewhere near the ratio of four grains of iodide to three grains of bromide in the ounce of collodion. The formula for collodion that we have used daily in the gallery, has been COLLODION. 25 Plain collodion, . . .1 fluid ounce. Iodide of ammonium, . . 5 grains. Bromide of cadmium, . . 2 grains. Collodion should not contain a much greater quantity of the mixed iodides and bromides than seven grains to the ounce. If over iodized, the film will be coarse and rough after development. If under iodized, the picture will be very smooth, but thin and faint. Collodion made after the formula given above, will keep from two to three weeks in summer, and six weeks in winter. If after iodizing collodion, it should imme- diately commence turning red from acidity of some of the ingredients, it should be neutralized by putting in about one half a grain of bicarbonate of soda to the ounce. If the alkali is added as soon as the tendency to redden becomes manifest, the collodion will be re- stored to a light color in a few hours ; but if it be neg- lected for any length of time, the bicarbonate will have no effect in bringing it back to its original state. Should the collodion be rendered alkaline, and give foggy pictures when treated in this manner, it may be neutralized with hydrobromic acid. Collodion gradually changes color as it grows older, passing from a light straw-color when, new, to dark red, when it is no longer available for good negatives. When new, and nearly white, it may or may not give 2 26 FLOWING THE PLATE. vigorous negatives, depending upon the condition of the bath. It should be tried, and if the lights and shadows are not sufficiently contrasted, a little old col- lodion should be mixed with it, or a few drops of alco- holic solution of iodine added. Collodion generally gives the best effects when it has reached the orange tint. All collodion should be filtered through cotton or cotton flannel, made into a loose stopper, and placed in a glass funnel. FLOWING THE PLATE. A wide-mouthed bottle, holding from twelve to six- teen ounces, makes a good flowing bottle. It should be filled about two thirds full of collodion of the exact consistency for flowing. Collodion that is too thin will not give a negative of sufficient density for print- ing; when too thick, it can not be made to set in a per- fectly even film. When too thin, let it become thicker by evaporation; when too thick, add alcohol and ether, or thinner collodion. It is very important to keep the collodion of a uniform consistency, in order to work with certainty, and that in the flowing bottle becoming thicker by evaporation, as it is flowed on the plates and poured back, should be often replenished from a stock that is a very little thinner than required for flowing. FLOWING THE PLATE. 27 Take the plate by the lower left hand corner, and flow on collodion till it is half covered. Then, by care- fully tilting the plate, cause the collodion to spread over it entirely, and drain off the excess from the lower right hand corner. Rock the plate gently before the collodion sets, till the lines coalesce, and the film is per- fectly even. When the collodion has ceased to run in a stream from the corner from which it is drained, it should be wiped away from the edges of the glass where it is thickest, with the finger, that the draining from the surface may be facilitated; otherwise the film near that corner will be thicker than on the other parts of the plate. It requires much practice to flow a plate well with thick collodion. If there are bubbles on the surface of the collodion in the bottle, they should be removed by blowing it before it is poured out. Great care must be taken not to float any specks or particles of dried film from the mouth of the bottle, as they produce comets and other imperfections in the negative. When the collodion has become a little tacky, the plate is ready for immersion in the silver bath. Place it on the dip-rod and let it down with a quick motion, but not so rapid as to cause a splash, which would spatter the plate and cause spots to appear. After the plate is immersed, move it upward, down- 28 PLOWING THE PLATE. ward, and sidewise, carefully, for half a minute. This is to avoid streaks that may occur when the plate is let down, and allowed to remain at rest during the whole time of immersion. The plate is ready to come out when the collodion surface is thoroughly wet and exhibits no greasy lines. NITRATE OF SILVER BATH FOR NEGATIVES. 29 CHAPTER IV. NITRATE OP SILVER BATH FOR NEGATIVES. The negative bath is the most important of all the chemical solutions with which the photographer has to deal, and requires the most scrupulous care in its prep- aration and management. Every operator has wit- nessed its innumerable freaks when in a state of de- rangement, and has been forced to the disagreeable duty of telling his disappointed sitter, that “ the chemicals are out of order,” or to the unfair alternative of palm- ing off a bad picture. The chemistry of the nitrate bath is now sufficiently understood to enable the care- ful and intelligent operator, at all times, to make a sat- isfactory negative. We shall first describe the process of making a new bath, and afterward the methods of restoring it to working condition when it has ceased to give satisfactory pictures. Take pure crystallized nitrate of silver and fuse it in an evaporating dish, taking care not to raise the heat much higher than the melting point. By this means, there is a small portion of nitrite of silver formed, which has a powerful effect in giving vigor and inten- 30 NITRATE OF SILVER BATH. sity to the negative, and at the same time the silver is purified from organic matter if any happen to be present. When cold, dissolve the fused nitrate in pure water, and dilute till the hydrometer indicates fifty-five grains of nitrate of silver to the ounce. This solution, when iodized and made slightly acid, is a proper negative bath. It may be used without iodizing if a thick col- lodion is used, and the plates are taken out just as soon as they are coated, i. e., when the film is wet smoothly and does not appear greasy. The bath will shortly ac- quire a necessary amount of iodide of silver from the plates that are immersed in it. Nitrate of silver dis- solves a portion of iodide of silver — the amount dis- solved being in proportion to the strength of the solu- tion — and if the plate remains for any length of time in a bath made without iodizing, the coating of iodide of silver will be entirely removed, and the plate be left worthless. We would recommend the operator, however, to iodize the bath by separating it into two equal portions, iodiz- ing one to saturation and filtering, and then mixing it with the other. The bath will then have lost its greed for iodide of silver in a great measure, without being satu- rated with it. Iodide of ammonium, or potassium, may be used to iodize the solution, adding enough to leave a very small portion of iodide of silver undissolved after NITRATE OF SILVER BATH. 31 thorough shaking. The quantity required will not ex- ceed three or four grains to every ounce of nitrate of silver in the solution. Nearly all the works that have been written on photography give directions for iodiz- ing a bath to saturation, i. e., the full amount that it will take up. For negative baths, however, such a mode of preparation is totally wrong. A bath grows weaker from the time the first plate is immersed, and consequently loses its power of retaining so much iodide of silver in solution. If the bath is saturated at the outset, it wfill precipitate iodide of silver as it be- comes weakened by use, which will lodge in fine par- ticles on the collodion film and cause a multitude of pinholes , which will injure, or wholly spoil the negative. These pinholes will become apparent after coating a very few plates when the bath is fully iodized, and if a plate is examined before development, it will be seen to be covered with specks resembling fine sand. They stick obstinately to the film and prevent the reduction of silver on the spot where they rest during develop- ment, and hence leave a hole or clear spot by trans- mitted light. Pinholes caused by iodide of silver, pre- cipitated from the bath, are exceedingly small and of a jagged shape, in consequence of the angular form of the crystals. When the bath is not fully iodized, it will work for NITRATE OF SILVER BATH. 32 some time before becoming saturated, and freedom from the annoyance of pinholes is obtained until it reaches that point. Every plate should be taken from the bath as soon as it is coated, that the silver solution may be preserved as long as possible below the point of satura- tion with iodide of silver. The solubility of iodide of silver in the nitrate varies with the temperature, and a bath will sometimes give pinholes on a cold morning, and work free from them, later in the day, when the rooms become warm. In this case the iodide which is precipitated by the solution becoming cold over night, is redissolved as the temperature rises. This phenome- non will only occur as the bath aproaches- the point of saturation. The acid used for making a bath work clearly, is either nitric or acetic. From long use of both acids we have acquired a preference for the latter, for the reasons that it may be added in larger quantity with- out causing loss of intensity, or making a longer ex- posure in the camera necessary ; and that the negatives are' more dense and vigorous than is usual when the bath is acidified with nitric acid. The amount of acid to be added to a bath must be ascertained by trial, us- ing no more than is just necessary to obtain a clear picture. Commence by adding two or three drops of acetic acid — glacial or No. 8 will answer equally well 2 * NITRATE OF SILVER BATII. 33 — coat a plate, then expose and develop it. If the pic- ture is clear in the shadows there is acid sufficient ; if it is foggy, drop in a little more acid and make another trial. The use of acid is to dissolve organic (vegetable or animal) matter, and to neutralize when the solution is in an alkaline condition. If the bath is alkaline no picture at all can be devel- oped ; and if organic matter is present uncorrected by acid, the image will be indistinct and foggy by a re- duction of silver, independent of that caused by light. We have described the way in which a bath becomes unfit for use, by causing pinholes. We will now con- sider the cause to which nearly all other freaks of the bath are due — organic matter. The solution gradually becomes charged with it through the medium of the collodion, and to a small extent, perhaps, from imper- fectly cleaned glass, and the dust of the atmosphere. When present in any considerable quantity, the silver is reduced over the entire plate, and of course the pic- ture is indistinct and misty. The effect is seen partic- ularly in the shadows, which instead of remaining bright and transparent, become vailed and foggy. Loss of vig- or and intensity accompany the fogging, and the nega- tive is unfit for printing. The bath acquires organic mat- ter from the time it is first used, and hence gradually becomes altered from its normal condition of purity. 