Digitized by the Internet Archive 
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 https://archive.org/details/leafprintsorglimOOhime 
 

 
 
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 @a»te»ts. 
 
 
 Preface, 5 
 
 Lesson of the Illustration, 7 
 
 Historical Introduction, 11 
 
 MANUAL. 
 
 Preliminary Remarks, 17 
 
 Leaf Negatives, . .... 19 
 
 Waxed Prints as Negatives, 21 
 
 Silver Process, 22 
 
 General Outline, 22 
 
 Paper, 23 
 
 Salting and Albumenizing, 24 
 
 Plain Paper, 24 
 
 Albumenized Paper, ........ 25 
 
 Sensitizing, 26 
 
 Fuming with Ammonia, 27 
 
 Ammonio-Nitrate Process, 28 
 
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 & — —4 
 

 Exposure to Light, 29 
 
 Toning and Fixing, 30 
 
 Washing and Mounting, 33 
 
 Printing by Development, 34 
 
 Processes without Silver, 35 
 
 Ferricyanide op Potassium (Blue), 35 
 
 Bichromate op Potassa (Brown), 35 
 
 Removal op Stains, 30 
 
 Apparatus and Chemical?, 37 
 
 
 
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 preface. 
 
 No one of the methods suggested for taking impressions of leaves 
 for botanical purposes surpasses the photographic in beauty or 
 accuracy, whilst it has an additional recommendation in the easy, 
 interesting, and practical lesson in science that it may be made to 
 teach, and the delightful recreation it affords. 
 
 The practical study of science is beginning to displace the old 
 method of simply burdening the memory with the dry, unfruitful, 
 and consequently, uninteresting facts of a text-book. A certain 
 amount of practical work by the pupil has been added to the usual 
 course of experimental lectures, even in some of our best female 
 seminaries. Facts and principles thus practically learned are re- 
 tained by the memory, and suggest themselves readily when occa- 
 sion demands, whilst the discipline involved in their acquirement 
 is not accomplished by other branches of study, and enables the 
 pupil to read more intelligently ordinary scientific treatises. 
 
 No special application of science is better adapted to amateur 
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 pursuit tlian Photography, as the number of all classes engaged in 
 it in our own country and England shows. It requires little and 
 inexpensive apparatus, and rewards ordinary skill and perseverance, 
 whilst it presents attractive fields wide enough for the most acute 
 investigation. By reason of the nice conditions and almost infin- 
 itesimally small quantities involved in its practice, it trains the 
 mind to habits of close observation, of method, and of cleanliness, 
 and familiarizes it with the most common chemical manipulations. 
 
 These few pages are simply intended to direct the attention to 
 the most salient points in the history, theory, and practice of pho- 
 tography, — as a glimpse at, rather than an introduction to practical 
 photography. They will serve to enable any one to read intelli- 
 gently the more exhaustive works and the journals devoted to the 
 art. 
 
 The details of the manipulations arc adapted to the most limited 
 facilities, and are so minutely described, that by the aid of the ac- 
 companying explanations of the principles involved, the amateur 
 may be able to work his way without difficulty. 
 
 The process b} 1 " development was only intended to illustrate the 
 main feature of Daguerre’s discovery, and is therefore scarcely 
 complete enough for practical purposes. 
 
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 Lesson of the Illustration. 
 
 “ Leaves take all kinds of strange shapes, as if to invite us to 
 examine them. Star-shaped, heart-shaped, spear-shaped, arrow- 
 shaped, fretted, fringed, cleft, furrowed, serrated, sinuated ; in 
 whorls, in tufts, in spires, in wreaths endlessly expressive, decep- 
 tive, fantastic, never the same from footstalk to blossom; they 
 seem perpetually to tempt our watchfulness, and take delight in 
 outstripping our wonder.” “ Jags and rents are their laws of being. 
 
 The outline of a buttercup leaf, how delicately rent into 
 
 beauty ! As in the aiguilles of the great Alps, so in this lowest 
 field herb, where rending is the law of being, it is the law of loveli- 
 ness.” This quotation, with Luskin’s impress sharp upon it, gives 
 a fragment of an artist’s view of leaves. The illustration accom- 
 panying this little tract, is intended to point toward an equally in- 
 teresting and important, though, perhaps, more prosy view of 
 leaves, — to act as a finger-board toward a botanical text-book. 
 
 One great object of the study of botany, is to enable the student 
 to recognize readily the individuals of the surrounding flora, to call 
 them by their names, and to arrange them according to their de- 
 grees of kinship. 
 
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 The number and distinctness of the characteristics of a plant 
 often concentrated in its leaf, and the comparative ease with which 
 the story written on the leaf can be deciphered, make the study of 
 its morphology peculiarly important and interesting to the beginner 
 in botayy. 
 
 The leaves for the illustration were selected from the limited 
 range of a hortus siccus, and were not quite as well adapted there- 
 fore, to photographic printing as freshly gathered ones; they will 
 serve, however, to direct attention to the account of the history of 
 plants, that a collection of their leaves can give. 
 
 In one of the specimens, a leaf of the Acer dasycarpum , one of our 
 commonest maples, live large veins or ribs radiate from the base 
 and smaller veins, and veinlets are given off in all directions, which 
 by their interosculations with each other, impart a netted appear- 
 ance to the leaf. In another specimen, a leaf of the Polygonatum 
 multiflorum, or Solomon’s Seal, the veins run unbroken from base 
 to apex, parallel to each other, connected by little veinlets. The 
 third specimen is a piece of a branch of the Adiantum pedatum, or 
 Maidenhair, which scarcely does justice to the most delicate and 
 graceful of our North American ferns. The veins in it are given 
 off in pairs, and are therefore called forked veins. 
 
 The character of the venation of a leaf is so readily distinguished, 
 that it is very easy to classify a plant with those having reticulated 
 or net-veined, nerved or parallel-veined, or forked-veined leaves. 
 
 But the venation of the leaf of a plant, with very few exceptions, 
 tells of other very marked traits of plant life, much less easily dis- 
 tinguished by the tyro in botanical observation. Thus it says in 
 the leaf first described, that the plant on which it grew belonged to 
 the grand series of Pji^enogamous or Flowering Plants; that it 
 belonged to the first grand division of this series, called from the 
 nature of the embryo in the seed Dicotyledonous, or, also on account 
 of the manner in which the material of which the plant is com- 
 posed, has been deposited in the formation of its stem, Exogenous , — 
 
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 outside-growers; also that the numerical plan of the plant is based 
 on the number five. 
 
 It would not he easy for the beginner in botanical analysis, to 
 detect all the traits of character common to the Maple and the 
 Buttercup. For whilst the dicotyledonous character of the embryo 
 would be very apparent in the seed of the Maple, in the seed of the 
 Buttercup it would require some skill to find it. The examination 
 of the stems would scarcely reveal with certainty to the undisci- 
 plined observer, similarity in the mode of growth. The numerical 
 plan of a plant is, in many cases, still more difficult to discover. 
 
