94 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[No. 169. 



the paper be not exposed to the direct rays of the 

 sun. 



" The ' iodized paper,' which will keep for 

 almost any length of time, should be placed in a 

 portfolio, great care being taken to lay it perfectly 

 flat, otherwise the wax is liable to crack, and thus 

 spoil the beauty of the negative. The papers ma- 

 nufactured by Canson Freres and Lacroix are far 

 E referable, for this process, to any of the English 

 inds, being much thinner and of a very even 

 texture. 



" To render the paper sensitive, use the follow- 

 ing solution : 



150 grains nitrate of silver crystals, 

 3 fluid drachms glacial acetic acid, crystallizable. 

 ' 5 ounces distilled water. 



" This solution is applied in the way described 

 by Le Gray, the marked side of the paper being 

 towards the exciting fluid. The paper is washed 

 in distilled water and dried, as nearly as possible, 

 between folds of bibulous paper. It should be 

 kept, till required for the camera, in a portfolio, 

 between sheets of stout blotting-paper, carefully 

 protected from the slightest ray of light, and from 

 the action of atmospheric air. If prepared with 

 any degree of nicety, it will remain sensitive for 

 two or three weeks : indeed I have seen some very 

 beautiful results on paper which had been kept for 

 a period of six weeks. At this time of year, an 

 exposure in the camera of from ten to twenty 

 minutes is requisite. 



" The picture may be developed with gallic acid, 

 immediately after its removal from the camera ; or, 

 if more convenient, that part of the process may 

 be delayed for several days. Whilst at this sec- 

 tion of my paper, I may, perhaps, be allowed to 

 describe a method of preparing the solution of 

 gallic acid, whereby it may be kept, in a good state 

 of preservation, for several months. I have kept 

 it myself for four months, and have found it, after 

 the lapse of that period, infinitely superior to the 

 newly-made solution. This process has, I am in- 

 formed, been alluded to in photographic circles ; 

 but not having seen it in print, and presuming the 

 fact to be one of great practical importance, I trust 

 I shall be excused for introducing it here, should 

 it not possess that degree of novelty I attribute 

 to it. 



" What is generally termed a saturated solution 

 of gallic acid is, I am led to believe, nothing of the 

 kind. In all the works on photography, the direc- 

 tions given run generally as follow: — 'Put an 

 excess of gallic acid into distilled water, shake the 

 mixture for about five minutes, allow it to deposit, 

 and then pour off" the supernatant fluid, which is 

 found to be a saturated solution of the acid.' 



" Now I have found by constant experiment, 

 that by keeping an excess of acid in water for 

 several days, the strength of the solution is greatly 



increased, and its action as a developing agent 

 materially improved. The method I have adopted 

 is to put half an ounce of crystallized gallic acid 

 into a stoppered quart bottle, and then so to fill it 

 up with water as that, when the stopper is inserted, 

 a little of the water is displaced, and, consequently, 

 every particle of air excluded. 



" The solution thus prepared will keep for 

 several months. When a portion of it is required, 

 the bottle should be refilled with fresh distilled 

 water, the same care being taken to exclude every 

 portion of atmospheric air, — to the presence of 

 which, I am led to believe, is due the decompo- 

 sition of the ordinary solution of gallic acid. 



" It will be needless to detain you further in 

 explaining the after-processes, &c. to be found in 

 any of the recent works on the Waxed-paper 

 Process, the translation of the last edition of 

 Le Gray being the one to which I give the pre- 

 ference." 



THE BURIAL SERVICE SAID BY HEART. 



(Vol. vii., p. 13.) 



Southey has confounded two stories in conjec- 

 turing that the anecdote mentioned by Bp. Sprat 

 related to Bull. It was the baptismal and not the 

 funeral service that Bull repeated from memory. 



I quote from his Life by Robert Nelson : 



" A particular instance of this happened to him 

 while he was muiister of St. George's (near Bristol); 

 which, because it showeth how valuable the Liturgy is 

 in itself, and what unreasonable prejudices are some- 

 times taken up against it, the reader will not, I believe^ 

 think it unworthy to be related. ^ 



" He was sent for to baptize the child of a Dissents 

 in his parish ; upon which occasion, he made use of the 

 oflfice of Baptism as prescribed by the Church of 

 England, which he had got entirely by heart. And he 

 went through it with so much readiness and freedom^ 

 and yet with so much gravity and devotion, and gave 

 that life and spirit to all that he delivered, that the 

 whole audience was extremely affected with his per- 

 formance ; and, notwithstanding that he used the sign 

 of the cross, yet they were so ignorant of the offices of 

 the Church, that they did not thereby discover that it 

 was the Common Prayer, But after that he had con- 

 cluded that holy action, the father of the child returned 

 him a great many thanks; intimating at the same time 

 with how much greater edification they prayed who 

 entirely depended upon the Spirit of God for his assist- 

 ance in their extempore effusions, than those did who 

 tied themselves up to premeditated forms; and that, 

 if he had not made the sign of the cross, that badge of 

 Popery, as he called it, nobody could have formed the 

 least objection against his excellent Prayers. Upon 

 which, Mr. Bull, hoping to recover him from his ill- 

 grounded prejudices, showed him the office of Baptism 

 in the Liturgy, wherein was contained every prayer 

 that was offered up to God on that occasion ; which, 

 with farther arguments that he then urged, so effectually 