34 NITRATE OF SILVER BATH. The first negatives made from it are of course the best, and when it becomes so foul that the pictures are no longer satisfactory, the bath must be put aside till it is thoroughly cleansed and restored to a state of purity. With care and cleanliness on the part of the operator, a bath never goes out of order except by rea- son of pinholes or organic matter. The pinholes may make their appearance while the solution still gives fine chemical effect otherwise ; or the picture may be- come flat, thin, and misty from organic matter before the pinholes are visible. When the solution is only half iodized as has been before directed, pinholes will not generally show themselves till the bath has ceased to work satisfactorily otherwise. The wateu used in preparing a bath should be the purest obtainable. Distilled water is the best when condensed in a worm and receiver, that do not make it impure. Lead pipe will not answer for condensing dis- tilled water for photographic purposes, as the lead oxi- dizes, and a portion of the oxide is dissolved and again precipitated as an oxycarbonate when the water is ex- posed to air. Commercial distilled water is sometimes impure from lead, and a bath made from it will keep turning milky after repeated filtrations, and will not work so long as the turbidity exists. When other sources of pure water are not at hand, every gallery NITRATE OF SILVER BATH. 35 should be supplied with an apparatus for distilling*, which may be made of tin with a copper bottom, and a worm of block-tin for condensing the steam. Next to distilled water, that from melted ice is in the state of greatest purity. Blocks of ice that are not dirty or honey-combed should be selected. Rain water caught in clean tin vessels, or melted snow is also very good for chemical purposes. Some natural sources of water, such as springs, rivers, and lakes furnish water of sufficient purity for the photographer’s wants. If the water is soft and free from vegetable and animal matters, it will answer for the purpose of making baths. When the purity of wa- ter is suspected, a bath prepared from it should be set in the sun for several hours, and if a trace of organic matter be present it will first darken the solution, and then settle to the bottom as a black powder. At the beginning of this chapter we have directed the bath to be made of the strength of fifty-five grains of nitrate of silver to the ounce of. water. Such a strength of the bath is best when the temperature is between 10° and 1 5°, but in very hot weather when the ther- mometer rises to 80° or 90°, or still higher, a forty-five or fifty grain solution will generally be found strong enough. A fifty-five grain bath prepared in the manner we 36 NITRATE OF SILVER BATH. have recommended, can generally be worked down to a strength of forty grains before. failing. All works on photography, which have heretofore been written, we belieye, recommend the replenishment of the bath with fresh silver, in crystals, or a strong so- lution of uniodized nitrate. This method of proceeding, although it seems rational at first view, and sometimes succeeds in practice, we strongly protest against, and advise the operator never to strengthen or tamper with the bath till it is thoroughly renovated and made over. When a bath has become reduced, the addition of nitrate of silver generally disturbs it, causing the organic matter to precipitate more or less, and for a time the solution behaves worse than before the nitrate was in- troduced. Neither should the bath be filtered or ex- posed to light after it has once been put into use for the same reason. It is very important to have a bath holding a large quantity of solution in order to make negatives per- fectly clean, and with ease, certainty, and uniformity. We would recommend the employment of from one and a half to two gallons of solution for the bath. The great advantages of a large bath are, that it works uniformly for a long time, saving much care and labor in its man- agement, and that it gives negatives cleaner and more perfect than can possibly be made from a bath holding NITRATE OF SILVER BATH. 37 only a small quantity of solution. We use a bath hold- ing two and a half gallons, and three hundred f- plates can be sensitized in it before the solution becomes so disordered as to require changing. The plate is not allowed to descend to the bottom of the solution, but only half or two thirds the way — a hole being made through the dip-rod, and a peg thrust in, which rests upon the top of the bath, and prevents the plate from sinking deeper than is required. By this arrangement the fragments of collodion film and other particles of matter floating in the bath, instead of lodging on the plate, sink below it and greater cleanliness is secured. The methods of restoring an old silver bath to work- ing condition, will next be considered. A bath, when worn out from use, as has been before stated, is gener- ally saturated with iodide of silver, and charged with organic matter. A considerable portion of the iodide of silver and the whole of the organic matter must be removed before the solution is again fit for use. A very effectual mode of accomplishing these results, and the one we recommend for simplicity, is the following : The old solution is mixed with an equal quantity of pure water, when it immediately becomes of a milky turbidity from precipitated iodide of silver. It is then filtered through a double thickness of paper, the liquid running through clear, and the precipitated iodide be- 33 NITRATE OF SILVER BATH. ing left behind on the filter. The solution is then put into an earthen evaporating dish, placed upon the stove and boiled away to dryness. The nitrate of silver, which remains in the bottom, is then carefully fused. The organic matter will be separated from the solution during the evaporation, and will be observed to collect as a black powder on the sides and bottom of the dish. By fusing the nitrate of silver after the water is boiled a way, the organic matter is to a great extent carbon- ized and rendered totally insoluble. When the dish has cooled, pure water is thrown in and stirred with a glass rod till the nitrate is dissolved, when it is diluted to a strength of fifty-five grains to the ounce and filtered. The organic matter is thus separated almost entirely, as may be known by the quantity of black and yellow matter left upon the filter. The solution after acidify- ing — for it must be borne in mind that the acid is . driven off by evaporation — is ready for use. The nitrate of silver, which it is necessary to add in order to bring the bath up to its original strength and bulk, should be thrown into the evaporating dish and boiled with the rest of the solution. In hot weather, when it is not convenient or desira- ble to employ the heat of a stove for the purpose of evaporating, the method of precipitating the silver as a carbonate, and redissolving with nitric acid, may be NITRATE OF SILVER BATH. 39 resorted to. This process was first devised by Mr. F. B. Gage, and described by him in “ Humphrey’s Journal of Photography.” Put the solution in a good sized bottle, and introduce finely pulverized sal-soda (Mr. Gage says bicarbonate of soda, but we think sal-soda preferable, for the reason that the precipitate falls to the bottom without fuming and endangering the loss of silver by the vessel run- ning over, as is the case when the bicarbonate is used), until the silver is all thrown down. Fill up the bottle with pure water, shake it, and allow the precipitate to settle. When well settled, fill up the bottle again with water to wash the precipitate. Kepeat this washing six or eight times, to carry off the excess of soda. When the water of the last washing is drained off, cau- tiously add pure nitric acid, which will dissolve the precipitate with effervescence. Make small additions of the acid at a time, stir the mixture up well after each, and allow it to settle. Then pour off the dissolved por- tion into another vessel. A small portion of carbonate of silver must be left undissolved in order to leave the solution in a neutral condition, and if by accident too much acid is thrown in, the whole work will require doing over. If it is well stirred after each portion of acid is introduced, allowed to settle, and then poured off, there will be less danger of getting in too much acid, 40 NITRATE OF SILVER BATH. and that which is poured off will of course be in a neu- tral state. Proceed in this way until there is onty a very small quantity of precipitate left undissolved, which is added to the solution that has been decanted, the whole filtered and diluted to the proper strength. A bath treated in this manner, will work for a time without the addition of any acid. The chief points to be attended to in this process, are these : 1. That the sal-soda be pure. 2. That the resulting precipitate be well washed to free it perfectly from all excess of soda. 3. That the precipitate be not all dissolved before it is filtered. If this part of the process is not attended to, you will lose all your labor. The theory of this is, that organic matter in the bath is soluble in acid, and can not be fil- tered out while the bath is acid. The least amount of precipitate left undissolved, will leave the bath perfectly neutral.” — Gage. It should be remarked, that the iodide of silver is not removed by this process, and the solution should be di- luted with water and filtered before precipitating, in order to take out a portion of it. The strengthening of the bath should be done by adding the nitrate of silver before precipitating. NITRATE OF SILVER BATH. 41 Either of the two foregoing processes will generally suffice to keep the operator out of trouble. A bath, by being used, acquires nitrates of the bases with which the iodine and bromine are combined in the collodion. For instance, iodide of ammonium in the collodion forms nitrate of ammonia in the bath, and bro- mide of cadmium produces nitrate of cadmium. Nitrate of ammonia is removed by both the foregoing processes of purifying a bath, being decomposed and volatilized when the silver is fused in the former process, and washed away in the latter. Nitrate of cadmium remains during both processes. Metallic or alkaline nitrates may be present in the bath, in considerable quantity, without affecting it in- juriously. We have worked successfully with a nega- tive bath, that was of a bright green color from copper contained in it. When it is desired to free an old silver solution from iodide of silver, and every other impurity, the following process is probably the most available : Place slips of sheet zinc in the solution, when the silver will fall down in the metallic state, the zinc dis- solving and taking the place of the silver. In a few 1 lours the silver will all be precipitated in the form of a gray powder, and the zinc that remains undissolved is to be picked out, and sulphuric acid, diluted with two 42 NITRATE OF SILVER BATH. or three parts of water is poured upon the silver and al- lowed to digest, in order to dissolve the small particles of zinc that may have become