10 



DESCRIPTION OF THE PROCESS. 



WE shall now proceed to describe, briefly and clearly, the 

 Daguerreotype process, as practised by the most successful opera- 

 tors of the day, omitting such variations as are not essential to the 

 production of good proofs, and which tend rather to confuse than 

 instruct the amateur, but not knowingly discarding anything which 

 can facilitate his progress. And first, a remark or two on the silver 

 plates, upon which the picture is obtained. 



These plates are made expressly for the Daguerreotype. There 

 are several sizes, the more useful of which are as follows : 



No. 1 . . 2 by 2| inches. 



2 .. 2| 3* 



3 .. 3 ,,4 



4 . . 4 ,,6 



The purchaser should be careful to select plates perfectly free 

 from any kind of blemish, which may be detected by breathing on 

 the plate, as a defect or spot, however small, will become a source 

 of great annoyance when a picture has been obtained, and much 

 time will have been needlessly consumed in polishing and pre- 

 paring them. 



CLEANING AND POLISHING THE PLATES. 



This operation must be performed with great care. Having 

 fixed the plate on the plate-holder, shake over it some finely 

 powdered tripoli, or rotten-stone, add a small quantity of pure- 

 alcohol, and with a piece of prepared cotton proceed to rub the 

 plate with a rapid circular motion, taking care not to press upon 

 it with much force : the paste formed by the alcohol and tripoli, 

 must then be well cleaned off with fresh wool and dry tripoli, and 

 the above process repeated two or three times, until a clean surface 

 of pure silver is obtained. This is the best plan for a new plate : 

 if the plate has been used before, and the picture has not been 

 what is termed fixed, the above operation will suffice ; but if it 

 has been fixed, it is sometimes necessary to use a little olive oil 

 with the tripoli in the first instance, and then proceed with the 

 tripoli and alcohol as before. The plate is now ready for polishing, 

 which is best performed by rubbing the plate rapidly over the 

 buff, which must be kept well supplied with prepared lamp-black. 



