1855.] ON THE SOCIAL POSITION AND KEWARDS OF SCIENTIFIC MERIT IN ENGLAND. 



339 



Spcciflcatlou of tlic Patent 



Oranted to James A. Cutting, of Boston, in the United States of 



America, Photor/raphcr, for an Improved Process of taking 



Photographic Pictures upon Glass, and also of 



Beautifying and Preserving the same. 



[Dated London, July 26, 185i.]* 



This invention consists in an improved process of taking photographic 

 pictures upon glass, and also of beautifying and preserving the same, 

 which process I have styled "-Ambrotype." My improved process has 

 reference to the art of taking pictures photographically ou a film of col- 

 lodion upon the surface of a sheet of glass, the collodion being suitably 

 prepared for the purpose. By the use of the said process, the beauty 

 and permanency of such pictures are greatly increased, and I have, ou 

 this account, styled the process " ambrotype," from the Greek ivord 

 ambrotos, immortal. 



The first part of my invention consists iu the use of alcohol, for tho 

 purpose of depriving the gun-cotton, of which the collodion is made, of 

 its moisture after it has been washed, to free it from the acids used in 

 its manufacture. 



It has been found that where the gun-cotton has been exposed to tho 

 action of the atmosphere for the purpose of drying it, the sensitiveness 

 of the collodion prepared from it is sensibly diminished. By the use of 

 alcohol it may be deprived of its moisture after being washed, without 

 exposure to the air, and without the consequent deterioration of its 

 sensitiveness. This part of my process I conduct as follows — So soon 

 as the cotton has been sufiiciently exposed to the acids, and has been 

 thoroughly washed, it is plunged into strong alcohol, which effectually 

 deprives it of the water which it contains, without exposing it to the 

 atmosphere for the purpose. From this alcohol it is taken immediately 

 to the mixture in which it is to be dissolved for the purpose of forming 

 the collodion. This mixture consists of ten parts of sulphuric ether and 

 six of alcohol, or thereabouts. The collodion thus formed is allowed 

 to remain until it has hcttled perfectly clear, which usually requires 

 about twenty-four hours. It is then decanted, and to every pint is 

 added eighty grains "oi iodide of potassium dissolved in alcohol. It is 

 then well shaken, and thirty-two grains of refined gum camphor is 

 added to each pint of the collodion, and after it is again settled it is fit 

 for use. The object of the camphor is to increase the vigour and dis- 

 tinctiveness of delineation of the positive pictures, and particularly of 

 the half tints. It also greatly increases the beauty of the picture, by 

 giving a fineness of deposit not heretofore attained by any other means. 

 The use of the gum camphor in the manner above described forms the 

 second branch of my invention. The collodion is then applied to the 

 surface of the glass in the following manner : — 



The plate of glass being held horizontally, a portion of the collodion 

 is poured upon it, and it is then inclined in different directions, so as 

 to cause the collodion to flow over its whole surface, upon which it 

 forms a colorless transparent film ; the excess of collodion is then al- 

 lowed to run off, and the glass, being still held horizontally, is inclined 

 to one side and the other, until the collodion becomes partially thick- 

 ened or set. When this has taken place, and before it is dry, it is 

 rinsed in a solution of crystallized nitrate of silver, of a strength of 

 forty grains to the ounce of water; the film is thus impregnated with 

 iodide of silver, and after remaining iu this bath a sufficient length of 

 time for the ether to escape from tho collodion, the plate is ready to be 

 placed in the camera. After being exposed a sufficient length of time 

 in the camera, it is taken to a dark room, where the latent picture is 

 developed, by the application of a solution of protosulphite of iron, 

 acetic aciil, and nitric acid, in about the following proportions : — One 

 quart of soft water, one ounce protosulphite of iron, thirty-two drms. 

 No. 8 acetic acid, one drachm nitric acid. These exact proportions 

 are not rigid, but I have found them to be sufficient for the purpose 

 of developing the picture. After this is accomplished, it is washed in 

 clean soft water, and then the remaining iodide of silver is dissolved 

 from the collodion film by a solution of hyposulphite of soda, after 

 which the picture is entirely cleansed by the hyposulphite solution by 

 washing as before, in soft water. The picture is then dried, either in 

 tho open air, or by the aid of a gentle heat, and the process is com- 

 pleted. 