detached, and distributed through the mass. Stir the mixture occasionally, and allow the acid to stand till bubbles of hydrogen are no longer given off. Then pour off the acid and wash the silver in several changes of water, or until litmus paper is no longer reddened in it. The silver can then be dissolved in pure nitric acid, diluted with two parts of water. After solution boil down in an evaporating dish to drive off excess of acid, and carefully fuse. The nitrate, when dissolved and filtered, will be pure enough for all purposes of photography. Recently precipitated chloride, iodide, and bromide of silver, are converted into metallic silver by contact of zinc, and sometimes in employing this process the nitrate is first thrown down as chloride with common salt. The zinc is placed in the moist chloride, and a few drops of sulphuric acid added, which makes the ac- tion more energetic. After reduction, the silver is treated as before described. A solution for a negative bath, after filtering, should be perfectly clear and colorless. If any symptoms of turbidity exist, it will never produce a really fine negative. When convenient, the solution may be prepared some NITRATE OF SILVER BATH. 43 days before using, and allowed to stand in the light. The last traces of organic matter are then precipitated, and the bath will generally give more clear and bril- liant effects than when newly made. CHAPTER Y. DEVELOPMENT. The latent image on a collodion plate is formed by a molecular change in the iodide and bromide of silver, induced by the action of light, and is rendered visible by a developer or chemical agent, which reduces the free nitrate of silver on the plate to the metallic state, and causes it to deposit on those parts which have been affected by light. Protosulphate of iron and pyrogallic acid are em- ployed as developing agents ; the former being now almost universally used. The developer for negatives is made by dissolving about two ounces of protosul- phate of iron in a quart of water, and adding from eight to ten ounces of acetic acid No. 8. No alcohol should be used in the developer, as it tends to roughen the film, and give a smutty appearance to the picture. If the developer contains a great excess of iron, pin- holes (very much resembling those caused by iodide of silver from the bath) will be found in consequence of the precipitation of oxide of iron on the plate. Too much iron will also act so rapidly as to make it difficult to DEVELOPMENT. 45 develop a plate evenly. Too little iron or too much acid will make the development slow and tedious, and the negative is apt to be thin in consequence of a por- tion of the free nitrate of silver being washed away be- fore it is precipitated. When the developer contains an insufficiency of acid, it will crawl on the plate and mottle it. The developer should be thrown on the plate from a small glass vessel (a two ounce graduate glass an- swers the purpose admirably), in such a manner as to flow over the entire plate instantly. The plate is held by the lower left corner with the left hand, and the right hand holding the developing glass, is brought to the left corner also, and moved suddenly to the right, emptying the glass at the same time. The image will start out first in the highest lights, and when the shadows begin to appear, the plate should be swung over the light, in order to see how the devel- opment is proceeding. It is checked by a stream of water when the negative appears dense enough in the lights, and the details are well defined. When the chemicals are working with great intensity, the high lights may grow too thick before the shadows are well brought out, in which case a longer exposure must be given, and the development stopped the instant the lights appear intense enough for printing. If the chemi- 46 DEVELOPMENT. cals are working- with low intensity, the shadows may be perfectly defined while the lights are still too thin for printing. When such is the case, continue the develop- ment as long as silver is deposited on the lights, which may be known by holding the negative over the light, and then flow over a solution of nitrate of silver, about twenty grains to the ounce of water, with half as much acetic acid added. This will flow readily on the plate, and the developer which remains, will cause the pic- ture to grow more dense. If it does not yet come up to the required thickness for printing, pour on the de- veloper and silver solution till it does. An acid silver solution for redeveloping, obviates the necessity of washing the plate after the first development. A negative may be redeveloped with a solution of pyrogallic acid, about four grains to the ounce of wa- ter, with a half ounce of acetic acid, and adding a few drops of nitrate of silver solution just before it is * thrown over the plate. The negative must be washed thoroughly to remove all traces of the iron developer before the pyrogallic solution is applied, otherwise blue stains will be formed. When redeveloping is resorted to, we have a prefer- ence for iron over pyrogallic acid, as the negatives are generally not so hard with the former as the latter. The operator should aim to get his negatives intense DEVELOPMENT. 47 enough after one development with iron, as liner modeling and more soft and brilliant effects can thus be secured. If proper care and attention is bestowed upon the bath and collodion, there will generally be no difficulty in accomplishing this object. Some interest has been excited of late concerning the use of formic acid in the developer. It has been as- serted, that with certain conditions of the collodion and bath, a negative could be made with less than one half the time of exposure that is now required. From a num- ber of experiments that we have made, we have failed to discover any greater rapidity of action by the use of formic acid. 48 FIXING AND INTENSIFYING. CHAPTER YI. FIXING AND INTENSIFYING. The fixing of a collodion picture is done with hypo- sulphite of soda or cyanide of potassium. Either of these substances will dissolve iodide and bromide of silver. After a plate has been exposed and developed, the larger portion of iodide and bromide of silver still remains unchanged, and it is necessary to dissolve it out. Cyanide of potassium is the most convenient fix- ing agent, as it works quickly and is very easily cleansed from the film by washing. It must not be used so strong as to attack the half-tones of the nega- tive. It may be used of such strength that the nega- tive will be perfectly fixed in from thirty to sixty sec- onds. The plate must be very thoroughly washed from the developer before applying the'cyanide, or blue stains will be liable to occur. In employing hyposulphite of soda there is no danger of dissolving the half-tones, and the plate may lie in the dish of hypo, till convenient to take it out. The plate must be washed very thoroughly after fixing. The negative may be dried spontaneously over an alco- IMPERFECTIONS OF NEGATIVES. 51 CHAPTER VII. IMPERFECTIONS OF NEGATIVES. There are many circumstances that interfere with the production of perfect negatives, and this chapter will be devoted to a consideration of the more common causes of failure. Want of intensity . — This may result from the collodion being too thin, in which case allow it to evaporate; from a film that is too tough and impenetrable, caused by unsuitable cotton; from acid in the collodion; too much acid in the silver bath ; from using too much light on the sitter. Too much intensity — may be remedied by adding a little alcoholic solution of iodide of cadmium to the collodion. Pinholes . — We have described the way in which pin- holes are formed by the bath, and by the developer when it is too strong. They are always very small, and of irregular shapes. Pinholes may be formed by small par- ticles of matter floating in the bath, or by the collodion not being perfectly settled. In the latter two cases they are larger and not so numerous, and may be en- 52 IMPERFECTIONS OF NEGATIVES. tirely avoided by using a larger bath and filtering the collodion. The negative is foggy. — Fogging may result from a variety of causes : 1. Unclean glass. 2. Impure chemicals. 3. Organic matter in the bath. 4. Alkaline bath. 5. Alkaline collodion. 6. Diffused light in the camera, plate-holder, or dark room. *7. Over exposure. The film peels off after drying. — This may result from the glass not being well cleaned, or from rust or scoria on the surface, which can not be removed in cleaning. The film peels up at the edges while in the bath, or dur- ing development or fixing. — Roughen the edges of the glass to prevent the film from loosening. ROUTINE OF PRACTICE IN MAKING NEGATIVES. 53 CHAPTER VIII. ROUTINE OF PRACTICE IN MAKING NEGATIVES. We propose in this chapter to give a brief summary of the preceding chapters, with a few additional facts and observations. The chemicals being compounded as directed, the first thing to do is to warm the rooms to a temperature between T0° and 75°. In hot weather, when the ther- mometer ranges from 80° to 95°, it is much more diffi- cult to make good negatives, and the chemicals run rapidly out of order. The bath will become foul with organic matter much sooner than in cool weather, and the collodion will pass to the red and inert stage in a fortnight. Fill the flowing bottle with collodion of a good stock, and get it of just the right consistency by evaporating when too thin, and by adding alcohol and ether when too thick. Before coating a plate, roughen the edges with a file to prevent the collodion from peeling up in the bath, or during the washing. There will be a greater tendency 54 ROUTINE OF PRACTICE IN MAKING NEGATIVES. of the film to peel up when the bath has just been renewed, and it attacks the film a little. Brush the plate carefully with a camel’s hair brush, to remove dust. Flow the plate as perfectly as possible, and, when the collodion sets, immerse it in the bath quickly, but not with a splash. Move the plate from side to side, upward and down- ward, for half a minute after immersion. When it has been in about three minutes, raise it up and see if it is coated. If it is wet smoothly, take it out and place it in the plate-holder. The corners of the tablet must be wiped out after every plate is used, to prevent stains upon the plate. Expose the plate the proper length of time, as nearly as may be judged, and develop it. If the picture flashes out quickly, becoming somewhat indistinct as the development is continued, the plate has probably been over exposed. If the shadows come out very slowly, and the high lights grow very intense, the plate has been under exposed. If vigor and contrast can not be obtained by varying the exposure, the collodion must be varied by making it of a darker color with iodine or old collodion. If that does not suffice, a very little acid may be added to the bath. If proper effects can not be obtained by any of these methods, the solution ROUTINE OF PRACTICE IN MAKING NEGATIVES. 