A HI S TO R Y

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W R I TTE N A S

A P RAC TI C AL GUI DE AND AN I NTR ODUC TI ON

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WI TH

A B I OG R AP H I C A L S K ET C H O F T H E A UT H OR A ND A N A P P E N D I X
, BY
DR .
MA DD O X ON T H E D I S C OV E R Y O F T H E GE L A
T I NO -
BR O M I D E P R O C ES S .

N EW Y O R K
S C OV I LL MA N U FA C T U R I N G C O MP A N Y ,

W . I R VI N G A DA M S ,
Ag en t .

1 887 “
 C O N TE N TS .

I NTR O DUC T I ON

C H A P TE R I
“
.

T H E OR I GN I OF P H OT O G AP H YR .

C HA P TE R I I .

S O ME P I ON EE R S OF P H OTO G AP H Y
R —
W E D G W OOD AND NI EP OE
C HA P T ER I I I .

THE D A G U E E Y PE RR OT P RO C E SS
C H A PT E R I V .

; "
FOX TA L B O I ‘
AND T H E C A L OT Y PE P R OC E SS
C H A P TE R I L
S CO TT - A R C H E R AN D T HE C O LL O D I O N P R O C E S S

H
,

C A P TE R V I .

C O LL O D I O N D R Y -P L A T E S W I T H , THE B AT H

C HA P TE R V I I .

C O LL O D I ON —
’
E M U LS I ON .

C HA P TE R V I I I .

GE L A TI N E E M U LS I ON W I T H B R O M I DE OF S I LV E R
C HA P TE R I X .

I NTR O D U C T I ON M U LS I ON
OF GE L A T I N o -B R O M I DE E AS AN A R TI CLE
C O MME R C E B Y B U R G E SS A N D B Y K E N N E TT
'

C H A P TER X .

GEL ATI N E D I S P L AC E S C O LL OD I ON . .

C H A P TER X I
HS
.

I TO R Y OF P H OT O G AP H I C
R P R I N TI N G P RO C E SS E S
C HA P TER X I I
HS
.

I T OR Y OF P H OT O G APH C
R I P R I NTI N G P R OC E SS E S ( C o n ti n u e d)
C H A P T ER XI I I
HS
.
[

Y N E G AT I V E M AK I N G
Q

I T OR OF R O LL E R S LI D E S ;-
AN D O F - ON PA PE R
A N D ON F I LM S .

C HA P TE R X I V
HS
.

I T OR Y OF P H OT O G PH Y
RA IN C O OR L S
C HA P TER X V
HS I TOR Y OF TH E I NTR O D U C TI ON E V E L OPE R S S U MM I N G UP
OF D —
. .

A P P EN D I X .

D I S C OV E R Y O F TH E GEL A TI N o B R O M I D E
’
DR . M A DD o x ON T H E - P RO
C E SS .

A BI O G AP H C
R I S K E TC H OF TH E A UTH OR
 P R E FA C E .

”
As C h apters in t h e H istory of P ho tography , a large part
of this volu me was ori g i nally pu blished in TH E P H OTOGR A P H I O

T I M ES . In that W idely -
re ad jo u rnal the C hapters attracted
to themselv es so m u ch well deserved attention that in r esponse
-
, ,

to the very e vident deman d on the part of the photographic

fraternity the p ublishers decided to present them in the more
,

permanent and con v enient form W hich their val u e and O

p p u

l ar i ty seemed to requ ire .

Assisted by the a u thor and ,

W ith his a
pp r ov al , Mr W I . . .

L incoln Adams editor of

,
TH E P H OTOGRA P H I O T I M E S has ar
,

ran ged the “C hapters in their present form ad ded a bio ,

graphical sketch of the au thor and the s u pplementary chap ,

ters by the au thor on the History of

, ,
P hotographic P rinting

P rocesses and on the H istory of P hotograph yin C olors ; and

the Appendix by Dr Maddox on the Discovery of the
,
.
,
Gela

tino B romide
-
P rocess .

“Moss type ”
.

The frontispiece portrai t of the au thor is a ,

-
by
the Moss Engraving C ompany of this city after a
, ,
n egative
by H arold B aker , of B irmin gham , Engl and .

The P u b li sher s .

N E W Y O R K , O c to b er 1 ,
1 8 87 .
 I N T R O D UC T I O N .

ON E great charm of P hotography is that it u nites in the

bonds of friendship men of all the c ou ntries u nder the su n
'

their common helper P ersonally I sho ul d feel g ratef u l to

.
,

P hotography if it had done nothi n g more than m ake me ac

u ai n ted w it h those kind frie n ds beyo n d the seas who ha v e
q
tau ght me to re alize so strongly the u ni ty of ou r race and to ,

feel that bet ween Englishman and A merican there o u ght to

be the sincerest sympathy the p leasantes t rivalry
,
.

I am es pecially glad tha t my firs t book on photography w ill

be first p u blished in the United States for I am convinced ,

that it w ill there fi n d readers not less genero u s than critical

‘

and not more cr i ti cal than a ppreciative .

W hen ou r ki n d friend Mr W J Stillman who has w on

,
. . .
—

distinction and is equ al l y at home in the tw o hemispheres

first pressed me to write for the P hotogr ap hi c Ti m es he ,
“
,

”
recommend ed practi c al s ubjects An d in this History of .

P hotography I believe I have chosen somethi n g directly u se

f u l and practical tho u gh perhaps a few will be at first di s
, , ,

posed to qu estion the u tility of su ch a record of the past

’
.

D on t tell u s these old tales " sO

”
me b u ddin g camera knigh t
’
of f ull t wenty fo u r ho u rs standing w ill exclaim
-
“ o u r pro ,

c esses are perfect and w e care for nothing else I

,

B u t photog raphy is an evol u tionary science The key to .

the proper comprehension of the present lies in the past ; and

n o man can afford to neglect the rich mine of experience

w hich is f u rnished by the w ork of his predecessors P erhaps .

in no othe r art have so many things bee n discovered an d r e

d iscovered and patented t wenty times over as in photography
, ,
.

E ven to d ay it only requ ires a diligent st u dy of the photo

“

raphic literat u re of the past to b r i n t light many germs

g g o
~

w hich w ith o u r more advanced kno wledge can be perfected

, ,

and t u rned to sou rces of pleas u re and of profit .

Then photography o u ght to be learned and tau ght —

“
historically L et no man call himself a photographer on
.

the strength of having fired off a few gelatine dry plates To -

.
6 I N TR OD U C TI ON .

ob tai n a competent knowle d geof the science you m u st work ,

yo u r way e x pe rimentally along the historical path R epeat .

the experiments of N i epce and Dagu erre of Fo x Talb ot an d

f

- e
,

m
Scott A rcher and you will learn to appreciate the labors o f
-
,

these fa thers of photogra phy will sy pathi z e with their

diffi cu lties and glory in their u ltimate s u ccess
, .

N ot only will y o u prod u ce a collection Of most interesting

specimens b u t you w ill accu mu lat ea store of solid kno wledge
, ,

an d wi ll r etu I n to yo u r g elatine dry plates a master instead of -

an ap prentice .

To the many whose other avocations and wan t of time for

bid so complete a co u rse w e still say “ Stu dy the past "
, ,

B uy the old books as well as the new ones ; they will all teach
y ou something So far from
. photography having att ained
p erfection w e believe i t to be b u t as a little ch ild
,
Great are .

ou r hopes and wondrou s ou r V I S I on s of its f u ture ; b u t e v ery

ad vance m u st be made step by step an d to su ccessfu lly climb ,

the pyramid of kn o wle d ge which u nlike other pyramids is —

, ,

daily increasing in altitu d e we mu s t star t f r omthe b a se —

Then have not the men of mi gh t who laid the fou n d a

,
”

tio n s of ou r science a clai mthat we sho u l d make o u rselves

,

acqu ainted with their lives and their wo rk " W hat soldier is
there that does not love to read of W ellington and B onaparte ,

of Grant and L ee " W ith eq u al interest ou ght the children

of the su n to follo w the painf u l pa th of N i ep ce an d stand by ,

the death bed of Scott Archer the photographer who gave

- - —

his precio u s discovery freely for the u se of all and w h o died ,

poor and before h i s time becau se he had overstrained hi s ,

'

po wers in the cau se of ou r science .

L et u s hope that the great increase in the n u mber of pho

t og r aph i c so cieties which has marked the l ast fe w years w ill
'

lead to the establishment of lib raries in connection with th em ,

a nd the formation of mo d est m u se u ms in w hich interestin g

relics ill u strating ol d pro cesses may be preserved so that

, , ,

greater facilities may be afforded for the st udy of the history

of photography As an i n trod u ction to that history this h u m
.

ble book has been writ ten by

I V J er o
. mH e ar r i son .

S ci e n c e L a b o rato ry ,
I c k n i el d S tre e t B i rm i g h am , En g
, n l an d .
A HI S TORY OF P HOTOGRAP HY .

C H A P TE R I .

THE OR I GI N OF P HOTOGR AP HY .

E ly R
ar f ecor d s o
f the A cti on o L i ght up on M a tter —
P ho
t og r aph y isthe child of optics and chemistry A s neither of .

these science s attai n ed anything like a f ul l development u ntil

the prese n t centu ry it is n ot s u rprising that the art of taking
,

photographs w as u nkno w n to ou r ancestors A n d yet there are .

many facts tha t mu st have been kno wn even to the ancients , ,

whose meaning i f rightly ap p reciated w o u ld have led to the

, , ,

early discovery of the art of photography For exam ple .

lenses are all b u t a b sol u tely n ecessary to the t aking of photo

graphs and a lens has been fo u nd among the r u ins of N ine
,

veh a city w hich w as destroyed more than a tho u sand years

,

before the birth of C hrist This l ens is now in the B ritish

.

M u seu m Du ring the Middle A ges the man u fact u re and

.

properties of simple lenses were well n u del stood I n E u rope .

Th e changes prod u ced b y the action of ligh t u po n matter

are so co m
.

mon as to be matters of every day observation At .

a very early stage of civilization th e tanning or bron z ing o f the

hu man ski n by the solar rays mu st have been notice d even if ,

the black skin of the neg ro w as not assigned to its tru e ca u se

-
a constant residence beneath the intense rays of a t ropical

su n . A h u ndred ye ars before C hrist ,the R o m an philosopher ,

P liny noticed and recorded th e fac t that yellow wax is bleached

,

by ex pos u re to s u nlight The Greeks knew w ell that certain

.

gems the opal and the amethyst more especially lost their
— —

l u ster from the same cau se ; w hile the great R oman architect ‘

and painter V itru vi u s w as so co n scio u s of the decolorizing

, ,

effect of su n light tha t he i nvariably placed his paintings in

roo m s facing the n orth .
8 H I S TOR Y H OTOGR A P HY
"

A OF P .

The A l che i s ts m and H or n

the Middle S i lver .
—
Du ring
Ages almost th e on ly inqu irers into the S ecrets of nat u re were
’
.

the alchemists who vainly so u g ht the philosopher s stone

,

w h i ch sho u ld transm u te the bas er metals into gol d Bu t .

tho u g h their se arch w as vain yet as so of ten happens , these , ,

ex perimenters R oger B acon Alber t Magnu s P aracels u s and

—

,
I
, ,

a host of small er light s altho u gh they d I d I I Ot find w hat they

—

w ere lo oking for yet they made many d iscoveries of g reat

,

val u e The storeho use of natu re I S S O ric h that even th e

.

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blind seeker is re w arde d And so these old alchemists he .

came acq u ai n ted with some of the most powerf ul agents of

modern chemistry t he acids for e x ample an d as the cent u
— —

ries rolled by their discoveries bore fr u it

,
.

Among those alchemists who ex perimented with the com

po u n d s of silver w e find the name of Fa b rici u s wh o in 1 5 56 ,

p u blished a book u pon metals .

H orn silver or ln n a cor n ea as it was then termed was the

-
, ,

name gi v en to a semi transparent compou nd of silver and

-

chlorine w hich occ u rred as an ore in the silver mines of Ger

many b u t w hi ch Fabriciu s fo u nd co u ld be prepared by adding
'

a so lu t ion of common salt to a sol ution of silver n itrate .

Fabrici u s and his co workers appear to have been m u ch su r

-

prised w hen they noticed that this silver compou nd w hite —

when freshly prepared qu ickly t u rned black when ex posed

—

to the s u nlight ; b u t as the fact appeared to h ave no relation

to the object w hich engrossed all their thou ghts the search —

for gold no attempt was made to inq u ire into the nat u re o f
—

this s u rprising change ; a change w hich m u s t also have been

noticed by the miners who extracted the ore
’
.

S chu lze s Exp er i men t D u ri ng the seventeenth and eigh

—

te en th cent u ries many instances w ere recor d ed of the e ff ect of

ligh t in changing the colors of bodies ; b u t as the result is ,
.

most rapid and most striking in the case of co m po unds of sil

v e r it w as to these that attention a ppears to have been chiefly
,

di recte d .

In 1 72 7 J H Sch u lze actu ally obtained C opies of writi ng

,
. .

b y placing t he w ritte n characters u po n a leve l s u rface pre

v i ou sl prepared w ith a mixt u re o f chal k and silver nitrate
- -
y
sol u tion The rays of s u nlight passin g thro u gh the translu cent
.
 A H I S TOR Y OF P H OTOGR A P H Y . 9

p pa er blackened the silver compo u nd beneath except w here i t ,

w as protected by the ink forming the lette rs and th u s a w hite

.
,

c opy u pon a bl ack gro u nd w as obtained A ltho u gh we can .

not on the strength of this S in gle ex periment assign to Sch u lz e ,

the ti tle w hich Dr Eder clai ms for hi mas the discoverer of

,
“

photography yet it mu s t be admitted that the experiment w as

”
,

a very remarka b le one and it is m u ch to b e regret ted that it

,

w as not s u ccessf ully and q u ickly followed u p .

S cheele exa m i n es S i lv er C h l or i d e C harles W illiam S cheele —

o f S trals u nd then a Swedish to w n as a distingu ished i n v es

( ) w ,

t ig ator w h o m ay be consi d ered as one of the fo u nders of mod

,

e rn chemistry In 1 7 77 he ma d e the first scien tific investiga

.
,

tion of the behavior of silver ch loride u nder the i n fl u en ce of

light First he noted the action of differently colored light
.
,

s ho w i n g that while the silver salt w as qu ickly d arkened by

vio let or bl u e light the red an d yello w rays had m u ch less

,

e ffect u on it
p H i s res.u lts w ere confirmed by S en eb i er in 1 7 8 2 ,

w ho w r o te th at i n fifteen seconds the violet rays blackened

’

silver chloride as m u ch as the red rays did in t wenty min u tes .

B u t S cheele also disc overed the ca u se of the dar kening He .

e xposed c hloride of S il v er to the action of S u nlight u nderneath

water reasoning do u btless that the water w ou ld arrest and

, , ,

d issolve any s u bstance w hich might be gi v en off u nd er the

a ctio n of light W hen the w hite salt of silv er had b lackened
.
,

S cheele po u red a way the wa ter and added to i t a little si lver

n itrate Im mediately a w hite s u bstance was formed (o w ing
.

to the silver nitrate combini n g with chlorine dissolved in the

w a ter) w hich w as silver chloride formed ane w
,
Thu s Scheele .

p roved that the effect of W hite light u pon silver chloride is to

deco m pose it and cau se it to give u p some or all of its chlo
,

rin e As to wheth er the black resid u e is metallic silver (w hich

.

appears black w hen in a very fine state of s u bdivision ) or is a ,

compo u n d kno w n as silver s u b chlo ride (A n l) that is a mat —

’
,

t e r u pon w hich che m is ts even yet are not agreed Scheele s .

c oncl u sions w ere do u bted by C o u nt R u mford w ho se paper ,

“
entitled A n E n q u iry C oncerning the C hemical P roperties
”
that have been attrib u ted to L ight w as p u blished in the ,

P hilosophical Tran saction s of the R oyal Society for 1 7 9 8 .

H e considered that the changes obs er v ed w ere d u e to hea t

1 0 A H I S TOR Y OF P H OTOGR A P H Y .
v

r ath er than tolight ; b u t his argu ments were s u ccessfu lly con
trov e r ted by R o b ert H arru p who in the c ase of the salts of
’
, ,

mercu ry at all even ts concl u sively pr oved ( N i cholson s J ou r

,

n a l , 1 8 0 2 ) that ligh t alone was the determini n g a gent of the

changes obser v ed .

I n ven ti on of the C a m er a Ob s cu r a I t was not till n ear the c

—

close of the eighteenth cent u ry that an yOne with the excep

"
'

tio n perhaps of Sch u lze seems to h av e th ou ght Of applying

I

, , ,

the changes of color prod u ce d by the ac ti on of light u pon sil

ver c Ompou nd s to any practical p u rpose A n d y et the i nstru
‘
.

ment called the camera obsc u ra had lo n g been known and ,

those who gazed u pon the bea u tifu l pictu res pr o d u cc d by i ts

age n cy m u st Often have longed to fi n d some me thod by wh ich
they might be fi x ed and retaine d Invented by the Italia n .

philosopher B aptista P orta abo u t the mi d dle of th e S ixteenth

,

cent ury the camera o b sc ura at first consisted simply as its

,
—

n ame implies Of a darkened room to w hich light W

—
as a d mit

ted only thro u gh a S ingle small hole i n the w indo w shu tter -
.

In s u ch a room whe n the su n is S hining brightly a faint i n

, ,
'

v erted image o f e x te r nal Objects as the ho u ses trees etc , , ,

.
,

u pon w hich the w indow looks is s een u pon the w hite s u rface
,

of the w all or sc reen within the room which faces the wi n dow .

P orta impro ved this primitive contrivance by placing a d o u ble

conve x glass lens in the ap e rtu re of the sh u tter o u tside w hich ,

a mirror w as placed to recei v e the rays of light and reflect

them thro u gh the le n s The image u pon the screen w ithin
'

w as thu s made brighter and mo re distinct and w as moreover ,

S ho w n in a nat u ral or erect posi tion C ro w ds flocked to

’
.

P o r ta s h o u se in N aples to see these pictu res painted by light

'

glowing with color and depicted w ith marvelou s acc u racy

,
.

Soo n f u rther i mprovemen ts w ere made and the camera oh ,

scu ra became a favorite a d j u nct to the co u ntry ho u ses of the

w ealthy often taking the form of a small circ u lar b uilding ;
,

er ected if possible o n a hilltop The lens w as the n u s u ally .

'

placed i n the center of the conical roof w ith a sl anting mir ,

ror arran ge d so as to reflect the l i g ht from s u rrou n d ing Ob

e c ts down ward thro u gh the lens ; the pict u re t hu s formed
j
was rec eived u pon the w hitened s u rface of a table placed
within the little b u ildi n g S u ch erections are still n o t u n
.
 A H I S TOR Y OF P H OTOGR AP HY . 1 1

common in pl aces of pop u lar ou t door resort and interesting -

,

discoveries are not u nfreq u ently made by those who have

gained admittance as to the doings of u nsu specting o u tsiders
, ,

who little think that their proceedings are pic tured for the de
l ectati on of others
’
.

N ow the ph otographer s camera is a miniatu re camera Ob

sc u ra being nothing more than a well ade bo x having a lens
,

at one end and a g ro u nd glass screen at the other Still a

m
-

.
,

modern camera made by one of the masters of the art of cab

inet making as applied to photography and provided w ith a
-
,

battery of first class lenses is nothing less than a w ork o f art

—
, ,

and is correspo n dingly expensive .

E a r ly Vi si on s of P hotogr ap hy A C hinese tradition cred —

its the S u n with sometime s prod u cin g pict u res of th e neigh

b oring objects u pon the ice covered s u rfaces of lakes and -

riv ers A simil ar idea m u st have possessed the mind of

.

F en elon when in 1 6 90 he w rote his fable called Un e

, , ,
”
V oyage S u pp ose descriptive of the imaginary jo u rneys of
,

an I magi nary personag e in w hich the follo w ing passage oc

,
“
cu rs " There was no painter i n that co u ntry ; b u t if any
body wished to have the portrait of a frien d of a pict u re a , ,

beau tif u l landscape or o f any other object water was placed

, ,

in great basins of gold or silver and the object desired to be ,

painted w as placed in front of that w ater After a w hile th e .

water fro z e an d became a glass mirror on which an i n efface ,

”
able image remained .

B u t it was reserved for another Frenchman Ti ph ai g n e de ,

la R oche to make a still n earer g u ess as to the manner in

,
'

”
which nat u re pri nted pictu res w ou ld one d ay be prod u ced .

”
In 1 7 6 0 he w rote a book entitled C i ph an ti e (an anagram r

Of his o w n name) containing a series o f w ild imaginings on e

, ,

of w hich m u st have appeared especially improbable to his con

temporaries a ltho u gh it has S ince been literally f u lfilled The
,
.

hero of is carried by a h u rricane to a strange

lan d w here he is sho wn the method b y w hich the native
,

genii prod u ce d pictu res Y ou kno w said the gu i d e

.
, ,
“that rays of light reflected from different bo d ies form pic
t u res pai nt the image reflected on all polished su rfaces for
, ,

example on the retina o f the eye on w ater an d on glass

, , ,
.
1 2 A H I S TOR Y OF P H OTOGR A P HY .

The spirit s have so ught to fi x these fleetin g imag es ; they

have made a s u btle matter by means of which a pictu re is
formed in the t winkling of an eye They coat a piece Of can
.

vas w ith this matter an d place it in front of the object to be

,

taken The first e ffec t of this cloth is similar to that of a

.

mirror b u t by means of its visco u s natu re the prepared can

,

vas as is not the case w ith the mI rr or retains a fac simile of

.

-
, ,

th e image The m I r r or represents images fai thf u lly b u t r e

.
,

tains n one ou r canvas reflects them no less faith fu lly b u t r e .

tains them all This impression of the I mag e I s I nstantane

.

ou s . The canvas I S then removed and deposited in a dark

place An hou r later the impress i on I S dry and y ou have a
.
,

pict u re the more precio u s in that n o art can imitate i ts tr u th

”
f u lness .

After reading this very remark able prophecy one can hardly ,

help thinking that De l a R oche m u st have conceived the i d ea

’
after vi ewing the pictu res S hown with P orta s dark cha m
”
ber a contrivance w hic h was then as we know in vog u e
, , ,
.
 A H I S TOR Y OF P HOTOGR AP HY . 1 3

C H AP T ER II .

S OME P I ONEER S OF P HOTOGR AP HY —

WEDGWOOD AND NI EP C E .

C la i mfs o The
C ha r les discovery
an d oof f B o u l ton ,
—

photography al together or in part has been claimed for at

, ,

least tw o men w h o attain ed di stinction in science to w ards the

,

end of the eighteenth centu ry It has been stated that P r o .

fess er C harles wh o w as w ell know n in P aris as a lectu rer on

,

ch emi stry and physics abo u t the y ear 1 78 0 not u ncommonly ,

( as a lect u re experiment obtained profiles of the heads of his

)
stu dents by placin g them so that the requ ired shadow of the
featu res was cast by a strong beam of s unlight u pon a S heet of
paper coate d w ith chloride of silver A s the light w ou ld dis .

color that portion Of the paper u pon w hich it fell the resu lt ,

w as a white o u tline of the face u pon a black backgro u nd B u t .

this statement is a mere tradition and the best au thorities have ,

considered it too vagu e and improbable to be taken into seri

ou s acco u nt .

Some t w enty years back an attempt w as made to prove that,

Matthe w B ou lton the partner of James W att w as acqu ainted

m
, ,

with a ethod of prod u cing photographs at least as early as ,

1 7 77 B u t the n u merou s pictu res which abou t that date w ere

.

sold by the famou s Birmingham firm of B ou lton W att w ere ,

execu t ed by a m echan ical process possibly aqu atint the i n — —

v en ti on of an I n em ou s artist Mr Eg in t on who was the n em

g ,
.
,

ployed at the great Soho factory These pictu res w ere of l arge .

size as mu ch as five fe et by fou r and were colored In a se

’
ries of pamphlets pu blished in 1 8 6 4 5Bou lton s grandson
,
.
,

Mr M l P W Bo u lton clearly proved that photography had

. . .
—

nothing to do w ith the prod u ction of these pictu res L iving .

in that di strict of Birmingham w h ere B ou lton an d W att did

their w ork w e h ave carefu lly stu died this qu estion and can
, ,

endorse the concl u sions arrived at and very ably stated by the
yo u nger Bou lton A clai mto rank as a discoverer of photog
.
1 4 A H I S TOR Y OF P H OTOGR A P HY .

ra h
p y recently made on behalf of L ord B rou gham rests only
on his statement that in a paper commu n icated by him to the
R oyal Society i n 1 7 9 5 he su gges ted the u seof a plate of ivory
,

r u bbed with n itr ate of silver as a su rf ace which might sec u re

,
‘

permanently the pictu res of the camera obscu ra B u t as this

, .

paragraph did not a ppear in th e pu b li sh ed paper ( Brou gh am ~

s ays it w as el iminated by the secretary

) we cannot serio u sly ,

t ake it into acco u n t .

0 0p y i ng b y S u n l i ght Wed gwood a n d D avy W ith the —

d awn of the nineteenth centu ry all th ings W ere propitiou s for

th e rapid advancement of matters scientific Great progress .

had by this time been ma d e both in chemistry and in optics ;

while the art of experimenting ; the kno w ledge of how to —

qu estion natu re had beco me familiar to many men of talent

—

and education Thomas W edg wood fou rth son of the great
.
,

p ot t er fea r n e stly st u died th e action Of light u pon certai n co m

po unds of S ilver H e was encou raged and assisted by Hu m
.

p h re
y D avy then j u st r i sing into f ame as a chemist a n d after
’
, ,

W edgw ood s death D avy wrote an acco u nt of their work ,

w hich appeared i n the J ou r n a l of the R oy a l I n s ti tu ti on for

1 80 2 .
’
W edgwood s best resu lts were obtaine d by Coating
pape r or w h ite leather with a we ak solu tion of silver n itrate .

The more or less Opaqu e obj ect which it was desired to c opy
was then placed on the pre pared su rface and the whole e x ,

posed to su nlight In a few minu tes the u nprotected portions

.
,

of the paper were darkened and when the Opaqu e Obj ect was ,

removed its form remained in w hite u pon a black grou nd

,
.

P aintin gs on glass cou ld be copied in this way the light pass ,

ing thro u gh the transparent and semi transparent portions and

_

-
,

blackening the sensitive paper placed u nderneath W ed g .

wood noticed that red rays or the common su nbeams passed ,

throu gh red glass have very little action u pon paper prepared
,

in this manner ; yellow and green are more efficaciou s b u t

"
,

blu e and violet light produ ce the most deci d ed and po werfu l
”
eff ects . These facts had been previou sly pu blished by
S cheele and by S en eb i er b u t W edgw ood does n ot ap pear to
,

have know n of their work The scantiness of scientific litera

.

tu re at that time and the difficu lty of commu nication between

,

different cou ntries were indeed great hind rances to progress

,
.
 P
A H I S TOR Y OF P H OTOGR A P H Y . 1 5
The w orkers in any one cou ntry were u su ally ignorant of w hat
had been done elsew here ; S O that the sam e track was pu rsu ed
a gain a n d agai n and the same d iscoveries made several times
’
,

Over . Davy made some important additions to W edgwood s

w ork H e fou nd that the chloride was m u ch more sensitive
.

t o light than the nitrate of silver B oth W edg w ood and Davy .

attempted to secu re the pictu res for med within a camera , u pon
paper coated w ith t hese salts of S ilver b u t withou t su ccess ,
.

D avy however u sing the more concentrated light of the solar

, ,

microscope readily obtained images of small Objects u pon

,

paper prepared w ith sil er chloride v .

B u t there w as an other and more fatal objection to th i s

method of pictu ring by light w hich not even Davy with
“ ”
, ,

all his che mica l kno w le d ge w as abl e to su rmo u nt W hen ,

.

the copies obtained w ere exposed to daylight the same agency ,

w hi ch h ad produ ced the pict u re proceeded to destroy it The .

action of su nlight u pon the w hite or l ightly S haded portions

c onstitu ti ng the pict u r e speedily blackened the entire su rface
\

of the paper or leather cau sing the w hol e to become of one

,

un iform tint in which nothing co u ld be distingu ished To .

prevent this it w as clearly necessary to remove the u nacted ou -

silv er salt after the image had been formed and before the ,

paper was exposed as a wh ole to daylight L ong continu ed

, ,
.
-

w ashing in w ater was tried b u t proved ineffectu al nor w as a

c oating of transparent varnish fou nd of any service D avy .

does not se em to have pu rsu ed the process w ith mu ch e n ergy ,

and the w hole thing dropped into obsc u rity Still he clearly .

