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 Set of Mirrors, enabling two stereoscopic images to be taken on a plate, using 
 
 only one Lens . . 0 12 0 
 
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 Kromaz views 036 
 
 The above prices are net for Cash. 
 May be obtained of all Dealers in Photographic Apparatus, or of 
 
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vii Amateur Photographer Library — Advertisements. 
 
 Good Things in Cameras. 
 
 THE 
 
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 THE 
 
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 ARTIST 
 
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 THE 
 
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 CARLTON. 
 
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 "SPECIAL 99 
 
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 CAMERA. 
 
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 but the 
 
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 Please address 
 
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 106 and 108, Regent Street, W. 
 (and 54<t Cheapside) . 
 
EVENING WORK 
 
 FOR 
 
 Amateur Photographers. 
 
 EY 
 
 T. C. HEPWORTH, F.C.S., 
 
 LECTURER AT THE LATE ROYAL POLYTECHNIC AND THE BIRKBECK INSTITUTIONS; 
 AUTHOR OF il PHOTOGRAPHY FOR AMATEURS," " THE BOOK 
 OF THE LANTERN," ETC., ETC. 
 
 SUustrateD witb Camera an& pencil b£ tbe 2lutbcr* 
 
 HAZELL, WATSON, AND VINEY, Ld., 
 i, CREED LANE, LUDGATE HILL. 
 1890. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Introductory — The Scope of the Book I 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 The Use of the Glazier's Diamond 6 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 Describing Apparatus for Lantern-slide Negatives . 17 
 CHAPTER IY. 
 
 ISOCHROMATIC PLATES — AMATEUR LECTURING 23 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 About Lantern Entertainments .... .34 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 The Stained Albumen Process for Lantern- slides . 45 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 Lantern-slides by Reduction— Water Lenses, etc. . 54 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 Lantern-slides on Gelatine Plates. 69 
 
iv 
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 Clouds in Lantern Pictures 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 Practical Frame-making 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 On Fashion in Frames .... 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 Frame-making and Gilding . 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 On Making Enlargements . 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 Photography by Magnesium Light . 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 About the Electric Light . 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 Light by Incandescence 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 HOW TO MAKE A CHEAP ELECTRIC BATTERY 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 Electric Light in the Optical Lantekn 
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 The Same Subject Continued 
 
CHAPTER I. 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 11 See, winter eomes to rule the varied year" 
 
 0 says the poet of the seasons, but winter is a 
 variation of the year, in this country at 
 least, which is, perhaps, only appreciated by 
 poets, or by those hardy individuals who 
 rejoice in a keen, cutting blast. As to 
 these hardened ones, they drive, walk, skate, or engage 
 in other oiitdoor exercises, and are able to look forward 
 to the coming of the cold weather with the enjoyment 
 which most people feel upon the approach of spring. 
 The poets must be put in another category altogether, for 
 they always see things couleur de rose. But the idea of 
 colour connected with winter seems to be a misnomer, for 
 everything is about as colourless as it can be. They sing, 
 as only poets can sing, of the hoar-frost ; the freshly drifted 
 snow, which, because of its unsullied whiteness, is in their 
 hands the type of everything pure ; the hanging icicle ; and 
 they find beauty in things which to unsympathetic minds 
 are suggestive only of damp boots and cold feet. But 
 "rheumatism" and "catarrh" are awkward words for 
 
2 
 
 EVENING W011K FOR 
 
 poets to deal with, for they do not suggest poetical ideas, 
 and what is more, they do not readily rhyme with anything 
 in particular. It must be a hard thing for a poet to catch 
 one of these disorders, and to feel that he has sunk down to 
 the level of ordinary humanity, and must don a mustard 
 plaister. 
 
 To photographers the coming of winter is indeed a melan- 
 choly time, for they love the sun, and the sun is seldom to 
 be seen in our dull, damp English winter time. We must 
 indeed envy our Canadian cousins, who know not of our 
 troubles, unless, indeed, they are so ill-advised as to spend a 
 winter in England. They are used to a sharp, cold atmo- 
 sphere, with the thermometer lingering below zero in a way 
 it never does here. But the air is dry, and they do not feel 
 it ; moreover, their houses are built in such a way that the 
 cold air cannot get in, and the warm air is not wasted up 
 the chimneys. So the poet's line, " AH things that love the 
 sun are out of doors," will hold good all the year round in 
 Canada ; but here in England the lovers of sunlight must 
 stop indoors or pay for their temerity, excepting always 
 those cast-iron individuals already referred to. 
 
 Although the amateur photographer is debarred from 
 pursuing with the camera his ordinary course of work, 
 there are certain opportunities for taking pictures which 
 are only afforded during the winter time. I, of course, refer 
 to hoar-frost and snow studies. But these can be under- 
 taken only by the robust, and by those who have leisure 
 and the means of watching their opportunity. For instance, 
 the trees may be discovered some morning covered with 
 nature's diamonds — in the shape of hoar-frost — but in a 
 
AMATEUR PHOTOGRAPHERS. 
 
 3 
 
 short time the beauty of the scene has entirely disappeared. 
 It is the same with snow \ it only looks its best for a limited 
 time, and it is hardly worth taking a picture of it, unless 
 the sun has begun to shine on its whiteness, and to make 
 those pearly shadows which are so beautifully rendered by 
 photography. So that the camera owner must be upon the 
 alert if he wants to produce a picture under the best con- 
 ditions. If he lose the chance, another opportunity may not 
 present itself until next season. 
 
 But after all, such employment for the camera as that 
 described is but fitful and uncertain, and can hardly be re- 
 garded as important. The modern amateur does not like to 
 give up his hobby entirely for several months, and he will 
 seize hold of such opportunities of practice with avidity, 
 even though he suffer the penalty of developing his plates 
 under still colder conditions. Luckily, there are other branches 
 of his beloved art besides outdoor work, which can be prac- 
 tised by the modern amateur ; the outcome of various pro- 
 cesses which would have been deemed impossible twenty 
 years ago. At that time, it will be remembered, the old 
 wet plate held the position which is now occupied by the 
 gelatine process, and the wet plate did not allow of much 
 modification. It had to be prepared by the photographer 
 himself at the moment of using, for it would not last. Many 
 endeavours were made to keep the film moist by means of 
 glycerine, etc., so that the plate might remain long enough 
 in the camera to take a dark interior without suffering 
 deterioration. If the film dried during exposure it was 
 spoilt, for the chemicals crystallised upon its surface, and 
 rendered it useless. For this reason, coupled with the all- 
 
4 
 
 EVENING WORK FOll 
 
 important endeavour to do away with the dark-room o-i 
 tent, and its contained bottles, experiments with dry pro- 
 cesses came to be made, until they culminated in the gelatino- 
 bromide process of to-day. 
 
 Winter is essentially the time for gelatine plate making 
 by amateurs, for it is, owing to the putrefactive changes 
 quickly set up in gelatinous solutions in hot weather, a most 
 risky proceeding in summer time. The professional plate- 
 makers are working all the year round, but they do so by 
 the aid of special appliances which the amateur cannot com- 
 mand, and I believe that I am right in saying that risky 
 operations are carried on in summer time, only in the early 
 hours before the sun has asserted his power in too demon- 
 strative a fashion. The amateur who wishes to excel, and 
 at the same time to be thorough in his work should know 
 how to make a good dry-plate. The details of working 
 can be obtained from half-a-dozen good text-books, and 
 therefore it is not my purpose to go over the old ground 
 again. Moreover, I am convinced that only a small minority 
 of workers will care to take the trouble to manufacture 
 their own plates. They can buy them of the best quality, 
 they say, and this is so true, and it forms such a good 
 excuse, that no one can gainsay it. So that, although 
 I regard plate-making with some affection, and look upon 
 it as being educationally important to the modern amateur 
 photographer, I shall not include it in my list of occupa- 
 tions to which in these chapters I wish to direct his 
 attention. But there will be enough without it. Even in 
 the expansion of the gelatine process itself, we at once find 
 a wide field for active work, and work which is quite inde- 
 
AMATEUR PHOTOGRAPHERS 
 
 5 
 
 pendent of day-light. First, we have various methods of 
 printing on papers which require only a brief exposure to 
 gas or lamp light, the image being brought out by develop- 
 ment. Some of these papers are capable of the very finest 
 results, and there is no reason for doubting the permanence 
 of those results. Next we have another adaptation of the 
 gelatine process in bromide enlarging paper, which gives such 
 excellent pictures. The best way of dealing with this new 
 and valuable addition to a photographer's tools will be fully 
 dealt with, and the apparatus which has been designed by 
 various workers for its use will be considered. Lantern- 
 slide making by various processes will naturally come under 
 the heading chosen for these chapters, and some new 
 methods of producing this valuable form of photographic 
 picture will be fully detailed. Other processes which 
 are passible to the amateur will not be omitted, and there 
 are various subjects of great importance which will be dealt 
 with in the succeeding pages. In an introductory chapter it 
 is not always as well to say too much about what is to 
 fallow, for readers are naturally disappointed when they 
 find that an author is not able to make good his promises. 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 
 OJST THE USE OF THE GLAZIER'S DIAMOND. 
 
 LASS has now for many years been the 
 support of the photographic film. It came 
 into use for this purpose with the wet 
 collodion negative, which obviously must be 
 supported upon a material which is trans- 
 parent, or it cannot yield a positive print. Curiously 
 enough, the flexible transparent material which is only 
 now coming into use under the name of Celluloid was 
 proposed for this same purpose long before the wet collodion 
 process was thrust into the background by gelatine. But 
 there was a very good reason why it could not then be 
 adapted to the wants of the photographer, in that the 
 solvents which were contained in the collodion itself acted 
 upon the celluloid and immediately softened it. Any one 
 who will take the trouble to try the effect of pouring a 
 little collodion upon a piece of waste celluloid will soon see 
 why it was that the proposition to employ those materials 
 in conjunction was impossible of realisation. Now, how- 
 ever, that gelatine is employed, which is insoluble in 
 
EVENING WORK. 
 
 7 
 
 either ether or alcohol, and has thus no effect upon cellu- 
 loid, the light and transparent substance can be spread 
 with the emulsion with great advantage. It is certain, 
 however, that glass will not and cannot be immediately 
 displaced. Even were the supply of celluloid equal to the 
 demand, the plate makers could not at once alter their 
 machinery so as to meet the conditions under which this 
 new medium must be coated with its sensitive film. Again, 
 the professional photographers will not readily take up films 
 for studio work, where the weight of glass plates, as opposed 
 to celluloid, is a matter of indifference. For them glass 
 plates are, for many reasons, more convenient than flexible 
 films ; and besides, there is the argument so potent with 
 large users of plates, that they are much cheaper than films. 
 This last consideration will also weigh greatly with the 
 majority of amateur workers, so that we may feel certain 
 that for a long time glass will hold its own. 
 
 It is an astonishing thing that so few amateurs take the 
 trouble to inquire into the nature of substances which they 
 are constantly using. One would think that glass should 
 be in their hands a familiar thing, which they could cut 
 and fashion to their needs in every way. But it is not so. 
 There are many amateurs who do not possess a diamond, 
 and if they did, would not know how to use it. They cer- 
 tainly place themselves under a great disadvantage in 
 remaining ignorant of such an elementary thing as glass- 
 cutting, because it is an operati n that the amateur is con- 
 stantly requiring. A negative may want trimming down 
 to a smaller size, or waste glass may require cutting up into 
 lantern slide cover glasses, etc. Certainly there are hosts 
 
8 
 
 EVENING WORK FOR 
 
 of purposes for which a diamond is often wanted, and unlesa 
 the amateur can do the work himself, he must lose time by 
 going to the nearest glazier's to do it for him. The alterna- 
 tive generally is to use one of those ingenious steel roller 
 glazing tools, which can be bought for a shilling or less. 
 These are useful enough when the glass is so thick that it 
 will bear a good deal of pressure without breaking ; indeed, 
 for thick glass I prefer it to the diamond, but for thin glass, 
 such as photographers mostly have to deal with, it is a 
 
 Fig. 1. 
 
 delusion and a snare. The diamond gives a much more 
 delicate and cleaner cut, does not require any great pressure, 
 and will, under certain conditions, to be presently stated, 
 cut through the film side of a gelatine plate. A short 
 description of the glazier's diamond will not be out of 
 place. 
 
 The implement consists of a light wooden holder, shaped 
 as shown at D in fig. 1, and measuring from top to base 
 about seven inches. At its lower part is a metal block, 
 which is so swivelled in the wooden handle that it will 
 readily follow a defined course when moved against a 
 
AMATEUR PHOTOGRAPHERS. 
 
 9 
 
 straight edge or ruler. This metal block contains the atom 
 of diamond, or " spark," as it is called. The diamond spark 
 is cemented into a tiny brass cell, which is held by a screw 
 in the metal block. It is shown enlarged at and F (fig. 
 1). The natural diamond, which is only a crystallised form 
 of carbon, takes the form of a regular octahedron A (fig. 1) ; 
 but the glazier's diamond is not necessarily of this perfect 
 form. It is essential, however, that its cutting edge should 
 be natural, and the result of cleavage. The sides which 
 slope from this downward point are more or less convex, 
 and there is no doubt that this wedge form tends to 
 separate the glass as it is cut. Indeed, it is not unusual for 
 the two halves of a piece of glass to drop apart of themselves 
 before any breaking strain is applied by the hands. But 
 it is generally necessary to complete the work begun 
 by the diamond by snapping the glass between the fingers, 
 or by applying pressure to one half, while at the other side 
 of the cut the glass rests upon a flat surface. 0 
 
 The beginner will not find it easy at first to use the 
 diamond, and he will notice that it slips over the glass 
 without even scratching it, despite his endeavours to make 
 it cut. The work requires constant practice, and with one 
 particular tool — for each diamond has its angle at which 
 it must be held, and it will not cut at all unless it is 
 applied to the glass at that angle. The best way, perhaps, 
 to learn how to handle the implement is to practice on a piece 
 of wa te glass which should afford a run for the diamond 
 of quite twelve inches. Holding a flat ruler or T-square 
 in the left hand, about half an inch from the edge of the 
 glass, commence by making a light stroke from the farthest 
 
10 
 
 EVENING WORK FOR 
 
 point towards the body, holding the diamond almost 
 upright. There will probably be no cut. Now repeat the 
 operation, only slope the diamond towards the body, so that 
 it is slightly out of the vertical. Slope it more and more 
 every time, until you feel that it bites the glass. When it 
 does this, more than half the difficulty has been surmounted, 
 and you will soon be able to make an effective cut. But even 
 when this correct angle is achieved, it will require practice 
 not to deviate from it during the continuance of a long cut, 
 
 c 
 
 Fig. 2. 
 
 for there is always a tendency to raise the implement 
 towards the vertical as it is approached towards the body. 
 
 In photography, glass is used in certain standard sizes, 
 and the cut required has generally to be made at a right 
 angle. A simple form of cutting block, like that shown at 
 fig. 2, will be found of great use. It should be made of 
 stout wood, so that it will not warp, and the ledge shown 
 at the left-hand side should be screwed to it in a direction 
 across its grain. I need hardly say that this cutting board 
 must be perfectly squared, or the glass cut upon it will be 
 
AMATEUR PHOTOGRAPHERS. 
 
 11 
 
 askew. Associated with it are certain flat forms or rulers, 
 of various sizes, and with a hole through the end of each, so 
 that it can be hung upon the wall on a nail when not in 
 use. One of these forms is shown at the side of the cutting 
 block. It is plainly marked 3|, for its purpose is to act as 
 a guide for cutting out lantern plates, which measure 
 3| by 3| inches. Supposing, therefore, that we had a piece 
 of glass measuring 6^ inches square, we could, by means of 
 this gauge, separate it into four lantern-slide glasses by 
 two cuts with the diamond. But let it be noted that the 
 form or ruler must be somewhat short of the measure 
 marked upon it, so that the space between the point of the 
 diamond spark and the side of the metal block in which 
 it is set may be allowed for. Otherwise we should find 
 that every piece of glass cut was about one-sixteenth of an 
 inch larger than it was required to be. I say one-sixteenth, 
 but as a matter of fact diamonds vary in this respect. 
 
 Mr. Cowan has devised two very perfect forms of cutting 
 boards, which he has patented, and which are made by 
 Messrs. Marion and Co. The first is designed to instan- 
 taneously centre a piece of glass by means of a clamping 
 frame, after which a hinged straight-edge is brought down 
 upon it, the edge marking the exact centre of the glass. 
 The convenience of the arrangement will be appreciated 
 when it is remembered that in many cases the larger sizes 
 of photographic plates form, when divided into two or four, 
 the smaller sizes. There is an unfortunate exception in 
 the case of the half-plate, for it is more than half a whole- 
 plate. But a whole-plate will cut into four quarter plates, 
 and a 10 by 8 into four 5 by 4. Mr, Cowan's contrivance 
 
12 
 
 EVENING WORK FOR 
 
 is, therefore, a valuable one, and more especially because it 
 can be used in the dimmest of red lights, for the plates 
 submitted to it centre themselves automatically. It is 
 shown at fig. 3. It measures about 22 by 17 inches, and 
 consists of a strong board, upon which is placed a movable 
 frame, of which b b are the two upright sides. This frame 
 is loosely rivetted at each corner by a screw, but is only 
 
 Fig. 3. 
 
 attached to the base-board by the two central pins on its 
 top and bottom pieces, upon which pins these pieces are 
 free to turn. It is evident that if these top and bottom 
 pieces be turned on the screws, they must come oblique to 
 the board, and at the same time the uprights b b will, while 
 remaining strictly parallel to one another, be brought 
 nearer together. This to and fro movement of the uprights 
 b b allows a glass pla f e of any size, within the limits of f he 
 
AMATEUR PHOTOGRAPHERS. 
 
 13 
 
 frame, to be clamped between them. The centre of the 
 glass plate must, however, always lie in an imaginary line 
 between the screws a a. At this part, i herefore, a hinged 
 board has its termination, and is bounded here by a bevelled 
 straight edge, along which the diamond is guided, cutting 
 the plate exactly in half. Two screws on the left-hand 
 side of the board d d, having brass washers beneath their 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 < 
 
 s 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 ( 
 t 
 
 D 
 
 cL 
 
 D 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 001 \ 
 
 
 
 I 
 
 s 
 
 % 
 
 M 
 
 
 
 
 ' i 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 1 1 
 
 1 . 
 
 -t 
 
 [io' lq 1 IP [7' IP Ti 1 UTTj 
 
 assi — -i 
 
 Fig. 4. 
 
 heads, are placed in elliptical holes, so as to allow the hinged 
 
 board to be adjusted to suit different diamonds. The 
 
 necessity for this adjustment has already been indicated. 
 
 Mr. Cowan's other cutting board is more elaborate, but 
 
 will cut plates readily to all the standard sizes, and by 
 
 slight adjustment will form a cutting gauge for any odd 
 
 size which may be required. It is shown at fig. 4. In 
 
 this case we also have a base board, with another one which 
 
 2 
 
14 
 
 EVENING WORK FOR 
 
 can be raised or lowered upon it by means of hinges. The 
 outer edge of this latter is described by the vertical and 
 horizontal dotted lines, and it will be understood that its 
 right-hand side forms a bevelled straight edge for the 
 diamond, as in the former example. This cutting edge can, 
 too, be adjusted once for all to suit the width of the block in 
 which the diamond is mounted by means of the screws on the 
 left-hand side shown at d d. Lifting up the hinged board, 
 we find four gauges in a vertical position, but which in use 
 are bent down to the horizontal, as indicated by the curved 
 dotted lines. By their aid we can cut quarter plates, half 
 plates, or whole plates at will. At the lower part of the 
 board there is an inch scale, and just above it is a slot, in 
 which works a movable block having a set screw f. It is 
 by means of this block that a gauge to , any size can be 
 readily procured. But the principal use of the instrument 
 is seen in the employment of the standard gauges, and in 
 the dim light of the " dark " room such a contrivance 
 becomes a necessity. In the case of cutting through a dry 
 plate it may be cut from either side, but it is best to apply 
 the diamond to the film side. There is more than one reason 
 in favour of this course. If we make our cut on the back, 
 that is, on the glass side of the plate, we are pretty sure to 
 raise a few tiny filaments of glass which may lead to scratch- 
 ing of the film subsequently ; we find, too, that when the cut 
 is made in this manner, and the glass is broken into two 
 halves, it still remains united by a tough hinge of gelatine, 
 which cannot be parted without some effort, and which will 
 often lead to partial stripping of the film. But by cutting 
 through the gelatine in the first instance, this last difficult 
 
AMATEUR PHOTOGRAPHERS. 
 
 15 
 
 cannot arise, and there will be no spicules of glass to cause 
 after-scratches of the film. 
 
 But a difficulty arises in the circumstance that all glaziers' 
 diamonds will not cut through gelatine. Mr. B. J. Edwards 
 tells me that it is his practice to send to the manufacturers 
 for a number of diamonds at a time, and to try them one by 
 one, so as to sort out the minority which will cut through a 
 glass plate on the film side. He tells me that a diamond 
 which will do this, and one which will not, do not differ in 
 appearance in any way, even when subjected to the closest 
 scrutiny. The only way of finding out the right kind is by 
 careful trial, and not by mere examination. 
 
 Common sheet glass is never quite flat, and when we 
 consider the process by which it is made, it is easy to see why 
 this should be the case. The glass is first blown by successive 
 stages to a cylindrical figure. This cylinder is then cut down 
 longitudinally, and while it is left to soften upon a table 
 under the heat of a furnace, it gradually unbends, and falls 
 flat by its own weight. Plate glass, on the other hand, presents 
 a true surface, for it is produced by quite a different series of 
 operations. It is cast glass in reality, for the soft mass is 
 poured upon a table, after which it is traversed by a heavy 
 roller, and finally ground and polished. These latter pro- 
 cesses reduce its mass by about 40 per cent. Messrs. Chance, 
 of Birmingham, were the first to apply this polishing process 
 to sheet glass of selected quality, and it is this glass that 
 should be used, if procurable, for all photographic purposes. 
 It is known in the trade as " patent plate," and although it 
 is far more expensive than common glass, it possesses advan- 
 ta^ai which make it worth its cost. Among these qualities 
 
16 
 
 EVENING WORK. 
 
 are smoothness, flatness, and freedom from striae and other 
 imperfections. It is, therefore, as well to work on patent 
 plate if we require a sheet of ground glass, as this will much 
 lessen the labour, and the beauty of the result will be 
 enhanced. 
 
 The grinding of a small piece of glass is by no means 
 difficult, and the amateur photographer should know how 
 to do it. The glass is fastened down on a wooden table, or 
 work-bench, between fillets of wood of the same thickness. 
 It is now plentifully supplied with a mud made of flour- 
 emery and water, and is rubbed continuously either with a 
 small piece of thick plate-glass, or with a piece of flat tin 
 plate with a handle attached. Every now and then the 
 glass should be lifted from the table, washed under a tap, 
 and examined. If any clear spaces are left, the rubbing 
 operation must be renewed until they disappear and an 
 even ground surface is obtained. By this simple means a 
 grain of exquisite fineness can be secured, and one that is 
 eminently fitted for the purpose of focussing,, 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 
 HINTS WITH REGARD TO APPARATUS FOR LANTERN-SLIDE 
 NEGATIVES. 
 
 I HOSE who are anxious to devote themselves 
 to lantern slide production, and who have 
 not yet possessed themselves of photographic 
 apparatus, or who have perhaps been in the 
 habit of producing pictures measuring 12 by 
 10, or even larger, will be anxious to know what is the 
 most serviceable kind of camera to adopt for this special 
 class of work. I have no hesitation in recommending 
 
 o 
 
 the quarter plate as being the most useful size for 
 lantern work. Most amateur lantern pictures are now 
 produced by contact with the negative, and therefore this 
 negative should be of the same size, or about the same size ? 
 as the lantern slide to be obtained from it. The standard 
 size for the lantern picture is 3| inches square ; this is a 
 comfortable size in many ways, and is certainly not likely 
 to be altered ; for it is convenient both to the camera worker, 
 and is suitable to the instrument by which when finished its 
 image is to be projected upon the screen. As the quarter- 
 plate measures 3| ins. by 4 J ins, we have an inch to spare 
 
18 
 
 EVENING WORK Foil 
 
 at one side of the plate, and as most landscapes will be taken 
 so that the spare inch is at the sides of the picture, it gives 
 us a certain amount of horizontal latitude in printing our 
 lantern picture from it. What I mean is, that we can from 
 such a negative, by shifting the lantern plate upon it from 
 side to side, choose the very best portion of the picture. We 
 also have to some extent latitude with regard to the picture 
 vertically ; for although the negative will only measure this 
 way the exact size of the lantern picture, yet, as the upper 
 portion-of the negative will represent the sky, we can easily 
 shift the picture a quarter of an inch or so if required ; for 
 the clear glass representing sky can readily be secured above 
 the actual negative, by pasting upon it a little slip of dark 
 paper ; or we can secure the same end by shading the upper 
 part of the negative during exposure. The question of 
 printing-in clouds from a separate negative will for the 
 present be reserved. 
 
 For ordinary straightforward landscape, the simpler form 
 of camera that we can obtain the better. If the depth of 
 our purse is not limited, the best course is to buy a first- 
 rate camera with all the movements which such instruments 
 possess in the way of swing-back, rising front, and so on. 
 Such a camera will be serviceable for all kinds of subjects, 
 But if the question of cost must come in, the worker will 
 find that he can take first-rate lantern pictures with a 
 very much simpler form of apparatus. The movements to 
 which I have just alluded, although most desirable under 
 certain circumstances, are really not very often brought into 
 play ; and if our intention is to confine ourselves to pure 
 landscape, they can very well be dispensed with. If we are 
 
AMATEUR PHOTOGRAPHERS. 
 
 19 
 
 taking street views, or including architectural subjects in 
 our pictures, it is a different: matter, for in such cases it is 
 often necessary to tilt the camera ; and directly it is thus 
 tilted out of the horizontal position, the straight lines of any 
 buildings that may be in front of it are immediately caused 
 to converge in a very unpleasant manner, and this converg- 
 ing of the lines must be corrected by the judicious use of the 
 swing-back. But however simple the form of the camera, 
 it should be provided with a bellows giving long extension ; 
 so that long-focus lenses can be used as well as those of 
 shorter focus. We shall presently see that this provision 
 will give us extended powers. 
 
 Although we may be careless to a certain extent as to the 
 kind of camera we employ, we cannot be too particular in 
 the lenses which we attach to it. Yery good work can be 
 done with that cheap form called a " single lens," and for 
 landscape pure and simple it cannot easily be beaten ; but 
 it has certain faults — faults which, however, are generally 
 very much exaggerated, and which frighten many workers 
 from using it. It gives a certain amount of curvature of 
 straight lines, but these lines only get bent to any visible 
 extent when they are at the margin of the picture ; and such 
 curvature in pure landscape may be disregarded entirely, for 
 practically there are no rigidly straight lines in nature, if 
 we except the horizontal line which marks the distance in a 
 seascape. Mr. Dallmeyer has recently introduced a new 
 form of single lens, which gives straight lines, and there is 
 little doubt that this form has a great future before it ; but 
 the old form of single lens, on account of its cheapness, is 
 too often regarded as being good for nothing, but, as we have 
 
20 
 
 EVENING WORK FOR 
 
 seen, it will do very good work, so long as it is confined to 
 landscape. Another disadvantage which it has is its com- 
 parative slowness, so that what are called instantaneous 
 pictures cannot be taken by its aid unless the light be better 
 than it often is in this country. 
 
 There is no doubt that the most useful all-round lens for 
 this and other photographic work is that known as the rapid 
 rectilinear, or rapid symmetrical, for it will take landscapes, 
 architectural subjects, groups, portraits of small size, and 
 instantaneous pictures. This form of lens consists of two 
 achromatic combinations, with their concave surfaces facing 
 one another, and the diaphragm aperture being mid-way 
 between the two, and it is perfectly free from the faults 
 possessed by the single lens. Moreover, it can be used on 
 occasions as a single lens by removing the front combina- 
 tion and using the back one alone. This combination will 
 then act as a single lens, giving an image which is far 
 larger in size than that given by the complete lens. This 
 power of transformation will be found most useful, and 
 really affords the operator all the advantages which wouM 
 accrue from working with two lenses of different foci. For 
 instantaneous work the lens must be provided with a shutter 
 of some form, but it would be impossible, in the limits of 
 these articles, to detail the various kinds which are now 
 offered by manufacturers. The simple drop shutter is by 
 no means to be despised, for it will do good work, does not 
 readily get out of order, and is cheap. 
 
 The worker will do well to provide himself with another 
 lens of short focus. That known as the portable symme- 
 trical or wide-angle form is one of the most useful ; it is not 
 
AMATEUR PHOTOGRAPHERS. 
 
 21 
 
 a quick lens, but does admirably for copying purposes, and 
 for taking interior views with long exposure. The posses- 
 sion of a short-focus lens, too, will be found useful. On 
 occasions the operator may be so placed that when he views 
 the picture on the ground-glass focussing screen it appears 
 far too large for the limits of a lantern slide. Thus, for 
 instance, he may be wishful to take a photograph of a 
 church, and the only point from which a satisfactory view 
 can be obtained is from a corner of the churchyard. His 
 camera is erected there, but he finds upon examining the 
 ground glass that only a small portion of the church is taken 
 in. He cannot move back so as to reduce the scale of his 
 picture, for the space is confined, so that he must either 
 take a limited view or give up the attempt. But not so if 
 he be provided with a short-focus lens, which by the way 
 should screw into the same flange as his other lens. The 
 former is quickly substituted for the latter ; the camera is 
 racked in, so as to accommodate itself to the shorter focus 
 of the new lens, and upon looking at the ground glass the 
 operator finds to his satisfaction that the whole of the 
 building is included. 
 
 And now, for the sake of showing the use of the rectili- 
 near as a single lens, let us imagine that the case is 
 reversed. The operator is standing at the edge of a river, 
 upon the opposite bank of which stands a building which he 
 wishes to photograph. Here the short-focus lens would le 
 quite out of place, for the building would be reduced to so 
 small a size that the picture would be useless. He then 
 tries how it looks with his rapid rectilinear ; now he finds 
 that the picture is a good deal bigger, but still too small 
 
22 
 
 EVENING WORK FOR 
 
 to be effective. Thereupon he unscrews the front lens from 
 its mount, places a small stop in the diaphragm slot, racks 
 out his camera to double its former length, and he sees now 
 that the ground glass is fully occupied by the coveted image. 
 It is not my purpose to recommend the lens of one maker 
 above that of another, for there are now plenty of good ones 
 to be had. But what I urge most strongly is that the pur- 
 chaser should get as good a lens as he can afford. Photo- 
 graphic friends will tell him what to buy, if he will only 
 state the amount of money that he can expend upon this 
 most important part of his photographic apparatus. 
 
 Those who employ a quarter-plate camera are relieved of 
 several inconveniences which beset the worker with appara- 
 tus of larger size. The whole kit is so compact and has 
 such little weight that it can be carried everywhere, and 
 can often accompany its owner on expeditions connected 
 with his business, packed away in some corner of his port- 
 manteau, into which a larger sized camera could never be 
 squeezed. But there is a still greater advantage found in 
 the circumstance that there are many clever devices for 
 changing plates which can be well applied to the quarter- 
 plate camera, but which become cumbersome when fitted to 
 the larger sized instruments. Take, for instance, the oldest, 
 and perhaps the best form of changing box — Hare's. It 
 holds from twelve to fifteen plates, and each one in turn can 
 be placed in the dark slide, in bright sunlight, without any 
 chance of light fog. The weight of the box when filled with 
 plates is insignificant, but apply the same treatment to the 
 half plate size, and the thing at once becomes a burden. 
 The same reasoning will apply to nearly all changing 
 
AMATEUR PHOTOGRAPHERS. 
 
 23 
 
 systems, and at the same time we must remember that a 
 large number of plates is not always required. On many 
 occasions a couple of plates, contained in an ordinary double 
 back, are sufficient for the particular purpose in view, and, 
 therefore, I would recommend any one adopting the 
 changing-box system to take care that double backs can be 
 used with the camera when necessary. 
 
 So far I have supposed that the operator is contemplating 
 the use of gelatine plates, but of course we must not lose 
 sight of the circumstance that many will discard glass in 
 favour of celluloid. Certainly, all will not do so, for 
 questions with regard to cost both of the films and altera- 
 tion of apparatus will have to be considered ; and for a long 
 time we may feel sure that glass plates will be used by the 
 majority of workers. At the same time those to whom 
 expense is no object will substitute the new method for 
 the old, and will gladly exchange heavy glass for light cellu- 
 loid. The difference in weight will, however, not much 
 affect the worker with quarter-plates, and, therefore, the 
 searcher after negatives for lantern slides can in this matter 
 well afford to take up a neutral position. 
 
 All photographic beginners have a notion that they must 
 go in for what are called instantaneous pictures, and they 
 think that they have only to get a camera and they 
 can at once secure pictures of express trains, horses 
 racing, and all sorts of pictures showing quick motion. 
 It is true that such pictures are taken, but not by 
 beginners. It requires a very great experience and a 
 worker of the first class to turn out satisfactory pictures of 
 this kind ; and so we would advise the beginner to practice 
 
24 
 
 EVENING WORK FOR 
 
 for a long time with the ordinary form of camera before ho 
 attempts these instantaneous effects, or else he is likely to 
 suffer great disappointment. He may be tempted to buy 
 what is known as a detective camera — a better name for 
 which is the hand camera, for detective cameras seldom 
 detect anything. It is a most useful instrument for certain 
 purposes ; for little studies at the seaside, on the beach or of 
 passing vessels at sea, it can hardly be excelled ; but it can- 
 not be used satisfactorily except in the best of light. 
 Perhaps in the near future we may have quicker lenses, 
 quicker plates, or, what is far more likely, more developing 
 power, and then the field of work covered by these hand 
 cameras will be very much extended. But at present a 
 good light, if not actually sunlight, is one of the first con- 
 ditions of success. I have had a good deal of experience in 
 the use of these detective cameras, and a short time ago I 
 published a few notes embodying my notions respecting 
 them. As I have found no reason to alter my opinions, 
 notwithstanding the fact that I have since had unusual 
 opportunities of working with various forms of this instru- 
 ment, I will here give a short summary of what I then 
 wrote concerning it. 
 
 As a convenient method of obtaining snap shops under 
 good light the detective or hand camera is unequalled, and 
 will for such work displace the ordinary camera. As a rule, 
 hand cameras are far too elaborate, and many of their 
 usual adjuncts can be well dispensed with. The lens should 
 be of such a type that everything beyond a given distance is 
 in focus, so that no focussing movement is wanted. A 
 finder is also unnecessary, for while the operator is examining 
 
AMATEUR PHOTOGRAPHERS. 
 
 25 
 
 it he will perhaps lose an opportunity which he would 
 otherwise at once take advantage of. The shutter should 
 have two speeds, one for street views, and a far 
 quicker movement for seascapes and open views where there 
 is no dearth of light. The camera should be capable of 
 taking the plates as they come from the makers — that is to 
 say, they should not require insertion in sheaths. The 
 plates used should be both quick and of good quality. There 
 are a few detective cameras in the market which meet some 
 of these conditions, but the absolutely perfect instrument 
 has not yet appeared. 
 
 Referring again to the more ordinary work of the pho- 
 tographer, it must be conceded that a negative for repro- 
 duction as a lantern-slide must be without flaw or blemish, 
 for magnification will quickly draw attention to every- 
 thing of the kind. Some otherwise good lantern pictures 
 which I have seen have been quite spoilt by halation. In 
 its more aggravated form halation is well known to every- 
 body who has ever looked at the photograph of a church 
 interior. It will be noticed that all openings next the 
 light are surrounded by a kind of halo or fog ; and that the 
 details in the windows themselves — -that is to say, the bars, 
 the tracery, and the leads which divided the panes of glass — 
 are altogether blotted out in a white mist. The same effect, 
 in a minor degree, is often noticed in outdoor scenes ; the 
 tops of the houses in a street view sometimes seem to be 
 in a misty condition, and the chimney pots, instead of 
 standing out clear against the sky, are also very dimly 
 defined ; the same thing can be noticed very often in the 
 tops of trees. This defect, which makes its appearance 
 
26 
 
 EVENING WORK FOR 
 
 whenever bright light comes against the dark portion of 
 a picture, is known as halation, and is caused by reflect ons 
 from the back of the glass negative plate. A negative 
 having this defect should not be used for lantern-slide 
 work, for it is quite impossible to get a perfect lantern-slide 
 from a negative which is itself imperfect. The only satis- 
 factory cure that I know of is at best a makeshift, but it 
 is effective, albeit it requires a little time and patience. 
 Suppose that we have a negative which shows this fault, 
 the best way to proceed is to remove the varnish from it — 
 if it has already been varnished — by immersing it in warm 
 methylated spirit, and rubbing with a tuft of cobton wool, 
 and then to rub the dark portions of the negative which 
 exhibit this fault with a piece of old linen, stretched over 
 the finger, moistened with alcohol. The work must be done 
 judiciously and gently, and we shall soon find that the 
 linen over the finger becomes -black, showing that part of 
 the gelatine surface has been actually removed. We then 
 shift the finger to a fresh portion of the linen, moisten 
 once more with spirit, and proceed as before, until we find 
 by holding the negative up to the light that the darkness 
 has been to a great extent removed. But, of course, 
 prevention is always better than cure, and, luckily, pre- 
 vention in this case is easier than cure. If we are using 
 glass plates, we can stop halation by giving the back of 
 the glass a coating of colour, by means of a brush or a 
 piece of sponge, but a better way was recently brought 
 before the Photographic Club by Mr. Carter, who showed 
 how a number of plates can be thus coated on the back 
 with a small composition roller, like that used by a 
 
AMATEUR PHOTOGRAPHERS. 
 
 27 
 
 printer ; no doubt an india-rubber roller would answer the 
 same purpose, and such rollers are now sold at the photo- 
 graphic warehouses for mounting prints. The best material 
 for backing plates is burnt sienna, ground in water, which 
 can be bought at oil shops. A small piece, the size of a nut, 
 is put on a sheet of glass, and to it is added a little water, 
 a few drops of spirit, and a pinch of dextrine. This 
 mixture forms a cream-like mud, and the roller is worked 
 upon it until it is evenly distributed over the sheet of 
 glass. The plates are now to be treated one after the 
 other — of course, by the red light of the dark-room — and in 
 a few minutes they will be dry and ready for the camera. 
 
CHAPTER IV. 
 
 ISOCHROMATIC PLATES FOR LANTERN -SLIDE NEGATIVES. — 
 AMATEUR LECTURERS. 
 
 HAVE detailed a few methods of rendering 
 a plate free from the troubles caused by hala- 
 tion, because I know them to be effective. 
 But the worker must be warned against 
 employing any pigment of a powdery charac- 
 ter, which may get abraded by the spring at the back of the 
 dark slide, or by friction in any of the numerous forms 
 of changing bags, boxes, or backs. Should the apparatus 
 become charged in this way with floating particles, they 
 are very difficult to get rid of, and will lead to pin-holes, 
 if nob to worse manifestations of their presence. 
 