55 in the bath must be changed, i. e., another one substi- tuted. The operator should keep on hand two solutions for the bath, and, while one is being used, the other may be purified by evaporating or precipitating. Expose the plate as quickly as possible after it is taken from. the bath, and develop, immediately after ex- posure, to secure the best effects. Place the thin end of the plate downward in the tablet, that the head of the sitter may be impressed upon the most perfect portion of the collodion surface. When the negatives come up with too much intensity, add alcoholic solution of iodide of cadmium to the col- lodion. When too little intensity is the fault, redevelop with iron and silver. We have observed that the electrical condition of the atmosphere greatly influences chemical effects in pho- tography. Even when the bath is perfectly pure, and the collodion in prime condition, a sudden change of weather, from cool and dry to warm and humid, will occasion more or less trouble in securing fine chemical effects. Negatives are more brilliant and transparent when taken in cool, clear weather. 56 SILVERING PROCESS. CHAPTER IX. PLAIN PAPER PRINTING— SALTING. Take good photographic paper, Saxe or Rive is best, and immerse it in a solution of chloride of ammonium, five grains to the ounce of water, contained in a suita- ble tray, and, when the sheet is perfectly wet, take it out and pin up by the corners to dry. SILVERING PROCESS. Make a solution of pure nitrate of silver; sixty grains to the ounce. Drop in concentrated aqua ammonia, which will first form a brown precipitate of oxide of silver, causing the solution to become muddy or turbid. Add more ammonia, drop by drop, till the solution just becomes clear again by the precipitated oxide of silver becoming redissolved. At this point there is probably a slight excess of ammonia, and enough nitrate of sil- ver must be added to turn the solution slightly turbid again, when it is filtered out clear. Free ammonia must not exist, as it makes the paper turn brown too soon after silvering. The salted paper is silvered by pouring on about two SILVERING PROCESS. 57 drachms of the above solution to a sheet, and brushing it evenly over the surface with a piece of cotton flan- nel folded and held between two small plates of glass. The silvering must be done in a weak light, and the paper hung up in a dark place to dry. Prints on plain paper may be toned after the albumen prints have gone through, using the same bath when it is considerably weakened. (See Chap. XIII.) We do not dwell at length on the subject of plain paper printing, as albumen paper has almost entirely superseded it for plain photographs. For full particu- lars, we would refer the reader to “Waldack’s Trea- tise.” 3 * ALBUMEN PAPER PRINTING. PREPARATION OF ALBUMEN PAPER. 61 CHAPTER X. ALBUMEN PAPER, AND METHOD OF PREPARATION. The majority of photographers get their albumen paper from the trade, and in most cases it is more eco- nomical to buy than to prepare it. There are two kinds of paper used for albumenizing, the Saxe and the Rive. The Rive paper gives more gloss, owing to the qualities of the size, but it also contains more imper- fections, such as spots and holes, and, when albumen- ized, is more inclined to blister during the toning, fixing, and washing. The Saxe paper is more uniform in texture, and, all things considered, is the best article in market for albumenizing. Paper of medium thickness should be selected, which may be albumenized in the following manner : Take fresh eggs and break them individually in a cup, being careful not to disturb the yolk, and pour the albumen in a vessel used for beating it up. Any egg that is bad must be rejected. Add pulverized chloride ' of ammonium, ten grains to each ounce of albumen, and 62 PREPARATION OF ALBUMEN PAPER. beat the whole till it becomes a stiff froth, and not a drop of fluid remains. A revolving egg-beater, such as is sold for culinary use, will perform the work very quickly. Let the albumen stand twenty-four hours to settle, and then strain through muslin into a shallow dish large enough to float a sheet of paper. Take a sheet of paper, and, commencing at one cor- ner, carefully lay it down on the albumen in such a manner as to avoid air-bubbles; this is a rather deli- cate operation, and considerable skill is required to do it properly. Allow the paper to remain on the albu- men from one to two minutes, then lift it off carefully and hang it diagonally over a line or rounded stick to dry. If paper is floated too long, the albumen sinks in the paper, and the surface dries dull. The paper should be hung in a warm place, for the quicker it is dried the finer the glaze. Albumen should be used before it begins to decompose. Much experience is required in order to judge when albumen is in the proper state for use, as it exhibits many freaks and peculiarities. SILVERING ALBUMEN PROCESS. 63 CHAPTER XI. METHOD OF SILVERING ALBUMEN PAPER, AND FUMING PROCESS WITH AMMONIA. Prepare a solution of pure nitrate of silver, not less than eighty grains to the ounce, and make it slightly alkaline by adding a drop of ammonia to each ounce. The employment of ammonia will generally prevent dis- coloration of the solution. Pour the solution into a porcelain or rubber tray, and float the albumen paper upon it for one minute; if the paper remains on five minutes it will do no harm. Breathe upon the paper if it is inclined to curl up at the edges, when it will go down to a flat position. When it is ready to come off, lift the corner with a strip of glass, and hang up in a dark place to drain and dry. Papers are very conven- iently hung on a line with a spring clothes-pin. Very many modifications of the silver solution for albumen paper have been prescribed — among others, the admixture of nitrate of ammonia, or, what is equiva- lent, dissolving the precipitate formed by aqua ammo- nia, with nitric acid. It will not answer to use the am- monio-nitrate as made for plain paper, as that dissolves 64 FUMING PROCESS WITH AMMONIA. the albumen. Ammonia salts of silver give a rich pur- ple color to photographic prints, and hence it is highly desirable to secure the advantage of ammonia in the silver sensitizing of albumen paper. Instead of intro- ducing nitrate of ammonia into the silver solution, it is better to form an ammonia-nitrate of silver on the sur- face of the paper by the fuming process, which will presently be described. Nitrate of ammonia in the so- lution will not economize silver, as has been claimed, by making a less degree of strength answer for prints of equal richness and beauty. Neither is there any advantage in employing it in conjunction with fuming. A silver solution for albumen paper will sometimes be- come discolored. The best method of decolorizing, is to filter it through animal charcoal. FUMING PROCESS WITH AMMONIA. When the silvered albumen paper is perfectly dry, place it in a tight box, and expose to the fumes of strong ammonia contained in a saucer beneath. The ingen- ous photographer will have no difficulty in devising an arrangement for introducing several sheets of paper at a time, in such a way as to expose the surfaces equally to contact with the fumes. The length of time necessary for fuming varies with different kinds of paper, from ten minutes to half an FUMING PROCESS WITH AMMONIA. 65 hour. A paper heavily glazed with albumen requires a longer exposure to the fumes than a thin light paper. A bad article of paper will sometimes turn brown over the ammonia vapor, and is therefore worthless for this process. The paper must never be put in damp, for in that case a scum-will form on the surface, which will injure or spoil it for printing. The same effect takes place when the dry paper is excessively fumed with concen- trated ammonia. The paper should be exposed long enough to cause the prints to appear of a rich purple color while printing. If the paper appears red or choco- late-brown in the printing-frame, it has not remained long enough in the ammonia vapors. The advantages of ammonia fuming are : that a weaker silver solution may be used ; that the prints are more easily toned, and with less gold; that the ten- dency of paper to become meazly during the toning is to a great extent obviated ; and, that greater sensi- tiveness is obtained, so that weaker negatives, with better detail, can be employed. 66 PRINTING. CHAPTER XII. PRINTING. The negative for printing should be opaque enough, in the high lights, to prevent the paper under them from turning color while the deep shadows are being printed to a rich black. It should also be well defined in the half-tints, in order that the drapery may not be one entire patch of black, without light or gradation. In printing, it is necessary to have the Closest con- tact of the paper with the negative, and stiff springs in the printing-frames are requisite to keep the paper firmly in place. It is necessary to print darker than the picture is intended to remain, the degree varying with the strength of the silver solution employed, and also with the kind of toning bath used. In printing in sunshine, the negative should be so placed that the light falls perpendicularly upon it, in order to secure the greater sharpness. Intense nega- tives should be printed in the sun, and weak negatives in diffuse light. Vignettes are printed in various ways, but the best mode is to place a piece of card board over the negatives, cutting an aperture of the shape you PRINTING. 67 wish the picture to appear, but somewhat smaller, and paste a piece of tissue paper over the opening.. This produces a soft tinting, and a gradual fading of the picture into indistinctness. A little distance should intervene between the card board and the negative, to produce the finest effect; and the board should be closely fastened down at the edges to prevent light from en- tering, and causing the whole picture to print more or less. In diffuse light it is not necessary to place tissue paper over the opening ; but in sunshine the edges would print too sharp without. The vignette printing glasses sold by stock dealers — which are glasses transparent in the middle, and gradu- ally growing opaque toward the edges — do not give quite so fine effects as the card and tissue paper, and can not be altered and adapted to the size and shape often required. Several hours may elapse between the printing and toning, the pictures being placed in the dark as soon as they are removed from the frames, and it is best to do the toning toward night, when the light has grown too weak to be of much effect in printing. 68 ' TONING. CHAPTER XIII. TONING A photograph is toned by a reduction of metallic gold or platinum upon the silvered surface of the paper. The gold or platinum is used in the state of chloride in solution. In toning, the action may be thus ex- plained. The chlorine of the gold passes to the silver of the print, and converts a portion of it into the white chloride of silver ; hence the bleaching action. The gold being thus liberated, deposits on the surface of the print in the metallic state. The case is similar with platinum. The only metals which can thus be reduced on a print made with silver, are gold, platinum, and a few others too rare to ever come into use. Hence the fu- tility of employing such metals as uranium, lead, etc., in the toning bath, which have been recommended, and are to some extent needlessly used. Platinum, when used by itself, is not so good a ton- ing agent as gold, for the prints lose their color and become red in the hyposulphite fixing bath, unless very TONING. 