140 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[No. 171. 



analytical reasoning) was published in 1799 by 

 Palm, the bookseller of Erlang (murdered in 1806 

 by order of the uncle of the present French em- 

 peror). But this was not the only imposture of 

 the kind of which Vella was the author, and 

 which his profound knowledge of Arabic enabled 

 him to execute in a way which it would scarcely 

 have been possible for any other European to have 

 accomplished. He had published, 1791, at the 

 Royal Press at Palermo, under the name of 

 Alfonso Airoldi, a fictitious Codex Diplomaticus 

 SicilicE, sub Saracenorum Imperio, to the discovery 

 of which ingenious fraud we are also indebted to 

 the acute Pyrrhonism of M. Hager. P, C. S. S. 



SIR H. WOTTON S LETTER TO MILTON. 



(Vol. vi., p. 5. ; Vol. vii.,'pp. 7. 111.) 



I am obliged to apologise for having made Sir 

 Henry Wotton use the words "some long time 

 before," instead of " some good while before," 

 and therefore take the opportunity of saying 

 that I think Sir Henry's allusion to " the art of 

 stationers," in binding a good and a bad book 

 up together, almost proves "our common friend 

 Mr. 11." to have been a bookseller. Notwith- 

 standing the very high authorities against me, 

 I will then venture to insinuate, that instead of 

 John Rouse, or Robert Randolph, plain Humphrey 

 Robinson is meant, by whom Comiis was printed in 

 1 637, " at the signe of the Three Pidgeons, in Paul's 

 Church-yard." 



Once grant the probability of this being the case, 

 and we have no further difficulty in understanding 

 why Comus should be stitched up " with the late 

 Rd. poems," or Wotton be left in ignorance of the 

 author's name. Lawes tells us in the dedication 

 to Comus, that it Avas " not openly acknowledged 

 by the author ;" and the publisher would naturally 

 keep the secret : but why Rouse or Robert Ran- 

 dolph should do so, appears to me inexplicable. I 

 hope soon to have access to some public libraries, 

 and also to return to this very interesting question 

 again. Meanwhile, may I beg the forbearance of 

 your more learned correspondents ? Rt. 



Warmington. 



PHOTOGRAPHIC NOTES AND QUERIES. 



Sir W. Newton^ s Process. — Having been re- 

 quested by several friends to give them a state- 

 ment of my mode of proceeding with reference to 

 the calotypic art, and as I am of opinion that we 

 ought to assist each other as much as possible in 

 the pursuit of this important branch of photo- 

 graphy, I beg therefore to offer the following for 

 insertion in your " N. & Q.," if you should deem 

 them worth your acceptance. 



To iodize the Paper. — 1st. Brush your paper 

 over with muriate of barytes (half an ounce, dis- 

 solved in nearly a wine-bottle of distilled water) : 

 lay it flat to dry. 2nd. Dissolve sixty grains of 

 nitrate of silver in about an ounce of distilled 

 water. Ditto sixty grains of iodide of potassium 

 in another bottle with the like quantity of water. 

 Mix them together and shake well : let it subside : 

 pour off the water, and then add hot water : shake 

 it well : let subside : pour off the water, and then 

 add three ounces of distilled water, and afterwards 

 as much iodide of potassium as will redissolve the 

 iodide of silver. 



Brush your previously-prepared paper well with 

 this, and let dry ; then place them in water, one 

 by one, for about one hour and a half or two hours, 

 constantly agitating the water. As many as a dozen 

 pieces may be put into the water, one after the 

 other, taking care that there are no air-bubbles : 

 take them out, and pin to the edge of a board at 

 one corner. 



When dry they will be ready for exciting for 

 the camera by the following process : 



(These are supposed to be in six 1 -ounce bottles with 

 glass stoppers. ) 



1. 



1 drachm of No. 4., 

 6 drachms of dis- 

 tilled water. 



25 grains of ni- 

 trate of silver to 

 half an ounce of 

 water. Add 45 

 minims of glacial 

 acetic acid. 



20 mill, of No. 3., 

 6 drachms of dis- 

 tilled water. 



A saturated 

 solution of 

 gallic acid. 



2 drachras of 

 No. 4., 6 drs. 

 of water. 



Equal parts of 

 Nos. 1. and 2. 



N.B. — This must 

 be mixed just be- 

 fore using, and the 

 bottle cleaned af- 

 terwards. 



To excite for the Camera. — Mix equal parts of 

 Nos. 1. and 2., and with a glass rod excite the 

 iodized paper and blot off; and it may be put in 

 the slide at once, or the number you require may 

 be excited, and put into a blotting-paper book, 

 one between each leaf, and allowed to remain until 

 required to be placed in the slide. 



Time of Exposure. — The time varies from 

 three minutes to a quarter of an hour, according 

 to the nature of the subject and the power of the 

 sun ; but five minutes is generally the proper time. 



To bring out. — Bring out with No. 3., and 

 when the subject begins to appear, add No. 5. ; 

 and when sufficiently developed hold it up, and 

 pour water upon it ; and then put it into hypo- 

 sulphite of soda to fix it, for about half an hour 



