22 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[No. 166. 



wax negatives positives so satisfactory in depth of 

 tone, as from those which have been waxed after 

 being taken on ordinary paper. It is all very 

 well for gentlemen to advocate a sort of photo- 

 graphic tour, upon which you are to go on taking 

 views day after day, and when you return home at 

 leisure to develop your past proceedings : I never 

 yet knew one so lukewarm in this pui-suit as not to 

 desire to know, at his earliest possible opportunity, 

 the result of his labours ; indeed, were not this 

 the case, I fear disappointment would more often 

 result than at present, for I scarcely think any one 

 can exactly decide upon the power of the light of 

 any given day, without having made some little 

 trial to guide him. I have myself, especially with 

 collodion, found the action very rapid upon some 

 apparently dull day ; whilst, from an unexplained 

 cause, a comparatively brighter day has been less 

 active in its photographic results. As in the pre- 

 vious process, I would strongly advise Turner's 

 paper to be used, and not the thin French papers 

 generally adopted, because I find all the high 

 lights so much better preserved in the English 

 paper. It may be purchased ready waxed nearly 

 as cheap as it may be done by one's self; but as 

 many operators like to possess that which is entirely 

 their own production, the following mode will be 

 found a ready way of waxing : — Procure a piece of 

 thick smooth slate, a trifle larger than the paper 

 to be used; waste pieces of this description are 

 always occurring at the slate works, and are of a 

 trifling value. This should be made very hot by 

 laying it close before a fire ; then, covered with one 

 layer of thick blotting-paper, it will form a most 

 admirable surface upon which to use the iron. 

 Taking a piece of wax in the left hand, an iron 

 well heated being pressed against it, it may 

 rapidly be made to flow over the whole surface 

 with much evenness, the surplus wax being 

 afterwards removed by ironing between blotting- 

 paper. When good, it should be colourless, free 

 from gloss, and having the beautiful semi-trans- 

 parent appearance of the Chinese rice-paper. To 

 iodize the paper completely, immerse it in the fol- 

 lowingr solution : 



- 4 drachms. 



- 4 drachms. 



- 8 ounces. 



Iodide of potash 

 Mannite 



Cyanide of potash 

 Distilled water 



200 grains. 

 6 drachms. 

 5 grains. 

 20 ounces. 



Allow it to remain three hours, taking care that 

 air-particles are perfectly excluded, and once 

 during the time turning over each sheet of paper, 

 as many being inserted as the fluid will conve- 

 niently cover, as it is not injured by after keeping. 

 It should be then removed from the iodide bath, 

 pinned up, and dried, ready for use. When re- 

 quired to be excited, the paper should, by the light 

 of a candle, be immersed m the following solution, 

 where it should remain for five minutes : 



Nitrate of silver 

 Glacial acetic acid - 

 Distilled water 



Being removed from the aceto-nitrate bath, im- 

 merse it into a pan of distilled water, where let it 

 remain about a quarter of an hour. In order to 

 make this paper keep a week or two, it must be 

 immersed in a second water, which in point of fact 

 is a mere reduction of the strength of the solutions 

 already used ; but for ordinary purposes, and 

 when the paper is to be used within three or four 

 days, one immersion is quite sufficient, especially 

 as it does not reduce its sensitiveness in a needless 

 way. It may now be preserved between blotting- 

 paper, free from light, for future use. The time 

 of exposure requisite for this paper will exceed 

 that of the ordinary unwaxed, given in the pre- 

 vious directions. The picture may be developed 

 by a complete immersion also in a saturated 

 solution of gallic acid; but should it not have 

 been exposed a sufficient time in the camera, a 

 few drops of the aceto-nitrate solution added to 

 the gallic acid greatly accelerates it. An excess 

 of aceto-nitrate often produces an unpleasant red 

 tint, which is to be avoided. Instead of complete 

 immersion, the paper may be laid upon some waste 

 blotting-paper, and the surface only wetted by 

 means of the glass rod or brush. The picture may 

 now be fixed by the use of the hyposulphate of 

 soda, as in the preceding process. 



It is not actually necessary that this should be a 

 wax-paper process, because ordinary paper treated 

 in this way acts very beautifully, although It does 

 not allow of so long keeping for use after excite- 

 ment ; yet it has then the advantage, that a nega- 

 tive may either be waxed or not, as shall be deemed 

 advisable by its apparent depth of action. 



Hugh W. Dia^mond. 



Exhibition of recent Specimens of Photography 

 at the Society of Arts. — This exhibition, to which 

 all interested in the art have been invited to con- 

 tribute, was inaugurated by a conversazione at the 

 Society's rooms, on the evening of Wednesday, the 

 22nd of December : the public have since been 

 admitted at a charge of sixpence each, and it will 

 continue open until the 8th of January. 



We strongly recommend all our friends to pay a 

 visit to this most delightful collection. By our 

 visit at the crowded conversazione, and another 

 hasty view since, we do not feel justified to enter 

 into a review and criticism of the specimens so 

 fully as the subject requires; but in the mean 

 time we can assure our archaeological readers that 

 they will find there such interesting records of 

 architectural detail, together with views of anti- 

 quities from Egypt and Nubia, as will perfectly 

 convince them of the value of this art with refer- 

 ence to their own immediate pursuits. Those who 

 feel less delight in mere antiquity will be gratified 