 But the reticulated venation of the leaf points unmistakably to all 
 these facts of kinship, between the stately “ builder plants” and 
 one of the humbler “ tented plants,” as Ruskin calls them, that 
 cover the ground. 
 
 Thus the nerved or parallel-veined leaf of the Solomon’s Seal tells 
 just as full and clear a story about its plant, and as unmistakably 
 publishes its relationship to the Grasses, the Indian corn, the Palms, 
 and all the other plants of the second grand division of the flower- 
 ing plants, called from the nature of the embryo Monocotyledonous, 
 or from their mode of growth, Endogenous , — inside-growers , and 
 having as the base of their numerical plan the number three. 
 
 The forked veins of the Maidenhair, indicate as truly its place in 
 the second great series of plants called Cryptogamous or Flower- 
 less Plants, and also that it belongs to the class of Acrogens of this 
 series, and to the order Filices or Ferns, plants that seem to con- 
 centrate in their leaves, or fronds as they are called, with the leaf, 
 and flower, and seed, the beauty of all three. 
 
 Besides this general classification, that the structure of the leaf, 
 especially of the most important series, the flowering plants, 
 enables us readily to make, the general outline of their forms, in- 
 timately connected with their venation, affords us the readiest 
 marks for characterizing species and varieties, thus rendering 
 familiarity with leaf forms one of the greatest aids in making the 
 
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 acquaintance of the flora of a neighborhood. Thus the leaves of 
 the different species of forest trees, when placed side by side, 
 declare to a great extent very minute specific differences, and the 
 description of them draws largely upon the technical terms of 
 botany. The leaf of the Acer sacchariny.ni, or Sugar Maple, placed 
 aside of the leaf in the illustration, shows at once a very marked 
 difference, and yet one hard to he realized by one not thoroughly 
 familiar with the technical terms, upon reading the description in 
 the Species Plantar um. 
 
 But the fronds of the Ferns reward in the highest degree the 
 study of leaf morphology. Almost all specific and generic charac- 
 teristics are found in them, when the nature of the fructification, — 
 the shape of the sori, their position, &c., is considered, — all of which 
 can be perfectly represented by the photographic method used for 
 the illustration, in which the marginal fructification is beautifully 
 rendered. Thus the place of this, one of the lower orders of vege- 
 tation in our earth’s flora in pre- Adamic times, is written in the im- 
 pressions of its leaves upon the rocks. They tell that during the 
 carboniferous era, when the vast beds of coal were stowed away for 
 the subsequent use of man, the ferns which at present seem only 
 to serve to relieve by their freshness and beauty, the waste and 
 gloomy places, preponderated in number of species and genera, 
 and in some of their representatives, even in our zone, aspired to 
 the dignity of treehood, as they now only do in the tropics. 
 
 For the methods of selection and preparation of leaves for photo- 
 graphic purposes, the reader is referred to the section on negatives. 
 
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 historical Intatoucttom 
 
 The art of Photography rests upon the sensitiveness of certain 
 substances, especially compounds of silver, 'to the action of light, 
 by which their chemical or physical nature is changed. The term, 
 therefore, includes all processes for “ drawing by light,” even the 
 use of indelible ink. The influence of light on animal life and 
 vegetation was early noticed, and the darkening effect of light upon 
 the chloride of silver was known to the Alchemists. In the early 
 part of this century, Wedgewood and Davy made the first experi- 
 ments with a view to the adaptation of this peculiar sun-force to the 
 performance of artistic drudgery. They moistened a sheet of paper 
 with a solution of nitrate of silver, and projected the shadow of the 
 object they wished to copy upon it. The portion upon which the 
 light fell was darkened ; that on which the shadow fell remained 
 white. This process was only valuable for the promise it held out, 
 as it required hours to produce, at best, very poor silhouettes. It 
 was abandoned for want of a means of fixing the pictures, that is, 
 of preserving the white portion unchanged by the subsequent action 
 of light to which it might be exposed. More subtle investigations 
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 by Hersehell, Niepce, Daguerre, Talbot, and others, led to the dis- 
 covery of many substances available for photographic purposes. 
 These investigations culminated in the invention of Daguerre. 
 Whilst employing a camera to assist him in his profession as a 
 scene painter, in 1824, it occurred to him to search for some method 
 for rendering permanent the beautiful pictures formed in the 
 camera. The Alchemists never had originated a more unprom- 
 ising pursuit. So intense, though uniformly unsuccessful, were 
 Daguerre’s efforts, that his wife asked medical advice in regard 
 to the symptoms of insanity in her husband. After years of toil 
 in the most jealous secrecy, and attended only by continual dis- 
 appointment, the following accident came to his assistance. It 
 should not, however, detract from his merit, for he had been obliged 
 to work his way across the path of such an accident, and to learn 
 how to make it fruitful. In the course of his numerous experi- 
 ments, he submitted polished silver tablets to the action of vapor 
 of iodine until the bright surface was converted into a creamy 
 yellow one of iodide of silver. He then caused the image formed 
 in the camera to fall upon the plates thus prepared, under varying 
 conditions, with a faint hope that it might remain, but he was 
 obliged to stow them away, one after another, in his rubbish-box, 
 apparently unaffected, to be re-polished and re-used in pursuit of 
 the same phantom. Upon taking one of these cast-away plates 
 from the box to re-polish it, to his great astonishment he found 
 upon it a perfect realization of his dream; as if some magician in 
 mockery of him, in the dai’kness of the closet, had drawn upon it 
 the image to which it had been exposed in the camera. 
 
 He placed several iodized plates that had been exposed in the 
 camera, in the box as before, each time, however, having first re- 
 moved something from the box. Each time the latent invisible 
 image formed by a short exposure in the camera was developed into 
 a beautiful visible one in the box. At last everything was removed 
 but some mercury. The magician was detected. The mercui’y, 
 
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 which had volatilized at ordinary temperature had, by reason of 
 some change effected in the iodide of silver, only condensed upon 
 the portions traced by light. By further experiments, he succeeded 
 in fixing the images, and in January, 1839, exhibited his first speci- 
 mens. The French government, under lead of Arago and Gay- 
 Lussac, gave the process as “ a gift to the world,” by pensioning 
 Daguerre and Niepce, his equally enthusiastic but less fortunate 
 co- laborer. 
 
 Like many other great discoveries, this had ripened in several 
 countries at the same time. In England, Talbot, on the 31st of 
 January, read a paper on “A Method of Photogenic Drawing.” 
 
