Oct. 1. 1853.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



325 



Independently of the very rich and agreeable 

 tones which may be produced by the process which 

 I am about to describe, it has the property of 

 allbrding permanent pictures, not liable to that 

 change by time to which pictures produced by the 

 use of the ammonio-nitrate solution are certainly 

 liable. I have upon all occasions advocated the 

 economical practice of photography, and the 

 present process will be found of that character ; 

 but at the same time I can assure your readers 

 that a rapidity of action and intensity are hereby 

 obtained with a 40-grain solution of nitrate of 

 silver, fully equal to those gained from solutions 

 of 120, or even 200, grains to the ounce, as is fre- 

 quently practised. 



In eight ounces of water (distilled or not) dis- 

 solve forty grains of common salt, and the same 

 quantity of muriate of ammonia.* Mix this so- 

 lution with eight ounces of albumen ; beat f the 

 whole well together, allow it to stand in a tall 

 vessel from twenty-four to forty hours, when the 

 clear liquor may be poured off into a porcelain 

 dish rather larger than the paper intended to be 

 albumenized. 



Undoubtedly the best paper for this process, 

 nnd relative quantity of chemicals, is the thin 

 Canson Freres' ; but a much cheaper, and per- 

 haps equally suitable paper, is that made by Tow- 

 good of St. Neots. Neither with Whatman's nor 

 Turner's papers, excellent as they are for some 

 processes, have I obtained such satisfactory results. 

 If the photographer should unfortunately possess 

 some of the thick paper of any inferior makers, 

 he had far better throw it away than waste his 

 chemicals, time, and temper upon the vain en- 

 deavoui; to turn it to any good account. 

 _ The paper, having first been marked on the 

 right-hand upper corner of the smooth side, is 

 then to be floated with that marked side on the 

 albumen. This operation, which is very easy to 

 perform, is somewhat difficult to describe. I will 

 however try. Take the marked corner of the 

 sheet in the right-hand, the opposite corner of the 

 lower side of the paper in the left ; and bellying 

 out the sheet, let the lower end fall gently on to 

 the albumen. Then gradually let the Avhole sheet 

 fall, so as to press out before it any adherent par- 

 tides of air. If this has been carefully done, no 

 air-bubbles will have been formed. The presence 

 of an air-bubble may however soon be detected by 

 the puckered appearance, which the back of the 



* The addition of one drachm of acetic acid much 

 facilitates the easy application of the albumen to the 

 paper ; but it is apt to produce the unpleasant redness 

 so often noticeable in photographs. The addition of 

 forty grains of chloride of barium to the two muriates, 

 yields a bistre tint, which is admired by some photo- 

 graphers. 



t Nothing answers so well for this purpose as a 

 small box-wood salad spoon. 



paper assumes in consequence. When this is the 

 case, the paper must be carefully raised, the bubble 

 dispersed, and the paper replaced. A thin paper 

 requires to float for three minutes on the albumen, 

 but a thicker one proportionably longer. At the 

 end of that time raise the marked corner with the 

 point of a blanket pin ; then take hold of it with 

 the finger and thumb, and so raise the sheet 

 steadily and very slowly, that the albumen may 

 drain off at the lower left corner. I urge this 

 raising it very slowly, because air-bubbles are very 

 apt to form on the albumen by the sudden snatch- 

 ing up of the paper. 



Each sheet, as it is removed from the albumen, 

 is to be pinned up by the marked corner on a long 

 slip of wood, which must be provided for the pur- 

 pose. In pinning it up, be careful that the albu- 

 menized side takes an inward curl, otherwise, from 

 there being two angles of incidence, streaks will 

 form from the middle of the paper. During the 

 drying, remove from time to time, with a piece of 

 blotting-paper, the drop of fluid which collects at 

 the lower corner of the paper. 



In order to fix the albumen, it is necessary that 

 the paper should be ironed with an iron as hot as 

 can be used without singeing the paper. It should 

 be first ironed between blotting-paper, and when 

 the iron begins to cool. It may be applied directly 

 to the surface of each sheet. 



To excite this paper it is only needful to float it 

 carefully from three to five minutes, in the same 

 way as it was floated on the albumen, upon a 

 solution of nitrate of silver of forty grains to the 

 ounce. Each sheet is then to be pinned up and 

 dried as before. It is scarcely necessary to add, 

 that this exciting process must be carried on by 

 the light of a lamp or candle. 



This paper has the property of keeping good 

 for several days, if kept in a portfolio. It has also 

 the advantage of being very little aflfected by the 

 ordinary light of a room, so that it may be used 

 and handled in any apartment where the direct 

 light is not shining upon it ; yet in a tolerably in- 

 tense light it prints much more rapidly than that 

 prepared with the ammonio-nitrate. 



The picture should be fixed in a bath of sa- 

 turated solution of hypo. The hypo, never gets 

 discoloured, and should always be carefully pre- 

 served. When a new bath is formed, it is well to 

 add forty grains of chloride of silver to every eight 

 ounces of the solution. 



A beautiful violet or puce tint, with great 

 whiteness of the high lights, may be obtained by 

 using the following bath as a fixing solution : 



Hyposulphite of soda - - 8 ounces. 



Sel d'or ----- 7 grains. 



Iodide of silver - - _ 10 grains. 



Water ----- 8 ounces. 



It may be as well to add, that although the ni- 

 trate of silver solution used for exciting becomes 



