I send you a complete description of a method for either wet or dry paper,
which has many advantages over that of Mr. Le Gray.
I assure you it is excellent; and its results are always produced in a
manner so easy, so simple, and so certain, that I think I am doing great
service to photographers in publishing it.
1st. I introduce 500 grammes of yellow or white wax into 1 litre of spirits
of wine, of the strength usually sold, in a glass retort. I boil the
alcohol till the wax is completely dissolved (first taking care to place at
the end of my retort an apparatus, by means of which I can collect all the
produce of the distillation). I pour into a measure the mixture which
remains in the retort while liquid; while it is getting cool, the myricine
and the cerine harden or solidify, and the ceroleine remains alone in
solution in the alcohol. I separate this liquid by straining it through
fine linen; and by a last operation, I filter it through a paper in a glass
funnel, after having mixed with it the alcohol resulting the distillation.
I keep in reserve this liquor in a stopper-bottle, and make use of it as I
want it, after having mixed it in the following manner.
2nd. Next I dissolve, in 150 grammes of alcohol, of 36 degrees of strength,
20 grammes of iodide of ammonium (or, of potassium), 1 gramme of bromide of
ammonium or potassium, 1 gramme of fluoride of potassium or ammonium.
I then pour, drop by drop, upon about 1 gramme of fresh-made iodide of
silver a concentrated solution of cyanide of potassium, only just
sufficient to dissolve it.
I add this dissolved iodide of silver to the preceding mixture, and shake
it up: there remains, as a sediment at the bottom of the bottle, a
considerable thickness of all the above salts, which serve to saturate the
alcohol by which I replace successively the saturated which I have
extracted by degrees in the proportions below.
3rd. Having these two bottles ready, when I wish to prepare negatives, I
take about 200 grammes of the solution No. 1. of ceroleine and alcohol,
with which I mix 20 grammes of the solution No. 2.; I filter the mixture
with care, to avoid the crystals which are not dissolved, which always soil
the paper; and in a porcelain tray I make a bath, into which I lay to soak
for {383} about a quarter of an hour the papers selected and cut, five or
six at a time, till the liquor is exhausted. Taken out, hung up by the
corner, and dried, these papers, which have taken a uniform rosy tint, are
shut up free from dust, and kept dry. With regard to the sensitizing by
nitrate of silver, the bringing out of the image under the action of gallic
acid, and fixing the proof by hyposulphite of soda, I follow the usual
methods, most frequently that of Mr. Le Gray.
I add only, if I have any dissolved, 1 or 2 grammes of camphorated spirits
to 1 litre of the solution of gallic acid.
Allow me, Sir, to say a few words on the great advantages I have always
remarked in preparing my negatives by this method.
All those who use papers waxed by Mr. Le Gray's process, know how many, how
tedious, and how difficult are the operations before the sensitizing by
nitrate of silver. They know too how much care is necessary to obtain
papers uniformly prepared and without spots, in the midst of such long
operations, in which there are so many opportunities for accidents. In
fact, one must be always upon one's guard against the impurities of the wax
obtained from the shop; against the dust during the impregnation of the
paper; and, while using the iron, against the over-heating of the latter,
and against the bad quality of the paper used to blot.
Photographers know also how much wax they lose by this process, and how
much it costs for the quantities of paper necessary to dry it properly.
They know likewise how difficult and tedious it is to soak a waxed paper
which has been previously in a watery solution. On the contrary, by the
method I have described, the iodizing and the waxing is done by one single,
simple, and rapid process; the saturation is, as may be conceived, very
uniform, and very complete, thanks to the power of penetration possessed by
the alcohol; and that marbled appearance of the ordinary waxed proofs,
which is so annoying, cannot be produced by this method, thanks to the
character of the ceroleine: this body is, in fact, of a remarkable
elasticity.
The solution of ceroleine in the alcohol is more easy to prepare, and
comparatively costs little; and the remains of stearine and of myricine can
either be sold again, or, in any case, may be used to wax fixed proofs.
The solution of which I have given you the formula, is photogenic to a very
high degree; in fact, used with papers, either thin or stout, it gives,
after the first bath of gallic acid, blacks of an intensity truly
remarkable; which it is impossible to obtain to the same degree with Le
Gray's paper, and which other papers scarcely take after having been done a
second time with the acetic acid, or the bichloride of mercury. At the same
time, it preserves the lights and the half-tones in a way that surprises me
upon each new trial (I have not yet been able to obtain one clear proof by
gallic acid, with the addition of nitrate of silver). The transparency of
the proofs is always admirable, and the clearness of the object yields in
nothing to that of the proofs obtained by albumen.
The paper, prepared in the manner I have described, is also very quick as
compared with Le Gray's paper--at least one fourth quicker; and preserves
its perfect sensitiveness in the same proportion of time, three days in
twelve. Thus, it is at the same time quicker and less variable. This
comparative rapidity may be very well understood, by remembering that the
ceroleine is an element much softer than its compound; and possesses a
photogenic aptness which is peculiar to itself, which science will, no
doubt, soon explain.
To succeed in the preparation of the ceroleine, it is important to work
with wax of the best quality; this is not easy in Paris, where they sell,
under the name of wax, a resinous matter which is only wax in appearance.
It will be well to observe, with the greatest care, the smell and the look
of a fresh cut.
[This article reached us after our preceding note was in type. We shall
be glad to hear from any correspondents who have tried this process how
far they find it to be one deserving of attention.]
* * * * *
Replies to Minor Queries.
_Origin of Clubs_ (Vol. ix., p. 327.).--Johnson's definition of club, as
"an assembly of good fellows, meeting under certain conditions," will apply
to a meeting held two centuries earlier than that established by Sir Walter
Raleigh at the Mermaid, in Friday Street. In the reign of Henry IV., there
was a Club called "La Court de bone Compagnie," of which Occleve was a
member, and probably Chaucer. In the works of the former are two ballads,
written about 1413, one a congratulation from the brethren to Henry Somer,
on his appointment as Sub-Treasurer of the Exchequer; and the other a
reminder to the same person, that the "styward" had warned him that he
was--
" . . . . for the dyner arraye
Ageyn Thirsday next, and nat it delaye."
That there were certain conditions to be observed by this Society, appears
from the latter epistle, which commences with an answer to a letter of
remonstrance the "Court" has received from Henry Somer against some undue
extravagance, and a breach of their rules. They were evidently a jovial
company; and such a history as could be collected of these Societies would
be both interesting and curious. We have proof that Henry Somer received
Chaucer's pension for him.