 His experiments had been directed chiefly to the production of 
 images of natural objects, especially botanical specimens. His 
 method was founded upon the darkening of chloride of silver, and 
 was substantially that given in the accompanying manual. The 
 production of “ pictures of lace, leaves, and ferns, which,” to quote 
 his own language, “ it would take the most skillful artist days or 
 weeks of labor to trace or copy, is effected by the boundless powers 
 of natural chemistry in a few seconds.” He formed chloride of 
 silver on a piece of paper, as described in this manual, placed a leaf 
 or engraving upon it, and exposed to the sunlight. The light 
 darkened the chloride beneath the transparent and white parts of 
 the leaf or engraving, whilst the more opaque parts protected 
 the chloride beneath them, and preserved it white. So also the 
 bright sky in the picture of a landscape formed in the camera 
 would produce the darkest impression, and a dark object a very 
 faint one. Such pictures with reversed light and shade are called 
 negatives. It occurred to Talbot to place a negative upon chlorided 
 paper, and thus to produce a negative of the negative, or a perfect 
 copy of the original, called a positive. From a single negative, in 
 this way, any number of positives can be made, and it thus becomes 
 • the photographic equivalent of an engraved plate. The Calotype 
 process was perfected by Talbot in 1841, and embodied Daguerre’s 
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 discovery of a latent impression upon iodide of silver, which less- 
 ened the time required so much as to allow of the use of the camera, 
 and the method of multiplication, suggested by himself, by the em- 
 ployment of paper, made transparent by waxing, to receive the 
 image instead of a silver plate. 
 
 Thus the change of color produced in Chloride of Silver by light, 
 suggested the earliest form of Photography. The formation in a 
 much shorter time of an invisible or latent but developable effect upon 
 Iodide of Silver, gave rise to processes sufficiently sensitive for the 
 camera, whilst the production of negatives upon transparent sub- 
 stances, such as waxed-paper and glass, rendered possible a more 
 extended application of photography, and the property which cer- 
 tain substances, as the Hyposulphite of Soda, first suggested by 
 Herschell, have, of dissolving unchanged portions of the silver com- 
 pound, whilst they do not affect the portions acted on by light, 
 afforded a simple means for fixing photographic pictures. 
 
 The process of Wedgewood and Davy required hours to catch 
 the shadow of a stationary object. How ships scudding before the 
 breeze, the breaking waves, the cannon-ball at any instant of its 
 flight, or even half protruding from the muzzle, all leave their 
 image on a film of matter more sensitive than the retina of the 
 eye. Old methods of multiplication of photographic copies have 
 been supplanted by more rapid and cheaper ones, and photolithog- 
 raphy already begins to fulfil the promises it has long held out, 
 by furnishing our atlases with the most accurate maps, and our 
 books with first class illustrations. All arts and sciences have be- 
 come more or less indebted to photography, and the numerous 
 journals devoted solely to its interests, are continually filled with 
 new processes and new applications. It is perfectly faithful in the 
 minutest details, it commits no errors of observation ; the smallest 
 objects, the choicest revelations of the microscope, that demand 
 much skill in the use of the instrument to be enjoyed by means of 
 it, are placed before every one, enlarged several thousand diameters 
 
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 “ by the wonderful insight of heaven’s broad and simple sunshine.” 
 
 In medical science, photographs of malformations and morbid 
 structures are made to replace defective, though tediously executed 
 hand drawings. The magnetic needle, as it obeys during the day 
 the changes in the earth’s magnetism, makes a continuous record 
 of its variations on photographic paper; the mercury of the barom- 
 eter records its fluctuations by the same means. The hourly phases 
 of the sun and its eclipses, the bottom of the sea, the interior of the 
 eye and of the Pyramids, all are photographically mapped. 
 
 The stereoscope multiplies wonderfully the applications of pho- 
 tography. It affords an endless variety of objects from art and 
 nature, from the statuary of the old world to the choicest fragments 
 of the interior of the Mammoth Cave in almost tangible form, for 
 the fireside entertainment. It exhibits a new view of the moon, 
 and reproduces perfectly geological, zoological, botanical, and 
 mineralogical specimens, even to the lustre of the latter, and by a 
 still further application of the stei’eoscopic principle in photosculp- 
 ture, photography furnishes all the details necessary for a perfect 
 statue. 
 
 Thus far, however, Photography, though many-eyed, has been 
 color-blind ; but there are promises that in its future, these mono- 
 chromatic representations will be displaced by perfect reproduc- 
 tions of the pictures of the camera, in all their richness of color, 
 just as they fascinated the visionary painter. The difficulties in the 
 way, seem to those most wdse in these things, to be almost insur- 
 mountable, but all are hopeful. 
 
 The earnest and unremitting experiments of Niepce do St. Victor, 
 nephew of Niepce, Becquerel, and Poitevin, have advanced Helio- 
 chromy to a point analogous to that at which Wedgewood and 
 ' Davy left Photography. Photographs in colors have been pro- 
 duced by Poitevin, but his process is sloio, and the pictures for want 
 of a perfect method of fixing, arc as evanescent as the shadows caught 
 more than half a century ago. 
 
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§ tit i 
 
 Prthminavq J|emarks. 
 
 Any oi’dinary room, moderately darkened by good thick blinds, 
 best yellow or red, without interfering with its other uses, may be 
 employed for all the processes given, except the one by re-develop- 
 ment, which requires more absolute exclusion of light by means of 
 shutters. Pieces of carpet or matting should be placed beneath 
 and around a small operating table, as far as the photographic use 
 of the room extends, to receive the inevitable stains. An ordinary 
 packing-box, about two feet long and sixteen inches square at each 
 end, will serve to hold all the apparatus, and may be adapted to 
 drying paper after salting, albumenizing, and sensitizing, by having 
 strips of wood nailed along the back and front, in the inside about 
 an inch from the top, upon which narrow strips of soft wood can 
 rest across the box. On these strips the papers may be hung, by 
 means of spring clothes-clips, having pins driven in one end and 
 
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 bent in the form of a hook, or the paper may be fastened by one 
 corner to the strip of soft wood by a pin. If elothes-clips are used, 
 different sets should be kept for salted or albumenized paper, sen- 
 sitized paper, and washed prints, but all may be used for holding 
 the negative in printing. A string drawn across the dark-room 
 will also answer to hang them on. Ordinary oblong queens ware 
 dishes will suffice for all purposes, but at least one porcelain tray 
 with a spout, such as can be obtained at any photographic depot, 
 is advisable for nitrate of silver solutions. With some practice, 
 however, a liquid may be transferred without loss, from any dish 
 to the bottle, by placing a moistened glass rod against the edge of 
 the dish, and pouring the liquid slowly along it. 
 
 A moist pellet of cotton placed loosely in the neck of a glass 
 funnel will answer for filtering. If paper filters are used, and they 
 are preferable, a sheet of filter paper should be cut into circular 
 pieces of such a size, that when they are folded into a quadrant, 
 and placed in the glass funnel, they will not project above the edge 
 of the funnel. 
 
 Glass rods are indispensable in operating with solutions of nitrate 
 of silver. 
 
