16 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[July 7. 1855. 



Anagram. 

 Relmisius . . _ 

 Revay (le) - - - 

 Reynessius (Arnoldus) - 

 Rhiba d'Acunenga 

 Rhisenius Vechius (An.) 

 Riand Jhevy 

 Richea (Dodon) - 

 Rolegravius - - - 

 Roonptsy (Ch. Elie-Denis) 



Many more might be 

 will suffice. 



Dublin. 



True Name. 



- Simlerus. 



- Le Vayer de Boutigny. 



- Leonardus Reyssenius. 



- Brahin du Cange. 



- Jo. Henr. Cohausen. 



- Jehan Divry. 



- O. Aicher. 



- Graverole. 



- Roch. Ant. Pelissery." 



added, but perhaps these 

 'AKieis. 



PHOTOGRAPHIC CORRESPONDENCE. 



Mr. Lyte's Process (continued from Vol. xi., p. 492.). — 

 If we desire to give the coating of collodion an extra de- 

 gree of sensibility, we must proceed as follows : Take of 

 fine old and white crystallised honey, 6 ounces ; distilled 

 water, 6 ounces ; nitrate of silver (completely neutral), 

 800 grains; alcohol, 8 drachms. Dissolve the nitrate in 

 the water and alcohol, and then add the honey. When 

 the whole is completely dissolved, pass it through a filter, 

 exposing it to daylight during the operation. The light 

 acts on the syrup, and turns it a dark red-brown colour. 

 Put then some animal charcoal into another filter, and 

 pass the liquid through it; and from this it will drip 

 quite colourless. Should it, on exposure to light, again 

 change colour, it must again be passed through the ani- 

 mal charcoal ; and when the light no longer seems to 

 afiect it, it is ready for use. This syrup is to be poured 

 on to the plate as it comes out of the bath, or, what is 

 better, is to make a bath of the syrup itself, into which to 

 plunge the plate just as it was plunged into the ordinary 

 nitrate bath, which I have already described. Anyhow 

 the surface of the plate must be well washed with the 

 syrup, so as completely to replace the nitrate solution 

 which before adhered to it, by the syrup. The plate is 

 thus rendered exquisitely sensitive, so that even with a 

 landscape lens, if a diaphragm of not less than half an 

 inch be used, instantaneous pictures may be produced, as 

 maj' be seen by some specimens done by this process and 

 lately exhibited in London. I must remark here, how- 

 ever, that the operator must be most careful in his pre- 

 paration of the syrup. 1st. That it be not exposed to too 

 high a temperature, e.g. not left in the sun any length of 

 time. 2nd. That the nitrate of silver be not the least 

 acid (for this purpose, therefore, fused nitrate is prefer- 

 able). 3rd. That the honey be old and crystallised, and 

 of good quality, as all kinds of honey cannot be used in- 

 discriminately ; indeed, so great is the difficulty of getting 

 good honey, that after I had first discovered this process, 

 and when I had used up the little stock of good honey I 

 had by me, I was at least two months experimenting on 

 various samples procured from all sources, till at last I 

 got some from Toulouse, which answered my purpose. I 

 doubt not but a method may be found of purifying all 

 honey from the substance contained in it which is thus 

 injurious, but up to the present time I have not dis- 

 covered what that substance is. One thing I am almost 

 sure of, which is, that whatever the substance may be, it 

 is one which oxidises on exposure to air, as exposure 

 seems to beneficially affect the crude honey before mix- 

 ing. The syrup keeps well, but after some time it seems 

 to lose its extreme sensibility, and to become perceptibly 

 slower in its a(!tion, though at the same time a plate 

 prepared with it is more stable. 



The next process we come to is the preservative pro- 

 cess; for although by the former process the plate may 

 No. 297.] f y 



be preserved, in cool weather, for several hours, and even 

 in summer, if not too hot, for at least one hour, yet it is 

 much more liable to deteriorate than when treated by the 

 following modification, which I now give. To preserve 

 the plate sensitive a long time, take of glucose, or sucre 

 de raisin, or sucre de fecule, as it is sometimes called, 

 6 ounces ; distilled water, 7 ounces ; alcohol, 8 drachms ; 

 mix and filter. (The process for making glucose I will 

 describe at the end ; I only here remark that should it be 

 purchased, and should its solution give a cloudiness on 

 the addition of nitrate of silver, it maj' be considered bad ; 

 neither should its solution be precipitated by alcohol, or 

 coloured by the addition of iodine water.) Then, in two 

 other bottles, make a solution of 5 grains of nitrate of 

 silver to 1 pint of distilled water, and in another small 

 bottle make a solution of 10 grains of nitrate per ounce of 

 water : filter all these. The collodion plate having been 

 taken from the nitrate bath, is to be placed in a similar 

 bath of one of the bottles of distilled water above men- 

 tioned ; and here it is to be well washed by moving the 

 bath up and down, as in the first instance. At the end of 

 five minutes' careful washing it is to be taken out and let 

 to drip ; then, having added 1 drop of the 10-grain solu- 

 tion of nitrate of silver to 1 ounce of the syrup, the plate 

 is to be well washed with this till all the surface is well 

 covered with it ; it may be then put into the dark slide to 

 be kept for use. Care must be taken also in this case 

 that the plate be kept cool as possible, and free from dust 

 or noxious gases. Of these last ammonia is completely 

 destructive to it, and sulphuretted hydrogen equally so; 

 also chlorine and all acid vapours. The plate thus pre- 

 pared may be exposed in the camera at once, or, if the 

 operator chooses, may be kept at his will, providing it be 

 placed in a cool and dark situation. It is advisable, how- 

 ever, to employ it before the expiration of many daj^s ; 

 indeed the sooner the better, as if kept long it is always 

 subject to casualties, such as dust, gases, and, lastly, the 

 hardening of the syrup, as shown by Dr. Mansell, al- 

 though I dissent entirely from his remedy for this 

 (steaming), which in my hands has proved a complete 

 failure, though I think I may feel confidence in my 

 experience in such-like manipulations. 



F. Maxwell Lyte. 

 Bagnferes de Bigorre, Hautes-Pyr^nees. 



[We are compelled by pressure of other matter to post- 

 pone the remainder of the second portion of Mr. Lyte's 

 communication until next week. 3 • 



JSitpllti ta Minor ^xttriti. 



The late Lord Viscount Strangford (Vol. xi., 

 p. 456.). — It should be added to the well-de- 

 served notice of that accomplished and able noble- 

 man, that he was the contributor to " N. & Q." of 

 the articles signed P. C. S. S. — the initials of 

 his name, PEKcr Clinton Sydney Smyth. One 

 who had known him for fifty-eight years has a 

 melancholy pleasure in bearing — valeat quantum 

 — his testimony to the extent and variety of his 

 information — the liveliness of his fancy — the 

 soundness of his principles — the goodness of his 

 heart — and the private and public integrity of 

 his long and distinguished life. C. 



Judge James WhitelocKs ^'- Diary" (Vol. xi., 

 p. 341.).— This MS., about which Mr. Bruce 



