270 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[No. 284. 



whether other editions have appeared, or whether 

 it was ever translated into English ? * 



Aiken Ievike, Clerk. 

 Cusliendall, Antrim. 



PHOTOGRAPHIC COBRESPONDENCB. 



[The following article is translated from La Lumiere of 

 March 24th ; M. Lacan, the editor of that journal, speaks 

 in the highest terms of the specimen which accompanied 

 the communication. The writer, M. Claudet, is the son 

 of the eminent photographer of that name. J 



Photography at Sea : Instantaneous Positive Paper. — I 

 send you the copy of a small view of the deck of the 

 Belle-assise, with her passengers. The ship was going 

 about seven miles an hour, being about 26" north latitude. 

 I fancy that few persons have dreamed of practising pho- 

 tography on board a vessel at sea. The collodion which 

 I use I prepare myself. It is composed as follows : — For 

 the gun cotton, — 



Nitrate of potash - - - 46*00 gram. 



Sulphuric acid - . - 35-00 gram. 



Cotton ... - 2'66 gram. 



leave the cotton in the acid about three seconds, 

 stirring it with two glass rods; at the expiration of 

 thirty seconds it forms a very thick paste, which I plunge 

 immediately into water ; I wash with from fourteen to 

 sixteen waters, of which two at least are distilled. For 

 the collodion, — 



Gun cotton - - - -45 gram. 



Eectified ether - - . 31 OQ gram. 



Alcohol .... 1-80 gram. 



When this is properly made, it does not leave the slightest 

 residue, and may be used to the last drop. To sensitize 

 the collodion, — 



Iodide of potassium - - -25 gram. 



Alcohol of 36° - - - 7'10 gram. 



Collodion - - - - 21-30 gram. 



Bromo-iodide of silver - - 10 drops. 



The bromo-iodide of silver is dissolved in very dilute al- 

 cohol, and I use ten drops of the saturated solution. This 

 collodion is extremely sensitive. I have taken views at 

 New Orleans with a landscape lens, on the entire plate, 

 with a diaphragm of 2J inches opening, in two minutes, 

 and this was in winter. The view which I send you was 

 instantaneous, and taken with a diaphragm of 2 inches. 



I develope in the usual manner with pyrogallic acid, 

 and I fix with cyanide of potassium. I have found sea 

 water, distilled as it is on board ship, very good for all 

 these processes, and I have always used it with success. 



Instantaneous Positive Paper prepared with Chloride of 

 Mercury and Nitrate of Silver. — I make a saturated 

 solution of chloride of mercury, 31 grammes for example; 

 I add 21 grammes of this to half a litre of distilled water. 

 I prepare the paper by floating it on this solution in a 

 flat dish. When the paper is dry, I sensitize it with a solu- 

 tion of nitrate of silver in distilled water (38-40 grammes 

 of nitrate of silver to 31 grammes of water). It is neces- 

 sary to conduct this last process in a dark room, having 

 only a candle, the flame of which is covered with a yellow 

 glass. I expose the paper from 2 to 10 seconds in 

 summer, and about 'a minute in winter. In order that 

 this may be successful, it is necessary to place the nega- 



[* See «N. & Q.,» Vol. xi., p. 155.] 



tive on the prepared paper in the pressure frame in yellow 

 light, and to cover the frame with a black cloth, and on 

 arriving at the place where the paper is to be exposed to 

 the light, to place the pressure frame so that the rays of 

 light shall fall as perpendicularly upon it as possible; 

 the black cloth is then removed and the frame covered 

 again as soon as the paper has been exposed long enough. 

 The picture appears very feeble when the paper is taken 

 out of the pressure frame, but it is completelj' developed 

 by means of a solution of protosulphate of iron (1 gramme 

 to 31 of distilled water, and 1-70 of glacial acetic acid). 

 It is necessary to watch carefully, so as to stop the de- 

 velopment in time. I wash immediately with several 

 waters, and I fix with a solution of hyposulphite of 

 soda; this takes about 15 minutes. I thus obtain a 

 beautiful neutral black. Unfortunately I have not suffi- 

 cient time to continue my experiments ; but I send you 

 an account of what I have done in the hopes that it may 

 be of service at some future time to those who are obliged 

 to print positives in winter, and who are, so to speak,, 

 stopped by the bad weather. 



Henri Claudet, Captain in the Merchant Service. 



Exhibition of Photographs at Amsterdam. — By the- 

 courtesy of the editor of La Lumiere we are enabled to 

 announce that an Exhibition of Photographs, and of the 

 instruments and materials used in the art, will be opened 

 at Amsterdam on the 23rd of this month, under the im- 

 mediate patronage of Prince Frederick of the Netherlands. 

 The exhibition is promoted by the Society Arti et Ami- 

 citiaj and the Society of International Industry. Eight 

 silver and twenty bronze medals will be distributed' 

 among the exhibitors, 



Ambrotype Likenesses. — The Boston Atlas states that a 

 "most valuable improvement in the art of producing 

 likenesses has been recently introduced by Messrs. Cut- 

 ting and Bowdwin, of that city. The picture is taken 

 upon plate glass, after which a similar glass is placed 

 over it, and the two are cemented together by an inde- 

 structible gum, rendering the picture entirely impervious 

 to atmospheric influence, and securing to it the most 

 perfect durability. The great superiority of this new 

 i process is manifest, as by it the most perfect, minute, and 

 i life-like delineations are produced, either in miniature or 

 ! of full size, and capable of retaining a perpetual brilliancy. 

 I The pictures are not reversed, as in the ordinary Daguerre- 

 i otyping process, and they are immediately perceptible in 

 any light without the necessity of change of position. 

 Mr. Cutting, the senior partner, is the inventor of this 

 process, and patents have already been secured in the 

 United States, Great Britain, and France. It may with 

 perfect truth be urged that this is the most important 

 discovery in the art of photography that has yet been 

 made." W.W. 



Malta. 



^tpliti to Minav cauerCrf. 



Bishops' Arms (Vol. xi., p. 145.). — The earliest 

 work in which it was attempted to introduce the 

 family arms of bishops, was the British Com- 

 pendium, published in 1719, not as by a typo- 

 graphical error 1799, stated in the note of your 

 correspondent. It will be seen upon an inspec- 

 tion that it was but an attempt, for in many cases 

 the impalements of the family arms are left blank, 

 the arms not being ascertained. The same plates 