 A small apothecaries’ scales and weights, which can be obtained 
 for a dollar, will answer for weighing solids. Water, and other 
 liquids, the proportions of which in the different formulae are given 
 in terms of weights, need not be weighed. The proper quantity is 
 obtained by measuring in an ordinary apothecaries’ measuring glass. 
 One of four ounces graduated in drachms and ounces, will meet all 
 requirements. 
 
 Rain water, or clear spring water, will answer in. all cases where 
 pure water is mentioned. 
 
 All bottles should be conspicuously labelled, and if they contain solu- 
 tions, it is well to put their formulae on the labels. 
 
 A full list of Apparatus and Chemicals is appended, from which 
 the amateur can make a selection. 
 
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 Leaf Bejjatkres. 
 
 Although any ramble will furnish leaf-negatives ready for use 
 without subsequent treatment, there are a few practical hints in 
 regard to them that may at times be of service. Leaves in full 
 vigor, gathered at any season, will print well. Spring leaves are, 
 however, the least intense. Late specimens, therefore, from plants 
 having very delicate leaves, will give the most vigorous prints. 
 
 In gathering leaves for photographic purposes, some care shbuld 
 be taken to procure perfect and characteristic specimens. The 
 margins should be kept as free from overlapping as possible, when 
 the leaves are placed in the printing-frame or pressed. Some are 
 more easily managed if very slightly wilted, but generally the 
 sooner they are subjected to a slight pressure, the better. A port- 
 folio or ordinary atlas, supplied with sheets of printing-paper, should 
 be taken to the woods, in which the most delicate ones, as the 
 maidenhair, fine-haired mountain fern, &c., can be placed as soon 
 as plucked. Many leaves can be printed from without pressing 
 or drying, as forest leaves, manj ferns, columbine, anemone, black 
 currant, &c., but when the juices of the leaf may be expressed by 
 the pressure used in printing, and stain the sensitive paper, it will 
 be necessary to subject them to some pressure between the folds of 
 bibulous paper. They should not, however, be dried as for an 
 herbarium. 
 
 The ribs and veins in prints made from undried leaves appear 
 as sharply defined dark lines, and the whole appearance of the 
 prints is superior to those made from dried leaves, in which the 
 
 
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 ribs and veins are represented by comparatively ill-defined white 
 lines. The maple leaf of the accompanying illustration, can there- 
 fore easily be surpassed by any reader, by printing from a freshly 
 plucked leaf. 
 
 The reason of the difference alluded to lies in the fact, that the* 
 ribs and veins, whilst filled with the fluids which they convey, are • 
 transparent, and allow the light to pass through, and make a 
 record of them in dark lines. When dry and empty, they are 
 opaque, and by preventing the action of the light, produce white 
 lines. 
 
 Dried leaves may be made to give prints in all respects equal to, 
 and sometimes, even superior to those obtained from freshly-gath- 
 ered ones, by soaking them for several hours in water, until the 
 veins become expanded and filled. They must then be pressed 
 between folds of bibulous paper, until dry enough superficially to 
 be printed from. After this treatment, they will only remain in 
 good photographic condition several days, but the operation can 
 be repeated as often as desired. A little glycerine added to the 
 water, will cause the veins to remain transparent longer, and a 
 little hydrochloric acid will facilitate the filling of the veins in 
 some cases. 
 
 When it is desired to print from several leaves, upon the same 
 piece of paper at the same time, it will be found convenient to 
 fasten them to the glass' by means of dilute gum-water. Imme- 
 diately after being fastened to the glass in this way, they should 
 be subjected to the pressure of the clothes-clips as in printing from 
 them. In some cases it is best to place the leaves, especially dried 
 ones, between folds of writing-paper, and subject them to as great 
 a degree of pressure as can be obtained by means of an ordinary 
 letter-press, before fastening them on the glass. If the leaves ai’C 
 not of the same intensity, the most intense, those that require the 
 longest time to print, may be bleached as much as necessary by 
 meana of Labarraque’s solution, or those least intense may be 
 
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 stained light yellow, by means of turmeric. Small plants, with 
 flowers that preserve their shape somewhat in pressing, as violets, 
 can be photographed entire. It would be advisable for the ama- 
 teur to begin with the processes with Ferricyanide ot' Potassium 
 and Bichromate of Potash, as they are very easy, and require 
 but one chemical, a few clothes-clips, and pieces of glass, and 
 writing-paper. The bichromate process is most sensitive, whilst 
 the ferricyanide process is well adapted to very delicate leaves. 
 
 The size of the leaves to be photographed by means of these two 
 processes, is ouly limited by the size of the paper and glass. 
 
 WAXED PRINTS AS NEGATIVES. 
 
 All prints taken directly from the leaves have a dark back- 
 ground ; the general effect is in many respects rendered more 
 pleasing by reversing this, by printing again from one of these 
 prints, in the same manner as from the leaf. The print will be 
 more perfect, if the print to be used as a negative is rendered more 
 transparent by waxing.; for this purpose the following method will 
 answer. Melt some pure white wax by placing it in a shallow 
 vessel, placed in a pan of boiling water on the stove. Draw pieces 
 of bibulous paper (fllter-paper or blotting-paper) through the melted 
 wax, so that they become completely saturated. Place a sheet so 
 waxed upon several sheets of bibulous paper, and upon it alternate 
 layers of bibulous and waxed paper, until about half a dozen ivaxed 
 papers are in the pile. Place on top several sheets of bibulous 
 paper, and press the whole with a flat-iron that has been heated 
 by being placed in boiling water. All the sheets will become uni- 
 formly waxed in this way. In order to wax a print to be used as a 
 negative, place it upon bibulous paper, and upon it. one of the uni- 
 formly waxed sheets, with several folds of paper above it, and press 
 with a flat-iron warmed as before. If there seems to be an excess 
 of wax in the negative, it can be removed by pressing it as before, 
 
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but simply between folds of bibulous paper. It will print better 
 than its appearance will indicate. Prints on albumen paper make 
 better negatives than those on plain paper. 
 
 In addition to the class of negatives without the camera, a few 
 collodion negatives of portraits and views are excellent for practice. 
 They can be readily obtained from any photographer, as it is to 
 their interest to encourage amateur pursuit of the art. 
 
 Silver ifracess. 
 
 GENERAL OUTLINE. 
 
 From the preceding historical sketch, the general character of all 
 photographic processes may be seen. A single experiment will 
 serve to illustrate more clearly the action of light on Chloride of 
 Silver, and explain the chemistry of the ordinary printing process. 
 Fill a test-tube, or champagne-glass, with rain-water, drop into it a 
 small crystal of Nitrate of Silver, and stir with a glass rod until 
 entirely dissolved; then add a few drops of a solution of common 
 salt; a dense, white, curdy precipitate of chloride of silver will be 
 formed. The reaction is due to an interchange of elements, called 
 double decomposition. 
 
 Nitrate of Silver -f- Chloride of Sodium 
 form Nitrate of Soda -f- Chloride of Silver. 
 