 Some makers are meeting the halation trouble by issuing 
 plates which are treated on the back surface with a fine 
 grain. I have used plates so ground, and have found the 
 resulting negatives perfectly free from halation. Upon one 
 occasion I photographed a statue — black and grimy with 
 London smoke — and standing up against the blue sky in a 
 manner which would have invited halation under ordinary 
 conditions, but my negative was perfectly free from any- 
 
EVENING WORK. 
 
 29 
 
 thing of the kind, although the exposure was long enough 
 to coax detail out of the gentleman in black — -I mean the 
 statue. It must also be borne in mind that film negatives 
 are altogether free from this fault, and may with advan- 
 tage be employed in cases where halation may be reasonably 
 anticipated. 
 
 Before I dismiss the question of negative making for the 
 purpose of lantern- slide production, it is as well that I should 
 allude to the use of colour-sensitive, or isochromatic, plates. 
 Some prefer to call them " orthochromatic " plates, but we 
 need not discuss the suitability of either term, foi as a matter 
 of fact neither exactly describes the thing intended, one 
 word meaning equal colour and the other right colour. We 
 all know now that these plates profess to translate colours 
 in their correct tint value to one another, using the 
 word tint, as an engraver employs it, to define a shade 
 made up of certain proportions of black and white. The 
 value of such an innovation is evident when we remember 
 that ordinary plates will transform blue into white, reds 
 and yellows into blacks, and so on. So that anyone who 
 tried, say, to photograph a sunset picture, in which an artist 
 had painted a blood-red orb, hung in an orange sky, would 
 find in his copy a black ball poised against a background, 
 only less dark in tint. For such work, as also for the right 
 rendering of natural flowers, such plates are almost indis- 
 pensable. I say almost, for I believe that ordinary plates, 
 used with a proper yellow screen, and with extended 
 exposure, will give much the same effect. But what 
 is of more importance in the present connection is the 
 consideration whether, for ordinary landscape, there is 
 
 3 
 
30 
 
 EVENING WORK FOR 
 
 any great advantage in using these colour-sensitive plates. 
 In order to put this matter to fair experimental proof, I 
 have tried the effect of photographing the same landscape, 
 first with an ordinary plate and afterwards with one which 
 was colour-sensitive- These experiments were made in the 
 early spring, when the foliage was fresh and varied in tint. 
 Upon examining the negatives taken under these conditions 
 I found little difference between the two varieties, with the 
 notable exception that in those taken late in the day, when 
 the sun was bathing everything in a warm orange light, 
 the isochromatic plates exhibited double the detail which 
 the others afforded. I was therefore led to assume that in 
 such light as is available during the greater part of the 
 day isochromatic plates give no special advantage. But I 
 altered my opinion as soon as I had time to examine 
 the prints from the two sets of negatives. It was then that 
 I recognised for the first time that the isochromatic nega- 
 tives were far richer in tint than the others, and possessed 
 a beautiful softness which was absent in the negatives pro- 
 duced on the ordinary plates. To borrow a simile from a 
 sister art, I might say that the negatives on ordinary 
 plates were diatonic in character, and that most of the 
 intervals were separated by whole tones, and that in the 
 isochromatic plates the tints were not so widely separated, 
 but exhibited the greater wealth of the chromatic scale. 
 The plates I used were Edwards's, and I may further say 
 that for instantaneous work they are as quick, and as satis- 
 f a< tory in every way as any that I have tried. 
 
 The lantern season being now well established, a great 
 many amateurs are busy slide making, and pe\haps some 
 
AMATEUR PHOTOGRAPHERS. 
 
 31 
 
 are contemplating an exhibition of their handiwork before 
 a more or less indulgent public. I have had many en- 
 quiries from some of these ambitious showmen in embryo, 
 but some are more modest in their demands than others. 
 There is the ingenuous youth, who plunges at once in 
 medias res, and boldly proposes that you should consent to 
 lend him your apparatus and slides ; and there is also the 
 self-confident being who says that he is about to give a 
 lecture, that he has never given one before, and would be 
 glad of a few hints. These people always remind me of 
 the man who when asked whether he could play the violin 
 answered that he did not know, for he had never tried, To 
 such a one let me now address myself, and tell him that 
 successful lecturing is not a thing that can be acquired 
 easily, that it not only requires constant practice and 
 experience to speak effectively before an audience, but that 
 the speaker must have the physical advantage of a good 
 voice, and must have other capabilities which some men 
 possess as natural gifts, but which can seldom be acquired. 
 However, audiences are indulgent, and do not look for per- 
 fection. And the amateur lecturer may take heart that he 
 will be listened to attentively if he will only take pains to 
 make himself heard. He must also be careful to see that his 
 lantern pictures are in such order that none of them 
 will appear " topsy-turvy " on the screen, and that he has 
 an assistant with sufficient intelligence to get through the 
 work without mishap. 
 
 All amateur lecturers should read the account of a dis- 
 solving view entertainment which forms one of the chapters 
 in Albert Smith's " Adventures of Mr. Ledbury." Albert 
 
32 
 
 EVENING WORK FOB 
 
 Smith being himself a good showman, was well able to see 
 the comic side of a badly managed lantern evening. And, 
 to tell the truth, there is not much exaggeration about it. 
 An amateur lecturer has undertaken the task of describing 
 the views, and has unfortunately lost his list of the pictures 
 shown, a loss which soon involves him in serious difficulties. 
 The first view is described as " The Harbour of Chusan," 
 while it plainly shows the windmills and other well-known 
 features of Margate. Then comes a view which appears to 
 the operator, as he looks through the slide before it is placed 
 in the lantern, to be " like some fortifications and a tower." 
 The lecturer gives it out as the " citadel and ramparts of 
 Ghuznee," but the view is not in Afghanistan at all, but is 
 one of " Windsor Castle " — a circumstance to which atten- 
 tion is at once called by a sharp youth among the audience. 
 Then, besides, we have a picture of Prince Albert standing 
 on his head ; a view of Milan Cathedral, which the lecturer 
 describes as " The Houses of Parliament at Westminster ; " 
 and many other amusing cases of misnomer. 
 
 But, truth to tell, such gross mistakes are not often met 
 with now. The lantern has become such a familiar instru- 
 ment, and is made in such convenient form, that it is really 
 not easy to go wrong with it, at least when one of 
 simple form is in question. The weak part of such an enter- 
 tainment is still found in the man who does the talking. 
 Sometimes he is far too confident of his own powers to take 
 the trouble to make himself familiar with the pictures shown. 
 He borrows from an optician a published reading — a very 
 sensible proceeding on his part, by the way — but takes no 
 care to compare the reading with the pictures which ill us- 
 
AMATEUR PHOTOGRAPHERS. 
 
 33 
 
 trate it ; so that if the operator should lag one picture behind 
 the reader, or put in one too soon, the mistake goes on from 
 beginning to end, and the intelligent lecturer is describing 
 either a scene that is past and gone, or one which has not 
 yet made its appearance. I need hardly say that such con- 
 fusion is fatal to success, for each picture should come into 
 view as it is mentioned; and some tact is necessary in the 
 arrangement of the words, so that the entry of each shall be 
 natural and effective. As the novelist or the playwright 
 will skilfully lead up to the introduction of his various 
 characters, so should the worker with the lantern take care 
 that his pictures are brought on with appropriate words. I 
 will presently enter more fully into the details of this most 
 important part of our winter work. 
 
CHAPTER V. 
 
 ABOUT LANTERN ENTERTAINMENTS. 
 
 HAVE already promised to devote some space 
 to this subject of exhibiting lantern pictures, 
 and I am now about to fulfil that promise 
 by placing before my readers a few directions 
 which may help them in their efforts to amuse 
 the British public. 1 have chosen from my detective 
 pictures a few which will serve to illustrate the method in 
 which slides can be advantageously strung together with a 
 few suitable words, so that they may appear as a complete 
 whole, rather than as detached items having no kind of con- 
 nection with one another. There is to my mind nothing 
 more irksome than sitting through an exhibition of lantern 
 pictures where the showman has not the opportunity or the 
 power of giving more information concerning them than 
 their mere names. This is frequently the case at the lantern 
 shows of amateur photographic societies, and, except to 
 those who are interested in the technical points of the pic- 
 tures, such exhibitions are wearisome affairs. If, on the 
 other hand, the slides can be sorted into some kind of order, 
 with similar subjects placed together, and the whole bound 
 
EVENING WORK. 
 
 35 
 
 up with a few appropriate remarks, with a joke or 
 two inserted judiciously as " high lights " in the right 
 places, the pictures will be made interesting to all the 
 spectators, instead of, as at present, to a limited few. I 
 cannot expect my readers to regard what follows as a model 
 discourse, but it is the kind of thing which gives pleasure to 
 a general audience — as far as one can judge by hearty 
 laughter and applause, and is put forward as a peg upon 
 which pictures of a certain class can be hung. I have 
 placed the matter in the form of a letter which a visitor to 
 town, fresh from rural scenes, writes to her cousin in the 
 wilds of Blankshire. 
 
 Morley's Hotel, 
 
 Charing Cross, London, 
 (B 1 ) 1. Thursday. 
 
 My Dearest Maggie, — As I promised, when I left Turnip- 
 ton with Uncle James, to 
 write to you about my first 
 impressions of this big village 
 of London, I now take up 
 my pen to begin. You will 
 notice that I date from 
 Morley's Hotel, which is in 
 Charing Cross, and you will 
 be somewhat surprised to see 
 that I head my letter with a 
 photograph of it, end that 
 many other pictures adorn 
 my epistle. The fact is that 
 I have been obliged to make 
 
B6 
 
 EVENING WORK FOll 
 
 (2.) 
 
 to by different men. 
 brokers — they had a 
 way. He made me leave 
 off, and, as some compensa- 
 tion for his interference, 
 gave me what they call a 
 Detective Camera. This 
 is really a most wonderful 
 little instrument. It looks 
 just like a little work-box, 
 but it contains all the 
 things necessary for taking 
 a photogr'aph secretly, and 
 with its help I am able to 
 take all kinds of subjects 
 without anyone knowing 
 
 one slight modification with 
 regard to my promise to you, 
 that I would send you 
 sketches of what I saw. I 
 tried to do some, but you 
 have little idea how rude the 
 people are here, and how 
 they stare at and crowd 
 round you, if you attempt to 
 do even a little drawing. I 
 tried to do one the other 
 day close to the Royal Ex- 
 change, but was continually 
 laughed at and spoken 
 Uncle said that they were stock- 
 plentiful stock of impudence, any 
 
 (so 
 
AMATEUR PHOTOGRAPHERS. 
 
 37 
 
 (4.) 
 
 what I am doing. It is 
 such fun taking people's 
 portraits without their 
 knowing anything about it. 
 I have been all over Lon- 
 don with Uncle James, to 
 see everything that is to 
 be seen, and I am always 
 accompanied by my faith- 
 ful witness, the detective 
 camera. The most remark- 
 able thing to a stranger, in 
 walking through the streets 
 of this prosperous city, is the 
 way in which affluence is seen side by side with abject 
 poverty. Look at this picture (B 2 ), for instance, which was 
 
 taken in the West-end, 
 or fashionable part of 
 London, just outside Ken- 
 sington Gardens — this is 
 where the big houses ant? 
 grand footmen are to be 
 found — and compare it 
 with this next one (B 3 ), 
 which was taken in the 
 slums. These are loafers 
 standing at the corner of 
 an alley in Drury Lane. 
 Drury Lane is well known 
 because of its handsome 
 
38 
 
 EVENING WORK FOll 
 
 (6.) 
 
 theatre, which is the only 
 handsome thing about it. 
 It is not very far from 
 Charing Cross, where the 
 riots were some time ago, 
 and upon which the win- 
 dows of our hotel look out. 
 On my first survey of 
 Charing Cross I ex-pected 
 to see some advanced Radical 
 haranguing a large Socialist 
 mob, but there was nothing 
 of the kind, only a small 
 boy — perhaps a Socialist, 
 though — sitting disconsolately, and swinging his legs on 
 the side of one of the fountains (B 4 ). (Uncle James says 
 that these fountains play 
 from ten till four, like the 
 Government clerks. Isn't 
 he dreadfully sarcastic ? ) 
 But there were a number 
 of policemen about to see 
 that the small boy did not 
 set fire to the fountains or 
 begin an insurrection. One 
 policeman, a big one, was 
 talking to a rather diminu- 
 tive inspector (B 5 ). It 
 would clearly be impossible 
 in this casd for him to (7 } 
 
AMATEUR PHOTOGRAPHERS. 
 
 3 ( J 
 
 look up to his 
 superior officer. 
 In a corner of 
 Charing Cross 
 there is St. 
 Martin's Church ; 
 "St. Martin's-in- 
 the-fields," they 
 call it, but the 
 fields are con- 
 spicuous only by 
 
 (8.) 
 
 their absence, and there is no sign of agriculture but that 
 old woman selling the fruits of the earth (B 6 ) — in this 
 case apples and ginger beer — from a barrow. Then at 
 the opposite corner of the Square is "Spring Gardens," 
 so called, uncle says, because the Board of Works, who 
 
 used to live there, had lately 
 "been sprung upon," but I 
 don't quite know what he 
 means. Spring Gardens is 
 in reality a passage leading 
 into St. James's Park, and 
 just at the point where it 
 opens into the park some 
 cows are kept. Uncle says 
 that the reason for this is 
 that the members of the 
 Board liked to see from their 
 windows some evidence of 
 rustic simplicity. Was it 
 
40 
 
 EVENING WORK FOR 
 
 not nice of them ? But I was rather staggered to see a 
 man with a water cart (B 7 ) spooning water by the gal- 
 lon into a milk can. Look at my picture ! I just caught him 
 with my detective camera when he was in the very act. I 
 appealed to uncle, and he told me that he thought it might 
 be to mix up white- wash for the Board, who required a lot 
 of it. But if this means adulterated milk, I am sure that 
 some kind friend should have told them how shamefully 
 they were being imposed upon. 
 
 Talking of water, we went to the river — the River 
 Thames. You remember how we learnt at school that 
 London is on the Thame 3 ; well, it is so. 
 
 A penny steamboat ticket takes you for quite a long 
 journey. There is much to see, and sometimes you can 
 get a little group of barges (B 8 ), which are wonderfully 
 picturesque. But the water is not so clean as it looks in 
 my picture. Uncle says it is full of " microbes," but I 
 must confess that I did not see any. There are piers at 
 frequent intervals and the people crowd upon them to get 
 into the boats (B 9 ). We landed at Lambeth, where the 
 Archbishop lives, and close to the pier some big boys were 
 taking " headers " from a barge. Here uncle sent me on 
 before him (B 10 ), and he borrowed my camera, with which 
 he took my next picture. / didn't do it, mind. We passed 
 through some really dreadful neighbourhoods, where uncle 
 did not like me to stop long enough to take pictures. In one 
 street some babies were amusing themselves without any 
 kind of protector (B 11 ). In the same street I actually saw 
 a miserable five-year-old girl in rags, carrying a ragged 
 baby, a tin of beer, and a bottle of gin. Isn't it awful ? 
 
AMATEUR PHOTOGRAPHERS. 
 
 41 
 
 One's heart bleeds for these poor little waifs. What is 
 to become of them ? How different are their pallid face3 
 and rickety limbs from the healthy, sunburnt, and fat 
 little bodies that we see running about the fields at 
 Turnipton ! 
 
 Yesterday was the day arter Bank Holiday, and we came 
 upon this curious group (B 12 ) just outside Bow Street Police 
 Court. Uncle told me that the friends of these unfortu- 
 nate people had probably got intoxicated (horrid things !)> 
 and were at that moment being tried for their offences. 
 The sympathetic policeman is telling the women what the 
 punishment is likely to be. I call this picture " Waiting 
 for the Verdict," and although it is not so artistic as 
 Solomon's well-known work with the same title, it is reality, 
 and not romance. 
 
 I have so many photographs now, thanks to this detec- 
 tive camera, that I hardly know how to select from them 
 those that you will think interesting. Here is one (B 13 ) 
 taken in Leicester Square. In the centre is a statue of 
 Shakspeare, with three workmen carefully washing him. 
 It seems that this is necessary, because some American has 
 been throwing a great deal of dirt at him lately; at least, 
 so says my informant, Uncle James. 
 
 And now I must say good-bye, for this letter is 
 getting dreadfully long. I have much to tell you upon 
 the important subject of dress, but must reserve my 
 important information, gleaned in that world of delights 
 called Regent Street, until we meet. In the meantime my 
 last little picture will tell you that what uncle calls " those 
 ridicu ous monstrosities" (B 14 )are still worn, although it is 
 
42 
 
 EVENING WORK FOR 
 
 (10.) 
 
 believed that they will pre- 
 sently be out of fashion. 
 "With best love, 
 Your affectionate cousin, 
 Julia. 
 
 P.S —The building on the 
 right of Shakspeare's statue 
 is the Alhambra, and is quite 
 an architectural feature of 
 London, and is a model of 
 the Spanish Alhambra. Lots 
 of people go there, but when 
 I have asked uncle to take 
 me there, he always makes 
 some excuse. 
 
 In perusing this little 
 sketch of a lantern enter- 
 tainment the reader will 
 notice that the text is fre- 
 quently interrupted by the 
 insertion of a big B. This 
 is meant to indicate the point 
 where the reciter must touch 
 his gong or other signal, so 
 that the operator at the 
 lantern may change to the 
 next picture. The signal 
 should in every case be 
 given a few seconds be- 
 
 (ii.) 
 
AMATEUR PHOTOGRAPHERS. 
 
 43 
 
 02.) 
 
 fore the picture is actually 
 required, so as to allow 
 time for the necessary 
 manipulations. 
 
 Another point which 
 cannot be too urgently in- 
 sisted upon is the necessity 
 for the reader to thorough- 
 ly know his subject be- 
 forehand, and to be ac- 
 quainted with the pic- 
 tures which illustrate it. 
 He should, in fact, care- 
 fully study the text, while 
 at the same time he examines each picture as it comes in 
 order, so as to find out all its points, some possibly which 
 
 have been overlooked before. 
 
 In this way alone can he 
 make his remarks effective 
 and interesting to his 
 audience. 
 
 Eloquence is a natural 
 gift which no amount of 
 study can command ; but a 
 study of elocution is both 
 advantageous and desirable; 
 and this study can be had 
 for nothing, by taking every 
 opportunity of hearing good 
 public speaking. 
 
44 
 
 EVENING WORK. 
 
 r 
 
 Unfortunately, the oppor- 
 tunities of this kind are 
 few and far between, for 
 good speakers are rare. 
 About fifteen years ago I 
 heard the lessons read in 
 church with such marvel- 
 lous effect by an accom- 
 plished speaker, that I 
 have never forgotten the 
 particular chapters read 
 upon that evening. 
 
 Once again, lately, I 
 had a similar experience. 
 
 But only upon these two occasions during my experience 
 as a pretty frequent church-goer have I heard the lessons 
 thus beautified. I do not believe in learning elocution from 
 books, although there are many volumes written upon the 
 subject. One which I recently looked over — I had not 
 the patience to read it through — was the veriest balder- 
 dash. The writer worked upon the system of selecting some 
 well-known poem, and then giving directions for its recita- 
 tion, especially pointing out where the accents should be 
 laid. Now, anyone who is not deaf and dumb, knows 
 where the accent should fall, and there is no need to tell 
 him. For in reading, these accents come in as naturally as 
 they do in music ; and in both, contrast can often be enforced 
 by a syncopation. But the ingenious writer referred to 
 ignored all this, and dissected his examples with the most 
 ludicrous effect. 
 
CHAPTER VI. 
 
 LANTERN TRANSPARENCIES IN STAINED ALBUMEN. 
 
 FRENCH manual was published some time ago 
 which dealt with quite a new application of 
 photography in the production of proofs 
 which owe their density to the application 
 of one of the aniline dyes This manual is by 
 M. Geymet, and he not only describes the application of the 
 process to photographs on paper, but also to transparencies on 
 glass. This last application of it we are at present alone con- 
 cerned with. The method depends in the first place upon the 
 same chemical phenomena as some other processes, among 
 which we may mention the carbon method, and the Wood- 
 burytype ; that is to say, it takes advantage of the action 
 of those salts which are known as the bichromates of the 
 alkalies, of which the bichromate of potash is a well-known 
 example. Admixture of one of these salts with any colloid sub- 
 stance such as gum, gelatine, etc., will cause that substance 
 to become quite insoluble after insolation or exposure to light. 
 It is a developing process, but the development is in its 
 
46 
 
 EVENING WORK FOR 
 
 nature more mechanical than chemical. Albumen is the 
 colloid substance employed, and it plays the principal part 
 in the process. 
 
 The order of operations necessary in producing lantern 
 pictures by this method is briefly as follows. Thin clear 
 glass of any convenient size — for it can be cut down to 
 the standard lantern size subsequently — is covered with a 
 coating of chromated albumen, that is to say, albumen which 
 has been impregnated with one of the salts already 
 mentioned. It is then dried and exposed to diffused light 
 beneath the negative in the ordinary printing frame ; after 
 which the plate is simply developed in fresh water, when 
 those parts not affected by light dissolve away, leaving the 
 other insoluble portions on the surface of the glass to form 
 the picture. The proof so obtained is now treated with any 
 suitable aniline dye, which has been dissolved in alcohol ; it 
 is then rinsed with water to remove the surplus colour, and 
 the picture is finished. 
 
 I will now describe the process in greater detail, and I 
 may say at once that it requires much care in order to 
 ensure success. The preparation of the sensitive mixture 
 is the first thing, and to compound it the following three 
 solutions must be made up : 
 
 A. 
 
 Gum-arabic, pure (pulv.) 
 Distilled water 
 In another vessel mix : 
 
 100 c.c. 
 
 5 grammes. 
 
 B. 
 
 White of egg 
 Distilled water 
 
 100 c.c. 
 
 25 grammes. 
 
AMATEUR PHOTOGRAPHERS. 
 
 47 
 
 0. 
 
 Ammonia bichromate . . . . 2 '50 grammes. 
 
 Potash bichromate . . . . 2 50 „ 
 
 Distilled water . . . . . . 50 c.c. 
 
 A and B are now mixed together in a basin and beaten up 
 with a fork. Or a more effectual method is to place the mix- 
 ture in a bottle together with a number of fragments of 
 glass. After corking up the bottle, give it a vigorous 
 shaking for two or three minutes until the albumen mix- 
 ture is thoroughly frothed up. At the commencement of 
 this shaking operation add a quarter of the sensitising 
 liquid C, and gradually add the remainder, giving a vigorous 
 shake between each addition until the whole has been so 
 added. The operation must not be hurried, and should be 
 carried out the night before the compound is required for 
 use. After an hour or two, when it has subsided, repeat 
 the shaking or beating into a froth as before, and then let 
 the mixture rest until the following day. The next opera- 
 tion is to strain the liquid through paper niters three times, 
 after which treatment the milky-looking fluid should have 
 become as transparent as water. If the best results are 
 wanted, the mixture should be used fresh, and certainly not 
 after two or three days, for after that time it gets insensi- 
 tive, and must have more of the bichromates added to it in 
 order to make it serviceable. But even with this precau- 
 tion, it would not possess the qualities of a freshly prepared 
 mixture. It will therefore be as well to prepare only as 
 much as can be used up at once. 
 
 The next operation is to coat the plates with this chromated 
 albumen, and I may observe here that the addition of the 
 
48 
 
 EVENING WORK FOR 
 
 gum to the albumen makes the coating porous, so that 
 the aniline colour which is afterwards applied to it will 
 penetrate it to some depth. It will be found that the mix- 
 ture, in spite of its thickness, will flow well over the glass 
 plates — not so readily, certainly, as collodion will, but if the 
 glass be first of all thoroughly washed, and if, moreover, we 
 take the precaution, as in coating gelatine plates, to rub 
 over it as a final operation a little alcohol on a piece 
 of wash-leather, we shall find that the sensitive mixture 
 will traverse the surface without much difficulty. If with 
 all these precautions, the glass should seem to be repellent 
 of the liquid, a piece of card or a glass rod will help in the 
 coating operation. 
 
 Before attempting to coat, the greatest precautions 
 should be taken against the access of dust, for, as in coating 
 gelatine plates, dust is the great thing to dread. It will there- 
 fore be as well some time before conducting this part of the 
 work to sprinkle the dark-room floor and its table with 
 water, and the inventor of this process recommends the 
 further precaution of allowing the steam from a vessel of 
 boiling water to moisten the air, and to coax down the 
 floating dust. Just before coating, the glasses should be 
 brushed over with a badger- hair brush to remove any little 
 particles of dust which may have settled upon them. 
 
 The mixture is poured on the glass, whilst the plate is 
 supported in a horizontal position, on a previously levelled 
 surface, and the surplus from each, as in the case of similar 
 coating operations, should be poured into another vessel, in 
 which stands a glass funnel furnished with a filter paper. 
 The time occupied in coating a number of glasses, if they 
 
1MATEUR PHOTOGRAPHERS 49 
 
 be placed side by side on a levelled slab, will only amount to 
 a few minutes. They have next to be dried, but in this dry- 
 ing, heat from any source whatever must be avoided, for 
 we must remember that in albumen we have to deal with 
 a very different substance to gelatine. Gelatine will dry 
 if a moderate amount of heat be applied to it 5 but if it 
 be attempted to dry by heat a plate treated with albumen, 
 the albumen will coagulate, and the plate will be spoilt. 
 We must therefore depend solely upon ventilation for dry- 
 ing ; but as slow drying would be likely, for other reasons, 
 to lead to failure, it is as well to fan the plates as they lie 
 on a level slab, using a piece of cardboard for the purpose. 
 If in spite of all care in c Dating, dust and air bubbles make 
 themselves disagreeably apparent while the plate is yet 
 wet, the best way of getting rid of such intruders is to 
 blow them by means of a tube towards the edge of the 
 glass, and then remove them with the finger or with a 
 piece of card. The operation of coating, and the general 
 preparation of the sensitive liquid, may be carried out in 
 a bright yellow light, for the plates, like all photographic 
 preparations in which the bichromates are employed, are 
 very insensitive whilst wet, but when dry are in a 
 far more sensitive condition, although still many hundred 
 times less sensitive than the bromide plates with which the 
 photographer has generally to deal. The plates thus pre- 
 pared and dried may be put away in a grooved box, and will 
 keep for a day, provided that no white light reaches 
 them, and that the atmosphere in which they are kept is 
 free from gaseous or other fumes. In this respect the plates 
 are subject to the same influences as sensitised carbon tissue. 
 
 s 
 
50 EVENING WORK FOR 
 
 We now come to the exposure of these plates. It will 
 be as well, before placing one of them beneath a negative 
 in the printing frame, to test it w T ith the finger, in order 
 to see that it is perfectly dry, and if there be any 
 suspicion of dampness, it is a good precaution to rub the plate 
 with a little French chalk, applied with the tip of the finger. 
 The glass may then be placed beneath a negative in a printing 
 frame, and exposed to diffused light. If the negative be 
 very dense or discoloured, direct sunlight may be allowed to 
 shine upon the printing frame ; and the time in that case 
 will be four or five seconds in summer, and about double 
 that time in winter. But with a good negative which is 
 normal in colour and clear in the shadows, we shall do very 
 much better by exposing to diffused light, that is to say, 
 such light as we get reflected from the sky on the shady side 
 of a house. In this case the exposure will be prolonged on 
 a bright day to four or five minutes, whilst on a dull day 
 the time required may be from fifteen to twenty-five minutes. 
 But, of course, as in most photographic operations, this 
 question of exposure, upon which so much of the success 
 depends, is very much a matter of experience. It is certain, 
 however, that if the plates be not freshly prepared — for 
 instance, about two or three days old — the exposure must be 
 very much prolonged, and after all, as we have already 
 intimated, old albumen, or old plates, are most uncertain in 
 the results which they will afford. 
 
 After exposure we may immediately proceed to develop- 
 ment, which, as I have already stated, is more mechanical 
 in its nature than chemical. The plate is removed from the 
 printing frame, and under yellow light is placed in a deep 
 
AMATEUR PHOTOGRAPHERS. 
 
 51 
 
 and large bowl or basin f ull of clean water. In about two 
 or three minutes the soluble part, that is the part of the 
 albumen film which has been protected by the dark parts of 
 the negative, will dissolve. The operation is automatic, and 
 follows a regular course, and in order to insure this regu- 
 larity, it will be as well, during the next two or three 
 minutes, to change the water at least twice, taking good 
 care that no force of water is applied to the surface of the 
 plate, for the image, which is gradually forming, is, as yet, of 
 a very tender character. We cannot, as in ordinary develop- 
 ment, watch the progress of the work, although we may be 
 able to see that a change is gradually occurring on the 
 surface, by inclining the bowl at an angle so as to view the 
 glass by reflected light. But presently, on the application 
 of the aniline dye, it will speedily be seen whether the fore- 
 going operations have been carried out as they should have 
 been. 
 
 If the glass is allowed to dry thoroughly after exposure, 
 it will be found that the colour will hardly penetrate it at 
 all, and the picture will have but little density ; there- 
 fore the colouring operation should take place whilst the 
 film is yet moist, and it is actually ready for treatment 
 directly it leaves the bowl of water, but it should be allowed 
 to drain for a few seconds, so that the surplus water may be 
 carried off. The dye may then be applied to it, by pouring 
 it over the film whilst the glass is held by one corner, after 
 which the plate must be kept horizontal for about half a 
 minute or so, in order to give time for the dye to penetrate 
 into the albumen coating. After this, the surplus dye' may 
 be drained away, and the plate may be washed. This 
 
 ; 1 
 
52 
 
 EVENING WORK FOR 
 
 washing can take place in another bowl of water, and in 
 order to make it thorough, the hand may be employed to 
 gently lave the surface of the plate. The colour acts upon 
 the albumen, mechanically, and hardens it, so that after 
 this application the film will bear far rougher treatment 
 than before. If the image seems to be at all veiled, this 
 veiling, or surface fog, will very quickly give way to con- 
 tinued washing ; and the best plan to pursue is to place the 
 glass, film side up, in a dish of water, so that at least half 
 an inch of the liquid covers it, and then to turn a stream 
 of water from a rose upon it. This will generally clear the 
 image, but the action must not be carried too far, or loss of 
 density will ensue. 
 
 After this last washing, the film must be dried spon- 
 taneously, and then it only remains to varnish it to com- 
 plete the lantern picture. But a little care is necessary in 
 this concluding operation. The varnish must not be the 
 ordinary spirit varnish, which is commonly used in photo- 
 graphy for the protection of gelatine films ; for the spirit i/i 
 such a varnish would react upon the colour, and would cause 
 it to spread over the clear parts of the picture, and utterly 
 ruin the effect. The varnish should be one in which some 
 other solvent than spirit has been employed. Such var- 
 nishes are so easily procurable that I need not further 
 dwell upon this part of the subject. 
 
 The dyes employed may be almost any of the aniline 
 family, but whichever be chosen it must be dissolved in 
 alcohol, so as to form a saturated solution, that is to say, 
 the t alcohol must be caused to take up as much as it 
 will. The best way to gain this end is to put the 
 
AMATEUR PHOTOGRAPHERS. 
 
 powdered dye in a small phial, pour the alcohol upon it, 
 and shake it up at frequent intervals ; if the whole 
 of the dye is taken up by the solvent, add more of the 
 powder, until a residue which refuses to dissolve is found 
 to remain at the bottom of the bottle. Before use, the 
 solution of colour so prepared should be filtered through 
 porous paper. 
 
 There are a great many subjects for which this process 
 will be found of use. A blue dye may be chosen for pictures, 
 which may be thus made to represent moonlight effects ; in 
 like manner, an orange dye can be used for photographs 
 having good cloud effects, so as to give the idea of sunset. 
 But the process will be particularly valuable in the prepa- 
 ration of astronomical slides, either from natural photo 
 graphs or from prepared designs. In a negative, for 
 instance, which has been taken by means of a telescope, and 
 which consists of a portion of one of the constellations, the 
 various stars will be described as little black points 
 of light. Such a negative, if printed by means of one of 
 these albumen plates, and afterwards dyed with a suitable 
 blue, will give the effect of the natural firmament, while the 
 stars themselves will be represented by absolutely clear glass. 
 We might say the same of the photograph of a nebula, of a 
 comet, or even of a flash of lightning. There are many 
 other ways in which the process will be found very valuable 
 in the production of lantern transparencies. 
 
CHAPTER VII. 
 
 LANTERN SLIDES BY REDUCTION FROM LARGER NEGATIVES — 
 CONDENSERS — WATER LENSES, ETC. 
 
 MOST convenient apparatus for reducing 
 pictures to lantern size from larger nega- 
 tives was recently brought out by Messrs. 
 Marion, and is shown at fig. 19, and as it 
 has the merit of cheapness as well as simpli- 
 city, it is likely to come into extensive use. It consists of a 
 box containing a central partition, to which is fixed a lens. 
 At one end of the box — that marked 1ST in my diagram — 
 is a recess, in which is held the negative to be copied, whilst 
 at the other end (P) is a rebate in which is held the lantern 
 plate. The lens is so fixed that the negative and lantern 
 plate will be in the right position with regard to each 
 other and with regard to the focus of the lens, so that all 
 the operator has to do is to put them in their places and 
 adjust the cap (C) over the plate, while he carries the 
 apparatus bodily towards a window, or some source of 
 artificial light, as the case may be. 
 
 It must be acknowledged that without some such 
 apparatus as this the business of reducing a negative is a 
 troublesome one, for it is an out-of-the-way operation. But 
 with this contrivance it involves no more trouble than 
 
EVENING WORK. 
 
 55 
 
 putting a negative and plate in a frame for printing by 
 contact. The outer grooves shown at the negative end of 
 the box are for the insertion of a piece of ground glass, in 
 order to diffuse the light when a lamp is used as the luminant. 
 
 This instrument is at present made in three sizes 
 
 half -plate, whole-plate, and 12 by 10 — the latter having 
 carriers, so that it can be used for any smaller sized nega- 
 tive. All these are so arranged that they reduce the image 
 to lantern size. But I think that the makers would do well 
 bo issue a similar apparatus of quarter-plate size. I have 
 
 Fig. 19. 
 
 had such a piece of apparatus, differing only in details, for 
 my own use for a long time, and I have found it in many 
 ways a valuable help in lantern-slide making. The lens is 
 fixed, and the length of the box on either side is just double 
 its focal length. This arrangement permits one to re- 
 produce a picture the exact size of the negative employed. 
 It was doubtless felt by the makers of the apparatus 
 figured that there was no necessity for issuing one of 
 quarter-plate size, because it is almost universally the 
 custom to print slides from such small negatives by contact 
 in a printing frame. This is true, but where I find the 
 arrangement so useful is when I want to produce a slide by 
 
56 
 
 EVENING WORK FOR 
 
 the wet process — when actual contact is out of the question 
 — and one must separate the wet plate from the negative 
 by strips of thin card. This is always a risky operation, 
 for the nitrate of silver may, in spite of all care, get to the 
 surface of the negative and ruin it. Again, I find the 
 instrument valuable in working the collodio-bromide pro- 
 cess, where, although the film is dry, it is so extremely 
 tender that abrasion often occurs in bringing it into contact 
 with the negative. 
 
 It may be affirmed without question, that a slide is some- 
 what sharper if taken by a lens, rather than by contact, 
 but the difference can only be detected by very careful 
 examination. When I have a lantern slide to make of a 
 diagram which consists of very fine lines, I prefer to take 
 it by means of a lens, so that I may obtain the greatest 
 possible sharpness ; but for ordinary work, contact gives 
 sufficient exactitude. I have before me, as I write, for 
 instance, a lantern slide which has been printed by the 
 contact method. The subject is a couple of ships alongside 
 a quay, and the picture takes in the whole of the rigging 
 of the two vessels. Among the network of ropes are some 
 which appear on the glass to be as fine as a spider's web, and 
 it would be thought that no method of printing could confer 
 upon them greater accuracy and sharpness. But to secure 
 this result certain precautions are necessary. The glass 
 must be flat, and the light during exposure must not be 
 allowed to act laterally. A contact-printed slide should 
 therefore be held in its printing frame some feet away from 
 the source of light ; and even during exposure to diffused 
 daylight the careful operator will, by preference, expose the 
 
AMATEUR PHOTOGRAPHERS. 
 
 57 
 
 frame at some distance from, and presented towards a 
 window, employing what, for all practical purposes, are 
 parallel rays. 
 
 Another valuable contrivance for reducing pictures to 
 lantern size has been produced by Messrs. Shew, and this 
 has an advantage in forming an attachment to any de- 
 scription of camera. For this purpose the ordinary front of 
 
 the camera is removed from its grooves, and the attachment 
 put in its place, as seen in fig. 20. This apparatus consists 
 in reality of an extra camera, formed of two boxes, one 
 sliding within the other, as a help to focussing. The outer 
 end of this box has a groove to hold the sensitive plate in 
 an ordinary dark-slide, while the negative to be copied is 
 held at the back end of the large camera. A tilting board, 
 which can be screwed to any tripod stand, allows the com- 
 plete apparatus to be turned skyward during exposure. 
 
 Fig. 20. 
 
58 
 
 EVENING WORK FOE 
 
 There are two grooves at the larger end of the apparatus, 
 one to hold the large negative, and the outer one for a sheet 
 of ground glass to diffuse the light. It is worthy of note 
 that this apparatus, used the reverse way, can be employed 
 for enlarging from a small negative. 
 
 Messrs. Perken, Son, and Rayment have called my 
 attention to the model of a camera which they are about to 
 issue, which will be of very great service to the slide pro- 
 ducer, for whose delectation it is, indeed, intended. It is 
 shown at fig 21. It consists of a base-board, upon which 
 travels the central frame (a) by rack and pinion motion. 
 Upon each side of this frame — which carries within it a 
 partition to which is screwed the lens — is a bellows body 
 terminating at one end in a focussing screen, and at the other 
 end in grooves for the reception of a dark slide. It is 
 evident that with such a camera as this, reduction, or repro- 
 duction the same size, can readily be carried out. The 
 negative to be copied is placed in a dark slide, the central 
 partition of which has been removed, so that light from any 
 suitable source may penetrate it. At the other end of the 
 instrument is placed another dark-slide, holding the lantern 
 plate. Focussing, and reduction to any exact size, can be 
 carried out very perfectly and conveniently with such an 
 apparatus as this, which promises to come into extensive use. 
 
 But, as a matter of fact, it is not absolutely necessary to 
 keep in actual darkness the space between the camera and 
 the negative to be copied, as the presence of this bellows 
 arrangement on both sides of the lens would seem to indi- 
 cate. Both negative and plate must be parallel with one 
 another, and this is best brought about by placing an ordinary 
 
AMATEUR PHOTOGRAPHERS. 
 