“
recogni z ed its capabilities for he w rites " N othing b u t a
,

m
method of preventing the u nshaded parts of the delineations
fro being colored by expos ure to the day is w an ting to render
”
this process as u sefu l as it is elegant In this copying pro .

cess devised by W edgwood and improved by Davy w e see

m
'

, ,

the germ of the ordinary ethod by which ou r negative pho

togr aph s on glass are made to yield a positive proof or impres
sion u pon sensitized paper .

A P a ti en t P h otogr ap her J osep h N i cép hor e N i ep ce

—

m
.

Th e first an to obtain a permanent photograph w as J oseph

N i cé ph or e N i epce, wh o w as born at C lI al on s su r Saone M arch
- -

5
,

7th , 1 7 6 W ell edu cated ,

. his parents designed hi mfor the
1 6 A H I S TOR Y OF P H OTOGR AP H Y .

C h u rc h ,b u t the o u tbreak of the French R evol u ti on u pset all

their plan s and in 1 79 4 N I ep ce fou ght in the ranks of the
,

m
R ep u blican ar y wh ich invaded Italy Ill lI ealth soon com .
-

ell ed his reti rement fro m active service and marrying he

p , , ,

settled down at C h alons ; h i s brother C lau de to w hom he w as ,

devotedly attached residing with h i m , .

Even d u ring childhood the fondness of th e brothers N I epce ,

for scientific p urs u its had been very noticeable and they n ow ,

applied themselves to the task of invention bringing ou t a ,

,

machine called the py r el ophor e w hich propelled vessels by ,

the aid of hot air ; an d a velociped e the ancestor of ou r mod ,

ern bic y cle En d eavori n g to bring these inventions before

.

the p u blic C la u de w ent to P ari s in 1 8 1 1 and a fterw ard s

, ,

crossed over to England w here he settled down at Ke w ,

.

It w as apparently abo u t the year 1 8 1 3 that N i c é ph ore

, ,

N iep ce began the e x periments w h i ch resu lted in h is discovery

of w hat may be called the bit u men process in photography .

From his corresponde n ce w ith his brother C la u de we learn ,

somethi n g o f this method ; and w hen i n 1 8 2 7 N i c é ph or e visi , ,

ted his brother at Ke w he bro u ght w ith h i mmany speci m ,

en s
of his w ork These pict u res the first perman ent photogra phs
.
,
.

e v er prod u ced N i epce d esired to bring before the notice of

,

the R oyal S ociety b u t as he declined to p u blish th e process

,

by w hich they w ere p rod u ced (being d esiro u s to perfect it b e

fore making i t p u blic) the ru les of the society compelled them
’
,

to refu se N iepce s co m m unication H av ing e x amined several .

of the specimens presented by this early French experimente r

to his English friends w e can testify to the s u c cess fu l man n e r
,

in which he had su cceeded in copying engravings .

Making b u t a shor t stay in England N I ep c e ret u rned to ,

Fra n ce W here in 1 8 2 9 he entered i nto a partnership w ith an

, , ,

other in v estigator named Dagu erre B u t N I epce w as n ot .

destined to complete his work or even to p u blish his res u lts ;

‘

he d ied in 1 833 at the age of sixty eight Altho ugh it is im

,

-
.
,

possi b le to assig n th e ti tle of Inventor of P hotography to

any one man yet N iepce has probably the bes t claim to i t
,
.

Q u ite recently a stat u e o f N i e pc e has bee n e r ected a t C ha l ons .

L i thogr ap hy a n d P hotog r ap hy L i th og r ap lI y inven ted by .

—
,

a German Senefelder i n 1 79 8 w as s u ccessfu lly practiced i n

, , ,
1 8 A H I S TOR Y OF P H OTOGR APHY .

which w e n OW
' '

k n ow
to b e d u e to the oxidatio n and co u se ,

q u ent hardeni n g of this resino u s s u bstance W hen the resin

i z ed plate w as re m o ved fro mthe camera no pictu re at all w as
.

visible on its s u rface But by steepi n g the exposed plate in a

.

mixt u re of Oil of lavender an d petrole u mthe still solu b l e p b r ,

tions o f the bitu me n w ere removed The shadows Of the .

landscape w ere then r epr esen ted b y b ar e p ortions of the meta l ’

‘

plate w hile the insol u ble resin which remaine d indicated the
,

brightest parts or high lights Of the original Obvio us ly

,
”
-
.

S uch a pict u re wo u ld look more nat u ral if the portions o f

polished me tal exposed co u ld be darkene d and for thi s p u r

pose we kno w that N i epce e m
,

ploy ed variou s chemicals , and

\
amon g others iodi n e .

C or r esp on d en ce of N i ep ce I t i s u nfortu nate that N i c é—

phore N i ep ce never pu blished a S inglel ine descriptive of his

C

methods so that it is only from h is correspondence and more

,
—

especially his letters to his brother C lau de that we can glean —

ou r information The difficu lties of a n experimenter in an

.

ob scu re French town seventy years ago were indeed great

, ,
.

N iepce tells us that his fir st c am er a w as fashioned ou t of a cigar

‘

“
box w hile his lenses w ere the lenses of the solar mi croscope
, ,
”
which as you kno w belonged to ou r grandfather B arrau lt
, , , .

In a letter written to his b r oth er in 1 8 1 6 N i ep ce d escribes how l ,

he secu red what w as probably the first pictu re ever taken in a

camera “ My object glass being broken and being no longer
’
,

able to u se my camera I made an artificial eye with Isidore s

,

ring bo x a little thing from sixteen to eighteen lines squ are

,
.

if if
I placed this little apparatu s in my w orkroom
,
,

facing the open w indow looking on to the pigeon hou se I .

made the experiment in the way you ar e acqu ainted w ith and ,

I saw on the white paper the w hole Of the pigeon ho u se seen

’
from the window if if
.On e co u l d d istingu ish the
effects of the sOl ar rays in th e pictu re from the pigeon ho u se
u
p to the w indo w sash The possibility of painting
. by this
means appears almost clear to me if
I d o not hide .

from myself that there are great difficu lties especially as r e ,

gards fixing the colors b u t w ith work and patience o n e can ac

,
”
complish m u ch .

“W ork I ” and “P atience tru ly N i epce himself combined —

 ’
A H I S TOR Y OF P H OTOGR A P H Y . 1 9

these in no common degree From the reference to w hite paper

.

u sed in this early experiment it w o u ld seem probabl e that silver

,

chloride was employed W e kno w th at N i epce u sed the su b

.

stance and that he ga v e it u p becau se like W edgw ood and

, , ,

D avy he w as u nable to fix or render permanent the pictu res

,

secu red by its aid

’
.

N i ep ce s A gr eem en t w i th D a u er r e
g This agreement b ou nd .
—

the tw o investigators to commu nicate to each other all the pro

cesses which they had discovere d for fixing the camera image ; -

’
and i t went on to state that the two inventors w ere to share
equ ally in any profits that might be obtained In compliance
with this resolu tion N ie pce dre w u p the follo w ing im
m
.

portant
statement which I s dated D ece ber 5
,

,
th 1 829 The discovery ,

w hich I have made and to w hich I give th e name of helio

,

graphy consist s in produ cing spontaneou sly by the action of

, ,

light w ith gradations of tints from black to w hite the images

, ,

rece ived by the ca mera obsc u ra L ight acts chemically u pon

“

bodies It is absorbed ; it eomb i n es w ith them and com m

.
_
u ni ,

cates to them n ew properties Thu s it au gments the n atu ral .

consistency of some of these bodies ; it solidifies them e v en ;

and renders them more or less insolu ble according to the du ra ,

tion or intensity Of its action The su bstance w hich has su e .

ceed ed best w ith me is asp h alt u m dissolved in oil of lavender , .

A t ablet of plated silver is to be highly polished on w hich a ,

thin coating of the varnish is to be applie d w ith a light roll of

,

soft skin The plate when d ry may be immediately su bmitted

.

to the actio n of l ight in the focu s of the camera B u t even .

after having been thu s exposed a length of time su fficient for

receivi ng the impressions of external objects nothing is ap ,

parent to sho w that these impressions exist The forms of the .

fu tu re pictu re remain sti ll invisible The next operation then .

is to disengage the S hr ou ded im agery and this is acco mplished ,

by a solvent con sistin g of one part by volu me of essen tial oil

,

Of lavend er and ten of oil of w hite petroleu m Into this

, .

liqu id the exposed tablet is pl u nged and the operator obser ving ,

it by reflected light begins to perceive the images of the oh

,

j ects to w hich it h a d been exposed grad u ally u nfolding their ,

forms The plate is then lifted ou t allo wed to drain and w ell
.
, ,

w ashed w ith w ater

”
To this N i ep ce adds "
.
“ It were h ow ,
20 A H I S TOR Y OF P H OT RGR A P H Y .

ever to be desired that b yb l ack ening the metal plate we co u ld

, , ,

obtain all the gra d ations of tone from black to white The .

su bstance which I now employ for this pu rpose is iodine which

‘

possesses th e property of evaporating at the ordinary temp era

tu re.
”
W e cannot b u t admire th e gr aphic description of the
phenomena of development here given by N i epce an d w ith , ,

ou t do u bt i t formed the fo u ndation of a ll th e discoveries in

"

photography that followed It will be notice d th at N I ep ce s

.

method of development w as a physical one only for it consisted ,

in S imply washing away by a su itable solvent the u n acted on ,

and therefore still solu ble parts of the bitu men

’
.

D ef ects of N i ep ce s P r ocess The chief obj ection to th e

—
,

beau tifu l an d ingeniou s process discovered by N i cé ph ore

N i ep ce w as the great length of time for which the bitu men ize d

m
plate needed to be exposed in the camera For an or d in ary .

landscape an exposu re of fro S I X to ei ght ho u rs was requ ired .

D uring this time the shadows of objects cha n ged from one side
to the other so that the resu l ting pictures w ere comparatively
,

flat and spiritless being devoid of the charming effects resu lt

,

ing from the cont rast of light and shade Another trou ble .

arose fro mthe fact that in the half tones of the pictu re the -

bit u men was only harden ed at the s u rface the l ayer beneath ,

remaining soft and solu ble When the developing liqu id was
;

applied this lower layer w as apt to be dissolved and in th e ,

fi n al washing it sometimes carrie d a w ay w ith i t the hardened

u pper portion so prod u cing bare patches or defects .
,

Exp er i men ts i n Heli ogr ap hy

7 Most black v arni shes ar e
—

’
.

made from asphal t and w e can easily imitate N iepce s process

,
.

by coating a glass or metal plate with a thin layer of su ch var

nish and exp osmg I t u nder a negative to bright su nshine By .

s u bsequ ent w ashi n g with petroleu m the pictu re is readily de

v el op ed .
 A H I S TOR Y OF P H OTOGR A P HY . 21

C H AP TE R III .

THE DAGUER R EOTYP E P R OC ES S .

f f D N i c é ph or e N I ep ce w as
L
i e o a g u er r e a man of a q u iet
—
.

an d retirin disposition ; a st dent w h o w as so immersed I n his

g u

w ork and so desiro u s of perfecting it that he hesitated w hile ,

—

as yet he felt it to be inco m plete to p u blish e v en the smallest —

details w ith reg ard to it .

B ut the man w ith w hom N i ep ce entered into partnership

L o u is J acqu es Mand é Dag u erre w as of a ver y Opposite tem —

er am en t bold and energetic desiro s of f ame and its a e com

p ,
u ,

panying rewards acc u stomed to s u ccess and to the applau se of

,

the p u blic .

Dagu erre was born at C ormeilles a V illage near P aris in , ,

1 78 7 N egl ect ed by his parents his native talents asserted

fl

th em
.
,

selv es an d w hile still yo u ng he became kno w n as a scene

, ,

painter of great po w er an d originality ; w hile the mechanical

e ffects w hich he introd u ced t o add to the realism of his stage

vie w s w ere the a d miration of all P aris .

In 1 8 2 2 Dagu erre opened a d iorama in P aris for which he

, ,

e xec u t ed pai n tings on a colossal scale for su ch scenery as the

“V illage of Goldau ” the “ alley of arnen ” etc B y paint
V ,S ,
.

i n g on both sides of the canvas and sho w ing the pict u re first ,

by reflecte d and then by transmitted light very remarka b le

, ,

c hanges and effects co u l d be prod u ce d .

In the S ketch es from nat u re w hich Dag u erre made as a pre

liminary aid to the exec u tion of the se immense pict u res he ,

freq u entl y emp loyed the camera obsc u ra ; and it w as the r e

markable beau ty and perfect i on of the images prod u ced by
this instr ument that deter m ined the artist to attempt the dis
c ov er
y of some m eans by which they co u ld be permanently
retained .

W itho u t any scientific ed u cation or training this task w o u ld

have see me d to most persons a hopeless one ; b u t perhaps
22 A H I S TOR Y OF P H OTOGR A P H Y .

’
D agu erre s very ignorance of the d iffic u lties to be enco u n tered
'

was one ca u se Oi his perseverance The date of h is first at .

tempts appears to have been abo u t 1 8 2 4 ahd d u ring the next

'

t w o or three years we hear of his p aying freq u ent visits to the

sh op of C hevalier a well known Optician of whom D agu erre -

p u rchased the cam

, ,

era lenses and other ar ticles n ecessary to

, ,

his new p u rs u it .

In 1 8 2 6 Dag u erre w as in formed probabl y b y C hevalier

,
— — 4

that a gentleman at C halons had already made considerable

p rogress to w ard the end which he was himself desiring to at
’

tain L etters addressed to N i ep ce received ho w ever b u t cu rt

.
, ,

responses and it w as not till 1 82 7 when N iepce passed thro ugh

, ,

P aris on his way to En gland that he entered into cordial rela ,

tions w i th D agu erre The partnership bet ween these two

.

workers wh ich w as established in 1 8 2 9 w as contin u ed aft er

, ,

the death of the elder Niepce Isi d ore N i ep ce taking the plac e
‘

of his father .

P u b l i ca ti on of the D agu er r eotyp e P r ocess i n 1 839 Y ear .

—

after y ear passed a way and left o u r scene painter still toilin g -

after his i d eal e v er endeavoring to fix the fleeti n g i mages

m

formed by the lens of his camera H is ordinary work i s neg .

l ected b u t he passes nine tenths of his time in his laboratory

,
-
.

It w as at this period that Madame Dagu erre so u ght advice as ’

to the s anity of her h u sband and w as not ,perhaps m u ch com , ,

forted b y the assu rance of the men of science whom she cOn
’
su lted that the object of her h u sband s research es w as not
absolu tely impossi b l e " Fi v e yea rs after the death of N i epce
h i s partner was able to anno u nce that he had overcome all
d i fl i c u lti es and that hencefor th n at u re w o u ld depict h e r o wn
, .

likeness with a pencil of lig ht In 1 8 3 8 Dagu erre attempted .

,

to form a company w hich sho u ld acq u ire and w ork the n e w

process ; b u t the P arisian p u blic w ere u tterly incredu lo u s ,

an d the shares were not taken u p In this extremity Dagu erre .

showed his specimens and in confidence explained his method

, , ,

to the eminent French astronomer an d physicist A rag o o

’
,

Arago s admiration and delight w ith this n ew and w onderf ul

process by w hich objects w ere made to dra w th eir ow n pict u res ‘

were u nbo u nded A S a man o f science and of world w id e -

’
.
,

rep u tation his endorsement of the v al u e of Dagu erre s dis

,
 A H I S TOR Y OF P H OTOGR AP H Y . 23

at once est ablished its w orth and on his r ec omm en d a

c o v er y ,

tion th e French Government a w arded to D ag u erre a life pen

sion of francs and to Isi d ore N i ep ce one of
,
fran cs
per ann u m on the conditio n that the invention sho u ld be p u b
,

l i sh ed witho u t patenting i t this money being paid by France

“
for the glory of endo w ing the w o rld of science and of ar t
with on e of the most s u rprising dis coveries that ho n or their
native land N otwithstan d i ng this o fficial statement a patent
”
.
,

w as taken o u t by D ag u erre i n one co u ntry Englan d in — —

1 83 9 .

D agu erre sai d to have placed a w ritten acco u nt of his pro

I s

cess in the hands of Ar ago in J an u ary 1 8 3 9 and at th e same , ,

tim e to ha v e p u blicly exhibi ted specimen s of th e res u lts which

he had u p to that time obtained ; b u t no d etails w ere r evealed ,

nor w as the pape rp u blished u ntil the meetin g o f the A cademy

in A u g u s t of that ye ai The n ew process w as named D a gu er
.

r eotyp e and the excitab l e i nhabitants of the French metropolis

,

went into ecstacies over it N ever thele ss th e d ag u erreo type .

,

process was at th e time of its p u blication very imper fect an d

'

, ,

it w as desti n ed to u ndergo important modi ficat i on s and i m

,

r ov e me n t s d u ring the next thre e or fo u r years

p
’
Th e ne w s of D agu erre s w onderf ul disco v ery soon spread to
other co u ntries an d t h e I nventor obtained a rich re ward by
,

th e sal eof apparatu s and by the instr u ction of h u ndreds wh o

,
.

flocked to P aris to learn the details of the n ew art A keen .

obs erver S i r J ohn R obinson w rote as follo w s in 1 8 3 9 to a

— —

, ,
“
frie n d in the United States C irc u mstances led to my bei n g
incl u d ed i n a small party of En gli Sh gentl em en w h o w ere lately
invit ed to visi t the s tu dio of M D ag u erre to see the res u lts of .

his discovery I satisfied mysel f that the pict u res pro d u ced
.

by his process ha v e no resemblance of an ything as far as I ,

kno w that h as y et been prod u ced in t his cou ntry Excepti n g

,
.

the absence of color they are perf ect images as seen by r efl ec

,
'

tion f rom a highly polished s u rface The s u bjects w hich I .

saw w ere vie w s of streets bo u levards and b u ildings ; v a c ill at

,

ing objects made in d istinct pict u res T here can be n o dou bt .

that w hen the d ag u erreotype process is know n to the pu blic it

w ill be i m mediately applie d to n u mberless u sef ul processes ;
and e v en the fi n e arts w ill gai n fo r the eye accu stomed to , ,
24 A H I S TOR Y OF P H OTOGR A P HY
th e acc u racy of the Dagu er re p ic tu res, will no longer be satis
fl ed b ad d ra wmg ho we v er s plendidly it may b e colored
w i th , .
”

Every w ord of this prediction has since bee n fu lfille d

D ag u erre died i n 1 8 5
.

1 aged six ty three ,

In 1 8 8 3 a b u s t -
.
,

of this ardent w ork er w as u nveil ed at C ormeilles f u n ds for ,

its exec u tion hav ing been contrib uted by photogra phers of all
ci vi lized nations V ie w ing his Whine career Dag u erre m u st
.
,

be considered as a fortu nate man N ot only did he re ap m u c h .

0

honor and material benefit from his discovery b u t he live d to ,

see pho tography rise to an imp ortant place amo ngst the arts
an d sciences .

H ow Da g u er r e w a s L ed to h i s D i scover i es The materials .

—

emp l oyed by Dag u erre i n his early experiments bet w een —

1 8 2 4 and 1 8 2 9 a ppear t o ha v e be en the same as those u sed

—

by W edgwood and Davy L tlI e chloride an d nitrate of sil v er

‘

sp read u pon paper ; and he did not ad v an ce u pon i f i n d eed , ,

‘

he eq u aled the res u lts obtained by th e t wo English chemists

, .

After enteri n g into partnership w ith N iepce and learni ng the ,

details of his bit u men process D agu erre follow ed for a time ,

in the same track ; b u t f u rthe r s tu dy enabled him to w ork o ut

improvements an d modi fications w hich led him u l timately to
a greater s u ccess W e kno w that N iepce sometimes u sed
.

metal p l ates coated w ith S ilver ; moreove r he employe d iodine ,

to darken these plates after the pict u re had been developed .

Using these tw o mate rials plates of silve r and vapor of io d ine

—

—
D ag u erre fo u nd that the iodide of silver formed by expos ,

ing silver to the vapor of iodine w as sensiti v e to light W hen ,

.

s u ch iodiz ed silver plates w ere expose d within the camera ,

faint images of bright objects w ere impressed u pon them I n

the co u rse of tw o or three hou rs
D evelop m
.

en t b
y M er c u r
y Va
p or A t this S t age a hap y
p .
—

accident
”
occ u rred which re v ealed to D ag u erre a method by
,

w hich n o t only w as the time of ex pos u re necess ary to secu r e a

good pict ure greatly red u ced b u t the d istinctness and bea u ty
,

of the im age w as m u ch enh ance d I t appears that one day .

D ag u erre removed from his camera a pl ate w hich either from , ,

th e shortness of the expos u re or the d u llness of the light sho w ed ,

n o sign of an image H e placed this blank plate in a store

.

c u pboar d intendi n g to clean the s urface an d u se it again B ut

,
.
26 A H I S TOR Y OF P H OTOGR AP HY .

Dag u err eotyp es w er e so delicate that the merest to u ch of the

'

finger w as su fficient to mar th ei r beau ty and w hen exposed , ,

to the air they r apI d ly tarnished and deteriorated This de

,
.

fe et w as remedied by M Fizeau w h o gilded th e image b y .

,

mean s of a mixt u re of chloride of gold and hyposu lphite of

soda This sol u ti on was pou red over the silver plate wh ich
.
,

w as then heated u ntil the liq ui d e v aporated leaving a thin ,

coating of gold u pon the pict ure w hich w as there b y rendered ,

more distinct as w ell as more permanent

m
,
.

Another great i p rovement w as introd u ced by Mr God .

dard a L on d on Ss ci ence lectu rer i n 1 840 H e exposed the

, ,
.

iodized silver plate to the action of bromine vapors thereby ,

forming a bromi d e of S i lver u pon the plate i n a d dition to

iodide of silver In 1 8 4 1 M C la u det u sed chl orI n e vapors in
.
,
.

a like m anner P lates prepared by either of these methods

.

were fo u nd to be far more sensitive to light than those w hich

had been S imply iodi z ed In fact the time requ i red to pr o
.
,

d u ce a pict ure in the ca mera w as thereby redu ced to from on e

to five min u tes or with a very good light to less than one
, , ,

m i n u te
.

As the three elements referred to above w ere only d iscov

ered chlorine in 1 774 iodine in 1 8 1 1 and bromine in 1 8 2 6
, , ,
~

we see that photography w as hardly possible before the present

cent u ry .

I n tr od u cti on of P or tr a i tu r e b y P hotogr ap hy After th e —

improve ments of Goddard and C lau det which were qu ickly ,

adop ted by Dag u erre the produ ction of portraits by the da

,

g u err eot
yp e process became comparat ively easy I nthe very .

first attempts at portraitu re w h ich appear to have been mad e

’
,

in America by Draper an d Morse i n 1 8 39 the S itter s face , ,

was covered w ith white po w der the eyes w ere closed and th e , ,

exposu re lasting for perhaps half an hou r was made I n bright

, ,

s u nshine " To lessen the gl are of light which painf u lly affect ,

ed the S itter Draper cau sed the su nlight to pass thro ugh a
,

large glass tank containing a clear bl u e liqu i d ammonia su l —

phate of Oopper before falling u pon the S itter th u s filterin g

—

ou t m ost o f the heat rays which cou ld w ell be spared as they

, ,

possess little or no actinic val u e In 1 8 4 0 B eard and C lau det .

,

Opened photographi c st u dios in L ondon ; D avidson followed

 A H I S TOR Y OF P H OTOGR AP HY . 27

su it in Edinb u rgh and Sha w in B irmingham an d soo n

, ,

dagu erreotypy became a trade For landscapes etc the .

,
.
,

dagu erreotype process w as b u t seld om employed thou gh w e ,

read of a fine instantaneou s pictu re of N ew Y ork H arbor

*
being secu red by its aid .

Def ects o
f the D a u er r eoty e P r ocess
g p The expense of the .
—

plates which w ere u su ally of copper plated w i th silver w as a

, ,

seriou s objection to the dag u erreotype process A S late as

1 85
.

4 w efind the price of dagu erreotypes in England w as t w o

and a half gu ineas each for the qu arter pl ate size (4% x -

and fou r gu ineas each for half plate size The cleansing and —
.

pol ishing of the S ilver s u rface on w hich the pictu re was to be

produ ced w as a most tro u b l esome task necessitating great care
, ,
“
an d a vast amo u nt of labor in the produ ction of the black
polish which was necessary It mu st also be remembered
”
.

that there w as practically no po w er of mu l tiplying a dagu erre

o t pe a fact d u e to the Opacity of the S ilver plate It is tr ue
‘

y
—
.

that Grove (n o w Sir W R Grove one of H er Majesty s Ju s

. .
’
,

tices) d eVI Sed a method of etching dagu erreotypes w ith acid ,

so that they co uld be u sed in a printing press ; b u t practically

thi s method was a failu re
, ,

The dagu erreotype held s w ay for abou t ten years only from
1 83 9 to 1 8 5
,

1 It was more popu lar in A meri cat than in Eng

.

land ; indeed in the latter cou ntry specimens of the art are
, ,

n ow qu ite rare W ith all its fau lts it w as an immense advan ce

.

on anything previou sly known and entitles Dag u erre to rank ,

with the leadin g inventors of the nineteenth cen tu ry .

Th e n a l i s i n th e p o s s e s s i o n o f M r J W e rg e o f B e n e r s S tre e t
o ri g i . .
, r

L o n d o n t o w h o m I a mi n d e b t e d fo r a C o p y
,

, .

t Fo r a n a d m i ra b l e d e s c r i p t i o n o f t h e f a u l t s a n d me ri t s o f a d a g u e r r e o

ty p e p o rt r a i t s ee H a w th o r n e s H o u s e o f th e S e en Gab l e s C h ap v i
’ ”
, v , . .
"
28 A H I S TOR Y OF P H OTOGR AP H Y .

C H AP TE R I V .

L
FOX-TA B OT AND THE C ALOTYPE P R OC ES S .

L if e
f o P er Ta lb ot - —
W hile Dagu erre was p u rsu ing his re

s earches into m atters photographic in Fran ce another worker , ,

w as advancing toward th e same goal in England thou gh by a ,

d iffer e nt road .

H enry Fox Talbot b orn Febr u ary 1 8 0 0 was o f h igh line

-
, , ,

a e ; the Talbots taking rank amon

g g t h e oldest families i n

England ; w hile his mother L ady Eli z abe th Fox Stran g ways — -

—
was th eeldest dau ghter of the Earl of Ilchester
The f u tu re discoverer of photography gradu ated at C am
.

b ri d ge with high honors i n 1 8 2 1

,
H e sat for two y ears in
,

P arliament b u t politi cs had no char s for him and in 1 83 4

he retired from pu blic life to devote himself wholly to S ci en
.

m ,

t ifi c research .

Talbot was a very v ersatile s tu dent of n atu re His e arliest .

work was mathematical ; b u t bet w een 1 8 2 6 and 1 8 3 4 he p ub 1 -

l i sh ed fi v e papers u po n vario u s phenome n a connected with

_

’
light Then for many years photography engrosse d his
, ,

tho u ghts ; b u t in after life he st u died and wrote on Spec

” “
tru m Analysis the C u neiform Inscriptions of Egypt etc ”
, ,
.

Altogether fifty papers from his pen appeared i n vari ou s sci

en ti fi c periodicals between 1 8 2 2 an d 1 8 7 2 .

Fox Talbot died at his family seat L acock Abbey in W ilt

-
, ,

shire on the 1 7th of September 1 8 77 f u ll of years and honor

, , ,
.

As a discoverer of photographic processes he may fairly claim ,

to be placed on an equ ality w ith N i epce and Dagu erre

’
.

Ta l b ot s E a r ly Wor k i n P hotogr ap hy — Talbot tells u s that

it w as in 1 8 3 3 while S ketchi ng the beau tifu l scenery of the
,

Italian lakes w ith the aid of a camera Obscu ra that he was ,

stru ck with the idea that it might be possible to fix and retain ,

permanently the e x qu isite fac S imiles of s urro u nding Objects

,
-

produ ced by the aid of that instru ment .