 The nitric acid and oxygen that were united with the silver to 
 form nitrate of silver are now united with the sodium to form 
 nitrate of soda, and the chlorine that was united with the sodium, 
 is now united with the silver to form chloride of silver. The ele- 
 ment chlorine, by reason of its superior affinity for silver, will leave 
 
 22 
 
any substance with which it may be combined, as sodium (as in 
 the experiment), potassium, ammonium, and take silver out of any 
 of its compounds that may be present to form chloride of silver, 
 provided both compounds are in solution, so that the little atoms 
 can have freedom of motion enough to arrange themselves accord- 
 ing to their affinities. Chlorine gas passed over a silver plate will 
 also form chloride of silver. If instead of chloride of sodium, 
 iodide of sodium be used in the experiment, or if a silver plate 
 be exposed to vapor of iodine, Iodide of Silver will be formed, 
 as Daguerre formed it. If two glasses, one with chloride, and the 
 other with iodide of silver, be placed in the light, the chloride will 
 darken rapidly, because the slender beams of light insinuating 
 themselves between the atoms of chlorine and silver, in spite of 
 their powerful affinity for each other, dissect off a portion of the 
 chlorine, which, being a gas at ordinary temperatures, escapes, 
 leaving behind silver with less chloii/ne attached, called subchloride, 
 which is violet-colored. 
 
 The iodide will not be visibly changed, but the printing of a 
 picture by the development process will fully illustrate the latent 
 effect pf light upon it. 
 
 If much nitrate of silver is used in the first experiment, the mass 
 of chloride formed will only be darkened externally by exposure to 
 the light, aa may be seen by stirring after the exposure. A thin 
 film of chloride, therefore, only can be used. Such a film it would 
 be difficult to get by spreading the chloride upon any substance, 
 but it is beautifully obtained in the various photographic processes 
 by forming it in thin layers of paper, albumen, collodion, &c., as the 
 details of the manipulation will show. 
 
 PAPER. 
 
 The ordinary writing-paper is not sufficiently uniform in texture, 
 to be as well adapted to the more delicate photographic uses as 
 
 23 
 
f I 
 
 that expressly prepared for the purpose, which can be obtained 
 of any dealer in photographic materials. The Saxony paper 
 (papier Saxe) is as good as any, and less variable in its quality. 
 
 It can be procured in sheets aboqt eighteen by twenty-two inches. 
 
 In cutting it into pieces of the desired size, as well as in all subse- 
 quent operations, care should be taken not to soil it, or to allow it 
 to come in contact with the fingers more than necessary. It is 
 well to mark the smoother side in the corner of each piece with 
 a pencil. It may be used plain, or a glaze may be imparted to it 
 by means of albumen. Plain paper is preferred by many by rea- 
 son of its soft and more artistic effect, and success with it is quite 
 certain ; but the finer surface imparted by albumen gives greater 
 sharpness of details, and makes the use of rt in copying leaves ad- 
 visable. Thin paper, whether plain or albumenized, gives sharper 
 priuts of leaves than thick of tile same quality. Silk, linen, and 
 other fabrics may be used instead of paper. 
 
 . SALTING AND ALBUMENIZING, 
 
 The first treatment of the paper is to impregnate it uniformly 
 with some chloride, which in the subsequent operation of sensi- 
 tizing, may be converted into chloride of silver. Many chlorides 
 are well adapted to this purpose. Chloride of sodium (common 
 salt) is always at hand, but chloride of ammonium can be ob- 
 tained pure more readily. The proportions of chloride in the 
 formulae given may be varied with advantage for different sub- 
 jects. When a weak negative, a delicate leaf, such as the Maiden- 
 hair, is to be copied, especially in dull weather, by using a few 
 more grains of chloride to the ounce of water, more vigorous prints 
 can be obtained. 
 
 Plain Paper . — Fill a shallow dish or tray of porcelain or 
 queensware to the depth of half an inch or more, with a solution 
 made according to annexed formula. 
 
 k - * 
 
*■ 
 
 
 Pure Water, 16 ounces. 
 
 Chloride of Sodium, or of Ammonium, 128 grains. 
 
 Immerse half a dozen papers one by one. Turn the whole of 
 them over, and take them out in the order in which they were im- 
 mersed, and hang them up separately to dry, as directed in the pre- 
 liminary remarks. 
 
 One grain of refined gelatine added to each ounce of the salting 
 solution given above, imparts more firmness to the paper and im- 
 proves the tone. It will dissolve readily by gently warming the 
 liquid, which should then be filtered before immersing the papers. 
 
 Albumenized Paper . — Paper of this kind, of the most supe- 
 rior quality, is found ready prepared in the trade. Where good 
 results are desired with the greatest economy of time and expense, 
 the amateur will find it advisable to purchase rather than to prepare 
 it himself. By means of the following formula, such as desire may 
 with proper care obtain excellent results : 
 
 Pure Water, 4 ounces. 
 
 Albumen, 8 “ 
 
 Chloride of Ammonium, . . . 120 grains. 
 
 An egg will be found to furnish about an ounce of albumen. 
 Each egg should be broken separately by a smart blow against the 
 edge of a glass, and the white dropped into the glass. Should the 
 membranous cords that attach the yolk to the inner membrane of 
 the shell, pass along into the glass, they must be removed by means 
 of a small wire or tooth-pick. The whole must be beaten to a per- 
 fect froth, and then allowed to pass into the liquid state again. 
 The clear liquid may then be measured out, and the water in which 
 the chloride has been dissolved added. The mixture is then to be 
 beaten for five minutes, and placed aside, best in a tall jar, to sub- 
 side. The clear liquid may then be strained through a piece of 
 cambric into a tray. Take the paper by two opposite corners, 
 bend it, place the convex middle part on the liquid first, and lower 
 
 D 
 
 % 
 
 
 25 
 
* % 
 
 it gradually toward the corners, so as to drive all air-bubbles for- 
 ward. Allow it to remain two minutes, raise it up gently, aud if 
 any spots appear free from albumen, it must be replaced upon the 
 liquid in the same way for the same length of time. After removal, 
 it is to be pinned up by two corners to dry, in a place free from 
 dust. By using a larger proportion of albumen, a higher gloss may 
 be obtained, and less chloride should be used. Thin paper is more 
 easily albumenized than thick. 
 
 SENSITIZING. 
 
 This operation consists in converting the chloride with which the 
 paper is now' impregnated into the Chloride of Silver, by bringing 
 it in contact with Nitrate of Silver in solution. It requires the 
 darkened room. Make enough solution according to the formula, 
 
 Pure "Water, ...... 1 ounce. 
 
 Nitrate of Silver, 60 grains. 
 
 to fill a shallow queensware dish to the depth of half an inch. The 
 dish should be well washed before use with pure water, and for the 
 sake of economy of solution, should not be much larger than the 
 paper to be sensitized. Well water is preferable to rain water, 
 collected from wooden roofs or preserved in wooden cisterns, for 
 making silver solutions, as salts are present in small quantity, 
 and do not precipitate much silver, or otherwise injure the solution. 
 