 59 
 
 camera on a base-board or table furnished with rails between 
 which it can slide, and taking care that the negative is 
 strictly perpendicular to, as well as rectangular with, those 
 rails. Under such conditions it is quite sufficient to fit the 
 negative into a space cut in the bottom of a box, the box 
 itself lying on its side with its open end towards the lens. 
 We may also modify the arrangement by using two 
 cameras, one to hold the negative, but having its lens and 
 front removed, and the other pointing its lens within that 
 front opening. 
 
 It may now be useful to review the different methods by 
 
 Fig. 21. 
 
 which a negative may be illuminated for the purpose of 
 lantern-slide making. For obvious reasons, we must exclude 
 daylight from consideration. Our aim must be to illuminate 
 the negative evenly, so that no part of it receives more light 
 than another part. This apparently simple proceeding is 
 not so easy as it at first seems to be, and in the case of large 
 negatives presents many difficulties. There is no great 
 difficulty in illuminating a quarter-plate negative, which 
 can be done with a good paraffin lamp or by a batswing 
 burner ; but in either case we shall not secure even lighting 
 
60 
 
 EVENING WORK FOR 
 
 unless we interpose a sheet of ground glass between the 
 negative and the light-source. And here let it be observed 
 that this ground glass should be fine in texture, and should 
 not be so close to the negative that its grain is focussed with 
 it, or we shall have the grain appearing in our lantern 
 slides and ruining the shadows of all our pictures. Care 
 must also be taken that the ground glass is at a sufficient 
 distance from the lamp to secure even diffusion of light. 
 What I mean is this : Suppose we have a paraffin lamp to 
 work by, and we place in front of it and at three inches 
 from the flame, a sheet of ground glass. On observing the 
 effect from a distance of six feet, we notice that the flame 
 makes a kind of central flare spot, and that the edges of 
 the glass are much darker. By moving the ground glass 
 screen further away from the lamp, this effect becomes 
 reduced, until a position is reached where the whole of the 
 glass appears to be equally illuminated. It is at this point 
 that the ground glass diffusing screen should be placed 
 when we require its help in reducing from a negative, and 
 the remark applies to the various forms of apparatus already 
 noticed in which ground glass is employed to attain the 
 same end. 
 
 In the case of a large negative this diffusion point will be 
 so far from the light that the exposure will be extremely 
 long, and it is questionable whether it is worth while to 
 attempt reduction under such conditions. By daylight it 
 would be easy enough, for we can then use the sky itself as 
 our field of illumination, and even if we are hemmed in 
 with back walls and chimney pots so that no sky is avail- 
 able, we can reflect its light through the negative by using a 
 
AMATEUR PHOTOGRAPHERS. 
 
 61 
 
 piece of white cardboard sloped at an angle of 45 degrees- 
 But if we try the same plan with lamp light, the exposure 
 will be terribly long. I have succeeded in working at night 
 from such negatives, but the preparations have been some- 
 what too elaborate for casual workers, including as they did 
 the mounting of two powerful lime jets with the necessary 
 connections to turn them off and on at the same time. Two 
 lights are necessary, because if the cardboard screen is illu- 
 minated from one side only, that side of the picture is 
 double the density of the side furthest away from the light, 
 and there is a strongly marked gradation from one to the 
 other. The same effect is noticeable in copying pictures at 
 night. Capital copies can be made by gas or paraffin, but 
 two lamps or burners should always be used. A friend of 
 mine does a great deal of copying work at night, and I one 
 day asked him what the average exposure was with the two 
 gas jets he was using. He replied that he did not know, 
 but that each exposure just gave him time to sit down at the 
 piano in the next room and play one of Mendelssohn's Lieder 
 ohne Worte. This is certainly a novel method of measuring 
 photographic time, and one which would horrify the com- 
 pilers of exposure tables, but all the same this conjunction of 
 two arts is pleasant to see. 
 
 A very great saving of time is secured by the use of a con- 
 densing lens between the light-source and the negative. 
 These lenses can now bo purchased at a much cheaper rate 
 than heretofore, because they are in so much request for 
 enlarging operations, and demand has of course cheapened 
 the supply. With such a lens, and a good gas flame, or 
 better still, the three or four wick lamp from an oil lantern, 
 
62 
 
 EVENING W0IIK FOR 
 
 the business of producing lantern slides from larger nega- 
 tives can be conducted with convenience and dispatch . The com- 
 pound condenser which I use is of the common form, consist- 
 ing of two plano-convex lenses mounted together in one cell, 
 with their curved surfaces almost touching one another. 
 The condenser is conveniently set in a square wooden frame, 
 so that it can be readily moved into any position required. 
 The size of the condensing lens should agree in diameter 
 with the diagonal of the negative which it has to illuminate. 
 A quarter plate, for instance, measures between its extreme 
 corners, about five and a half inches. The proper sized 
 condenser to cover it is obviously one of six inches in 
 diameter. 
 
 Many years ago large vessels of lenticular form made of 
 white glass were sold, chiefly for the use of chemists, who 
 filled them full of different fluids so as to turn them into 
 coloured lenses. Lenses of this kind were generally fitted 
 into outside lamps, and it was no uncommon thing to see a 
 bare space above the coloured fluid owing to evaporation of 
 the contents of the vessel. The contrivance was simply a 
 lenticular bottle with a little neck at the top, through which 
 it could be filled or emptied. I cannot ascertain whether 
 such bottles are now made, and few persons seem to remem- 
 ber them. About ten years ago too there were brought 
 forward water lenses of the same character which were 
 advocated for the use of shops. These were employed with 
 a bat's-wing burner behind them, and answered the same 
 purpose of attraction as a light fitted with a concave reflec- 
 tor. Now it has occurred to me that if such contrivances 
 were still obtainable they would be largely used by amateur 
 
AMATEUR PHOTOGRAPHERS. 
 
 63 
 
 photographers, both for enlarging purposes and also for 
 illuminating negatives for reduction. But to come into 
 common use they must present the advantage of being far 
 cheaper than the usual condensers of glass. 
 
 Experiments with hollow lenses filled with coloured 
 glycerine, which are intended for signalling purposes, have 
 recently been going forward under Government supervision. 
 These lenses are the invention of an officer, and, thinking 
 that they might prove useful in various photographic opera- 
 tions, I called on the makers and inspected them, only to 
 find that they were quite useless for such purposes — 
 with the exception that one filled with glycerine which has 
 been stained red would form a brilliant light for the dark- 
 room. The reason of their unsuitability for other purposes 
 is that they are not of the usual lens form, but are shaped 
 like a ship's side light, so that the light from them may 
 cover an angle of 90 degs. This shape permits the two 
 glasses of which they are composed to be cemented into a 
 metal frame, and the whole contrivance is as easily put 
 together as a small table aquarium. 
 
 Alt' ough I am not in a position to say whether or not 
 water lenses have been employed for photographic purposes, 
 it is certain that they have been used in other branches of 
 science. In the year 1872 Dr. E. M. Fergusson brought 
 before one of the Scottish scientific societies a simple appa- 
 ratus which he had designed for exhibiting wave motion, 
 the principal part of which comprised a hollow lens filled 
 with liquid. This apparatus was described and figured in 
 the Quarterly Journal of Science for April of the same year, 
 and I have thought it worth while to reproduce the drawing, 
 
64 
 
 EVENING WORK FOR 
 
 so that those interested in the matter may be able to see 
 what has already been done (fig. 22). It will be noticed that 
 Dr. Fergusson's apparatus is supported by an ordinary 
 chemical retort-stand, a contrivance which ought to be pos- 
 sessed by every photographer, so useful is it in all sorts of 
 ( perations that come within his ken. 
 In the present case the stand is 
 furnished with five attachments, 
 which are clamped to the main stem 
 in the usual way, and which it will 
 be convenient to letter from the 
 bottom upwards, A, B, C, D, and E. 
 A is a mirror which turns the lumin- 
 ous ray from the light source — in 
 this case a lime jet — from the hori- 
 zontal to the vertical position, so that 
 it may traverse and be condensed by 
 the liquid lens B. This lens, we 
 learn, was made by cutting the top 
 from a well-formed glass shade, and 
 measured eight inches in diameter. 
 Its actual diameter must, however, 
 be measured at the surface of the 
 contained liquid, which was found 
 I fancy that glasses like enlarged 
 which are made to cover clock 
 faces, would be the better article to get for this purpose. 
 In the case before us the containing vessel is actually 
 deeper than would be required for most purposes, for 
 here the liquid had to be disturbed in order to induce 
 wave motion. This was brought about by means of the bent 
 
 Fig. 22. 
 
 to be six inches, 
 watch glasses. 
 
 and 
 
AMATEUR PHOTOGRAPHERS. 
 
 G5 
 
 thistle-headed tube C, which, by means of a tap and finely 
 pointed exit tube, could be made to emit drops slowly or 
 quickly. The liquid employed was spirit, on account of its 
 greater limpidity, but water would be used for ordinary 
 optical work. Next above this liquid lens is an ordinary 
 lantern objective or photographic lens, and above this again 
 we have another sloping mirror to 
 once more turn the vertical ray to 
 the horizontal direction, so that the 
 image formed by the objective lens 
 may be projected upon a screen. A 
 still more simple arrangement, under 
 the title of " water lantern," is described 
 in Mayer s little book on the phenomena 
 of sound. Of this I give a sectional 
 drawing in fig. 23, from which it will 
 be seen that the apparatus takes the 
 form of a box on end, but open at one 
 side for the introduction of the light 
 rays, from whatever source they may 
 be obtained. These rays are received 
 by the sloping mirror M 1 , and are 
 reflected by it towards the condensing 
 water lens P. Upon the surface of 
 the water may be laid a plate of thin glass, which will 
 serve both as a defence against dust, and also as a con- 
 venient transparent table upon which slides and other 
 objects for projection can be laid. Above this there is a 
 smaller water lens to act as an objective, which is held in a 
 moveable shelf, the height of which can be carefully ad- 
 justed by the screw nut S. To crown all, there is a second 
 
 Fig. 23. 
 
66 
 
 EVENING WORK FOR 
 
 mirror M, swung like a toilet glass between two uprights, 
 whose duty it is to bring the light rays once more to the 
 horizontal position for projection upon a screen. 
 
 It is evident that in both these devices much light must 
 be lost by reflection. This might be obviated in fig. 23 by 
 dispensing with the lower mirror, and putting in its place a 
 lime-jet in such a position that the luminous side of the lime 
 would be presented towards the lens. There would be no 
 great difficulty in this, for a lime- jet will burn well in any 
 position in which it may be held. The heat from it rising 
 upwards, would tend to cover the lens with moisture, but 
 this could be obviated in the description of lens under con- 
 sideration by filling it with warm water instead of with 
 cold. 
 
 The glass cover to the lens at once suggests the con- 
 struction of one which shall remain permanently closed, and 
 which shall be available in the horizontal or vertical posi- 
 tion. The construction of a compound condenser, consisting 
 of two plano-convex lenses of large size, should not present 
 any insuperable difficulties. In constructing one element 
 of such a condenser the first thing would be to obtain a 
 concave glass, and a flat glass of exactly the same size. 
 These should be ground with emery and water for half an 
 inch on both sides round their edges. The next thing 
 would be to procure a metal annular frame of this section JL, 
 and to carefully putty them in with a mixture of white and 
 red lead in oil, leaving a small hole in one of the glasses, 
 at the extreme edge, through which the lens could be filled 
 with water after the cement had hardened. It must be 
 remembered that unless such a lens were quite ful] of 
 
AMATEUR PHOTOGRAPHERS 
 
 67 
 
 liquid it could not be used in the horizontal position, for 
 any air bubble that remained would naturally find its way 
 to the highest point, and would make its presence evident 
 upon the screen. 
 
 Those who are familiar with the lime-light will doubtless 
 use it for this work in preference to any other illuminant, and 
 the gain in time will of course be considerable. With a 
 compound condenser such as I use, a sheet of ground glass as a 
 further aid in diffusing the light over the negative, and a 
 good lime jet, the work becomes quite luxurious. The light 
 given is constant, and as in these days of amateur excellence 
 one man's negatives are as alike in density as peas in a pod, 
 little variation in exposure is necessary. The condenser 
 should have in front of it a grooved frame into which 
 one negative after another can be dropped, while it yields 
 its image to the lantern plate. By screening one part of 
 the room, and taking the precaution to use covered dishes, 
 one plate may be developed while another is being exposed, 
 the two operations going on simultaneously. 
 
 A word as to the best form of screen to employ for 
 lantern projection will not be out of place. 
 
 In cases where the lantern is being constantly used, 
 whether for trying slides in the amateur's workroom or for 
 demonstration in lecture theatres and schools, it is of 
 importance that a suitable screen or sheet should be avail- 
 able at a moment's notice. This should be made of opaque 
 material, for it must be remembered that all light which 
 filters through such a screen is lost, and the pictures suffer 
 proportionately. A whitewashed wall makes the finest 
 lantern screen — and this is provided in some few lecture 
 
68 
 
 EVENING WORK. 
 
 theatres — the unsightly patch of whiteness being hidden, 
 when not in use, by curtains. But a portable screen which 
 is quite as effective has recently been put on the market by 
 Messrs. Mason and Payne, the map publishers, of Cornhill. 
 This is made of strong cloth, faced on each side with paper, 
 so that it may be quite opaque to the rays from the lantern. 
 The cloth is stretched, shrunk, and mounted with its paper 
 facing, by experienced hands, so that the surface is as flat as 
 a whitewashed wall, and far whiter, for the pigment which 
 is subsequently applied to its front surface so as to give it a 
 finish, is the finest oxide of zinc, a material which does not 
 like flake- w 7 hite, darken with time. These screens are 
 fitted with roller and lath, so that when not in use they are 
 rolled up out of sight like a window blind. They are made 
 in all sizes, the largest ever made being perhaps that 
 which was used for my photographic lectures in the 
 theatre at the Crystal Palace. This measured thirty feet 
 square, and contained, therefore, 100 square yards of 
 material. About forty pounds of zinc oxide was used to 
 give it its snowy coat of white, and the pictures projected 
 upon it w r ere consequently of extreme brightness. 
 
CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 LANTERN SLIDES ON GELATINE PLATES. 
 
 OJSTG after the gelatine process had alnost 
 displaced wet plates for negative work, there 
 were many accomplished photographers who 
 expressed the opinion with great vehemence 
 that although the new system had placed a 
 fresh power in their hands, it was quite unfit for producing 
 good lantern slides. And this notion is one which seems 
 difficult to eradicate, for it is stated in quite recent books on 
 photography, that wet plates are by far the best for trans- 
 parency work. It is certainly the easiest, and on the whole 
 the best for the commercial production of slides, but I cannot 
 agree that gelatine must take a back place. On the contrary, 
 some of the first examples of lantern slides which 1 have 
 ever seen have been made on gelatine plates. And the 
 dealers have at last been converted, for within the past year 
 " lantern plates " have been introduced by most manufac- 
 turers, and are largely used by amateurs. 
 
 These plates may be roughly divided into two classes, 
 namely, chloride plates and bromide plates, and we will now 
 see what advantage each kind offers to the worker. I my- 
 
70 
 
 EVENING WORK FOR 
 
 self have a weakness for the first named, and believe that it' 
 their exposure and development be carefully attended to, 
 they will give the finest possible results, while at the same 
 time they afford a variety of tones unattainable by any other 
 process. The chloride plate has, too, one distinct and enor- 
 mous advantage in the amount of light which it will stand 
 during development, without any fear of fogging. When 
 we remember that the beauty of a transparency so much 
 depends upon stopping the developing action as soon as the 
 required amount of density is apparent, we must admit that 
 a brilliant light under which the least change can be readily 
 noted without any straining of the eyes is one of the first 
 elements of success. A brilliant paraffin lamp with a single 
 sheet of thin yellow paper pinned round its globe, is per- 
 fectly safe for a chloride plate, and will at the same time 
 illuminate the whole of the so-called dark room. Another 
 advantage which may be credited to the chloride plate is its 
 quickness under development, it being quite possible to take 
 several dozen pictures in the course of a couple of hours, 
 provided, of course, that the negatives be ready at hand, 
 and that everything is in due order. On the other hand, 
 the plates are so insensitive to light that they cannot be 
 used for reduction in the camera, and must be printed by 
 contact. The exposure to gas light is far too protracted for 
 quick work, and if the negatives are of the old-fashioned 
 yellow kind, it is almost impossible to work by gas even 
 with very long exposures. Daylight is the most certain 
 light to which to expose such plates, the average exposure 
 being about three seconds. I am aware that many recom- 
 mend the use of magnesium wire, but this light is uncertain, 
 
AMATEUR PHOTOGRAPHERS. 
 
 71 
 
 difficult to control, and the fumes given off by the burning 
 metal are certainly objectionable, if not injurious. So I 
 may sum up the matter by saying that I prefer chloride 
 plates for lantern slides, provided the operator has the 
 chance of making his exposures in daylight. There is no 
 doubt that this proviso will place the process out of court 
 for the many whose only leisure time is in the evening ; and 
 this circumstance, together with the unsuitability of the 
 chloride plate to reduction work in the camera, has stimu- 
 lated manufacturers in offering a bromide plate which offers 
 no such objections. 
 
 I have tried, I think, all the bromide lantern plates 
 which are offered for sale, and am pleased to say that all 
 are good. Some I naturally prefer to others ; but it would 
 be invidious to name any one brand in particular, for it is 
 quite possible that I have not adopted in all cases the most 
 suitable developer for the particular plate under examina- 
 tion. Whilst they are far less rapid than the plates used 
 for negative work, they require care against undue access 
 of light during treatment, and the dark-room lamp must be 
 screened with a red, not a yellow medium. This darkening 
 of the working light renders the attainment of the proper 
 density, as already indicated, far more uncertain than in the 
 case of chloride plates, and the beginner, at any rate, will 
 find that his collection of ghosts, as well as overdone 
 prints, will accumulate pretty quickly. But the exposure to 
 gas-light is certainly a convenience which many will appre- 
 ciate, especially as a great deal of latitude is obtainable by 
 the simple expedient of increasing or diminishing the dis- 
 tance between the printing frame and the lamp. More- 
 
EVENING WORK. 
 
 over, this exposure, lasting, as it does, for at least twenty 
 seconds, gives the operator every chance of shielding certain 
 portions of the negative, so as to get effects of distance and 
 atmosphere, which will often confer a charm even upon the 
 slide from a poor flat negative. 
 
 Should a gelatine positive on glass not be dense enough to 
 give full effect in the lantern, it is far better to throw it 
 away than attempt to intensify it, for it is easy enough to 
 correct the fault in exposing another plate. But, on the 
 other hand, if a mistake has been made in the other direc- 
 tion, and the picture, while full of detail, is too dense for 
 the light to penetrate through the film, the fault can be 
 easily rectified, and if reasonable care be taken, a fine picture 
 will often result. To reduce a dense picture (and this plan 
 is, of course, applicable to an over-dense negative as well), 
 mix a solution of fresh hypo of half the usual strength, and 
 put it in a small dish. A couple of ounces of solution will 
 be quite sufficient. Then in another dish make a weak 
 solution of red prussiate of potash (ferridcyanide), say 
 10 grs. to 2 ozs. of water. Allow the slide, which requires 
 reduction, to remain in the first solution for a minute or 
 two, and then, without washing it, transfer it to the other 
 dish. Watch it well, for the action is so rapid that over- 
 reduction may ensue. Remove quickly, and place the slide 
 under the tap. This remedy is also useful for that common 
 fault, a dirty sky, owing to penetration of the light through 
 a thin negative. In this case paint over the sky with the 
 dilute hypo, and follow with the prussiate solution, using a 
 camel-hair brush in both cases. In little more than a 
 minute the sky will te effectually cleared. 
 
 2 
 
CHAPTER TX. 
 
 CLOUDS IN LANTERN PICTURES. 
 
 0 one will deny that a lantern picture is often 
 improved by the addition of clouds, and if 
 these happily appear in the one negative, so 
 much the better. Sometimes clouds are so 
 buried in the over-dense sky of the negative 
 that it is a difficult matter to get at them. Sometimes local re- 
 duction may be advisable, and if the worker is afraid of doctor- 
 ing his negative with chemicals, after he has looked upon 
 it as finished and clone with, he may with advantage adopt 
 that mechanical mode of reduction which is possible by rub- 
 bing with old linen moistened with alcohol. (This method will, 
 by the way, often unearth the details of a church window, 
 which before had been lost in halation.) If, however, there 
 are no clouds in the negative, and a large expanse of white 
 is the printed result, we must adopt other means to remedy 
 the defect, for defect it is. In the case of a snow scene, or, 
 indeed, any picture where there are brilliant high lights, the 
 sky can be toned after printing by exposing it to light, 
 shielding the rest of the picture. It can even be clone after 
 partial deve^pment — the redevelopment finishing the land- 
 
74 
 
 EVENING WORK FOR 
 
 scape and toning the sky at the same time. But when 
 actual clouds are requisite, a separate cloud negative must 
 be used. The work is by no means as easy as it is in the 
 case of a silver print on paper, for the reason that so much 
 judgment is required during the exposure, first of the land- 
 scape, and then of the sky negative, the actual results not 
 being apparent until development. Some advocate the 
 printing of the sky on a separate plate, and then making 
 that plate the cover glass of the finished slide. But the 
 difficulties are increased by such procedure, for the image 
 of the clouds is reversed. I believe that the best plan to 
 adopt is as follows. First of all select the sky negative for 
 use, taking care that the clouds are lighted from the proper 
 direction. (To make all safe, it is as well to make a trial 
 silver print from the combined negatives, in order to see if 
 one is really suited to the other.) Next fix a 3 -inch mask 
 on the glass side of each negative, so that the lantern plate 
 can readily be removed from one to the other, and will be 
 in register for both. Measure the height of the horizontal 
 line on the landscape negative, and if it be, say, an inch and 
 a half from the bottom of the paper mask referred to, 
 make a pencil mark at that height on the mask which is 
 affixed to the cloud negative. Now give the necessary ex- 
 posure to the landscape — preferably by gaslight, as then 
 there is plenty of latitude — and then (by ruby light) remove 
 the plate from its frame and place it in another frame, on 
 the cloud negative. Fasten it up securely, turn the frame 
 over, and note the position of the pencil mark on the mask. 
 Now turn up the gas once more, and during exposure shield 
 that portion of the plate below the pencil mark with a piece 
 
AMATEUR PHOTOGRAPHERS. 
 
 75 
 
 of card. Keep the card in motion well above the mark so as to 
 get a graduated tint, and after due exposure turn down the 
 gas and prepare for development. Be sure to have at hand 
 a ten per cent, solution of bromide, with a camel-hair brush 
 in it ready for use. It may not be wanted, but if it should 
 be, it will be wanted badly. For instance, the sky may 
 soon show that it has received more than sufficient ex 
 posure, while the landscape has not had enough and hangs 
 back. In such a case, rinse the sky portion of the plate, 
 and paint it over with the bromide solution ; then redevelop. 
 But a little practice with this method of double-printing 
 will render such dodges unnecessary, for the operator will 
 soon acquire the habit of exposing his plates to suit the needs 
 of both negatives. But when all is said and done, the best 
 effect is to be obtained when the one negative is adorned 
 with natural clouds. Very often in this climate clouds are 
 more common than is desirable, especially as they generally 
 hold a remarkable quantity of rain ; but on the sunny days 
 vouchsafed to us the clouds are welcome, from an artistic 
 point of view, at any rate. In lately looking over a set of 
 instantaneous seascapes taken last autumn on the south 
 coast, I was surprised to find that a cloudless sky was the 
 exception rather than the rule. One more word. Do not 
 lose the opportunity of securing cloud negatives, for they 
 can be obtained on days when other photographic work is 
 next to impossible. At the same time, make a note by 
 compass of the direction in which the camera is pointed, 
 and the hour at which the negative is taken. Similar notes 
 regarding landscape negatives will enable the operator to 
 wed any two without a sacrifice of truth. Thus, sup- 
 
76 
 
 EVENING WORK FOR 
 
 posing, for the sake of illustration, we have a picture of 
 Shakespeare's Cliff, taken at 5 p.m., in August, from the 
 Admiralty Pier, of which it is due west. A westerly sky 
 negative taken in the same month, at the same time, can 
 be associated with it without hesitation. The question of 
 altitude of clouds need not trouble us if the camera be 
 always kept level, and the horizontal line be made to regis- 
 ter in both landscape and cloud negatives, as I have already 
 pointed out. 
 
 Most instantaneous shutters are so constructed that they 
 will give a much shorter exposure to the sky than to the 
 landscape beneath, and if clouds be present they will be 
 reproduced in the negative in a printable form. A shutter 
 for the express purpose of producing pictures adorned with 
 natural clouds was invented some time back by Mr. Leisk, 
 and is sold, I believe, by Messrs. Marion. But I fancy that 
 it was adapted more for seascape, where there is an un- 
 broken horizontal line, than for more general work. Tn 
 my own practice, when I am anxious to secure cloud effects 
 I use a shutter which was designed and brought out about 
 twenty-five years back by Mr. Dallmeyer, but which, like 
 many other things, has been of late years revived and re- 
 introduced, in a slightly altered and perhaps improved form. 
 In its modern dress it is known as Place's shutter, and its 
 chief merits He in its simplicity, and in the control which 
 the hand can exercise over it during exposure. It consists 
 of a frame having two grooves, in each of which slides an 
 ebonite plate. These plates are connected together by cords 
 which run over a small roller at the top of the contrivance. 
 When one ebonite plate is down in front of the lens, the 
 
AMATEUR PHOTOGRAPHERS. 
 
 77 
 
 other is raised in its groove out of the way. By a string 
 attached to this upper plate it is pulled down, and as it 
 descends the other plate rises and the exposure is made. The 
 duration of exposure, and the amount of extra time devoted 
 to the exposure of the foreground, is therefore directly under 
 the control of the hand which pulls the string. I have 
 found it convenient to keep this shutter on my lens during 
 the whole of a day's tramp with the camera, for, as will be 
 evident, it is serviceable for any kind of subject which is 
 likely to be met with, from that which requires a quick 
 exposure, to the many seconds wanted when the camera 
 is beneath the shade of thick foliage. 
 
 There is one thing to be guarded against in the use of 
 separate cloud negatives, and that is the tendency to use 
 them for every picture without consideration. In our exhi- 
 bitions a large proportion of the works hung are often spoilt 
 by being wedded with incongruous clouds, and many 
 amateurs seem to think that if there is only a little patch 
 of open sky it must have a bit of cloud pitchforked into it 
 somehow. This is a mistake. In landscapes containing 
 plenty of subject, and more especially in those in which 
 there is a tracery of foliage against a large portion of the 
 sky, the picture is the better for not being tampered with. 
 A sunlit landscape photograph is very often spoilt by asso- 
 ciation with a dark cloudy sky through which in nature no 
 sunlight could possibly penerate. I may mention in con- 
 cluding this portion of my work, that an excellent article 
 on printing -in clouds in lantern slides from the pen of Mr. 
 Lyonel Clark appeared in the October (1889) number of the 
 Photographic Quarterly. q 
 
CHAPTER X. 
 
 ON FRAME MAKING. 
 
 HE amateur photographer who is skilled in 
 the use of carpenter's tools has a great 
 advantage over his fellows, for he can not only 
 fit up his dark-room with all kinds of con- 
 veniences, but he can make part of his appara- 
 tus with his own hands, and thus be independent of outside 
 help. Those with long purses are apt to decry the efforts of the 
 amateur carpenter, and perhaps naturally prefer to call in pro- 
 fessional aid. But in doing so they quite lose sight of the 
 pleasure which a man derives from constructing things for him- 
 self, and the advantage of producing results at the expenditure 
 of a few shillings, whilst others will spend as many pounds, and 
 fail to do as well. It may be said that picture frames are so 
 cheap that it is not worth while to attempt to make them 
 at home. But this argument might be applied to a hundred 
 other things besides frames — and even to photographs them- 
 selves — for no one can say that nowadays they are not cheap, 
 The true amateur will never listen to such pleadings, for his 
 pleasure is found in his hobby and the thousand and one 
 little employments which it brings to him. 
 
Evening work. 
 
 79 
 
 I feel sure, therefore, that many of my readers who 
 have leisure will be disposed to take up the art of frame- 
 making, and will thus be able to beautify the walls of their 
 rooms with the work of their cameras. The power of being 
 able to make a frame will also often induce them to give a 
 welcome present to a friend, and one which will be the more 
 valued because it is of an unusual character. 
 
 As a beginning, the amateur frame-maker should confine 
 himself to the purchase of mouldings, which are sold of 
 various patterns in lengths of about 10 ft. A plain, flat oak 
 moulding, with a gold slip inserted beneath the glass, is a 
 safe pattern for a photograph, for it will always look well 
 on any wall. But the most captious will be able to find a 
 pattern and style to suit him, for the different mouldings 
 now obtainable are of the most varied description. 
 
 Photographs of an ecclesiastical character will often look 
 well in an Oxford frame, because of its cruciform corners. 
 But it must be remembered that there is a stringent and 
 very necessary law against the admission of pictures so 
 framed to all exhibitions — not because there is any moral 
 wrong in framing a picture in this way, but because their 
 presence entails loss of wall space. An Oxford frame may be 
 likened to an octopus, by reason of the eight projections with 
 which it is furnished, and for which room must be found, 
 unless they are at once ruthlessly amputated. Intending 
 exhibitors must, therefore, eschew the Oxford style of frame, 
 or keep them for home use. They are easy enough to make 
 and no one who has purchased one as a pattern, and is a little 
 skilled in the use of tools, can fail even in the first attempt 
 at constructing one. The only point where he is likely to 
 
80 
 
 EVENING WORK FOli 
 
 be baffled is in cutting the rebate, in which will subsequently 
 rest the picture, glass, and back. For this work, as well as 
 for more general purposes, I have employed a very useful 
 little tool, which I purchased long ago in Liverpool, and 
 which may, for ought I know to the contrary, be obtainable 
 in London, but I have never seen it here, except in my own 
 workshop. It is shown at fig. 24, and is known as a rabbet- 
 ing tool. It is here shown full size, and its parts will be 
 readily understood by help of the reference letters. The 
 
 Fig. 24. 
 
 vertical part is round, and made of brass, with an oblique 
 stem springing from it on the right-hand side, which forms 
 the shank to which the handle (not shown in the cut) is 
 attached. C is a set-screw, the duty of which is to hold the 
 cutter a tightly in position after it has been adjusted to 
 give a cut of a certain depth. Another set-screw, b, controls 
 the position of a kind of right-angled shoe, which is hollowed 
 out so as to clamp upon the vertical part. This shoe has a 
 flat side facing the cutter, and it will be readily understood 
 that its distance from the cutter can be adjusted to any 
 
AMATEUR PHOTOGRAPHERS. 
 
 81 
 
 desired distance. Thus it will be seen that the depth of cut 
 can be regulated, and also the width of the rebate which is 
 cut. In the position in which the tool is shown in the 
 drawing, the piece of wood upon which it is desired to 
 operate would be held rigidly on the edge of the work bench 
 or table, and after the cut had been made to its full depth, 
 by repeated strokes the tool would be turned over so that 
 the cutter acted vertically upon the top face of the same 
 piece of wood. By this means the two cuts would meet, and 
 a square rod would be cut out from the material operated 
 upon, the space occupied by it forming the required rebate. 
 By adjusting the set-screws between the two cuts the width 
 and depth of the rebate can, of course, be varied to any re- 
 quired measurement. This useful little tool is invaluable to 
 the amateur photographer, because it can be applied to so 
 many other purposes. Suppose, for instance, that a carrier 
 is required for the accommodation of a plate in a dark-slide 
 which is far too big for it. This rabbeting tool will soon 
 cut the necessary groove for the reception of the glass after 
 the carrier has been cut out of soft pine. It is also of 
 service in cutting the tongue upon each side of a temporary 
 camera front, and for many other purposes too numerous to 
 specify. Its cost is only about one shilling, and it is so 
 solidly made that it will last a lifetime. 
 
 The necessary tools for general frame-making are few, but 
 they should be of the very best quality. Their cost is very 
 little, if the amateur worker be a good enough carpenter to 
 make his own mitre-block and shooting-board. But let him 
 not attempt to make these unless he is a first-rate workman, 
 for if either be the least out of truth, every frame made wil» 
 
82 
 
 EVENING WORK FOR 
 
 suffer for the fault. Both of these necessary appliances can 
 be bought ready made, and I advise that they should be 
 obtained thus, to save both disappointment with results and 
 much loss of temper. 
 
 The simple mitre-block — whose duty it is to cut off lengths 
 of moulding at an angle of 45 degs., so as to form a mitre 
 joint at each corner of the frame — is shown at fig. 25. It 
 needs but a few words of description, so simple is it in design. 
 It consists of a baseboard, upon which is firmly glued and 
 
 Fig. 25. 
 
 screwed from below a somewhat thicker piece of wood, in 
 which are three saw-cuts. One of these is straight across 
 the centre, and the other two are each cut at an angle with 
 it of 45 degs., but in reverse directions. The contrivance, it 
 will be seen, forms a step, upon the lower level of which is 
 placed the wood, or moulding, to be cut. By aid of the 
 middle saw-cut — which now serves as a guide for the saw — 
 the piece of wood thus inserted may be cut straight across, 
 or, by utilising either of the other cuts, at an angle, which 
 will at once render it fit to serve as part of a picture frame. 
 
 The other contrivance, pictured at fig. 26, is the shooting- 
 board, which needs almost less description than the mitre- 
 
AMATEUR PHOTOGRAPHERS. 
 
 83 
 
 block. Here, again, we have a step arrangement, and a means 
 of holding the lengths of moulding which have already been 
 cut on the mitre-block, in such a position that a plane run 
 on its side along that lower step will effectually shave 
 off enough of the cut end to make a clean join with 
 another end which has been similarly treated. I may 
 mention here that if the saw used in the first operation be 
 of the right description, a fine tenon-saw, the necessity for 
 this after-business of shooting — that is, planing — will be 
 
 Fig. 26. 
 
 obviated, provided that the mitre-block is absolutely true. 
 It must be true not only with regard to correct angles, but 
 also in respect to the saw-cuts, which must be perpendicular 
 to the baseboard, otherwise the frame will not lie flat — that 
 is to say, its parts will not occupy one plane. 
 
 There is another form of mitre-block, shown in fig. 27, 
 wl i^h presents some advantages, and certainly it is a very 
 easy one to construct. In this case the saw always occupies 
 the same position in the transverse saw-cut, the pieces of 
 wood, or moulding, being moved to the right or left of it as 
 may be required. The only objection to the use of this 
 instrument is that few persons are educated up to using 
 
84 
 
 EVENING WORK FOR 
 
 either hands indifferently. Usually the right hand is 
 used for guiding the saw, and in this case the left hand 
 must be stretched over it to hold the wood whilst it is being 
 cut. Those who use both hands indifferently will not suffer 
 this inconvenience. 
 
 It need hardly be pointed out that the plane used for this 
 wood must be square in section, or it will not give a true 
 vertical cut when laid on its side. The actual form of the 
 plane beyond this does not much matter, but it must be 
 
 Fig. 27. 
 
 sharpened and set to a very fine adjustment. There is a 
 description of plane made with a single, instead of a double, 
 iron, which dees well for the work, but an ordinary " jack " 
 or a " trying " plane will answer the purpose. Still, it is far 
 better to devote a plane to this one purpose, and to use it for 
 nothing else. A form of plane which cuts with great ease 
 is one in which the iron is set obliquely — called, I believe, a 
 bevel plane. All these different forms are made with the 
 handle set in the side, instead of in the top, immediately 
 behind the iron. This side arrangement gives better control 
 over the tool, as it slides to and fro on the lower step of the 
 
AMATEUR PHOTOGRAPHERS. 
 
 85 
 
 shooting-board. But the instrument which is better than 
 any for frame-making is a good metal plane. It can be set 
 to cut a far finer shaving than a wooden tool, and it has the 
 advantage of weight — that is to say, when once in motion it 
 does half the work by its own impetus. It is not, moreover, 
 subject to the scratches and other evidences of wear and tear 
 which are common to wooden planes. 
 
 There is nothing new about the methods of cutting a mitre 
 which I have detailed. Indeed, I should suppose that the 
 mitre block and shooting board can themselves boast a 
 very high antiquity. And a proof of their efficiency is 
 found in their present popularity with the trade. Peep 
 into the workshop of any professional frame maker, and 
 you will see these venerable but effective appliances still 
 at work, in preference to a number of more modern con- 
 trivances for performing the same offices. It is not by any 
 means my purpose to decry the various appliances for 
 cutting mitred joints which are now sold, for some of these 
 are extremely serviceable. It would, indeed, be wise for 
 the frame maker who can afford it to buy one of these 
 machines as a labour- saver ; but, from my experience of 
 them, I am bound to admit that the cut which they make, 
 although apparently clean and regular, is all the better 
 for a finishing touch with the plane on the shooting board. 
 Whether this want of exactitude is due to spring in the 
 metal composing the cutting blade of the machine, or to 
 the elasticity of the wood when cut under slow pressure, it 
 is difficult to determine. But I should think that both 
 causes contribute to the result. It may be the outcome of 
 clumsiness on my part, but I certainly find that a frame 
 
86 
 
 EVENING WORK FOR 
 
 made in the old-fashioned way has better corner joints 
 than those cut by machine. 
 
 If the amateur should have many frames to make, it is 
 perhaps the best plan to cut and shoot the four pieces com- 
 prising each, and after placing them in position on a flat 
 surface to see whether the corners meet one another well, 
 to tie up those relating to each particular frame, leaving 
 the joining up to take place when all are ready for that 
 stage of the work. By following this procedure the hand 
 becomes accustomed to each operation involved, and a 
 gradual improvement in the way in which it is executed will 
 soon become manifest. 
 
 To make a good join, the best glue must be employed, 
 and it must be used freshly mixed, for, as all users of 
 gelatinous bodies should know, every time the glue is melted 
 it loses a certain amount of its tenacity. It must also 
 be hot as well as fresh, and must be applied to the work 
 neatly and quickly. To glue up a mitred corner, place 
 the longer piece of moulding in the bench-vice in a verti- 
 cal position, and hold its fellow to it in the position 
 it is to occupy permanently, but slightly overlapping the 
 part which is held in the bench vice. The necessity of this 
 precaution will be seen when the brads to hold the two 
 pieces together are driven home, when it will become evi- 
 dent that there is a natural tendency upon the upper piece 
 to slide downwards on the inclined plane formed by the 
 cut edge of the lower piece. Holding the upper portion in 
 the manner described, a hole should be bored downwards 
 with a small bradawl, and in this hole a brad is inserted 
 with the fingers. The pieces are now separated, the glue 
 
AMATEUR PHOTOGRAPHERS. 
 