 A
‘

H I S TOR Y OF P H OTOGR A P HY . 29

Six years of steady w ork at the problem follow ed at the end ,

of which the pu b li cati on of Talb o t s process for he su ccee d ed f —

in devising a means by w hich his object w as attained w as —

hastened by the new s that a Frenchman had also achieved su c

cess in fixin g the camera image -

It was On the 2 5
.

th of J anu ary 1 8 3 9 that P r ofessOr Faraday

, ,
“
described the n ew method of P hotogen i c Draw ing (for so ”
“

Talbot styl ed his inventi on) to the members of the R oyal Insti
tu ti on then as n ow a very popu lar L ondon scie ntific clu b
—

, ,

an d invite d them to i n spect a collection of draw ings produ ced

sol ely b y the aid of ligh t On the 3 1 st of the same month a .

,

paper giving a fu ll description of the metho d w as read by Tal

bot before the R oyal Society ; this paper w as S hortly after
wards pu blished i n the P hi losophi ca l M aga z i n e Thu s the
’
.

p ublication of Talbot s pro cess w as mad e b efor e that of Da

m
gu erre .

B u t w hen the tw o methods ca e to be compared it w as

fou nd that they w ere essentially different Talbot had fol .

low ed u p in his photographs on paper the line of research in

/

’
,

d i cated by W edgw ood while D agu erre s method w i th polished

silver plates w as bu ilt u pon the fou ndation fu rnished by N i ep
ce ; thu s each had completed the w ork of his own co u ntry

man
’
.

The M eth od of P hotogen i c D r a w i n g Talbot s su ccess w as —

d u e in the first place to the fact that he had su ccee d ed in

, ,
,

rend ering chloride of silver far more sensitive to light than

W edgw ood or Davy had been able to do Taking fine w riting .

paper he soaked it in a w eak solu tion of common salt and

, ,

then br u shed one side of the paper tw ice over With a solu tion
of nitrate of silver W hen this w as done what chemists call
.
,
“dou ble decomposition ” took place and chloride of silver Was
'

formed in the pores and u pon the su rface of the paper ; while
mingled w ith the chloride there w as also a S light excess of the
nitrate of silver It w as to thi s u se in combination of the tw o
.

salts of S ilver the nitrate bein g in excess that the increased

— —

sensitiveness to light w hich paper so prepared w as fo u nd to

possess w as d u e Talbot fou nd that paper treated in this w ay
.

w as darkened by even a momentary exposu re to bright su n

'

light By its aid he readily secu red images of objects in the

.
30 A H I S TOR Y . OF P H OTOGR A P HY .

solar m i cr oscope B u t his crowning tri u mph was attained

.

when after an expos ur e of abou t an ho u r he S u cceeded in oh

, ,

taining an impression of the pictu re formed by the lens within

the camera obscu ra Talbot states that he had reached this
point in 1 83 5and that in that year h e secu red several camera
.

m
,

pict u res of his residence L acock Abbey ,

.

H ow Ta lb ot F i r ed hi s P i ctu r es I t w ill be reme bered .

—

that it was the want of a fixi n g agent w hich baffled Sir Hu m ‘

phy Davy in 1 8 0 2 B u t Talbot was more for tu nate After

. .

Well washin g his photographs he soaked them either in a sol u

tion of common salt or in a solu tion of potassiu m io d ide or
,

bromide By this treatment h e fou nd that his pictu res were

.

rendered permanent ; at leas t they cou ld be freely examined

in the day light withou t fu rther darkening .

’
The C a lotyp e or Ta l b otyp e P r ocess FOx Talbot did not .
— -

rest conten t with his early su ccesses After the p u blication of

’
.

Dagu e rre s paper in 1 8 3 9 he tried the iodide of S ilver instead

, ,

of the chloride ; an d above all he su cceede d in discoveri ng a

method of development by which the time of exposu re necessary
’
to secu re a pictu re was very greatly red u ced In Talbot s early .

e xp er I men tS t h e sensitive paper had to remai n at the back of

the camera u ntil the image was printed ou t u po n it by the ao

tion of lig ht ; and for this a good light and a long period of
time w ere necessary B u t in S eptember 1 84 0 Talbot states
.
, ,

he discovered that if the se nsitive paper he bru shed over w ith

a mixtu re of gallic acid and n iti ate of silver and be then ,

e xposed while still w et within the camera the time n ecessai y

, , ,

to sec u re a pictu re is only two or three minu tes H e also .

fou nd that the paper might be drie d an d exposed in that state ,

“
the image being s u bsequ ently brou ght ou t or developed by
”
bru shing over it more of the gallo n itrate of silver solu tion -
.

R ea d e I nde en d en tl D i D ev elo m nt b C ll i
p y scov er s p e y a e

A ci d is tolerably certai n that in th e system of develop

—
It
ment described in the last parag raph Talbot had been antici ,

pated by a fe w mo n ths b y the R ev J B R eade a w ell kno w n . . .

,
-

English clergyman W e have seen that W e d gw ood had no

.

ticed so me forty or fifty years befo re the tim e of which we

are now speaking that copies by light were produ ced most rap
,

idly when leather w as u sed as a su pport for the salts of silver .

 A H I S TOR Y OF P H OTOGR AP HY . 31

R eade also fou nd th i s to be the case and as his inroads u pon

’
,

hi s w ife s stock of White kid gloves w er e not u nnatu ra lly oh

ected to b that lady he as led to the discovery that the i n
j y w ,

creased se nsitiveness to light w as d u e to the solu tion of n u t

galls w it h which leather is i pregnated d u ring th e Operation m
of tanning Fi n ally h e sec u red in w hat may be termed the
.
,

esse n ce of the galls gallic acid a su bstance cap able of — —

strengthening or de v eloping the invisible photographic or , ,

as it was then termed the l a ten t image w hich is fo rmed after

, , ,
-

even a very S hort exposu re u pon the su rface of the sen sitive ,

paper w ithin the camera .

Ta l b ot P a ten ts the C a lotyp e P r ocess Talbot patented his —

calotype (bea u tifu l pictu re) process in Febru ary 1 8 41 It is ,

.

the third British patent for photography the tw o p r eviou s ,

ones being for the dagu erre otyp e process The calotype pro .

cess w as also frequ e n tly c alled Talbotype in honor of th e dis

\
,

coverer The patent w as after w ards dispu ted in the law cou rts
.

”
on the grou nd of its previou s discovery by the R ev J B . . .

R eade ; b ut i t Was u pheld by the j u dge main ly for the reason

that R eade did not prope rly p u blish or make know n his dis
c ov er
y .

Ou tl i n e
f o the C a lotyp e P
The paper w as caref u lly r ocess —

selecte d of a close even textu re an d fine su rface A solu tion

, ,
.

of nitrate Of silver ( 1 0 0 grai n s to S i x o u nces of water) w as

b ru shed over one side of the paper and allo w ed to dry It
was then dipped into a solu tion of potassiu m iodide ( 5
.

00 grain s
to one p int of w ater) where i t w as l eft for tw o or three min
,

u tes. Du ring this time the iodine co m bined w ith the silver
to form iodide of sil v er L astly the paper w as rinsed in p u re.
,

w ater an d dried w hen it was seen to be covered w ith a pale

,

yello w coating of i odide of sil v er w hich in that condition w as ,

practically u nacted u pon by light .

W hen it w as desire d to u se this calotype paper it was taken ,

into the dark room and bru shed over w ith gallo nitrate of
- -

silver made by mixin g a sol u tion of nitrate of silver ( 5

,
0
grains to the o u nce ) w ith one S ixth its volu me of strong acetic -

acid a n d adding an equ al qu antity of a S atu rated solu tion of

,

gallic acid The pap er so prepared might be u sed w et or it

might be dried and kept for u se at some fu tu re time In
.
,
‘

.
32 A H I S TOR Y OF P H OTOGR A P HY .

either cas e the pict ure co u ld be s u bsequ ently bro u g ht" ou t b y

br u shing more gallo nitrate of S ilver over th e expo sed su r
-

face ; th o u gh if the paper was e xposed while still wet th i s

, ,

was not absolu tely necessary Finally the pictu re w as fixed

m
.
,

by well w as h ing first i n w ater then in a solu tion of potassi u

,

br omi de or some other solu ble bromide and then in w ater ,

.

again .

In a pat ent taken ou t i n 1 8 4 3 Talbot claimed the u se of a ,

hot solu tion of hypos u lphite of soda (or any other solu ble ”

to give increas ed whiteness to calotype an d

other photographic pictu res and at the same tim e make them
,

more per m anent ; b u t this claim was qu ite in d efensible S inc e ,

Sir J ohn H erschel had ann ou nced the power of this su bstan ce
to d issolve the salts of S ilver as early as 1 8 1 9 and had again ,

called attention to its valu e for this p u rpose in 1 8 4 0 .

P hotogr ap hi c N ega ti v es a n d P os i ti v es N iepce fou nd .

that in the pictu res obtained on his resi nized plates th e l i ght s
m
,

and shades were j u st the reverse of those of atu re ; th e

w hitest parts of the original o b jects being represented b y the
dark su rface of the insol uble parts o f the bit u men while th e
‘

s h adows were in d icated by t h e bared su rface of the metal plate .

In the same way Talbot fo u nd that the brightest part s of any

l an d sc ap e w ere represented by black p a tches of redu ced s ilver
'
‘

u pon his sen sitive paper while those parts of th e paper u pon
,

w hich little light fell (the d ark shadows etc of the landscape ) .

,
.
,

remai n ed white Thu s the developed image u pon a S heet of

.

calotype paper w as the exact reverse as far as light an d S had e ,

w ere c oncerned of th e objects depicted

,
To su ch a pict u r e .

Sir J ohn H erschel in 1 8 4 1 applied the name of nega tive

.
“ ”
.
, ,

B u t paper is a semi transparent s u bstance and by oili n g or

-
,

w axing it its transparency can be greatly increased This .

fact combined with the reversed natu re of the ori ginal en

, ,

abled Talbot to obtain tru e copies of an y n eg ativ e by placing

'

a piece of sensitive paper u nderneath the negative an d then ,

exposing it to s u nli ght The rays of light passing thro u gh

[
.

the clear or transparent parts of the negative blackened the ,

paper beneath After a s u ffi cient time had elapsed th e l ower

.

S heet of paper was re m o v ed and it was then fo u nd to pr esent

,

a correct pictu re in black and white of the Original objects .

34 A H I S TOR Y OF P H OTOGRAP H Y .

overrate the diffi c ulties which photographers had to contend

w ith half a cent u ry ag o Many of these d iffic u lties w ere e x
.

tran e ou s to t heir ar t Th u s hyposu lphite of soda was in 1 8 4 0

.

, ,

a chemical cu riosity an d for y ears afterward its price w as si x

,

shilli n gs per po un d ; p ur e chemicals too w ere hardly to be , ,

Obtained so that the worker was Often forced to ma nu fact u re

,

his Own materials .

T h e calotypists w ere especially at the mercy of th e pa per

"

makers C anso u in France an d T u rner H ollingworth and

.
, , ,

others in England made good p aper b u t still the grain was

, , ,

perceptible and it was freq u ently u neven knotty and S peckled

, , ,

with particles of metal from the machinery of the paper mills .

Then it was di ffic u l t to get the paper to lie fl at in the d ark

S lide and its comparative opacit
, y made the n egatives print
S lo wly remedy the latter defects the French ex eriment
To p
ers L e Gray an d B lanq u art Evr ar d intro d uced abo u t 1 8 5
.
_
,

, 0 -
, , ,

the method of w axing the paper by d ipping it in melted w ax

and then i roni n g it bet ween sheets of blotting paper T his -

made the paper more even in textu re and very translu cent It
.

w as then sensiti z ed expos ed and developed in the u s u al w ay

, ,

L i ght f or the D a r k R oom From t he moment that the

.

- —
.

S ilvered plate of D agu erre or the S heet of pape r u sed by Tal ,

b ot was f u lly sensiti z ed it became impossible to e xpos e it to

, ,

ordinary light The only w hite light al lo w ed to f all u pon the

.

sensitive s u rface m u st be th at whic h passes thro u gh the lens

of the camera and by that light the image is imprinted on the
,

fi lmcontainin g the silver salt B u t it is impossible or at all .

,

events most inconvenient to go thro ugh the operations of sen ,

si ti z i n g and developing the plates in u tter darkness H ere the .

fact discovered by Scheele in 1 7 77 comes to ou r aid H e , ,

.

fo und that red l igh t prod u ced no chemical effect u pon the
chlori d e of S ilver ; and speaking of the ordinary salts of silver
,

employed i n photography the chloride the iodide and the —

,
, ,

bromide it may be said that they are u naffected by p u re red

—

light Even yellow light has little or no effec t u pon these

.

s u bstances if they are contained i n collo d ion ; b u t w hen bro

mide of S ilver in gelatine is tested in the same w ay a few '
.

’
,

min u tes expos u re to strong yello w light w ill be fo u nd to pro

d u ce a chan ge C ap t Abney ho w ever h as recently pre pared
. .
, ,
 A H I S TOR Y OF P H OTOGR AP HY . 3 5
bromide of silver in s u ch a molec ular condition tha t it is strong
l y a ffected even by the red rays S peaking generally how
'

.
,

ever w e may say that no harm is d one to the sensitive s u rfaces

’
,

o rdinari ly u sed by the photographer by a fe w minu tes expos .

u r e to red or even orange light

,
and th is S pace of time is ,

s u fficient to enable hi m to perform the vario u s operations

w hich ar e necessary I have else w here recommended the use
.

o f covers of red card board for all the flat dishes in w hich sen
-

s i ti v e plates or paper are manip u lated ; and by u sing trays

fitted w ith lids of r u by glass it is qu ite possible to devel op

’
,

plates in any ordinarily l ighted room Thu s the photographer s .

”
d ark room w o u ld be m ore properly called the red room
- -
,

for its w indow s are u s u ally glazed w ith ru by glass an d its gas ,

j ets an d lamps fitt ed w ith r u by globes .

In 1 844 C l au d et actu ally took o u t a pat ent for the u se

’
,

Of red light in photographers dark rooms b u t he does not ap -

p e a r to have attempted t o enforce it D u ring the collodion

epoch ( 1 8 5
.

1 yel low light W as general ly employed to de

v el o
p 15i 5 For ou r gelatine dry plates either an orange or a

r u by colored light is preferable

-
.
-
,

C ontr a st b etw een D agu er r eotyp e a n d Ta l b otyp e For ten .

—

o r twelve years after the p u blicatio n of the d iscoveries of Da

u erre and Tal b ot t heir processes so distinct in metho d al

g
—

, ,

thou gh aiming at a like resu lt held joi n t sw ay over the little

—

w orld of photography By professional p ortraitists the D a

.
‘

u er r eot e process w as preferred o w ing no do u bt to th e clear

g yp ,

S harp pictu re s and beau tif u l detail which co u ld be sec u red

t hereb y ; in part also their pref erence may have been d u e to

, ,

the hi gh prices which w ere cheerfu lly paid for pictu res on
“plates of sil v e r ” A m ateu rs on the o ther hand u s u ally em
, ,
.

p loyed the T albotype process it w as less expensive less ,

mb r ou s and permitted of the m ul tiplication of th e resu lts

,

Obtained —
for one good negati v e w o uld fu rnish a large nu mber
’
o f positive co pies .

H er s chel I n tr od u ces C l a ss P l a tes P hotograph y i s i n —

debted to Sir J ohn H erschel for many great improveme nts .

“ ”
The famou s son of a famo u s father h e w as born i n 1 7 9 2 , ,

and w as therefore i n the zenit h of his po wers at the time of

’
Dag u erre s discovery H e immediately su g gested the
36 A H I S TOR Y OF P H OTOGR A PHY .

u se of glass plates as a su pport for the sensitive salts of s ilver

recogni z ing in the transparency rigidity and cheapness of glass , ,

together w ith its indifference to th e che micals employed pro ,

r ti es of the highest valu e in photography

p e
’
.

H erschel s plan was to place his glass plates at the b ottom of

a vessel containin g finely divided S ilver chloride in w ater The ,
.

w h ite silver salt was S lo w ly dep osi ted in a u niform film u pon
'

, ,
'

the u pper su rface of the glass The water w as then syphoned .

off and the plate dried and exposed to the camera The images
, .

obtained in this way were however very faint and althou gh , , ,

some su ccess attended H erschel s attempts to intensify themby

’
electro deposition still good prints cou ld n ot be obtained At
“

, .

that time it was not known tha t S ilver chloride is u naffected by

light u nless there be some s u bstan ce mixed w ith i t w hich is
”

,
.

capable of att racting and combining w ith the chlorin e which is

lib erated u nder su ch conditions by the action of light
, ,
.

The A l b u m en P r ocess on C l ass N iepce de St V ictor born —

1 80 5
’
,
.

,
died 121 8 70 nephew of the N iepce improved on H erschel s
-

, ,

plan by recognizing the fact that it is necessary to coat the glass

plates emplo y ed I n photography w ith a fil m of some su itable
su b stance i n and on which the parti cles to be aff ected by li ght
,

may rest For this p u rpose he employed alb u men beatin g u p

.
,

w hite of egg w ith potassi u m io d i d e ( 2 0 grains per egg) p otas ,

si u m bromide (fo u r grains) and common salt (tw o grains) Th e

,
.

clear liqu id S O obtained was pou re d u pon the glass plate dried , ,

and heated u ntil the alb u men hardened and became insolu ble .

It w as then dipped into a bath of silver nitrate where a chemi ,

cal change took place res u lting in t h e formation of iodide and

,

bromi d e of silver w ithin the pores of th e al b u men The plate .

th u s sensitized co u ld e ithe r be exposed w hile w et in the camera , ,

or it migh t be rinsed dried and kept in a dark place till

, ,

w anted D e v elopme n t was e ffected by bru sh i n g a solu tion of

.

allic a cid over the alb u menized plate This process w as

p ub
g .

li sh ed in 1 8 4 8 and improvements in i t were qu ickly effected

,

b y tw o other French invest i gators B lanqu art Ev r ar d an d L e — -

Gr ay .

This albu men process w as a considerable advance The .

transparency of the glass permitted the produ ction of positive

prints at a rapid rate w h ile the clear and delicate film o f albu .
 A H I S TOR Y OF P H OTOGR A P H Y . 37

m en fu rnished a capital mediu m for holding the molecu les of

the sensiti v e silver salts and secu ring their adhesion to and
, ,

equ al distribu ti on over the su rface of the plate It is a mis

,
.

take ho w ever to s u ppose that su ch su bstances as albu men col

, , ,

l od i on and gelatine are nothing more than vehicles in w hich

, ,

the sensitive mOlecu l es ar e contained They each exerci s ean in .

fl u en c e differing in degree u pon the S ilver salt imbedded in

— —

them by w hich the decomposing action of light is facilitated

,
.

In Great Britain the albu men process w as practiced su ccessfu lly

a bo u t 1 8 5 0 b y Messrs R OS S and Thomson of Edinbu rgh
,
.
, ,

w hose pict u res of architectu ral su bjects on plates fifteen inches

squ are were greatly admi red Many travelers also u sed dr y .

plates prepared on this system Its chief draw back was the .

length of exp osu re necessary from five to t w enty minu tes —

u nder ordinary Conditions .

 A HI S TOR Y OF P H OTOGR AP HY .

C H AP T ER V .

S C OTT-AR C HER AND THE COL L ODI ON

'

P R OC ES S .

m
D i s cover y of C u n C otton Schonbein , the famo u s Swis s
.
—

che ist, di scovered , in 1 8 4 6 , that w hen ordinary cotton is soake d

in a mi x tu re of nitric an d su lphu ric acids its properties become
greatly changed T h e explosive su bstance so obtain ed received
.

th e name of gu n cotto n or insolu ble pyroxyline

-
, _
When the .

aci ds w ere slightly dilu te or when the time O ,

f soaking was
very short a less dangero u s compou nd was obtain ed w hich was
, ,
.

known as solu ble pyr o xyline .

P r ep a r a ti on of C ollod i on I n the next year 1 8 4 7 an — — —

American investigator named Maynard ( of B oston) S how ed ,

that when solu ble pyroxyli n e w as dissolved in a m ixtu re of

ether an d alcohol a somew hat v iscid liqu id w as produ ced to
, ,

which he gave the name of collodion When this collodion w as .

po u red ou t u pon a lev el su rface as that of a S heet of glass the , ,

ether qu ickly evaporated and a delicate S kin or film was left

b ehi n d. W hen dry this film was fairly tou gh and horny C ol .

l odi on formed so admirable a coverin g for bru ises etc pre ,

.
,

venting the access of air that it speedily became Of u se in

,

su rgery .

C oll od i on I n tr od u ced i n to P hotogr ap hy I n 1 8 4 9 a French —

man Gu stave L e Gray su ggested that collodion might prove

, ,

u sefu l in photography In his book which was tran slated in —

to E n glish in 1 8 5
.

0 h e writes
—
I have j u st discovered a pro
,

cess u pon glass by hydroflu oric ether the flu oride of potassiu m ,

an d soda dissolved in al cohol 4 0 deg s F mixed w ith sul .

h u ri c ether and afterw ards sat u rated with collodion ; I after

p ,

wards react with nit rate of S ilver and th u s obtain proofs in the ,

camera in five seconds in the S hade I develop the image with .

a very weak solu tion of s u lphate of iron and fix with hyposul

,
,
”
p hi te of soda .

Another early investigator in this line w as R obert J B ing .

 A H I S TOR Y OF P H OTOGR A P HY . 39

ham wh o as assistant to the great Faraday made the acq u aint

, , ,

ance of collodion immediately on its introd u ction into England

in 1 8 47 In a book p u blished in 1 8 5 0 he gives first H erschel s ’
.
, ,

method ; then a me thod w ith alb u men then one for coating ,

glass plates with isinglass an d finally adds w e may in place , , ,

of the gelatine (isingl ass) employ a n umber of other s u bstances

to form an adherent film u pon the glass The follo wing are a .

few of those w e have experimented w ith an d fo u nd to ans w er

mo derat ely w el l glu ten collodion varnishes etc B u t al
—
”
, , ,
.

tho ugh L e Gr ay an d Bingham may take th e credit for having

'

been the first to su gges t a possible u se of collodion in photog

ra h
p y y e
,
t the merit of the invention an d p u blication of the

collo dion p rocess pro pe r belo n g s entirely to Frederick S cott

Arch er ; his article describing this method first ap peari n g i n a
L o n d on periodical called The C hem i s t in March 1 8 5 1 , ,
.

L i fe of S cott A r cher Born at Bishop S tOI tfor d in 1 8 1 3

-
.
—

, ,

A rcher wasapprenticed to a S il v ersmith i n L ea d en h al l S treet ,

m
L ondon H is t astes w ere artistic and on attaining manhood
.
,

he be ca e a sc u l ptor It is said tha t his early attempts at

.

photography b y the calotype method abo u t 1 8 4 7 w ere sti mu

, , ,

lated by his d esire to employ the art to secu re mementos of the

prod u ctions of his chisel In Se ptember 1 8 5 .
’
0 Archer s n e w , ,

proces s w as so far advanced that he comm unicated it to his

friend s among w hom Were Dr H W Diamond Mr P W
,
. . .
,
. . .

Fry and others from w hom h e received m u ch assistance

, ,
.

P robab ly Archer did not r e al i z eth e im portan ce of hi s dis

c ov er y for he d i d n ot attemp t to patent it ; altho u gh in 1 8 5
,
5
he patented a meth od of r emoving the collodion film f rom
'

gla ss by co ating it w ith g u tta percha an improvement w hich -

,

had little or no practical val ue

’
.

S O good and complete w as Archer s m ethod th at in three or

fo u r y ears it practically displaced b oth calotype and d ag uerr e o
type an d reigned su preme from 1 8 5
,
5to 1 8 8 0 The invento r '

took u p photography professionally openi n g a st u dio in Great ,

R u ssel l S treet near th e B ritish M u se u m ; b u t he m

,
ade no
money by photog raphy for his brain w as too b u sy in i magin
,

ing n e w things to reap the benefit of t hat w hich he h ad already

accomplished A mong other i nventions devised by A rcher
.
,

we m ay name a camera within w hich the pl a tes co u ld be de

,
.
40 A H I S TOR Y OF P H OTOGR AP HY .

v elo d an d
fixed as w ell as exposed ; a triplet lens ; and a
p e ,

u sef u l method of W hitening positi v es on glass by s oaking them

in mercu ry bichl oride This w as called the ala b astrine
.

”
process
Scott A r Oher O i ed in May 1 8 5
.

—
7 and w as b uried in , ,

L ondon s u b u rban cemetery called K ensal Green A s u bs .

tion of £ 74 7 w as raise d for his wi d OW and little children ,

M r s Archer dying shortly after wards the amo unt w as se

.
,

on the children togethe r w ith a government pe n sion of

,

per annu m a w arded on the gro u nd that t heir father w as

,

discover er of a scienti fic pr ocless of great val ue t o t he n

’

fro mwhich th e inventor had re aped little or no benefit ”

.

Ou tli n e of the C ollod i on P r ocess The foll o wmg ac —

is taken f rom a small book Man ual of the C ollodion

graphic P rocess ; p u blished by Archer
—
in 1 8 5
2 ; a
edi tion appeared i n 1 8 5 4 .

1. Immerse eighty grains of cotton w ool i n a mixt u re f one -

o u nce each of nitric and s u lph uric aci d s take o u t after fteen
seconds an d w ash th orou ghly in r u nning w ater
,
.

2 Diss olve the pyroxyline so obt ained in a mixt u re 0

.

parts of s ulph u ric ether an d absol u te alcohol The so .

Obtained is ordinary collo d ion .

3 A d d so m esol u ble iodide u s u ally iodide of p ot as

“
—
.

t o the collodion A l ittle potassiu m bromide m

. a
y
added .

4 P o u r the iodized Co l lodion on a perfectly

.

plate and allow tw o or three minu tes fo r the fil m

5Take the coate d plate into the dark room an
,
,

-
.

i n a bath of silver nitrate ( 3 0 grain s to e v ery 0

for ab ou t a minu te H ere a ch em ical change t
.

w hich S ilver iodide is formed in the p ores of the

6 R emove the plate w hich is now sensitive to w hite
.
,
'

pl ace it in a S lide h ol d er an d expose it in the camera

-
,
.

t ime of ex pos u re may va ry from one mo ment to a q u ar r of

“
”
an ho u r .

7 Take the p l ate back to the d ark room and develop i t by

.

po u ring on it a mixt u re of w ater one o unce ; acetic a cid one , ,

dr am ; pyrogallic a cid thre e grain s Archer clai ms that the

,
.

great po w er sho w n by pyrogalli c acid in bringing o u t f th e

 A H I S TOR Y OF P H OTOGR AP HY .

m
Th s the pop larity of photography as an amu sement for
u u —

amateu rs decline d al ost as rapidly as it h ad r isen Still

—
.
.

some lasting eff ects of the first photographic boom remained

The P hotographic Society of L on don est ablishe d i n 1 8 5
.

*
3 , ,
’
has alw ays exercised a favorable in fl u ence on photography i n
Great B ritain while ou r two old weekly perio d icals the P ho ,

togr ap hi c N ews dating from and the B r i ti sh J o u r n a l -

r a h , 1 85
,

of P h o tog p y 9 ( as a m o nt hly from have stead

ily led the way in endeavoring to mak e photography more and
more a science ; and in showing that it is something better
than a mere mechanical pu rsu i t or means of getting a liveli ,
.

hood .

I m p r ov em en ts i n L en ses I n 1 841 Towson of L i v

—
erpool , , ,
”
pointed o u t that S ince in an ordinary or u ncorrected len s
the focu s of the chemical rays ( as w emay call those w hich
produ ce the principal effect u pon th e salts of silver) is not th e
same as the focu s of the vis u al rays , i e those by which th e . .
,

image is seen it i s necessary to adj u st the distance of the len s

,
'
from the gro u nd gl ass after the pictu re has been focu sed in
, ,

order to allow for this H ere P rofessor J P etz v al an emi . .

,

nen t mathematician of V ienn a came to the rescu e and de , ,

v ised a portrait lens w hich bro u ght all th erays practically t o

the same foc u s This lens w as manu factu red by V oigtlan der
.
,

of the same city and soon acqu ired a great repu tation
m
,
.