 If there is a precipitate, the solution should be filtered into the 
 tray, or be allowed to stand for a day or two, and the clear liquid 
 then be carefully poured off into the tray. If a scum appears upon 
 the solution in the tray, it may be removed by drawing slips of 
 blotting-paper over it. Lower the plain chlorided, or albumen- 
 ized, paper upon it as directed in albumenizing. If it curls up at 
 first, breathing upon it will in most cases flatten it at once. As 
 soon as the sheet has become perfectly flat, lift it up by one corner, 
 
 26 
 
 sfe * 
 
*■ 
 
 
 pass a smooth glass rod over it, to wipe oft’ any air-bubbles that 
 may be on it, and prevent uniform contact with the solution, re- 
 place it on the bath, and allow it to remain about three minutes if 
 plain, or from three to six minutes if albumenized. Then lift out 
 one corner by means of the glass rod, attach a spring clip, or put a 
 pin through it, allow it to drain for a moment over the tray, and 
 hang it up to dry in the dark, as directed in the Preliminary Re- 
 marks. It will dry more quickly if the drop at the lower corner 
 is removed, after it has been hanging a few minutes, by touching it 
 with a piece of blotting-paper. It should also be kept in the dark 
 when dry. It is best to use it soon after it is dry, as it generally 
 becomes discolored in a day or two, even in the dark. 
 
 The discoloration of the sensitizing solution that takes place 
 after a short use, will not affect the paper permanently. It is well, 
 however, not to expose the bath to light more than necessary. It 
 may be decolorized if desired, by adding about a tablespoonful of 
 kaolin to half a pint, shaking it, allowing it to stand for a few 
 hours, and filtering before use. 
 
 Each sheet of paper sensitized, takes with it a portion of silver 
 from the bath as chloride of silver. When the bath has become 
 much impoverished by use, the pictures will present a mealy ap- 
 pearance. The addition of a few crystals of Nitrate of Silver to the 
 bath will remedy this defect. 
 
 Fuming with Ammonia. — By subjecting thoroughly dried 
 sensitive paper to the action of ammonia gas, a sensitizing bath of 
 only thirty grains of nitrate of silver to the ounce of water will pro- 
 duce the finest results, and success under varying circumstances is 
 rendered more certain. Th e fuming may be accomplished b} T bend- 
 ing the sheet with the albumenized side out, so that opposite 
 corners may be caught by a clothes-clip, and hanging it up in a 
 box with a lid, constructed like the one described, but smaller, 
 having on the bottom a saucer partially filled with strong aqua am- 
 
 & 
 
 ~k 
 
 27 
 
* * 
 
 monia. From three to ten minutes will suffice for the fuming. 
 
 The paper should then be used immediately, as it deteriorates 
 after fuming ; but if sensitized on a weak bath, as recommended, it 
 may be kept longer before fuming than if sensitized on a sixty-grain 
 bath. The ammonia in the saucer should not be poured back into 
 the bottle, as it will generally be too weak to be used again. The 
 fuming may also be accomplished by pinning the paper by the four 
 corners on a board, sensitized side out, and covering an ordinary 
 pasteboard box, in the bottom of which a small saucer of ammonia 
 has been placed, with it. 
 
 Ammonio- Nitrate Process . — Plain chlorided paper gives 
 superior prints of a beautiful black tone, when sensitized by Am- 
 rnoni o-Nitrate of Silver. In salting paper for this process, it is best 
 to use about five grains of chloride to the ounce of water. To 
 make the sensitizing solution, take 
 
 Pure Water, ...... ^ ounce. 
 
 Nitrate of Silver, 60 grains. 
 
 Add to this solution, drop by drop, strong Aqua Ammonia. A 
 heavy brown precipitate of oxide of silver will be formed. Con- 
 tinue to add ammonia cautiously, drop by drop, and stir the solu- 
 tion after each addition with a glass rod until it clears up. No 
 more ammonia should be added than is absolutely necessary to 
 clear it, and in order to be. certain of the absence of free ammonia, 
 add to the clear solution, drop by drop, solution of Nitrate of Silver 
 until it becomes slightly turbid again. Filter and preserve for use in 
 a bottle covered with black paper or asphaltum varnish. To apply 
 this solution, pour a small quantity into a saucer, dip into it a tuft 
 of clean raw cotton, and moisten the chlorided paper as evenly 
 and thoroughly as possible, by drawing the cotton brush length- 
 wise and crosswise over the sheet, pinned by its four corners to a 
 board. Dry it as other paper. If the paper is not sufficiently 
 

 moistened, or if free ammonia be present, white lines will appear 
 upon the print. 
 
 EXPOSURE TO LIGHT. 
 
 The leaf, or object to be copied, is now to be pressed into close 
 contact with the sensitive paper, and exposed to light. To accom- 
 plish this, cut a piece of window glass of the size of the sensitive 
 paper in half, allow the halves to remain in contact at the ends, 
 and place upon them a dozen layers of soft, paper, and on top of 
 these a piece of black cloth or velvet, with the nap uppermost. 
 
 Lay the sensitive paper on the cloth, and upon it the leaf or object 
 to be copied, and cover it with a flat well-cleaned piece of glass 
 about the size of the paper. Compress the whole by means of the 
 spring clips, embracing the upper and lower glasses, one at each 
 corner of the lower halves. The clips will answer the purpose 
 better if the round projecting ends are cut off, so as not to shade 
 the sensitive paper more than necessary. 
 
 Expose to the sunlight, so that the rays strike the sensitive paper 
 as perpendicularly as possible. It will begin to darken immediately. 
 
 The exposure must be continued until the print becomes very much 
 darker than it is to appear when finished, as the subsequent opera- 
 tions of toning and fixing reduce its intensity greatly. The exact 
 degree of over-printing required can only be ascertained by expe- 
 rience. The print may be examined from time to time during the 
 exposure with ordinary care, without disturbing the leaf, by re- 
 moving the clip from one of the lower halves, and bending back 
 the sensitive paper, cloth, &c. If not sufficiently exposed, replace 
 as at first in the sunlight. By pasting a strip of paper over the 
 adjoining edges of the lower halves, a convenient hinge is formed. 
 
 In using a glass negative, the covering glass is not used, the nega- 
 tive itself, placed with the collodion side next to the sensitive paper, 
 taking its place. 
 
 29 
 
 % * 
 
The time required to print in any case depends upon the inten- 
 sity of the subject, the strength of the light, and the sensitiveness 
 of the paper. A Common Polypody will require more time than 
 the delicate Maidenhair, a winter day longer than a summer day, 
 Ferricyanide of Potassium longer than Chloride of Silver. 
 
 The prints may be kept in a dark drawer for several hours, at 
 times even several days, without deteriorating, before toning and 
 fixing. 
 