 87 
 
 applied sparingly to each surface, the pieces joined cnce 
 more, and the nail driven home with the hammer, 
 
 Various forms of mitre-cramps are sold which are used 
 to hold the freshly- joined corner firmly until dry, but here 
 again we can adopt an older-fashioned method with ad- 
 vantage. Cut out of close-grained wood, such as beech, 
 a series of L-shaped pieces, of a thickness corresponding 
 with that of the frame to be made. . When all four corners 
 of the frame have been joined up as described, place it flat 
 on a table, and furnish each corner with one of these L 
 pieces. Now stretch a strong cord right round the frame 
 so that each L-piece is held firmly in position, after which, 
 by twisting a stick round the cord, great tension can be put 
 upon it, and the whole frame is bound tightly together 
 until the cord is released after the glue has had time to dry. 
 
 Even though a frame has been well made, our work is not 
 finished, for some little art and care are necessary in placing 
 the picture within it. Unless this be done well and in such 
 a manner that the air is wholly excluded, both back and 
 front, our labour will be lost. It is a common thing to 
 see a framed picture with its mount begrimed with smoke or 
 dust, and generally discoloured. The reason of this is the 
 omission of one very necessary precaution which should 
 always be observed in framing water-colour drawings, pho- 
 tographs, or any description of picture which must be pro- 
 tected by glass. This consists in sealing the glass into the 
 frame so that no contamination can reach the face of the 
 picture. The way to do this effectively is as follows : — 
 First see that both frame and glass are perfectly clean, and 
 that the latter fits the rebate without leaving a vacant 
 
88 
 
 EVENING WORK FOR 
 
 space between the glass and the inner side of the mould- 
 ing. Glaziers are the most careless of workmen, and it 
 seems a matter of indifference to them whether a glass fits 
 well or badly in a frame which is entrusted to their tender 
 mercies, a difficulty which the amateur will avoid if he only 
 will take the trouble to learn to use a diamond himself. 
 Having a well-fitting glass placed within the frame as it lies 
 face downwards on a blanket-covered table, proceed to attach 
 some previously cut slips of good stout paper by means of 
 glue, to the edge of the glass. This should be done in such 
 a way that the glass is actually glued into the frame all 
 round, and cannot fall out when the frame is inverted. 
 Next place the mounted picture upon the glass, and finally 
 fill in the back with the usual board. A good frame maker 
 will use for this purpose a properly planed and joined board, 
 so that it has no seams through which the ever-present 
 dust can get inside. But the modern cheap and nasty frame 
 maker thinks it quite sufficient to insert a few rickety and 
 very knotty boards, which would be quite useless for any 
 other purpose under the sun. The quality of the board does 
 not really matter very much, if it be, after nailing into the 
 frame, completely covered with good brown paper by means 
 of glue. Dust and smoke must be kept out by some such 
 means, and their exclusion is particularly necessary in the 
 case of photographs. 
 
 All narrow frames, whether they be of oak, ebonized wood, 
 or any other material, are much improved by the insertion 
 of a gold slip next to the picture. This can, like the 
 mouldings, be bought by the length, and can be obtained of 
 the same dealers. It is a false economy to use anything 
 
AMATEUR PHOTOGRAPHERS. 
 
 89 
 
 but a slip which has been covered with real gold leaf. The 
 imitation ones look well for a time, but any scratch unseen 
 at first soon develops into a black line, and this is the case 
 even if it be placed under the glass. This course I recom- 
 mend in all cases, even with the real gold slip, for it is by 
 this means protected from all external influences, and will 
 always remain clean and bright. 
 
 It will be seen later on that gilded frames receive a final 
 coating of clear size made from parchment cuttings. This 
 seems to somewhat dull their appearance when first applied, 
 but the coating is a useful protector from dirt and dust. A 
 frame of this description which has begun to look as if it 
 required regilding can often be renovated by the home 
 worker. All that is necessary is to carefully sponge the 
 frame with hot water, and to once more give it a coating of 
 protective size. 
 
CHAPTER XL 
 
 ON FASHION IN FPA^IES. 
 
 HERE has been somewhat of a revolution in 
 the matter of picture fraires during the 
 past few years, and, as a rule the elaborate 
 frames of past days are giving place to these 
 of afar more simple and less ornate character. 
 In our permanent picture galleries we can still see the 
 scalloped gilt monstrosities which our forefathers con- 
 sidered necessary to set off their pictures. Rut in a 
 modern gallery we see few of these old-time frames, for 
 they have been superseded by those of newer fashion. It 
 must be admitted that some of these are so simple in 
 character that they border on the eccentric. For instance, 
 that wayward genius, Van Reers, who has during the 
 past few years had an annual exhibition of his own 
 works, seems to despise the ordinary gilt frame entirely, 
 and prefers to use a frame made of wood stretched 
 over with coarse canvas and painted with green distemper. 
 Many of his pictures I have seen thus framed, some 
 
EVENING WORK. 
 
 91 
 
 measuring something less than a photographic quarter- 
 plate being furnished with a frame quite nine inches 
 
 in width. This arrange, 
 ment certainly has the ad 
 vantage of preventing the 
 works being crowded, or in- 
 jured in effect by juxtapo- 
 sition, but it is extremely 
 eccentric. Van Beers, how- 
 ever, is not the only 
 painter who rejoices in 
 queer-looking frames. Mr. 
 Whistler treats his pictures 
 in much the same way, and evidently with the intention 
 that the 'spectator's eye should not be enticed away from 
 the principal object. This 
 is all very well, but the 
 idea may be carried too 
 far, and is carried too 
 far, especially by those 
 of our younger artists 
 who are trying to found a 
 new school of painting. 
 The eccentricity of their 
 pictures is often only 
 exceeded by the peculi- 
 arity of the frames in 
 which they are set. In 
 portraits of eminent men it would always be well if the 
 frame could be made consonant in some way with in- 
 
 Fig. 29. 
 
92 
 
 EVENING WORK FOR 
 
 cidents of their lives, or with their studies or works. 
 Thus a portrait of Sir Isaac Newton might be framed 
 
 in carved wood, depicting 
 some of the apparatus used 
 in his researches, just as, in 
 the case of the portrait of 
 another famous Izaak — the 
 father of anglers — which 
 is hung at Brasenose Col- 
 lege, the frame is adorned 
 with rod and tackle and 
 other mysteries of the fisher- 
 man's stock-in-trade. In a 
 recent [exhibition in London, I noted with pleasure that 
 an Egyptian subject was framed very happily in gilded 
 wood, upon which were carved representations of hiero- 
 glyphics, whilst the two 
 uprights on either side 
 were columns modelled 
 from those of Egyptian 
 rock-cut temples. This 
 plan of framing a pic- 
 ture with regard to its 
 subject is much to be 
 commended. 
 
 But we must remember 
 that the large majority 
 of persons whose por ■^ IG * 
 traits are painted or photographed lead humdrum, 
 colourless lives, and it would tax the ingenuity to its 
 
AMATEUR PHOTOGRAPHERS. 
 
 93 
 
 utmost to frame them in a distinctive manner, 
 portraits I have lately- 
 noticed the introduc- 
 tion of a type of frame 
 which is very effective, 
 and which I fancy is 
 of French origin. It 
 consists of a simple 
 flat, covered with can- 
 vas of very open tex- 
 ture, which is glued 
 to the wood and then 
 gilded or silvered. 
 Upon this flat, which 
 has the general ap- 
 
 For ladies' 
 
 Fig. 32. 
 
 pearance of frosted metal, is attached at one corner a 
 
 sprig of some flower, also 
 in gold or red bronze. 
 This ornament has the 
 charm of carelessness, and 
 is most effective. The 
 same frames, too, instead 
 of being covered with 
 canvas, may be glued 
 and sprinkled with rice, 
 or any kind of grain, 
 being afterwards silvered 
 Fig. 33. or g n t . Gilded oak 
 
 frames of various designs have also come lately into 
 
 fashion, and if the wood be of handsome figure — by 
 
 7 
 
94 
 
 EVENING WORK FOE 
 
 which I mean beautiful grain — and this grain be allowed 
 to show well through the gold, the effect is as fine as can 
 be desired. This is, moreover, a kind of frame that is 
 well calculated to show off a photograph. 
 
 Many amateurs who have tried any form of gilding have 
 been tempted to give it up in despair. This arises princi- 
 pally from the circumstance that the gold-leaf used is 
 so extremely thin and light that it is the sport of 
 
 every breath of air, and 
 it invariably shows a dis- 
 position to cling to every- 
 thing except the precise 
 spot for which it is in- 
 tended. Like most other 
 delicate operations, this 
 one of gilding requires an 
 apprenticeship before it 
 can be practised with any 
 perfection, and it is very 
 doubtful whether an ama- 
 teur worker, however skilled, will ever be able to master, 
 without this apprenticeship, the art of matt gilding and bur- 
 nishing. Under these circumstances, it would seem to be 
 futile to recommend an amateur to attempt to gild his 
 frames, and it would be so were ornate mouldings with 
 burnished lines and projections under coDsideration. But 
 the matter of gilding an oak fiat or rounded moulding 
 is comparatively simple, and well within his powers. The 
 operation has, moreover, been simplified by the introduction 
 of the transfer process, by which the gold leaf is kept well 
 
 Fig. 34. 
 
AMATEUR PHOTOGRAPHERS. 
 
 95 
 
 in hand, and nnable to stray away during the progress of 
 the work. This transfer gold is sold in leaves, which are 
 attached to waxed paper, an attachment which is finally 
 overcome by the greater tenacity of the medium employed 
 to stick the metal to its final support. 
 
 I will now briefly describe each pattern of frame which 
 is here illustrated. 
 
 Fig. 28 consists of two flats of dead gold — one forming 
 a kind of inner slip to the other. Fig. 29 is of ribbed 
 dark or stained wood, with a gold slip next the pic- 
 ture. Fig. 30 is a moulded oak frame, gilded so that the 
 grain or figure of the wood shows up clearly through the 
 gold, and catches the light in a very pleasing manner. I 
 may mention that such moulded wood is sold at many 
 sawmills, for decorative purposes, and by a little building 
 up at the back may be rendered serviceable for picture 
 frames. Fig. 31 is more elaborate, because it has a carved 
 border, but the major part of the frame is flat oak gilded. 
 No. 32 is a bevelled frame, the bevel running in two 
 different directions, as may be seen by reference to the 
 sectional diagram. Such a frame can be made cf 
 various materials, so as to suit the picture or the wall 
 upon which it has to be hung. This latter point, 
 although a minor one, is of some importance. Plain oak 
 looks well almost on any wall, for it is neither very 
 light nor very dark in tone. Ebony frames look well on 
 dark walls, but afford a violent and unpleasant con- 
 trast to a light one. 
 
 Fig. 33 has a more elaborate appearance than the frames 
 already noticed, because of tho pattern carved upon it. The 
 
96 
 
 EVENING WORK. 
 
 frame can be made of oak, and the pattern marked upon it 
 by means of a stencil ; the marked portions bang afterwards 
 cut out with a carving tool — no very difficult; matter. The 
 frame from which I copied this pattern was gilded oak, and 
 was in keeping with the subject of the picture which it held 
 — the courtyard of a stately old building. No. 34 is also a 
 gilded oak frame, with a kind of raised wavy bead upon it, 
 which forms a loop at each corner. 
 
CHAPTER XII. 
 
 ON FRAME-MAKING, AND GILDING. 
 
 |]AK, like other wood, is porous and greedy of 
 moisture of any kind. The first operation, 
 therefore, is to give it a coating which 
 shall act as a support for the gilding medium 
 to be afterwards applied to it. Strong parch- 
 ment size — which, like everything else required in this work, 
 can be bought at the gilder's material shops — is the sub- 
 stance to use after it has been melted, with the addition 
 of a little hot water. This size must be strained, and painted 
 well into the wood with a hog-hair brush — the work 
 being done not too quickly, so as to avoid any frothing 
 of the liquid. After being so treated, the frame is 
 set aside to dry thoroughly, after which it will be im- 
 proved by being rubbed down with the finest glass paper, 
 and sized once more. Again the frame is dried, and now 
 it is ready for the coat of medium which is to hold the gold- 
 leaf to its surface. 
 
 This medium is known to the trade as oil gold size, 
 and it is applied to the wood with a flat camel-hair 
 
98 
 
 EVENING WORK FOR 
 
 brush. 
 
 After this coating of gold-size, the frame must 
 be set aside in a place 
 quite free from dust for 
 a period ranging from 
 twelve to twenty hours, 
 
 the time being governed 
 
 — ■ ™" *» by the quality and age 
 of the gold size, and also 
 to some extent by the 
 weather. For during this 
 time the varnish-like 
 fluid gradually evapo- 
 rates, and it must be al- 
 Fig. 35. lowed to do so until it has 
 
 reached just that point of " tackiness " when the gold will 
 adhere to it best. When 
 this point is reached, the 
 gold-leaf — previously cut 
 en bloc with a pair of 
 scissors to the best size 
 to suit the moulding to 
 be covered — is pressed on 
 bit by bit, each piece over- 
 laying the edge of the 
 other until the entire sur- 
 face is covered. Now 
 let the frame rest for a 
 few more hours, and lightly dust off the superfluous gold 
 with a clean dry cloth. The operation is completed by 
 giving the gilded surface a coating of clear parchment 
 
 \ 
 
 Fig. 36. 
 
AMATEUR PHOTOGRAPHERS. 
 
 99 
 
 size, which protects the delicate surface from all attacks 
 of contaminated air, etc. 
 
 At a recent exhibition in London, I was interested in 
 
 noticing the new styles of 
 frames which many of the 
 artists had adopted, and 
 I amused myself by making 
 thumb-nail sketches in my 
 catalogue, both of the pic- 
 tures themselves, and also 
 of their frames, in cases 
 where the more ordinary 
 patterns were departed 
 from. These sketches I 
 have reproduced here, and 
 it will be seen that many of the designs are so simple that 
 they can very readily be adopted by the amateur frame- 
 maker. In many cases I 
 
 Fig. 37. 
 
 have shown how the beauty 
 of the frame can be en- 
 hanced by preserving the 
 grain of the wood, and this 
 grain is far more noticeable 
 if the wood be gilded than 
 if it be left bare. There is 
 certainly, in the case of oak, 
 no course between the two 
 extremes — at least, in my 
 humble opinion. Yarnish, or polish, in any form is simply 
 execrable, and if the wood be left entirely unprotected, it 
 
 Fig. 38. 
 
100 
 
 EVENING WORK FOR 
 
 soon gets dark and grimy. In the case of a simple bead- 
 ing, this does not much matter, for a little rubbing with 
 glass paper will soon give it a 
 new surface ; but if the frame 
 be elaborate in character this 
 mode of treatment is not ap- 
 plicable. 
 
 Fig. 35 was remarkable for 
 being made of rough dark- 
 stained wood without gild- 
 ing. It enclosed a large pic- 
 ture of a cottage interior, and 
 the subject was here again in accordance with the simpli- 
 city of the frame. Fig. 36 is an unusual kind of com- 
 bination; the broad part 
 
 Fig. 39. 
 
 of the frame being of dark 
 wood bevelled back to- 
 wards the wall, and the 
 "ZZZZZ ornamental beading being 
 
 made of metal, and having 
 
 the appearance of oxydised 
 silver. Fig. 37 exhibits 
 another spec 'men of a 
 pattern in gilded oak with 
 a carved ornament near 
 its outer edge. An effective 
 pattern for a wholly gilt frame is seen at fig. 38 ; and 
 No. 39 is a gilt oak frame with raised diamonds upon it. 
 This frame is more eccentric than effective, and as it had 
 no possible reference to the subject of the picture, seemed to 
 
 Fig. 40. 
 
AMATEUR PHOTOGRAPHERS. 
 
 101 
 
 be meaningless in design. Fig. 40 is a frame made of deal, 
 and stretched with coarse canvas, which is afterwards 
 coated with glue and gilded 
 as already described. Figs. 
 41 and 42 are both plain 
 oak frames with hollowed out 
 panels. I copied these from 
 pictures in theGrosvenor Gal- 
 lery, and they were certainly 
 effective. They can be made 
 by building up pieces of oak, 
 by any one having a slight 
 knowledge of the use of tools. 
 
 In frame-making we must guard against over-elaboration, 
 
 and must constantly re 
 -^V? member that, after all, the 
 "5 work must be subvervient 
 
 j~ m to the picture which it 
 
 is destined to contain. This 
 -'- - over-elaboration was the 
 fashion in days gone by, 
 so much so that it was not 
 uncommon to hear an 
 ignorant critic make re- 
 marks about the beauty 
 of the frame, and paying 
 very scant attention to the picture. As we have already seen, 
 there is a tendency now-a-days to go to the opposite ex- 
 treme, and to frame a picture with such ostentatious sim- 
 plicity that the verge of eccentricity is continually reached. 
 
 
 J 
 
 
 ? 
 
 mm. 
 ,<ui' 
 
 \ 
 
 
 mil 
 
 
 ¥' 
 
 Fig. 42. 
 
102 
 
 EVENING WORK. 
 
 Many amateur carpenters are very skilful in fretwork, 
 and useful treadle machines are now sold at a low price, 
 which execute i&ie work with ease and rapidity. Fretwork 
 can be introduced as an adjunct to ordinary frames, and 
 is effective if well done. But I think that it should only be 
 used for portraits, and in imitation of those handsome 
 Italian carved openwork frames which have long been 
 in use for oil paintings. The best way to employ fretwork is 
 as an appendage to an ordinary mitred narrow frame, 
 which should have on its outer edge a rebate cut so that the 
 fretwork ornament can be sunk therein, and so brought 
 flush with the original moulding. The design should be 
 bold in outline, and unlike in character to the fine 
 work which used to be commonly employed for the front of a 
 piano. It should be of such a nature too that the mitred 
 corners will come well together, and not give the idea of a 
 break in the pattern where the join occurs. Perhaps on the 
 whole it is better to use fretwork for little fancy portrait- 
 frames, which are supported easel-fashion on the drawing- 
 room table, and stand among other knicknacks of a similar 
 character. Under the same category come frames which 
 are covered with coloured plush. These are easy enough to 
 make, for they can be cut out of soft pine, and any little 
 irregularity which may be at first apparent is covered up 
 and hidden by the plush. The best cement to use in order 
 to make the material adhere to the wood is a mixture of 
 flour-paste and glue, the former correcting the brittleness 
 of the latter. If glue be used alone the contraction of the 
 plush has a tendency to strip it from its support. 
 
CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 HINTS ON MAKING ENLARGEMENTS. 
 
 HA YE always been a great advocate for the 
 use of small cameras, and have the courage of 
 my opinions in so far that I seldom in my own 
 practice use one larger than quarter-plate. I 
 have pointed out on a previous page the 
 many advantages which the possessor of a small camera has 
 over the photographer who works big plates, and have in- 
 dicated that if the producer of small pictures wants an 
 occasional large one, it is not difficult to attain his object by 
 magnification of the original negative. It is only now and 
 then that a negative will be considered worthy of this 
 honour, and care should be taken that there is no mistake 
 here, for a poor picture will look all the poorer when its 
 defects are magnified. On the other hand, a negative 
 which is full of detail, but which from some cause or other 
 is too thin to yield a satisfactory proof by contact, will 
 generally afford a fine enlargement. Especially is such a 
 negative fitted for enlargement upon bromide paper. 
 
104 
 
 EVENING WORK FOR 
 
 Before attempting to enter upon the work of enlarging 
 photographs, the operator should determine whether he 
 wants a single positive from his negative, or whether he 
 requires a large number, because upon the settlement of 
 this question depends the shape which his work will assume. 
 If one or two copies only are required, the bromide paper 
 process is the one to adopt ; but if, say, a dozen or more 
 enlarged positives are wanted, it is far better to make in the 
 first instance an enlarged negative, and then to print from 
 that as many positives on paper as may be required. An 
 undoubted advantage in this latter method of procedure is 
 found in the circumstance that with such a negative we are 
 not confined to one method of printing, but can adopt any 
 we like, from fugitive albumen to permanent platinotype. 
 
 In carrying out any operation, it is obviously advisable 
 to benefit by the experience of others by endeavouring to 
 imitate the methods adopted by successful workers. But 
 if we apply this method to the subject of enlarging, we 
 are at once met with a difficulty, for no two firms who 
 devote themselves to this class of work conduct their 
 operations in the same way. One or two use daylight; 
 another employs the lime-light, while at least one other uses 
 the electric arc- light exclusively. For obvious reasons, day- 
 light need not be considered here, and it is as well 
 that such should be the case, for it is perhaps the most in- 
 constant source of light that we can employ for the pur- 
 pose. The lime-light is far more serviceable, and now that 
 oxygen is obtainable commercially, it is within the reach of 
 all. The electric light must for the present be discarded, 
 but in the near future it will possibly be more easily acces- 
 
AMATEUR PHOTOGRAPHERS. 
 
 105 
 
 sible than any other luminant, and most certainly it is 
 the best that can be had for the purpose of enlarging photo- 
 graphs. 
 
 If we require to produce an enlarged negative, we must 
 first of all procure a good transparency on glass, which 
 may be of the same size as the original negative, or 
 smaller or larger according to the conveniences which 
 we may have at hand for producing it. In another work* 
 I have described a method of enlarging, which I originated, 
 in which very small positives are employed, and by which I 
 obtain the best results. But the method is only applicable 
 by those who care to undertake the trouble of plate-making, 
 for large chloride plates are employed which are not obtain- 
 able commercially. The general worker will be obliged by 
 circumstances to use bromide plates for his enlarged nega- 
 tives, and he will do well to eschew those of a very rapid 
 description. 
 
 The positive may be produced by any of the well-known 
 processes, but it must not be the kind of positive which is 
 best for the lantern. Exposure and development must be 
 carried far enough to coax every bit of detail out of the 
 original negative, and if a slight veiling of the lights is 
 produced in the effort to do this, it does not in the least 
 matter, as it would in the case of a lantern slide, for we do 
 not want a pretty positive, but one which will yield us a good 
 negative. We have an analogous instance in the case of 
 a pretty black and white negative, in contradistinction to 
 one which is rather yellow than black. The first will give 
 
 * " Book of the Lantern." (Hazell, Watson, and Viney, Ld., 1, 
 Creed Lane, Ludgate Hill, E.G.) 
 
106 
 
 EVENING WORK FOlt 
 
 us a hard positive, while the less ornamental specimen will 
 afford us one rich in exquisite gradation of tone and full of 
 detail. It is better to produce such a positive by means of 
 the camera, and one or two forms of instrument suitable for 
 making lantern slides have already been given. Failing 
 one of these, two ordinary cameras can be called into play, 
 the lens of one pointing into the open front of the other. 
 
 There is a way of making an enlarged negative direct 
 from a smaller negative without the intervention of a 
 positive image, and although this method has been known for 
 some years it seems to be very seldom practised. The reason 
 of this neglect is doubtless partly owing to the uncertainty 
 which is sure to attend first attempts, and partly to the 
 circumstance that certain plates, particularly those having 
 abnormally thick films, are unsuitable, and give poor 
 results. The process, which I will presently describe, should 
 not be attempted unless the lime-light be available, for 
 one element of success is represented by a very long 
 exposure — an exposure, in fact, which would mean ruin to 
 an enlargement produced in the more ordinary manner. 
 
 The kind of plate used is gelatine bromide thinly 
 coated, as already indicated, and its development must be 
 brought about by the ferrous-oxalate method. The exposure 
 must be considerably longer than the normal, so that when 
 the developer is flowed over the plate the image shall appear 
 quickly. Never mind fog or darkness, but develop until 
 the picture is seen as a positive on the glass side of the 
 plate. After development give the plate a very thorough 
 washing under the tap, and then bleach it in the following 
 solution : — 
 
AMATEUR PHOTOGRAPHERS. 
 
 107 
 
 Potass, bichromate . . . . . . 2| drs. 
 
 Water . . 3| ozs. 
 
 Nitric acid (chemically pure) . . If „ 
 
 Dilute before use with 15 parts of water. 
 
 Wash the plate once more after this bleaching operation, 
 and resensitise it by flowing over it repeatedly, in a dish or 
 whilst held in the hand, the following alkaline solution : — 
 
 Water . . . . . . . . 7 ozs. 
 
 Ammonia bromide . . . . 1 drm. 
 
 Liq. ammonia fort. . . . . 1 drm. 8 minims. 
 The plate is now exposed to brilliant white light for 
 from two to six seconds, and is redeveloped with the same 
 ferrous-oxalate solution which was used in an earlier stage 
 of the process. After another washing, the negative is 
 fixed in the usual manner, and cleared if necessary with 
 acid and alum. It may be noted here that a reversed 
 negative will result if the two films during the first exposure 
 in the enlarging apparatus are so placed that they face 
 one another. Reversed negatives so produced would be 
 invaluable if the subsequent positives are to be made by 
 the carbon method. But for other methods of printing a 
 reversed negative is not required, and therefore the original 
 must during exposure be placed with its back towards the 
 larger plate, or the latter must turn its back to the 
 original. 
 
 This process in careful hands will yield an enlarged 
 negative, which cannot easily be excelled, but it requires 
 practice and very careful attention to details. The longer 
 the time occupied in applying the ammonia solution to the 
 large plate the more sensitive it will become. But it is 
 
108 
 
 EVENING WORK FOft 
 
 quite impossible to give more definite directions than I 
 already have as to time of secondary exposure. This must 
 be learnt by the experience which will be gained after the 
 sacrifice of a few plates. 
 
 If the bromide paper process had not been introduced, it is 
 doubtful whether the work of enlarging photographs would 
 have come within the powers of the ordinary amateur, for 
 all other processes by which magnified pictures can be 
 obtained — if we except those within camera size — are either 
 complex in their nature, or they entail apparatus of an expen- 
 sive and cumbrous description. But the bromide process 
 came to hand in the nick of time, and just when amateurs 
 were being tempted to take up photography as a pastime 
 by the ease and cleanliness of working which the gelatine 
 plate inaugurated. The bromide paper process is easy to 
 work, and in no part of it need the amateur fear any 
 difficulty if he will only use ordinary precautions with 
 regard to light access, exposure, and cleanliness in his mani- 
 pulations. Under such conditions he will be able to pro- 
 duce from the smallest sized negatives pictures of which he 
 need not be ashamed, and which will reveal beauties that 
 were not suspected to lurk in the original. 
 
 The paper as now manufactured is so perfect that the 
 amateur can start with the work with full confidence in the 
 material with which he is about to deal. It was not so in 
 the early days of bromide paper, for the makers had then 
 much difficulty in finding a support for the emulsion which 
 while possessing the necessary qualities as to toughness, 
 etc., was free from deleterious matter which acted upon the 
 dedicate chemical coating. Hence it was then common for 
 
AMATEUR PHOTOGRAPHERS. 
 
 109 
 
 pictures taken by this method to present all kinds of 
 blemishes. Sometimes a p : cture would develop rightly, and 
 would afterwards become afflicted with an obstinate attack 
 of measles without any discoverable cause. I fancy that 
 many of the faults exhibited by the original material were 
 traceable to the circumstance that a far larger proportion 
 of gelatine was employed as a vehicle for the sensitive salt 
 than was actually required, and certainly far more than is 
 employed in modern bromide paper. The paper as so m as 
 it was wetted became slippery and unpleasant to the touch, 
 and the gelatine surface was very easily abraded. At the 
 present time the gelatine is reduced to a minimum, and I 
 fancy that little more is used than is necessary to bind the 
 particles of silver bromide together, and to cause the emul- 
 sion to now over the rollers during the coating operation. 
 
 To obtain a really satisfactory enlargement upon bromide 
 paper requires care and some exercise of judgment. A 
 thin and clear negative, of the kind which would not yield 
 a very good print on albumenised paper, is just the sort to 
 pick out for enlargement. Dense or very yellow negatives, 
 which afford no difficulty in the ordinary printing frame, 
 are, on the other hand, likely to yield hard black and white 
 pictures when enlarged. Development can be brought 
 about with either ferrous oxalate, hydroquinone, or the 
 new agent eikonogen. Some say that the last named will 
 gradually displace the other two, but I myself have obtained 
 such first-class results with the iron developer, that for the 
 present I shall continue to use it in my own practice. 
 
 In using this ferrous-oxalate developer, a common mis- 
 take is to employ too much of the iron salt. (I am assum- 
 
no 
 
 EVENING WORK FOR 
 
 ing here that the amateur compounds his own developer, 
 by mixing saturated solutions of potash oxalate and iron 
 protosulphate together.) In developing a plate so as to 
 produce a negative, the proportions generally recommended 
 are four parts of oxalate to one of iron, with a liberal 
 amount of soluble bromide. This will not do for developing 
 enlargements on paper, except under unusual conditions. 
 The proportion of iron to oxalate which I have found to 
 work best is one of iron to eight of oxalate, the iron being 
 added to the oxalate, and not vice versa. Some workers do 
 not care to employ any soluble bromide, but I think that it 
 is a wise precaution to add a mere trace to the mixed deve- 
 loper, for its presence tends to keep the whites pure. This 
 comparatively weak developer will allow the operator to 
 give a liberal exposure, and this is necessary to secure a 
 good black tone in the finished picture. When the image 
 is well developed — and the action must not be allowed to go 
 too far, for the colour deepens in the fixing bath — the deve- 
 loper is poured off and the print is flooded, without previous 
 washing, with water acidulated with acetic acid — strength, 
 acid, \ oz. to a pint and a-half of water. The paper 
 picture must be next thoroughly washed, and finally fixed 
 in the hypo bath — strength, 3| ounces to 1 pint of water. 
 Allow the print to remain in the fixing bath for at least 
 fifteen minutes, and take care, if two or three prints 
 are being fixed at the same time in one dish, that they are 
 constantly moved, so that one shall not prevent the salt 
 attacking another upon which it rests. When fixation is 
 complete, the paper appears translucent when held up to 
 the light, but should any trace of cloudiness be apparent 
 
AMATEUR PHOTOGRAPHERS. 
 
 Ill 
 
 it must go back to the bath until the paper becomes 
 clear. 
 
 A word of caution is necessary here. If the paper print 
 be left in the fixing bath for an extravagantly long period, 
 the hypo will begin to attack the image itself, and the deli- 
 cate details which form the most beautiful part of the 
 picture will quickly disappear, never to return. This 
 destructive action is quicker when a very small quantity of 
 liquid is being used, and the surface of the paper in conse- 
 quence gets exposed to the air while still in the bath. In 
 former years it was frequently my lot to demonstrate in 
 public the method of exposing and developing a bromide 
 enlargement, and on one or two occasions while my attention 
 happened to be absorbed upon other matters, a print which 
 had been left too long in the hypo bath was spoilt in the 
 manner indicated. It is possible that this accident may 
 not occur with all makes of bromide paper, but I give a 
 word of caution with reference to it, and am induced to do 
 so because I have never yet seen in print the peculiarity re- 
 ferred to. 
 
 Many amateurs have told me that they have not tried to 
 enlarge their pictures because they have no dishes suitable 
 for the work, and the price of large ones is prohibitive to them. 
 It is true that the larger sizes are expensive to buy, but 
 it so happens that they can be made at home cheaply 
 enough if the amateur can only do the work himself. The 
 carpentry which the making of a dish involves is in truth 
 so simple that it seems hardly necessary to employ a pro- 
 fessional hand to do the work. Let me now give a few 
 hints on the subject, 
 
112 
 
 EVENING WORK FOR 
 
 Dishes can be made in various ways, and some methods 
 are far more simple than others. For instance, a good 
 serviceable dish can be made of waterproof (Willesden) 
 paper, the edges being turned up and the corners held 
 together with strong letters clips. But this description of 
 dish, if of large size, should stand upon a flat board, so that 
 its centre shall not sag and get out of shape. A really flat 
 surface for the bottom of the dish is, in fact, for paper 
 enlargements almost a necessity, for the wet paper will cling 
 thereon, and the dish can be moved at any angle to coax the 
 developer over the paper without fear of the latter falling 
 off. Of course, dishes can be made of wood, and then covered 
 with a wateipioof coating. A really good dish can be 
 made in this way, of pine, with a lining of mackintosh 
 cloth. Or, if the carpentry be of a trustworthy character, 
 the wood can be painted with some composition which will 
 render it waterproof. The best compound for this purpose 
 is gas tar, laid on sparingly with a brush while boiling hot. 
 This is by no means a pleasant stuff to work with, and in 
 case of danger from fire the work should be done out of 
 doors. A dish so prepared will not be ready for some days, 
 for gas tar has a tende cy to remain sticky. 
 
 In the photographic year-books a waterproofing com- 
 pound for dishes has been constantly published among the 
 formulae, consisting of a mixture of resin and beeswax. 
 This I have tried, and found it difficult to apply and very 
 brittle in use. It forms, moreover, a soap with any salt of 
 soda, so that a dish so prepared and used for a fixing bath 
 leads to mess and trouble. A far better mixture to use is 
 asphaltum dissolved in naphtha, a dish so treated remaining 
 
AMATEUR PHOTOGRAPHERS. 
 
 113 
 
 for many years without alteration. For my part I prefer, 
 above all other kinds of dishes, one with a flat glass bottom. 
 They are not difficult to make, and I have several which 
 have been in use for all kinds of purposes for many years. 
 The sides of such a dish consist of f inch pine, two inches 
 in depth, with a \ inch groove cut along one face half an 
 inch from the edge. This is for the reception of the bottom, 
 which is made of thick glass, known in the trade as 
 
 " 32 ounce sheet." It is cemented into the groove with a 
 mixture of white and red lead in oil, and after the sides 
 are tacked together, the woodwork is waterproofed with 
 any one of the mixtures just given. 
 
 In order to make my remarks clear concerning the con- 
 struction of these large glass-bottomed dishes, I here offer 
 a diagram (fig. 43), which is a sectional view of one of the 
 sides with the glass bottom inserted in its groove as already 
 explained. In making this form of dish it is as well to 
 
 Fig. 44. 
 
114 
 
 EVENING WORK FOR 
 
 place the glass in situ, and to see that the corners will come 
 together nicely before any cement is applied to the groove. 
 If this should be the case, it will then be time to fill in 
 the groove with its mixture of white and red lead, a large 
 portion of which will be forced out as the glass is firmly 
 pushed into its place. This superfluous stuff should be 
 neatly removed and finished off with a knife when the 
 wooden frame has been joined together. A first-rate 
 carpenter will, of course, use a dovetail join here, but I 
 prefer to simply pin the woodwork together with French 
 nails, for should the glass bottom be at some future time 
 broken, it can then be easily replaced by forcing asunder 
 the corners of the dish. There is no kind of strain upon the 
 woodwork, and the nails w r ill be found all-sufficient. 
 
 A still simpler form of dish can be arranged as a make- 
 shift out of four laths placed as shown in fig. 44. It is 
 obvious that laths so placed can be made to form a 
 rectangular frame of any size. The laths should be arranged 
 as shown to suit the dimensions of the paper enlargement, 
 and should rest on a moveable flat surface, such as a drawing 
 board. After exposure, the paper should be thoroughly 
 wetted, drained, and laid face upwards, so that the four 
 edges just lap over the laths. The paper will now form its own 
 dish, and the supporting board can be raised and inclined at 
 any slope so as to coax the developer in any required 
 direction. This plan is, of course, a makeshift, and has its 
 disadvantages, but it is worthy of mention here as a means 
 which may be adopted when no better one is available. 
 
 With regard to the method of supporting the paper in 
 front of and square with the enlarging lens, little need be 
 
AMATEUR PHOTOGRAPHERS. 
 
 115 
 
 said. Any form of upright easel which will bear a board 
 upon which the paper can be pinned during exposure, will 
 answer the purpose, and perfection of arrangement is 
 reached when this easel can be made to travel on rails or laths 
 attached to the floor, to and from the lens. In this way 
 the scale of enlargement is increased or diminished at 
 pleasure. A square box with an upright board nailed to 
 one of its sides, and projecting upwards for four or five feet, 
 is as good as anything that can be devised. The box can be 
 made to run between two guiding laths on the floor, and 
 the upright board will form a vertical easel. The paper 
 can be readily attached to the board by means of ladies' 
 bonnet pins, which are far more easy to handle in a 
 darkened room than are the usual flat-headed drawing 
 pins. 
 
 It may be thought that there is some difficulty in attach- 
 ing a gelatine plate to this form of upright easel when it is 
 desired to produce an enlarged negative instead of a posi- 
 tive on paper. There is no difficulty in the matter ; indeed, 
 strange as it may seem, the attachment of a glass plate to 
 the surface is easier than pinning up a sheet of paper in the 
 same place. By driving into the board three 2-in. French 
 nails in the positions shown in fig. 45, taking care that they 
 all incline inwards — that is, towards the centre of the 
 board — a glass plate can be supported with ease and safety. 
 The two lower nails serve as a shelf to rest the edge of the 
 glass upon, and the single nail above, against which the right- 
 hand upper edge is placed, keeps it from tumbling forwards. 
 This clever little dodge I saw in practice at the Richmond 
 works of Messrs. Morgan and Kidd, who fasten up large 
 
116 
 
 EVENING WORK FOR 
 
 opal plates in this manner during exposure. This simple 
 expedient is of service in another way. Let us suppose, for 
 instance, that an enlarged negative shows during develop- 
 ment that it has not received sufficient exposure. The de- 
 veloper is washed off, and the negative can once more be 
 placed under the influence of the lens, and, provided that 
 no part of the enlarging apparatus has been shifted, its 
 place on the three nails will bring it into the exact position 
 
 1 
 
 s 
 
 mm 
 
 H! 
 
 Will 
 
 
 s 
 
 ! 
 
 IL 
 
 II 
 
 i 
 
 " S 
 
 Fig. 45. 
 
 with regard to the lens which it occupied in the first 
 instance. Partial development has, it is true, robbed the 
 film of fifty per cent, of its sensitiveness, but it is still 
 sensitive for all that, and the extra exposure will quickly 
 tell under re-development. 
 
 Another point may usefully be considered here in the 
 addition of clouds to a landscape the negative of which is 
 dense and opaque. The method to which I am about to 
 refer is applicable to a positive on paper, or on opal or 
 
AMATEUR PHOTOGRAPHERS. 
 
 117 
 
 plain glass, and I see no reason why it should not be ap« 
 plied to the production of an enlarged negative from a small 
 positive. But the principle is best explained if I suppose for 
 the nonce that it is desired to finish a positive on opal plate 
 with clouds from a separate negative. The clouds must, of 
 course, be suitable to the landscape in question, and this 
 matter has been fully dealt with in a previous page. The 
 plate having been supported on the easel upon the three 
 nails, receives the normal exposure, and is then developed. De- 
 velopment is only allowed to proceed to a certain point, when 
 the plate is placed under the tap and is rinsed and drained. 
 It is now replaced upon the supporting nails, and while 
 the half-developed landscape is kept shielded by a card 
 from the action of the lens, a cloud negative is allowed to 
 trace its image on the blank upper portion of the plate. 
 This second exposure having been carried on to a sufficient 
 point, the plate is once more developed, and as the landscape 
 portion acquires full density, the clouds gradually make 
 their appearance. This method of working is most success- 
 ful, and is in daily operation at those same works at 
 Richmond where I learnt the little dodge with the three 
 French nails. 
 
