612 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[No. 165. 



game, see Strutt's Sports and Pastimes (ed. Hone, 

 p. 275.). 



Query, was Moreclack the old spelling of Mort- 

 lock? Yes. Robert Armin published a play 

 entitled, The History of the Two Maids of More- 

 Clacke, with the Life and simple Manners of John 

 in the Hospital, 4to., 1609. 



The last Query which J. R. R. puts is the 

 following : — 



" And a tire or more, 

 Oi potguns four." 



The editor of the Teesdale Glossary (1849, p. 98.) 

 explains pot-gun as potato-gun : 



" A plaything among boys, formed of a quill open 

 at each end ; and a ramrod. A potato, cut into thin 

 slices, and forced through the quill, forms the charge." 



Small guns seem to have been called potguns. 

 Shirley, in Honoria and Mammon (Act I. Sc. 1.), 

 has the following passage : 



" Yes, the next day after Simon and Jude, 

 I dare, when all your liveries go a-feasting 

 By water with your gally-foist and pot-guns, 

 And canvass whales to Westminster." 



Edward F. Rimbault. 



PHOTOGRAPHIC COBEESPONDENCE. 



Collodion Process. — I considered my claims to 

 the invention of the collodion process in photo- 

 graphy so well recognised, that there could be no 

 necessity for bringing myself forward : seeing, 

 however, that your correspondent G. C, in your 

 Number for Dec. 11, ascribes the invention to 

 Mr. Le Gray, in justice to myself I feel obliged 

 to set you right upon the subject. I have Le 

 Gray's work, published in Paris in July, 1851, in 

 which he certainly mentions collodion, amongst a 

 variety of other materials, as an excellent " en- 

 callage " for paper. He states what collodion is, 

 as he describes the nature of other materials, but 

 he does not add one word concerning the manner 

 of using it. He does not give the required pro- 

 portions, nor does he allude to its applicability on 

 glass. For this suggestion I gave him full credit 

 in my manual published last March ; but I think 

 a great difference should be made between a per- 

 son who merely suggests the possible use of a 

 material, and another who works it out and gives 

 the public the benefit of his labours. 



Mr. Le Gray never published the process, ex- 

 cepting in the last edition of his work, which you 

 are aware only appeared a few weeks ago. 



In 1850, I communicated the results of my 

 numerous experiments to my intimate friends, 

 Dr. Diamond, and Mr. Brown of Ewell, when I 

 showed them how collodion might be used. In 

 March, 1851, I published the process in the 

 Chemist : in consequence of which Mr. Fry called 



upon me, and I derived pleasure from communi- 

 cating my discovery to those persons interested in 

 the art. Mr. Fry proposed an introduction to 

 Mr. Home of Newgate Street ; and I went to the 

 house of that gentleman several times, and made 

 him familiar with the process. He saw how use- 

 ful it would become, and the result was an arrange- 

 ment for him to sell m,y iodized collodion ; which 

 fact can be proved by the advertisements inserted 

 in various papers during the summer and autumn 

 of that year. For several months he had the 

 exclusive sale of it : for, until he made it himself, 

 I refused to supply other opticians who applied 

 for it. Now there are various makers : but, for 

 many months, I was the only manufacturer of 

 iodized collodion for sale. I was certainly the 

 first who published the mode of using it, and gave 

 the required proportions of the various chemicals 

 necessary in the process. I have been repeatedly 

 advised to advertise it as the Archerotype, but I 

 was unwilling to do so ; not because I doubted 

 my right to the name, but I was satisfied with the 

 general recognition of my claims, and left others 

 to name it for me. Had I done it myself at once, 

 the invention at this late hour would not have 

 been claimed by another. 



Frederick Scott Archer. 



Pyrogallic Acid. — May I venture to inquire if 

 you can direct me as to the best mode of pro- 

 ducing pyrogallic acid ? It seems to me that, 

 unless the process be unusually difficult, it may be 

 made, by any one at all versed in chemical mani- 

 pulation, for much less than it can be purchased at. 

 No doubt there are many photographers to whom 

 economical considerations are important. E. S. 



Photography applied to the Miscroscope. — Being 

 interested in microscopic pursuits, I venture to 

 ask, by what method the taking of microscopic 

 objects by photography is accomplished ? What 

 extra apparatus will be required to a first-rate 

 microscope by Smith and Beck ? R. J. F. 



Saline Solution. — C. E. F. uses his saline solu- 

 tion much too strong. Ten grains of salt will be 

 found sufficient for one pint of water ; thirty-six 

 grains of silver will also do for one ounce of water, 

 if the latter solution be treated with ammonia, 

 as first recommended by Mr. Alfred Taylor, and 

 taught by Dr. Diamond at Vol. vi., p. 372. of 

 " N. & Q." The exciting solution should be co- 

 piously applied, and need not be repeated. 



Thos. D. Eatoij. 



Wax-paper Process. — In Mb. Cbookes' valu- 

 able communication on the waxed-paper process, 

 there are two or three questions connected with 

 it which I would like to ask. I am not much ac- 

 quainted with chemical phraseology, or the terms 

 generally used in the science. I wish to know the 



