June 16. 1855.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



471 



PHOTOGRAPHIC CORKESPONDENCE. 



Mr. Crooke's Wax-paper Process. — The readers of " N. 

 & Q." will remember that at a very early period of our 

 Photographic career (Vol. vi., p. 443.) we were indebted 

 to Mr. Ckookes for the particulars of a very interesting 

 and able wax-paper process. That process, which has 

 undergone but slight modifications, is the one now em- 

 ployed for photo-meteorographic registrations at the 

 Eadcliffe Observatory ; and with a view of showing not 

 only its applicability to such purposes, but that, in fact, 

 of all the processes, it is the one best adapted to the re- 

 ^juirements of meteorology, Mk. Ckookes has given it to 

 the press under the title of Description of the Wax-paper 

 Process employed for the Photo- Meteorographic Registrations 

 at the Radcliffe Observatory. The details are so clear and 

 precise, that the veriest novice may easily follow them. 



Horizontal Bath for Nitrate of Silver. — I see IVIr. Man- 

 ning Fellows has described in' the Photographic Journal 

 a horizontal cradle bath for nitrate of silver, a form 

 which I showed to several people in London last year- 

 it is excellent, but Mr. Heilmann of this place was 

 the first person to make one, and he exhibited it before 

 our Photograpic Society here more than a year ago, and 

 it is recorded in the Bulletin of the Society. However, I 

 have altered the form for the sake of portability, and the 

 one I use is made as follows. An ordinary horizontal 

 gutta percha bath, a little longer than the plate, and the 

 same width, is covered in at one end with a slip of gutta 

 percha, so as that when the bath is placed upright on this 

 end, the covered-in part shall form a well, which holds 

 enough nitrate solution to cover the bottom of the bath 

 when let down horizontally to the depth of a quarter of 

 an inch. The bath is placed upright, the collodionised 

 plate laid on the bottom, and the "bath being let down 

 again into a horizontal position, the liquid flows over 

 the plate. F. Maxwell Lyte. 



Maison George, Rue Montpensier, Pau. 



Recovery of Silver from, waste Hypo. — I have to tell you 

 of a method I have found of recovering the silver from the 

 waste hj'po. The process given by Monsieur Davanne, 

 in the Bulletin de la Societe Frangaise de Pfiotographie, 

 which consists in the addition of pentasulphide of potas- 

 sium, has the very serious objection of causing a large pre- 

 cipitate of sulphur, which falls with the sulphide of silver, 

 and is very annoying in the after treatment; but the 

 method I give is most simple and rapid, and has not the 

 same objection. Take the old hypo., place it in a capsule, 

 or china-lined saucepan, and heat it to boiling. Then add 

 some liquor potassaj to the liquid (caustic soda answers 

 just as well), and boil it for a minute or two. At the end 

 of the time take out a sample of the liquid, filter it, and 

 placing it in another capsule, heat it again, and add a 

 little more of the caustic solution. If the liquid again 

 gives a precipitate, the whole quantity in the saucepan 

 requires liquor potassse ; and when a sample thus tried 

 gives no more precipitate, the process is finished, and the 

 precipitate being separated by filtration, and washed on 

 the filter, is pure sulphide of silver, and by being fused 

 with a little carbonate of potass and nitrate of potass 

 mixed gives a button of pure silver ; or being treated with 

 aqua regia it gives pure chloride of silver, which may be 

 treated as usual. The rationale of the process is best seen 

 in the following equation : 



Na O S2 02+Ag O S2 02 + K 0=Na 0S2 02 + Ag 

 S+K S 03, or hyposulphite of silver is converted into 

 sulphide of silver and sulphate of potash. The quantity 

 of potass must obviously be proportionate to the quantity 

 of silver in the hypo. I doubt not that by exposing hypo, i 



thus treated to the atmosphere, to let the caustic alkali 

 become converted into carbonate, the solution may be 

 used over again as hypo. F. Maxwell Lyte. 



Removal of Hypo, from Positives. — At a time when so 

 much attention is turned towards the means of securing 

 the permanency of positives — and when it is felt that 

 their fading is in many, if not in all cases, to be attributed 

 to the presence of unremoved hypo. — our readers may be 

 glad to learn that that accomplished photographer M. 

 Bayard has succeeded in completely expelling all hypo, 

 from his positives, by submitting them to the pressure of 

 a glass rod. M. Bayard showed how ineffectual all wash- 

 ings are compared with this merely mechanical operation, 

 b}- soaking a sheet of paper in a solution of carmine, and 

 then endeavouring to remove the carmine by long and 

 repeated soaking. This entirely failed, but the operation 

 of the glass rod removed every trace of colour. 



^tpliti ta Minav €i\icxiti. 



Deadening Glass Windows (Vol. xi., p. 409.). — 

 If the windows are distant, they may be painted 

 carefully (within) with white paint, or still better 

 with thick starch. Supposing that starch has been 

 laid on carefully with a paint-brush, the effect will 

 be improved if round every pane a certain quan- 

 tity is taken off to leave a margin. I have seen 

 glass deadened with starch ; and when this method 

 is cleverly performed, the eflfect is good. E. W. J. 



If F. C. H. will try sugar of lead ground up 

 with raw linseed oil, he will find it answer his 

 purpose completely. J. W. 



Book-plates (Vol. xi., pp. 265. 351.). — Your 

 correspondent Mr. Daniel Parsons speaks of 

 " one of the book-plates of the oldest ascertained 

 date in England, viz. of the year 1698." I do not 

 of course know whether his remark applies to 

 Ireland (using England in a wide sense) ; but if 

 so, I beg to say that I possess, in my collection of 

 book-plates, one of the date of 1669. It gives 

 this legend : " Gilbert Nicholson, of Balrath, in 

 the county of Meath, Esq., 1669," this gentle- 

 man, no doubt, being of English extraction. 



G. R. M. 



Saints Dorothy and Pior (Vol. xi., p. 366.) — 



" Cantiques de I'ame devote, ou I'on represente d'une 

 manifere facile, les principaux Mystferes de la Foi et les 

 principales vertus de la Religion Chretienne, Accommodes 

 h des airs vulgaires, et augmente's de nouveaux, par M. 

 Laurent Durand, Pretre du Diocese de Toulon. A Mar- 

 seille, 1765, 12mo., pp. 391." 



The book is commonly known as the Cantiques 

 de Marseille. The language and versification are 

 good ; and though the expression may be some- 

 what too familiar, the matter is earnest, and quite 

 free from the depravity of the early Moravian 

 hymns. To us such titles as the following seem 

 strange : " Les Grandeurs, la Penitence, et le 

 Martyre de St. Jean Baptist, sur i'air : Depuis le 