 Many forms of enlarging apparatus are now supplied by 
 different makers, and although they differ in detail, they 
 are necessarily the same in principle, and take the form of 
 an optical lantern with a large condensing lens. Anyone 
 who already possesses a lens suitable for enlarging can, by 
 investing in a large condenser and a good three or four 
 inch lamp burning mineral oil, rig up an enlarging 
 apparatus for himself which will do good work. The best 
 
118 
 
 EVENING WORK FOR 
 
 form of lens to employ is one of the portrait variety, for it 
 is quick in action, and when we are dealing with a com- 
 paratively subdued light, like that given by oil, the expo- 
 sure becomes very protracted if we use other forms of lenses. 
 The Euryscope is but little behind the portrait lens in the 
 matter of speed, and I have found it invaluable for the 
 present purpose. 
 
 In fig. 46 I have endeavoured to picture the way in which 
 
 Fig. 46. 
 
 the various parts of the suggested rough-and-ready enlarg- 
 ing apparatus can be arranged. On the right hand side of 
 the figure is the lamp, and against it is the double condenser, 
 set for convenience in a wooden block. On the same block, 
 on the side farthest from the lantern, are grooves to hold 
 the negative which is to yield an enlarged positive on the 
 distant easel, and on the left-hand side of the figure is the 
 enlarging lens, fitted to a camera. In practice, of 
 
AMATEUR PHOTOGRAPHERS. 
 
 119 
 
 course, all these different parts will require adjustment 
 according to the focus of the lenses employed and the 
 amount of magnification to which the image is subjected 
 Supposing that the operator elects to employ such a com- 
 bination as suggested, his work should first of all be strictly 
 experimental. Let him decide upon the size of the image 
 which he requires, and place the various component parts of 
 the apparatus upon a flat board. He can then light the 
 lamp, fix a negative in the groove provided for it, and 
 rig up a sheet of cardboard to receive its image. The first 
 requisite is to obtain a clear disc of light, which is only 
 possible when both lenses are accurately centred with the 
 flame of the lamp. Both condenser and camera will pro- 
 bably require support upon pieces of wood before the right 
 position is obtained. Next, the distance of lamp from con- 
 denser, and objective from condenser, must be seen to, and 
 when both are in place, their position should be marked 
 upon the base-board for future reference. The tables 
 relating to enlargement will be useful, and can easily be 
 found by reference to the annuals. 
 
 If, from the particular form of lamp employed, dispersed 
 light should make itself troublesome, a sheet of cardboard 
 with a hole in it, through which can project the camera 
 lens, will form an efficient screen, or with a little ingenuity 
 the entire arrangement can be boxed in. A square box 
 with the lens fitted to it will answer the purpose of the 
 camera, and the lens should have, if possible, a rack-and- 
 pinion adjustment for the purpose of delicate focussing. 
 Exposure should form the subject of many trial slips of 
 paper, for it is quite impossible to give any useful infor- 
 
120 
 
 EVENING WORK. 
 
 mation upon the point, so much do the bromide papers of 
 commerce differ in their rapidity. 
 
 Where unusually large pictures are required, the oil 
 
 lantern is not a desirable illuminant, for the exposure 
 required is enormous. In such a case the worker will do 
 
 well to employ the limelight, which can easily be adjusted 
 to the same form of apparatus. 
 
CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 PHOTOGRAPHY BY MAGNESIUM LIGHT. 
 
 OT by any means a new thing is portraiture 
 by the aid of the highly actinic light afforded 
 by burning magnesium. So long ago as the 
 year 1865 it was proposed to use the metal 
 magnesium in much the same way that it is 
 used now, that is to say, for flash-light purposes. But there 
 are two reasons why the suggestion was not taken up 
 with alacrity, one being that the metal was at that time 
 a very costly article, and the other reason being that 
 the amateur photographer was almost unknown, and pro- 
 fessionals were too busy in other ways to trouble them- 
 selves much about a mere matter of experimental interest. 
 Nowadays flash-light photography has become so common 
 that it would not be an exaggeration to affirm that tons of 
 the silvery magnesium powder are dissipated in light and 
 vapour during the winter season in this country alone. 
 It is certain, too, that many use the metal as a help to 
 daylight on those dull days with which all are familiar, 
 
122 
 
 EVENING WORK FOR 
 
 except those who have the good fortune to live out of range 
 of city chimney pots. 
 
 Magnesium was first used as a help to photography in the 
 form of wire or ribbon, and lamps were made in which it 
 could be conveniently burnt. In the official report on the 
 Paris Exhibition of 1867 I find the following reference to 
 the use of such lamps : " The newly discovered metal, 
 magnesium, by the brilliancy and whiteness of its combustion, 
 resembling sunlight, has enabled photographers to secure 
 pictures in vaults and other places inaccessible to ordinary 
 light. It has also been made to supply the place of the sun 
 itself in the solar microscope, or enlarging apparatus con- 
 structed on the same principle. In order to ensure its 
 steady combustion, lamps have been contrived to secure the 
 gradual supply of a ribbon or wire of the metal. Mr. 
 Solomon, in England, exhibits a very convenient apparatus. 
 The trial before the jurors was perfect. In Austria is a 
 smaller but similar lamp for the same purpose." 
 
 The Commissioners who are responsible for this report are 
 certainly wrong in speaking of the metal as being " newly 
 discovered," for its discovery was made at the very beginning 
 of the century by Sir Humphrey Davy. But as that great 
 investigator only produced it in very small quantities, it 
 could not form the subject of much experiment until by the 
 labours of others it was brought within the commercial 
 horizon. Solomon's magnesium lamp seems to have been 
 the prototype of a number which have since been devised on 
 precisely the same lines, possibly by inventors who never 
 saw the original. It consisted of a metal box containing a 
 train of clockwork, which fed the metallic ribbon between 
 
AMATEUR PHOTOGRAPHERS. 
 
 123 
 
 rollers into a spout, which delivered ib at the focus of a 
 parabolic reflector. 
 
 Another form of lamp of about the same date as that of 
 Solomon, is one devised by Larkin, to burn the powdered 
 metal. The means by which this was accomplished were 
 very ingenious, but quite different to the flash method with 
 which we are all more familiar. The principal feature of 
 the lamp was a hopper, or containing vessel, which was 
 charged with the magnesium powder mixed with a certain 
 quantity of silver sand, so as to help it in its flow — hour- 
 glass fashion — through a small orifice. This orifice could 
 be opened or closed by the action of a conical plug which 
 was affixed to a lever action. When this lever was de- 
 pressed, the orifice was uncovered and the powder fell in a 
 steady stream on to the flame of a spirit lamp beneath, so 
 that as long as the hopper remained open, and the store of 
 magnesium and sand was not exhausted, a brilliant flood of 
 light was given out by the lamp. That this light could be 
 depended upon is proved to some extent by the circumstance 
 that two lamps constructed on this principle were used at a 
 meeting of the British Association to light up a refreshment 
 tent and its attached garden. 
 
 Magnesium was used for another purpose about the year 
 1878, when Captain Colomb invented an ingenious form of 
 flashing lamp for army and navy signalling. This consisted 
 of a spirit lamp below which was a box containing a mixture 
 of powdered resin, magnesium, and lycopodium. From this 
 box proceeded two bent delivery tubes, the ends of which 
 pointed directly towards the burning wick. Another pipe 
 was also connected with the interior of the box, and this 
 
124 
 
 EVENING WORK FOR 
 
 was furnished with a long india-rubber tube crowned with a 
 mouth-piece. For signalling purposes the operator had 
 to blow through this tube, so as to make long or 
 short flashes at will and thus spell out any message by the 
 Morse alphabet. 
 
 Soon after the introduction of this flash lamp, which 
 worked most perfectly and would doubtless have come into 
 common use for naval purposes if it had not been superseded 
 by electricity, I made a model lamp of very simple form in 
 order to demonstrate the principle of these short and long 
 
 Fig. 47. 
 
 flashes at the lecture table. My flash lamp consisted of a 
 wooden rod, two feet long, cut from a broom handle. To 
 the top of this rod I fastened with a single French nail, a 
 piece of sponge, and just below the top I bound on to the 
 rod a penny tin pepper-box. The diagram of the apparatus 
 (fig. 47) will make its construction clear. The box was 
 charged with the flash powder, as in Captain Colomb's lamp, 
 and the sponge was soaked in methylated spirit, squeezed, 
 and then ignited. Holding the rod at arm's length, I then 
 gave it a rapid sweep through the air, with the result that 
 the powder was scattered out from the pepper-box and made 
 
AMATEUR PHOTOGRAPHERS. 
 
 125 
 
 a brilliant arc of light. I believe that a torch constructed 
 on this principle would be serviceable in photography, and 
 I threw out the suggestion a short time back in an American 
 photographic publication. The cost of the contrivance is 
 next to nothing, and it will yield a flash of long or short 
 duration, as may be required. With this reference to my 
 rough-and-ready magnesium torch, I will close what may be 
 termed the historical part of my subject. 
 
 The revival of the flash-light principle for photographic 
 purposes seems to be due to Dr. Yogel, who had experimented 
 with a certain powder prepared by Gaedicke, with which he 
 was successful jn taking portraits by night. This powder 
 seems to have consisted of a mixture of magnesium, potassic 
 chlorate, and antimonious sulphide. This is a needlessly 
 dangerous mixture, which will not only explode by heat, 
 but, like other compounds containing sulphur and chlorate, 
 will fire with explosive violence by slight friction or percus- 
 sion. Indeed, a mixture of antimony and chlorate was used 
 in the old days for charging the percussion caps used for 
 small arms. It is not very easy to see what use the sul- 
 phur serves in a flash-light mixture, except, perhaps, as an 
 aid to rapid combustion. The chlorate will fire without it, 
 especially if it have a little carbon added to it in the form 
 of powdered loaf sugar. Dr. PifFard, whose name is asso- 
 ciated with the revival of the flash-light system in New 
 York, advocated, in a paper read before the Amateur Photo- 
 graphic Society of that city, the use of gunpowder with the 
 magnesium, in the proportion of one volume of the former 
 to four of the latter. I have tried this mixture with very 
 unsatisfactory results, and am certain that most of the pow 
 
126 
 
 EVENING WORK FOtt 
 
 dered metal gets blown away without ignition. The flash 
 is certainly far from being as actinic as one would expect 
 from the quality of magnesium employed, and the smoke 
 given off quickly fills a large room, to the great annoyance of 
 the dwellers therein. 
 
 Far better results can be obtained by the use of gun- 
 cotton. The cotton should be of the explosive variety, and 
 of such a quality that when a small tuft of it is placed on 
 the palm of the outstretched hand and ignited, it will flash 
 off without leaving any residue, and will fire so instanta- 
 neously that there is no burning sensation to the skin. For 
 flash-light photography about fifteen grains of magnesium 
 should be scattered over a tuft of cotton weighing about ten 
 grains, which has been pulled out so as to cover the largest 
 possible area. The cotton may be placed upon a saucer, or 
 an old tray, and ignited with a long taper. Some have com- 
 plained that the yellow colour of the flame given by the 
 burning cotton partly neutralizes the actinic quality of that 
 of the magnesium, but I hardly think that this contention 
 is tangible. The cotton is simply used as a convenient means 
 of giving the initial force to the magnesium, which it does 
 both by scattering it in the air, and at the same time ignit- 
 ing it. Whatever kind of flame we use for the purposes, 
 we may assume that to some totally inappreciable extent it 
 may counteract by its colour the actinism of the burning 
 metal. Still, I consider that for other reasons gun-cotton 
 is not the best means of firing magnesium, but its simplicity 
 will always commend it to those who only want to use the 
 light occasionally and may not have more convenient methods 
 readily available. 
 
AMATEUR PHOTOGRAPHERS. 
 
 127 
 
 There is an unwritten law that seems to be scrupulously 
 observed by otherwise unscrupulous traders, which runs 
 thus — " Thou shalt commit adulteration.'' This law is, 
 unhappily, of such universal application that even magne- 
 sium powder has not escaped its influence. Some of its 
 adherents have noticed that magnesium is an expensive 
 metal, and that zinc, which when filed to dust cannot readily 
 be distinguished from it, is conveniently cheap, It is of 
 course only natural that the zinc should by accident get mixed 
 with the magnesium, and confounded with the latter. It is 
 therefore as well that the buyer should be aware of this 
 sophistication, and be careful to go to a trader who is above 
 such dealings. I believe that magnesium wire and ribbon 
 is sometimes alloyed with a small percentage of zinc, so as 
 to correct its natural brittleness, just as our coinage is alloyed 
 with baser metals with an equally legitimate object, but no 
 such excuse can be pleaded for tampering with the metallic 
 dust, which for flash-light purposes should be as pure as 
 possible Magnesium should be kept perfectly dry and in a 
 well corked bottle, for it quickly tarnishes in the air, and 
 when so tarnished it loses much of its radiant quality. 
 
 The metal magnesium, although combustible when in the 
 form of ribbon, is when powdered not easily inflamed, the heat 
 from a burning match being hardly sufficient to bring it to 
 the point of incandescence. Apply a match to a little heap 
 of the powdered metal, and as the fire sluggishly runs from 
 particle to particle, it will feebly glow, without any sign of 
 its wonted brilliance. But scatter the same amount of 
 powder in a suitable flame, and we immediately have a 
 blinding light, and something after the nature of an explo- 
 
128 
 
 EVENING WORK FOR 
 
 sion. We may, therefore, look upon powdered magnesium 
 as being inert until its particles are separated in the air, 
 when it at once becomes explosive. 
 
 It is only within the past quarter of a century that what 
 are called dust explosions have been made the subject of 
 study and experiment. Attention was first called to the 
 matter by certain mysterious explosions by which flour and 
 other mills had been totally wrecked, or set on fire. En- 
 quiry soon showed that these occurrences were due to flame 
 reaching dust-impregnated air, and experiment proved that 
 such apparently innocuous substances as the dust from 
 carpenters' shops, starch, sugar, buckwheat, flour, oatmeal, 
 etc., when in a state of minute sub-division, and suspended 
 in the air, are most dangerously explosive. It is also known 
 that fine coal dust in dry mines has led to explosion where 
 naked lights are used, and it is now the rule to keep dry 
 workings artificially watered. In America, possibly because 
 of the dryness of the atmosphere, dust explosions have been 
 numerous, and have been attended by loss of life and great 
 loss of property; but the instances in this country are 
 comparatively rare. We may reasonably place magnesium 
 among the dusts that are liable to explosion when each 
 particle is separated from its neighbour and is surrounded 
 by the diluted oxygen of the atmosphere. 
 
 Attempts have been made to increase the light of magne- 
 sium by burning it in an atmosphere of pure oxygen. 
 Under such conditions the combustion is far more rapid, and 
 the light is of a most blinding nature. But such increase 
 of radiance is really of no photographic value, for the light 
 given by the metal burnt in ordinary air is quite sufficient 
 
AMATEUR PHOTOGRAPHERS. 
 
 129 
 
 to impress a gelatine plate. I shall presently show that 
 far more benefit is derived from increasing the number 
 of flashing lamps than attempting to add to the effi- 
 ciency of any one point of light, and even in these days of 
 commercially supplied oxygen, it is by no means easy, in the 
 absence of specially contrived apparatus, to burn the metal 
 in oxygen. It was doubtless with a view to obviate this 
 difficulty that various flash-giving powders have been com- 
 pounded in which some salt, rich in oxygen, has 
 been associated with magnesium. All these should be 
 regarded with suspicion — for some of them are most dan- 
 gerous — and have led to fatal results. As already 
 pointed out, chlorate of potash is a dangerous thing to 
 handle if mixed with any compound of sulphur. But even 
 when mixed with the magnesium alone, it forms an explo- 
 sive compound of such energy that if used, in this way, only 
 a very small portion should be fired at one time. The 
 greatest caution should be exercised, too, in guarding the 
 hand from proximity to the flash, for I have learnt by 
 experience that a most painful burn can be the result of 
 carelessness in this respect. 
 
 There is no doubt that for photographing interiors of 
 rooms, the flash light is of very great service, and by its aid 
 we are sometimes able to get pictures which would be diffi- 
 cult to obtain in any other way. It is easy enough to get 
 a picture of a room by daylight, if we are particular to 
 exclude that side of the apartment where the windows are. 
 But in some cases the windows with their hangings form 
 the most attractive part of the interior decoration, and if 
 they are excluded the picture is lacking in interest and in 
 
130 
 
 EVENING WORK FOR 
 
 fidelity to the original. With a flash light, or for such a 
 purpose with a slow-burning magnesium ribbon lamp, we 
 are able to secure an image of any part of the room which 
 we like, and we can, within certain limits, move the lamp 
 during exposure, or, in the case of a flash-lamp, between 
 successive exposures, and thus exert a softening effect upon 
 the shadows. I remember that some time ago a flash-light 
 picture was exhibited which showed what could be done by 
 judicious arrangement of apparatus of this kind. The 
 picture represented a suite of rooms, one leading into the 
 other, and the last terminating in a conservatory. The 
 rooms were richly decorated and handsomely furnished, 
 each one being separated from the other by portiere curtains 
 of lace, etc. The charm of the photograph was in the 
 p erfect focus of every part, the distant conservatory being 
 as sharply defined in outline as the nearest room. This 
 was brought about by burning magnesium in each of the 
 rooms in succession, and giving, besides a separate exposure 
 for each, a special adjustment of the focussing screw. 
 
 For special purposes, such as photographing the interior 
 of a cave or vault of large size, where smoke is not 
 objected to, and where exposure must be of a prolonged 
 character in order to coax detail out of dark corners, some 
 form of pyrotechnic mixture, of which powdered magnesium 
 forms a part, is, I think, the best thing to employ. Here is 
 a compound which will burn well — 
 
 Saltpetre . . . J . . . . 2 ozs. 
 
 Sulphur . . . . . . 1 oz. 
 
 Antim. sulphide . . . . . . J „ 
 
 Magnesium . . . . . . \ SJ 
 
AMATEUR PHOTOGRAPHERS. 
 
 131 
 
 This mixture should be pressed into large wooden boxes, 
 such as are used for ointments by druggists, and the lid can be 
 kept on until the moment when the box is required for use, 
 when it can be fired with a slow match or touch-paper. One 
 or two boxes of this kind will give a dazzling blaze of light 
 for several seconds. 
 
 It is quite obvious that if we reject the plan of associat- 
 ing the magnesium with some explosive or inflammable 
 compound, and use it alone, we must have some kindling 
 flame into which it must be projected. One of the first 
 plans suggested was to use an ordinary argand gas burner 
 without a chimney, and by means of a central tube placed 
 just within the ring burner, but at a slighter lower level, to 
 blow the magnesium dust into the annular flame. It was 
 asserted that this obviated any waste of the metal, the fact 
 of the flame forming a wall all round it preventing any 
 particle escaping. This I have found in practice not to be 
 correct, for after using such an arrangement I have found 
 particles of unconsumed magnesium lying about the room 
 in abundance. 
 
 A far better source of heat is represented by one of those 
 cheap little spirit stoves which can be bought for a few 
 pence, and which consists of a pad of cotton wool, or asbestos 
 held in a metal disc and covered over with brass wire gauze 
 of fine mesh. This metallic pad is saturated with methy- 
 lated spirit, and when a light is applied the flame given by 
 it is both very large and very hot. Magnesium dust pro- 
 jected into such a fiery furnace is wholly consumed with 
 brilliant light. There is attached to many of the flash 
 contrivances sold a wire-covered pad of this description. 
 
132 
 
 EVENING WORK FOR 
 
 I will now point out how by the aid of one of these cheap 
 spirit stoves or pads a very efficient flash-light apparatus 
 can be made. Procure or make of wood or tin a box about 
 two feet high and one foot square. The size is not of very 
 great importance, but the box should at any rate not be 
 smaller than the measurements given. Bore holes all round 
 the bottom and top edge so as to provide abundant ventila- 
 tion, and if the box is of wood, let the top at least be made 
 of tin. In the true centre of the bottom of the box, as it 
 stands on end, describe a circle which should be distinctly 
 coloured or otherwise marked so that its place can be readily 
 found. Upon this centre must stand the spirit stove on the 
 little tripod which is sold with it. Immediately over it, that 
 is in the centre of the top of the box, let there be a hole 
 about two inches in diameter. The inside of the box, if not 
 of bright tin, should be lined with silver paper so as to have 
 a good reflecting surface, but the front of the box should be 
 furnished with a frame covered with tracing cloth, which 
 can be put in its place just before the exposure is made, and 
 after the spirit lamp has been charged and lighted. Things 
 being thus arranged, and the camera and sitter being ready 
 for the exposure, the slide of the former is drawn and the lens 
 is uncapped. Now pour sufficient magnesium powder into a 
 perfectly dry teaspoon. Bring the teaspoon over the central 
 hole in the top of the box, and with a glance to see that all 
 is right, simply invert it. The magnesium is, of course, 
 emptied direct into the flame below, with its particles widely 
 separated, and therefore in the best condition for perfect 
 combustion, and the result is a blinding flash of light 
 sufficient for any ordinary exposure in a small room. The 
 
AMATEUR PHOTOGRAPHERS. 
 
 133 
 
 object of the tracing cloth screen is to diffuse and soften the 
 light, and to take away those very strong contrasts of light 
 and shade which otherwise make themselves objectionable 
 m this kind of work. A reflecting surface should of 
 course be used on the other side of the figure — as in daylight 
 portraiture in an ordinary room. This apparatus would be 
 brought to the greatest perfection if it were furnished with 
 a chimney by which the smoke could be carried to the open 
 air. 
 
 An ingenious method of firing the magnesium powder in a 
 lantern of the kind which I have described is given by an 
 xlmerican writer. This method does away with the necessity 
 for a spirit stove, but is only available where there is gas. It has 
 the disadvantage of employing an explosive in the shape of 
 potassic chlorate, but as this is not associated with any sul- 
 phur compound, it is not unsafe, provided that caution is 
 exercised in its use. The mixture suggested is magnesium 
 one part by measure, chlorate two parts. The chlorate 
 should be powdered separately and mixed thoroughly with 
 the metal, and the quantity used for one charge should not 
 exceed sixty grains, unless under exceptional circumstances. 
 The mixture can be fired by a long taper, but the plan 
 given for ignition by gas is more convenient. In the lan- 
 tern box is suspended a square of wire gauze, or it may be 
 supported on the ring of a retort stand, and on this gauze, 
 upon a square of tissue paper, is placed the charge of mag- 
 nesium and chlorate. Eight inches or more below this gauze 
 is brought a gas pipe crowned with one of those pin burners 
 used in tobacconists' shops, which when turned up to the full 
 make a long thin flame several inches in height. This flame 
 
134 
 
 EVENING WORK FOR 
 
 is governed by a tap within easy reach of the operator, and 
 at the commencement of proceedings the gas is turned down 
 to the blue. At the right moment the tap is turned fully 
 on, and at the same time the magnesium is fired and the 
 flash produced. 
 
 The contrivances already before the public for the pro- 
 duction of flash-light pictures are almost as numerous as in- 
 stantaneous shutters, and they present almost as much 
 
 n 
 
 Fig. 48. 
 
 variety as that much invented contrivance. Some of these 
 are mere toys, and are of no use at all unless they can be 
 fired in series. As a rule those which are of the simplest 
 construction are the best to adopt. One or two of these I 
 will now notice. 
 
 Messrs. Beck, of Cornhill, supply the contrivance shown 
 at fig. 48. This consists of a glass tube with a funnel open- 
 
 Fig. 49. 
 
 ing at the top for the admission of the magnesium powder, and 
 a little spirit furnace in front, which is attached to the tube 
 by a helix of wire. This is fired by the help of a pneumatic 
 ball and tube. 
 
AMATEUR PHOTOGRAPHERS. 
 
 135 
 
 Messrs. Hinton have introduced the flash-light arrange- 
 ment shown at fig. 49. Here we have the same idea carried 
 out in vulcanite, the opening for the powder being covered 
 when the apparatus is in use, by the sliding sleeve/. It is 
 evident that both these contrivances could be multiplied, and 
 that several could be actuated by a puff of air from one 
 source. 
 
 In Leisk's centrifugal flash lamp we have a carefully 
 thought-out and very efficient lamp, the construction of 
 
 Fig. 50. 
 
 which can be understood by reference to the sectional dia- 
 gram, fig. 50. The lamp is cylindrical in form, and the 
 spirit and wick are held in an annular well, DD. The wick 
 is of indestructible asbestos, and just enough spirit is poured 
 into the funnel W to soak it well. When this wick is lighted, 
 the flame forms a ring-shaped wall of fire, into which the 
 magnesium is projected from the centre in a novel but effec- 
 tive manner. Z is a round table of metal, the supporting stem 
 of which has at its base a coiled spring, P, and a horizontal 
 
136 
 
 EVENING WORK FOR 
 
 rachet wheel, the teeth of which engage a detent which is 
 connected with a piston B. This piston is furnished with 
 an outlet tube to which an ordinary pneumatic ball is 
 attached. The apparatus is set for action by giving the 
 table Z one or two turns with the finger and thumb, so as 
 to wind up the spring ; after which a small charge of 
 magnesium powder is scattered on the table and the 
 annular wick is lighted. When the pneumatic ball is 
 pressed, the detent releases the rachet, the table spins 
 round, and by centrifugal force scatters the powder into the 
 wick which surrounds it, producing a large volume of light 
 with a very quick flash. 
 
 Some of the best photographs which I have seen, and 
 which cannot be distinguished from pictures taken by day- 
 light, have been executed by means of a lamp, or rather 
 by a congregation of lamps, made by Messrs. Marion — 
 who also supply that which I have already described. 
 These pictures were taken by the aid of four lamps, 
 supported on the ingenious form of stand patented by Mr. 
 Slingsby, of Lincoln. This stand can be raised or lowered 
 to any convenient height above the sitter's head, and it is 
 fitted with horizontal arms, which support the lamps in any 
 desired position. In order that the lamps may all be fired 
 at the same instant, the tube from each is connected with one 
 pneumatic ball ( W) of large size, which has a nozzle (X) like 
 that shown at fig. 51, with quadruple nipples. 
 
 This simpler and cheaper form of lamp does not perhaps 
 give such a mass of flame as that just described. As figure 
 52 shows, it follows the design of one already referred 
 to, in which a charge of powder is projected into the centre 
 
AMATEUR PHOTOGRAPHERS. 
 
 137 
 
 of an argand gas burner. Here, however, the flame, 
 although a circular one, is produced by a spirit lamp. The 
 spirit is contained in the small annular chamber NN, and 
 burns at the wick K. BB is a bent pipe which has its 
 upper orifice at a lower level than the wick, and it is 
 charged with magnesium powder by the temporary aid of 
 a small tin funnel before the lamp is lighted. The lower 
 
 Gpening of the pipe B, which emerges from the side of the 
 lamp, is connected with an india-rubber tube and pneumatic 
 ball, and the compressed air from the latter is sufficient to 
 propel the powder into the flame. 
 
 Some time ago I devised a cheap experimental flash light 
 apparatus by supporting a common clay tobacco pipe in 
 such a way that its bowl stood upright over the centre of 
 one of the little spirit stoves already mentioned. Before 
 lighting the spirit I put a charge of magnesium inside the 
 bowl of the pipe, and fastened a pneumatic bulb and tube 
 to its mouthpiece. Such an arrangement answers well, if 
 
 .Fig. 51. 
 
 Fig. 52. 
 
138 
 
 EVENING WORK FOE 
 
 a pipe can be procured with sufficiently wide a bore to admit 
 sufficient air to expel the powder. I see that a contributor 
 to an American journal has recently still more simplified 
 the same idea by wrapping round the bowl of such a pipe 
 a pledget of absorbent cotton, which he soaks in spirit, so 
 that no stove is necessary. 
 
 It must be admitted that flash-light portraits have too often 
 a very unnatural appearance, and that the eyes in particular 
 seem to suffer. One reason for this is that the flash is so 
 unexpected in its brilliancy that the subject involuntarily 
 closes his eyes at the moment of exposure, or at any rate as 
 quickly as he can. The result is that, quick as that exposure 
 seems, it has actually registered the image of the open eye 
 as well as a superposed image of the closed eye. The effect 
 is by no means pleasing, and gives a generally hazy appear- 
 ance to the eye, which is apt to make the censorious ask 
 whether before that picture was taken, the original had been 
 dining " not wisely but too well." For this reason it is as 
 well to direct the subject not to look at or near the source of 
 light, nor directly towards the camera. It is always a good 
 plan also, to make a preliminary flash without taking a 
 photograph, so that the sitter or sitters will know 
 what to expect, when the camera is ultimately used. Another 
 reason why the eye suffers in these pictures is due no doubt 
 to the circumstance that the pupil is naturally much more 
 dilated than it is in daylight, and that the controlling muscles 
 of the iris have not time to act when the bright flash comes. 
 We thus photograph the eye under unusual conditions, and 
 need not wonder that it looks unnatural. While on the 
 subject of the eye it may be as well to point out here that 
 
AMATEUR PHO TOGRAPHE11S. 
 
 139 
 
 it is injudicious to subject it to the strain of these flash ex- 
 posures more than is absolutely necessary. It is a wise pre- 
 caution to wear a pair of smoke glasses, or those dark blue 
 spectacles which, are used by cautious electricians who have 
 much to do with the brilliant arc-light. 
 
 There should be no difficulty in focussing for a flash-light 
 picture if the room be lighted by gas. I am in favour of all 
 the available gas lights being kept full on both before and 
 during exposure, if only to prevent the sitters blinking their 
 eyes when the flash comes, as they are likely to do when a 
 sudden flood of light comes immediately after darkness. If 
 there is not much light available, a candle can be held by 
 the sitter in the same plane with his face, and its flame can 
 be sharply focussed on the camera screen. When all is 
 ready the slide can be drawn and the lens uncapped before 
 the operator makes the flash, the slight preliminary expo- 
 sure producing no effect upon the plate. 
 
 With regard to pose of sitter and other arrangements, 
 let them be the same as those generally adopted for portrai- 
 ture in an ordinary room, and let the magnesium lamp be 
 regarded as a window from which the light is to come. On 
 the other side of the figure some kind of reflecting surface 
 must be provided, and nothing is better than a sheet, unless 
 it be a screen made for the purpose. I have used such a 
 screen with good effect, and it consists of a wooden frame 
 stretched over with canvas, upon which is pasted white 
 lining paper. The real purpose of the screen was for trying 
 lantern pictures in a small room, so it will be seen that 
 it answers a double purpose. 
 
 What may be called a natural background may easily be 
 
140 
 
 EVENING WORK FOR 
 
 arranged in a private room, and any number of accessories 
 in the shape of flowers on fancy tables, Japanese screens, 
 books and pictures are always available. Care must be 
 taken that the strong shadow thrown by the magnesium 
 light does not fall upon any portion of the background which 
 will be included in the picture. 
 
 There is no particular object in taking portraits by flash- 
 light that can be easily taken by daylight ; it should be re- 
 served for such subjects as cannot readily be obtained, in 
 the absence of a proper studio, by more ordinary means. 
 Children playing with pet animals, or in their night gear, or 
 even in their bath form subjects of the kind which are 
 attainable by flash-light. Pet animals too can be perhaps 
 better taken by flash-light than by other means. Family 
 groups engaged at their common amusements, gathered 
 round the piano, playing chess, etc., will also form interest- 
 ing subjects for this kind of work. The ingenious photographer 
 will quickly think of suitable subjects, and will gladly avail 
 himself of a means of prosecuting his favourite pursuit in 
 the absence of daylight. 
 
 In photographing a group of persons, such as one may 
 have the opportunity of doing at a fancy ball, or on the occa- 
 sion of some private theatricals, a simple reflector is not 
 enough, nor is one flash apparatus suflicient. The following 
 plan will be found both convenient and effective. Employ 
 apparatus of such a kind that a puff of air, after the kind- 
 ling flame is lighted, will give the requisite flash. Let an 
 apparatus of this kind be arranged on either side of the 
 groups, both being at a height above the level of the sitters' 
 heads, and let each be embraced by a sheet of tin bent into 
 
AMATEUR PHOTOGRAPHERS. 
 
 141 
 
 a quarter circle. Now connect each apparatus by means of 
 an indiarubber tube, the two tubes meeting on a T piece of 
 quarter-inch bore which can be bought at any gasfitter's. 
 Let the T piece lie on the floor with its still remaining open 
 branch pointing towards the camera. Furnish this with 
 another piece of tube long enough to reach to the back of the 
 position occupied by the camera, and pull its further end 
 over the nozzle of a common pair of bellows. All that now 
 remains to be done is to light the kindling flames, see that 
 each apparatus is charged with powder, and at the right 
 moment give a puff with the bellows. By this means both 
 charges will be inflamed at precisely the same moment, and 
 the light given will be found to be quite sufficient to produce 
 a properly exposed negative. 
 
 I have not much to say regarding the development of a 
 flash-light picture. I am certainly in favour of using as 
 little pyro as possible, and not stinting the ammonia. Do not 
 be afraid of the picture appearing quickly under such circum- 
 stances. Your endeavour must be to avoid hard chalk and 
 soot contrasts, and these you will undoubtedly get if you use 
 much pyro and are chary with your alkali. When you 
 find that you have plenty of detail but that there is a want 
 of density in your negative, then is the time to add more 
 pyro, which will gradually give your picture the density 
 which has been lacking. In cold weather be careful to use 
 tepid water for making up your solutions, and you will 
 quickly find a benefit in so doing. 
 
 10 
 
CHAPTER XV. 
 
 THE ELECTRIC LIGHT. 
 
 HE electric light, after many a vain effort 
 to bring itself into prominence, has at last 
 come within the domain of things practical, 
 and in a short time we may hope to have 
 it laid on to our houses much in the same 
 way that gas has been supplied to us for so many years. 
 It behoves us therefore to direct attention to the coming 
 change, and to point out how far the new lamps when 
 exchanged for old ones will possibly cause modifications 
 and improvements in our daily work. It may also be 
 desirable to indicate by what means and how far is it 
 practicable for an amateur to use the electric light 
 independently of any supply from outside his own premises. 
 A brief review of what has been done in the past to 
 gradually bring the electric light to its present perfection 
 will be necessary as a prelude to my remarks. 
 
 The first experimental production of the electric light 
 
EVENING WOIIK, ETC. 
 
 143 
 
 was due to Mr., afterwards Sir Humphrey, Davy, at the 
 beginning of this century. At that time a simple form of 
 electric battery, founded on Yolta'spile, only was known, bat 
 sufficient interest was taken in the mysterious kind of 
 power which it exhibited to induce " a few zealous culti- 
 vators and patrons of science," as Sir Humphrey called 
 them, to subscribe towards the construction of a powerful 
 combination of battery cells, which, although capable of 
 intensely brilliant results for a short time, would be 
 stigmatised in these days as cumbrous and imperfect to the 
 last degree. This huge battery consisted of no fewer than 
 two thousand plates of metal — contained in porcelain cells 
 — and exhibiting a total surface of 128,000 square inches. 
 To the terminals of this battery were fastened copper wires, 
 and it was when these wires, furnished with charcoal points, 
 were brought together that the most brilliant effects were 
 produced. Here is part of Sir Humphrey's description of 
 the experiment : " More than half the volume of the char- 
 coal became ignited to whiteness, and, by withdrawing the 
 points from each other, a constant discharge took place 
 through the heated air in a space equal at least to four 
 inches ; producing a most brilliant ascending arch of light, 
 broad and conical in form in the middle. When any sub- 
 stance was introduced into this arch, it instantly became 
 ignited. Platinum melted as readily in it as wax in the 
 flame of a common candle ; quartz, the sapphire, magnesia, 
 lime, all entered into fusion ; fragments of diamond, and 
 points of charcoal and plumbago, rapidly disappeared, and 
 seemed to evaporate in it, even when the connection was 
 made in a receiver exhausted by the air-pump" 
 
144 
 
 EVENING WORK FOR 
 
 In the above quotation there are two points which should 
 be particularly noted, and which I have italicised. The 
 first is the word arch. In Davy's experiment the two char- 
 coal points, or rods of carbon, were held horizontally, and 
 after being allowed to touch were separated by some inches 
 while the so-called arch played between them. The arched 
 form was doubtless due to ascending currents of air caused 
 by the great heat, and the phenomenon is interesting as 
 pointing to the origin of the word arc-light, which is still in 
 common use to denote that species of electric regulator 
 where two carbon rods are used as terminals. 
 
 The other point which I have underlined is important in 
 indicating that the electric light is different from ordinary 
 combustion in being quite independent of any oxygen 
 supply. We read that when the carbon rods were placed 
 under the exhausted receiver of an air pump, the carbon 
 rods glowed with even greater brilliance. In the present 
 day the little pear-shaped glow lamps, which are now be- 
 coming so common for interior illumination, depend for 
 their efficiency on the circumstance that the delicate fila- 
 ment within them can shed its radiance independently of 
 any air supply. Indeed, these little globes are exhausted 
 of air to the greatest possible extent, and only under such 
 circumstances will they continue to be serviceable. 
 
 From Davy's time up to within recent years many 
 attempts have been made to bring the electric light into 
 competition with the older illuminants, but as long as it 
 was dependent upon the current from any form of primary 
 battery, all rivalry, on account of the excessive cost of 
 electricity under such conditions, was quite out of the ques 
 
AMATEUR PHOTOGRAPHERS. 
 
 145 
 
 tion. For occasional experimental use the electric light was 
 seen now and then, and sufficient interest in it was kept up 
 to induce inventors to produce various forms of lamps, or 
 regulators, as they are called. These regulators act simply as 
 supports for the two carbon pencils between which the arc 
 light is produced, and, although they present much variety 
 in details of construction, they have a great family re- 
 semblance. In all of them certain conditions have to be 
 complied with, under which only can the arc light be pro- 
 duced. It is essential in the first place that the carbon 
 pencils should actually touch. Directly the current passes 
 they must spring apart for a certain distance, when between 
 them appears the brilliant arc, which is in reality part of 
 the current still playing between the separated carbons. 
 Should the light be from any cause extinguished, the 
 carbons must again come together and be separated before 
 it can be re-established. These automatic movements of 
 the carbon holders upon the regulators are generally brought 
 about by the ingenious use of electro-magnets, which are 
 controlled by the same current which furnishes energy for 
 the light. Some regulators, and especially those of more 
 recent introduction, are far better than others, and it must 
 be evident to the most careless observers that the brilliant 
 lights now in occasional use act with far more steadiness 
 than those of a few years back. But it is only right to say 
 that this absence of flickering is in part due to the better 
 form of carbon pencil now in use. 
 
 Common charcoal is much too soft a form of carbon to be 
 of any practical use for electric lighting, although it served 
 I)avy for his experimental lamp. The pioneer workers with 
 
146 
 
 EVENING WORK FOR 
 
 the light were quick to appreciate the need of something less 
 fragile, and the recognised material for regulators came to 
 be the harder parts of the coke found in gas retorts, which 
 were sawn into square pencils of half -inch section. But 
 coke is by no means a pure form of carbon, and is con- 
 taminated with certain earthy impurities, which, under the 
 intense heat of the electric arc, would spit and sputter, and 
 cause the light to have those irregularities in working 
 which used to be so noticeable. When, therefore, a few 
 years ago the electric system gave signs that at last it could 
 compete with gas illumination, the attention of its advocates 
 was at once turned to the improvement of the carbon 
 pencils. The old method was discarded, and the pencils 
 were manufactured by a process which ensured homogeneity 
 and purity of material. 
 