69 much over printed, and toned till they are somewhat misty. Platinum, when used in conjunction with gold, is undoubtedly a great improvement, the pictures tak- ing a warm slate color inclining’ to purple, with great brilliancy in the shadows. We shall first treat of the gold toning bath, and afterward give directions for using platinum with it. An acid solution of chloride of gold precipitates too sfowly to give a brilliant tone on albumen paper, and it is necessary to have it in an alkaline condition to make it tone rapidly enough. A gold bath, made alka- line with bicarbonate of soda, or powdered chalk, is capable of giving every variety of color that can be produced by the admixture of other chemicals, for it is the gold that produces the tone. There are numerous substances which accelerate the reduction of gold, and consequently serve the same purpose as the carbonated alkalies in the toning bath; but they have no influence on the color of the print. Before the prints are put in the toning solution, they must be washed thoroughly from free nitrate of silver. They are known to be washed sufficiently when a little common salt, added to the water, produces no milkiness by precipitating chloride of silver. To prepare the alkaline toning bath, make a solution of chloride of gold, about fifteen grains to six ounces of 70 TONING. water; make another solution of bicarbonate of soda, about sixty grains to six ounces of water, thus : J Solution No. 1 . Water, 6 ounces. Chloride of gold, ... 15 grains. Solution No. 2 . Water, 6 ounces. Bicarbonate of soda, . . 60 grains. m Take a flat porcelain or earthen dish to be used for the toning, pour into it about a pint of blood-warm wa- ter, and add equal quantities (say an ounce of each) of solutions Nos. 1 and 2. On immersing the prints into this bath they will rapidly change from the brick-red color they have after washing, to some tint of purple or blue. This is the case when the negative has been of proper intensity; but a print from a thin and weak negative will remain obstinately red, and, when it is finally toned, will have lost its brilliancy, and be mealy, cold, and gray, when fixed and dried. Rapid toning, carried too far, will give inky-blue pictures; too slow toning will produce cold, dull prints; and insufficient toning, in a bath of proper working condition, will cause the picture to assume some shade of red or brown when finished. If the bath works too rapidly, add water; if too slowly, add gold and soda; that is, equal quantities TONING BATH. 71 of the standard solutions. Considerable experience is required to be able to judge when the toning proceeds fast enough, and when the print has assumed th^proper tint. When the toning has gone far enough, take the print out and immerse it in a dish of clean water. This arrests the action immediately. TONING BATH WITH CHLORIDE OF LIME. Solution No. 1 . Water, ...... 6 ounces. Chloride of gold, . . .15 grains. Solution No. 2 . Water, 6 ounces. Chloride of lime, . . .15 grains. Use equal quantities of each in a convenient quantity of water, in the same manner as described for gold and bicarbonate of soda. This bath bleaches more than any other, and requires deeper printing. TONING BATH WITH ACETATE OF SODA. Solution No. 1 . Water, 6 ounces. (Neutral) Chloride of gold, , 15 grains. Solution No. 2 . Water, 6 ounces. Acetate of soda, ... CO grains. 72 TONING BATH. Employ the two solutions in equal quantities with water, the same as for gold and soda. With regard to the amount of bicarbonate of soda, chloride of lime, or acetate of soda to use, no exact proportions are necessary. A much larger quantity than we have given in the formula may be used with- out materially affecting the results. A toning bath prepared an hour or two before using works more energetically than when first mixed, and the following process gives excellent results : Take a quart of water, and dissolve in it five grains of chloride of gold, and neutralize any free acid that may exist with bicarbonate of soda. Then add about twenty grains of acetate of soda, and shake till dissolved. Let the mixture stand an hour or two, or longer. Before toning, heat it blood-warm by means of a lamp, or a vessel of hot water beneath the toning dish. The toning bath should be in such condition, that the prints will tone in from two to five minutes. It should be kept warm during the whole time it is being used, and should be replenished with gold as it becomes exhausted by immersion of prints. The bath will sometimes become suddenly inactive, and refuse to tone even with a full supply of gold. In such a case, the addition of a little bicarbonate of soda will gener- ally set it at work. TONING BATH. 73 The chloride of gold sold in market is really a double chloride of sodium and gold, made by adding common salt to chloride of gold, and generally contains an ex- cess of salt, introduced for the purpose of adulteration. Hence, formulae for toning baths only approximate the proper proportions of gold to be used ; but the fact is of little consequence, as the experienced operator never weighs nor measures the ingredients. We have before alluded to the use of platinum for toning. The bichloride of platinum, or, better, platino- chloride of sodium (made by adding common salt to the bichloride in chemical equivalents), is dissolved in water, about fifteen grains to six ounces (the same strength as the gold solution), and added to the gold toning bath in such proportions as to give the most desirable tone to the picture. About one part of plati- num to two or three of gold is perhaps a good propor- tion. The prints require to be carried a little farther than when gold alone is used, in order that the color may not be lost in the hyposulphite solution. The pla- tinum-toned photographs are warmer, in the half-tints and deep blacks, than those toned with gold exclusively. Platinum can also be recommended on the score of economy, as it costs much less than gold. 4 74 FIXING AND WASHING. CHAPTER XIV. FIXING AND WASHING. The fixing of photographs is done in a solution of hyposulphite of soda. Formula. W ater, . . . . .6 ounces. Hyposulphite of soda, . . 1 ounce. Bicarbonate of soda, . . .5 grains. The print should be toned to such a degree that it will turn to a slightly reddish color again soon after im- mersion in the hyposulphite solution. If it retains its blue color without change, it will be inky blue when dry; but if it turns slightly red, it will generally as- sume a black or purple tone when washed and dried. A print will be fixed, in from ten to fifteen minutes, in the solution given above. The fixing is indicated when the print appears clear and free from spots and patches of undissolved chloride of silver on looking through it toward the light. The hyposulphite bath should not be much stronger than that given above, as too strong a solution has a FIXING AND WASHING. 75 tendency to injure the tone. A decomposing action is set up in the fixing bath by various chemicals, such as acid, chloride of gold, and platinum, etc., by which it acquires the property of toning itself, by causing sul- phuration of the print Sulphur tones are not perma- nent, however, and care should be taken to wash the prints after toning and before they are put into the fixing solution, to avoid the introduction of gold. The bicarbonate of soda is added to the hypo bath, to neu- tralize acid that may form in it. The fixing bath should be prepared new every two or three days, to insure any degree of permanency in the prints, and also to pre- vent the proofs from becoming yellow in the whites. After the prints are fixed, they should be washed very thoroughly, to remove all traces of the hyposul- phite; for, if any of it is left, it will in time cause the destruction of the picture. Six hours’ washing, in a running stream of water, is perhaps sufficient for albumen photographs. 76 IMPERFECTIONS OF ALBUMEN PRINTS. CHAPTER XY. IMPERFECTIONS OF ALBUMEN PRINTS. The high lights are chalky , with too much contrast be- tween light and shade— The negative is too intense. Too little contrast and want of vigor. — -The negative is too weak. The print is red, or brown after drying. — Insufficient toning. Most liable to occur with prints from weak negatives. The picture is cold and dull. — Over-toning, or the negative has been too weak to give a warm and bril- liant tone, or the toning has proceeded too slowly. The print is of an inky blue color. — Caused by rapid and excessive toning. Bed freckled spots over the entire surface. — Poor quality of paper, or too high a glaze. Most likely to happen with a thin negative and weak silver solution. The print is not toned uniformly. — The pictures have not been kept in motion in the toning bath, or too many have been immersed at once. Black spots and, patches by transmitted, and yellow by IMPERFECTIONS OF ALBUMEN PRINTS. 77 reflected , light . — The fixing* solution is too old and weak, or the print has not remained in long enough. The whites are yellow . — Caused by a sulphureting action of the fixing solution when it is too old. Bronzed lines and streaks . — Caused by a poor quality of paper, or bad albumenizing. Blisters.— A highly glazed paper often exhibits blis- ters during the fixing and washing, but they generally go down on drying. 78 TRIMMING PHOTOGRAPHS CHAPTER XVI TRIMMING MOUNTING, AND PRESSING PHOTOGRAPHS. Photographs should be cut or trimmed before toning-, in order to save a needless consumption of gold in ton- ing superfluous portions of the paper. The silver of the cuttings is also more easily kept from wasting than when dissipated in the different solutions. Card pho- tographs may be cut with a knife sold for the purpose, the edges of which form a rectangle of the size and shape of the finished picture. The paper is laid upon a block of wood, the knife placed upon it and struck with a mallet. They may also be trimmed by laying the print on a sheet of glass, and placing over it a glass pattern of the proper dimensions, and cutting with a smooth-edged knife. The knife used for cutting must be kept sharp, as any roughness on the edge will tear the picture and spoil it. The paper must also be perfectly dry before cutting, or it will tear when the knife is drawn over it. The prints may be taken from the washing vat, in a pack, and drained. While they are still damp and TRIMMING PHOTOGRAPHS. 79 pliant, the adhesive material, starch-paste, gum, or what- ever may be used, is applied to the back of the print lying uppermost, when it is separated from the rest and carefully placed upon the mounting-board, and pressed down by laying a clean piece of paper over it, and rubbing with the hand. After the paste has become dry, the picture is ready for rolling or pressing. Any of the photograph presses answer the purpose. 