266 



KOTES AND QUERIES. 



[Na 176. 



he alludes to proceeds from the sensitive solution 

 not being sufficiently dry when put into the ca- 

 mera. Even if prepared paper is blotted off, 

 which I think a very bad plan, it should have some 

 time allowed it to dry ; also the faintness of the 

 image depends either upon not giving time enough, 

 or the aperture he uses for his lens is much too 

 large ; or again, he has not found the true chemical 

 focus, — it varies in single meniscus lenses sometimes 

 as much as three-eighths of an inch nearer the 

 eye than the visual : — all these are causes of indis- 

 tinct images, and require patience to rectify them. 



I beg leave to subscribe entirely to Me. W. 

 Bkown's remarks on the subject of Mr. Archer 

 and collodion. I have one of Mr. Home's hand- 

 bills, circulated with the first samples of collodion, 

 headed "Archer's prepared collodion" in 1851, and 

 had some of the earliest in the market. That Mr. 

 Archer should fail in trying his own preparation 

 goes for nothing at all, because, at the best of 

 times, and with the most skilful, failures are often 

 numerous and mortifying, in photography above 

 all other arts ; therefore, unless some more correct 

 data are given, the merit rests entirely on Mr. 

 Archer. Weld Tatlob. 



Bayswater. 



Developing Paper Pictures with Pyrogallic Acid 

 (Vol. vii., p. 117.). — Your correspondent R. J. F. 

 asks if any of your photographic correspondents 

 have developed their paper negatives with pyro- 

 gallic acid. I have long been in the habit of 

 doing so by the following process. Of Mr. Ar- 

 cher's developing solution, viz., 



Pyrogallic acid 

 Acetic acid 

 Distilled water 



- 3 grs. 



- 1 drachm. 



- 1 oz. 



take twenty grs. (minims) : add an equal quantity 

 of distilled water, and five drops (minims) of acetic 

 acid. I pour the mixture upon a glass plate, and 

 put the sensitive surface of my picture upon it ; 

 moving it up and down by one corner, to prevent 

 the paper being stained, and to observe the de- 

 velopment of the picture ; which, when sufficiently 

 come out, I blot and wash immediately, and fix 

 with hyposulphite of soda or bromide of potas- 

 sium. Thomas Wyaxt. 

 Manchester. 



Photography in the Open Air; Improved Camera. 

 — In your Number 172, p. 163., there is a Note 

 of mine in reference to the use to which thin sheet 

 India rubber might be applied. I there alluded 

 to the difficulties attending a single " portable 

 camera," in which all the coating, developing, &c. 

 of your plates is to be done ; and for those gen- 

 tlemen who have the means of carrying about with 

 them a second box, I have devised a modification 

 of Archer's camera, which, I think, will prove 



very useful. It is one which I am about to make 

 for myself. This second box is one in which, 

 when travelling, I can pack my camera, frames, 

 glasses, and chemicals. Having arranged your 

 camera, you proceed to arrange the second box, 

 or " laboratory." This laboratory has three short 

 legs, which screw, or fasten by any simple con- 

 trivance, to it, so that it may stand a sufficient 

 height from the ground to allow the bath, which 

 fits in like the one in Archer's camera, to hang 

 beneath it, and also that when working you may 

 do so with ease. It is lighted by either yellow 

 glass or India rubber. There are sleeves of 

 India rubber for your arms, and the holes in the 

 sides of the box traverse nearly the whole of the 

 sides, for the purpose of moving your hands freely 

 from one end of the box to the other ; there is 

 also an opening for the head. The bottom of the 

 box is divided: about two-thirds of it, and that 

 nearest to you, has a gutta percha tray, with the 

 four sides, three inches high, fitting it quite tight ; 

 and in one corner a tube a few inches long, also 

 of gutta percha, fixed to it, and passing through 

 the bottom of the box, to allow the refuse wash- 

 ings to run off. In the middle of this tray a de- 

 veloping stand of gutta percha is fixed to the 

 bottom, on which to lay the glass plates. The 

 other one- third of the bottom of the laboratory 

 is fitted thus : — There is a slit across the box, im- 

 mediately before the wall of the tray, for the 

 nitrate of silver bath to slip in. Immediately be- 

 yond the edge of the bath is a small fillet of wood 

 running across the box parallel with the bath, and 

 so placed that if the bottom of the dark frame to 

 contain the glass plate is rested against it, and the 

 top of the frame rested against the end of the 

 laboratory, the frame will slope at about an angle 

 of forty-five degrees. Let there be a button, or 

 similar contrivance, on the underside of the lid of 

 the box, that the lid of the dark frame may be 

 fastened to it when open. Bottles of collodion, 

 developing fluid, hypo-soda, or solution of salt, 

 &c., may be arranged in various convenient ways 

 within reach. The proceeding then is very easy. 

 Place the bath-frame and bottles in their places ; 

 rear the glass plate in the frame ; shut the labora- 

 tory lid ; place your hands in the sleeves and your 

 head in the hood ; fix the door of dark frame to 

 the top ; coat the plate ; place it in the bath with 

 collodion side from you (it will then be in a con- 

 venient position when you draw it out of bath to 

 place at once in the frame) ; fasten the frame door ; 

 open the box lid ; remove to camera ; after taking 

 picture, return frame to its place in camera ; bring 

 the plate to developing stand ; develop ; pour so- 

 lution of salt over ; remove from box ; finish out- 

 side with hyposulphite of soda. 



I have been thus explicit to render the matter 

 as plain and intelligible as possible without aid 

 of diagrams. But I shall be happy to give any 