 The process adopted at this time is still followed, but of 
 course experience has induced modifications and improve- 
 ments. The materials employed comprise lampblack, sugar, 
 and other forms of carbon due to the decomposition of tar, 
 resin, etc., which are intimately mixed, and made into a 
 paste with gum or other binding material. This paste is 
 formed into sticks of various sizes in iron moulds, which 
 are subsequently exposed to a red heat until all the 
 materials used are thoroughly coked. The product is a per- 
 fectly smooth, close-grained, and hard cylindrical pencil, 
 which gives a metallic ring when struck. These carbons 
 are sometimes coated with copper so as to increase their 
 conducting power. It will be understood that these pencils 
 are used only for what is known as the arc-light system of 
 electric illumination, 
 
AMATEUR PHOTOGRAPHERS. 
 
 147 
 
 But the other method of producing light by means of 
 electricity has long had an attraction for inventors, although 
 it cannot claim such a pedigree as that already mentioned. 
 The incandescent system dates from the year 1845, when 
 E. A. King took out a patent for a lamp which was worked 
 upon an entirely new system. Of recent years this specifi- 
 cation of King's has been consulted by experts perhaps 
 mire than any other document in the Patent Office, and in 
 truth it would seem to tread heavily on the heels of certain 
 modern inventors. The incandescent system is based upon 
 the fact that when a thin wire of metal or carbon is placod 
 within the circuit of a suitable battery or other source of 
 electricity, it offers such resistance to the current that 
 heat is generated, and it becomes incandescent. When 
 this incandescence is brought about in a vacuum, the light 
 given out is much increased, and the material, protected 
 from union with the oxygen in the atmosphere, does not 
 so soon drop to pieces. In King's first lamp he used a 
 ribbon of platinum foil between two electrodes, but in a 
 later form he employed a stick of carbon in a glass receiver 
 exhausted of air. 
 
CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 LIGHT BY INCANDESCENCE. 
 
 T is always an interesting operation to trace 
 the gradual evolution of any particular 
 invention. First we have the germ, in the 
 form of an idea which, perhaps by accident, 
 was born of the brain of the pioneer worker ; 
 and then we see how this infantile idea gradually grows, 
 fostered by others, until it attains full growth and becomes 
 serviceable to mankind. The incandescent system of electric 
 lighting, which is even now so extensively used for interior 
 illumination, found its germ in the patent specification of 
 E. A. King, to which I have already referred ; and to show 
 how like in principle this invention of 1845 is to our modern 
 system, I annex a sketch of King's lamp, which I have 
 copied from his specification, and I quote the description 
 accompanying it : — 
 
 " A is a glass tube, similar to those used for barometers 
 except that it has its upper end enlarged into a cylindrical 
 bulb, and a stout platinum wire sealed in at the top A 
 binding screw is fixed on the top of the wire, whose lower 
 
EVENING WORK, ETC. 
 
 149 
 
 end screws in the iron piece D. To this piece the forceps 
 F are attached, and it is connected with a similar piece at 
 H by the porcelain rod T. The forceps G are attached to 
 II, and clamp the lower end of the carbon piece (C), which 
 has its upper end held by those at F. N is 
 a copper wire, which is fixed in the piece at 
 H, and extends to the bottom of the tube. 
 The tube is filled with mercury, in the same 
 manner as a barometer, the usual precau- 
 tions being taken to expel the air; its 
 length, independent of the bulb, should be 
 about 30 inches, so that when it is inserted 
 in a cup of mercury a vacuum will be formed 
 in the bulb. The instrument is included in 
 the electric circuit by connecting one of the 
 wires from a magnetic machine or voltaic 
 battery with the binding screw fixed on the 
 wire E, and the other with a wire which 
 passes into the mercury in the cup at the 
 bottom of the tube." 
 
 It will be seen from the above descrip- 
 tion and diagram that King's incandes- 
 cent lamp is the same in principle as 
 those of modern times. A strip of carbon 
 is contained in a vacuum, and is brought to 
 Fig 53 incandescence by the resistance which it 
 affords to the passage of an electric current. 
 But the rough carbon then obtainable would at the most only 
 hold together for a few hours, and the device to obtain a 
 vacuum by means of a 30 inch column of mercury was 
 
 H 
 
 v 
 
 J 
 
150 
 
 EVENING WORK FOR 
 
 cumbrous, and expensive enough to limit the lamp to expo- 
 rimental uses only. 
 
 In the following year Greener and Staite patented a lamp 
 which really represents the same idea as King's with the 
 parts differently arranged. The mercury column also dis- 
 appears, and we may presume that the inventor intended to 
 exhaust the globe of air by means of a pump. In this 
 design we are certainly brought nearer to the modern glow- 
 lamp, but the thick stick of carbon which is placed between 
 the electrodes is very different to the hair-like filament 
 which is now used for the same purpose. Putting other 
 considerations aside, it is certain that the comparatively 
 large pieces of carbon used in these first lamps would re- 
 quire a very powerful current to bring them to an incan- 
 descent state. Greener and Staite's patent specification is 
 worthy of further notice, because it includes sundry pro- 
 cesses for the preparation of a finer description of carbon 
 than that afforded by the gas retorts, and here we certainly 
 have an important step in a forward direction. 
 
 The incandescent form of electric lighting seems to have 
 now been put aside for a time, but in 1871 it was again re- 
 vived, and strangely enough in a country which we do not 
 usually associate with much advancement of any kind. It 
 was in Russia that this system, in the year 1871, received 
 what may be described as its first public trial. In this year 
 M. Lodyghin showed two hundred incandescent lamps 
 lighted on one circuit — the current being derived from an 
 Alliance machine — of which more hereafter. We read that 
 this experiment, which was successful in every way — for the 
 &horb period which it covered, be it observed — made so great 
 
AMATEUR PHOTOGRAPHERS. 
 
 151 
 
 a sensation that all other forms of artificial illumination 
 were looked upon as doomed. A Company was formed, and 
 the inventor was somewhat prematurely rewarded by a sum 
 of 50,000 roubles from the Academy of Science. But after 
 a short time the excitement died a natural death, and the 
 Russians had to return once more to lamps and candles. 
 I have no knowledge of the exact form which these lamps 
 assumed ; but fig. 54 shows one which was invented in 1872 
 by Konn, another Russian. 
 This lamp contains a rod of 
 graphite as the incandescent 
 material, and the globe, instead 
 of being exhausted of air, was 
 " hermetically closed and filled 
 with nitrogen, or other gas that 
 does not support combustion." 
 In the description of this 
 patent, we have evidence that 
 the inventor was aware that 
 the carbon was perishable, for 
 he provides a means by which 
 the current, when one strip of 
 graphite became spent, could bo switched off to a 
 second and subsequently to a third strip. 
 
 It would be tedious to quote the various lamps of this 
 kind which have been invented and reinvented during the 
 past twenty years. They are interesting only historically, 
 and as links in the chain which led up to the modern glow- 
 lamp, the gradual perfecting of which we owe to the re- 
 searches of Edison, Swan, Maxim, and others, 
 
152 
 
 EVENING WORK FOR 
 
 It is interesting to look back to the time, ten years ago, 
 when the news of Edison's discovery of the glow-lamp was 
 first made public by one of those sanguine telegrams from 
 New York which so frightened the shareholders in our gas 
 companies. This telegram told us that Edison had per- 
 fected an electric lamp of extraordinary simplicity, costing 
 only twenty-five cents, and that he was going to illuminate 
 Menlo Park by its aid ; that he had discovered that a 
 steady, brilliant light could be obtained by the incandescence 
 of mere carbonised paper better than from any known sub- 
 stance. Strips of drawing paper in horseshoe form were 
 placed in a mould and baked at a very high temperature, 
 and their charred residuum was then attached to platinum 
 wires which were hermetically sealed in a glass globe from 
 which the air was exhausted. This, attached to a wooden 
 stand, or ordinary gas fixture, was the whole lamp. About 
 the same time as this wonderful paragraph appeared in the 
 papers, I remember that a lamp was brought out in London 
 and sold for one shilling. It professed to be a perfectly effi- 
 cient electric lamp, and consisted of a glass tube with a 
 small piece of carbon pencil fixed between two wires in its 
 interior. I have no doubt that this contrivance had an 
 enormous sale — for it appeared to be complete in itself — 
 and was certainly cheap. The cunning inventor, however, 
 left the purchaser to find out that attachment to some 
 generator of electricity was necessary before it would give 
 light. We can trace the likeness to the modern glow-lamp 
 in the above description of Edison's 25 cent, arrangement, 
 the most noticeable point of difference being the use of a hair- 
 like fibre of carbonised bamboo instead of the charred card- 
 
AMATEUR PHOTOGRAPHERS. 
 
 153 
 
 board. Mr. Swan, in England — whose name is familiar to 
 every photographer — had before this used a parchmentised 
 thread for the same purpose, and this is still in use. We 
 shall presently see how in various forms the glow-lamp is 
 bying employed for photographic purposes. 
 
 Many photographers would be very glad to adopt the elec- 
 tric glow lamp, on account of its cleanliness, freedom from 
 smell, absence of danger, and other good qualities, if they 
 only knew the best way of installing it in their dark-room 
 without much expense. For occasional use in changing or 
 developing plates it undoubtedly is most convenient, and 
 there is no reason why it should not be employed for such 
 purposes, even if we are dependent upon some form of bat- 
 tery for its maintenance. But the kinds of battery which 
 are described in the text-books are legion, and it is difficult 
 for one not well versed in the subject to choose between them. 
 The first thing that must be understood is that one battery 
 may be invaluable for a particular service, while it is quite 
 unsuitable, and, indeed, useless for another. For instance, no 
 battery is better for the ordinary electric bell, now so com- 
 monly used in houses, than the Leclanche. It will give 
 sufficient current for a short period, but requires intervals of 
 rest so that it may recover its original energy. This is just 
 the treatment which it receives, the circuit being closed 
 whenever the button is pressed, and being left open for the 
 battery to recover itself between time3. Where, on the 
 other hand, the current must be a constant one, continuing 
 over many hours, as in the case of electric deposition of cop- 
 per, silver etc., the Leclanche form of battery would be use- 
 less, for it would soon cease to act. For this purpose we 
 
154 
 
 EVENING WOKK FOR 
 
 must use a Daniell or a Smee. Where, again, we want a 
 current of great power to produce an arc light, we must have 
 recourse to several Bunsen or Grove cells — that is to say, if 
 we are dependent upon primary batteries. Secondary bat- 
 teries will be considered later on. But for a single incan- 
 descent lamp such as would give sufficient light for the pur- 
 pose already indicated, there are certain newer forms of bat- 
 tery which are far more convenient in use, and which do 
 not give off acid fumes like some of those mentioned. One 
 in particular may be mentioned as affording effective results 
 with little trouble and expense —I mean Schanschieff's bat- 
 tery. It is a single fluid battery, and the charging of it 
 merely means the emptying out of the spent liquid, and fill- 
 ing it up with fresh solution. The liquid is a preparation 
 of mercury, but its exact composition has not been pub- 
 lished. The battery can be kept ready for use, provided that 
 the plates are lifted out of the solution when io is idle. Its 
 electro-motive force is constant, it gives a very steady cur- 
 rent, and its internal resistance is small. It is durable in 
 use, and the replenishing solution is cheap. One charge of 
 liquid is said to maintain a 2-candle glow lamp for eight 
 hours. The outline drawing (fig. 55) shows the various 
 parts of one form of Schanschieff's battery with small incan- 
 descent lamp attached. This is for miners' use, but it is 
 obvious that, with one or two slight modifications, including 
 a red screen for the light, it would be useful in a photo- 
 grapher's dark-room. At any rate, the drawing will serve 
 to indicate the positions of the battery elements, and the 
 way in which they are raised out of the exciting liquid when 
 the instrument is not in use. 
 
AMATEUR PHOTOGRAPHERS. 
 
 155 
 
 The containing vessel A is of gutta-percha, and is divided 
 by walls of the same material into three compartments* 
 which form three distinct cells. The lid or top of this con- 
 taining vessel, B, is made of hard wood, and fits closely into 
 it. It has a handle, D, by which it can be readily carried 
 about, and the glow-lamp bulb, F, is protected by a thick 
 glass, E, which would be necessary to protect the fragile 
 bulb from splinters of coal, etc., when the lamp was being 
 used below ground. As there are three cells in this form of 
 lamp, there are, of course, three sets of elements provided 
 for them. These consist each of a stout rod of zinc ; one 
 only is visible in the drawing, and is marked Z, flanked on 
 each side by a plate of carbon, C. One carbon plate is in 
 each case a little narrower than its fellow, so as to accom- 
 modate itself to the triangular form of the cell in which it is 
 placed. Returning to the upper part of the arrangement, 
 G is a metal reflector, which half embraces the incandescent 
 bulb, and greatly increases the light which it gives. It 
 remains only to mention the manner in which the plates 
 can be raised from their cells in order to throw the battery 
 out of action. A metal vertical rod projects from the centre 
 of the containing vessel, where the three partitions of the 
 cells meet. It is not visible in the drawing, being hidden 
 by the edge of one of the carbon plates. It is tapped with 
 a screw thread at its lower part, and also at its top, so that 
 the milled disc, H, will engage it in two different positions. 
 One of these is where the plates are immersed in the liquid 
 contents of the cells, and when, therefore, the lid can be 
 securely screwed up, and the other position is that shown in 
 
156 
 
 EVENING WORK FOR 
 
 the drawing, where the plates are raised from the cells and 
 all electrical action ceases. 
 
 Fig. 55. 
 
 I have had another form of this battery in rise for some 
 time with satisfactory results. In this arrangement the 
 
AMATEUR PHOTOGRAPHERS. 
 
 157 
 
 plates are at one end of a long and closed receptacle, and 
 the mere act of inverting the arrangement puts it into 
 action. When it is required no longer, it is again turned 
 upside down, the liquid leaves the plates, and the light is 
 quenched. 
 
 One of the most useful forms of battery is the bichromate, 
 but constancy of current must not be expected from it. It 
 is a most handy form of battery for the laboratory, for it 
 can be put into and out of action in a second. It gives off 
 no fumes, and the solution employed is quite inexpensive. 
 Its most common form is that of a bottle with a vulcanite top. 
 From this top depend the plates, two of which are carbon, 
 and fixed, while the zinc plate slides between them, and is 
 fastened to a brass rod which projects through the lid. 
 The exciting fluid is a saturated solution of bichromate of. 
 potash, made with hot water, with 20 per cent, of sulphuric 
 acid added to it when cold. The addition of the acid causes 
 the development of much heat, and the solution must be 
 allowed to cool before it is poured into the bottle. There 
 are several modifications of this form of battery which may 
 be made very useful in the photographic dark-room ; and 
 whe::e the amateur is possessed of sufficient ability to con- 
 struct apparatus for himself, this is the kind of battery 
 which he will have no difficulty in producing without 
 outside help. 
 
 A convenient form of dark-room lamp and battery com- 
 bined is that shown at fig. 56. This apparatus is, I believe, 
 of French origin, but can be bought in this country of 
 numerous dealers through the wholesale house of Messrs. 
 Perken, Son, and Hayment. The drawing must be looked 
 
158 
 
 EVENING WORK FOR 
 
 upon as being merely diagrammatic, and many unimportant 
 parts are omitted so that the illustration shall not be un- 
 necessarily encumbered. 
 
 The apparatus consists of a mahogany box nine inches in 
 height and six inches square, and its outer edges are de- 
 cribed in the cut by dotted lines. To the lower part of the 
 lid of this box are fitted the battery plates, consisting of 
 nine sets of three each, each three being represented by 
 two carbons with a zinc plate between them. These plates 
 are all connected by strips of metal, one pair of carbons 
 being joined up with the zinc plate of the next cell, and 
 so on throughout the series. The cells, of which only one is 
 shown in the drawing, consist of tall glass bottles which seem 
 at first sight to be out of all proportion to the plates which 
 dip into them. But the reason for this apparent dispro- 
 portion is to provide an excessive amount of exciting solu- 
 tion so that the battery shall preserve its energy for a long 
 time without the necessity of recharging. In all bichromate, 
 as, indeed, in most other batteries the plates should remain 
 in the exciting solution only during the time when the battery 
 is at work. In the bottle form of bichromate cell, the zinc 
 is lifted out of the solution by means of a rod, and in this 
 way all electrical action is stopped. In the apparatus which 
 we are now considering, the plates are not lifted from the 
 solution, but the cells and their contents are made to recede 
 from the plates. This is brought about by a very simple 
 arrangement of parts. The glass cells stand upon an iron 
 platform which measures a little less than the interior width 
 of the box, so that it will slide up and down therein with 
 ease. It is hung upon two strong brass rods, the tops of 
 
AMATEUR PHOTOGRAPHERS. 
 
 159 
 
 which are tapped and protected through the lid of the 
 box. Collars here engage the screw thread upon 
 
 Fig 56. 
 
 each, and by simply turning these screws between 
 the thumbs and fingers of the two hands at the same 
 
160 
 
 EVENING WORK FOR 
 
 time, the platform and the cells are raised or lowered as 
 may be wished. It will at once be seen that this plan 
 not only serves to put the battery in and out of action, but 
 gives control over the amount of current afforded. For it 
 is obvious that if the plates are only partially immersed in 
 the liquid contents of the cell, the amount of current 
 afforded will be in proportion. In the drawing, and for the 
 sake of clearness, only the edges of three sets of plates are 
 shown, but it will be understood that the square 
 form of containing box affords room for nine. The lamp, 
 or incandescent bulb, is contained, as shown, in a metal 
 casing — which is silver-plated within so as to have a good 
 reflecting surface, and which is closed in front with a disc 
 of ruby glass. The lamp is attached to the body of the box 
 in such a way that it can be raised or lowered as may be 
 desirable. It is of 5-candle power, and, owing to the great 
 capacity of the cells, it will continue active without recharg- 
 ing for several hours. It would be by no means an expen- 
 sive form of lamp to use for such occasional purposes as the 
 changing or examination of plates, or for development if 
 the number of plates to be treated is not very great. The 
 expense of recharging is not much, for a pound of 
 bichromate, costing about 8d., and a similar quantity of 
 acid at about a quarter that price, will last for several 
 charges. The trouble and time is the expensive part of the 
 process, which prevents the use of such a lamp by busy 
 folks, but for the occasional uses which have been already 
 indicated, it certainly is valuable. 
 
 It is, perhaps, unnecessary to caution photographers 
 about the poisonous quality of the bichromate salt. Carbon 
 
AMATEUR PHOTOGRAPHERS. 
 
 161 
 
 workers have long ago found out that some people are pecu- 
 liarly susceptible to its influence, and that if they are care- 
 less in allowing a solutiou of it to touch their skin, and 
 remain there, it occasions painful sores which are difficult 
 to heal. Others seem to be able to dabble their hands 
 continually in the red solution without suffering any harm or 
 inconvenience. This is an instance of the presence of 
 pachydermatous individuals among us who never feel any- 
 thing, and seem to escape all the common inconveniences of 
 life. It may be noted that the acid bichromate solution 
 need not be thrown away after use in the battery, for it is 
 valuable for cleaning glass vessels, and a small quantity of 
 it should be retained for this purpose. 
 
CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 HOW TO MAKE A CHEAP ELECTRIC BATTERY. 
 
 N electrical matters, as in most other things, 
 a cheap and simple arrangement of parts is 
 often far more effective in action than one 
 which is complex and costly. In battery 
 cells which are made commercially there 
 are generally brass terminals and binding screws with 
 which to make the necessary connections. These are orna- 
 mental, convenient, and pleasant to use, but in a short 
 time, with some descriptions of battery, and notably with 
 the Bunsen or grove cells, the fumes from the acid 
 employed quickly corrode the metal, and all contact points 
 have to be kept clean by continual use of the file. If this 
 is not attended to, the imperfect contact caused by the 
 corrosion raises the resistance of the battery to such an 
 extent that more than half its effective power disappears. 
 
 A convenient and simple method of joiuiog metal wire 
 to carbon plates without any expensive fittings has lately 
 been patented by an officer of the Royal Engineers. It is 
 illustrated in fig. 57. A hole is first of all bored in the 
 carbon plate — a by no means difficult operation with a 
 drill. The tool makes much dust, as the material is ground 
 
EVENING WORK, ETC. 
 
 163 
 
 away by it, and it must often be taken out of the hole 
 during the progress of the work. It should be used dry 
 — that is, without any kind of lubricant. 
 When the hole is complete, a short 
 piece of platinum wire is thrust through 
 it, and then bent back upon itself, as 
 shown in the cut. ~No. 24 standard wire 
 gauge is a convenient thickness of metal 
 to use, and as short a piece as possible 
 should be employed, on account of expense, 
 platinum having recently, in consequence ^* 
 of the greediness of photographers, gone up in price about 
 150 per cent. Platinum is the only metal which can 
 be used in this particular manner, on account of its stability 
 in the presence of all kinds of acid solutions. 
 
 Another simple and convenient help to the electrical 
 experimentalist is afforded by the little catch which is used 
 by jewellers for fastening necklaces, 
 bracelets, etc. These can be bought by 
 the dozen for a few pence in Hounds 
 Fig. 58. ditch and other thoroughfares which 
 
 seem to be given up to the requirements of the seller 
 of cheap jewellery. I need hardly say that they are 
 not made of gold, but of brass, but they form a very 
 ready and convenient means of joining together tem- 
 porarily wires in electrical experiments. The form of 
 catch is shown at fig. 58, and the ends of the wire to be 
 joined should be terminated with the two pieces of which it 
 is formed, and they should be attached by solder. At the 
 house of a great electrician I lately noticed that the flowers 
 
164 
 
 EVENING WORK FOR 
 
 and other decorations on the dinner-table were interspersed 
 with glow-lamps, some of them being under water in the 
 glass vessels, in which the flowers were placed. At first it 
 was difficult to see how any electrical connection could be 
 made bet ween these lamps and the main wires below the 
 table, without any visible break of the table-cloth. I was 
 afterwards shown that this necessary connection was brought 
 about by copper needles, which formed the terminals of the 
 glow-lamp wires, and which were pricked through the cloth 
 and were then held by these jewellers' catches or clasps. 
 
 It is not difficult to make an electric battery which shall 
 be able to illuminate a few glow-lamps of small size, and, as 
 already indicated, one of the most convenient for the purpose 
 is that using a single fluid, such as the bichromate cell. 
 Roughly speaking, a single cell, with plates, having each a 
 surface of about eight square inches, will illuminate a glow- 
 lamp of 2-candle power. A convenient size for the plates 
 is 4 X 2 inches, and each cell will require one zinc and two 
 carbons. 
 
 Both the carbon and the zinc plates will require some 
 preliminary treatment before they are finally fixed to the 
 wooden support. The carbon plates must receive a coating 
 of paraffin wax on their upper ends, so as to prevent the 
 battery solution creeping up by capillary attraction and 
 corroding the metallic connections. The best way to apply 
 the paraffin — an ordinary paraffin candle is the most 
 handy thing to employ — is to heat the carbon plate upon 
 the top of a stove until it is hot enough to melt the wax. 
 The candle should then be rubbed across its upper part, 
 after a sheet of paper has been bound round the plate, so 
 
AMATEUR PHOTOGRAPHERS. 
 
 165 
 
 that its edge shall mark a boundary line. This line 
 should be a little more than one inch from the top edge 
 of the plate. Both sides of the carbon, as well as the edges, 
 should be treated with the paraffin above this line, and just 
 enough should be applied to fill in the pores on the surface, 
 any surplus being wiped off. If too much paraffin be applied 
 where the connecting strip of metal touches the plate, it 
 will act as an insulator, and the current will not pass. It 
 is therefore as well to scrape this point of junction with 
 a blunt knife, so as 
 to remove any wax 
 which may have es- 
 caped the wiping pro- 
 cess. 
 
 The zinc plate must 
 be amalgamated with 
 mercury, or there will 
 be local action, which 
 will most surely re- 
 duce the power of the 
 cell, as well as shorten 
 its life. To make the 
 mercury form an amalgam with the surface of the plate, the 
 latter must first of all be dipped into dilute sulphuric acid, 
 one part of acid to eight of water. The mercury may then 
 be rubbed on to the zinc, a few globules at a time, by means 
 of a stick, with a little flannel rolled round its end, or the 
 vessel containing the dilute acid may have some mercury 
 put into it, and when the zinc is placed therein the mercury 
 will attach itself to the lower part of the plate. The zinc 
 
166 
 
 EVENING WORK FOR 
 
 can then be removed, and placed, the other way up, against 
 any suitable support, when the mercury will gradually run 
 down both sides, and will amalgamate them without further 
 
 size to project for about two inches on each side of the plates, 
 for these projections are destined to rest on the edges of the 
 containing vessels, as shown in the illustration of the com- 
 plete cell at fig. 60. The support is made of hard wood, 
 and is in two pieces, each of which is recessed for the re- 
 ception of the plates. When they have been correctly cut 
 and fashioned as shown, they should be heated and covered 
 with a layer of paraffin wax. The best way is to have a bath 
 of the melted wax of sufficient capacity to hold the wooden 
 pieces, and to allow them to soak there for ten minutes 
 while heat is applied to the containing vessel. When this 
 is done, the zinc plate should be attached by short wooden 
 pegs to the wooden piece having the double recess, while at 
 
 trouble. But generally a little 
 after-manipulation with the 
 rubber becomes necessary to 
 persuade the mercury to cover 
 certain spots which it is apt 
 to leave uncoated. The top of 
 the zinc plate should be coated 
 with black japan, to a depth 
 similar to that of the paraffin 
 band on the carbons. 
 
 Fig. 60. 
 
 An elevation and horizontal 
 section of the wooden support 
 for the plates is shown at fig. 59 
 This should be of sufficient 
 
AMATEUR PHOTOGRAPHERS. 
 
 167 
 
 the same time the copper connecting strip should be inserted 
 between the metal and the wood. Care should, however, be 
 taken to scrape away the japan at this point, so as to afford 
 good metallic connection between the two. The two wooden 
 pieces may now be screwed together as shown, and the 
 carbon plates attached to either side, not forgetting the 
 copper bridge which connects the two, and the slip of copper 
 which projects, and which is to serve as a connection for 
 wires, or for other cells if more than one is to be employed. 
 
 For plates of small size the cell or containing vessel can 
 take the form of a common glass tumbler, such as can be 
 bought for about twopence. But most workers will prefer 
 to employ plates of larger size than these will contain, and 
 will use a salt- jar, such as is shown in fig. 60, for this purpose. 
 Tbese jars have the merit of being uniform in size and very 
 difficult to break. 
 
 A home-made bichromate cell, like that already described, is 
 capable of providing a current with energy enough to 
 illuminate a glow lamp of about two-candle power. A 
 couple of such cells will work a small induction coil, or can 
 be put to other experimental uses, and its most convenient 
 feature is that it can readily be put in or out of action by 
 inserting the plates in, or removing them from the outer 
 cell, and, of course, the same result can be brought about 
 by pouring on or off the bichromate solution. But sup- 
 posing that the cell has been in continuous action for three 
 hours, its force will gradually decline until it ceases 
 altogether. Upon renewal of the spent battery solution the 
 cell will work as well as ever. 
 
 The worker, when he has made one cell, will probably 
 
168 
 
 EVENING WORK FOR 
 
 not be content until he has one more to use in conju action 
 with it, an addition by which he can greatly increase his 
 resources. In this case his best plan will be to fit the cells 
 into a stand made of two pieces of board supported one 
 above the other, and about three inches apart, the upper 
 board being pierced with round holes for the reception of 
 the jars. The supports of the upper board should be in the 
 form of two posbs, eighteen inches high, which will, of 
 course, project high above the jars. Upon these posts 
 should slide vertically a horizontal bar, to which the battery 
 plates are clamped in a row, in a similar manner to that 
 already detailed in the description of the single cell. This 
 board may be raised or lowered by means of a winch, or in 
 any other way which the ingenuity of the maker may sug- 
 gest, in order that the plates may be inserted in their 
 respective cells or withdrawn from the same. With a 
 battery of thirty such cells, and with plates of moderate 
 size, I have seen a powerful arc light worked, and the 
 same battery furnished energy — but, of course, not at the 
 same time — to an induction coil which would give a twelve- 
 inch spark. Those who have time on their hands and are 
 fond of experimental work will find much interest in 
 making a battery of this kind with which a number of in- 
 structive experiments are possible. It is clean in use, and 
 gives off no fumes, in which respect it differs greatly from 
 some of its congeners. 
 
 It may be as well here to point out the difference between 
 a primary battery and a secondary or storage battery, for 
 the distinction between the two is not so well understood as 
 it might be. And in order to make this distinction clear, 
 
AMATEUR PHOTOGRAPHERS. 
 
 169 
 
 it will be as well to briefly describe two contrivances which 
 have been in experimental use for some years, and which 
 are therefore well know to electricians. 
 
 The first to which I will call attention is the instrument 
 known as the voltameter, by which water can be decomposed 
 into its constituent gases, hydrogen and oxygen. The vol- 
 tameter in its simplest form consists of two inverted test 
 tubes, which are supported in a cup of acidulated water. 
 Beneath each of these tubes, and connected with a metallic 
 terminal upon the stand of the instrument, is a strip of 
 platinum foil. When these terminals are joined up with a 
 battery cell — three or four cells must be used if rapid action 
 is desired — bubbles of gas arise from each piece of foil, and 
 gradually displace the water in the tubes. One tube is 
 found to fill with gas at double the rate of the other, and 
 the former is found to contain hydrogen and the latter 
 oxygen, thus proving that water is formed of those gases, but 
 in the proportion of two volumes of hydrogen to one of oxygen. 
 
 Now it was discovered many years ago that, after the 
 apparatus described had been so used, the platinum elec- 
 trodes had undergone some change, by which after being 
 disconnected with the battery employed they were able of 
 themselves to furnish for a brief period a current of their 
 own, as if, indeed, they had absorbed some of the electricity 
 from the battery and could again give it up. This discovery 
 led to the construction of Grove's gas battery, which practi- 
 cally consisted of a number of voltameters joined to one 
 another, and used in conjunction like so many battery cells. 
 With such a battery powerful effects were obtainable for a 
 short time, but the contrivance was, from its brittle and 
 
170 
 
 EVENING WORK FOR 
 
 somewhat) cumbrous character, merely of experimental 
 importance. It required to be charged by an ordinary 
 battery before it could yield any effects, and it must be 
 noted that the current which it afforded was in the reverse 
 direction to that with which it was charged. This was a 
 true secondary battery, but, as already shown, it yielded 
 results which were only serviceable in pointing out the way 
 to improvement. 
 
 In 1860 Gaston Plante undertook a series of experiments 
 with different metals which eventually led to the construc- 
 tion of the battery which bears his name, and which has 
 been in occasional use since that time, as a means of obtain- 
 ing a powerful current for a short period. By its aid, a 
 surgeon, for instance, can bring a short length of wire to a 
 red heat where it is desirable to use the actual cautery. 
 
 In most of the early forms of primary batteries the action 
 known as polarization has presented a great difficulty, and 
 many ingenious plans have been adopted to overcome it. 
 Polarization is caused by bubbles of gas forming upon the 
 battery plates, and so preventing the metallic surface from 
 being in actual contact with the liquid contents of the cell. 
 But in the secondary battery, it is this formation of gas 
 bubbles that originates its peculiar action. When the metal 
 is platinum, as in the voltameter, the plate to which the 
 hydrogen bubbles attach themselves acts towards a clean 
 platinum plate like zinc, or any other metal which is readily 
 oxidised, and towards platinum which has absorbed oxygen, 
 in a still more energetic degree. 
 
 Plante found by experiment that the best metal for his 
 purpose was lead, and his battery consists of two long strips 
 
AMATEUR PHOTOGRAPHERS. 
 
 171 
 
 of this material rolled together, but separated by flannel 
 This flannel was replaced at a later period by detached 
 strips of gutta percha, which were found for many reasons 
 more serviceable. A strip of the same metal projected from 
 the outer edge of one of the rolled plates, and from the 
 inner edge of the other outside the containing cell, so as to 
 afford means for connection with the primary or charging 
 battery. The cell, of glass, was filled with dilute sulphuric acid. 
 
 The cell as thus constructed is not yet able to furnish a 
 current, but requires that its plates shall be " formed," as 
 it is called. For this purpose the battery is attached to a 
 couple of Bunsen cells, with the result that after several 
 days, during which the current from the Bunsen battery 
 is reversed in direction several times, the plates assume a 
 spongy condition on their surface, and are then ready for 
 permanent use. This was the first form of Plante battery, 
 but the preparatory charging operation is now much 
 hastened by roughening the surface of the plates by mechani- 
 cal means, and also by giving them a preliminary bath of 
 dilute nitric acid. 
 
 Other secondary batteries have since been devised, the 
 most noticeable advance on Plante's original device being 
 introduced by Faure, who discovered a means of hastening 
 the formation of. the lead plates by painting their surface 
 with a mixture of red lead and dilute acid. The spiral 
 form is abandoned and secondary battery cells now 
 usually contain flat leaden plates immersed in their bath of 
 dilute sulphuric acid. They have the fault of being 
 cumbrous and heavy, which renders them inconvenient for 
 certain uses. But in order to show that thoy are efficient 
 
172 
 
 EVENING WORK, ETC. 
 
 it may be pointed out that they are in use for driving 
 electric launches, tram cars, and are commonly employed as 
 a reserve in electric light installations. 
 
 As an instance of this latter employment of secondary 
 batteries I may quote a case in which they were success- 
 fully used to supplement a dynamo machine, This machine, 
 together with a large number of secondary batteries, was 
 placed in an outhouse in the garden of a mansion near 
 London, which was lighted throughout by electricity. Up 
 to nine o'clock in the evening the machine furnished the 
 current for lighting up the premises, but at that hour the 
 engine stopped working, and without any perceptible break 
 the secondary batteries were called into use for the re- 
 mainder of the evening, giving up the energy which they 
 had received from the machine during the daylight hours. 
 
CHAPTER XVITI. 
 
 THE ELECTRIC LIGHT ADAPTED TO THE OPTICAL LANTERN. 
 
 HEN the electric light is brought within easy 
 reach by our houses and public halls being 
 " wired," it will in the natural course of 
 things be used for lantern projection, but 
 only because it will be more convenient than 
 the lirne-light; not because it is better. The lime-light 
 has, indeed, of late years been brought to such a pitch of 
 perfection, and the best lenses, as now made, render so 
 much of its light available, that it leaves little to be 
 desired. Even the old complaint of bulk of apparatus 
 can no longer be laid to its charge, now that the com- 
 pressed-gas system has come into vogue. But perhaps these 
 will be considered de trop when a couple of wires passed 
 into the lantern from the house supply will afford the 
 required amount of light. 
 
 The application of the electric light to projecting pur- 
 poses is by no means a new idea, and a glance at any old 
 text-book will show how the Duboscq arc -light regulator 
 
 12 
 
174 
 
 EVENING WORK FOR 
 
 was applied to this purpose more than thirty years back in 
 connection with that extremely rough optical instrument 
 which was known as the Solar Microscope. For nearly as 
 
 Fig. 61. 
 
 long a time the electric lamp of Serrin, and a regulator 
 known as Browning's have been used for throwing spectrum 
 phenomena on a screen. But such experiments were seldom 
 shown, for the trouble, expense, and mess of a forty or fifty 
 cell battery were not to be lightly undertaken except 
 
AMATEUR PHOTOGRAPHERS. 
 
 175 
 
 by enthusiasts. An electrically lit microscope was shown 
 at the Crystal Palace some few years back, and for a long 
 time a lantern for ordinary lecture purposes has been in 
 use at the large theatre of the Society of Arts in the 
 Adelphi. This lantern gives a brilliant light, and seems to 
 work steadily, but wants attention to keep the light spot 
 central. It is fed by a De Meritens dynamo machine, 
 and the regulator used is that of Siemens. 
 
 A novel and useful form of electrically lit lantern 
 has been designed by Dr. Fleming, and is in constant use 
 by him for class instruction at University College. The in- 
 candescent form of lamp is employed in this lantern, and as 
 the size of the glass bulb for containing the white-hot 
 carbon filament is inconveniently large if more than 100 
 candle power is required, it is obvious tha^ this form of 
 lantern is limited to places where only a small-sized disc is 
 wanted. Dr. Fleming illuminates a screen of about seven 
 feet with a 50 candle-power lamp, and he has light enough 
 to give a di c of twelve feet. The lantern is shown in fig. 61, 
 which is merely diagrammatic in character, and gives only 
 the main features of the apparatus. 
 
 It consists of a well-ventilated oblong box about two feet 
 high and ten inches square. The glow lamp A is fitted on 
 an arm, B, which projects from the further side of the in- 
 terior wall, so that the lamp is really on its side. But 
 in the case of glow lamps position is quite immaterial. The 
 lamp is held in its support by adjusting screws, not shown 
 in the figure, so that it can be centred to a nicety. The 
 silken cable from it passes to the outside of the box for 
 ready connection with the source of electrical energy. 
 
176 
 
 EVENING WORK FOR 
 
 The lamp itself is of special construction, and has been 
 made by the Edison and Swan Company for the 
 purpose of lantern projection ; it is 
 shown separately at fig. 62. Apart 
 from its great power, it differs from 
 an ordinary glow lamp in the 
 arrangement of its carbon filament. 
 Instead of an elongated loop of 
 radiance, the light is concentrated 
 in a helix, which approaches far 
 more nearly the theoretical point 
 of light which is besb for all optical 
 instruments of this kind. 
 
 Kef erring once more to we 
 note that a few inches above the 
 lamp bulb is fixed the condensing 
 lens C, on a shelf D. A curtain - 
 covered opening gives ready access 
 to the upper side of the shelf, on a level with which is the 
 top surface of the condensing lens. Here is fitted a slide 
 carrier, so that pictures can be readily exhibited, but the 
 carrier is removable, so that experiments or preparations 
 may be shown when desired. The image is formed by the 
 objective lens E on the summit of the lantern, and the ver- 
 tical rays are turned in a horizontal direction towards the lan- 
 tern screen by the mirror M, which rests upon a collar which 
 fits over the lens mount. A great many experiments, it may 
 be mentioned, can be shown with a lantern, provided that 
 there is a means for keeping the objects shown in a horizon- 
 tal position, as is possible with the arrangement shown. As a 
 
AMATEUR PHOTOGRAPHERS. 
 
 177 
 
 case in point, may be instanced the well-known experiment 
 of showing curves of magnetic force by sprinkling the poles 
 of a magnet with iron filings, where the magnet must rest 
 on a flat surface. Various experiments with liquids are 
 also best shown by means of a horizontal stage, and this 
 lantern of Dr. Fleming's has adjusting screws, so that for 
 such experiments it can be accurately levelled The in- 
 strument is made by Mr. Steward, of the Strand, who will 
 doubtless find a great demand for it so soon as electricity is 
 brought into our houses as gas is now supplied. 
 