80 SAYING SILVER AND GOLD RESIDUES. CHAPTER XYII. SAVING SILVER AND GOLD RESIDUES. Not more than five per cent, of the silver used in photography is utilized, or actually consumed in form- ing the image of the negative or print; the rest becomes distributed through the washings and solutions, and is wasted unless means are taken to collect and save it. With a little care and attention, three fourths of the whole amount of silver used can be recovered. We shall give the most practicable methods of precipitat- ing and saving silver from the various solutions which contain it, and also the manner of recovering gold from toning baths. No. 1. — The Wash from Negatives. The iron of the developer suffices to precipitate the silver that is washed from the plate, and it may be saved by having the sink constructed as we have de- scribed in the first chapter, under the head of “Dark Room.” It may also be saved by developing over a barrel, and running off the water, when it is settled clear, by a faucet placed a little distance above the bottom. Care should be taken not to introduce hypo, SAYING SILVER AND GOLD RESIDUES. 81 cyanide, or ammonia into the barrel, as they prevent precipitation. The barrel may be used to collect the free nitrate of prints, the first and second washings be- ing thrown in and precipitated with common salt. The water in the barrel should never be drawn off until it is settled perfectly clear. A great' excess of salt must not be added to throw down the silver, for fear of producing a double chloride of sodium and silver, which is soluble. It is unnecessary to add salt so long as a drop of nitrate of silver solu- tion produces a milkiness. No. 2 . — Cyanide Solution. The cyanide for fixing should be kept in a tray, and, when it becomes so saturated as to clear a negative too slowly, it should be poured off in a jar, and the silver thrown down with a piece of sheet zinc. The silver is thus reduced to the metallic state, and attaches itself to the zinc in the form of a gray powder. No. 3 . — Hyposulphite Solution. The silver in this solution may be thrown down as black sulphuret with sulphuret of potassium ; but it is better to precipitate with zinc the same as No. 2. No. 4 . — Free Nitrate Solutions and Washings May be thrown in No. 1, and precipitated with common salt. 4 * 82 SAYING SILVER AND GOLD RESIDUES. No. 5 . — Ammonia Silver Solutions. These can be precipitated with zinc. Mix with No. 2 or 3. This, after long use, acquires considerable silver. Throw the acid in the barrel with No. 1. May be burned in an open iron vessel, or a stove with a very light draft, and the ashes preserved. Toned paper is not worth saving for either silver or gold. As we have before recommended, prints should be trimmed before toning, in order to save silver and gold. All the residues obtained by the above methods, may be mixed and dried in an evaporating dish, or other suitable vessel placed over the stove, or in the sun. They may then be converted into metallic silver by mix- ing them with twice their weight of anhydrous carbon- ate of soda in a crucible, and heating to whiteness in a furnace. The silver melts down to the bottom, and may be obtained as a button on breaking the crucible. The silver is very impure, however, and requires to be re- fined before it is fit for converting into nitrate. Method of Saving Gold from the Toning Bath. As soon as the prints are toned, pour the solution in No. 6 . — Acid for Cleaning Plates. No. 7 . — Silvered Paper and Filters SAVING SILVER AND GOLD RESIDUES. 83 a glass or stone jar, and let it stand in a warm place not less than twenty-four hours. The gold will fall down as a dark purple powder, and the clear water can be decanted, or run off with a syphon whenever the jar becomes full. The gold powder is very fine and light, and is easily lost. A little protosulphate of iron will cause it to precipitate sooner. When there is a sufficient accumulation of gold in the jar, it may be sent to the refiner, or it can be again converted into chloride suita- ble for toning, by digesting in dilute sulphuric acid to remove impurities, washing, and dissolving in aqua regia. 84 PICTURES ON PORCELAIN. CHAPTER XVIII. PICTURES ON PORCELAIN. These pictures, which appear to be coming in vogue to some extent, are very beautiful ; but it requires the utmost nicety of manipulation to make them perfect. The plates for these pictures are sold as porcelain, but they consist really of opaque white glass. The plate is coated with collodion, and sensitized in the bath in the usual way, and the image received from a negative adjusted in the following manner : The negative is placed in one end of a box, the other end joining the front end of a camera box, fitted with a quarter-tube. The object of the box in front is to shut out extraneous light. The negative is placed to- ward the sun, or a reflector of white paper placed in the sun, and the image, formed by light transmitted through the negative, is focussed on the ground glass by moving the bellows backward or forward as may be required. The box in front containing the negative should admit of extension by the bellows, or by being constructed of one box sliding within another, in order PICTURES ON PORCELAIN. 85 that the size of the picture may be varied by changing' the distance of the negative. When the negative is directed toward the sun, or sunlight is thrown upon it by means of a reflecting mirror, it is, perhaps, advisa- ble to place a ground glass over the negative. The white collodionized plate is then exposed and developed with the ordinary iron developer, the degree being about the same as for an ambrotype. The im- age will have a positive effect', however, as soon as it appears, and thus the development is easier and more certain than, with any other kind of picture. After washing the developer off, fix in a weak solution of cyanide. The picture, at this stage, is not as strong and vigor- ous as it should be, and requires to be darkened with a weak solution of bichloride of mercury, chloride of gold, or bichloride of platinum. As soon as the picture appears of the proper shade, the action of the strength- ening agent is arrested by washing the plate under a copious stream of water. Let us consider briefly the rationale of the process. The negative allows the light to pass through the shad- ows, and those parts appear luminous on the ground glass. The lights, or opaque parts of the negative, ob- struct the rays, and the corresponding parts of the image in the camera will be dark. In developing, the 86 PICTURES ON PORCELAIN. silver will deposit on the parts corresponding to the shadows, and give a brownish color. The parts that constitute the lights will not receive the silver deposit, and the plate, being white, will show them in their true relation. The picture is weak and flat, however, from the shadows not being deep enough. When the strengthening agent is applied, the silver on those parts will be darkened, and the picture will stand out distinct and vigorous. The most perfect negatives must be employed, and they should be made thinner than required for printing on paper, with all the gradations of half-tone and shadow. Any blemishes or imperfections in the nega- tive will be painfully reproduced on the porcelain plate. One of the principal difficulties that is liable to occur is dinginess in the shadows of the picture, and the negative must be very transparent, and the strength- ening of the picture must not be carried too far. Another method is being practiced for the production of these pictures, which consists in printing them first on albumen paper, prepared in such a manner that the film peels off during the toning and fixing. The film is then transferred to the white plate while in the wa- ter, and carefully lifted out and dried. A great degree of over-printing is required, on account of the white plate showing through and making the picture lighter. PICTURES ON PORCELAIN. 87 We do not feel authorized to give specific directions for preparing the paper, transferring the film, etc., as our experiments have not yet enabled us to work the pro- cess with any degree of certainty. We mention the method, that those photographers interested may con- tribute their aid in perfecting it. 88 USEFUL RECIPES AND FACTS. CHAPTER XIX. USEFUL RECIPES AND FACTS. To Make Chloride of Gold. Into a small evaporating dish place a quantity of pure gold — dentist’s foil or unalloyed scraps — and pour on one part nitric and four parts hydrochloric acid, and apply a gentle heat. The gold will slowly dissolve with the evolution of red vapors. If the gold does not all dissolve in an hour or two with the first portion of the mixed acids, add another portion and continue the heat. It is not advisable to boil the acid, or much of the chlorine, which is the real solvent of the gold, will be driven off and wasted. When the gold is all dissolved, evaporate the solution to dryness, and chloride of gold, as a blackened mass, will be left behind. Moisten this with a little water, and add a quantity of fine table salt. A weight of salt equal to that of the gold may be used, although it will be in excess of the amount required to form the auro- chloride of sodium, which is produced whenever com- mon salt is added to chloride of gold. USEFUL RECIPES AND FACTS. 89 Chloride of gold evaporates to a small extent in the process of preparation, and too strong heat must not be applied when dissolving gold in aqua regia. Gold coin, which is alloyed with silver and copper, may be employed in the manufacture of chloride of gold. The silver is converted into insoluble chloride by the action of the hydrochloric acid. The copper may be separated by the following method : When the coin is dissolved, and a small quantity of acid is left unevaporated, add carbonate of soda until all effervescence ceases, and a green precipitate of carbonate of copper is formed. Let the solution stand some hours for the copper to sepa- rate, and then filter; the silver and copper will be left behind; lastly, evaporate the solution to dryness. In this process the carbonate of soda is converted into common salt or chloride of sodium by the hydrochloric acid, and the salt combines with the chloride of gold, and forms auro-chloride of sodium. For toning purposes the presence of copper salts does not injure the gold, and it is not often necessary to go to the trouble of separating the copper. Instead of using common salt to form auro-chloride of sodium, chloride of calcium may be used to produce the auro-chloride of calcium, which is very popular with some photographers, although it has no advantage over gold and salt. 90 USEFUL RECIPES AND FACTS. To Make Nitrate of Silver. Take pure silver and dissolve with chemically pure nitric acid, diluted with two parts of water, in an evapo- rating dish, by the aid of heat. When the silver disap- pears in solution, evaporate to dryness and fuse. The nitrate of silver may then be dissolved in water, and diluted to the strength required, and it is ready for use after filtering. If silver containing copper is used, as in the case of coin, the nitrate of copper may be decomposed by strong fusion. An insoluble oxide of copper is left, which can be filtered out when the mass is dissolved in water. The nitrate of copper is known to be entirely decom- posed when a drop of the fused mass, dissolved in a little water, does not strike a blue color on adding a drop of aqua ammonia. The copper may be effectually removed, also, by dis- solving the mixed nitrates in water, and boiling with oxide of silver. The oxide of silver unites with the nitric acid of the nitrate of copper, forming nitrate of silver, and oxide of copper remains, which may be sepa- rated by filtration. When coin is used, the operation may be conducted as follows: Dissolve the coin, and evaporate the solution to dry- ness. Then take about one fifth of the mass, dissolve USEFUL RECIPES AND FACTS. 