Aug. 19. 1854.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



151 



geneous as the character may seem ; nothing being 

 so fallacious as an attempt to discriminate styles, 

 more especially when there is any wish in the 

 writers to harmonise with each other. E,. P. 



When Maginn was first taken into connexion 

 with Blackwood, although I had but little per- 

 sonal acquaintance with him, I had good oppor- 

 tunities of knowing his proceedings, and I was not 

 without interest in them. If I had access to the 

 early volumes of the Magazine, I could point to 

 the first article which he contributed ; a severe, 

 but unfair critique, in which he turned his know- 

 ledge of Hebrew to account. In the course of 

 years I became less acquainted both with him and 

 with the Magazine ; but I never doubted that he 

 was " Signifer Odoherty," and I am quite satisfied 

 that any one who now doubts it must labour under 

 some great mistake. 



In connexion with this nom de guerre, I may as 

 well mention a fact which may possess some in- 

 terest in future years, if it do not at present ; 

 when the reason of the name Standard being 

 appropriated to a Conservative journal may be 

 sought. When the prospectus of the present paper 

 appeared, it was with the motto from Livy [?] : 

 " Signifer, pone signum ; hie optume manebimus." 

 This motto was continued in the advertisements 

 of the paper till the very eve of its publication ; 

 but it never appeared in the paper itself. The 

 cause of its omission was much discussed, and 

 many thought at the time that it was because the 

 motto appeared to point to Maginn, the well- 

 known " Signifer " of Blackwood, as the editor ; 

 whereas, though he was connected with the paper, 

 it was only as a subordinate. E. H. D. D. 



PHOTOGRAPHIC COBKESPONDENCE. 



3Ir. Lyte's Instantaneous Process. — I think it may be 

 as well for me to tight my own battles, as to leave Mr. 

 Shadbolt to do so on my behalf; notwithstanding that, 

 I must thank him for having taken up the cudgels in my 

 defence : so I am going to ask you to reply for me to the 

 Query of C. H. C. It would "be a fortunate thing for 

 many photographic inquirers, were they to content them- 

 selves with trying the experiment, before putting the 

 Querj', as iu the present instance : since this new science 

 of photography, having opened an entirely new field of 

 research to the chemist, new discoveries are being daily 

 made, and new reactions made evident, which were be- 

 fore unknown. We must not, therefore, search chemical 

 books previously edited, hoping thereby to test the accu- 

 racy of a photographic formula, and only adduce their 

 authority when the evidence they give is contradictory, 

 not Avhere it is null. 



With regard to the case now in point, there exists no 

 doubt of the solubility of iodide of silver in the nitrate 

 solution, as will be easily seen by the following experi- 

 ment (I quote, as nearly as I can recollect, the substance 

 of Mr. Archer's words) :— Take a collodion plate, coat it 

 with iodized collodion, sensitize it in the nitrate bath, 

 and then take it out and place it in a dark corner : when 



dry it will have become transparent, the nitrate solution 

 having by evaporation become concentrated, and having 

 dissolved the iodide of silver out of the film. 



Now I myself have made farther experiments on this 

 head, which may interest some of your readers. I find 

 that iodide of silver forms two compounds with the ni- 

 trate, probably each a definite combination. The first is 

 insoluble, the second is soluble. To prepare the first it 

 suffices to add to a nearly saturated solution of nitrate of 

 silver, in cold water, some iodide of silver, or a soluble 

 iodide ; when first of all the iodide dissolves, but imme- 

 diately precipitates again as a crystalline double salt. 

 This is probably a crystalline modification of the real 

 sensitive compound we photographers use. The second 

 or soluble compound is made by adding this substance to 

 the nitrate of silver solution, when it will to some extent 

 dissolve, and obviously forms another and soluble com- 

 pound. Neither of these salts can be treated with pure 

 water without decomposition ; but the former may be 

 washed with a strong solution of nitrate of silver, pre- 

 viously saturated with iodide. Of the second salt I have 

 not yet been able to obtain any definite crystallisable 

 compound ; but the first (or insoluble one, as I call it for 

 the sake of distinction) appears to be composed of equi- 

 valents of the two salts employed. 



Now for the instantaneous process. I can assure you I 

 have been as much annoyed as any of your readers by 

 failures ; but I think now I can give some certain modifi- 

 cations to my former process which will ensure success, or 

 at least which gives me perfect results. The causes of 

 failure are, in the first place, the almost impossibility of 

 procuring a completely pure grape sugar ; and next, cer- 

 tain foreign matters contained in almost all samples of 

 honey. To obviate this I have rejected for the present 

 (till I have time to make farther researches) the grape 

 sugar, and I use only honey. For this I take the same 

 proportions I have indicated before, only that I reject the 

 iodide of silver, since I find that, though soluble in a solu- 

 tion of nitrate of silver, it is not sensibly so in a solution 

 containing grape sugar. The honey I use is real old 

 honey, quite candied, and not the white, or partly candied 

 honey, sold under the name of Narbonne honey, and 

 which is made by adding water to common honey, which 

 causes it to take a crj'stalline form after a short time. 

 These, when mixed, I filter through paper first, then 

 expose the filtrate to the light, and when well em- 

 browned filter through animal charcoal. I expose again 

 to the light, and filter through the charcoal as before ; 

 only this time I perform the operation in a dai'k room, 

 and let the liquid fall into a bottle containing a lump of 

 camphor. The object of this treatment is first to remove 

 all the impurities by the animal charcoal, and next the 

 use of the camphor is to exert a sort of preservative in- 

 fluence on the liquid and on the plate prepared. The 

 liquid I have thus prepared I use as I have before indi- 

 cated. F. Maxwell Lyxe. 



Luz, Hautes Pyrenees. 



Fading of Positives. — I have a large collection of pho- 

 tographs, and I am grieved to see them fading day by 

 day. The cause I believe to depend upon the small por- 

 tion of hyposulphite of soda still remaining in the paper. 

 Will any of your correspondents favour me with a delicate 

 test for 'the presence of this salt .' A gentleman of very 

 great experience has used the alum, as recommended by 

 Sir W. Newton and others, to secure the permanence of 

 positives, but he states that he has met with very partial 

 success. Will you allow me, therefore, to ask a second 

 Query ? What is the most effective agent in decomposing 

 the hyposulphite of soda, or, at least, rendering its pre- 

 sence' harmless ? for I am convinced it is much more dif- 