 Very convenient printing-frames are, sold by all. dealers in photo- 
 graphic materials. 
 
 TONING AND FIXING. 
 
 If a solution of Hyposulphite of Soda be added to the glass con- 
 taining Chloride of Silver, in the experiment previously suggested, 
 the chloride will dissolve and disappear, just as a lump of sugar on 
 the addition of water. If a print on removal from the frame is ex- 
 posed to light, it will soon darken uniformly, and the. picture be 
 lost. If it is first placed in a solution of Hyposulphite of Soda, the 
 white chloride, which was protected/ from the action of the light, by 
 the dark portions of the leaf, will he dissolved, whilst the portions 
 chauged by light will only be turned a foxy red. The print in this 
 condition can be exposed to the light for any length, of time with- 
 out change, since the Chloride oft Silver changeable by light has 
 been dissolved away. 
 
 The principle of fixing in all photographic processes is illustrated 
 by the above experiment. But the print, though not destroyed, 
 is robbed of half its beauty by the hypo, by reason of the change 
 of color. In order to prevent this, it is in most cases subjected 
 to the previous operation of Toning , which consists in substituting 
 gold for the silver compound in the unfixed print. Toning is both 
 tedious and expensive, and requires considerable care and expe- 
 rience, so that in many cases, where the reddish color is not very 
 30 
 

 
 objectionable, as in forest leaves, the prints may be placed in the 
 Fixing Batli, subsequently given, immediately after printing. In 
 most cases, however, the trouble and expense of toning will be 
 more than repaid by the increased beauty of the prints. The 
 details of toning vary very much. The following method is 
 adapted to the wants of amateurs. The prints should be washed 
 in running water ten minutes, or in half a dozen changes in a 
 dish, pouring off dry before each change, and finally be placed in 
 a solution of common salt, containing about two grains to the 
 ounce of water, about three minutes. Unless the nitrate of silver in 
 the print be thoroughly removed in this way , it will render the Toning Bath 
 worthless. 
 
 Chloride of Gold is sold in bottles containing fifteen grains. Dis- 
 solve the contents of one in thirty drachms of water, add a drop of 
 Hydrochloric acid, and preserve as a stock solution in a bottle. 
 Make several ounces of a saturated solution of washing soda also 
 as a stock solution. When prints are to be toned, prepare the fol- 
 lowing 
 
 Toning Bath. 
 
 Water, ....... 4 ounces. 
 
 Chloride of Gold (solution), . . . 1 drachm. 
 
 Pour into a tray, and drop in a small piece of blue litmus paper. It 
 will become bright red by reason of the free acid. Render it alka- 
 liue by adding drop by drop from the soda solution, stirring all the 
 while with a glass rod, until che color of the paper appears to be 
 changing to blue. Drop in another blue piece, and if after standing 
 for five minutes, it still retains its blue color, the bath is in condi- 
 tion to use, and will remain so for several hours. Immerse three 
 or four of the washed prints in it one by one. Wave the dish 
 gently backward and forward to prevent their sticking together, 
 or projecting partially above the surface, or some parts will be 
 imperfectly toned. The pi'ints change first to dingy red, thence 
 
 & 
 
 
 31 
 
¥— ■* 
 
 to a chocolate brown, and finally to a rich purple, when they must 
 be removed to a basin of clean water. They must be somewhat 
 over-toned, as fixing partially destroys their color. A little experi- 
 ence will teach the degree of over-toning required. If too much 
 toned, they will retain a cold inky appearance after fixing; if too 
 little, a foxy red appearance. Pictures much over-printed take the 
 blackest tones. Plain paper tones more rapidly than albumenized. 
 
 The first prints pass to the proper tone in about three minutes, 
 but after the bath becomes weakened by use, the later ones ma}^ 
 require ten minutes, or even more. It is poor economy to use a 
 bath in such a condition. It is advisable, therefore, when it works 
 very slowly, to transfer the prints to clean water, add a drachm 
 of gold solution to the bath, and neutralize as at first, and retransfer 
 the untoned prints to the bath. 
 
 If allowed to remain alkaline for several days, it will become 
 utterly worthless, but if hydrochloric acid be added to it drop by 
 drop, until a piece of blue litmus paper dipped in it becomes red, 
 it will keep as well as the stock solution, aud need only be neu- 
 tralized with the soda solution before using, as in the first place. 
 
 By adopting this plan, no gold will be wasted by keeping the bath 
 in its best working condition up to the last print. 
 
 The prints as fast as toned may be placed in a dish of clean 
 water until all are toned. Make a 
 
 Fixing Bath 
 
 of Water, ....... 6 ounces. 
 
 Hyposulphite of Soda, .... 1 ounce. 
 
 Pour the solution into a dish, and transfer the prints to it one by one, 
 by taking them by the corners and immersing them quickly, taking 
 care not to touch the faces of them with fingers soiled with the hyposul- 
 phite, or black spots will be produced. A slight change of color 
 will take place, but the purple color will return if they have been 
 
*■ 
 
 
 sufficiently toned. The prints should be allowed to remain in the 
 Fixing Bath from ten to twenty minutes. 
 
 By using one hand for the Toning Bath, and the other for the 
 Fixing Bath, the prints may be transferred as fast as they are toned, 
 immediately to the Fixing Bath. In doing so, however, there is 
 danger of conveying through forgetfulness, a little of the hyposul- 
 phite to the Toning Bath, and thus injuring it. 
 
 WASHING AND MOUNTING. 
 
 After fixing, the prints must be freed from the last traces of hypo- 
 sulphite. The yellowing of many photographs can be attributed to 
 imperfect washing. It is best accomplished in running water, by 
 placing the prints loosely in porcelain or wooden vessels in a bath 
 tub, and allowing the water to flow on to the bottom of the dish for 
 about four, hours, or they may be placed in a basket in a running 
 stream of clear water. If running water is not to be had, they 
 should be passed through several changes of water, to remove the 
 larger part of the hyposulphite, and then be allowed to soak in 
 clear water, which should be renewed half a dozen times at intervals 
 of twenty minutes. They are then to be hung up in the air to 
 dry. The curling in drying, especially of albumenized prints, may 
 be prevented by hanging up two back to back. 
 
 Prints may be mounted on printers’ cardboard, with freshly pre- 
 pared solution of gum arabic, or warm solution of gelatine, or thick 
 starch paste. Mucilage which has become acid will cause the prints 
 to deteriorate after mounting. 
 
 Their appearance is much improved after mounting by passing 
 them under a photographic roller, or pressing under an ordinary 
 letter press. If the paste is allowed to dry under pressure, they 
 will not bend. 
 
 33 
 
Writttiwj. % Derelo.pmeat. 
 
 This process is simply given as an illustration of the latent effect 
 of light upon Iodide and Bromide of Silver. It is substantially that 
 of Talbot. The beginner cannot expect as good results with this 
 as with the ordinary process. 
 
