CHAPTER II. 



APPARATUS AND MATERIALS. 



IT would not be desirable in this small volume to 

 devote a chapter to photography for beginners. In- 

 numerable treatises exist good, bad, and indifferent 

 which leave but little to be said on the subject of dark 

 room manipulations. The writer would here address 

 himself to those who have passed through the glamour 

 of enrly dark room speculations, and regard work which 

 has to be done in other than white light as a necessary 

 and unavoidable evil. It must always be borne in mind 

 that, in natural history work, detail is of paramount 

 importance, and that, to secure good half-tone repro- 

 ductions, the original negatives must be fairly vigorous. 

 No good purpose would be served by a discussion of 

 the merits or demerits of various commercial plates 

 and developers. Experience will inevitably lead to the 

 conclusion that the ideal plate and the ideal developer 

 have yet to be discovered. The nearest approach 

 thereto would seem to be attained by the plate which 

 acquires density and gradation in the shortest possible 

 time, i.e., with a quick-acting developer. 



In natural history work there is practically nothing 

 to be gained by tinkering. Plates will either be suffi- 

 ciently exposed or under-exposed. If they are under- 

 exposed they may as well be thrown away ; if they are 