Develop m en t (
y P f
r o ess i on a l P hotogr a h
f p y A ong the —

earliest dagu erreotypists of A merica w ere Messrs J ohn J ohn .

son and A W olcott who w orked together

.
,
Mr W olcott . .
,

in order to take portraits more r apidly devised a camera w ith ,

a con cave mirror instead of a lens and the plate was placed i n ,

the focu s of the mirror In 1 84 0 J ohnson came to L ondon .

, ,
“
took ou t a patent for his reflecting camera an d entered ”

’
,

int o partnership with the holder of D agu erre s pat en t Mr ,

.

B eard . They engaged a M r Goddard from the P olytechnic .

Institu tion as an assistant and it w as fou nd that by u sing bro ,

mine in addition to iodine for sensitiz ing the S ilver plates the [
,

time of exposu re w as redu ced from min u tes to seconds At .

this time 1 8 41 there w ere only t w o photographic establish

, ,

Tit le C n
h a g e d to P h o to g rap h i c S o c i e ty o f G r e a t B r i ta i n i n 1 8 7 6 ,
.
 A H I S TOR Y OF P H OTOGR A P H Y “ 43

ments in L ondon those of B eard and C lau det b u t the n ew art

, ,

already enjoyed mu ch popu larity and their takings w ere fre

qu ently as mu ch as £ 5 0 per d ay .

Th e censu s of Great B r itain for 1 8 4 1 does not record pho

as an occu pation at all ; even in 1 8 5 1 o n ly 5
,

1 pro ,

fessi on al photographers are inclu ded ; w hile in the retu rns for
1 8 8 1 w e find no fe w er than photographers
In 1 8 5
.
,

7 professional photogr aphy derived considerable bene

fit from a fancy of the Du ke of P arma w h o had his portrait ,

gu mmed on his visiting cards in the place of his name Di s .

deri in P aris cou rt photographer to N apoleon III pu shed

m
,
.
, ,

the atter and soon it became the correct thing for every
,

person in society to present his friends w ith his carte de -

visite
The patent of D agu erre lapsed in 1 8 5
.

3 and as Fox Talbot -

was defeated ina law s u it w hich he brou ght in 1 8 5

,

4 against
‘

, ,

a professional photographer called L aroche who employed the ,

collodion pr ocess (w hich Talbot claimed as only a modification

of h is Calotype) the field of photography w as free to all
/

Ever since 1 8 5
.
, ,

4 its history has been one of steady a n d con

tinn ed progress .

S om e D
f f he Wet C oll od i on P r ocess O f the
m
ects o t an
e
—

noy ance and da age cau sed by the black stains of nitrate of
silver w e have already spoken b u t the odor of the collodion ,

d u e to the ev ap or ati O
n of the ether and alcohol w hi ch it con

tain ed w as also very disagreeable especially in the sm

,
all and ,

u su ally hot rooms in w h i ch photographic operation s were com

“

mou ly carried on Then in the preparation of the glass plates

.
,

before they w ere coated great ca re had to be exercised to get ,

a smooth and chemically clean su rface ; the least scratch or ,

spe ck of du st show ed as a defect in the finished pict u re The

,
.

'

makin g Of collodion w as so trou blesome a process that it w as

u s u ally p u rchased ready m
"

ade The bath of silver n itrate .

w as another so u rce of endless tro u b l e ; its vagaries fill a large

portion of th e photographic perio dicals of the time it needed
continu al care attention and renew al L astly the necessity
, ,
.
,

of keeping the su rface of the sensitive plate wet du ring the

whole time of exposu re introdu ced a seriou s difficu lty w hen ,

it w as desired to carry the plates ev en a small distance ; or

44 A H I S TOR Y OF P H OTOGR AP HY .

when as i h the case of photographi ng interiors the n eces

,
'
“

,
,

sa ry expos u re extended over a period of several hou rs

m
.

S o m e A ch i ev e en ts o
f th e W or k er s w i th C oll od i on A l —

thou gh th e photographer who has only acqu ired the art w ithin
th e last few years is apt to look u pon t h e earlier processes
which we have now described with the contempt which nat
u r all m
'

springs from ignorance yet it i s cert in that an y of

”

y ,
a

the wonders of the new photography has been e qu aled in the

“ ”
past for there were giants in those day s " The principal dif
ference is that the work has now been rendered more easy and
more certain W e glory in the wonderfu l rapidity of gelatin e
.

dry plates b u t many years ago B ree z e Blanchard and others

-
, , ,

secu red u pon wet plates all those su rprising effects Of breaking
-

waves an d fleetin g clou ds which many bel ieve h ave b u t re

cen tl been obtained
y .

In general work to take a few examples only the genre pic

’
, ,

t u res of R ej l an d er wli ose Gi n x s B aby enjoyed u n

—
bou nded
pop ularity the landscapes Of Mu dd England B edford and
—

, , ,

Frith an d the por traits of Salomon C lau det and S ilv y were
, , , ,

all done with collodion and will ever remain hard to beat “ ”
.
,

Ej ect o e R ecen t I m r ovem

f t h p e n ts i n P hoto r a hy
g p The —

main resu lt of the new discoveries in photography whi ch h aVe

signal ized the last half do zen years has been to render it p O ,
s;

S ible for any ersOn of ordinary intelligence and indu stry to

p
produ ce good or even e x cellent pictu re s with far less exp en d i
t u re of time and labor than was formerly the case ; and this
withou t that soiling of the fingers clothes and su rrou ndings
, , ,

w hich in the Ol d days cau sed every photographer to b e a

“marked man ” .
 A H I S TOR Y OF P H OTOGR AP H Y .

C H A P TER V I .

CO LL ODI ON DR Y P LATES -
, WI TH THE B ATH .

I n con v en i en ce o
f Wet P -
the earliest photographic
l a tes .
—
ln
proc esses the sensitive s u rfaces employed w ere exposed in a
,

dry con d ition to th e acti on of light The sil v er chloride paper .

of Wedg w ood and Davy the bitu menized plates of N i epc e

, ,

and the iod ized silver plates of Dag u e re w ere all u sed in a r
,

dry or desiccated state .

In the calotype process devised by Fox T al b ot where a

,
-
,

s u pport Of paper coated w ith sil v er iodi d e w as employe d the ,

p aper might be exposed either in a w e t or in a d r

y state In
’
.

the you nger N iepce s alb u men process on gl ass w hen it w as ,

desired to u se the plates dry w hich w as gene rally the case , ,

th e s u rface after sensitizing w as w ashed to free it from the

, ,

free ni trate of si lver an d the plate w as then dried by the ai d

,

of heat w hich coag u lated the albu me n

,
.

B u t in the co llo d ion p rocess as introd u ced by Scott Archer -

in 1 8 5
, ,

1 i t w as absolu tely necessary that the glass plates coated

,

w ith collodion containing iodide and n itrate of si l v er sho u ld ,

b e exposed while w et ; in fact as soon as possible after their ,

removal from the bath of silver nitrate sol u tion M oreover .

,

the exposed plates m u st be developed as qu ickly as pos sible

before the su rface has had time to dry .

The c hief reason for this is that the sil v er nitrate crystalli zes
as the plate dries and the net w ork of distinctly visible crystals
,

m
so formed i n terferes w ith and spoils the pictu re The iodide
of silver also beco es inse n sitive to li g ht w h en d ried in con
tact w ith the si lver nitrate combining with i t to form iodo
.

n itrate of silver .

For this reason the or di n ary w et collodion process thou gh ,

w ell a d apted for the st u d io is not so su ita b le for la n dsc a pe

,

w ork or for the req uirements of travelers A heavy equ ip .

ment h as to be c arried in th e form of ten t n itrate bath etc , ,

.
,
46 A H I S TOR Y OF P H OTOGR AP H Y .
‘

an d a g ood pply of water indispensable for the processes of

Su —
'

d evelo pment and fi xi ng m u st be at hand ; so that w e so m

—
e
times read of tre men do u s exertions inc u rred by enter prising
photographer s in carrying barrels of w ater to a mou ntain
top where that precio u s fl u id was other wise u nattainable
, .

A gain if the ex pos u re wa s a v e

, ry long one as in the ,

n ecessary th e s u rface of the plate had time to d ry and

, ,

the pict u re w as then of co u rse spoiled for the reasons given

, ,

above .

L astly in very cold weather the sol u tion of silver nitrate

,

froze u pon the plate when it was u sed in the Open air so that
'

out of door photography d u ring the winter months w as all b u t

impossible .

To remedy this defect O f the w et collodion process other ,

m
wise so great an improvement on all that had go n e b efor e was ,
.

the aim of many experimenters in the years w hich i mediately

s u cceeded i ts intro d u ction in 1 8 5 1 Of the steps by which
'

s u ccess w as fi nally attained and of the still later workers w h o ,

'

cau sed gelatine to displace collodion only meagre and u n con ,

n ected details have been hitherto given Aided by an earnest .

stu dy of contemporary literat ure it w ill be ou r aim to en d eav ,

or to s u pply this defect

Early in 1 8 5
.

D ev i ce f or P r eventi n g Evap or a ti on 3 a .
-
,

French photographer M A Girod proposed to apply a ,

. .
,

second plate of glass to the s u rface Of the wet co llodion so as ,

to protect i t f rom the action of the air the plates were placed
together in the dark slide the plain glass being next the light
-
,
.

After ex pos u re the plates w ere separated and the collodion

, ,
.
-x

i z ed plate developed a s u s u al .

On e objection to this plan was the liability to inj ure the

delicate skin of collodion It w as also diffic u lt to apply the .

second glass plate w itho ut incl u ding air b u bbles imperfections

1 n t h e glass itself also had an inj u rio u s effect A s an improve .

ment M Gau din s uggested the separation of the t w o glass

,
.

p lates by strips of filter paper aro und th e edges The plain .

glass plate w o u ld then be removed j ust prior to expos u re Or .

,

in Le L u mi e re fo
r M a rc h 1 9 th 1 8 3 , 5 .
 A H I S TOR Y OF P HOTOGR A P HY . 47

better the plates migh t be c arried one abo v e another i n an

, , ,

ai r tight box by w hich evaporation w o u ld be checked

-
,
N one .

o f these plans howeve r w ere fo u nd to be of m u ch practical

, ,

val u e ; for one thing they greatly increased the w eight of ,

g lass w hich h ad to be carried .

A M oi s t C ol lod i on P r ocess I n the P hi l osop hi ca l M a ga -

z i n e for M ay 1 8 5
.

,
4, Messrs J ohn Spille r and W illi am C rookes .

names that have since become famou s in the annals of chemis

try proposed to keep the collodion moi s t by the u se of some
,

d eliqu escent salt i e some s u bstance w hich having a strong

, . .
, ,

affinity for water w o u ld absorb moist ure from the air They
,
.

t ried the nitrates of lime magnesia and zinc The glass plate, ,
.

w as c oll od i on i z ed and sensitized in t h e u s u al w ay and w as ,

t he nimmersed I n a sol u tion of zinc n itrate and silve r nitrate

for five min u tes A fter draining fo r half an ho u r on blotting
.

paper th e plate w as ready for u se S u ch plates remained

,
.

moist ( o wing to the hygroscopic nat u re of the zinc salt) and ,

m
fit for u se for a w eek or more They co u ld also be kept fo r .

som e t i e after ex posu re b u t before development it w as ,

ne c essary to dip them agam 1 nto the silver nitrate bath S u b .

seq u e n tly S piller and C rookes fou nd that n itrate of m ag nesia

acted rath er better than nitrate of zinc
I n 1 85
.

The H on ey P r ocess 4 George S h ad b olt a nd Max

..
—

well L yte independently proposed the u se of a solu tion of

-
.

honey or of grape su gar to coat the sensitized plate which

, , ,

had been previou sly w ashed u ntil the g re ater part o f the free
nitrate of silver w as removed B efore development the syr u p .
,

was w ashed Off and the plate again dipped in the nitrate bath
, .

By this coating w ith honey the su rface of the sensitive plate

w as kept mois t and crystallization of the remaining S i lver n i
,

trate w as pr evented P lates treated in this w ay requ ired abo u t

.

dou ble th e expos ure of ordinary w et plates b u t they cou ld be

kept for days betw een se n sitizi n g an d exposing ; an d again .

betw een ex posing and de v eloping They w ere ho wever very .

, ,

liable to spots since particles of du st adhered firmly to the

,

sticky coating
’
.

The Ta np en ot, or Oollo i o A l b men a -

a D r y P la te P
-
r ocess

A process which fou n d great favor an d w hich w as

practiced
85
5by the French s eien
,

for ma ny years w as p u blished in 1 , , ,

48 A H I S TOR Y OF P H OTOGR A P HY .

ti st, Dr J M Tau pen o t in fact the first dry plate It w as,

’
. . . .
,

process of practical u tility As first p u blished Tau p en ot s .

,

metho d w as to take the coll od i on iz ed an d sensiti z ed plate pou r ,

over it a solu tion of iodized albu men and allo w it to drain an d ,

dr y ; the plate was then dipped a second time into a si lver

nitrate bath again w ashed and finally d ried This do u ble
, ,
.

process was tho u ght ra ther ted ious,b ii t the plates S O prepared -

w ou ld keep for weeks or months .

I t may be remarked that the addition of alb u men to the

ordinar y silver nitrate bath had been pre v iou sl y r ecommend ed
by M ayall gt the plates being dipped in the mixtu re and then ,

w ashed an d dried .

In the collodio albu me n process the film w as very apt to sl1 p

off the glass d u ring fixi n g and B arn es H ard w ich and other s

advocated in 1 8 5
, , ,

9 the application of a coati ng or su bst 1 atu m

, , ,

of g elatine albu men or india ru bber which a d hering fi rmly

, ,
—

, ,

to the glass su rface below and to the collodion above w o u ld ,

hold the latter secu rely on the plate .

’
Tau pen ot s process owed its pop u larity in England largely
to Mr W Ackland, who wrote seve ral papers pointing o u t its
. .

ad v antages Of the many w h o practiced it Mr J ames M u dd

.
,
.
,

of Manchester obtained perhaps the best resu lts his landscapes

, ,

bein g objects of admiration at many of o ur exhibition s betw een

1 8 6 0 and 1 8 70 The principal almost the only fau lt of the
.
, ,

collodio alb u men process w as its slowness

-
The plates re ,
.

qu ired an exposu re abou t si x times longer than w et collodion .

Then the plates wo u ld not keep for very long periods ; at least
they w ere never so good after si x or eight weeks .

The Oxy m el P r ocess This method of arresting evaporation —

from the s u rface of a collo d i on i z ed plate w as described by J

D L le w elyn in April 1 8 5
.

. 6; Oxymel is a mixt u re of vinegar

,
{

and honey and plate s covered w ith it w ere fou nd to retain

, ,

their good qu alities for eight or t en ho u rs B u t the exposu res .

w ere lo n g abo u t sixtimes m

—
ore than for ordinary w et collo
dio n plates .

C ollod i on P l a tes I f eot i n Wa ter P erh aps the simplest l

.
—

L a L u mi e r e, S e pt 8 th 1 8 5
5
5
5
. .
,

t 7 ou r n a l L on d on P h otog r ap h i c S oc i et
y M a
, y 2 1 5
t 1 8 ,
.
 5
0 A H I S TOR Y OF P H OTOGR AP HY .

The F other gi ll P This process was first described

r ocess —

by Mr Thomas Fothergill in the Ti m es newspaper early I n

1 85
.

8 . It w as in fact merely the first half of Taup en ot s pro

, ,
’
c ess the alb u men being w ashed off the sensitized plate which
, ,

was then allo w ed to dry It was fou n d that notwithstanding .

this washing su fficient alb u men was retained in the pores of

,

th e collodion to answer all nec essary p u rp oses From its si m .

’
.

p li c i t y Foth e rgill s process was largely pra ctice d bet w een

7 and 1 8 6 5
,

1 85 a n d dry plates made on this principle were

,
-

then an article of commerce .

D r y P l a te P r eser v a ti ves
- ”
After the p u blication of D r -

’
Tau pen ot s collodio n alb u me n process in 1 8 5
.

5every fe w
.

months saw the anno u ncement of some n ew s u bstance or other ,

where wi th the sensitive su rface of a collodion plate migh t be

covered so as to enable it to be dried and kept ready for u se
, .

“
W e now know that s u ch preservatives have a triple f u nc”

tion " ( 1 ) they fill the pores of the collodio n and so give ready
access to the de v elopin g solu tion when it is s u bse qu ently ap
pl ied ; ( 2) they protect the silver salt from the action of the ‘

atmosphere ; and (3) they assist the action of light by absorb

ing the bromine or iodine given off fro mthe S ilver salt du ring
_

the expos u re
Among the preservati ves for m
.

erly in u se w e may name

g e l atine ( H il l N orris J u ly
-
meta gelatine
, ( Ma x w ell,
-

L yte Febru ary

,
golden syr up (J Sang April
,
.
, ,

u m arabic ( A J ohnson A u g u st besides brown

g .
, ,

an d w hite s u gar dextrine raspberry vinegar beer wort

, , , , ,

malt morphine tea coffee tobacco and man y other su b

, , , , ,

stances
’
.

D r B i ll N or r i s s C ollod i o Gela ti n e P r ocess Dr N orris

.
- —
.

first laid down the theory that for dry processes a poro u s col
l od ion was necessary and t h at one great f u nctio n of the pre
,

ser v ati v e coating w as to fill u p the pores of the collodion w hile

the latter w as w et and Open The n s u b sequ ently when the .

, ,

developer was applied i t passed readily by means of the coat

ing i n to the col lodion film On September l st 1 8 5
,

6 Dr .
, ,
.

N orris took ou t a patent for the follo wing process by which ,

pict u res may be prod u ced on perfectly dry and hard collo
dion films H a v ing prod u ced in the fil mthe sensitive iodide
.
 A H I S TOR Y OF P H OTOGR AP HY . 5
1

of silve it is r
,
i n a sol u tion of g u immersed or of marabic -
,

dextrine starch g elatine alb u m

,
en gu mtragacanth veg etable
, , ,
-
,

m u cil age caseine gl u te n or other s u ch l ike s u bstances th at

, , , ,

wi ll by occ u pying the pores of the collodion fil ni prevent its

, ,

condensation on d rying and retain it in a sensitive and per ,

v ions state ; the films ar e then dried and are ready for expos
,

u r e to light or m a
y be ke p t for any,
convenient le ngth of time

and u sed as desired ”

Dr y plates prepared according to this.
-

method or rather it w as s u pposed according to a modification

of it which w as kept secret were m
, , ,

ade i n large n u mbers at

’
,

B irmi n gham u nder Dr N orris s direction They w ere perhaps . .

the first dry plates introdu ced into commerce and were large
-

ly u sed between 1 8 5
,

6 and 1 8 6 6 They appear to have had .

many g ood qu alities and to have been nearly as rapid as w et ,

* “
p lates A J M elh u i sh writes "
1

H aving u sed d uring the

’
. . .

last year or tw o nearly of Dr N orris dry gelatine plates .

,

I have never had one negative sp oi led and b u t tw o or th ree af ,

fected b y blistering
/
”
It is believed that Dr N orris d i sco v
. .

ere d the s u perior sensitiveness of bromide over iodide of sil v er

and tha t it was bromide of silver which w as u sed in the N or
”
ris dry plates -

Abo u t the year 1 8 5

.

The R esi n P r ocess 6 the Abb é Des —

prats recommended the introdu ctio n of a littl e resin into the

collodion The glass plates were coated w ith this resinized
.

collodion which w as then sensitized and finally w ell w ashed

, ,

and dried S u ch plates were fo u nd to keep w ell b u t the resin

.
,

soon ca u sed the silver bath to get ou t of order Its u se .

f ul action on the plate w as d u e to the fac t that being i n

an extre m
,

ely fine state of division it kept the collodion ,

Open and facilitated the entrance of the developer into its

,

pores .

TheTa n n i n P r ocess I n 1 8 61 Major 0 R u ssell p u blished —

,
.

a sm all book containing an acco u nt of the researches w hich he

'

had then p u rsu ed for nearly five years in dry plate photog -

ra h
p y A second edition appeared in 1 86 3 and an appen d ix
in 1 86 5 It had been kno w n for some time that a wash of
.
,

gallic or pyrogallic acid over the collodio n before drying it ,

j ou r n a l P h otog r ap h i c S oci ety o

f L on d on ,
Ja n u a ry ,
1 860 .
 5
2 A H I S TOR Y OF P H OTOGR AP HY
impar ted keeping po w ers and sensitiveness to d ry plates ,
-
.

R u ssell fo u nd th at the su bstance from which these acids wer e

prepared ta n n i n was pre ferable even to the m The prO
— —
r
—
.

cess at firs t pu blished was as follo w s " C oa t the plate with

collodion and sensiti z e it as u s u al then w ash well ; now po u r
,

over the su rface a solu ti on of tann in fiftee n grains to t h e ,

o u nce of water ; lastly drain and dry ”

The Gu mGa ll i c P r ocess

, .

-
The ingredients from which
—
.

this process derives its name were u sed by H ardwich in the

pre paratio n of dry plates as early as 1 86 0 ; b u t the process
-

with which Mr R u ssell M a

. nners Gordon obtained su ch excel
lent resu lts was entirely of his Own working ou t and was first ,

p u blished in the P hotographic N e ws Y ear B ook for 1 8 6 8 -

.

The plate w as edged w ith albu men coated w ith iodized collo ,

dion an d immersed i n the nitrate bath for ten min u tes It

,
.

was then w ell washed and flowed over w ith a solu tion contain
ing gu marabic s u gar candy and gallic acid ; the plate bein g
,

then drained and dried The expos u re requ ire d was fro m
.

fo u r to twen ty times that of a wet plate -

The A lb u m
.

en B eer P r ocess The early dry plate workers

-
.
— -

u sed to j oke each other on a certain gin and water process - -

,

the defect of which was said to be that the li qu id wo u ld not

“keep ” Sherry w as actu ally employed with s u ccess w hile
,
.

beer was fo u nd to be a capital preser v ative In 1 8 74 C apt .

,
.

“ ”
Abney devised the alb u men beer process w hich was su c -
,

c ess fu l l u sed in that year by the expeditions sent ou t to st u dy

y
the transit of V en u s H e u sed a ve ry poro u s collodion which
.
,

w as po u red on t he glass plates then sensiti z ed by i m mersion

,

in a bath of silver nitrate an d flo w ed over with a mixt u re of

,

alb u men and (flat) beer The plate w as draine d and then a
.
,

second mi x tu re composed of beer w ith a little pyrogallic acid ,

It was then d ried in the ordinary manner

,

w as po u re d over it .
,

and w as ready for u se .

B acki n g f or D r y P l a tes Dry plates prepared by the

- — -

methods w e have n ow described w ere u s u ally transl u cent ,

the light passing freely thro u gh the filmand being (in part)
re fl ec ted from the glass behind th u s prod u ci n g halation To
,
.

remedy this it w as u s u al to back the plates with a mixt u re

of b u rnt sien na and gu mwater or so m
,

e similar opaq u e com

-
,
 A H I S TOR Y OF P H OTOGR AP HY . 5
3

pou nd This
.
“backing w as w ashed off prior to develop
ment A t a later date pie ces of black tiss u e r u bbed over with
.
,

g lycerine w ere placed on the back of the plate for the same
p u rpose and this i s a plan w hich might still be adopted w ith
,

p rofit where the chances of halation are g reat .

5
4 A H I S TOR Y OF P H OTOGR AP HY .

C H AP TE R V I I .

c o n L ODI O N
-

EM ULS I ON s
— r

Wha t i s an E ml i
The term emu lsion is applied to a
u s on —

liqu id w hich holds in su spen s1 on a large nu mber of particles of

s ome solid body .

M ilk m a
y be considered as the t y pe of an em u lsion th e —

word itself being derived from the L atin emu lger e to milk ou t ,

m
—
since it consists mainly of water in which are su spended in
nu erable minu te particles of fat (cream) The white color .

of milk an d of most emu lsions is d u e to the reflection of light

'

, ,

from these solid particles .

E a rly Wor ker s w i th E m u lsi on s V ery soon after the dis —

c ov er
y of the w et collodion process it was seen how advantage ,

ou s it w o u ld be if the
“ ”
bath of silver nitrate co u ld be dis
en se d with In A u gu st 1 8 53 M A G a u din a French pho
p .
, ,
. .
,

tog r aph er w hose work has hardly received proper recognition

, ,

stated in the pages of L a L u m i er e that the whole fu tur e of ,

photography seemed to requ 1 r e a sensitive collodion which ,

cou ld be preserved in a flask and po u red when requ ired , ,

u pon glass or paper ; and by the u se of which either at once ,

,

or after the lapse of time positive or negative pictu res cou ld

,
”
be obtained .

This idea mu st have occu rred to many minds ; in Septem

*
ber 1 8 6 1 a L ondon photographer named B ellini annou nced
, , ,

a process for coating gl ass with a solu tion of shellac contain

“
ing iodide bromide and lactate of silver ; all that is necessary
, ,

is to coat a plate with this preparation and e xpose it in the

”
camera . This process w as not a w orkable one ; b u t next year “

C aptain D ixon and Mr Sam u el Fry attempted to for ma com

.

“
pany to work a meth od by w hich a preparation is pou red
u pon the plate w hereby an even ,
ho m ogeneou s film is pro .

P h otog r ap h i c N ew s , pa g e 2 5
0 .
 A H I S TOR Y OF P H OTOGR A P HY . 5
5
”
d u ced , w hich is sensitive to light The then editor of the .

“
m
P hotogr ap hi c N ews j u stly remarked that w e conceive it to
be very possible that the ger of a considerable mod ifi
cation or revol u tion in the ordinary negative process may
spring from this discovery ’ ’
From Dixon s patent it appears.

that he simply added nitrate of silver dissolved in alcohol to , ,

ordinary iodized collodion H i s first resu lts w hich appear to .

—

have been comparatively accidental were his best ; and he did —

n ot w ork ou t the method so as to arrive at any definite

formu la .

m
In the sa e year Gau din pu blished in l a L u m
method of preparing p hotogen e a name w hich he ap
i er e his
,

plied to any sensitive comp ou nd con taining iodide of

silver w ith excess of free nitrate of silver ”
H e w rites .

I prepare the collodion photogene by dissolving nitrate

of silver i n hot alcohol w ith a few drops of w ater and ,

adding this to collodion ; the mixtu re mu st be w ell shaken , an d

while shaking add from tim e to time a few drops of iodi zed
collo di on”
The photogene so prepared w as pou red u pon gla ss
.

or paper an d was ready for u se at once B u t Gau din fou nd

,
.

“
that u pon glass the image develops v ery feebly and su per "

fici ally The photogene is almost impenetrable to developing

.

agents and this is u nfortu nate beca use b u t for that it w ou ld , , ,

”
realize the long so u ght for dry collodion
-
The fact is althou gh
-
.
,

Ga u din did not kno w i t that silver iodide alone does not form
,

a good emul si on u nless special precau tions are taken ; it clots

f

too rapidly and sinks to the bottom of the collodion

’
.

S a
y ce a n ol B ol ton s C ollod i on E m u lsi on
‘

P r ocess .
—
I t w as
on S eptember 9th 1 8 64 that Messrs B J Sayce and W B
“

, ,
. . . . .

B olton of L iverpool p u b l ish ed t an acco u nt of a process

, ,

w hich they had then b u t j u st de v ised They added nitrate of .

silver to a bromized collodion thereby forming bromide of ,

silver in the collodion P lates w ere coated w ith this liqu id and
.
,

then flo w ed over w ith tannin after w hich they w ere d ried ,

.

Improvements mostly by the au thors of the process qu ickly

, ,

follo w ed The amou nt of sil v er w as i ncreased and the pre

.
,

*
P h otog r ap hi c N e w s , A p ri l ,
1 86 1 ,
p . 1 93 .

‘
1 B r i ti s h [ ou r /ca l o
f P h otog r ap hy .
5
6 A H I S TOR Y OF P H OTOGR A P H Y .

ser v ati v e (the tan n in

) was mixed with the em u lsion instead of
being added after wards Fro m this time w e find the words
,

or gan ifi er or sensiti z er more frequ ently u sed than p r e

” ”
, ,
”
ser v ativ e for s u ch su bstan ces as tannin etc Mr Sayc e the
, ,
. .
,

el de r and more e xperienced of the two workers retired in

1 8 65
,

from the practice of photography ; b u t h is coadj u tor ,

Mr B olton contin u e d to introdu ce valu able improvements ;

th u s in N ovember 1 8 6 5
,
.

he pointed ou t the advantages of a

sm
, ,
, ,

all excess of nitrate in the col lodion emu lsion .