 Float Saxe paper on a bath of 
 
 Water, ....... 20 ounces. 
 
 Iodide of Potassium, .... 120 grains. 
 
 Bromide of Potassium, . . . .30 graips. 
 
 until it ceases to curl up ; sensitize when dry on a bath of 
 
 Water, 1 ounce. 
 
 Nitrate of Silver, . . . . .30 grains. 
 
 Acetic Acid, No. 8, .... 1 drachm. 
 
 Dry in u perfectly dark room. Expose under a negative about half 
 a minute to diffused light. No trace of a picture will be seen. 
 Develop by lamplight, by placing it in a clean dish containing a 
 saturated solution of Gallic Acid, made by filling a bottle with water, 
 and placing in it more crystals of gallic acid than will dissolve upon 
 shaking. The solution will keep best if a lump of camphor be 
 added. The development of the picture, if it has received the 
 proper exposure, will be complete in about fifteen minutes; it is 
 then to be well washed in cold, and best subsequently in warm 
 water, and then fixed in a solution of hyposulphite of soda, contain- 
 ing one ounce of the hyposulphite to two ounces of water. 
 
 34 
 
IfmcsssBS without Silver. 
 
 *- 
 
 
 To sucli as do not desire to enter as deeply into photography as 
 the preceding process seems to require, the two following processes 
 recommend themselves by their simplicity, certainty, and inexpen- 
 siveness, whilst they are well adapted to botanical purposes, and 
 serve as a good introduction to photographic manipulation before 
 entering upon the more complex and sensitive silver process. 
 
 Blue Photographs. 
 
 Moisten a piece of ordinary writing-paper, or papier Saxe, pinned 
 by the four corners to a board, uniformly by means of a tuft of 'raw 
 cotton, in a solution of 
 
 Ferricyanide of Potassium (Red Prussiate of Potash), 100 grains. 
 
 Water, ......... 1 ounce. 
 
 When dry it will be of a bright yellow color, and ready to be 
 printed on. Proceed as in Section, Exposure to Light. It will re- 
 quire from half an hour to several hours to print. On removal 
 from the printing-frame, the yellow picture on a blue ground is 
 fixed by simply washing it in water until the yellow portion be- 
 comes perfectly white, by the solution of the unchanged ferricyanide 
 of which it is composed. 
 
 Brown Photographs. 
 
 If a saturated Solution of Bichromate of Potash is used instead of 
 the ferricyanide, brown prints may be obtained in the same way. 
 
 35 
 
 Ar — — 4 
 
* — — * 
 
 Paper prepared with the bichromate is more sensitive than the pre- 
 ceding, and will render the venation of leaves almost as well as 
 chloride of silver paper, whilst the ferricyanide paper will only 
 render the venation of the more delicate leaves. 
 
 The strength of the solution may be varied in the two processes, 
 but if the solution is too weak, or the paper too porous, the print 
 will be too much within the texture of the paper, and appear best 
 as a transparency. 
 
 In a very hot sun with the ferricyanide paper, the venation will 
 in some cases appear blue on a yellow ground. 
 
 Iftemaual of Stains. 
 
 Stains upon the hands or clothing caused by Nitrate of Silver are 
 as permanent as indelible ink, of which it is the base, the ammonio- 
 nitrate answering well for marking purposes. They may be 
 readily removed by rubbing with a lump of cyanide of potassium, 
 the edge of which has been dipped in water. 
 
 If of long standing, and very black, they are more easily removed 
 by the cyanide, if they are first moistened with a few drops of a 
 tincture of iodine. Cyanide of potassium is a most violent poison , and 
 should not be allowed to penetrate fresh cuts, nor should the vapor 
 arising from it be inhaled. A very strong solution of hyposulphite 
 of soda will answer almost as well, if the tincture of iodine be used, 
 and is comparatively harmless. 
 
 Red stains made by acids may be removed by treating them with 
 ammonia or dilute solution of washing soda. 
 
 36 
 
 U — * 
 
apparatus ami Chemicals. 
 
 
 In the following complete schedule of apparatus and chemicals 
 employed in all the preceding processes, the apparatus' required, in 
 addition to such as every household furnishes, is marked with an 
 asterisk. The chemicals are classified according to the processes 
 in which they are used. The whole set, or such selection as any 
 one may make, can readily be obtained from any Photographic 
 Stock dealer. 
 
 Some one of the numerous journals devoted to Photography, 
 would be found very useful to the amateur at all stages of his 
 progress, besides furnishing a record of the progress of Photog- 
 raphy and its newest applications. The Philadelphia Photogra- 
 pher , a monthly journal, holds the very highest rank at home 
 and abroad in this class of publications, in its literary and typo- 
 graphical, as well as scientific character. Each number is embel- 
 lished with a specimen photograph, generally of great excellence; 
 and its Editor will always be found ready to assist the amateur, 
 by answering through its columns all inquiries on Photographic 
 subjects. 
 
 Apparatus. 
 
 *A set of Apothecaries’ scales-and weights. 
 
 / * A measuring glass, capacity, 4 ounces. 
 
 *A glass funnel, “ 6 ounces. 
 
 *A glass stirring-rod, about 8 inches. 
 
 7 *Spring elothcs-clips, 8 dozen. 
 
/*Giass plates, — flat window glass, 
 
 Two porcelain trays, 8 by 10 inches, with lip. 
 
 / A printing-frame, 8 by 10 inches. 
 
 A filtering-stand. 
 
 A quire of filter-paper, or package of filters to fit the glass 
 funnel. 
 
 A quire of Saxe paper, for process with Silver. 
 
 j^HEMICALS. 
 
 Silver Process , — 
 
 Salting, . . Chloride of Ammonium, 
 
 1 ounce. 
 
 Gelatine, .... 
 
 1 ounce. 
 
 Sensitizing, . Nitrate of Silver, . 
 
 Ammonio- Nitrate 
 
 1 ounce. 
 
 ^ and Fuming, Aqua Ammonia, FFF, . 
 
 1 pound. 
 
 J. Toning , . . Chloride of Gold, . 
 
 15 grains. 
 
 x Fixing, . . Hyposulphite of Soda, . 
 
 Without Silver, — 
 
 1 pound. 
 
 Blue, . . Ferricyanide of Potassium, 
 
 1 ounce. 
 
 Brown, . . Bichromate of Potash, . 
 
 2 ounces. 
 
 By Development, Iodide of Potassium, 
 
 . £ ounce. 
 
 Bromide of Ammonium, 
 
 . J ounce. 
 
 Gallic Acid, .... 
 
 | ounce. 
 
 Acetic Acid, No. 8, 
 
 4 ounces. 
 
 Removing Stains, . Tincture of Iodine, 
 
 1 ounce. 
 
 Cyanide of Potassium (very poisonous), 1 ounce. 
 
• % 
 
 
'fjf? 
 
 A)jV>c