 That . this is a consummation devoutly to be wished is 
 evidenced by the rapid strides which the art of electrical 
 illumination has taken of late years, an advance which 
 is due to the wonderful development of the dynamo machine. 
 When Faraday first pointed out at his lecture table that an 
 electric current was obtainable by moving a coil of wire in 
 front of a magnet, he made one of the most important dis- 
 coveries which this century has seen, and one which has 
 gradually brought into view the possibility of general 
 electrical illumination. We seem to be rather backward in 
 the matter in this country, and it has been spoken of as a 
 reproach to us that the Americans have gone so much farther 
 ahead. Legislation, with a view to prevent the creation of such 
 monopolies as the gas and water companies represent, has 
 had the effect of checking enterprise in this country, but we 
 shall gain in the end by the delay. The Americans have 
 not only shown us what can be done in the way of supplying 
 a current from a central station, but they have also taught 
 us what to avoid, and we cannot but profit by their 
 experience. The trial of all kinds of systems and different 
 
178 
 
 EVENING WORK FOR 
 
 apparatus is bound to end in the survival of the fittest, and 
 while our cousins have had to pay for finding out which is 
 the fittest, we can begin where they leave off. 
 
 The incandescent lamp is, as we have seen, limited in its 
 application to lantern work, for the reason that it is, com- 
 pared with the lime-light, wanting both in intensity and in 
 concentration ; but it is quite within the bounds of possi- 
 bility that some substance may be found other than carbon 
 which will obviate these disadvantages. In the meantime, 
 the arc system is the one to which we must look for the 
 extreme brilliancy which is required, and absolutely neces- 
 sary where a large disc is in question. The largest disc to 
 which we can at present point as an example is that used 
 during the photographic exhibitions which take place 
 annually at the Crystal Palace, and which measures about 
 thirty feet in diameter. This, although immense for 
 most places, looks small in the large theatre in which it is 
 placed, and there is little doubt that if a much larger one 
 were required, no form of lime-light would give sufficient 
 brilliancy to show the pictures effectively. It is here that the 
 arc lamp would present such agreat advantage over previously 
 used luminants, and there are now few difficulties in the 
 way of its use, especially in a place where the apparatus 
 for producing the current is already installed. 
 
 Some writers have asserted that lantern pictures of a 
 certain density are fit only for exhibition by lime-light, and 
 that for oil lanterns they should be of a much less intense 
 character. It has also been suggested that the electric arc 
 lamp is of such a searching nature that slides for exhibition 
 by it must be purposely prepared so that the image shall 
 
AMATEUR PHOTOGRAPHERS. 
 
 179 
 
 be of the blackest nature. I am certain that this is 
 altogether a mistake. A good slide will show well what- 
 ever be the nature of the light employed, and is generally 
 best when the light is most brilliant. A good slide should 
 be full of delicate detail, and, while of good density, should 
 exhibit in its highest lights absolutely clear glass. Everyone 
 knows that the less of this clear space there is in a picture, 
 the better the effect ; but there are some processes where it 
 is difficult to get them at all. Such slides will not show 
 well by any light, and should be at once condemned, unless 
 nothing better of some wanted subject is procurable. 
 
 I have already hinted that in the electric lantern used by 
 the Society of Arts — the only one of its kind at present 
 employed in London — there is some difficulty in keeping the 
 light spot exactly central. I judge merely from what I 
 noted on a recent occasion when I formed one of the audience 
 which listened to a lecture there, and the difficulty manifested 
 itself by an occasional shading of one side of the disc to the 
 great detriment of the picture which happened to be shown 
 at the time. Less critical persons would not notice, perhaps, 
 that anything was wrong, and the exhibition generally, with 
 that exception, was well enough. But the real test of a 
 well-centred light is not found in its employment with the 
 ordinary optical lantern — when a certain divergence is, as in 
 the case quoted, allowable, if not exactly desirable. If, how- 
 ever, the same light were tried with a good lantern micro- 
 scope, fitted with a high power, its shortcomings would be 
 immediately accentuated, for the slight divergerce notice- 
 able in the lantern projection would become so magnified 
 in the microscope that the image would probably disappear 
 
180 
 
 EVENING WORK FOR 
 
 with every flicker of the arc from one side of the carbons 
 to the other. 
 
 In order to obtain the greatest amount of light from the 
 arc lamp for projection purposes where it is necessary that 
 the rays should strike in one direction only, particular 
 attention should be directed to the position of the carbon 
 pencils with regard to one another. If, as in most regula- 
 tors for general lighting, the one carbon is immediately 
 above . the other, they gradually 
 assume a shape, under the action of 
 their own intense heat, which pre- 
 vents 1he best results being attained. 
 It is, of course, impossible to examine 
 the arclight with the unprotected 
 eye, and very little of the phenomena 
 attending it can be seen even if the 
 protection of smoked glass is in- 
 voked, for the glare is far too in- 
 tense. But an image of the burning 
 carbons (see fig. 63) can easily be thrown on a screen 
 by the interposition of an objective lens, and the 
 picture thus formed is a very beautiful one. The upper or 
 positive carbon wastes away at double the rate of tho 
 other, and as it wastes, a cavernous opening appears at its 
 end. The negative or lower carbon, on the other hand, 
 preserves, as it wastes away, a pointed form. Around and 
 between them is seen a faint luminosity of violet hue — this 
 is, in fact, the arc itself — which gives very little radiance. 
 The brilliance really comes from the white-hot ends of the 
 carbon rods, and it stands to reason that if the crater in the 
 
 V 
 
 J 
 
 up 
 
 m 
 
 **- 
 
 k 
 
 •;■•"'-'! 
 
 Fig. 63. 
 
AMATEUR PHOTOGRAPHERS. 
 
 181 
 
 one reaches a certain depth, its edge must obscure a per- 
 ceptible amount of the available light. 
 
 This was first discovered about twelve years ago, at the 
 time some experiments were being carried out at the South 
 Foreland, in order to ascertain the be^t disposi- 
 tion of the carbons for lighthouse purposes. 
 An American Commission also at one time 
 busied themselves with the same question, and 
 both English and Americans reported that there 
 is a great loss of light if, when the radiance is 
 required in one direction only, the carbons are 
 placed exactly one above the other. This led 
 to the position being adopted which is shown 
 in fig. 64, and which results in a gain of light 
 of about 66 per cent. A still further gain is 
 obtained by sloping the carbon rods, while at 
 the same time the lower one is in advance of the upper one, 
 so that the interior of the positive crater is turned towards 
 the direction in which the light is required to stream. This 
 idea is well carried out in a form of regulator which has 
 many other valuable points which fit it remarkably well for 
 projection work. To this regulator 1 will next direct the 
 reader's attention. 
 
 Fig. 64. 
 
CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 THE SAME SUBJECT CONTINUED. 
 
 HE Brockie-Pell regulator, originally designed 
 for the more general purposes of electric 
 illumination, has been adapted to projection 
 work by Messrs. Newton and Co., of Fleet 
 Street. Referring to fig. 65, it will be seen 
 that the apparatus consists of a metal box having one of 
 its sides sloping, parallel with which are carried the carbon 
 rods. The upper rod does not need any detailed description 
 beyond indicating that it is set well back, so that its outer 
 edge is in a line with the centre of the lower pencil, as in 
 the case last dealt with. It is supported on an arm which 
 projects from a central pillar, and which moves down as 
 the carbon pencil wastes away, the entire arrangement 
 being kept in position by the fixed rod a, upon which the 
 moveable part slides to and fro. The lower carbon is con- 
 tinually pressed against a collar c by the action of the 
 spring d, while the exact length of the arc can be regulated 
 
EVENING WORK, ETC. 
 
 183 
 
 by the screw e. tt are terminals where the wires convey- 
 ing the current are attached. 
 
 Messrs. Newton have also devised an electric lantern of 
 novel and ingenious form, in which this regulator is em- 
 ployed. Tt diners from the general form of optical lanterns 
 
 in being cylindrical, and it 
 is wholly made of metal. 
 The body M M (see fig. 66), 
 made of Russian iron, is 
 pierced with three main 
 openings. One, W, is for 
 the attachment of a micro- 
 scope, another, L, is fitted 
 with the ordinary objective 
 for lantern projection, while 
 the third is furnished with 
 an adjustable slit for spec- 
 trum projection. The body 
 of the lantern can easily be 
 turned round so that any 
 one of these nozzles can be 
 brought into employment. 
 Fig. 65. £ u t f 0 r spectrum work, 
 
 where the light spot must not face the screen, the entire 
 apparatus turns upon a central pivot, the base-board 
 being in two halves. The lower half remains fixed, while 
 the upper one turns on its pivot until the right angle 
 is obtained. T is the body of the regulator, and EEE 
 are three milled-edged discs by which it can be raised or 
 lowered, moved backward or forward, and to the right or 
 
184 
 
 EVENING WORK FOR 
 
 left respectively. By this means the spot of light can be 
 most exactly centred. This lantern presents the most 
 
 Fig. 66. 
 
 complete and perfect projection apparatus ever devised, and 
 is designed principally for use in science schools and 
 colleges. 
 
 It is only those who have had experience of science 
 teaching who know the value of an experiment both to 
 
AMATEUR PHOTOGRAPHERS. 
 
 185 
 
 teacher and pupil. It is often difficult to make young scholars 
 understand the nature of an experiment from mere 
 verbal description, even if the words be illustrated by care- 
 ful drawings on the blackboard. But directly the thing is 
 seen itself, all becomes plain sailing. The pupils take 
 immediate interest in the matter in hand, and the master 
 feels that they are doing so, and redoubles his efforts to 
 make them understand aright. One feels inclined to envy 
 the teacher who has this cylindrical lantern at his elbow 
 with which to illustrate his remarks. At one moment 
 he may want to show a few diagrams, which possibly 
 have been prepared for him as lantern slides by the 
 senior pupils ; next he may desire to illustrate the 
 structure of some organism by means of the microscope, 
 and the instrument is at once ready for use. The great 
 advantage gained in the use of a lantern microscope for class 
 teaching can hardly be realised except by those who have 
 seen a large histological class at work at one of our hospital 
 schools, each member of which has a microscope before him, 
 and is peering into it as the teacher does his best to describe 
 what each ought to see. Now it is obvious that each student 
 is looking at a different slide, and although these slides will 
 have features in common, they cannot all be the same. But 
 in the case of the lantern microscope, each student has his 
 attention directed to the enlarged image of the same object, 
 and the teacher can with his pointer show the well-marked 
 peculiarities of the subject. The spectroscope can as readily 
 be brought into use as the two other nozzles of the electric 
 lantern, and thus the teacher has a very wide range of ex- 
 perimental help within his reach. Under other conditions, 
 
186 
 
 Evening work for 
 
 an experiment won Id often be carefully shunned, on account 
 of the expense and trouble involved in its preparation and 
 demonstration. 
 
 Mr. G. M. Hopkins describes, in his admirable work " Ex- 
 perimental Science," an adaptation of the Jablochkoff candle 
 to projection purposes. It will be remembered that the so- 
 called candle made a sensation when first introduced in this 
 country, for it was looked upon as a simple and efficient de- 
 vice for doing away with all the mechanism and consequent 
 expense of regulators. For some years the Thames Embank- 
 ment was lighted by these candles, and the effect was very 
 beautiful, but the expense of maintenance was too great, and 
 the lights were discontinued. In the " candle " the carbons 
 are placed side by side, but are separated and insulated from 
 one another by a thin wall of plaster, which is consumed as 
 the two carbons gradually waste away. As this waste must 
 be equal, the candles can only be used with a dynamo 
 machine which gives an alternating current-, that is to say, 
 a current which changes its direction continually. 
 
 For projection work Mr. Hopkins employs this candle in 
 a horizontal position, so that its luminous end is presented 
 towards the condenser of the lantern, and its radiance is con- 
 centrated at this spot by an ingenious device. This consists 
 of a helix of wire placed around the end of the candle, 
 through which the same current which supplies the light is 
 caused to flow, with the result that the arc is attracted 
 towards the ring or helix, in opposition to its tendency to 
 follow the direction of the carbon rods. The horizontal 
 " candle " slides in a suitable support, and can be kept at 
 the correct distance from the condenser by manipu^ting an 
 
AMATEUR PHOTOGRAPHERS. 
 
 187 
 
 ebonite handle at the further end. As the Jablochkoff 
 candle consumes at the rate of about ten inches an hour, it 
 is obvious that its use in the lantern must be confined to ex- 
 perimental purposes, One very serious defect it has, which 
 is this : if from any cause the light is quenched, it will not 
 recover itself automatically — the two ends of the carbons 
 must be touched with some conducting medium before the 
 arc can be re-established. 
 
 This consideration led, some few months after the intro- 
 duction of the electric candle, to a modification by M. 
 Rapieff. He placed the carbons side by side, as in the 
 Jablochkoff arrangement, but dispensed with the separating 
 wall of plaster, and substituted for it a wall of air. The 
 carbons were set in two sockets about three-eighths of an inch 
 apart, and if the light was extinguished their ends fell to- 
 gether, and immediately sprang apart again when the arc 
 was established. This plan could readily be adapted to lan- 
 tern purposes, but the fault of quick consumption would 
 still remain uncorrected. 
 
 Some years ago a system which was at the time regarded 
 as novel, and from which great results were anticipated, 
 was exhibited in London. It was known as the Werder- 
 mann method of electric lighting, and its most noticeable 
 feature was that it combined in one light the principle of 
 the arc and incandescent systems. It might be correctly 
 described, in fact, as an incandescent pencil of carbon, round 
 which was developed an arc light. It was really founded 
 upon a previous invention by Reynier, whose intention it 
 was to combine the two systems as far as it was possible to 
 do so. To this end he arranged the two carbons in an 
 
188 
 
 EVENING WORK FOR 
 
 entirely new manner, making the lower one of large size, 
 and giving it a fixed position, while the upper one, in the 
 form of an extremely narrow pencil, le.s than a quarter of 
 an inch in diameter, rested upon it and pressed upon it with 
 the force derived from a heavy holder. As the thin carbon 
 was practically consumed at the point of contact, it 
 advanced, owing to the downward pressure of the holder 
 with which it was associated, but at the same time a con- 
 siderable amount of ash accumulated. To get rid of this 
 difficulty, Reynier caused the lower carbon block to revolve 
 so that the ashes fell away as fast as they were generated. 
 This rotary movement, of course, involved a train of clock- 
 work, or other convenient mechanism, and at once the 
 " sweet simplicity " of the contrivance disappeared. 
 
 In Werdermann's lamp this difficulty with regard to the 
 accumulation of ashes was met in another way. He re- 
 versed the positions of the two carbons, placing the larger 
 one uppermost, and forcing the narrow pencil which the 
 other presented upwards against it by the action of a coun- 
 terweight. The position and form of the two carbons is 
 shown in the annexed figure. The upper 
 carbon is in shape like a pastrycook's bun y 
 and it was held in position by a curved 
 arm. The lower carbon worked in a tube ? 
 like a spring candle in its socket, only that 
 the force which drove it upwards as it was 
 gradually consumed was a weight. The 
 Fig. 67. ashes as they were formed fell away by 
 gravity, and they were almost entirely due to the wasting 
 of the lower carbon, the heavy block above showing little 
 
AMATEUR PHOTOGRAPHERS. 
 
 189 
 
 trace of deterioration after several hours, burning. The 
 Werdermann lamp never, I believe, got beyond the ex- 
 perimental form ; the reason probably being that it 
 required a wasteful amount of electrical energy for its 
 support. But it certainly had merit in preserving the 
 point of radiance in one fixed position, and I have always 
 thought that in a modified form it might for this reason 
 be well adapted for lantern projection, although it failed to 
 meet the requirements necessary in a lamp for general use. 
 The Werdermann principle seems to have been lately 
 revived in the Russell arc lamp, which was recently brought 
 forward in America, and which I believe has already made 
 its debut in this country. The Russell lamp is said to burn 
 twice as lor g as an ordinary arc lamp without retrimming or 
 any other attention. The upper carbon is in the form of a 
 disc, the edge of which is presented towards the pencil which 
 forms the lower electrode. This disc slowly revolves, so that 
 at every revolution there is a certain amount burnt off its 
 edge ; provision is therefore made for slightly lowering the 
 disc as a whole at each revolution. The action continues in 
 this way until the disc is almost entirely consumed. The 
 Russell lamp will burn for eighteen hours, and by a slight 
 modification of parts can be made to last for twenty-four 
 hours at a stretch, and the cost of the carbons, weight for 
 weight, is less than under the usual system of similar rods 
 for positive and negative electrodes. The light being per- 
 fectly stationary, this form of lamp would seem to be 
 specially adapted to that class of work where the point of 
 radiance must be kept in unision with the centre of an 
 optical system. ^ 
 
190 
 
 EVENING WORK FOR 
 
 Werdermann published the results of many interesting 
 experiments which he made in using carbons of different 
 sizes in connection with one another, and showed that their 
 shapes altered under the action of the electric current. The 
 form of lamp which he ultimately adopted was founded on 
 the following observation, which may be given in his own 
 words : — " When the sections of the electrodes are nearly 
 as 1 to 64, and they have been placed in contact, no light 
 is any longer given off by the positive electrode [this is the 
 upper one in the annexed cut]. The negative one alone 
 produces the light. It is curious that when a voltaic arc is 
 set up between the two carbons, the smaller electrode is 
 always shaped into a point, whether it be positive or nega- 
 tive. v 
 
 Some time ago I arranged a modified form of Werder- 
 mann lamp for lecture -table demonstration, and I have 
 always found it to act with extreme steadiness and bril- 
 liance. The upper carbon is of the shape already described, 
 and is fixed upon an arm which projects from an upright 
 supporting pillar. Upon the same vertical support, but 
 lower down, is placed a lever arm, which holds in a clip the 
 lower carbon (pencil), and which has at its free end a sliding 
 weight, the position of which is governed by the amount of 
 current at disposal. From experiments I have made, I feel 
 confident that this form of lamp, if modified, to some extent 
 *vould be serviceable for lantern work. One modification 
 would be the sloping position of the lower carbon rod, which 
 has already been illustrated in the Brockie-Pell form of 
 regulator. 
 
 I have not in these chapters dwelt in detail upon the 
 
AMATEUR PHOTOGRAPHERS. 
 
 191 
 
 application of the electric light to studio work, because at 
 the present time such an application is beyond the reach of 
 the ordinary amateur. The arrangement generally adopted 
 is to place a simple form of arc regulator in a large whitened 
 concave reflector above the sitter's head, the direct rays being 
 stopped by a shade. This reflector is moveable, so that its 
 position can be shifted during the brief exposure necessary. 
 It is within the power of any one resident in London to see 
 the arrangement for himself by patronising one of the 
 studios where the system is in use. 
 
INDEX. 
 
 A 
 
 Adding clouds to bromide prints, 
 116. 
 
 Adulteration, 127. 
 Advantages of quarter-plate, 22. 
 Amateur lectures, 31. 
 Apparatus, Fergusson's, 63. 
 Apparatus for enlarging, 118. 
 Arc, Electric, 180. 
 
 B 
 
 Backing plates, 26. 
 
 Batteries, 152. 
 
 Battery cell, 166. 
 
 Battery, Plante's, 170. 
 
 Battery plates, Treatment of, 164. 
 
 Battery, Secondary, 168. 
 
 Beck's flash lamp, 134. 
 
 Bichromate battery, 157. 
 
 salts, 160. 
 Block, Cutting, 10. 
 
 Mitre, 82. 
 Box, Changing, 23. 
 Brockie-Pel regulator, 182. 
 
 Bromide paper, 108. 
 prints, Fixing, 111. 
 
 C 
 
 Camera, Marion's lantern-slide, 51. 
 
 Cameras, Detective, 24. 
 
 Candle, Electric, 186. 
 
 Captain Colomb's lamp, 123. 
 
 Caves, Photographing, 130. 
 
 Celluloid, 7. 
 
 Changing box, 23. 
 
 Cheap electric battery, 162. 
 
 Chloride plates, 70. 
 
 Cloud negatives, 75. 
 
 Clouds, 73. 
 
 in bromide prints, 116. 
 
 incongruous, 77. 
 
 shutter, 76. 
 Condensing lens, 62. 
 Contacts, Electric, 163. 
 Copying Camera, Perkins', 59. 
 Cowan's cutting board, 11, 13. 
 Crystal Palace lantern screen, 68, 
 178. 
 
194 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Cutting block, 10. 
 board, Cowan's, 11, 13. 
 glass, 9. 
 mitres, 85. 
 rebates, 80. 
 
 D 
 
 Davy's experiments, 143. 
 Detective cameras, 24. 
 Developing dishes, 112, 113. 
 Diamond, Glazier's, 6. 
 Direct enlarged negatives, 106. 
 Dishes, Developing, 112, 113. 
 Dr. Fleming's lantern, 175. 
 Dust explosions, 128. 
 
 E 
 
 Easel for enlargements, 115. 
 Edison and Swan lamp, 176. 
 Edison's first glow lamp, 152. 
 Electrical microscope, 175. 
 Electrically-lit optical lantern, 173. 
 Electric Arc, 180. 
 
 battery, Cheap, 162. 
 
 battery, Davy's, 143. 
 
 candle, 186. 
 
 carbons, 146. 
 
 carbons, position of, 181. 
 
 contacts, 163. 
 
 lamp, Newton's, 183. 
 
 lantern, 179. 
 
 light, 142. 
 
 regulators, 145. 
 Enlarging, 103. 
 
 apparatus, 118. 
 
 negatives direct, 106. 
 Exhibitions, Lantern, 31, 34. 
 Explosions, Dust, 128. 
 
 F 
 
 Fashion in frames, 90. 
 Fergusson's apparatus, 63. 
 Fixing bromide prints, 111. 
 Flash lamp, Beck's, 134. 
 
 Marion's, 137. 
 
 Leisk's, 135. 
 
 stand, 136. 
 Flash light photography, 121. 
 Frame making, 78. 
 Frames, Fashion in, 90. 
 
 gilding, 94, 97. 
 Fretwork, 102. 
 
 G 
 
 Gaedicke's powder, 125. 
 Gas battery, Groves', 169. 
 Gelatine plates for lantern slides, 
 69. 
 
 Gilding frames, 94, 97. 
 Glass, Cutting, 9. 
 
 plate, 15. 
 
 sheet, 15. 
 Glazier's diamond, Use of, 6. 
 Glazing a picture, 88. 
 Greener and Stait's lamp, 150. 
 Ground glass, 16. 
 Groves' gas battery, 169. 
 
 H 
 
 Halation, 25. 
 Hollow lenses, 63. 
 
 I 
 
 Incandescent system, 148. 
 Incongruous clouds, 77. 
 Intensification and reduction, 72. 
 
INDEX. 
 
 195 
 
 Interior photography, 129. 
 Introduction, 1. 
 Isochromatic plates, 28. 
 
 K 
 
 King's patent lamp, 147. 
 Konn's lamp, 151. 
 
 L 
 
 Lamp, Captain Colomb's, 123. 
 
 Kussell's, 189. 
 
 Werdermann's, 188. 
 Lantern, Dr. Fleming's, 175. 
 
 exhibitions, 31, 34. 
 
 pictures, Clouds in, 73. 
 
 screens, 67. 
 
 screen at Crystal Palace, 68, 178. 
 
 slide negatives, 17. 
 
 slides by reduction, 54. 
 
 slides on gelatine plates, 69. 
 
 Water, 65. 
 Lectures, Amateur, 31. 
 Leisk's centrifugal lamp, 135. 
 
 cloud shutter, 76. 
 Lens, Condensing, 62. 
 Lenses, Hollow, 63. 
 
 Single, 19. 
 
 Water, 66. 
 
 M 
 
 Magnesium light, 121. 
 Magnetic current, 177. 
 Making frames, 78. 
 Marion's flash lamp, 137. 
 
 lantern- slide camera, 54. 
 Microscope, Electric, 175. 
 Mitre block, 82. 
 
 cutting, 85. 
 
 N 
 
 Negatives for lantern slides, 17. 
 
 of clouds, 75. 
 Newton's electric lamp, 183. 
 
 lantern, 184. 
 
 O 
 
 Optical lantern, Electrical, 173. 
 Oxford frames, 79. 
 
 P 
 
 Paper, Bromide, 108. 
 Perken's copying camera, 59. 
 Photography by flash light, 121. 
 Photographing caves, 130. 
 
 interiors, 129. 
 Picture glazing, 88. 
 Plante's battery, 170. 
 Plate glass, 15. 
 Plates, Backing for, 26. 
 
 Chloride, 70. 
 
 Isochromatic, 28. 
 Plate-making, 4. 
 Position of electric carbons, 181. 
 
 Q 
 
 Quarter plate, Advantages of, 22. 
 R 
 
 Rebate cutter, 80. 
 Reducing camera, Shew's, 57. 
 Reduction and Intensification, 72. 
 
 Lantern slides by, 54. 
 Regulator, Brockie-Pel, 182. 
 Russell's lamp, 189. 
 
196 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 s 
 
 Sebanchieff s battery, 154. 
 Screens, Lantern, 67. 
 Secondary battery, 168. 
 Sheet glass, 15. 
 Shew's reducing camera, 57. 
 Simple plunge battery, 159. 
 Single lens, 19. 
 
 Society of Art's electric lantern, 
 179. 
 
 Stained albumen for transparen- 
 cies, 45. 
 Stand for flash lamps, 136. 
 
 T 
 
 Transparencies on stained albumen, 
 45. 
 
 Treatment of battery plates, 164. 
 W 
 
 Water lantern, 65. 
 
 lens, 66. 
 Werdermann's lamp, 188. 
 
 Printed by Haze It, Watson, &> Viney, Ld. London and Aylesbury 
 
ADVERTISEMENTS. 
 
 197 
 
 J. H. STEWARD'S 
 
 AND 
 
 Dissolving View 
 
 LANTERNS 
 
 OF THE 
 
 HIGHEST QUALITY. 
 
 AT 
 
 MODERATE PRICES. 
 
 Steward's Standard Bi-Unial Lantern. 
 STEWARD'S 
 
 PH OTOG E N I C 
 
 LANTERNS 
 
 ARE THE 
 FOR 
 
 DRAWING-ROOM OR SCHOOL USE, StewardVPkSogenic 
 
 3-wick Oil Lantern. 
 AND FOR ENLARGING. From £2 2 0 
 
 ILLUSTRATED CATALO&UES &EATIS AND POST EREE. 
 BEARD'S /^utonjatic Regulators & Cor^pressd Gas in Cylinders. 
 
 LARGE STOCK OF PHOTOGRAPHS & HIGH-CLASS COLOURED 
 SLIDES & EFFECTS ON SALE OR HIRE. 
 
 OPTICIAN TO THE GOVERNMENT AND TO UNIVERSITIES OF ENGLAND, CANADA, 
 AMERICA, AND RUSSIA. 
 
 406, 457, Strand ; 54, Cornhill, London. 
 
ADVERTISEMENTS. 
 
 MARION'S PHOTO. PROCESSES 
 
 FOR 
 
 "EVENING WORK." 
 
 ) • ♦ » < 
 
 gtnfavgtng 2>\? Jlrfiftctaf c£tc$f . 
 
 BY means of an Enlarging Apparatus and Bromide Paper the Amateur can 
 Enlarge from his small Negatives to any Size he may desire. It is easy to 
 work, and can be done in the Evenings. 
 
 THE ECONOMICAL ENLARGING CAMERA, 
 
 For ENLARGING from J-plate or J-plate Negatives up to 12 x 10 on PAPER or OPAL. 
 Price complete, with^Lens, 30/- ; Packing extra, 2/6. 
 
 MARION'S SUPERIOR ENLARGING APPARATUS 
 
 Is a higher class of article, is fitted with a pair of Piano -convex Condensers, and is fitted 
 with a powerful Triple-wick Lamp. By means of this Apparatus Enlargements can be made 
 up to any size desired. Including- 
 
 Front Lens. 
 
 Lantern, with 5I in. Condensers, fully covering 4^ x 3^ plate ...£4 10 0 ... £5 10 0 
 „ „ 8^ in. „ „ 6£ x 4 | „ ... 8 0 0 ... 10 5 0 
 
 „ „ iojin. „ „ 8| x 6| „ ... 13 0 0 ... 18 0 0 
 
 The two Larger Sizes are fitted with Carriers for the smaller size plates. 
 We may mention that the above A pparatus makes a very good Magic Lantern. 
 
 MARION'S BROMIDE PAPER 
 
 Gives the best Results, is very Rapid, easy to Work, and gives splendid results by con- 
 tact printing. 
 
 Prices, in Packets of 12 Sheets, 6| x 4 f, 1/6 ; 8| x 6J, 2/6 ; 10 x 8, 3/6. 
 
 EI^OflOCEfl is the best Developer for Bromide Paper. 
 MAKING TRANSPARENCIES AND LANTERN SLIDES. 
 
 Most interesting work for the Evenings, and what is nicer than Transparencies of Views and 
 Portraits for the Window ? whilst Photographic Lantern Slides are always interesting. Cowan's 
 Chloride Plates give the most Beautiful Coloured Transparencies, but are only suitable for 
 printing in contact. When reductions have to be made, then it is advisable to use Cowan's 
 Chloro-Bromide Plates, and also when quickness of Exposure in contact printing is an object. 
 Both kinds are the same price : — 
 
 3?X34, 1/- ; 4x3^, 1/- ; 6jx 4 |, 2/3 ; 8§x6§, 4/3; 10x8, 7/3 ; 12X10, 10/- per doz. 
 
 GRIFFITHS' LANTERN SLIDE-MAKING CAMERA 
 
 Meets the long-felt want for an Instrument that is always ready at a moment's notice to 
 produce Lantern Slides from Larger Sizes of Negatives. It is fitted with a good 
 Lens, and this is always in focus for making the Reduction ; all that is necessary to be done is to 
 put the Negative into the groove at one end, and the Chloro-Bromide Plate at the other, and make 
 the Exposure. This can be done by Gas or Lamplight in the Evenings. 
 
 Prices Complete : — 
 
 To Reduce from J-plate Negative, 12/6 ; T~pl ate > 15/- ; 12 x 10 (adjustable for smaller sizes), 21/-. 
 Oblong Cameras, to take in the whole of the Plate, J-plate, 14/6 ; \ -plate, 17/6. 
 ♦♦♦^♦♦♦❖♦♦^♦■»^ 
 
 MARION & CO., 22 & 23, Soho Square, LONDON. 
 
ADVERTISEMENTS. 
 
 199 
 
 MAGIC LANTERNS! 
 
 AMATEURS SHOULD SEND FOR 
 
 MR. HUGHES' FULL ILLUSTRATED CATALOGUE, 
 
 Over 300 pp., Is., postage 5d. / small ditto, 6cL, postage 2d. 
 
 Giving useful and valuable information, 
 Also Prices of every Description of Lantern, Apparatus, Slides, etc., extant. 
 Very Cheapest and Best. Over 15 Patents for Lantern Improvements. 
 PERFECTION IN EVERY DIRECTION. 
 
 In proof of this Mr. Hughes has constructed this season a most magnificent 
 TRIPLE for B. J. MALDEN, Esq. 
 
 The Docwra Triple also gained the only Prize Medal & Highest Award. 
 
 Used nightly at the Royal Polytechnic Institution ; and supplied to Colin 
 Docwra, Esq., Dr. H. Grattan Guiness, Captain Selwyn, M.P., Dr. F. Maude, 
 John Docwra, Esq., Captain Charles Reade, etc. ; Rev. Frank White uses his 
 high-class Lanterns and Objectives. Therefore, do not invest in the common 
 commercial things, but have direct 
 
 A FIS$ST-CU\SS If^STRUWjENT at a little more than Commercial Price. 
 
 THE PATENT PAIYI PH ENGOS 
 
 Has stood the test against all Imitations, and stands alone, and 
 approaches Limelight. 
 Price, with 4 in. Condensers, £2 10s. ; commercial ^-wick Lanterns, £1 15s. 6d. 
 
 New CheapScience Lanterns for all Purposes; Oxy-Hydrogen, Microscopes, etc. 
 
 PATENT PRESTO CARRIER, AN INNOVATION FOR SINGLE LANTERNS. 
 
 PATENT SKELETON, TRIPLE, & BI-UNIAL LANTERNS 
 
 For Travelling Exhibitors. A Marvel of Portability. 
 
 60,000 SLIDES FROM 6d. EACH ; 300 LECTURE SETS. 
 
 THE 
 
 PATENT BIJOU ENLARGING LANTERN, 
 
 With RECTANGULAR CONDENSERS. Perfect Results, Scientifically con- 
 sidered. Special 5 X 4, £7 15s. 6d. 
 
 Before deciding, consult Mr. HUGHES, who, as a Specialist and Manufacturer, 
 can give greater value than others in technical detail. 
 ADDRESS :— 
 
 MR. HUGHES, 
 
 Brewster House, Mortimer Road, Kingsland, N. 
 
200 
 
 ADVERTISEMENTS. 
 
 W. H- HUMPHRIES & CO., 
 
 MANUFACTURERS AND DEALERS 
 
 IN HIGH-CLASS 
 
 Optical Lanterns, Apparatus, and Slides, 
 
 SCIENTIFIC ACCESSORIES FOR USE WITH LANTERNS, 
 MECHANICAL AND DISSOLVING VIEW EFFECTS, 
 
 ETC., 
 
 SOLE MAKERS OF THE 
 
 u KALOPTICON 11 RUSSIAN IRON LANTERN, 
 
 With 4-wick Lamp, £3 15s., adapted for Limelight. 
 CHEAP LANTERNS from 27s., with 4-inch Condensers and3-wick Lamp. 
 
 OUR NEW HAND CAMERA, 
 
 "THE QUADRANT," 
 
 Surpasses all for simplicity and compactness, all the working parts being underneath. 
 
 The Amateur Photographer says : " We have every confidence in recommending 
 them to our readers. They are well finished, and made with the greatest care." 
 
 Photographic Reporter says : " One of the BEST CAMERAS that has ever passed 
 through our hands." 
 
 Lists and Full Description of Photographic Apparatus and Optical Lanterns 
 for Home and Public Use free. 
 
 W. H, HUMPHRIES & CO., 
 
 268, UPPER STREET, ISLINGTON, LONDON, N. 
 
 Telegraphic Address : Works : 
 
 « FOCIMETER, LONDON." TO, ELFOKT ROAD, N. 
 
ADVERTISEMENTS, 
 
 201 
 
 NEWTON'S MAGIC LANTERNS & DISSOLVING YIEWS. 
 
 The SLIDES are photo- 
 graphed and painted on 
 the premises in Oil Colours 
 and are tin surpassed for 
 transparency and finish. 
 Many thousands always 
 in stock. 
 
 NEWTON'S IMPROVED LANTERNS, 
 
 Fitted with their Patent Refulgent 3-wick 
 Paraffin Lamp, and Large Double Achro- 
 matic Front Lenses, in Case, £3 13s. 6d. ; 
 ditto, ditto, Four-inch Condenser, with 
 
 their Patent 4-wick Lamp, £4 10s. 
 As supplied to the Indian Government, 
 Council of Education, Science and Art 
 Department, London School Board, etc. 
 
 Dissolving- View Apparatus, £8 8s. 
 Bi-unial Lantern, 4 in., £9 to £22. 
 
 enlargTnTTai^terns. 
 
 4-in. Condenser Patent 3-wick Lamp 
 complete in Case, £4 10s. 
 5-in. ditto, with 4-wick Lamp, 
 £5 18s. 6d. 
 
 Catalogue of Lanterns and 
 Slides, 3d. 
 
 NEWTON & CO., Opticians & Scientific Instrument Makers to the Queen, 
 
 Makers of every description of Scientific and Physical Apparatus for Colleges, Institutions, etc. 
 ^Special Optical Apparatus for Polariscopy, Spectroscopy, etc., for Screen Projection. 
 
 Manufacturers of Lanterns and Slides to the Government. 
 
 3, FLEET STREET, LOXIM»\. 
 
 LOCKYER'S 
 
 Hy droquin one Develop er. 
 
 Great Improvements have been effected in the manufacture of this well-known 
 Developer. It may now be said to be 
 
 THE MOST PERFECT IN THE MARKET FOR 
 
 Developing Plates, Transparencies, Lantern Slides, Bromide Papers, & Opals, 
 
 Giving better results than may be obtained by using any of the published formulae. 
 Sold in Bottles, Is. 3d. and 2s. Post free for Is. 7d. and 2s. 6d. 
 
 SAMPLE POST FREE FOR SIX STAMPS. 
 MAY BE HAD OF ALL DEALERS, OR DIRECT FROM 
 
 J. E. LOCKYER, Chemist, 88, Evelyn St., 
 
 DEPTFORD, S.E. 
 
 AGENTS :— J. FALLOWFIELD, Charing Cross Road, W. ; W. EDWARDS & SON, 157, 
 Queen Victoria Street, E.C. ; SHEFFIELD PHOTO. CO., 3, Fargate, Sheffield. 
 
202 
 
 ADVERTISEMENTS. 
 
 MANUFACTURER 
 
 OF EVERY ARTICLE FOR 
 
 THE PHOTOGRAPHIC COLOURIST. 
 
 THE ARTIST IN OIL COLOURS. 
 THE ARTIST IN WATER COLOURS, 
 
 OF SUPERIOR QUALITY. 
 
 24 SOHO SQUARE, LONDON, 
 
 Catalogues and Circulars Post Free. 
 
 CAMERAS, LENSES, 
 
 Enlarging Lanterns, and Accessories.— All Makes. 
 
 Central London Agency for LANCASTER'S and other Goods. 
 
 Lanterns, Slides and Apparatus of Every Description 
 
 CHEAPEST HOUSE FOR 
 
 SECOND-HAND & NEW APPARATUS. 
 
 100,000 JSfitesitt Ite^&lf^iijtotttatt «F|ti$frttm*ttts* 
 
 SINGLE LANTERNS, WITH 3-WICK LAMPS, from 30/- complete. 
 BI-UNIAL LANTERNS, from 5 Guineas. TRIPLE LANTERNS, from 8 Guineas. 
 
 WHOLESALE, RETAIL, AMD FOR EXPORTATiON. Established 20 Years. 
 
 LANTERNS AND SLIDES ON HIRE. LISTS FREE. 
 
 CHATHAM PEXTON 
 
 {Member of the Lecturers' Association), 
 
 DISSOLVING VIEW ARTIST AND MANUFACTURER, 
 
 1st & 2nd Floors, 22. GRAY'S INN ROAD, H0LB0RN, LONDON, W.C., 
 NEAR HOLBORN. 
 
ADVERTISEMENTS. 
 
 203 
 
 F. W. VEREL & CO. 
 
 M/\KE TJ|E BEST /\N0 QUICKEST PLATES I JM THE I^A^KET, 
 
 THE 
 
 MOST RELIABLE SENSITIZED PAPER YET INTRODUCED. 
 