91 it in water, and precipitate it with caustic potash as oxide of silver. Wash the precipitate until the potash is all removed, and then add it to the other portion after dissolving in water, and boil the whole until a drop of ammonia does not give a blue color. To Purify Water for Silver Solutions. Water may be freed from organic matter by adding a small quantity of nitrate of silver, and allowing it to stand in the sun till the black insoluble precipitate has settled. We are of opinion that almost any kind of water could be rendered sufficiently pure for photo- graphic purposes in this way. If hard water were used, the carbonates and soluble chlorides would form insolu- ble precipitates, which would subside, and inorganic substances, that do not give precipitates with nitrate of silver, could do no harm unless present in very large quantities. On the Use of Test Papers. Litmus is a blue coloring matter extracted from lichens collected from rocks adjoining the sea. Litmus paper is prepared by soaking unsized porous paper in an infusion of litmus, and allowing it to dry. It is a most delicate test for acid, either gaseous or liquid. The presence of acid is indicated by the paper turning red. The reddened litmus paper is a test for alkalies, 92 USEFUL RECIPES AND FACTS. the blue color being- restored by the action of alkaline liquids. To test for alkalies, the blue paper should first be held over the mouth of a bottle containing acetic acid, until it turns red. A cause of error sometimes arises in using test papers — particularly in testing the toning bath, when using bicarbonate of soda or other alkaline carbonates for neutralizing acid that may exist in the gold. Car- bonic acid is given off whenever alkaline carbonates are acted upon b}^ a strong acid, and a portion being dissolved and held by the liquid, the paper may indi- cate acid before the point of neutralization is reached. In this case the carbonic acid reddens the paper. Litmus paper should be kept in a corked bottle in the dark. Light destroys the color after a time, and exposure to the air reddens it by carbonic and other acid vapors diffused through the atmosphere. Testing with the Hydrometer. The hydrometer is not an exact instrument for deter- mining the strength of chemical solutions, although, when used with care, its indications are sufficiently ac- curate for the purposes of photography. Before using, it should be carefully wiped from any adhering sub- stance that may have become dried on. On immersion into the liquid to be tested, depress the tube below the USEFUL RECIPES AND FACTS. 93 line to which it sinks, and allow it to play up and down till it finds its point of rest. In determining the strength of recently dissolved nitrate of silver, shake the whole -solution thoroughly before applying the hydrometric test, or you may be led very wide of the mark. If the silver has just been dissolved and allowed to stand, the upper portion is very much lighter than the lower, as may be seen by gently stirring the solution, when the lower part will appear thick and syrupy. Using Evaporating Dishes. Evaporating dishes will sometimes break by being suddenly heated or cooled. They may generally be placed with safety upon the stove, or over the flame of an alcohol lamp. If they are placed upon burning coals, they should be protected by a sand bath, or a sheet-iron dish filled with black sand, in order to dis- tribute the heat equally. The sand bath is, indeed, a very useful precaution against breakage under all circumstances. 'When the evaporating dish contains a hot solution, great care must be used in adding a cold one, and it must be poured in slowly in a very small stream. The safer plan is to let the dish become cool before filling up. 94 USEFUL RECIPES AND FACTS. Mode of Decanting Collodion . A quantity of collodion being made up plain, and contained in a tall bottle, it may be withdrawn, with out disturbing the sediment, in the following way: Through a cork which nicely fits the mouth of the bottle, thrust two glass tubes about three eighths of an inch in diameter-the one descending into the collodion, but not so far as to reach the sediment — The other just reaching through the cork, but not dipping into the so- lution. The ’tubes should rise a convenient distance above the bottle, and may be bent to the shape re- quired by heating them in an alcohol lamp. On blow- ing through the short tube (or the one that does not reach the surface of the collodion), a pressure will be exerted within the bottle, and the collodion will rise through the long tube, and may be drawn in any quantity desired for use. To Remove Water from Alcohol. Put the alcohol into a tall bottle, and to every gallon add about two pounds of unslacked lime in small frag- ments. Cork the bottle and shake it occasionally for a week or more, and, when the spirit has settled perfectly clear, it may be decanted for use. Alcohol, nearly absolute, may be obtained in this way. WEIGHTS AND MEASURES. 95 APPENDIX. WEIGHTS AND MEASURES. The only common integer in the two systems of weights known as Troy and Avoirdupois is the grain. In the Troy ounce there are 480 grains, and in the Avoirdupois ounce 431 J grains. Hence, the pound, ounce, and drachm, denote different quantities in each system. In Apothecaries 7 weight, the pound, ounce, and grain are the same as in Troy weight; but the ounce is divided into 8 drachms, each drachm into 3 scruples, and each scruple into 20 grains. In Troy weight the ounce is divided into 20 pennyweights of 24 grains each. In the subjoined tables, the value of each weight in Troy, Apothecaries 7 , and Avoirdupois weight, is given in grains, and also in French grammes. TROY WEIGHT. Pound. Ounces. Pennyweights. Grains. French grammes. 1 12 240 5160 312.96 . . 1 20 480 31.08 . . • . 1 24 1.54 .. m # .. 1 0.0641 96 WEIGHTS AND MEASURES. APOTHECARIES* WEIGHT. Pound. Ounces. Drachms. Scruples, . Grains. French grammes. 1 12 96 288 5160 312.96 . . 1 8 24 480 31.08 . . . . 1 3 60 3.885 . . . . 1 20 1.295 • • * • AVOIRDUPOIS 1 WEIGHT. 0.0641 Pound. Ounces. Drachms. Grains. French grammes. 1 16 256 1000 453.25 . . 1 16 437.5 28.328 . . . . 1 27.343 1.77 • • • • MEASURE OP 1 VOLUME. 0.0647 Weights are compared with measures by subdivid- ing the Imperial gallon. The weight of an Imperial gallon of absolutely pure water, at 30 inches pressure and 62°, is ten Avoirdupois pounds , or 10,000 grains. It is equal to 21 1. 214 cubic inches. IMPERIAL MEASURE. Gallon. 1 Pints. 8 Fluid ounces. Fluid drachms. 160 1280 Minims. 16800 . . 1 20 160 9600 . . • « 1 8 4S0 1 60 WEIGHTS AND MEASURES. 97 WEIGHT OF WATER AT 62°. Measure. Cubic inches. Grains. 1 Gallon, .... 277.274 .... 70,000 1 Quart, 69.318 .... 17,500 1 Pint, .... 34.659 8,750 16 Fluid ounces, 27.727 7,000 1 Fluid ounce, .... 1.732 437.5 1 Fluid drachm, .... 0.216 54.7 1 Minim, .... 0.0336 0.91 The weight of a cubic inch of distilled water, at 62°, is 252.458 grains. The Troy ounce of distilled water is equal to 1.8047 cubic inches. THE METRICAL SYSTEM. The metre is, in France, the integer of the measure of length, un-d all measures of surface, capacity, and weight, are derived from it. The integer of the measure of capacity is the litre, which is the cubed decimetre, and is equal to 35.275 fluid ounces. The integer of the measure of weight is the gramme, equal to 15.434 grains. It is the weight of a cubic centimetre of water at its greatest density. The French measures increase and decrease decimally, or in the ratio of 1, 10, 100, 1000, etc. MEASURES OF LENGTH. English inches. Millimetre .03937 Centimetre .39371 5 98 WEIGHTS AND MEASURES. Decimetre, English inches. ....... 3.93108 Metre, 39.31019 Decametre, 393.10188 Hectometre, 3931.0188 Kilometre, 39310.188 Myriametre, 393101.88 MEASURES OF VOLUME. Millilitre,. ........... Cubic inches. .06103 Centilitre, .61028 Decilitre, 6.1028 Litre, 61.028 Decalitre, ...... 610.28 Hectolitre, 6102.8 Kilolitre, ........... ‘61028. Myrialitre, .......... 6110280. MEASURES OF WEIGHT. Milligramme, . . English grains. .0154 Centigramme, .1543 Decigramme, 1.5434 Gramme, . 15.434 Decagramme, 154.34 Hectogramme, 1543.4 Kilogramme, 15434. Myriagramme, 154340. THE Snuruan Jfffttml of IS PUBLISHED AT 244 CANAL STREET, NEW YORK, On the 1st and 15th of each month. It gives fall reports of the meetings of the AMERICAN PHOTOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY— the current Photographic news from all parts of the world— is supported and recommended by the most eminent Photographers, and is recognized as the organ of the Photographic profession in America. The volume will form a handsome book of about 600 pages — an invaluable cyclopaedia OF USEFUL, PRACTICAL, AND THEORETICAL KNOWLEDGE PERTAINING TO PHOTOGRAPHY. Edited by Charles A. Seely, A.M., late Professor of Chemistry and Toxicology in the New York Medical College. TERMS: One Year, in advance $2 00 Six Months, “ 1 00 Specimen Numbers 10 cts. Subscribers in Foreign countries will be charged, in addition to the above, the international postage, when prepaid. ADVERTISEMENTS Are inserted at 'the rate of $150 per annum, for each page, or in proportion. Transient Notices 25 cents per line for each insertion. Mr. Snelling’s PHOTOGRAPHIC AND FINE ART JOUR- NAL has recently been merged in the AMERICAN JOURNAL OF PHOTOGRAPHY. SEELY & BOLTWOOD, C Publishers. HOLMES, BOOTH & HAYDENS, MANUFACTURERS, IMPORTERS, AND DEALERS IN PHOTOGRAPHIC MATERIALS OF EVERY DESCRIPTION, No. 49 CHAMBERS STREET, NEW YOEK. We invite the attention of Dealers and Artists to our stock, which is always large and well assorted, and embraces every article re- quired by the new and popular developments of Photography. HOLMES, BOOTH & HAYDENS’ CELEBRATED CAMERAS Are favorably known, and continue to merit the approval which their popularity and perfection have so firmly established. They have a great depth of focus, and the quality is guaranteed equal to the best of the most celebrated foreign manufactures. We are constantly receiving, direct from the Manufacturer, the best quality of SAXE PHOTOGRAPHIC PAPER, And are always prepared to offer inducements to parties who purchase in original packages. Our Stock of MATTINGS, PRESERVERS, CASES, FRAMES, APPARATUS, GLASS, ETC., IS ALWAYS LARGE AND WELL ASSORTED. Orders Executed with the utmost Care and Dispatch. HOLMES, BOOTH & HAYDENS, No. 49 Chambers Street, N. Y. MANUFACTORY, WATERBURY, CONN. HARRISON CAMERA FACTORY. Office 458 Broadway. AND C. C. HARRISON’S & J. SCHNITZER’S PATENTED GLOBE. LENSES. The “ C. C. Harrison” portrait