I n April 1 8 70 a well known American worker Mr C arey

, ,
-
,
.

L ea recommended the addition of a few drops of aqu a regia

,

to the em u lsion the resu lt being that the plates no longer fog
,

e d a defect to which they had previo u sly been liable espe

g , ,

ci al l
y when a high degree of sensitiveness was a i med at C apt . .

Abney has since shown that this introdu ction of a min eral
acid into the em u lsion prevents th e f or m ati on of or destroys ,

w hen formed any oxide or su b bromide of silver su bstances

,
-
,

w hich w o u ld inevitably prod u ce fog on th e application of the

developer .

Many other worke rs among whom we may name C ol ,

.

Stu art W ortley and Messrs " George Dawson T S u tton W J

-
,
.
,
. .

Stillman J W Gou gh an d H C ooper added their mites

,
. . .
,

and an u nfortu nate paper war w as carried on as to the r esp ec n

ti ve claims of B J Sayce and W B B olton to be considered

. . . .

the sole or at all events the princi pal originator of the pro
,

cess As the first annou ncement of the collodion em u lsion

.

process was signed by both it su rely ou ght to be a case of ,

”
honors divide d
The Washecl C ol lod i on E m
.

u ls i on P r oces s Du ring the

'
.
—

first ten years after th e in trod u ction of collodion emu lsion the ,

excess of solu b le salts was r emo v ed by washin g the emu lsion

after it h ad been po u red u pon the glass plates It is tru e that .

”
in 1 8 7 1 S u tton proposed the u se of a corrected emu lsion ,

i n which the proportions of the bromide and the nitrate w ere

so adj u sted as to leave n either in excess b u t the practical d iffi ,

cu lty of secu ring this resu lt led to the u niversal practice of

w ashing the plates after th e em u lsio n had been po u red on them .

On J an u arv 1 6 th 1 8 74 M I W B B olton sho w ed that the

*
. . .
,

I n th e B r i ti s h
‘

_
0 u rnal o
7 f P h otog r a hy p .
5
8 A H I S TOR Y OF P HOTOGR AP HY .

C H AP TE R V III .

GEL ATI NE EM U LS I ON WI TH M
B RO I m
r or S I
—
“

LVER .

N a tu r e f a n al
f M is an an u a ctu r e o Gela ti rze .
* —
Gel atine
amorpho u s brittle nearly transparent faintly ye llo w tasteles s
, , , ,

and inodoro u s animal su b stan ce It is obtained from the hides .

of o x en sk i ns of calves spo n gy parts of horns etc B ones

, , ,
.
,

when boiled yield one third their w eight of solid gelatine

m
-
, .

Isinglass or fi sh gl u e is a for of gelatine ob tain ed fr om

— - —

the swimming b l adder o f the st u rgeon Ordinary gl u e is an

-
.
'

imp u re form of gelatine ; b u t fairly pu re gelatine s u ch as 1 s ,

u sed in the making of jellies etc was not manu fact u red u ntil ,
.
,

the beginning of the present cent u ry I n 1 844 C ox of Gor .

, ,

gie near Edinb u rgh patented an impro v ed me thod of making

, ,

gelatine ; and somewhat later N elson of L eamington Eng , ,

land introd u ced steam as an agent for softe n ing and dissolvi ng
,

this s u bstance In 1 8 72 N elson began to make a specially

"

“ ”
p u re photographic gela tine w hich has ever since been ,

largely u sed Foreign m akers of rep u te at the present time are

.

C oignet of P aris H einrich and Drescher in Germany and

,
"

, ,
“
the Winterth u r gelatine of S w itzerland Th e maker of .
,

gelatine u ses largely the pari ngs and cu t tings of hides from
the tan yard ears of oxen and sheep skins of rabbits hares
-
, , , ,

dogs c ats etc old glov es parchment etc These ar e steeped

, ,
.
, , ,
.

in lime water washed and then bleached w ith s u l ph u ro u s

-

, ,

acid and washed again The gelatine is then extracted by

,
.

means of steam and r u n on marble S labs to set It is ne x t c u t

,
.

u
p and w ashed re d issolve d an d lastly dried in thin sheets on
, , , ,

nets In the c u ttin g it is the practice of some w orkmen to

.

l u brica te the knives b u t this ou ght to be rigoro u sly a voi ded ,

if the gelatine is to be u sed for photog raphic pu rposes since the ,

’ a c ti c a l Gl u e , G el a ti n e ,
*
S ee D av i d o w s k y s P r T r e a ti s e on e tc 8V O ,
297 pp . i ll u s tra ted . B a i rd C o .
, P hi l a d el p h i a .
 A H I S TOR Y OF P H OTOGR A P HY . 5
9

”
fatty matter th u s int rod u ced ca u ses pits or spots in the
plates
’
.

Gelatine is w itho u t do u bt a sensitizer

9
,
If w e remove ,
.

silver bromide from one h alf of a gelatine em u lsion and mix -

it w ith collodion the collodion em u lsion w ill not be nearly S O

"

sensitive to light as the remaining gel atine em ulsion ; the pre

cise cau se Of this sensitizing action is not certainly kno w n .

For one thing the gelatine w raps ro u nd and grips firmly every
,

particle of silver bromide thu s allow ing u s to u se a stronger ,

developer
’
witho u t danger of fogging the plate than w e can do
in the case of collodion B u t it has also been S how n by the .

Ger m an chemist Knopp th at gelatine is capable of combining

, ,

w ith bromine and it th u s assists the action of light in d ecom

,

posing the silver bromide by attracting and uniting with the

bromine given Off from the silver salt u nder the action of
light .

Gelatine is insol uble in cold w ater i n w hich ho w ever it , , ,

s w ells considerably I ncreasing in w eight The jelly so formed

li q u efi es i m
,
.

med i ately when its temperat u re is raised to abou t

1 0 0 deg F . .

E a r ly Wor ker s w i th Gel a ti n e The introdu ction of gela —

tine as a means w hereby the sensitive salts of silver co u ld be

,

r etained u pon a plane s u rface of glass or paper follo w ed ,

“
qu ickly upon the p u b lication of the al b u men on glass pro ” - -

cess discovered by N iepce de St V ictor in 1 8 4 8 In Gu stav e

’
L e Gray s book translated into English in 1 8 5
,
.
,
.

—
0 h e mention s —

the u se of gelatine for s u ch a p u rpose the s u pport being coated ,

with iodized gelatine dried , and then sensitized by immersion ,

in a bath of silver nitrate in the same w ay as collodion The .

gelatine however was fo u nd to s w ell or even dissolve in th e

, ,

silver bath In Germany D r H all eur obtained beau tif u l

.
,
.

images on similarly prepared plates b u t they qu ickly d i sap , ;

ear ed a res u lt probabl y d u e to the acetic acid

p , (in w hich gela
tine is sol u ble) then u sed as an ingredient of the d eveloper
In 1 8 5
, .

4 “ E R of Tavistock ”p u blished fu ll and clear

*

’
, .
,
.
,

directions for the u se of S w inb u rne s patent isinglass (a ”

variety of gelatine) as a s ubstit u te for col lodion the expos u re ,

*
p
'

P h otog r ap h i c 7c u r u a l v ol i 2 06
‘
. . . .
_
, ,
60 A H I S TOR Y OF P H OTOGR A P H Y .

re q u ire d bei ng thir ty fi v e

seconds with a diaphragm or stop -

whose apertu re was one twenty fo u rth of the focal l ength of -

the lens employed .

In 1 86 1 Gau din u sed gelatine as one of the su bs tances with

’
,

which he prepared his photogene the forer unner of emu l - a

sion photography .

P oitevi n who had long u sed gela

, ti ne I n his pr mtin g process ,

”
showed in 1 8 6 2, how dry plates with the bath co u ld be
,

prepared with it A cu riou s featu re of this method was that

.

bichromate of potash was mi x ed with the gelatine after which ,

th e plates coate d with the mixtu re were exposed t o light ;

, ,

then the bichromate reacts u pon the gelatine and prevents ,

*
it from creasing in the w ater du ring the su b sequ ent Opera
”
t ions
In 1 8 6 5W H Smith took ou t a patent for impregnating
.

.
,
.

th e su rfaces of wood canvas silk glass et c w ith some resin , , , ,

.
,

ou s sol u tion w hich wo u ld fill u

p the p ores and then coating ,

th e prepared s u rface with collodion or gelatin e or any gela ,

ti n ou s su bstance mi x ed with S pirits of w ine and nitrate of

-

silver the nitrate of silver being mixed with a chloride a bro

, ,

mide or a n iodid e After e xposu re in the camera a toning .

s olu tion is employed

m t w i th
.

An E ar ly Exp er i en G el a ti o B r o
n -
mi d e .
-
I n J an u
ary, Mr W H H arrison wrote a short article on The
1 8 6 8, .
-
. .

P hilosophy of Dry P lates t in which he starts by askin g a

” -
,

q u estion that we have not yet been able to f u l ly answer

W hy S ho u ld one organic solu tion g ive a rapid plate and an ,
”
o ther a slow one i In experimenting on thi s su bject he made
a very weak sol u tion of ge l atin e in which a
“ little bromide
an d iodide of cadmiu m were dissolved after which some nitrate ,

of silver was added in the dark I n fact I wanted to have a .

, ~

solu tion which wo u ld give a good dry plate by simply coating -

,

a she e
”
t of glass with it P lates coated with this em u lsion .

were dried and exposed in the camera and then developed b y ,

th e alkal ine method

“ The pict u re came ou t very rapidly .
,

and was of great intensity b u t the ro u gh and u neven s u rface ,

Or , as we sho u ld s ay , f ri l l i n g .

{ B r i ti s h j ou r n a l o f P h otog r ap hy , Ja n u a ry 1 7 th 1 8 68
,
.
 A H I S TOR Y OF P H OTOGR AP HY . 61

of the filmmade it w orthless When a stronger solu tion of

.
”

gelatine was u sed no pict u re s cou ld be obtained a resu lt pos

, ,

sib ly d u e to the w eakness of the de v eloper the n u sed This

’
.

ar ticle of Mr H arrison s appears not to have been n oticed by

.

writers on the discovery of th e gelatino bromide process of -

,

which it really contains the germ

From 1 8 5 5to 1 8 70 there
.

Thom as S u tton ha s a Th eor y

m
—

were few more active a ong the workers and writers on pho
tog r aphy than Thomas S u tton H e was rather too fond of .

theorizing an d w as apt to believe that beca u se he co u ld trace

’
, ,

o u t the steps of a process in his

“ ”
mind s eye it mu st there , ,

fore be a practical su ccess Still the follo w ing remarks tak

,
.
, ,

en from one of his contribu tions to the B r i ti sh J ou r n a l of

P hotogr ap hy 96
sho w that his ideas u pon gelatine emu lsion
,

w ere in advance of the t i me There is something very i n

’
.

g en i ou s and promising in M G au d in s gelatine emu lsion . .

Used w ith bromide of silver instead of iodide it might tu rn

'

ou t somethi n g grand The o b jection to collodion is that

.
,

when it i s allo w ed to g et dr y u pon the plate w itho u t having

been w etted it d ries to an almost impenetrable skin w hich
, ,

the developer has s carcely an y pow er of entering so that the ,

image is thin and su perficial This w ou ld not occu r w ith a .

'

gelatine film There do not seem to be any di fficu lties i n

.

spr eading it as there are in spreading albu men for it is ap ,

plied hot and qu ickly sets Oxide of " i nc gi ves a stru ctu re
,
.

less and homogeneou s film when made into an em u lsion w ith

gelatine ; bromide of sil v er o u ght to do the same A gelatino .

bromi d e e mu lsion slightly alkaline wou ld be exqu isitely sen

, ,

s i ti v e w itho ut any free nitrate ; and tannin w ith the aid of ,

th e al kali in the film wo u ld no do u bt develop it perhaps to

, , , ,

s ufficient de n sity w ithou t S ilver A great ad vantage wo u ld

,
.

be that the film co u ld be composed of a capital org an i fi er

thro u gh its entire su bstance instead of having a mere layer of
,

or g an ifi er u pon the s u rface The process is well w orth try

.

”
ing ; it seems to be right in theory thro u gho u t
’
.

S u tton then goes on to describe Gan d in s gelatino io d i d e -

process after w hich comes the follo w ing paragraph w hich

,

Ju l y 1 4 th , 1 8 8 1 .
62 A H I S TORY OF P H OTOGR AP HY .

reads to u s amu singly eno u gh " A tou rist employin g the

, , ,

above process wo u ld have his bromide of sil v e r emu lsion ready

,

made in a semi S olid state resemblin g b la n c mange he wo uld

-
,
-

melt it by p u tti n g th e bottle containing it into boiling water;

he wou ld then coa t his plates at night for the ne x t d ay and _

p u t them at once into the plat e b ox to

get dry N o Washi ng -
_
.

of the plates wo u ld be r equ 1 r ed and that is one grand featu re ,

Of the proce ss The next morning he wou ld hang a yellow

.

c u rtain before hi s windo w and pu t them into the dark slides ,

-

developing the mat n ight H e wo u ld ha v e no dangero u s e x

,

.
,

plosive strong smelling u nhealthy collodion to carry abo u t

,
-
,

c ompass eno u gh che m

w i th him on his travels and he might pack in a very small ,

icals i n a dry state tolast him for a tou r

rou nd the world W hat a blessing i t wo uld be to be in d epen
.

d ent of collodio n and at the same time not to h ave to tr u st to

,

the keep i ng q ualities of dry plates -

It m ay t u rn ou t that I have done well in d I ggI n g u p this .

old process of M Alexis Gau din w hose name be e x alted as

.
,

the au thor of collodion e mu lsions and photogenes

S u tton died shortly after writing the above no te b u t we can ,

I mag i ne how en th u siastically he w o u ld have welcomed the fu l

fi ll m en t of all his hopes and more in ou r modern gelatino

—
,
“ ”
brom i de pl ates wh ich w i ll keep and whose exqu isite s en
'

siti v en ess is beyond everything that even b e imagined .

1 D r B L M a d d ox m a kes Gela ti n o B r omi d e of S i lver -

I n the a u t u m
.

Em
. .

u ls i on —
n of 1 8 7 1 Dr Maddo x so well ,
‘

.
—

k n ow n fO r his w ork in photo m

’
icrography pu blished in the - —

*
B r i ti sh J ou r n a l of P hotograp hy An Expe riment with
”
Gelatino bromide
-
Thirty grains of g elatine were sw elled in
.

cold w ater and then dissolved by heat fou r drams of p u re

, ,

water and two drops of aq u a regia being added .

To this sol u tio n eight grains of cadmiu m bromide and fi f

teen grains of silver nitrate were added formi n g a fin e mil ky ,

em u lsion of silver bromide W itho u t fu rther treatment this.

was spread u pon gla ss p lates and dried Th e plates w ere .

tested by e xposing the mbeneat h n egatives and gave a faint ,

b u t clear i m age w hen de v elo ped w ith a plain solu ti on of pyro

S e p te mb e r 8 th ,
1 871 ,
p . 42 2 .
 A HI S TOR Y OF P H OTOGR AP H Y . 63

gallic aci d ; intensification wi th pyro and nitrate of silver

follow ed .

P lates f u med with ammonia fogged when treate d w ith pyro

gallic acid The gelatine e m
. u lsion w as also u sed to coat
paper w ith very fair res ults In concl u sion Dr Maddo x
.
,
.

w rites " As there w ill be no chance of my being able to con

tinne these e xperiments they are placed in their cr u de state
,

before the readers of the J ou r n a l and may event u ally receive

,

correction and improvement u nder abler hands S O far as can

be j u dged the process seems qu ite w orth m
.

,
ore carefu lly con
d u cted experi m ents and if fo u nd advantageo u s adds another ‘

’
, , ,
”
handle to the photographer s wheel .

W ith ou r present kno wledge it is easy to see why Dr Mad .

d ox did n o t obtain complete s u ccess H is emu lsion w o u ld

c ontain in addition to the S ilver brom
.

,
i de S ilver nitrate so ,
-

d i a mnitrate and nitric acid (from the aqu a r egi a) The .

pr es ence of the free silver nitrate w as the reason w h y it w as

possible to develop the plates w ith plain pyrogallic acid while
the nitric acid acted as arestrainer and ca u sed the plates to be
,

very slow .B y fu m ing w ith ammonia the nitric acid w as

ne u trali z ed b u t the plates then fogged becau se the free silver
, ,

nitrate w as red u c e d all over the plate by the developer in the ,

a bsen ce of any restrainer .

64 A H I S TOR Y OF P H OTOGR AP HY .

C H AP TE R IX .

U
I NTR OD C TI ON or L
GE ATI NO-B R OHI DE EM U LS I ON As AN AR TI C LE or con
U
MER C E B r B R GES S AND B Y K ENNETT .

B u r gess A d ver ti ses Gel ati n e E W e have ml iu s on in 1 8 73 .

—

now seen that b etween 1 8 6 8 and 1 8 7 1 three men H arrison

, ,
—

S utton and Maddo x had clearly recognized the p ossi b i li ties

—

of gelat ino bromide emu lsio n ; w hile tw o of them H arrison

- —

m
and Maddox had actu ally prepared s u ch an emu lsion w ith
—

for a first experiment a arked degree of S u ccess N one of—

.

these three men ho w e v er followed u p their work and it

, , ,

se ems to have attracted little or no notice .

A t least one worker ho w ever took the hint and in t h e , , ,

pages of the E n glish trade jo u rnals for Ju ly the fol ,

lowing advertisement appeared

“Mr J B u rgess begs to annou n ce that as th e res u lt of in
.

ade an i m
.

n u merable experiments he has m p or ta n t p hoto

g p
r a h i c d i s cover
y w h ich enables him,
to prepare dry p lates -

equ al in sensitiveness and su perior in many respects to the best

w et plates and that by S I m
-
,
l
py po u ring an em u lsion (prepared

by an entirely new and origin al m ethod ) on the glass and al 1

lo wing it to dry with ou t any washing or the application of any

preservative ; thu s saving an immense amo unt of trou bl e and
expense and w ha t is more important still secu rin g films of
,

absolu te u niformity of good keeping qu alities an d u p to the

, ,

highest standard Of excellence .

In order that any one may te st the tru th of the above

statement a fou r o u nce bottle of the emu lsion su fl i ci en t to coat
,
-
,

fou r or fi ve dozen qu arter plates w ill be sent post free for 3 s ; , , ,

.

and when the n ew metho d has been thoro u ghly tested if the ,

s u bscribers are willing to pay one gu inea each a pamphlet will ,

be printed giving an acco u nt of the experiments which have

Th e e x a c t d a te i s Ju l y i 8 th 1 8 73
, .
66 A H I S TOR Y OF P H OTOGR A P HY .

preservatives and org ani fi er s are rendered of no avail becau s e ,

the whole su bstance of the film itself is organic Th e .

S im plicity of th e B u rgess process is a charmi n g feat u re Th e .

emu lsion is pou red over the clean glass plate and when d r y , ,

it is fit for u se There is no s u bstrat u m no washing an d n o

.
, ,

preser v ative w hile over and above all the sensitiveness 1 s said ,

to be equ al to that of wet collo d i on whi ch if tru e mean s th at ,

‘

,
”

plates prepared by the gelatino bromide pro cess may be u sed -

in the stu dio for the pu rposes of every day portraitu re -

.

The objections at this time to the introdu ction of gelatine ‘

“
emu lsi on w ere th e necessity for liqu efying the gelatine before
‘

it cou ld be u sed the equ al necessity for laying d o w n each pl ate

I n a caref u l ly level position u ntil the film set and the long time ,
”
the film took to dry
In a letter from Mr B u rgess him
.

self he states that the

*
.
“
w eak point of the gelat ino bromide e m u lsion is its liabi li ty to
-

decompose as I ha v e fou nd ou t to my cost lately In a moder

,
.

ate temp eratu re i t will keep for weeks ; b u t in spite of all the
a n tisepti cs I am acquainted with it will ferment if the ther ,

mometer rises above 70 deg Fahr I have therefore deter . .

, ,

mined to confine myself to th e making of dry plates which

“
-
,

will keep any time .

I n accordance w ith this resolve the first advertisemen t of ,

gelatino bromide d ry plates appeared on Au gu st 29th 1 8 73

- -
, ,

the pr ice being half a crown per do z en for qu arter plates .

B u t the time was not ripe for so g reat a revol u tion ; B u r

e
’
ss s pr ocess was not co u ld hardly b e perfect and the res u lt
g
— —
,

Was a lack of commercial su ccess which meant for the time —

fail u re B u t Mr B u rgess never abandoned his belief in gela

. .

tine and in 1 8 8 0 he wrote for Messrs W T Morgan C o of

, ,
. . . .
,
“
Gree n w ich an anonymou s pamphlet The Argentic Gel a
’
, ,

tino B romide W orker s Gu ide which was the first book de

-
”
,

voted w holly to that su bject

R em r om
.

Gel a ti n e E m
o
ova l o ctr a n eou s S u b s ta n ces
f the u l
s i on —
I n the au tu mn of 1 8 7 3 a writer w h o took for his n om ,

d e p lu m
”
e Ostendo non Ostento contrib u ted a formu la (the ,

first which contains alcohol) for the preparatio n of gelatine ,

B r i ti s h j ou r n a l o f P h otog r ap hy , A u g u s t 1 5
th ,
1 873 .
 A H I S TOR Y OF P H OTOGR AP HY . 67

*
em u lsion to the pages of the B r i ti sh J ou r n a l of P hotog r ap hy ,

which was the first formu la p u blished since that of Dr Mad .

d ox in 1 8 7 1 B u t neither of these w orkers stated the n e

.

c essit
y for the removal from the em u lsion of the extraneo us

s alts formed by the combination of the chemicals employed .

The first ph otographer to point o ut pu b li cly) the need for L

th e removal of all so lu ble matter from the emu lsion was Mr J . .

K ing of the B ombay C ivil Service w h o d i a lyz ed his em u lsion

, , ,

i e place d it in a vessel with a bottom of vegetable p archment

. .
,

o r bladder ; th e whole being half immersed in a large vessel of

p u re w at er Under .s u ch circ u mstances the sol u ble salts con

tain ed in the e m u lsion pass o u t w ards thro u gh the parchment
,

e tc . to mingle with the w ater This process w as w ell kno w n

,
.

to chemists b u t it had not before been employed in photography

,
.

The editor adds The negatives sent by Mr K i ng illu stra .

,

tive of his paper are singu larly fau ltless

’
,
.

C u rio usly eno u gh w e find side by side wi th K ing s comm u ni

c ati o n a s h ort letter from J J oh nston in which two v ery i m
, .
,

portant points are inclu ded The first of these i s a direction .

t o u se an e x cess of the cadmiu m or other solu b le bromi de in

making the emu lsion (previou s w orkers had u sed an excess of
“
silver nitrate) and the second to let it stand till cold cu t in
, ,

slices wi th a piece of thin glass and w ash in distilled water to ,

”
remove the excess of bromide This w ay of washing or a .
,

modification of it has ever since been employed ; it i s far

,

simpler and more effective than dialysis

’ ’
.

K en n ett s P elli cle B u rgess s experiments with gelatine .

—

emu lsion cau sed Mr R K en n ett an am ateu r residing in Mad . .

,

m
dock Street L ondon to again t u rn his attention to the s u bject
, ,

( it see s that he h a d experimented w ith gelatine some years

previ ou sly) To remedy the grave defect e xp erienced by
.

B urgess viz , that the finished emu lsion wou ld not ““

keep ”
,
.
,

K ennett took ou t the follow ing patent in N ovember 1 8 73 ,

A R I D G ME N T OF S PE C I F A O N O F P A T E N T
“
B I C TI

“
A D . . 1 8 73 , N O V EM B E R 20 , N o 3 78 2 . .

A b s ta n c e to b e u s ed i n s t e a d
‘
su of co ll o d io n a n d o th e r e m u l sio n s fo r
’
p h o to g rap h i c p u rp o s e s .

O cto b er 3 d , 1 8 73 .

t B r i ti s h
j ou r n a l o f P hotog rap hy , N ov e mb er i 4th , 1 8 73 .
 A H I S TOR Y OF P H OTOGR AP HY
h s u b s ta n c e i s p ro d u c e d fo r u s e i n a d ry o r s o l i d co n d i ti o n a n d
T is , , ,

w i ll k ee p g o o d fo r a n y l e n g th o f t i m e .

Th e c o m p o u n d e s s e n ti a ll y c o n s i s t s o f a n aq u eo u s s o l u ti o n o f g el a ti ne ,

t o g e th e r w i th a b r o m i d e c h l o r i d e o r i o d i d e a n d n i t ra t e o f s i l v e r
, , .

Th e c o mp o u n d i s c l e a re d o f c e rt a i n s a l t s w h i c h a re f o r m e d d u ri n g th e
mi x i n g a n d th e n d ri e d Th e s e p ro c e s s e s m u st b e c o n d u c te d i n n o n ac ti n i c
,

-
, .

l ig h t .

Th e b ro m i d e s c h l o ri d e s o r i od id e s th a t m
,
ay b e u s e d are th o se o f p o ta s
siu m ,c a d m i u m o r amm o n i u m W h e n th e c o m po u n d i s m i x e d a n d
.

th o r o u g h l y i n c o rp o r a te d i t c o n t a i n s a f r ee b r o m i d e a n d n i t ra te o f p o tas h
,

th e s e are r e m o v e d o r e l i m i n a t e d b y p o u ri n g th e c o mp o u n d i n t o a d i s h l e tti n g ,

i t c o o l a n d c u tti n g i n to s ma ll s t ri p s w h i c h ar e Wa s h e d w i th m
,
a n y ch a n g es
o f w a t e r u n t i l a ll th e f re e s a l t s a re d i s s o l e d o u t Th e s u b s e q u e n t d ry i n g v .

p ro c e s s i s a c c o m p l i sh ed b y h e a ti ng th e c o m p o u n d i n fl at d i s h e s u n ti l i t i s ,

r e d u c e d t o a th i c k p a s t e W h e n c o l d i t i s s tri p p e d f r o m th e d i s h es a n d
. ,

p l a c e d i n s u i ta b l e fram e s I n a d ry i n g c l o s et i n w hi c h a c i rc u l a ti o n o f d ry -

a i r i s ma i n ta i n e d .

’
It will be noticed th at K ennett s patent is has been n ot, as

stated for th e whole process of gelatino bromide emu lsion

,
-

making tha t had been previou sly p u blished and cou ld not b e
,

patented b u t for a m ethod ofp r eser,

v i n g s u ch a n emu ls ion i n

a d r y an d soli d sta te To the dried emu lsion prepared accord .

in g to th e pate nt K ennett applied the name of p elli cle whe n ,

r equ ired for u se it was o nly necessary to d issolve thi s pell icl e
“

i n water and coat the glass plate s with it .

The following contemporary advertisements ar einteresting

“
N OTI CE —
R . pa ten t s en s i ti z ed g el ati n o
K e nn e tt i s n ow 1 5
511 n his
p ell i cl e i n p a c k e ts c o n ta i n i n g s u ffi c i e n t to mak e t wo fo u r o r s ix o u n c es
, ,

o f e m u l s i o n w i th f u ll i n s t ru c ti o n s for u s e a t th e f o ll o w i n g p ri c e s
,
On e ,

tw o a n d th ree
‘

A complaint against this pellicle was that i t gave very thin

images so that we find in a so mewha t later advertisement th e
,

followin g ad d ition
A s p ec i a l p ell i c l e fo r o b ta i n i n g x t a d n e r e s i ty at l s . 6d 35 . an d
”
4s 6 d
. .

a late r date K en n ett prepared plates for sal e as wel l

At as

pellicle and in April 1 8 76 his advertisement ru ns

, , ,

R . K is p re pa re d w i th 1 1 1 5rap i d p ell i c l e p l a te s t o p h o to g ra p h i h
. n ow

t e r i o r s o f m i n e s c a v e r n s o r a n y o th e r s u b j e c t t h a t h a s h i th e r to b e e n an
’
, ,

i m p o s s i b i l i ty w i th a n y o th e r p ro c e s s w e t o r d ry R K s ,
. . .

F ro m th e t r a d e j o u rn a l s fo r M a rc h ,
1 874 .
 A HI S TOR Y OF P H OTOGR AP HY . 69

l a te s t i mp ro e men t i n h i s p l a tes a d mi ts o f g r ea ter l a t it u d e o f e x p o s u re

v ,

g i v e s m Ore d e n s i ty a n d b r i g h t e r s h a d o w s w i th o u t i n t h e l e a s t i n t e r f e r i
,
n g
w i th th e i r n o w u n i e rs a ll y a c k n o w l e d g e d w o n d erf u l a n d u n p re c e d e n t e d
v

r ap i d i ty
"
.

