
Development in the Dark Room. 39 
cut your plate in quarters, being careful to so mark each part that 
you can tell its length of exposure and develop each part separ- 
ately, adding a trifle more of the alkali to the developer for the 
under-exposed parts, remembering that it is a very easy matter to 
produce a chemical fog by the injudicious use of the alkali— 
adding a few drops of the solution of bromide of potassium, or an 
ounce or two of water, when you develop the over-exposed part, 
and when you find your negative has plenty of detail but little 
density, add a trifle more of the acid solution, you will soon learn 
the possibilities of your developer, and in time become complete 
master of this branch of photography. Remember, however, that 
first and foremost is correct exposure, for while it is true that an 
over-exposed plate may be so doctored as to give a fairly good 
printing negative, it is impossible to bring out on a plate that 
which the light has failed to place there; therefore, devote your 
best endeavors to securing the proper light and giving the proper 
time to the plate when you uncap your lens. 
I well remember once upon a photographic tour, when at some 
distance from this city, and about to :'make my exposure, my lens 
cap fell from my hand and rolled over a cliff some hundred feet or 
more into the river beneath my feet. I was fortunate enough 
when I returned to the hotel where I was stopping, to procure 
from the medicine chest of the proprietor an empty pill-box, the 
cover of which fitted the hood of my lens perfectly. After black- 
ing the inside of it with ink, I started out the next morning a good 
deal discouraged with the wretched quality of the negatives I had 
been making, and vowing vengeance upon the manufacturer of the 
poor plates I had been using. As I stood with my pill-box cap, 
studying what stop I should use—just before making my first 
exposure, my eye fell upon the direction written upon the pill-box 
lid, which had hitherto quite escaped my observation; it read as 
follows: Zake one every two hours. It flashed across my mind that 
this injunction was as applicable to my case as it was to the per- 
son for whom the pills were intended, and that the doctor had 
unconsciously written wiser than he knew. I had been taking 
pictures (so called), at the rate of one every fifteen minutes, as 
long as my plates held out. Now here was an injunction to take 
one every two hours only—I obeyed the directions implicitly—I 
waited for my light, chose my position, thought about my subject, 
and that night before retiring I had the satisfaction of knowing I 