Tubes, which, for the past sixteen years have been so favorably known, and are now almost exclu- sively used in the first-class Photographic Galleries in the Union, are being made in larger quantities, and, if possible, in still greater excellence than ever. Their high character will be sustained. Not an instrument will be sent out that Mr. Harrison, by the severest tests, has not found perfect. Every Tube is warranted to be thus, and to give entire satisfaction. THE C. C. HARRISON & J. SCHNITZER PATENTED GLOBE LENS, For taking Landscape and Architectural views, and for copying Prints, Maps, Drawings, etc., far excels all Lenses heretofore intro- duced for these purposes. The advantages claimed for them are — First. — They will embrace almost twice as much subject upon the same sized plate as that of any other combination. Se 30 nd. — Their great depth of focus — objects near by and distant being equally sharp and well defi ned. Third. — An equal illumination and perfect definition of the whole field. Fourth. — The property of rapid working, with very small aperture. Fifth. — The heretofore unattainable, but so long sought for quality, of produc- ing, when used in copying, Negatives, perfect in definition and entirely free from distortion. All these qualities we guarantee these Lenses to possess, and any purchaser, who after a month’s trial is not satisfied, is at liberty to return the Lens to us and receive the amount paid. Our Portrait Tubes and Globe Lenses may be obtained from all the stock-dealers in this and other cities. Orders should be addressed to NELSON WRIGHT, 458 Broadway, N. Y. SCOYILL MANUFACTURING CO., No. 4 BEEKMAN ST. & 36 PARK ROW, NEW YORK, MANUFACTURERS, IMPORTERS, AND DEALERS IN ljof0graj)|)k iinb ^mkofgpe Materials OF EVERY DESCRIPTION, And agents for C. C. Harrison’s new and improved Camera Tubes ; Campbell’s Vernis Plates ; Mowrys & Sibley’s Pho- tographic Presses; Whitney’s Patent Printing Frames Tagliabue’s Actino-Hydrometers, etc. They constantly keep on hand an extensive assortment of Embracing over'100 different styles and sizes, the quality and work- manship of which cannot be surpassed. They invite attention to the PATENT INDESTRUCTIBLE HINGE ALBUM, Constructed in such a manner that the leaves cannot give out or start from the back, as is liable to be the case with those made in the usual way. They will also lie perfectly flat when open, and, as their name imports, are (unless by design) “ABSOLUTELY INDESTRUCTIBLE.” A few styles now ready for market. A liberal discount to Photographers and the trade. We also furnish Best Saxe Albumenised Paper. Best Rive do do And Plain Papers of first qualities to those who albumenize for themselves, or other parties, and at the lowest market rates. Address SCOYILL MANUFACTURING CO., Ho. 4: Beekman St., Hew York. EDWARD & HIEINRY T. 501 BROADWAY, NEW YORK, MANUFACTURERS AND IMPORTERS OF PHOTOGRAPHIC MATERIALS, PHOTOGRAPHIC ALBUMS, CARD PHOTOGRAPHS OE CELEBRITIES, AND STEREOSCOPES AND VIEWS, 3 Doors from St. Nicholas Hotel . ANTHONY’S ALBUMENIZED PAPER. Our Albumenizing is always uniform, and Photographers who have had trouble should try it. We furnish Formulas for Silvering and Toning it. THE BEST We would call *he attention of Photographers to the new Patent Printing Frame invented by Mr. Witt, Photographer, of Columbus, Ohio. It is the most compact and convenient printing frame in existence. It is the easiest to handle. It allows the inspection of all parts of the print by opening one portion of the press. It saves all danger of break- ing the Negative, and, on this account alone, it is invaluable. We make all sizes, large or small, and give prompt attention to all orders. E. Si H. T. ANTHONY, Sole Manufacturers, No. 501 Broadway, N. Y. COLEMAN SELLERS’ PATENT PRESS FOR Card Pictures Ss Stereoscopic Slides . The subscribers , having been appointed Sole Agents for the manufacture and sale of the above Presses, desire to call the attention of professional and amateur Pho- tographers to their merits. These consist in their cheapness, perfect ease of work- ing, freedom from liability to get out of repair, and the excellence of their work. The polishing, or glazing, is effected by the small roller, and the necessary pres- sure is obtained by means of the screws, attached to the ends of the lever, that are passed through the journal of the large roller. Price of 4-incli Press $15 00 “ 91-2 “ 30 00 TWO IMPORTANT PHOTOGRAPHIC WANTS SUPPLIED BY SPIELER’S SOLUTIONS. Ho. 1. — By using this in combination with water-colors, the Artist or Photo- grapher is enabled to paint on Albumenized Paper as readily as on plain paper. No. 2. — For enamelling Photographs on*Albumenized Paper, whether colored or plain, and rendering them water-proof. Nothing need be said to the Artist or the Photographer as to the desirableness of the above articles. Mr. Spieler, the inventor, is a first-class Miniature Painter, and he has proved their value in his own practice before requesting us to introduce them to the public. PRICE, FIFTY CENTS PER BOTTLE. For Sale by all Photographic dealers. E. & H. T. ANTHONY, Sole Agents and Manufacturers, No. 501 Broadway, New York. 3 > ANALYTICAL CHEMIST, AND MANUFACTURER OF PHOTOGRAPHIC CHEMICALS, 113 LAKE STREET, CHICAGO, ILL. I would respectfully inform the fraternity of the North-West that I devote a portion of my time to the manufacture of pure FHCTOCEAPHIC CHEMICALS, Such as Negative Cotton, Iodides and Bromides, Chloride of Gold, Bichloride of Platinum, Acetate of Soda, Nitrate of Silver, Varnish, etc., which I furnish at the lowest cash prices. My Negative Collodion is warranted to give 3Pcfntfrt3 Xittensftg with the iron developer when the bath is in order, together with the finest gradations of half-tone and shadow. Particular attention given to GOLD AND SILVER ASSAYING AND REFINING. All residues of Silver and Gold sent to me will be refined and the value returned in Cash, or Chemicals, after deducting twenty per cent. I will also fill all orders for PHOTOGRAPHIC GOODS, of whatever kind, at the lowest market prices. I have on hand an assortment of EVAPORATING- DISHES, of all sizes, which I will furnish at very low prices. N.B. — Photographers sending me ten cents [to cover the cost), will receive samples of Card Photographs , toned with Gold and Platinum. PURE PHOTOGRAPHIC CHEMICALS. SEELY & BOLTWOOD, CHEMISTS, No. 244 CANAL STREET, NEW YORK, MANUFACTURE THE USED BY PHOTOGRAPHERS, Of the best materials, and according to the most approved processes. Their Chemicals have the highest repute among the most successful artists, and are commonly recognized as the Standard for the most desirable qualities of Uniformity, Reliability, and Purity. Their celebrated PHOTOGRAPHIC COLLODION Is unsurpassed for the Harmony, Delicacy, and Strength of the negatives which it invariably gives under the usual treatment. The great excellency of the Collodion is mainly due to the Gun Cotton and the Pure Iodides and Bromides which enter into its composition, as well as to the recipe after which it is manufactured. The Highest Price paid for waste Silver Solutions, Paper, etc. In addition to their stock of chemicals, the subscribers are con- stantly supplied with the very best Photographic Paper, plain and albumenized, and are prepared to execute orders for Photo- graphic Materials of Every Description. Goods sent by Ex- press to all parts of the country, “C.O.D.” Orders should be addressed, SEELY & BOLTWOOD, CHEMISTS, 244 Canal Street, Hew York. BENJAMIN FRENCH & CO., IMPORTERS AND DEALERS IN Pjotogritpjnt $ Jntfodgp Utaferrals, Embracing every article required by the Artist or Amateur. BENJAMIN FRENCH & CO., SOLE AGENTS FOR THE CELEBRATED VOIGTUNDER & SON’S CHEW. These instruments are superior to any now in use ; they work in less time and space than any others made, and can be had in sets of two or four of exactly same length of focus. Also, Agents for the Saxe Positive and Albumenized Paper ; also other kinds, all of superior quality. Photographic Albums, Card Board, Card Mounts, Photo- graphic Rollers, Camera Boxes, of every desirable style and finish. French and American Chemicals, Passe-Partouts, Paper Matts, Cases, Frames, Matts and Preservers, at wholesale and retail, at lowest Gash prices. EENJ. FRENCH & CO., 159 Washington Street, Boston. 1ST. C. THAYER, 113 LAKE STREET, CHICAGO, ILL. Photographic & Ambrotype Materials of every description needed by OPERATORS OR AMATEURS. PURE CHEMICALS, Made expressly for Photographic purposes, and perfectly reliable. Photographic Presses and Apparatus of all kinds and of the latest styles. ALBUMEN PAPER, Of the very best quality— Saxe — Hives — Super-Extra, and Pink, both thick and thin, with Printed Process for working the same successfully. GOIzLQBlOM. Thayer’s Celebrated Carte de Yieite, Negative, and Ambrotype Collodion, superior to all. other kinds. ’ CAMERAS. Yoigtlander & Son’s — C. C. Harrison’s — Holmes, Booth & Hay- dens’, and Jamin’s — of all sizes. The largest stock kept in the West, and all warranted. FERROTYPE PLATES— GRISWOLD’S . Having the exclusive Agency for the North-west, an immense stock of these justly celebrated Plates always on hand, at prices defying competition. Oval, Gilt, & Rosewood Frames, Albums, etc., In great variety, always on hand. Orders filled with a degree of promptness and accuracy un- equaled by any other house in the trade. Address, Drawer 6297. I beg to call the attention of the photographic public to the fol- lowing low rates, at which I am now enabled to offer my plates. The superiority of the Ferrotype Plates (a fact to be carefully con- sidered, in comparing my prices with others) to every other similar article, is universally conceded, and I guarantee that the standard of excellence, which has secured its high reputation, will be rigidly maintained : Prices of Ferrotype Plates— Egg-Shell and Glossy. LIGHT. 1-9 per Box of 8 doz. ....... .^1 10 1-8 41 44 1 75 1-4 “ 44 2 65 HEAVY. 1-4 per Box of 8 doz $3 05 1-2 44 4 “ 4 50 4-4 44 4 44 10 00 Carte &e Viste, and other sizes, to order, at favorable rates. My terms are CASH — par funds in this city, when convenient. Boxing and cost of collection by Express Company, will be at the expense of the purchaser, except, when $10 worth of plates, at the above prices, are ordered at one time. Trusting that these prices and terms will be entirely satisfactory, I respectfully solicit orders. CAUTION!! The great popularity which the Egg-Shell brand of Ferrotype Plates has attained, has induced unscrupulous parties to assume that name for certain comparatively worthless imitations. The liability of the venders , as well as the manufacturers of such plates , FOR A VIO- LATION OF MY TRADE MARK, IS UNQUESTIONABLE. fam* Get only GRISWOLD’S genuine EGG-SHELL PLATES. All my plates are put up in strong, tight, neat, and handy boxes. The boxes are covered with brown Manilla paper, and la- belled (in green and gold), on both sides, “ Griswold’s Ferrotype Plates on both ends, the number, size, and kind of Plates. Orders may be addressed to any stock-dealer, or to V. M. G-RISWOLD, 4:4:8 Broadway, N. Y., or Lancaster, O. December, 1863. V GETTY CENTER LIBRARY 3 3125 00595 0361