D u ri ng the year s 1 8 74 77 K ennet t tried hard to introd u ce —

hi s gela tine p ell i cle an d d ry pla tes B u t photographe rs see m -

.

the n to have bee n a terribly conservati v e body and hard to ,

move and he faile d in his e n deavor to i n trod u ce these articles

,

into general practice The follo wing n ote from an amateu r of .

the firs t rank the R ev H J P almer will ho wever give ,

. . .
, , ,

so m e idea of their capabilities

As reg ards exposu re it sho uld be borne in mi n d that Ken
’
,

nett s r ap i d pellicle and plates are w ith good light really i n , ,

stan tan e o u s N othing can s u rpass the clo u d w ave and street
’
,
.
,

m
v iews take n with th i s reparation ; and for babies portraits it
p
is si ply perfecti on itself The or d i n a r y pellicle is m u ch .

slowe r ,
requ iring rath er more than half the e x ‘

”
su r e req u isite for a wet plate
p o -
.

B u t at that time all w as i n vain

e
-

The very rapi dity of the .

K ennett plates w as one cau se of their commercial failu re The .

workers of ten or tw elve years back co u ld n ot generally speak ,

ing be bro u ght to belie v e tha t a d ry plate co u ld possibly be

,
-

more rapid than the collodion w et plates which they w ere so -

accu stomed to manip u late ; and K ennett complained bitterly

that the p u rchasers of his em ulsion w ou l d over expose i m -

mensely and then blame the plates for fog and for yi eld in g
,

thin images M oreover the a mo unt of yello w light by which

.
,

the dark rooms w ere then il lu minated w as i n most c ases of i t

-

s elf su fli ci en t to
“ ”
fog these sensitive gelatine plates .

P r ocesses Wor ked i n 1 8 7 7 A t the excellent exhibition of —

photographs held in Edinb urgh u nder the a u spices of the ,

local photographic society in 1 8 76 77 there w ere 71 9 pic tu res —

from nega ti v es taken by the w et process as against 1 0 5d r y

,
“

plate pict u res .

The latte r were by the follo w ing processes

F th g i l l
o er

G mg a ll i
u - c

C ll d i a l b m n
o o o- u e .

*
B r i ti s h j ou r n a l o
f P h otog r ap hy , M a rc h 1 oth 1 8 7 6 , .
70 A H I S TOR Y OF P H OTOGR A P H Y .

Dry p l ate s
-

’
W a r n e rk e s ti s s u e
B eer a n d al b u me n
C ffe e
o .

Em u l s i o n

W hether any the latesofwere gelatino “em u lsion ”

p
bromide we do not know ; any case this s u mmary of
the pictu res contrib u ted to one of the most p op u lar e xhibition s
ever held S hows that u p to that time only some ten years ago
, , ,

the g el ati n e p r ocess w as practically not used at all

Other P i on eer s of Gd a ti n o B r om
.

ide The pages of the - —

English trade j o u r nals from 1 8 73 to 1 8 77 contain many u sefu l

s u ggestions and imp rovements from one or other of a race of
experimentalists which then flo u rished a race w hich appears , ,

al as " to be dy ing ou t .

In December 1 8 73 E W Foxl ee p omted ou t the val u e of

,
‘

,
. .

al coh ol as a p reservative i n gelatine em u lsion showing that it

'

'

enabled gelatino u s sol utions to be kept for a long time w itho u t

u n d ergoing decomposition ; i t s u se also ca u sed the plates to set

an d d r y more rapi d ly .

Mr F W r atten in A u g u st 1 8 77 showed that the gel atin e

. .
, , ,

along w ith the si l ver bromide co u l d be precipitated by adding

alcohol to the sol u tion containing it leaving b ehind in th e ,

water all the sol u ble salts By this method the necessity for .

dialysis or washing co u ld be obviated .

“
In the B ritish J o u rnal Almanac for 1 8 74 Mr W B
”
. .
,
.

B olto n sho w ed how to form the em u lsion in a small portion of

the gelatine only the remainder being added at the cl Ose of
,

th e oper ation In this w ay the retardin g action of the viscid

.

gelatine w as avoided A t a later period this me thod w as .

fo u nd very u sefu l .

Of other workers abo u t this time ( 1 8 73 7 7) we can only —

name Messrs P M awd sl ey H B B erkeley J W Go u gh

. .
,
. .
,
. .
,

C ol Stu art W ortley and the anonymo u s contrib u tors “Ama ,

.
,
” “ “
te u r ,
Franklin ”
F S and L ,
D ”
. . . .
 A H I S TOR Y OF P H OTOGR AP HY . 71

C H A P TE R X .

L L AC ES
'

GE ATI NE DI S P C oL L oDI oN .

R f
es ea r ches Stas
o the famo u s B e lgian
S ta s —
M . J . S .
,

m
chemist p u blished in 1 8 74 certain R esearches on C hloride
,
”
and Bro ide of Silver in w hich he pointed o ut that the lat ,

ter su bstance can exist in at least S i x well marked physical -

states each st ate having properties p ec u liar to itself These

,
.

researches by Stas contain the key to ou r present system of

Obtaining that exq u isite sensitiveness to light in bromide of

silver w hich has of late years e ff ecte d a practical revol u tion in

photogra phy B u t in 1 8 74 the disco v ery passed u nnoticed

’
. .

Stas w as n o ph otographer and if any photog rapher stu d ied

,

his pac l w hich is do u btfu l i t did not strike him that here
— —

w as the germ of a process which might s u rpass all that had

gone before The f ollo wing translation incl u des the ( to pho
’
.

t og raph er s) most interesti n g portion of Stas s paper

M od ifi ca ti on s of S i l v er B romid e —
Th i s b ro mi d e a s s u me s a l a rg e n u m
b er O f p hy s i ca l st a te s of d iff e re t n a p p e a ra n c e
T h e w h i te flak y s tate l .
.

Th ey el l o w flak y s ta te S .

A n i n t e n s e y e l l o w p o w d e ry s t a t e
i
-
.

A p e a r l y w h i t e p o w d e rv s t a t e
- .

A y e ll o w i s h w h i te g ra n u l a r s ta te
-
.

A p u r e i n te n s e y e ll o w c ry s ta ll i z e d ml t a te
m
- or e ed st .

Th e W h i t e and ye ll ow flak y f o rms (1 a n d 2 ) a re p r od u c e d b y i ng

co l d aq u eo u s so u l ti o ns of a n y s u i t a b l e s i l e r s a l t w i th h y d ro b ro m
v ic a c id
o r so m l b l b mi d
e so u e ro e

f m my b
.

p o w d e ry o r p u l v e r u l e n t
“

Th tw es e o or s a e co n v e rted n
i t o th e
mo d i fic a ti o n s ( 3 a n d 4) b y sh ak i n g u p w ell w i th w a ter Wh e n w e p o u r .

e i th er th e flak y o r t h e p o w d e ry b ro m i d e Of s i l er i n to b o i l i n g w a t er i t i s v ,

c h a n g e d i n s ta n tl y i n t o a v e ry fi n e p o w d e r w h i c h i s th e g r a n u l a r b o m id e r

Th i s m
,

(N o ay b e p r o d u c e d d i re c t l b a d d i n t o a b o i l i n s o l t i o n
.
y y g g u ,

o f s i l v e r n i t ra t e ( o n e pa r t t o o f w a t er) a s u ffi c i e n t q u a n t i ty a l s o b o i l ,

*
A n n a l es d e C h i rn i e . F i f th S e ri e s , v o l . iii .
,
p . 2 89 .
72 A H I S TOR Y OF P H OTOGR A P H Y .

in g, Ofa v ery w e ak s o l u ti o n O f amm o n i u m b ro mi d e Th e g ra n u l a r p o w "

d e r re s u l ti n g f r o mth e b re ak i n g u p Of th e flak e s i s o f a d u ll y e ll o w i s h
. _

w h i t e w h i l e t h a t w h i ch i s p ro d u c e d b y th e t ra n s f o r ma t i o n O f t h e p u l v e r n
,

l e n t v a ri e ty O r w h i c h i s f o rm e d w i th th e a id O f v e ry w e ak s o l u t i o n s i s Of
, ,

a s /i n i ng y el l o w i s h wh i te U n d e r th e i n fl u e n c e O f a b o i l i n g p ro l o n g e d fo r
z -
.

s e v e r a l d ay s ( t h e w a t e r b e i n g c o n s t a n t l
y r e p l a c e d ) th e du l l g ra n u l a r b ro
mi d e i s m o d i fi e d ; i t b ec o m e s mo re a n d mo re d i v i d e d to th e p o i n t Of r e
,

ma i n i n g c o m p l e tel y i n s u s p e n s i o n a n d rend e ri n g th e w a te r w h i te Th e
r ‘
,
/ “
.

su s p e n d e d b r o m i d e p r e s e n ts i n th i s c a s e a s h i n i n
g r efl e c ti o n a n d i s n o t
, , ,

d e p o s i t e d fo r a c o n s i d e ra b l e l e n g t h O f t i m e S e pa ra t e d f ro m th e l i q u i d i t .

i s O f a p e a rl y w h i t e
. Th e p e a r l y b r o m i d e b e c o m
-
. e s a p u re i n te n s e
y e ll o w -

b y c o n t a c t w i th a c o n c e n tr a t e d s o l u ti o n O f amm o n i u mb r o m ide Th i s .

c h a n g e i s s o t o s p e ak i n s t a n t a n e o u s
, , .

Th e g ra n u l a r b ro m i d e e i th e r d u ll Or s h i n i n g a n d th e p e a rl y w h i te
“ -
, ,

m o d ific a ti o n Of i t re s u l ti n g f ro m th e a c ti o n o f b o i l i n g w a te r o n th e fi rs t
,

tw o ar e th e m o s t s e n s i t i e s u b s t a n c e s t o l i h t w i th w h i c h Iv am a c
, g
q u ai n te d .

“
I t is n t to b o i l th e mfo r tw o o r thre e s e c o n d s i n w a ter Ov e r th e
s u ffi c i e

fla me O f a B u n s e n b u rn e r b u rn i n g w i th e x c e s s O f a i r t o c a u s e th e m to
‘

, ,

b l a c k e n B e c a u s e Of th i s e x trem e l i a b i l i ty to c h a n g e th e s e e x p e ri m en t s
.
,

w o u l d n o t h a e b e e n p o s s i b l e i f th ey h a d n o t b e e n c a rr i e d o n w i th e x c e p
v

t i o n a l p re c a u ti o n s .

Th u s th e p ro d u c t i o n Of th e g ra n u l a r b ro m i d e a n d i t s c h a n g e i n to th e ,

p e a rl y w h it e b ro mi d e w ere effe c t e d i n a n ap p ra t u s w h i c h a d mi tt e d n o
-
,
a

l ig h t Th e ma n i p u l a ti o n Of th e s e b o d i e s to o k p l a c e i n th e d a rk a n d th ey
.
,

w er e e x am i n e d i n a y e ll o w o r i n a d i ff u s e d l i g h t .

Th e p e a rl y wh i te b r o m
“
i d e pa s s e s b y f u s i o n i n to th e p u r e i n t e n s e
-

y e ll o w s ta t e
”
.

Thu s thirteen years ago Stas discovered and mad e kn own

i

, ,
”
that the most se n sitive su bstance to light co uld be Obtained
b y the actio n Of heat u pon silver brom id e Y et his discovery .

fell on barren ( photographic) gro u nd and it w as not till 1 8 79 ,

that M on ckh ov en show ed how this work Of Stas ex plained the

res u l ts Obtained b y B ennett and others .

C er tainly every photog rapher o u ght to st u dy chemistry .

B en n ett ob ta i n s Gr ea t S en si ti v en ess by S tew i n g til e

E ml i The report of a me et ing Of the So u th L ondon
u s on —
‘

“
P hotographic Society on March 7th 1 8 7 8 states that a nu mber , ,

of gel atine negatives were exhibited by Mr B ennett one Of .

,

them being an interior Of a room taken by ordinary gaslight , ,

the expos u re being one ho u r ” “

others w ere B oat scene on
”
river exposu re by drop sh u tter say t w entieth Of a secon d
,
- —
,
”
and R i v er scene expos u re fo u r seconds etc The experts , ,
.

w h o examined these negatives considered them s u fficiently

74 A H I S TOR Y OF P HOTOGR A P HY .

C ol St u ar t W ortley d escribes the preparation Of a gelatin e

.

emu lsion at a temperat ure of 1 8 0 deg Fahr adding y o u . .

, ,

will notice that I make a considerable alteration from any i n

str u cti on s that have h i therto b een given for the preparation Of

a gelatine em ulsion as I w ork at an exceedingly hig h tempera

,

t u re w ith the Obj ect Of forming my emu l sion at once instead ,

Of S prea d ing the formation o v er m a ny ho u rs as I believe , , ,

other w ork ers d o I g et the most perfect fi lms by this method

'
.

of work ing and I am certain that the above temperat u re h as

,
”
no inj urio u s effect whate v er o n the gelatine The only
reason w e can think of why C Ol W ortley did not attain com
.

l ete s u ccess w ith this me th od was that he did not maintai n

p
the high temperatu re for a s u fficient length Of t ime ; he say s
he allowed the bottle containing th e em u lsi on to st and for a h

”
u arter of an ho u r in the hot w ater w hich wo ld hardly be
q u ,

long enou gh a t 1 80 degrees to permi t the conversion Of the

bromide Of sil ver into the sensitive granu lar molecu lar
'

state .

After general attention had been drawn to the gelatino bro -

’
mide process in the sp ring Of 1 8 7 8 by B ennett s rem arkab le
w ork it was soon fou nd that the prolonged em u lsification r e
,

qu ired in his method ste w ing for seven d ays at 9 0 deg

—
.

w as not only very tedio u s and tro u blesome b u t that more ,

—

especially in su mmer i t prod u ced other evils especially the

—

decomposition Of a part or the w hole Of the gelatine B earing

’
.

Stu ar t W ortl ey s experience in mind it was not d ifficu lt to see ,

that a possible r emedy might be fo u nd in cooking or digesting ,

the gelatine for a S horter time b u t at a mu ch higher tempera ,

tu re This seems to have been done by several workers b u t

.
,

it w as first p u blicly annou nced by Mr Geo Mans field at a . .

meeting Of the P hotographic Society Of Irel and in A u gu st , ,

1 87 who “ dre w atte ntion to the fact that the lon g and
trou b l esome process of digestion might be obviated by formin g
the bromide Of silver i n a very w eak solu tion Of the gelatine ,

which was then b oiled for abo u t ten minu tes the remainder of ,

the complement Of gelatine i n the formu la bein g added when

”
the first s olu tion had cooled down to abou t 1 0 0 deg F -
. .

B r i ti s n 7 on r n a l f
o P notog r ap /
zy fo r A u g u s t 2 2 d ,
1 87 9 .
 A H I S TOR Y OF P H OTOGR A P HY . 7 5
The other point here recommended to emu l si fy th e S ilver —

bromide in a small po rt ion Of the gel atine only the remainder ,

being added af ter the cooking was a repetition Of the advice —

given by W B B olton in 1 8 74 ; it is the plan n ow generally

. .

adopted .

In May 1 8 79 C aptain Abney to u se his own words

, , , ,

sho w ed that a good emu lsion might be formed by pr ecipitat

ing sil ver bromide by dropping a sol u tion Of a solu ble bro
mide into a dil u te solu tion Of silver nitrate in w ater and glyce
rine The s u pernatant liq u id w as d ecante d and after two or
.
,

three w ashings with w ater the precipitate w as mixed w ith the ,

”
proper amo u nt Of gelatine The Object of this method w as .

to save the tro u ble Of w ashing the emu lsion .

In connection w ith this note it is cur iou s to t urn back to a ,

pap er w ritte n by Thomas S u tton in Febr u ary w here , ,

he w rite s
“Mix aqu eou s sol u tions Of silver nitrate and potassiu m bro

mide White S ilver bromide will be immediately formed and

.

W ash the precipitate repeate d ly in

—

qu ickly precipitated .

w ater in order to remove the potash nitrate etc Mix ,

.

the dry S ilver bromide with a little glycerine and add to it a

”
hot solu tion Of gelatine .

It w ill be seen that the t wo methods are nearly identical .

B ut alas S u tton only asks W h y not do this 2

,
”
H e did not
actu ally try the experiment or he might perhaps have antici ,

pated Abney by five years .

R esea r ches of M on ckhoven Dr D von M on ckh ov en Of —

. .
,

Ghent b orn 1 8 8 4 died 1 8 8 2 w as an excellent chemist an d

, , ,

good all ro u nd man Of science wh o devoted himself chiefly

-
,
“
to the scientific S ide Of photography His General Treatise . .

on P hotography ” “
and P hotographic Optics
were leading books in their d ay an d are still u sef u l H is solar ,
.

enlarging apparatu s ( 1 8 64) is w ell kno wn an d for many years ,

he carried on a large bu sin ess in Belgi u m for the manuf act ure
Of carbon tissu e and after w ards O f dr plates
y
-
,
.

W e have seen that in the ordinary methods Of preparing a

gelatine emu lsion a great deal Of w ashing is necessary in order
,

B r i ti s h 7 on r n a l o
f P h otog r ap hy , F eb r u a ry 1 3 th 1 8 74 ,
.
76 H I S TOR Y H OTOGR AP H Y
‘

A OF P .

to remov e th e su perfl u ou s salts W hen M on ckhov en tried thi s

'

“
plan he fo u nd that the water Of ou r good city Of Ghent is S O
chalky cau sed b y t he natu re Of the soil tha t I was obliged
'

— —

t o find some method Of doing a w ay with washing my em u l

”
sions The plan whic h he hit u pon was to mi x with the
.
*

fl u id gelatine first carbonate of silver and th en hydrobromic

, , ,

a cid in the precise qu antities i n which t hey wo u ld combin e

,
v
'

chemically with one another The resu lt of th ei r interacti on was .

th e formation Of S ilver bromide (which remained su spe nded in

t h egelatine ) car b on i c acid gas which escaped and water which
, ,

was harmless .

Owing however to the practical difficu lties Of the process

, , ,

which requ ired a skilled chemist to carry it ou t su ccessfu lly ,

and the expense Of the I ngredients th i s method was never em

[

ployed commercially
mm
.

M on ckhoven u ses A on i a to Ob ta i n a S en si ti ve Gel a ti n e

Em l i u s on w i thou t the A i d
same paper i n of H ea t —
I n th e
wh ich M on ckh ov en p u blished the method d escrib ed above he ,

st ated that he had Obtained th e se n sitive green form Of S ilver

bromide by the addition Of ammonia and withou t the aid Of ,

heat In an a d mi rable lectu re deliver ed in October 1 8 7

.
, ,

before the B elgian P hotographic Association after describing ,

th e formation Of an em u lsion in the ordinary way by the a d di

tion Of sil ver nitrate to a gelatin ou s sol u tion of a moniu m m
“
bromide M on ckh o v en adds " N ow pou r in the p u re ammo
,

n i a and S hake u well the sol ution The ammonia e x ercises

p .

qu ite a special action here ; its effect is to render the em ulsion

ready to be u sed i n a few minu tes ; or if great sensitiveness ,

b e requ ired it can be Obtained in a few ho u rs in stead Of days

, ,
”
an d thu s decomposition Of the gelatine is avoided .

Some remarks in th e same lectu re on one Of the most fre

qu ent cau ses Of failu re in out door work are S O valu able th at -

we reprod u ce th em also “ I am certain that I shal l not make .

a great mistake in s ayi ng that sca rcely One d ark slide Of a cam -
“

era protects the plate as it o u ght to do L ight enters especially .

,

’
M o n c k h ov e n pap er re a d b e fo re th e P h o to g rap h i c S o c i ety o f F ra n c e
s , ,

i n A u g u s t 1 879 w a s re p r i n t e d i n t h e B r i ti s h 7 o u r n a l f P hotog r ap hy fo r
, ,
o

A u g u s t 8 th O f th e s am e y e a r .

1 R '
e p r i n t e d B r i ti sh
you n a l o
f P h otog r ap hy O c t
r o b e r 1 7th 1 8 79 , , .
 A H I S TOR Y OF P H OTOGR AP H Y . 77

when the S hu tter Of the slide is p u lled ou t to expose the plate .

I have frequ ently proved this in the following mann er " I have
exposed a plate in the camera withou t taking the cap Off the
l ens ; and in developing the entire plate has been fogged
“

.
,

Y ou mu st also make cer tai n that light does not enter throu gh
,

th e holes Of the W aterhou se diaphragms ; nor ro u nd the ring

*
u pon which th e lens is scre w ed I am acc u stomed in the Open
.

to completely envelope my camera with a large focu sing

cloth allo wing only the lens to protru de I even Ope n the
,
.

dark S li d e u nder this cloth

-
W hen I first began my
e xper im
.

ents on gelatino bromide I cou ld Obtain nothin g b u t

-
,

fogged plates I wrote to the maker an d h e informed me

.
,

that the cau se Of my failu re w as o w ing either to the red glas s

Of my dark room or the state Of my dark slide
-
I reglaz ed -

my window w ith proper glass and overhau led my dark S lides

.
,

-
.
,

A S soon as I took these precau tions I had n o more trou ble

with fog
’
.

M onckhov en S “ ammonia method Of preparin g emu lsion

at once came into u se commercially and is employed by many ,

ma nu factu rers at the present day P lates prepared in this .

way do not how ever retain their good qu alities S O long as

, ,

those coated with em u lsion w hich has been simply boiled .

N or ro u n d th e ca p O f th e l ens L o o k fo r th e s e d ef ec ts i n b rig h t s u n
.

s h i n e b y re m o v i n g th e f o c u s i n g g l a s s a n d th n p u tti n g h e a d u n d e r f o c u s
, ,
a
i n g c l o th ; l a s tl y rem o v e l e n s a n d l o o k th ro u g h l e n s ap ert u r e a t d a rk
W J H
,

sl i d e—
. . .
 HI S TOR Y H OTOGR A P H Y
“

A OF P .

C HAP TE R XI .

HI S TOR Y OF P HOTOGR AP HI C P R I NTI NG P R OC ES S ES .

C opyi n g b y L i ght i n tr od u ced b y Wed gwood a

/n d D a v
y .

The first su ccessfu l ex periments in photography were those i n

which copies Of opaqu e or se i opaqu e Obj ects were Obtained m
by placin g the mu pon sensitive paper an d exposing the whole
to light The parts Of th e paper not protected from the light
.

were blackened by it and when the Object was remo v ed its

,

position and ou tli ne were shown in white u pon a black grou nd .

S u ch a process was Of cou rse only s u itable for flat an d thin

, ,

bodies as plants engravings etc an d those Of v arying degrees

, , ,
.

Of opacity gave the best res u lts becau se a similar gradation of ,

shade was Obtained in the copies A S a sensitive su rface Schu lz e

.
,

u sed a mixt u re Of c h alk an d s il ve r nitrat e in 1 72 7 and Thomas

W edgwood silver nitratespread u pon paper or leather in 1 79 5

,

;
Da v y in 1 8 0 2 fo und that S ilver chloride gave better resu lts than
silver nitrate
-
.

P hotogen i c D r a w ui g The first person to introdu ce a

.

photographic Oopying p rocess of real val u e was Fo x Talbot

,
- .

H e co m menced his experiments it appears in 1 8 3 4 u sing sil , , ,

ver nitrate u pon paper b u t soon discoverin g that silver ,

'

chloride mixed with a lit tle silver n itrate w as far more sensi
ti v e to li ght than either Of these s u bstances alone he employed ,

it with great su ccess for copyi ng pu rposes and even as we have , ,

described I n a former chapter s u cceeded I n Obtaining pict u res

,

within a camera by its aid These camera pictu res however

.
-
, ,

were p r i n ted r ight ou t by the actio n of light and this cau sed
, ,

the expos u res to be very long from half an h o u r to an ho u r

—

It w as not till Talbot discovered a method Of d evelo m

.

p en t
( in
1 8 41 ) that his process became a practical s u ccess as far as tak
ing pictu res in the camera was concerned .

To this copying process u pon paper coated w ith certain salts

Of silver Talbot applied the name Of
“ photogenic d rawing ”
, ,
 A H I S TOR Y OF P H OTOGR A P HY . 79

an d m
the ter migh t w ell be retained for this still u sefu l metho d
Of copying nat u ral Objects by s u per position In the first de -
.

scription Of his process Talbot w rites “ I dip s u perfine wr it

,

i ng pa per in a w eak solu tion Of common salt and w ipe it dry , .

I then S pread a sol u tion Of nitrat e Of S ilver ( 6 0 grains to th e

Ou nce ) on one su rfac e Only an d dry it at the fire
,
B y alter .

n ately washing the paper with salt and w ith silver and drying ,

it between times I have s u ccee ded in increasin g its sensibility

,
.

For fixing the images after having tried ammonia and several
,

o her reage n ts with very imperfect su ccess the first thing w hich
t
m
,

g ave e a s u ccessf u l res u lt was the iodide Of potassium m u ch ,

dilu ted w ith w ater If a photogenic pictu re is w ashed over

.

with this liqu i d an iodi d e Of silver is formed which is ab sO

,

lu tely u nalterable by su nshine The specimen Of lace w hich I

.

exhibited to the R oyal Society and which was made five years ,

a o was preserved in this manner

g ,
B u t my u su al method Of
.

fixin g is differ ent from this It consists in immersing the pic

.

t u re in a strong solu tion Of commo n salt and then wipin g Off ,

”
the s u perfl u o u s moistu re and drying it
’
.

App li ca ti on s of P hotogen y Talbot s first application of

.
—

his process w as to the copyi n g of flo w ers and leaves selected

fro mhis her b ariu m In those early days Of the art the vast
.
,

saving of time and trou ble effected seems to have str u ck the
Obser v ers very forcibly In the same m . emoir Talbot remarks
It is S O nat u ral to associate the idea Of l a b or w ith great com
p l exi t
y and elaborate detail of exec u tio n t h at one is more ,

str u ck at seeing the tho u san d fl orets Of an a gr osti s d epicted

with all its capillary branchlets ( and S O accu rately that none Of
all this m u ltit u de sh all w ant its little bivalve calyx requ i ring ,

to be examined thro u gh a lens) than one is by the pictu re Of ,

the large and simple leaf Of an oak or a ch estn u t B u t in .

tr u th the d ifl i c u l ty is in both cases the same The one Of

_ .

these takes no more time to exec u te than the other ; for the
Object which w o u ld take the most sk i l fu l l artist da s o r weeks
y
Of labor to trace or to co py is e ffected b the b o u n dless po w ers
y
”
Of nat u ral chemistry in the space Of a few seconds .

To give a n idea of the degree Of acc u racy w ith which some

*
P h i losoph i ca l M ag a z i n e 1 8 3 9 , ,
p . 2 09 .
80 A H I S TOR Y OF P H OTOGR A P H Y .

O bjects can be imitat ed by this process I need only men tio n ,

on e instance Upon on e occasio n having made an i m

. age Of a ,

p i ece Of lace Of an elaborate pattern I showed it to some per ,

s ons at a distance Of a few feet with the inqu iry whether i t

‘

, ,

was a good re presentation 9 “

when the reply was that they .
,

were not to be so easily d eceived f or that it w as evide ntly n o ,

”
pictu re b u t the p i ece Of lace itsel f
,
.

It I s to b e regretted that photogenic d raw in g seems to

have almost fallen in to disu se W ith o u r ordinary sensiti z ed .

paper or with paper prepared in the way described by Tal b ot

, ,

very bea u tifu l co pies Of su itabl e nat u ral Obj ects fern s for e x —

ample can be Obtai n ed The process forms a capital intro

—
.
-w

d u ctio n to photography and is es pecially s u itable fOr ladie s ,

an d children The copies Obtain ed can be u sed for many deco

.

r ativ e p u rposes
’
.

The F i r s t P or tr a i ts P r i n ted b y L i ght I n Talbot s firs t .

—

co mmu nication ( 1 8 3 9) he clearly recogni z es the val u able fac t

that the pictu res Obtained b y his process are n ega ti ves fro m ,

each Of which any n u mber Of p os i ti ves can be Obtai ned by

“
printi ng Th u s he writes " In copying engravings etc by ,
.
,
.

this method the lights and shado w s are reversed consequ ently ,

th e eff ect is wholly altered B u t if the p ictu re so Ob tai ned i s .

