_Edinburgh, January 30, 1872._
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Miscellanea.
TRADE IN OBSCENE PHOTOGRAPHS.—A man named Benjamin Smith, _alias_ Martin
Stanley, living at Oil Mill Folds, or Alma-place, Westgate, Rotherham,
was charged at Rotherham, on Thursday, the 25th ult., with publishing
and selling photographs of a kind to debase and scandalise human nature.
The West Riding constabulary received information from various sources
that photographs of a most disgusting character were being circulated
throughout the United Kingdom, and even in other countries, by a man
living at Rotherham, who had inserted an advertisement in several London
and provincial papers, in the name of Smith and Stanley, stating that he
was prepared on receipt of postage stamps to forward portraits of French
girls of a highly novel and exciting nature. A trap to catch the
prisoner was accordingly laid by the Rotherham police, an inspector
sending to him letters signed with an assumed name, and purporting to
come from a place some distance from Rotherham. Stamps were enclosed,
and in return a number of photographs of a most filthy and disgusting
nature were obtained. At length some postage stamps, bearing a private
mark, were sent in a letter to the prisoner, and the inspector of police
watched the postman deliver it. He then entered the house, and found his
own letter containing the marked stamps, together with a number of other
letters, in possession of the prisoner. On the house being searched
another beastly photograph was found, whereupon the prisoner told the
officer that he would find no more there, as he kept them at a house he
mentioned at Sheffield. This house was accordingly searched by two
officers of the Sheffield police force, and there they found a number of
most filthy photographs, together with printed lists describing what the
prisoner had for sale. The prisoner was apprehended on the 14th of
January, and since that time nearly a hundred letters from all parts of
England, Scotland, and Ireland have arrived at the Rotherham post office
directed to him. The police obtained the permission of Her Majesty’s
Secretary of State and of the Postmaster-General to receive and open
these letters, and they found, on doing so, that great numbers of
postage stamps were enclosed, and some filthy photographs and books. The
prisoner was committed for trial, and on application being made the
magistrates intimated that they should require the prisoner to be bound
in the sum of £200, and two sureties of £100 each to be found.
CAMPHOR IN THE PRINTING BATH.—Mr. John R. Clemons gives in _Mosaics_
some of his experience with camphor in the printing press. He
says:—After the positive printing bath has been used some time it
becomes more or less charged with albumen. If, when the solution is
poured from the dish into the filter, frothy bubbles appear on the
surface, it is in the condition named, and is unfit for use in
sensitising albumen paper. The reason is obvious. When an albumen sheet
is floated upon a silver solution thus charged with albumen, a secondary
film of albumen, or albumenate of silver, is imparted to it, which
deprives it of its lustre, and it is impossible to secure a good tone
upon it. The difference will be readily seen by floating one-half of a
sheet of paper on the used solution, and the other half on a fresh
solution, and comparing the results. The effect of silvering on such a
solution is similar to that of using doubly-albumenised paper. In both
cases the silver will penetrate both films, even if silvered on the
back, and very good prints apparently may be made on paper so treated;
but when you proceed to tone them, you will find that the double film of
albumen resists the action of the gold, and renders it impossible to get
rich tones. I have already recommended the addition of alcohol to a bath
thus charged with albumen, and then burning it out, in order to cleanse
the bath, but since have sought for a less expensive method, and have
found camphor to be just what is needed. Besides being less expensive,
it is also more expeditious; for in five minutes an eighty-ounce bath
can be cleansed of all impurities by its use, as directed below. Make a
saturated solution of camphor, viz.:—
Camphor 1 ounce.
Alcohol 6 ounces.
To cleanse a bath which is considerably fouled by the albumen, add two
and a-half ounces of this camphor solution. A greasy appearance will be
presented on the surface of the bath. Shake well, when the greasiness
will disappear. Then filter, never using the same filter twice. If,
after filtration, the solution turns dark, add a couple of drops of
permanganate of potash, and it will immediately clear. This turning dark
is owing to long usage of the silver solution. It is a fact that the
bath is daily impregnated more or less with the albumen, therefore a
slight addition of camphor daily is recommended. This will avoid the
addition of the permanganate, which rather decreases the sensitiveness.
As a quick and ready corrective agent, camphor will be found of great
advantage. It will impart a camphory smell to the solution, but in no
way deteriorates the quality of the prints.
TO COPY OIL PORTRAITS.—Mr. B. Frank Saylor, in _Photographic Mosaics_,
says on this subject:—As I have never seen anything from which I have
derived any material aid in the copying of oil portraits, and especially
old ones, I propose simply to give our _modus operandi_, feeling
confident that those who do not proceed in like manner may successfully
copy oil paintings, and especially old portraits. We first, with a clean
sponge and water, partially wash the old portrait, and then pour perhaps
an ounce of glycerine on it, and with the same sponge brush the
glycerine crosswise over the entire picture until it presents a uniform
surface; or, should a greasy appearance be presented, something like a
negative plate when partially coated, rub gently with the palm of the
hand crosswise, and it is ready for copying. We copy under the skylight,
about where we should place the sitter for the same lighted picture,
directing the camera to about the centre of the picture, and as nearly
level as may be. On our camera we use a quarter-size tube inverted—that
is, turn it end for end—with a diaphragm of about six-eighths of an inch
aperture, placing the picture square to the front of the camera. After
making the necessary adjustments as to size, &c., we coat the plate with
the same collodion which we use for our regular portrait negatives, and
when it is properly coated expose fully—that is, neither over- nor
under-expose. The success, however, depends on the manipulation _during
the exposure_. We take a piece of backboard, say six inches wide and
about three feet long, and with it shade all the top of the portrait
above the head, standing by the side of the portrait and holding the
backboard in the hand, moving it up and down as though it were hinged on
the top of the portrait, but not allowing its shadow to come down over
the forehead or face, except those parts should be improved thereby. We
produce the same effect on the sides of the portrait by occasionally
moving our body at the same time over portions of the background, taking
care not to remain perfectly still or too long in the same place, nor
yet to allow any shadow from our person or anything else to cover any
portion of the figure. Thus, with a little care and attention, a very
satisfactory background is obtained, even admitting of desirable
variation, thereby avoiding the necessity of a double-printed background
and the like, and producing from a single negative and printing
duplicates to equal, if not to surpass, the original, and every print
alike. Lastly: we develope with the usual iron developer, using six
ounces of iron to sixty-four of water; this, however, we again dilute
with water, adding alcohol, more or less acetic acid, according to the
detail and density we wish to obtain.
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_Now Ready, Crown 8vo., Price 1s.; Free by Post, 1s. 2d._
THE BRITISH JOURNAL PHOTOGRAPHIC ALMANAC AND PHOTOGRAPHER’S DAILY
COMPANION FOR 1872. Edited by J. T. TAYLOR.—The volume embraces every
subject that can be of any use to the Amateur and Professional
Photographer. The Editor has been assisted by numerous _collaborateurs_,
embracing nearly all the leading writers connected with the Art-Science
of Photography. Some idea may be formed of the large body of interesting
and important information brought together within the compass of this
Volume from the fact that upwards of Sixty practical workers in
Photography have contributed original articles to this issue of THE
BRITISH JOURNAL PHOTOGRAPHIC ALMANAC.
London: HENRY GREENWOOD, publisher, 2, York-street, Covent-garden, W.C.