July 29. 1854.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



93 



from one minute to a quarter of an hour, without any 

 difference of any consequence in the results. 



The sheets thus prepared, being veil dried, are then 

 plunged into a bath of iodide thus composed ; and where 

 they must be left for two hours, in order that the wax 

 may be well saturated : 



Filtered rice water 

 White gelatine 

 Sugar of milk 

 Iodide of potassium 

 Iodide of ammonium - 

 Bromide of potassium - 

 Chloride of sodium 



1 litre. 



6 grammes. 

 20 „ 

 25 „ 



2 „ 

 4 „ 

 2 „ 



Fluoride and cyanide of potassium, about 50 centi- 

 grammes of each. 



The papers must then be dried by suspending them by 

 a corner, and in this state the.y can be kept any length 

 of time. On the proportion of bromide and of the iodides 

 depends the difference in the results obtained. Without 

 bromide, the blacks are too strong, the colours hard and 

 without the middle tints, — an effect too generally obtained 

 with the waxed papers of M. Le Gray. If the bromide 

 predominates, on the contrary, the proofs are, it is true, 

 perfect in the shadows, but the lights want strength. The 

 proportions given above appear to me the most proper. 

 Nevertheless, if you want to take rural landscapes, woods, 

 and mountains, I think that it would be well to increase 

 slightly the quantit}' of bromide, but this salt must never 

 exceed the third of the iodides used. 



With regard to the cyanides and the fluorides, I must 

 acknowledge I am not thoroughly convinced of their 

 efficacy ; nevertheless, never having found their use pre- 

 judicial, I have preserved them in the proportions indi- 

 cated by M. Le Gray. The sugar of milk and of rice are 

 indispensable, and by them you can obtain good blacks, 

 even when using bromides. ' The rest of the manipula- 

 tion does not differ from that which M. Le Gray gives in 

 his excellent work. 



The sensitizing bath is the same, that is to say, 15 

 grammes of nitrate of silver, and 24 grammes of acetic 

 acid, to 300 grammes of water. I only take the pre- 

 caution to saturate it with bromide and iodide of silver, 

 by pouring into it some grammes of the iodized solution. 

 I filter it, and I have no more fear of its prolonged action 

 on the paper, so that I leave it there to soak from five to 

 ten minutes. I generally plunge three or four sheets in 

 the same bath ; I take them all out at the same time, and 

 immerse them in rain-water; I thus shorten and simplify 

 much the manipulation, without any accident resulting 

 from it. 



If the time of the exposure has been right, and it is 

 always less than with the paper waxed previously, the 

 picture is visible on its removal from the camera. It 

 may be developed very rapidly in the gallic acid, takes 

 beautiful red tones, which quickly pass to the black. 

 When the proof has been fixed, washed, and dried, I wax 

 it in a quire of blotting-paper. It then equals the most 

 perfect obtained by waxing the paper beforehand. If 

 you prefer to wax the paper first, the bath ©f which I 

 have given the proportions above may be used to iodize 

 it. It harmonises very well, but the shades are not so 

 deeply marked. 



The turpentino-wax paper has, like the paper waxed 

 beforehand, the advantage of being as good the eighth 

 day as the first, only the time of exposure is a httle 

 longer the longer the paper has been prepared. For 

 about six months that I have used the turpentino-wax 

 paper, I have been able to ascertain the certainty of its 

 results. 

 , The sheets prepared according to the form of Monsieur 



Stephane Geofray, give, it is true, beautiful results on the 

 day of their preparation ; but in the hot season, and in 

 the South of France, it is impossible to preserve them 

 many days, which may, perhaps, be explained by the low 

 degree of temperature which the c^rol^ine requires to 

 liquefv it (29 centigrade). Besides, the proportion of 

 c^roleine Avhich the alcohol can dissolve is very little, 

 when compared with the quantity of wax which the 

 spirit of turpentine will dissolve without coagulating as 

 it cools. 



To conclude, experience will show which is the pre- 

 ferable process on dry paper, and for my part I am ready 

 to accept that of M. Geofraj' as excellent, if it is demon- 

 strated to me that with papers well prepared there is no 

 danger of any alteration during some days. 



Maukicb Lespiault. 



N^rac, June 27, 1854 



Addition to the process on dry paper, turpentino- 

 waxed, by M. Maurice Lespiault. 



In the summer, by leaving the wax in the spirit of 

 turpentine for three or four hours, it becomes dissolved to 

 a proper degree. When the temperature is high, it is 

 needless to warm it in the sand-bath. The gazogene, 

 emploj'ed as a dissolvent, gives also good results; but the 

 papers must be immersed without delay in the solution, 

 because the alcohol and spirit of turpentine, the combina- 

 tion of which constitutes the gazogene, have a tendency 

 to separate, as soon as this last is saturated with wax. 



The papers thus prepared assume a beautiful blue black 

 in the bath of iodide, and whiten perfectly in the nitrate. 



If the different dissolvents of wax are studied, such as 

 the essence of spikenard and of lavender, a complete wax- 

 ing of the paper may be accomplished. It is useless to 

 insist upon the importance, in an economical point of 

 view, of such a process, for a litre of spirit will soak more 

 than two hundred sheets of full-sized paper. 



Maubick Lespiault. 



N^rac, July 6, 1854. 



ISitpliti to ^tnar <lBiutvitS. 



Pre-Baffaelism. (Vol. x., p. 6.). — 



" If at a distance you would paint a pig, 

 Make out each single bristle of his back : 

 Or, if your meaner subject be a wig. 



Let cot the caxon a distinctness lack ; 

 Else all the lady critics will so stare. 

 And angry vow, ' Tis not a bit like hair I ' 



" Claude's distances are too confused — 



One floating scene — nothing made out — 

 For which he ought to be abused. 

 Whose works have been so cried about. 



" Give me the pencil whose amazing style. 

 Makes a bird's beak appear at twenty mile ; 

 And to mv view, eyes, legs, and claws will bring, 

 With everV feather of his tail and wing." 



Peter Pindar, Lyric Odes for 1783, Ode vm. 



Dr. Walcot's Worlts are little read. Being 

 chiefly personal and political, they are in danger 

 of sinking, and leaving only some humorous tales 

 afloat in the jest-books. I meet so few who have 

 read the " Odes to the R. A.'s," that I do not feel 

 it an impertinence to draw attu.ntion to them. In 

 matters of art, Peter's censure is sometimes, but 