*
first p r eser ved so as to bear su nshine it may be after ward s
, ,

itself employed as an Object to be C opied and b y means Of -

this second process the lights and S hado w s are bro u ght back
”
to their original dis positi on B u t the i n v entor did n ot .

then think Of employ ing photography as a mean s Of por

-

“
trait taking e x cep t indeed for the making Of o u tli ne por
-
,

traits or s i lhou ettes

,
These are now Often traced by the .

hand from shado w s projected by a candle B u t the h and .

is liable to err from the tr u e o u tline and a very small .

,

deviation cau ses a notable d iminu tion i n the resemblan ce I .

believe this man u al process cannot be compared with the tr u th

and fidelity with which the portrait is g iven by me an s Of solar
”
light
B u t the improvements patented by Talbo t in 1 8 4 1 w
.

ith ,

others added by C u n d ell I n 1 8 4 4 so im proved the C a lotyp e

i . e .
, fi x ed .

{ P h i l os op h i ca l M ag a z i n e fo r M ay , 1 844 .
 82 A H I S TOR Y OF P H OTOGR AP HY .

manent processes as carbon and platinotype together w ith the ,

advance Of the photo mechanical methods bid fair again to -

,

bring photography to the front and to giv e it that leading ,

place to which it is entitled as a mode Of il lu strating bo oks

Itm
.

ay be interesting to add here that the firs t p u blic ex hi

b itio u Of photographs w as held u nder the a u spices Of the

Society Of A r ts in their r oo in t h e Adelphi L ondon on
D ece m ber 2 2d 1 8 5 2
,
‘

This exhi b ition res u lted i n the for a

m ‘

m
,

,
.

tion of the P hotographic Society Of L ondon on J anu ary 3 0 th

1 85
, ,

3 and this society h as eve r since held an an nu al exhibi tion

,

Of photographs in L ondon
’
.

P r i n ti n g on P la i n S a l ted P op er Fo x Talbot s method .

- -

Of printing u pon ordinary white paper has come down almos t

u naltered to the present day The standard si z e Of the paper .

employed is 2 3 by 1 7 inches and it is nearly all made at the ,

little towns of R ives in France and Sa x e in Germany Thirty , .

ye ars ago th e principal makers Of photographic paper were

H ollingworth and Sanford in England and C an son in France , ,

b u t for som ereason or other the two towns above n amed now -

enjoy a practical monopoly The chief points to be attended .

to in making pape r for u se in photography ar e the avoidance

Of metallic particles su ch as might come from bu ttons in the
—

rags etc and Of the h yposu lphite Of soda which is largely u se d

,
.
,

by ordinary paper mak ers in the process Of whi tening the

-

p aper b u t w hich is very d estru ctive to photographs .

The paper is salted by being floated for thr ee m

,
“
‘

inu tes
u pon the following solu tion

W a te r
Am mo n iu m hl id
c or e

S d i u m c i tra te
o .

Ge l a t i n e

It is then dried and sensiti z ed by being floated for the same "

length Of time u pon a solu tion Of silver nitrate fifty grains ,

to the o u nce ; when dry it is ready for u se

P r i n ti n g on A l b u m
.

en i z ed P a er
p P lain salted
p ape r i s .
—

most u sefu l where the photograph is to be afterw ards colored ,

as it gives a dead su rface w hich is easy to work u pon ; b u t ,

u nles s special preca u tions are taken the image has a gray and ,

s u nken in appearance TO remedy this a q u antity Of albu men

-
.
,
 A H I S TOR Y OF P H OTOGR A P HY . 83

( white of egg ) i s n o w almost al w ays mi x ed w ith the first or

salting solu tion This fills the pores Of the paper and keeps
.

th e S ensitive salt of silver (silver chloride) w hich is sub se

.

qu ently fo rmed by floating the prepared paper u pon silver .

solu tion u pon the su rface its gloss is also considered to add
,

to the appearance of the pictu re The introd u ction of albu .

men i z ed paper has been credited to Fox Talbot b u t the first -

,

description Of it which I have been able to find in English is

i n the third edition of “ ’
Hu nt s Manu al of P hotography ”
,

(p r eface dated D ecember w here it is give

,
n as an e x

t ract from a b ook by the French investigator L e Gray There .

is another accou nt Of the process by H P ollock in the jou r

u ly 1 8 5
.
, ,

n al Of the (L ondon
) P hotographic Society for J 3 ,
.

P apers tin te d pink mau ve etc w ere introdu ced in 1 8 6 3

, ,
.
, ,

an d enameled paper (to give greater brilliancy ) abo u t the

s ame time .

Thomas S utton patented (October 1 86 2) a plan Of givi n g ,

paper a pr elimin ary coating Of India ru bber dissolved in ben

/

z ole before albu menizing it This completely prevented the .

solu tions sinkin g into the paper and cau sed the prints to be
more vigorou s an d brilliant Su ch paper was manu factu red .

for several years by Messrs Ord ish in L ondon . .

I n 1 8 6 6 A Taylor u sed
~

,
. a solu tion Of bleached shell ac in
phosphate Of soda to prepare the paper instead Of albu men .

Great permanence w as cl ai m e d for this method

'

In 1 8 42 Dr A S T aylor (and A Smee and Mr C ollen

,
. . . . .
,

abou t the same time) u s ed ammonio nitrate Of sil ver to sensi -

ti z e pl ain salted paper w ith good resu lts Al b u menized paper .

cannot be sensiti z ed in this way inasmu ch as it is d issolved by ,

the am monio nitrate -

.

P r i n ti n g w i th the J u i ces of F l ower s I n 1 8 4 2 Sir J o h n —

H erschel devoted mu ch time to exp eriments u pon printing on

paper soaked in the coloring matter extracted from the petals
Of many species Of flo w ers The petals w ere cru shed in a
.

mortar a little alcohol add ed and the p u lp w as then strained

, ,

throu gh a cloth The liqu id S O Obtained w as then spread u pon

.

paper with a bru sh and dried in a dark place P oppies violets .

, ,

*
P h otog r ap h i c N ew s , J n u
e 1 5
th , p . 2 80 .
 84 A H I S TOR Y OF P H OTOGR A P H Y .

roses etc w ere tried w ith s u ccess ; b u t the exposu res requ ire d
,
.
,
-

to produ ce a visible impression were very lon g extending over ,

*
w eeks or even m onths ,
.

P r i n ti n g ou t on Gel a ti n o C hlor i d e P a er More than

p
— ~

twenty years ago P almer and Smith show ed 1 h ow paper “ .

coate d w ith an em u lsion Of gelatino chloride of silver co u ld be -

O
’

u sed for coati n g

paper for h t r a hi c i i
'

p og p p r n t n
g .

In 1 8 8 1 Dr Eder and C apt Abney p u blished i fu r th er de

,
. .

tails ; while W T W ilkinson gave a nu mber Of practical d e . .

tails in the B r i ti sh J ou r n a l of P hotogr ap hy for the same

year § .

A r i s totyp e P ap er I n 1 8 86 the fi rmOf L iesegang Of Du s .

—

sel d orf in Germany prepared a paper coated wit h gelatino

, , ,

citro ct ri d e Of silver w hich u nder the name of Aristo or

-
“ ”
, , ,

aristotype paper h as fo u nd favor especially for printing from , ,

”
weak negatives The pictu re is printed ou t as u pon ordi .
-
,

n ary albu menized paper b u t it only req u i res abou t one third

m
-
,

Of the ti e ; i t m u st then be toned and fixed A similar .

’
paper is manu fact u red by Ob ern ett er " .

R ea d y sensi tiz ed P ap er The al b u meni z ing Of paper is so

-
.
—

tro u blesome an operation that it has been left almost u niver ,

s a ly to the man u fac tu rer B ut it is the c u stom with pr ofes

l
,
.
‘

s ion al photographers and w ith many others to sensiti z e for .

themselves the al ready salted and al b u menized paper by fl oat

“

ing it u po n a bath Of S ilver nitrate Unfort unately it is the .

,

case that pa per sensitized in this way loses its color rapi dly . .

It Ou ght in fact to be u sed as soon as it is dry The con

, ,
.

v en i en c e o f a pa er which co u ld be p urchased r ea d y s en s i ti z ed
p
and w hich w o uld keep for a reasona b le period w as do u btles s ,

recogni zed at an e arly date ; and s u ch an article came into u se

c ommerci ally i n 1 869 and is n ow largely u sed yet strange to , ,

""
S ee H e rs c h e n o f th e S o l a r S p ec tru mo n
l O n th e A c ti o V eg eta bl e
o l o rs ; P h i l o s o p h i c al Tra n s a c ti o n s 1 8 42 pa rt i i p 1 8 1
”
C , ,
.
, . .

{ P h t g p h i c N w 1 8 66 p 24 86
o o ra e s, , .
, .

i I b i d p 40 0 , . .

gP p .
, 1 40 1 6 8 , .

II Th i s we ll kn
n M u n i ch p h o to g rap h e r h a s d i e d s i n c e
-
ow n
th i s s e t e n c e

w a s w r i tt e n b u t th e pap er w i l l d o u b tl e s s b e c o n t i n u e d to b e issue d u n d er
h is n am
,

e .
 A H I S TOR Y OF P H OTOGR AP HY . 8 5
S ay, the exact method Of prepa ration h as been s u ccessf u lly
”
kept a trade secret .

Mr J C H opkins in the P hotogr ap h i c N ews for 1 8 7 3

. . .
, ,

stated that ordinary sensitized paper keeps w ell if placed when

nearly d ry betw een S heets of blotting paper w hich have been -

s oaked in carbonate Of soda sol u tion (thirty grains to the o u n ce

O f w ater an d th en d ried P ads Of carbonate d blotting paper

)
-
.
,

placed behi n d the negative in the pri n ting frame also ans w er -
,

w ll
e .

C aptain A bney w ashes the sensitized paper (to remove the

‘

free S il v er nitrate) and then dips it into a w eak sol u tion Of

e ither potassi u m nitrite or potassi u m s u lphite .

Mr W Bedford sensitizes the paper on a ne u tral bath and

. .
,

then floats the face u pon a bath containing thir ty grains each
Of citric acid and Of S ilver nitrate to the o u nce Of w ater .

Another method is to fl oat the b aclo Of the paper after sen ,

s it1 z 1 n u pon a w eak sol u tion Of citric acid The addition Of

g ,
.

this s u b stance to the printing bath w as recommended in 1 8 6 3

by C olonel S t u ar t W ortley It is believed that m u ch Of the .

rea d y sensitized paper made at the present day is sensitized

-

u on a nitrate Of S il v er bath to which citric acid and a l ittle

p
umhas been added M B aden of Albon fo u nd that by
g . a .
, ,

w ashing sensitized pape r (to remove t he free nitrate Of silver)

the paper w o u ld keep for a l On g time ; b u t before u sing i t
mu st b ef u med w i th a mmoni a This method w as introd u ced
, ,

into E ngl and in 1 8 70 by C olonel St u art W ortley t ,

.

A mmonia f u m ing has been u sed w i th great s u ccess in

A merica ( where it was introd u ced i n 1 8 6 3 ) b u t has n o t met w ith
m u ch favor in England altho u gh its effects are u ndeniably
m
,

g ood and
,
O l d
”
sa ples Of paper m ay Often be m ade avail
a ble for u se by si m ply f u ming them
C om
.

b i n a ti on P r i n ti n g I t is a common practice with art

—

i st s to i m“
prove any landscape w hich they may be engage d
”

in painting by the o m i ttal Of s u ch portion s as w o u ld tend to

mar the e ffect Of the finished pict u re replacing them by o h ,

j ects sketche d I n another locality Fig u res too ar e intro d u ced .

, ,

*
P h otog r a
phie j ou r n a l , F e b r u a ry 1 6 th , 1 86 3 .

j
'
B r i ti s h you r n a l of P h otog rap hy , p . 337 .
 A H I S TOR Y OF P H OTOGR A P
. HY .

where and as req u ired S u ch a power Of selection i s gener ally .

considered to be beyond the m eans Of the photographer ; b u t .

that it has been po ssible to produ ce a S in gle prin t or finished

pict u re by combining tw o or more negatives has been known
and s u cces sf u lly practiced for more than thirty years
A t an exhibition held in con necti o n with the m eeti n of th e
‘

g
B ritish Association in Glasgo w in 1 8 5 5Messrs B erwick and , ,
.

“
Annan of that city exhibited a pictu re printed from tw o
, ,

di ff erent negatives a fig u re introd u ced into a lan d scape

—
.

The process was exactly that su bseq u ently u sed by Mr H P . . .

R obinson w hich w e have described fu r ther on

On April 5 th 1 8 5
.
,
'

8 O Sa rony patented a means Of pr o

, ,
.

'

”
d u ci ng a positive p o rtr ai t b y mean s Of t wo or more negatives .

”
The first par t Of the paten t is practically B er wick an d
’
Annan s method b u t he adds these i mpro vements may als o
, ,

be effected by taking u p the different por tions Of the collo d ion

film from the glass Of one or m ore negatives an d layi n g them
d o w n on a gl ass Or i n the printing frame in their proper rela -

tive positions and then p rinting from them w itho u t marks

This reminds u s Of th e plan adopted b y many in 1 8 8 5
,
.

( when 1

paper n egatives came into gener al u se) Of c u tting Out the par ts ,

req u ired fro meach negative w ith a sharp pair Of S C I S S OI S and ‘

fitting them accu rately together on a S heet Of glass .

The first man to attract general at tention to combination

printing was Oscar G R ej lan d e r ( b orn 1 80 3 died a.
,

S w edish artist w h o practiced photography at W olv er ham p

ton , an d wh o in 1 8 5
,

7 sent a v ery large photograph called

The Two W ays Of L ife to the famo u s Manchester Exhi b i
tion o f that year Thirty negatives w ere em ployed in pri nting
.

*
this photograph each being laid in t u r n u pon the sensitized
, ,

paper and exposed to s u nlight w hile the rest Of the paper w as ,

covered ove r with black vel v et A S a n exampl e Of ingen u ity .

and po w er to overcome di fficu lties this pictu re has neve r ,

been s u rpasse d
In the next year 1 8 5
.

8 Mr H P R obinson prod u ced his

, , . . .

famou s combination pictu re (printed from five n egatives) en ,

* “
O n P h o to g ra ph i c C o mp o s i ti o n ; w i th a p
D e s c r i ti o n -
Oi
‘
Th e TW O
W ay s of L i fe ,
’ b O G R e l a n d er
y j . . . P h otog r ap h i c 7 ou r n a l fo r 1 8 8 , 5p . 1 91 .
 A H I S TOR Y OF P H OTOGR AP HY . 87

t itled Fading A w ay a cons u mptive girl su rr o u nded by g r i ev

ing friends whi ch w as exhi b ited in J an u ary 1 8 5

, ,

9 before the , ,
,

L ondon P hotographic S oci ety fi It attracted great attention

i
,

and mu ch difference Of Opinion was excited as to the pro

p ri et
y Of photography being employed to delineate s u ch a

su bject B u t all opposition was stopped by the S plendid series

.

Of photographs with w hich Mr R ob i nson follo w ed u p his first .

”
su ccess inclu ding Bri n ging H ome the May 1 8 6 3 (S ize , ,

40 by 1 5
, ,

“W
in ches printed from nine negatives),
ayside GOS ,

” “
Si
p A M err v Tale
”
and a score Of others the res u l t Of th e
’
, , ,

artist s n oble resolve to d o something at least one pictu re ,

every year for the love Of art and Of photography

,
”
M r R ob . .

’ method may be called the ”

stop ping Ou t plan As
i n son s -
.

many negatives as are requ ired are taken and then from each ,

is stopped ou t in some way or other as by painting over w ith —

black varnish or gu mming on paper all b u t the part r e

,
—

qu ired The sensitive pa per is then printed in tu rn u nder

.

each neg ative

This is merely a variety Of combin a
.

P r i n ti n g i n C lou d s - —

tion printing In the early days Of photograp hy abou t 1 8 5 5 ,

say a perfectly w h ite cl ear sky w as mu ch admired In the

.

.
,

very first nu mber Of the P hotogr ap hi c J ou r n a l (March ,

Sir W J N e w ton su ggests the addition of clou ds by

. .

the u se on the S kies Of dense negatives Of cyanide Of p otas

siu m ; or Of India ink u pon th in ones Abou t 1 8 6 2 the de .

sir ab ili t
y O f adding clo u ds to landscape pri nts w as generally

recognized and at first this w as done b y paintin g or dabbing

,

u pon the back Of the negative Then separate clo u d negativ es .

-

w ere taken and these “ ”

natu ral clou ds printed in by meth -
,

Od s w hich are w ell explained by V Blanchard in the P hoto .

r a hi c N ew s for September 4 th 1 8 6 3
g p ,
.

Vi gn etti n g This mode Of shading Off the light S O as to

.
— -

cast a halo rou nd the pictu re is desc ribed by Mr L atimer

rk in the P hotogr ap hi c J ou r n a l for December 1 8 5
.

C la 3 He ,
.

placed a sheet of some opaqu e S u bstance hav in g a hole cu t in

*
M r R ob in s on
.
’
s fi rs t d es c ri ti op n Of his mth
e od is cont a i n ed in a pap er
p r i n te d i n t h e P h otog r ap h i c j ou r n a l fo r A p ri l l 6 th ,
1 8 60 b ut h is mth e od

i s f u ll y b e d i n th e b o o k o n S i l v er P r i n ti n g ( c h ap
”
d e s c ri . w h i ch h e
w r o te i n c o n j n c ti o n w i th C ap t A b n ey
u . .
88 A H I S TOR Y OF P H OTOGR A P HY .

the center i n front Of the n egative and ab ou t half an inch

,
- -

abo v e it The printing frames so fitted w ere placed on a

.

light stage wh i ch was made to revolve by means Of a bottle

‘

jack V ignetting came into e xtende d u se in 1 8 5

. 7 5 8 Mr -
. .

Forrest of L iverpool w as the inventor Of the stained and

, ,

grou nd vignetting glasses n ow sq c ommonly u sed —

.

H i stor y o
f T on i n g P r ocess es Toni ng
”
as photograp h ers ,

call it is practically gilding th e I mage forme d b y light either

, ,

by a thin deposit of gold u pon the silver Of which the image

is composed or by the replacement Of part or the whole Of
,

the silver by gold In 1 8 4 1 the French scientist Fi z eau .

, ,

toned dagu erreotypes by applying to the heated su rface Of

the sil v er plate a mixtu re Of hyposu l phite Of soda and chloride
Of gold

The early paper prints Of T albot w ere Of a foxy red or -

bister tint d u e to the color of the deposite d S ilver in a finely

,
“ ”
divi d ed state modified by th e si z e with which the paper
,

w as impregnated B v u si ng continu o u sly the same fixi n g bath

.

( adding crystals Of hypo occasio n ally to keep u

p its strength ) ,
”
or by placi n g su ch prints in an Ol d hypo bath i e one al ,
. .
,

ready impregnated with chloride Of sil v er and w hich had been

allo w ed to stand for a week or so or u ntil a black d eposit was ,

seen to form the prints w ere changed in color from red to

,

bro w n or black Th i s process w as largely u sed b et ween 1 84 8

and 1 8 5 5; it w as really su lphu r toning the black color
.

“ ”
,

being d u e to the formation of s ulphide Of silver A su lphu r .

etted organic salt Of S ilver w as ho w ever also formed and u n , , ,

der atmosph eric influ ences this s peedily altered re acti ng in ,

addition u pon th e other su bstan ces present At this period , ,

moreover the necessity for a thorou gh removal Of the h ypo

,

s u lphite Of soda u sed in fi xing was n o t generally recognized ,

and its pre sence cont rib u ted to a rapid fading Of the pictu re
I t is dou btf u l whether a single photograph taken before 1 8 5 5
.

co u ld be prod u ced to day which has n ot u n d ergon e seriou s -

,

an d for the m ost part fatal deterioration .

V ery val u able in formati on on these points is contained in a

C o m mu n i c a te d t o th e A c a d e mic d es S c ien c e s o n M ay i 5
th a n d 24 th ,

1 841 .
90 A H I S TOR Y OF P H OTOGR AP HY .

'

o ught tO b e treated a fter its removal from the pri nting frame
I -

and mi nor investigators filled in the details

In 1 8 55Mr W aterho u se Of H alifax the inven tor Of the re
.

m
,
.
, ,

movable diaphrag ms which bear his n a e I ntrod u ced a most ,

valu able improvement i n ton ing pr ocesses by the u se Of an

alkaline (or at all even ts strictly non acid) sol u tion Of the
, ,
-

chlori d e of gol d The alkali u sed by Waterh ouse w as carbon

_ _
_

“
0

ate Of potash and he added more or less Of i t according to

This process w as first pu blished in 1 8 5
,
”
the tint desired '

~
6 in
’
.

“
the third edition Of H ar d w i c h s P hotographic C hemistry ”
,

and was s u bse qu ently recommen ded by Mr H ard w ich in a .

paper rea d b efore the L ondo nP hotog ra phic Society *

Soon
the changes w ere r u ng on all the alkalies ; H ardw ich (in 1 8 5
.

6)
“
s u bstitu ted carbonate Of so d a for the potash as bei n g a sal t
”
more easily obtainable ; within the next y ear or two the
Ab b e L aborde (in France ) an d H annaford j (in E n gland) u se d '

acetate Of so d a ; and in 1 8 5 8 M ax w ell L yte i recommende d -

the p h OS ph ateof soda his form u la being ,

T e rc h l o ri d e o f g o l d
P h o s p h a t e O f s o d a ( p u r e)
D i s ti l l e d W a t e r .

At that ti me the t oning process w as commonly called

coloring —
’
thu s Max w ell L yte s paper is entitled “A P ro -
,

cess for C oloring P ositives ; in a postscript to it he adds ,

“the phosphate Of soda may be repl a ced by com mon borax ”

From this time (1 8 5 8 5

.

9 ) th e principal toning processes may—

be said to have remained practically u nchanged to the present

H i s tor y of P i eci n g P f The only thin g r ocesses or P r n ts i —

d eplored by W edgw ood and Davy in 1 8 0 2 w as the i r inabilit y

to discover any satisfactory solvent for the salts Of silver th e —

m u riate (or as w e sho u ld n o w cal l it the chloride) and the u i

, ,

trate wh ich they employe d

—
.

In 1 8 1 9 Sir J ohn H erschel pointed o ut §the ready sol u bili

*
P h otog r ap hi c j ou r n a l , v o l v p 9 5
5p
. . .
.
,

J
rl b i d , v ol . v i fo r 1 8 9 ,
. . 83 .

i I b id , v ol . v .
, p 1 12 .

§E d i n b u r h P h i loso hi ca l
g p j ou r n a l .
 A H I S TOR Y OF P H OTOGR AP HY . 91

ty of silver salts in the alkaline hyposu lphites Fr om this .

time the problem of photography w as solved ; b u t u n fort u ,

n atel
y N,
iepce D ag u erre ,
and Talbot seem to have kno
,
w n
nothing of the w ork already done by D a vy and by H erschel .

In 1 8 3 9 Dagu erre fixed his iodized silver plates by w ashing

them either w ith ammonia or with a strong sol ution of com
mon salt .

A t the same time Fox Talbot u sed common salt an d also -

,

sol u tions of bromide of potassi u m and iodide Of potassi u m

’ ’
.

Immediately H erschel heard Of Dagu erre s and Of Tal b ot s

s u ccesses in photography (in J anu ary he remembered ,

the s u bstance w hose solvent po w ers for silver salts he had

annou nced in 1 8 1 9 (hypos u l phite of soda) and the direction s ,

w hich he gives for its u se in a val u able paper read before the R oy ,

al Society on Febru ary 20 1 8 4 0 have ever since formed the fo u n

, ,

dation of ou r or d inary method of fixing photographs on paper .

H erschel w rites after w ashing i np u r ew ater the paper mu st be

’
, ,
“
dried an d then br u shed Ov er very qu ickly w ith a flat camel s
,

hair bru sh dipped in a satu rated sol u tion of the hypos u lphite
, ,

first on the face then on the ba ck This having remained on

,
.

it till the paper is completely penetrated w ith it it m u st be ,

washed off with repeated and copio u s effu sions Of w ater aided ,

by a soft spon ge with a d abbi n g motion Often t u rn ing the

, ,

pictu re u ntil the liqu id comes off w itho u t the slightest s weet
n ess. The p hotograph is the n fixed an d may be dried and , ,

u t by ; b u t to make it q u ite sec u re it is b est to repeat the

p
process an d if the paper be thick even a third time The
, ,
.

hypos u lphite of soda and silver being liable to spontan eo u s de

compositio n i t is n ecessary to be very carefu l in w ashing aw ay
,
”
the v ery last traces Of this salt .

It w ou ld have been w ell if the early photographers u nder

‘

w hich phrase w e inclu de the w orkers before 1 8 5 5 had paid more —

’
attention to H erschel s remarks then we sho u ld have h ad more
Of their w ork remaining Indeed the men of to day might r e
.
,
-

member the ad v ice as to sponging and dabbing C aptain A b —

ney stronglyrecommends this plan for by applyin g pressu re —

i n this w ay to the prints a photogr aph may b e more thorou ghly

freed from hypo in tw o or three hou rs than by days of
mere soaking ; the resu lt too bein g a more brilliant print ,
.
92 A H I S TOR Y OF P H OTOGR AP HY .

In the face of
' '

’
H erschel s work
i t is diffic u lt to u nderstan d ,

how Fox Talbot could have inclu ded as part of a patent for
-

Improvement s in the C alotype P rocess which he took ou t

”
,

i n 1 8 4 3 a claim to
-
“ give increased whiteness to calotyp e and
,

other photographic pictu res and at the sa m e time make the m ,

more permanent by plu n ging th em into a h ot solu tion of hypo

,

s u lphite of soda (Or any other solu ble hyposu lphite) after which
they are remove d w ashed and d ried , ,
.

“
In the first edition of his Man u al of P hotography p ub ”
,

li sh ed in 1 84 1 R obert H u n t remarks
,

( )
a That prints u pon nitrate of S ilver may be fixed by wash

ing with distilled water only

’
.

That prints u pon chloride of silver are half fi xed b y -

thorou gh washing with p u re w ater

()0
“ I have in m y possession
,
some pict u res w h ich have been
fixed with a st rong b r i n e and su bsequ ently washed with warm ,

water They have become slightly bl ue in the white portions

.
,

b u t otherw ise they are very permanent

, .

( )
d C hlor i de of silver being sol u ble in solu tion of ammon i a

and some of its salts they ha v e been recommended for fixing ,

agents The ammonia however attacks the (silver) o xide

.
, , ,

w hich forms the darkened part in some preparations S O rapidly , ,

that there is great risk Of its destroying the pictu re or at least ,

of its impairing i t considerably It matters not whether the .

l iqu id a mmonia or its carbonate be u sed b u t it m u st be a very ,

d il u ted solu tion .

( Qu ite recently ammonia has again been brou ght forward

"
}
as a fixing agent by Mr R H B ow Of . . .

anate Of potash or
()e The ferrocy as it is more commonly , ,

called the pr u ssi ate of potash converts the chloride into a

‘

, ,

cy anide of silver w hich is n ot s u sceptible of change by light ;

,

consequ ently this che ap salt has been employed as a fixing

agent ; b u t most u nfortu nately photograph s w hich have been
, ,

s u bj ected to this preparation are slo w ly b u t s u rely obliterated ,

in the dark .

“The io di de of silver wh ich is readily formed by w ash

(f ) ,

i n g the photog raph w ith the solu tion of the iodide of potassi u m ,

P lzotog mp ki c N ew s , 1 887 , p . 2 34 .
 A H I S TOR Y OF P H OTOGR A P HY . 93

scarcely sensitive to li ght It tinges the white li ghts of the .

picture Of a pale yellow a color which is extremely active in —

absorbing the chemical rays of li ght and is therefore qu ite in ,

applicable w he re any copies of the original photograph are r e

qu ired .

“Of all the fi xi n g agents the hypos u lphite of soda is

(g) ,
”
decide dl y the best .

These remar ks on fixin g agents are repeated in the later

’
e ditions of H u nt s pop u lar m an u al They are taken mainly
’
.

from H erschel s paper Of 1 84 0 referred to fur ther on

Abou t 1 8 5
.

