1886.] 



MICROSCOPICAL JOURNAL. 



69 



respect better than those that have 

 served for years. Therefore, as a 

 general rule, the amateur w^ho cares 

 to save plates would do Ave 11 to 

 avoid new developers. The principle 

 of most of them is this : — Jones 

 thinks he will make his developer 

 difterent from any other, and experi- 

 ment with it, so he weighs out so 

 much sodium carbonate, and so much 

 sodium sulphite, and die proper 

 amount of pyro. He now mixes his 

 developer and perhaps gets a fine 

 picture. The next thing is to write 

 a paper to read before the photo- 

 gi^aphic society, and exhibit a nega- 

 tive developed with Jones' developer. 

 The story he relates is about like 

 this : — ' The plate was under exposed, 

 so that I did not expect to get any- 

 thing, but the negative shows every 

 detail of a fully exposed plate.' It 

 is noticeable that in all such communi- 

 cations the pictures are remarkabh^ 

 good, but the exposures very much 

 over or under-timed ! 



One peculiar feature of such com- 

 munications is that the plates are 

 never properly exposed. 



We have read a great deal of such 

 palaver — a great deal too much of it. 

 Either the authors of it are them- 

 selves very much deceived, or the}' 

 are far more expert operators than 

 we ever hope to be. 



Still, it is our firm conviction, in 

 spite of the voluminous testimony on 

 the other side, that nothing is more 

 incorrigible than a plate that is really 

 under exposed. Granting that care- 

 ful development will do much to 

 bring out very faint detail, no amount 

 of fussing will make a good picture 

 out of a plate that has not received 

 approximately the proper exposure. 

 This is said for the encouragement 

 of those who, placing their faith 

 upon accomplishments that are less 

 remarkal^le in fact than in the telling, 

 are led to attempt what is im^Dossible, 

 and, disappointed at their failures, 

 lose confidence in themselves. 



On the other hand, an over-ex- 

 posed plate can be restrained in de- 



velopment to a wonderful degree ; 

 but even here there is a limit beyond 

 which it is not possible to get bril- 

 liant negatives. 



But it is not only the amateurs who 

 are at fault in this matter. The 

 teaching and, if we may judge from 

 their writings, the practice of pro- 

 fessional photographers is very ir- 

 rational in regard to developinent, 

 and many a writer from this class has 

 added his full quota of absurdities, 

 and given instructions for devel- 

 oping plates not properly exposed 

 which we are morally certain would 

 ruin any picture under the conditions 

 named. 



The beginner may accept any kind 

 of developer \vhatever, so long as 

 the proportions of the ingredients 

 are within reasonable bounds, and 

 learn to make good pictures with it. 



Without having experimented to 

 prove it, the writer is of the opinion 

 that the time of exposure must be 

 regulated by the composition and 

 strength of the developer ; in other 

 words, that to obtain the same result 

 with two difierent developers the 

 exposures must be different. In this 

 way only does it seem possible to 

 reconcile the practice of different op- 

 erators, some of whom, for example, 

 use developers twice as strong in 

 pyro or iron as others. 



The formulas we shall give are such 

 as we can recommend from practical 

 use, not that they are any better than 

 others, but that they will make pic- 

 tures equal to any we are perfectly 

 certain. If the reader will be satis- 

 fied to use them, or any others that 

 are recommended by competent au- 

 thorities, and not waste time in trying 

 to discover the merits of new mixtures 

 Avhich are quite as likely to be bad as 

 good, success is sm^e to follow ; but 

 having adopted a developer that is 

 known to be good, do not change it 

 until successful in its use, for failures 

 are more likely to be due to inexpe- 

 rience than to the developer. 



We should not fail to direct the 

 attention of readers to the method of 