To permanently improve the beauty of the pictures, and to deprive 

 them of a bluish, hazy, ami indistinct look, is the object of my third 

 improvement ; which consists iu the application of a coating of balsam 

 of fir to the .surface of tho glass upon which the picture is made, the 



* From tho Iteportory of Patent Tnvontiooa. April, 1855. 



balsam being confined to the picture plate by a secondary plate of 

 glass, which is applied to the picture platein a manner which will now 

 be described, and which hermetically seals up the picture and protects 

 it from every and any injury not sufficient to fracture the glasses 

 themselves. This part of the process will now be described. 



A second plate of glass is prepared, of the same size as that which 

 carries the picture, and is thoroughly cleansed ; the picture plate is 

 then held horizontally, the picture side uppermost. The balsam is 

 then applied in a line along one edge of the glass, and one edge of the 

 secondary plate is then applied to the edge of the first, which contains 

 the balsam. The two plates are then pressed gradually together, by 

 which the balsam is caused to flow entirely across the picture towards 

 the opposite edge, and the air is effectually excluded from between tho 

 plates. The superabundant balsam is then removed by pressing the 

 glasses together, and a thin coating of it only is left upon the surface 

 of the picture. The beauty and distinctness of the pictures are greatly 

 enhanced by this application, the finer lines as well as tho dark por- 

 tions and shadows being rendered far more distinct, and the most mi- 

 nute delineations being brought out and made visible, while the appli- 

 cation of the second plate of glass secures the whole from the action of 

 of air, moisture, and dust. 



What I claim for my invention is, 



1st. The method of depriving the gun-cotton of its moisture by the 

 use of alcohol, whereby the sensitiveness of the collodion prepared 

 therefrom is preserved unimpaired. 



2d. The use of gum camphor in tha preparation of collodion for the 

 purpose set forth. 



3d. I am aware of the previous use of balsam for the purpose of ce- 

 menting together lenses, and also of securing microscopic objects, and 

 I therefore lay claim to no such use. 



But what I do claim, is the application of the balsam to the surface 

 of photographic pictures upon glass in combination with the method 

 described of protecting and securing the same by means of the addi- 

 tional plate of glass. 



Professor O^Teii ott the Social positiou and rcwaitls of Scientifle 

 merit iu Kugland. 



At the annual dinner of the Society of Arts, which recently took 

 place at the close of the one hundred and first Session of that important 

 British association. Professor Owen touched upon a topic of great and 

 increasing interest,'viz. : the social position, national relations, recog- 

 nition and rewards of scientific merit in the British Isles. 



" What these were of old — how they were once viewed — we see in 

 the provisions made iu mediajval times for the due dignitj' and inde- 

 pendence of such master-minds as might achieve the higher posts at 

 our Universities, such positions, for example, as the Deanery of Christ- 

 church, Oxford, the Mastership of Trinity College, Cambridge, which 

 the wisdom of our ancestors established for those men who won renown 

 in the sciences, which .alone were recognised in Ihe time of the foun- 

 dation of those and the like independent and dignified offices. The 

 human intellect has since extended its conquests over a wider range 

 and different fields ; more congenial, perhaps, to its true aims and 

 powers than the scholastical, logical, and theological studies which re- 

 presented science before Galileo and Bacon. Has England continued 

 to cherish aud foster in the same spirit the new and fruitful Natural 

 Sciences, as she honoured herself and manifested her wisdom by doing, 

 in relation to the older forms of human knowledge ? What, for in- 

 stance, at the present period of her unexampled wealth, due mainly to 

 the application of the abstract discoveries of science — what is the na- 

 tional relation of her Faraday ? What is my own ? Are we labouring, 

 lecturing, in national institutions, in fixed positions, absolutely exempt 

 from the annoyance of individual interference or caprice, in the peace- 

 giving certitude of the continuance of hardly-earned emoluments, with 

 the cheering conviction of a suitable retiring provision when the wea- 

 ried brain begins to fail in its wonted and expected eflbrts ? As work- 

 ing men in our line, with bread to earn by the work wo do, England 

 owns us not ; she ignores us in the sense in which she recognised and 

 provided for her medi;eval teachers. We are merely tiie servants of 

 particular chartered bodies. As a comparative anatomist, indeed, I 

 dceui myself fortunate among my fellow-workers in the place I hold, 

 but it needs only that a majority of the Council of the College of Sur- 

 geons should so will and vote it, and after nigh 30 years' service I 

 must begin tho world afresh. My masters are irresponsible, or only 

 remotely responsible, to public opinion. Hitherto England has devised 

 no other or better position for the man whom .she may delight to ho- 