 NUMEROUS AWARDS for WORK on our PLATES & PAPER. 
 
 30 ami 60 TOIES PLATES. Very rich in Silver, yielding Superb Negatives with delicate 
 half-tones. J-plates, 1/6 ; J-plates, 3/6 ; }-P lates » 6/- J 12 x IO » P er doz * 
 
 MATCHLESS PLATES. At the price unequalled. Better body than any other cheap plate. 
 Extreme rapidity. £-plate, 1/- ; ^-plates, 2/3 ; ^-plates, 4/3 ; 12 x 10, 10/6 per doz. 
 
 LANTERN PLATES Either Chloride or Bromide supplied ; the former for contact 
 printing only. Make charming Lantern Slides. 3^ x 3J, 1/- per doz. 
 
 MATT OPALS . Make beautiful Positives. 
 
 NOTE THE PRICES ; — j-plate, 2/6 per doz. ; opiate, 5/6 per doz. ; Vplate, 10/- per doz., 
 
 5/6 per half-doz. ; 12 x 10, 24/- per doz., 12/6 per half-doz. 
 READY SENSITIZED PAPER, in Pink, Mauve, and White. Only the best *** SS. CROSS 
 
 Swords Sheets, 14/- per quire ; 7/3 per |-quire ; 4/- per S quire. Cut any Size, 14/6 
 
 per quire ; 7/0 per ^-quire ; 4/3 per ^-quire. 
 
 All Cash with Order, Post Free, Sai7iple Sheet 1/-. 
 PRICE LISTS FREE. DEALERS SHOULD WRITE for TERMS. 
 
 Works: CATIHCARTTnear GLASGOW. 
 
 HUME'S 
 CANTILEVER ENLARGING APPARATUS. 
 
 Correct Optical Principles, accurate Mechanical 
 Centring, uniformly lighted Field of Illumina- 
 tion, no Shadows or Flares, makes Enlargements 
 upon Bromide and Chloride Papers. Plates, 
 Opals, Celluloid, Canvas for Enlarged Negatives, 
 Positives, Transparencies, Lantern Slides, Toned 
 Wall Pictures, etc. 
 
 Condensers 5i in. 8iin. gin. ioin.diam. 
 
 Without Objective £± 15 0 £8 10 0 £10 10 0 £12 12 0 
 
 With Enlarging Objective , 6 10 0 11 15 0 16 10 0 19 7 0 
 
 Folding Rails, Double Length of Base Board 0 10 0 0 14 0 100 100 
 
 Illustrated Pamphlet, 16 pp., gives full description. 
 
 DESIGNED AND MANUFACTURED BY 
 
 WILLIAM HUME, Scientific Instrument Maker, 
 
 7, LOTHIAN STREET, EDINBURGH. 
 
204 
 
 ADVERTISEMENTS. 
 
 CELEROTYPE. 
 
 Tf\e IVlost Fascinating of all Paper Printing IV[ett\ods. 
 
 ^ -A A. AA . AA J U L ; A 4i A. jLA . AA . ^ 
 
 ^•ClCrOt^PC is the simplest of printing processes. 
 
 ^ClCCOt^PC gives the most beautiful and universally admired pictures. 
 ^ClCt*Ot^PC produces the best results from weak and indifferent negatives. 
 ^ClCrOt^PC is more permanent than any other silver printing process. 
 (TdCCOt^PC prints quicker than any other paper. 
 
 ^-ClCrOt^PC gives the most superbly finished pictures, either with an 
 enamel-like surface, or made to represent a dull 
 engraving. 
 
 CClCrOt^PC is the paper of the future. 
 
 ^ClCrOt^PC comes as a boon and a blessing, to both amateur and 
 professional photographers. 
 
 Economy, Purity, Simplicity, Rapidity, Brilliancy, Per^a^ency. 
 
 SOLD IN SHEETS AND CUT SIZES. INSTRUCTIONS GIVEN WITH EACH PACKET* 
 
 CELEROTYPE 
 
 May be obtained from all Dealers at Home and Abroad, or direct 
 ■from the Manufacturers— THE 
 
 BLACKFRIARS PHOTOGRAPHIC & SENSITISING CO., 
 
 1, Surrey Row, Blackfriars Road, LONDON, S.E. 
 
ADVERTISEMENTS. 
 
 205 
 
 THE 
 
 BLACKFRIARS PHOTOGRAPHIC 
 
 AND SENSITISING COMPANY 
 
 ARE NOW MAKING 
 
 THE 
 
 Best Sensitised Papers 
 
 PROCU RABLE. 
 
 ALSO ALL KINDS OF 
 
 PHOTOGRAPHIC (aOODS, 
 CAMERAS, LENSES, MOUNTS, ETC., 
 
 Of the Finest Qualities, and at Moderate Prices. 
 
 NEW 
 
 ILLUSTRATED CATALOGUE 
 
 Now Ready. Free on Application. 
 
 1, SURREY ROW, BLACKFRIARS ROAD, LONDON, SI. 
 
ADVERTISEMENTS. 
 
 207 
 
 Mitre Machines, 
 
 TO 
 
 Cut up to 2 in. Moulding, 
 
 12/6; 
 
 To Cut up to 4 in., 23/-. 
 
 MELHUI8H & SONS, 
 
 FETTER LANE, 
 (HOLBO^N (Bl^SUS, 
 LONDON. 
 
 0UR GARVING "foOLS 
 
 MITRE CRAMPS, 
 
 2/3 per pair. 
 
 12 Z^S SORTED. Q/= 
 
 56,(FollSet)21/ € 
 
 RABBETING CUTTERS, 
 
 1/3 each. 
 
 Y FOR 
 
 Use. 
 
 MELHUISH'S 
 
 PATENT 
 
 Work Bench Tool Cabinet. 
 
 Fitted with our famous 
 WARRANTED TOOLS. 
 
 SEND FOR OUR 
 
 ILLUSTRATD LIST, 
 Post Free. 
 
208 
 
 ADVERTISEMENTS. 
 
 HIGHEST AWARDS WHEREVER EXHIBITED. 
 
 PORTRAIT&Yltw LENSES. 
 
 Used by leading Amateurs and Professionals throughout the World. 
 
 ROSS' IMPROVED DRY-PLATE CAMERAS. 
 
 Extra Light and Portable. Double Extension. 
 
 ROSS' COMPLETE^ OUTFITS, 
 
 Every Requisite for the practice of Photography. 
 
 Send for NEW ILLUSTRATED CATALOGUE of NEW FORMULA LENSES, 
 with ESTIMATES, etc., 
 
 ¥u ROSS & CO., intutFarittrmg ©pttmws, 
 112, NEW BOND STREET, LONDON, W. 
 
 NEW OPTICAL WORKS, CLAPHAM COMMON. 
 
 UlNTON&c? 
 
 ■ ■ P p 38 IBbdford Street 
 
 | STRAND. W.C. 
 
 Pharmaceutical & Photographic Chemists 
 
 FOR ALL PHOTOGRAPHIC MATERIALS AND APPARATUS 
 Required for Indoor Photography. 
 
 CHLORIDE & BROMIDE PLATES AND PAPERS, 
 
 ALL THE BEST MAKES. 
 
 HINTON'S FOLDING PLATE RACKS, all sizes. 
 
 HINTON'S LANTERN MASKS, BINDERS, PLATE BOXES, etc. 
 
 HINTON'S GLASS PLATES, OPALS, etc. 
 
 HINTON'S CONCENTRATED DEVELOPERS have no rival, and for Lantern 
 
 Slides or Bromide Prints produce the finest work and the most artistic tones. 
 HINTON'S LANTERNS, 30/-, 42/-, 45/-, 56/-, 70/-. 
 HINTON'S ENLARGING LANTERNS. Send for Price List. 
 
 Note the Address-38, BEDFORD STREET, STRAND, W.C. 
 
ADVERTISEMENTS. 
 
 209 
 
 The STAN DARD PHOTO. CO. 
 
 MUCKLOW'S 
 Albumenized, Sensitized, 
 
 Matt Surface, and 
 other Photographic Papers. 
 
 Prepared with the greatest care, to ensure Rapid Printing, 
 Good Toning, and FREEDOM FROM BLISTERS. 
 They are well adapted for Shipping, as they can be kept for 
 TWO YEARS. 
 
 Extra Brilliant Sensitized Paper, 14/6 per 
 Quire ; 7/6 |-Quire. 
 Matt and Single, 13/6 per Quire; 
 7/" I -Quire ; 3/9 ^-Quire. 
 
 BRILLIANT PAPER READY CUT for Mounting. 
 
 THE NEW PLATINUM TONING PAPER 
 
 IS NOW READY, AND ALSO 
 
 free from every disagreeable 
 smell and blisters. This 
 paper prints quicker and deeper 
 
 than the ordinary Albumen Papers, and tones very readily. 
 
 DRY PLATES, LENSES, CAMERAS, and other 
 PHOTOGRAPHIC APPARATUS. 
 
 NEW GELATINE PAPERS, p?-inting out or by gaslight, and developed 
 with or without toning, most suitable for evening work, and producing Sepia 
 Tints or Platinum Tones, with matt or enamel surfaces, 
 
 MOST LIBERAL TERMS TO DEALERS AND SHIPPERS. 
 
 1, DUF FERIN STREET, BUNHILL ROW, E.C. 
 
210 
 
 ADVERTISEMENTS. 
 
 Awarded First Prize Medals Adelaide Jubilee Exhibition, 1887, and 
 Sydney Centenary Exhibition, 1888. 
 
 H. MORELL, 
 
 17&18, Great St, Andrew Street, 
 
 BLOOMSBURY, W.C., LONDON, 
 
 Manufacturer of every description of 
 
 ALSO OF THE 
 
 Best Patent Washable Gilt, Rosewood, Walnut, and Black Mouldings. Plain and 
 Ornamental Frames, and also for Room Decorating. 
 
 TWO MILLION FEET ALWAYS IN STOCK. 
 
 WHITE ALHAMBRA and EVERY OTHER DESCRIPTION OF MOULDINGS. 
 
 Window Cornices. 
 Carved Mouldings. 
 Gilt Alhambra and other Mouldings. 
 Gold Alhambra and other Frames. 
 Washable Gilt and Imitation Frames. 
 Carved Frames. 
 Oxford Frames. 
 English and Foreign Glass. 
 Oval Frames, White and Gold, plain and 
 ornamental. [variety. 
 Advertising and Portrait Frames in great 
 
 Picture Cord. 
 
 Gold and Silver Picture Ware. 
 Picture Chain. 
 „ Hooks. 
 
 Brackets. 
 
 Rods, etc. 
 Gold and Brass Corners. 
 Blackboards and Strainer Stuff. 
 Oak Staves. 
 Mounting Boards. 
 English and Foreign Mounts. 
 
 And every Requisite for the Trade and for Exportation. 
 
 WHOLESALE PICTURE-FRAME MAKER, 
 
 CARVER AND GILDER, 
 
 MOUNT-CUTTER AND PASSEPARTOUT MAKER, 
 ENGRAVINGS, OLEOGRAPHS, LITHOGRAPHS, etc., 
 
 IMPORTER OF GLASS. 
 
 STOCK LISTS MONTHLY, FREE ON APPLICATION. 
 Every Information contained in Illustrated Book of Patterns and Catalogues, 
 85 pp., 4to demy, revised for 189 1. Post free for Three Penny Stamps. 
 
ADVERTISEMENTS. 
 
 211 
 
 THE CAHERA 
 
 LANTERN SLIDE WORK, 
 
 ENLARGEMENTS, &c. 
 
 SHEWS ECLIPSE HAND CAMERA 
 
 (PATENT). 
 
 Many Medals have been 
 awarded for Lantern Slides 
 
 and Enlargements from 
 - Negatives taken with the 
 above in competition with 
 the work of every other 
 make of Apparatus. 
 
 At Lantern Demonstrations 
 more work is shown 
 done with 
 
 SHEWS "ECLIPSE" LENS 
 
 than with any other Lens 
 known. 
 
 Now made in all sizes up to %\ X 6\, with universal Jilting for Double Backs 
 for Glass, Film Backs, or Roll Holders for Film. 
 
 REDUCING CAMERAS, ENLARGING LANTERNS 
 EXHIBITION LANTERNS, ENLARGING CAMERAS 
 
 AND EVERY REQUISITE FOR 
 
 ENLARGING or for LANTERN SLIDE MAKING 
 
 in Stock. 
 
 J. F. SHEW & CO., 
 
 Manufacturers and Patentees of SPECIALITIES in POETABLE 
 
 APPARATUS, 
 
 Dealers in every article required in the practice of Photography, 
 87 <fc 88, NE^VM^JST STREET, 
 
 (4 doors off Oxford Street), LONDON, W. 
 
212 
 
 ADVERTISEMENTS. 
 
 TO LECTURERS AND OTHERS USING THE OXY-HYDRIC LIGHT. 
 
 BRIN'S OXYGEN CO, Ltd., 
 
 ■** PURE OXYGEN, *♦ 
 
 And also COAL GAS and NITROGEN compressed in portable vessels, at the 
 following low Prices : 
 
 PRICE LIST. 
 
 STEEL CYLINDERS. — Tested to 3,000 lbs. per square inch, and FITTED 
 WITH BRIN'S OXYGEN COMPANY'S PATENT VALVE. 
 
 CYLINDERS. 
 
 Oxygen or Coal Gas. 
 
 Cubic 
 Contents 
 in feet. 
 
 Approxi- 
 mate 
 Diameter 
 in Inches. 
 
 Approxi- 
 mate Length 
 over all 
 in Inches. 
 
 Approxi- 
 mate 
 Weight 
 in lbs. 
 
 Prices of 
 Cylinders 
 complete 
 with Valve. 
 
 Rent 
 per week 
 after first 
 14 days. 
 
 Prices per 
 cubic foot in 
 the Company's 
 Cylinders. 
 
 Prices in 
 Customers' 
 
 own 
 Cylinders. 
 
 10 
 12 
 15 
 20 
 
 4 
 
 4 
 
 4 
 
 4 
 
 19| 
 23 
 
 25i 
 32i 
 
 15J 
 17 
 19| 
 24! 
 
 33/- 
 34/6 
 37/- 
 39/- 
 
 | 1/3 
 
 Quantities of 
 20 feet 
 or less, 
 
 4d. 
 
 Quantities of 
 20 feet 
 or less, 
 
 3d. 
 
 40 
 60 
 
 80 
 
 5J 
 
 H 
 
 331 
 47 1 
 
 61i 
 
 37 
 47 
 
 66 
 
 48/- 
 53/3 
 
 56/9 
 
 } 1/6 
 
 21- 
 
 Over 20 feet 
 and up to 
 60 feet. 
 
 3d. 
 
 Over 20 feet 
 and up to 
 60 feet, 
 
 2!d. 
 
 100 
 125 
 
 5i 
 
 54 
 
 76i 
 93i 
 
 81 
 
 95 
 
 62/3 
 67/6 
 
 } 2/6 
 
 Over 60 feet 
 and upwards, 
 
 2id. 
 
 Over 60 feet 
 and upwards, 
 
 2d. 
 
 FITTINGS —Nipple and Union, 2s. ; Key, 2s. 6d. REGULATORS (with or 
 without differential Screw), 33s. GAUGES, 30s. CONNECTORS for old and new 
 style valve fittings, 3s. 
 
 TERMS 1 NET, CASH WITH ORDER. 
 
 DEPOSITS.— Customers not wishing to purchase Cylinders must send with their 
 order an amount equal to the price of Cylinder and Fittings, as a Deposit ; and on all 
 Cylinders not returned within 14 days rent will be charged as specified above. 
 
 BRIN'S OXYGEN COMPANY, Ltd., 
 
 34, Victoria Street, Westminster, S.W. 
 
 Works : 69, Horseferry Road, Westminster, S.W. 
 
Amateur Photographer Library— Advertisements. viii 
 
 Ihorhton-Pickard 
 
 44 
 
 44 
 
 Amber " 
 
 AND 
 
 Ruby " 
 Cameras 
 
 are more 
 
 HANDY HAND CAMERAS 
 
 than many of the various patterns of 
 Box Cameras now on the market. 
 
 Illustrated Catalogue Post Pree. 
 
 Whilst they are at the same time 
 
 PERFECT STAND CAMERAS. 
 
 The " Ruby" is 
 Three Cameras 
 in One. 
 
 Perfect as a Tripod 
 
 Camera. 
 Perfect as a Hand 
 
 Camera. 
 
 6 6 RUBY 99 as a Stereoscopic Camera ; . Perfect as a stereo- 
 the cheapest high-class Camera made. ' 3c0 p ic Camera 
 
 It is a Stand Camera, but may also be used as a Hand Camera. 
 The Shutter is attached to and forms part of the Camera. 
 The Shutter folds up into the baseboard. 
 The front has an unlimited amount of Rise and Fall. 
 The Camera is fitted with Vertical and Horizontal Swings. 
 The Back may be pushed right up to the front for use with 
 
 Wide Angle Lenses. 
 The Half-Plate Camera Racks from 2| in. shortest focus, to 
 
 15! in. longest focus. 
 The Camera has a double pinion, so that it may be racked from 
 
 the longest to the shortest focus. 
 May be arranged for Stereoscopic Work. 
 
 The Workmanship is perfection, and unsurpassed in any other 
 Camera. 
 
 'RUBY" Outfit, including Camera, with'turntable, plate- 
 holder, t stand, time and instantaneous shutter, with speed 
 
 indicator. Half-Plate, £7 17s. 
 
 "AMBER" Outfit No. 1. including Camera, 
 plate-holder, stand, and Rapid Rectilinear Lens. 
 
 duarter-Plate, £5 5s. Half-Plate, £6 6s. 6d. 
 
 Whatever Camera you buy, insist upon its being 
 fitted with the World-renowned THORNTON- 
 PICKARD SHUTTER. Don't be put off with 
 imitations which are unreliable and fail at the critical 
 moment. 
 
 The Thornton -Pickard Manfg. Co., Ltd., Altrincham. 
 
 Follow Text. 
 
INDEX TO ADVERTISERS. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Adams & Co Inside Front Cover. 
 
 Autocopyist Co . ... . . . xviii 
 
 Benetfink & Co facing Inside Front Cover. 
 
 Blees, John ...... xvii 
 
 Burroughs Wellcome & Co iv 
 
 Dallmeyer, Ltd., J. H xv 
 
 Griffin & Sons, Ltd., John J. . facing Index to Advertisers. 
 
 Hazell, Watson, & Viney, Ld i . xix 
 
 Horton, B. W * . . . xviii 
 
 London Stereoscopic Co facing Title Page. 
 
 Newman cS: Guardia, Ld. vi 
 
 Patterson, W xvii 
 
 Piggott, John . xvi 
 
 Powell, T. H . xii 
 
 Ross, Ltd x 
 
 Sh ew & Co., J. F. ......... xiv 
 
 Stuart, F. G. O.: . . . xviii 
 
 Taylor, Taylor & Hobson xiii 
 
 Tella Camera Co., Ltd iii 
 
 Thornton-Pickard Manufacturing Co., Ltd viii 
 
 Watson & Sons * . * . v 
 
 Wratten & Wainwright xvii 
 
 Wray, W. • . xi 
 
 Wallis, Edmond .... xviii 
 
 "X" Chair Patents Co., Ltd. . . facing Inside Back Cover. 
 Zimmermann, A. & M Inside Back Cover. 
 
Amateur Photographer Library— Advertisements. ix 
 
 A REVOLUTION 
 
 IN PHOTOGRAPHY 
 
 has been caused by 
 the introduction of.,.. 
 
 -~ VELOX - 
 
 A process simple in the extreme. You can make 
 your prints using day-light, gas-light, candle-light, 
 any kind of light. You can, for instance, do your 
 printing and developing in a comfortably lighted room 
 with your family and friends. No waiting for the 
 sun to shine trying to make half-a-dozen prints, or 
 heing frozen to death on a cold day. The results are 
 "beautifully soft and artistic, appealing to the taste of 
 the cultivated. Further, the prints are permanent, 
 and the paper does not spoil with age. 
 
 The Varieties made are : — 
 
 Carbon IDeloj— Matt ^ 
 
 ^ * ^ , , For contrasty effects and 
 
 mOSSV DelOJ-Enameled soft ^ 
 
 IROUflb IDelOJ— Rough Surface J 
 
 Special " portrait IDelOJ— Half Matt \ For soft effects 
 
 4i SpCCial " (BlOSSP IDelOJ— Enameled rand contrasty 
 
 44 Special " IROUgb IDelOJ— Rough Surface i negatives. 
 
 v ff ff (double weight) needs no mounting. 
 
 Sold by all Dealers, or from 
 
 JOHN J. GRIFFIN & SONS, Ltd., 
 
 20-26, Sardinia St., Lincoln's-Inn-Fields, 
 LONDON, W.C- - - ENGLAND. 
 
Amateur Photographer Library— Advertisements. 
 
 Medals and Highest Awards at all Great Exhibitions. 
 
 An absolutely Unrivalled Selection of High-Class 
 
 ROSS-ZEISS and 
 ROSS=GOERZ 
 
 PbotograpWc Censes. 
 
 EXTRA RAPID, RAPID, MEDIUM, & WIDE-ANGLE 
 
 TO SUIT EVERY POSSIBLE REQUIREMENT OF 
 
 Professional and Amateur Photographers 
 and Process Workers, 
 
 ALSO FOR TAKING AND PROJECTING 
 
 CINEMATOGRAPH PICTURES 
 
 PRICE LISTS AND ESTIMATES FREE. 
 
 &X ROSS, Ltd., Ill, New Bond St., LONDON, W 
 
Amateur Photographer Library — Advertisements. xi 
 
 Wray's Lenses, 
 
 THE PLATYSTIGMAT. 
 
 One of the finest of Modern Anasigmatic Lenses* 
 
 A Rapid 
 
 A Wide Angle 
 
 and 
 
 A Single Lens 
 combined. 
 
 Actual Size of 7-in. Platystigmat. 
 
 IRapib anb Wifce BuqIc IRecttitnear Xeneee- 
 
 SPECIAL R. R. LENSES FOR HAND CAMERAS, 
 
 from 3J to 7-in. focus. 
 
 LANTERN PROJECTION LENSES, 
 
 CINEMATOGRAPH LENSES. 
 
 Illustrated Price List FREE, 
 
 Illustrated Catalogue of Telescopes, Microscopes, Field and Marine Glasses, etc., 
 
 for Stamp. 
 
 W. WRAY, ©ptidan, 
 59, NORTH HILL, HIGHGATE, LONDON, N. 
 
xii 
 
 Amateur Photographer Library— Advertisements, 
 
 UNRIVALLED FOR 
 
 PLATES, FILMS, 
 AND PAPERS. 
 
 " Developoids," 
 or Developing Tablets, 
 
 Introduced 1889. 
 
 — • — 
 
 Compressed Pyro and 
 Soda. 
 
 — • — 
 
 Metol and Hydrokinone. 
 
 — • — 
 
 Eikonogen & Hydrokinone* 
 
 — • — 
 
 Invaluable for Travellers. 
 No Scales or Weights. 
 Compact and Soluble. 
 
 — • — ■ 
 
 POWELL'S 
 
 Compressed Gold Bat hs^ 
 keep indefinitely. 
 
 T. H. POWELL, 
 
 photo Cbemtst, 
 
 116, Denmark Hill, LONDON, S.E. 
 
Amateur Photographer Library — Advertisements. xm 
 
 with full aperture, give critically fine definition right 
 up to the margins of their plates, and will cover larger 
 plates, as wide angle lenses, when stopped down, 
 
 They are free from distortion, from spherical and 
 chromatic aberrations, from astigmatism and curved 
 field, from flare, ghost, and other common defects of 
 lenses. 
 
 They are nicely proportioned, more accurately made, 
 and better finished than any other lenses. 
 
 They are more compact, and weigh much less than 
 other anastigmats, and cost less. 
 
 Ask for the Cooke Booklet. 
 
 JaYLOrJaYLOI^ \io$5 0^. 
 
 JbTOUGHTON Street Works. LEICESTER. 
 
 and 18 Berners Street, LONDON. W. 
 
xiv Amateur Photographer Library— Advertisements. 
 
 Cl • HAND OR STAND 
 
 eameras. 
 
 The XIT has rising front, focusing, tripod fittings, for hori- 
 zontal or vertical pictures, and is the Only Camera for 
 pictures 41X3^ easily carried in the breast pocket. 
 
 THE ALUMINIUM SERIES. 
 
 Fitted with Shew, Dallmever. Cooke, Goerz, Ross, 
 ZEISS Lenses, from £8 8s. 
 
 New Popular Series. 
 
 THE GUINEA XIT, 
 
 For PL A TES or for CUT FILMS, 4£ x 3£. 
 
 CAMERA— Rising Front, Tripod Fittings. 
 LENS — 5J-in. Achromatic Focusing. 
 S SUTTER —Shew' s Central Eclipse. 
 BACKS— Shew' s New Pattern, Patent, 
 
 Rapid Changing. 
 FINDER— New Brilliant, Focusing 
 
 Screen and Tripod Screw. 
 Weighing Complete only 16 oz. £t 1s, 
 Rapid Rectilinear Lens, Iris Diaphragms,//8 Focusing Scale, Thornton-Pickard Time and In- 
 stantaneous Blind Shutter, three double backs, brilliant finder, etc., in case, £3 3 S . 
 The New Bausch & Lomb Shutter, Improved Speed Indicator, 1 to 100th second, hand and ball 
 release for time exposures. Special R. R. Lens, Iris Focusing Tube, and accessories as 
 above, £4 4S' 
 
 SHEWS REFLECTOR, 1899. 
 
 REVERSING BACK, RACK AND PINION FOCUSING, ADJUSTABLE SPEEDS, FREEDOM FROM COMPLICATIONS. 
 
 The main features of the Reflector are : — 
 The full-size View Finder with special Folding 
 
 Hood. 
 
 Shew's Extra Rapid Rectilinear Lens, // 8, Iris 
 
 Diaphragm. 
 
 Shutter— a flexible blind passing across the Lens 
 
 with adjustable speeds. 
 Rack and Pinion Focusing, for Hand or Stand. 
 Reversing Frame for carrying Slide or Magazine 
 
 for horizontal or for vertical pictures. 
 The Camera, No. 1, as above, covered in hard 
 
 grained leather, with carrying handle and 
 
 shoulder strap, three of our " Xit " pattern 
 
 for glass or for cut film, focusing screen and 
 
 tripod fittings £4 4 0 
 
 Do., do., No. ia, with Euryscope 
 
 Lens, 776 4 17 6 , 
 
 The Reflector, now made in 5x4 and 4% X 35, of j 
 
 superior manufacture, with spring door, im- 
 proved release, mahogany polished fronts, 
 
 etc., etc. 
 
 No. 5X4 A\ X 3i 
 
 3, with Dallmeyer Stig- 
 
 maticLens,y/6 . £12 0 0 £9 10 0 
 
 4, with Zeiss Lens, Series 
 
 11..7763 .. .. 1115 
 
 th Cooke Lens, f/6- 
 
 5a 
 
 9 17 
 
 9 10 0 
 7 17 6 
 
 Daylight Cartridge Film Holder, fitted interchangeable with the double backs, 5X4. £1 7 6 ; 
 4iX 3 i £17 6 
 Camera List, new edition, now ready, free, of J. F. SHEW & CO. 
 
 Est - Ig 4 Q - Inventors, Manufacturers & Patentees of Specialities in Photographic Apparatus, 
 and Dealers in every description of Photographic Materials & Apparatus, 
 
 NEWMAN ST., 
 
 four doors from 
 OXFORD St., 
 
 LONDON, W. ..^Ife^^don. 
 
Amateur Photographer Library — Advertisements. xv 
 
xvi Amateur Photographer Library — Advertisements. 
 
 JOHN JPXGGOTT, 
 
 JAPANNED TIN MAGIC LANTERN. 
 
 THE TOURIST. 
 
 With 3-wick Refulgent Lamp, 4-in. Con- 
 denser, and Achromatic Front Objective 
 with Rack and Pinion Adjustment (which 
 is also useful for taking ^-plate portraits), 
 18/-. Better quality, with 4-in. Con- 
 denser, and best quality Achromatic 
 Front Objective, and 3-wick Lamp, 28/6. 
 4-wick lamps instead of 3-wick, 2/- extra. 
 Ditto, Russian Iron, 21/6. 
 
 Half-Plate Camera. 
 
 Including Three Mahogany Double Dark 
 Slides, the Opiate slides being fitted with 
 Carriers for ^-plates, Clips at sides, and 
 Hinged Shutters. 
 
 Rapid Rectilinear Lens, with Iris 
 Diaphragms, 3-fold Sliding 
 Leg Stand 47 /S 
 
 Camera only and 1 Slide . . . . 25/- 
 „ ,, 3 Slides .. .. 31- 
 
 THE CHEAPSIDE HAND CAMERA. 
 
 1899 Model. Greatly Improved. 
 
 This well-known camera I have 
 this season improved by fitting same 
 with 2 Sunk Levels, improved form 
 of Iris to Lens ; adjustment to Shutter, 
 and also 2 Bushes, to enable same to 
 be used on Tripod in horizontal or 
 vertical positions. The body is. 
 covered in morocco leather, holding 
 12 plates, 3$ x 4I, automatically 
 changed by simply turning lever a 
 side, exposed plates being recorded 
 by indicator at back of camera. 
 Shutter can be adjusted from i*ioth 
 to i*6oth of a second. 
 
 Fitted with Rapid Achromatic View Lens and»Iris 
 
 ,, ,, ,, 1898 Model, no Levels 
 " „ „ » ». 3i x 3b 6 Plates.. 
 
 ,, ,, Rapid Rectilinear and Iris Pneumatic Release to Shutter 
 
 .. 26/- 
 . . 25/- 
 .. 18/6 
 .. 55/6 
 
 117 & 118, Cheapside and Milk Street, B.C. 
 
 Please send for Illustrated Lists Free. 
 
Amateur Photographer Library — Advertisements. xvii 
 
 W. Patterson, 
 
 PHOTOGRAPHIC EXPERT AND DEALER, 
 
 Ireton House, Highgate, London, N.. 
 
 EASY TERMS for every sort and kind of Photographic 
 Apparatus, Lanterns, etc. 
 
 EXCHANGE Old Apparatus exchanged, taken in part pay- 
 ment, or in lieu of Instalments. 
 
 ADVICE Beginners' difficulties solved and help given. Questions 
 fully answered, 1 each. 
 
 " PERFECT" CAMERA SETS, comprising all that is 
 modern in design and workmanship. Price: J-pl., 55/-; ^-pl.> 
 75/-; i-pL, 168/-, etc. 
 Send for a Price List. 
 
 Telephone : 294, KING'S CROSS. 
 W. PATTERSON, IRETON HOUSE, HIGHGATE. 
 
 The only EUROPEAN HOUSE IN INDIA Dealing wholly in 
 Photographic Goods Imported from Reliable English Firms. 
 ORDERS RECEIVED AND EXECUTED IMMEDIATELY. 
 
 AGENTS FOR ROSS, Ltd., LONDON. 
 KODAKS AND FILMS STOCKED. 
 The Only House for Tourists. 
 
 JOHN BIilSES, 
 
 IS, GHOWRINGHEE ROAD, (Near the \ 
 
 CALCUTTA, INDIA. \ Grand Hotel./ 
 
 Use WRATTEN'S c«J*S££*» 
 
 'London' Plates. 
 WRATTEN & WAINRIGHT, £3SE. 
 
 Lists Free. 
 
-xviii Amateur Photographer Library — Advertisements. 
 
 All Wide-awake Photographers and Process Workers should use the 
 
 Photo Autocopyist. 
 
 ffi/^F" A simplified form of Collotype, without the use of Glass Plates, expensive 
 Press, and other elaborate Plant. 
 Photographers are able to reproduce an unlimited number of Permanent Prints 
 from Negatives, equal to Silver, Platinotype, or Bromide Prints. 
 
 (Great saving of time and expense over the ordinary way of printing.) 
 
 Write for Price Lists and Specimens, or call and see it in operation. 
 
 THE AUTOCOPYIST COMPANY, 
 
 64, QUEEN VICTORIA STREET, LONDON, E,C. 
 
 Plates ana Printitifl=Out Papers. 
 
 BEST QUALITY ONLY. 
 //« Sample sent direct from the Factory. 
 
 F. G. O. STUART, 
 
 NATIONAL DRY PLATE AND PAPER WORKS, 
 57, 59, and 61, Cromwell Road, 
 
 SOUTHAMPTON. 
 
 ARTISTIC imOKQMOUNDSs 
 
 €diH0t1(l m^lliS who P aints ^ or some °f tne oes t Studios, 
 1 can give prompt and personal attention to 
 any order, large or small. 
 
 PBI©ES» f° r or< 3inary grounds, also a series after the old masters — 
 8x6, !§/= 8x7, lf/i 8x8, 20/- 
 and with foreground making 8 x 16, 8§/- On Good Canvas. 
 Designs (returnable) two Stamps. Accessories suitable for use with the backgrounds. 
 
 Address: ORPINGTON, KENT. 
 
 The 4 SCROLL ' 
 
 PATENT ROLLER BLIND SHUTTER. 
 
 Time and Instantaneous. 
 
 A reliable shutter for every purpose ; neatest and most compact ; an ornament to a 
 camera. Made in polished mahogany, with pneumatic release. 
 
 Prices for Hoods up to if in., 10/C ; 2 in., 12/- ; i\ in., 15/- 
 Stereoscopic, if in., 17/6. Speed Indicators, 2/- 
 
 Behind Lens Shutters same price. All sizes made. 
 From all Dealers, or send to the Sole Makers : 
 
 B. W. HORTON, Cold Harbour, Hythe, KENT. 
 
Amateur Photographer Library— Advertisements. xix- 
 
 GOOD BOOKS. 
 
 Dictionary Of Photography. For the Amateur and Professional 
 Photographer. By E. J. WALL, F.R.P.S. Revised, corrected, and brought up- 
 to date by Thomas Bolas, F.C.S., F.I.C. Seventh Edition, Enlarged to 632 pages. 
 Crown 8 vo. Cloth, 7s 6d., postage 4^/. 
 
 Picture-Making by Photography. By H. P. ROBINSON. 
 
 Crown 8vo, cloth. 160 pages. 2s. 6c/., postage 3d. 
 
 The Book of the Lantern. By T. C. HEPWORTH, F.C.S. 
 
 3s. 6c/., postage 3c/. 
 
 The Lantern-Slide Manual. By JOHN A. HODGES. Crown, 
 
 8vo, cloth. 2S., postage 3d. 
 
 Gothic Architecture (Handbook to). By T. PERKINS, M.A. 
 
 Crown 8vo, cloth, 220 pages. 3s. 6d., postage 3d. 
 
 Platinum Toning. By LYONEL CLARK. Crown 8vo, cloth- 
 is., postage 2d. 
 
 Experimental Photography. By C. J. LEAPER, F.C.S. 
 
 Second Edition. 8vo, cloth, is., postage id. 
 
 Short Chapters on Art Photography. By H. P. ROBIN- 
 SON. Second Edition. Crown 8vo, cloth, is., postage 2d. 
 
 Development. By LYONEL CLARK. Fourth Edition. Crown 8vo,„ 
 cloth, is., postage 2d. 
 
 The Art Of Retouching. By J. HUBERT. Seventh Edition. 
 Crown 8vo, cloth, is., postage 2d. 
 
 Elementary Photography. By JOHN A. HODGES. Third 
 
 Edition. Crown 8vo, cloth, is., postage 2d. 
 Carbon Printing. By E. J. WALL. Third Edition. Crown 8vo, 
 cloth, is., postage 2d. 
 
 Wet Collodion, and How to Work It. By C. W. GAMBLE. 
 
 Crown 8vo, cloth, is., postage 2d. 
 
 The Lantern, and How to Use It. By GOODWIN NORTON. 
 
 Crown 8vo, cloth, is., postage 2d. 
 
 Platinotype Printing. By A. HORSLEY HINTON. Crown 8vo, 
 
 cloth, is., postage 2d. 
 
 Photographer's Note Book and Constant Companion. 
 
 By Rev. F. C. LAMBERT, M.A. Crown 8vo, cloth, is., postage 2d. 
 
 Photo-Aquatint; or, The Gum-Bichromate Process. 
 
 By ALFRED MASKELL and ROBERT DEMACHY. Crown 8vo, cloth, is.,, 
 postage 2d. 
 
 Animated Photography. By CECIL M. HEPWORTH. 
 
 Crown 8vo, cloth, is , postage 2d. 
 
 Architectural Photography. By G. A. T. MIDDLETON^ 
 
 F.R.I.B.A. Crown 8vo, c oth. is., postage 2d. 
 
 Mounts and Frames, and How to Make Them. By 
 
 Rev. F. C. LAMBERT, M.A. Crown 8vo, cloth, is., postage 2d. 
 
 Practical Pictorial Photography (Part I.). By A. 
 
 HORSLEY HINTON. Crown 8vo, cloth, is., postage 2d. 
 
 Practical Pictorial Photography (Part II.). By A, 
 
 HORSLEY HINTON. Crown 8vo, cloth, is., postage 2d. 
 
 London : HAZELL, WATSON & VINEY, Ld., 1, Creed Lane, E.C 
 
xx Amateur Photographer Library — Advertisements. 
 
 The "X" Folding Dark Room. 
 
 Size 6 ft. x 3 ft. 2 in. x 3 ft. 2 in. 
 
 THIS is the most portable Dark Room on the Market, folding into a space of 
 6 ft. 4 in. by 6 in. The framework is constructed on the "X" principle, 
 selected wood being used. The cloth — black outside, and ruby inside— is the best 
 procurable for the purpose. It has a shelf which can be easily fitted inside, and 
 the whole can be erected or taken down in less than one minute. 
 
 PRICE (complete in Valise) 24/= 
 
 Extra wide Folding Shelf, 2/6 extra. 
 
 To he had of all Dealers, or direct from the Sole 
 Manufacturers and Patentees s 
 
 THE "X " CHAIR PATENTS COMPANY, LTD., 
 
 4, BERRY STREET, 
 CLERKENWELL ROAD, LONDON, E.C. 
 
*2i filL 
 
 Amateur Photographer Library — Advertisements. xxi 
 
 ?AT£NT 
 
 vi ev 
 
 NO STAIN. NO BLEACHING. 
 
 COMPLETE INTENSIFICATION 
 
 WITH ONE MANIPULATION. 
 
 SCHERiNG'S NEW DEVELOPER. 
 
 A duroi 
 
 SOME ADVANTAGES: 
 NO STAIN, even with prolonged development* 
 QUICKER in action than Hydrokinone* 
 Gives DETAIL equal to any developer* 
 Does not give a hard negative when restrained* 
 GREAT DENSITY and CLEAN WORKING* 
 NOT INFLUENCED by temperature* 
 
 GETTY RESEARCH INSTITUTE 
 
 3 3125 01410 4521