0 R e u ben P hilli ps u sed electricit y to acceler ate

,
“
the fixing process H e employed el ectrodes the si z e of the
.

photograph to be fixed and pl acing u pon the u nder one a fi an

,

nel w etted wi th the fixing agent he placed th e print w etted , ,

w ith the same sol u tion u pon it and laid another w etted fi an n el ,

u pon the print co v eri n g the w hole w ith the other electrode
, ,

C onnecti n g the electrodes w ith a galvanic battery the metalli c salt ,

i s r api d ly r emov ed to one pole and th u s the fixin g process ,

rendered comparatively short and e asy ”

J H C ro u cher in a book pu blished in 1 8 4 5advi ses

.

* “
. . to
'
,

fi x the pictu re soak it for tw o or three m i nu tes or longer if

, ,

strongly developed in a sol u tion Of half an ou nce of hyp osu l

,

p h i t e of soda to a pint of w ater t u rning it occasio n ally and ,

”
then soak it in w ater for t w elve to tw enty fou r ho u rs -

’
.

In L e Gray s book edition of 1 84 9 he gives (in addition to the

, ,

hyp o b ath) a fixing solu tion Of brom i de of potassiu m 3 6 0 ,

grains to 1 2 p ints of w ater ; its advan tage being the avoid

ance Of th e u se of hypo w hen traveling the latter salt b e ,

ing even then recognise d as l ikely to spoil everythi ng photo

graphic with w hich it came into contact .

Other fi xing agents su ggested by Herschel in 1 84 0 w ere hy

dr i od ate of potash and chromate of sil ver .

From the remarks made in the paragraphs on toni ng pro

cesses it w ill be seen that the Operations Of toning and fixing
,

w ere m ost commonly performed in one and the same b ath

*
S a l s o pap er b y R
ee . H ’n
u t On th e Use of th e H y d r i d
o i c Sal t s a s
P h o t o g rap h i c A g e n ts M aga z i n e, S e p t em b e r
'

, E a i n b u rg fi P lzi l os op lzzc a l
a n d O c t o b e r 1 8 40 , .
94 A H I S TOR Y OF P H OTOGR AP HY .

first of ol d hypo alon e and then Of hypo plu s chloride of gol d

from 1 83 9 dow n to 1 8 5
, ,

8 ; the advantage of separating the on e

p rocess fro mthe other being first au thoritatively shown in Mr
’
.

H ard w i ch s paper commu nicated to the L ondon P h otograph i c

Society in D ecember 1 8 5 8 From that d ate down to the prese n t
,
.

day hyp osu lphite Of soda has been we may say u niversally , ,

u sed for fixing positive prints o n pap er; the best proportio ns
“

being three ou nces of the salt to each pint Of water The

hypo S ho u ld be kept alkali ne by the addition Of a little c arb om
.

ate of ammonia .

”
H yposu lphite of soda was first prepared by C hau ssier in
1 7 9 9 and was first stu died by V au q u elin In 1 8 69 Sch u tz “

,
.
,

en b er er showed that the so calle d

“ hypos u lphu ro u s acid
g
-

was really tli i osu lp l m r ou s acid , fr m which it res u lte d that

*
o
the salts previo u sly called hypos u lphites were really thi osu l
p h a tes The correct
. chemical name o f N a S O is therefore '

z z 3

s odi u m thio s u lphate b u t its old name of

-
hypo will
,

p robably stick to it as long as the present generation of photog

r a h er s e x ists
p
’
.

M agi c P hotogr ap hs I n H erschel s e x cellent paper pu b —

l i sh e d in “
he writes " B y far th e most remarkable fixing
process with whic h I am acqu ainte d ho w ever consists in wash , ,

ing over the pictu re w ith a weak solu tion of corrosive su blimate
u ry b ichloride ) and then laying it for a few moments in
( merc ,

water This at once and completely ob li ter a tes the pictu re

.
,

redu cing it to the state of perfectly white paper on which the ,

nicest e x amination (if the process be perfectly exec u ted) can

detect no trace and in which it may be u sed for any other p ur
,

pose as dra w in g writing etc being completely insensible to

, , ,
.
,

l ight
N evertheless the pict u re tho u gh i nvisible is only dormant
, , , ,

an d may be instantly revived i n al l its force b y merely b r u sh

i ng it over with a s ol u tion of neu tral hy pos u lphite after w hich ; ,

however it remains as insensible as before to the a ction of

,

Co m ’
R en a u s v ol . l xi x p 1 96
pt es , . , . .

1 O n th e C h e m i c a l A c ti o n of th e S o lap ec tru m ; o n P re para ti o n s o f

r S
S il e r a n d o th e r S u b s ta n c e s
v ,
‘

b o th M e tall i c a n d N o n me tal l i c ; a n d o n -

s o m e P h o tog rap h i c P ro c e s s e s " P h i l o s o p h i c a l Tra n s a c ti o n s 1 840 pa rt i

”
.
.
,
 A H I S TOR Y OF P HOTOGR A P HY . 9 5
l ight . And thu s it may be s u ccessively obliterated and revived
as Often as we please It hardly requ ires mention that the .

ro erty in q u estion f u r nishes a m ea n s of painting in me zz o

p p
tin t (i e of com mencing on black paper and w orking in th e
. .

lights) as also a mode of secret w ritin g and a variety of simi

, ,
”
l ar ap plications .

”
In 1 8 6 6 these mag ic photographs obtained wi despread
popu lari ty They were sold every w here at a cheap rate
. .

The improvement which brou ght them into n otice con

si sted in selling w ith each photogra ph a piece of blotting
paper w hich h ad been satu rated w ith hypos u lphite of soda
and then drie d I t was only necessary to dip this into .

plain water an d lay it u pon the magic photograph to ca u se

the pictu re to appear
C ya n i d e of p otassi u mw as u sed by M A Gau din i n 1 8 5
.

3 . .

for fixing collodion positives on glass and for s u ch work ,

it has ever S i nce been preferred to hypos u lphite of sod a .

C yanide ho w ever is n o t fitted for fixi n g paper pri nts on

, ,

ch l ori d e Of si lver since it attacks t h e image

/

In extremely
,
.

d ilu te sol u tion (fo u r d rops satu rated sol u tion to the pint of
w ater) i t has however bee n fo u nd u sef u l for redu cing over
, ,

printed proofs V ernier in 1 8 6 0 u sed it for this p u rpose

.
, , .

On e great dra w back to the u se of this s u bstance is its terribly

poisono u s natu re .

S u lp hi te of sod a w as shown I n by C aptain Abney to ,

be an ex cellent fi x ing agent tho ugh abo u t tw elve times more ,

e x pensive t han hypo It sho u ld be u sed in the proportions .

of fo u r o u nces to the pint of w ater

S a lp l w cy a n i d e of A m
.

-
mon i a w as proposed as a fi xing agen t
by M Meyn ier in
. It g ives a yellow h u e to albu men
‘

i z ed pape r b ut ans w ers wel l for proofs on plai n salted paper

,
.

A compo u nd fixing an d toning bath of this salt pl u s chloride ,

of gol d is said to ans w er a d mirably for the Aristotype “ ”

,

paper lately introdu ced .

L a L u m i er e, l
A p ri 2 3 d , 3 0th
5
.

{ P fiotog r aj lzi e N ew s p p , . 3 39 3 4, 370

, .

t B a lleti n d e la
96 A H I S TOR Y OF P H OTOGR A P HY .

C HAP TE R XII .

HI S TOR Y OF P HOTOGR AP HI C PRI NTI NG P ROC ES S ES —

C ont i n ued .

P r i n ti n b
g y D evel op m en t
.
f ( 1 ) Wi th I od i d e o S i lv er .
—
I n

d u ll weather and in winter it is sometimes fo u nd impossibl e

to get a singl e print for days together by the printing
”
ou t process u pon ou r ordinary printing paper w hich contain s ,

chloride of sil v er in albu men The advantage of e mploying

.

a method of development to produ ce positiv e prints from

n eg atives as w ell as th e negatives the m
,
selves was recogni z ed ,

at an early dat e for the necessary time of exposu re to ligh t

,

was thereby redu ced from ho u rs it might be to seconds more

over the prints S O o b tained are u ndou btedly more permanent
In the R eport of the Ju rors of the Exhibition of 1 8 5
,
.

1
they state that Blanqu ar t Ev r ard ( France) has proved that
“ “
from one good origin al n egative ( Talbotype) any nu m ber of ,

p osi t ive copies may be taken to the e x tent indeed of two or , ,

three hu ndred cop i es in a rainy day ”

The following graphic
descriptio n of how 2 5
.

0 prints were produ ced from one nega

tive w ith one pressu re frame in one hou r and fifty minu tes is ,

by Thomas S u tton ”" who was himself for some time a partne r
with Blanqu art Evr ar d abou t the year 1 8 5 7 The single pres "

su re frame e m ployed is con trived to r un in an d ou t of a window

on a pla tform prov ided w ith rails Th e win d ow has a dark . .

shu tter which w orks u p and down like a g u illotine E ach .

print was exposed sep arately for a few secon d s The time oc .

cu pi ed in exposing the 2 5 0 was abou t an hou r and a half .

The Operation w as condu cted b y a girl with a metronome at

her S ide w hich ticks seconds W hen a certain nu mber had.

been e xposed they w ere taken to the develo ping room H ere .

three or fou r girls w ere employed in developi n g the pictu res .

a
P g e 2 77 .

1 S ee P fiotog r ap lzi e N otes , 1 8 6 , 5p . 63 .

98 A H I S TOR Y OF P H OTOGR A P HY .

s ensitive pa per at from 2 0 to 2 5per cent less cOst incl u ding .

,
”
p ostage .

“For those wh o Obj ect to the wei ht and fragile n atu re of

g
glass as a s u p port for the sensitive film the paper possesses ,

many advantages ; in fact th ere is b u t on e draw b ack to its

'

, ,

u se the slight te x t u re by skill and care in

mm
—

printing may b e red u ced to a minim u

,
It ay also be u s ed .

for positive proofs by contact and d evelopment printing an -

,

e xpos u re o f a few seconds to gas or other artificial light being

”
su fficient It will be fo u nd inval u able for enlargements
. .

In the bo d y of the same book a ca pital article by P Mawd sley ,

.
,

( 1 2 9 ) on the D Of Gelatin e

m
also appears page evelopment
”
B romide P lates and P aper in which he reco mends ou r or ,

d i n ary pyro ammoni a developer restrained w ith bromide

-
,

On J u ly 2 2 d 1 8 79 J W S wa n pate n ted in E n gland “ a .

,
.
,

meth od of printing b y development on su r faces coated w ith

‘

bromide em u lsion .

H e added small qu antities of al u m an d carbolic acid to

make th e em u lsion less sol u ble
”
or else s u bmitted th e coated
,
,

su rface to the actio n of steam for the same p u rpose Th e .

printing was done either in the camera or by contact (artifi

.

”
c i al light preferred) devel oped with ferro u s Oxalate , and ,

fi xed in the u s ual w ay w ith hypo .

'
I n 1 8 8 0 Messrs W T Morgan o f Greenwich n ear
. . .
,

L ondon commenced the manu factu re on a large sca le of paper

,

coated with gelatino bromide em u lsion In a pamphlet writ -

.

ten for the fi r mby J oh n B u rgess and pu blished in J u ly 1 8 80 , , ,

i t is stated that s u ch paper h ad been made by them since

1 8 74 .

In 1 88 1 T C R oche took ou t a similar patent in America

. . .

In J u ne 1 8 82 Messrs Morgan ,
K i d d patented a metho d
,
.

of coating or enameling paper w ith an impervio u s and i n sol u

ble layer of gelatine containing alu m this layer prevented the
film of e m u lsion s u bsequ ently applied f r om sinking into the

paper and thu s re n dered it avai lable for the prod u ction of
,

brilliant pict u res from small n egati v es by contact printing .

Messrs H u tinet and Stebbing in 1 8 83 made a to u r Of Great

.

N OW M o rg a n K i dd , of R i ch m o nd , S u rr ey .
 A H I S TOR Y OF P H OTOGR A P H Y . 99

Britain demonstrating in the principal t owns the easy method

,

o f en l arging w ith the lantern u pon gelatino bromide paper -

.

W hile speaking of enlarging w e may remark that an article ,

d escribing a method o f enlarging by daylight devised by

H ei lma nn appeared i n the A then aeu mfor J u ly 9 th 1 8 5
,

,
3 , .

The Eastman C o of R oches t er N Y exhibited their pho

.
, ,
. .
,

tog r ap h ic paper and ap pliances at the Inventions Exhib ition

S o u th K ensingto n in 1 8 8 5an d a n otice of their w ork ap
,
’
, ,

ar ed i n the Ti m es for A u g u st 1 1 th of that year The paper

p e .

i s gi v en a preliminary coati ng Of gelatine is then calendered , ,

an d finally rece i ves a d o u ble coati n g of gelatino bromide em u l -

s io n . The paper u sed for positive printin g requ ires an ex pos

u r e w hen I n contac t w ith the n e
,
gati v e of f rom three to t w enty ,

s econds It is developed w ith ferro u s oxalate and req uires

.
,

n o toning .

H i stor y of D ev elop m en t P ri n ti n g on Gel a ti n o C hl or i d e o

f
S i lver P ap er The Ti mes ne w spaper for N ovember 2 4 th
—

1 8 8 4 con tains a d escription of a n e w printing paper iss u ed by

,

Marion Co of Soho Sq u are L ondon and called the

.
, , ,
“Alpha ” of w hic h altho u gh the precise formu la has not been
, ,

p u blished we kno w tha t it consists of silver chloride together

, ,

m
w ith a little silver bromide contained in gelatine The special ,
.

a d vantages of this pape r are cheapness an d the w ar and

varied tones w hich can be Obtained it generally requ ires ton
ing ho wever This paper has been s u ccessf u lly u sed in con
ith an au tomatic printing machin e invented in 1 8 8 5
,
.

n ec ti on w ,

by J ohn Urie of Glasgo w w ith w hich 2 0 0 prints per hou r

, ,

c an be obtaine d .

A very similar machi n e w as i n vented in the United States

many years ago by Fon tay
The Alpha paper i s ex posed beneath a negative for from
x

ten seconds to tw o minu tes according to the density of the —

negative and t hen developed with ferro u s o x alate

m
—
.

A f ull and val u able description Of the ethods of making

gelatino chloride em u lsion and spreading the same u pon paper
-
,

Opals and glass for positi v e printing is contained in a long ,

series of papers contrib u ted by Messrs Ashman and Offord to

the P hotogr ap hi c N ews for 1 8 8 5
.

an d 1 8 8 6 .

H i s tor y of the C a r b on P r i n ti n g P r ocess W hen the early —

1 00 A H I S TOR Y OF P H OTOGR A P H Y .

p hotographers fou nd their silver prints fade one by on e,

despair for a while took possession of their hearts ; b u t the y .

spee d ily rallied and began to look aro u nd for some permanent
material in w hich to imprint their pict u res In 1 8 5 6, the D ue .

de L u ynes placed in the hands of th e P hotogr aphi c Society of

France the su mof 1 0 0 0 0 fran cs to be Offered for the inv e n4
, ,

tion of a p er m a n en t photographic printing proc ess and I n an

n ou n c in this handsome do n atio n th e the n president Of th e
g ,

society M R egn au l t the famo u s chemist directed the atten

,
.
, ,

tion of inventors to ca r b on i n the follo wing words " Of all

the s u bstances with w hic h ch emistry has made u s ac qu ainted ,

the most p er m an e n t an d the one which bes t resists all chemi

‘

, '

cal reagents in the temperat u re of ou r atmosphere I S car b on .

The p resent condition Of ancient man uscripts sho ws

u s that carbo n in the form of lamp b lack on the pa er r emain s
, p ,

u n changed for cent u ries I f t herefore it w ere p o ssi b l e to

’

.
, ,

form photographic pict u res in c arbon we sho u ld then have the ,

same g u a rantee for their permanency that w e now have f or

ou r pr inted books ; and that is the bes t which we can ho pe or

wish for ”
.

Since carbon is u nal terabl e by light the ne x t step was to ,

find some s u bstance up on wh i ch light cou ld a ct and i n w hich ,

finely divided carbon might b e contained .

S u ch a s u b stance w as to hand I n a mixtu re of bichromate of

potash and gelatine w hich sol u ble eno u gh if k ept I n the dark
, , ,

becomes insol u ble w hen ex pos ed to light .

M ungo P onton in 1 8 3 9 anno u nced to the R oyal Society of

, ,

Scottish Ar tist s that paper soake d in a sol u tion of bichromate

o f pot a sh and dried is c hanged in col or from yellow to brown
,

by e x pos u re to s u nlight H e Obtained copies of draw ings I n

this way and fixed the mby simply washing them I n w ater
.

, ,

w hich dissolved ou t the u naltered bichromate .

In 1 8 4 0 B ecq u erel anno u nced that if the paper was first

,

sized w it h iodide of s tarch it was more sensitive R obert

’
.
,

H u nt s chromaty pe process p u blished in 1 8 4 3 varies only , ,

’
f r O i n P o n to n s i n the ad d itio n of s u l pha te of coppe r t o the
'

bichromate .

B u l leti n d e la S oe z
’’'
’
el e F r a n co i se a e P h otog r ap h i e, v ol . p . 21 5
.
1 02 A H I S TOR Y OF P H OTOGR AP HY .

’
i s contained in S utton s P hotogr ap hi c N otes f or J anu ary l st,
1 8 9
“
5 .

Po u ncy exhib ited his specimen s at a meeting of th e L on d on

P hotographic Socie ty December 7 th 1 8 5 8 from which body
, , , ,

however he received little b u t depreciation and criticism

’
.
,

P o u ncy s method consisted I n br u s hing over and into paper a

mixtu re of b i ch rOmati zed g u m and vege ta b le carbon ; the
paper w as the n dried e xposed ben eath a negative and finally
, ,

th e p i c tu r e was bro u ght ou t or ma d e visible by washing i n

vva ter .

By all these methods ha lf ton es w ere w anti ng The A bb é -

f this in 1 8 5
.

L aborde sho w ed the reason O 8 saying " f In the ,

‘

sensitive fil m ho w ever thin it may be tw o distinct s urfaces

, ,

m u st be recogni z ed an o u ter and an inner which is in contact

, ,

with th e paper The action of light commences on the o u ter

.

s u rface In the washing ther efore the half tones lose thei r
.
, ,
-

”
hold on the paper and are w ashed a w ay This was in fact .
, ,

the same defect w hich w e have seen in con nection w ith th e

bitu men process of the elder N i epce
In the same year (1 8 5
.

8) J C B u rn ett gave a par tial remedy . .

for this defect b y e xposi ng thro u gh the b acle of the coa ted paper ;
p l acm g in fact the
,
u n coa ted si d e next to the negative
,
B u t . ,

I n 1 86 0 Far i er in France sho ed tha the best ay was to

“

g w t w
m
, , ,
'

coat th e exposed fil w ith collo dion then tr a n sf er it bodily ,

to glass and w ash aw ay the u nacted on gela tine from the th u s

,
-

exposed back s u rface of the film A similar process had .

bee n pre v iou sly u sed by P oitevin to w hom the g reater portion
’
,

of the Du e de L u ynes pri z e w as u ltimately aw arded in

Improvements q u ickly followed ; in 1 86 4 J W S w an pat .

en t ed
“ ”
carbon tiss u e w hich is simply paper coated with a
-
,

mixtu re of gelatine s u gar and colori ng mat ter resembling

,
“
, ,
”
black Oi l cloth I n appearance an d which can be sen sitiz ed at ,

any time by floating it on a solution of potassi u m bichromate "

The final to u ches necessary for s u ccess w ere gi ven by J R .

”
J ohnson in 1 869 and by the ,
flexible s u pport p aten ted by
J R S aw yer in 1 8 74
. . .

At present th e c arbon process is largely w orked by the

’
*
B u l leti n d e la S oei cfte F r a n ea i s e d e P h otog rap hi c , v ol . ii .
, p 21 6 .
 A H I S TOR Y OF P H OTOGR A P HY . 1 03

“Au totype C ompany ” Street L ondon whose Of Oxford

, , ,

au totypes (ca rbo n prints) made of any size u p to tw elve ,

squ are feet are alike bea u tif ul and permanent

,
.

“
The tiss u e is u su ally p u rchased from the company b u t if
”
,

ready sensitized it m u st n ot be kept long as it rapidly de

-
”
, ,
”
t eri or ates The ex pos u re is a some what blind process as it
.
,

effect s no visi b le change on the black s u rface of the tissu e ,

b u t i t is rendered e a sy by the ai d of an actinometer The tis .

su e is then soaked in cold w ater sq u eegeed on to a piece of

’
,

Sawyer s flexible s u pport an d w ashed w ith warm w ater

”
,

til l the paper backing and sol u bl e gelatine are removed The .

pictu re is fi n all v retrans ferred to its per m anen t s u pport u su ally ,

w hi t e paper coated w ith i nsolu ble gelati n e .

From this brief description it w il l be seen that the c arbon

process is scarcely s u itable for photographers w h o don t like “ ’
”
m u ch fu ss or tro u ble y ou kno w It is ho w ever admirably
,
.
, ,

fi tted for commercial w ork and for the p rodu ction of enlarge
ments
H i s tor y of P r i n ti n g w i th S a l ts of Ur a n i u m Wothly typ e
.

Geh len in 1 8 04 noted that u ra n i u m chloride is affecte d by

'

r
—

, ,

light
B u t it was reserved for J C B u rnett in 1 8 5
.

7 and for
N i ep c e de S t V ictor 1 8 5 8 5
,
. .

. 9 1 to invent a practical printi n g

L
,
—

process with this metal by floating paper u pon a sol u tion (1 to

3 0) of u rani u m nitrate exposing beneath a negative u nti l a ,

faint i m age Was visible and the n de v eloping by floatin g u pon ,

sil v er nitrate solu tion (4 0 gr ains to the o u nce) or u pon chloride

of gold (9 grams to the o u nce of wat er) L ight cha n ges u ranic .

into u rano u s nitrate and the latter salt is able to red u ce gold
‘

and sil v er to the metallic state from their solu tions .

In 1 8 6 4 H err W othly of A i x l a C hapelle patented a print ,

~ —

i ng p rocess in w hich nitrate of u rani u m an d nitrate of silver

w ere contained i n collodio n w ith w hich paper wa s coate d , .

Bea u tif u l prints w ere prod u ced by the inventor and a com ,

pany w ith C ol St u ar t W ortl ey at its he ad p u rchased the Eu

, .
,

glish patent commercially ho w ever it proved a failu re , ,

.

*
P h otog rap h i e N otes , 1 8 7 , 5 pp . 97 1 6 0 , an d P h otog r ap h i c j ou r n a l , 5
1 8 9,
p . 31 7
5
.

l En g l i s h pa te n t . Fe b . 2 7th , 1 8 8 .
1 04 A H I S TOR Y OF P H OTOGR A P HY .

H i story of P r i n ti n g w i th S
'

a l ts o I C ya n Otyp e,
f r on , or t he
B l u e P r ocess ”
Se veral chemist s fro mB estu sch eff in 1 7 2 5
.
—

, ,

downwards noti ced the action of light u pon vario u s compo u n ds

,
,

containing iron b u t Sir J ohn H erschel in 1 8 4 0 and 1 8 4 2

,
96

w as the first to u se the salts of that metal for photographi c

processes Of the three methods w hich b e devised and which
.
,

he n amed respecti v ely chr ys otyp e a u r otyp e and cy a n otyp e

, , , ,
‘

o n ly the last named has proved of practical val u e Kno wn as

-
.

“
the bl u e process ( b ecau se the pictu re i s prod u ced in white
l ines u pon a bl u e gro u nd) i t i s largely employed by engineers ,

and others for copying plans etc P aper is coa ted with a mi x ,
.

t u re of ammonio citrate of i ron and potassi u m ferri cyani de ,

t he ac tion of light u pon this mi x t u re being to change it into

insol u ble P r u ssian bl u e The paper is dried e xpo sed bene ath
.
,

the negative and cleared by simply washing it in water

,
.

H i s tor y of P r i n t in g w i th C oll od i o Ohlor i d e of S i lver -

.

I n a preceding cha pte r we remarked that M arc Antony

Ga u din Of P ar i s had s u ggested the preparation of a photo
‘

“
, ,
”
gene or liqu id co n taining a haloid salt of silver w ith which
p aper or plates might be coated ; in 1 8 6 1 he prepared s u ch a
sensitive liq u id w ith the iodide and the chloride of silver b u t ,

achieved no practical s u cc e s s .

At the clo se of 1 8 64 G W h arton S i m ,

p son ( then editor of

,
.
/

th e P h otogr ap hi c N ew s) an n ou nced l his discovery of a

''

printing process in w hich chloride of S ilver contained I n col

l od i on was employed and in Mar c h 1 8 6 5he read a de
, , ,

scription of the process to the L ondon P hotographic Society .

V ery bea u tifu l resu lts were obtained especially u pon opal ,

glass b ut the collodio chloride p aper tho u gh prepared com

,
-
,

mer ci ally i n Germany ne v er got a fair footing in Great

m
,

B ritain . From this remark h o w ever w e u st except Mr , ,

.

George Bru ce of D u n se in the so u th of Scotlan d who for , ,

t w enty years or more has sent ou t all or the greater part of .

his w ork printed u pon collodio chloride paper ; an d w ith ex

,
-

cell en t res u lts so far as bea u ty of appearance and perma

nency are concerned .

S ee th e P h i l os op h i ca l Tr a n sa cti o n s fo r th o s e y e a r s .

i P h o to g r ap h ic Y ea r B o o k fo r p 63 . .
1 06 A H I S TOR Y OF P H OTOGR A PHY .

H ers chel discovered in that ferric w ere redu ced to fer 1 84 0 ,

ro u s salts by light that is to say that u nder the influ ence of ,

light iron parts with some of th e non metallic element oxygen - —

chlorine etc as the case may b e w ith w hich it happens to be

,
.
,
—

combine d .

Hu nt actu ally tried to tu rn this fact to acco u nt in ph o

tog r aph y by m ixin g f er ri c ox alate w i th p latin i c chl ori d e and
‘ ‘

when dry e xp osing to light H e noticed a S light darkeni ng

m
,
.

b u t he issed the cardinal poi nt that the ferrou s salt mu st —

be in solu tion before it can act .

It w as in J une 1 8 73 that W W illis j r the actu al i nyen

, ,
.
,
.
,

tor Of ou r pl atinotype proc ess t o ok ou t his first patent for ,

plati notype in England ; he patented improvements on it in

Ju ly 1 8 7 8 and in March
, , Hi s process is now worked ,

by the P latinotyp e C ompan y at 2 9 So u t h ampton R ow High ,

H olborn L ondon u nder the man agement of Mr B erkeley In

, ,
. .

its latest form the platinotype p aper i s prepared by coating

,

paper with a mi xtu re of chloro pl ati n ite of pot assi um and ferric -

oxalate This is exp osed b en eath the negative u ntil a faint

'

-
.
.

m
a e is visibl e when the paper is floated u pon or dr awn over a
g

m
,
’

hot solu tion of potassiu oxalate In t his l iqu id the (r e .

d u ced ) ferro u s oxalate is sol u ble and im e di ately it is dis ,

solved it attacks the platin u m salt in co n tact with it abstract ,

ing the chlorin e etc an d redu cing th e pl atin u m to the me

The advantages of the p ro cess are per m
, ,
.

talli c state anency , a

m
.

beau tifu l black eng raving like pictu re si plicity of man -

,

i pu lati on and great sensitiveness I ts progress has been r e .

tar d ed i n Great B ritain at all events b y the fact that to

‘

— —

practice it a licen se mu st be obtained from the patentees .

An admirable acco u nt of the en tire process and its h i story

is contained in a little b ook w ritten by the Au strian investiga
tors P i z zigh elli and H u b ] and p u blished by H arrison
,
Sons ,

P all Mall L ondon " ,

.

S ee H u nt ’
s R es e a rch e s on L i g h t, 18 45 .

{ P ri c e 2 sh i ll i n g s.
 A H I S TOR Y OF P H OTOGR AP HY . 1 07

C H A P TE R XIII .

HI S TOR Y OF R O LLER S LI DES

-
; AND OF NEGATI VE-MAKI NG ON P AP ER AND

ON F I L MS .

TH ER E is nothing n ew u nder the su n especiall y in photog —

ra h
p y . T w o years ago the introd u ction of paper negatives and

of a roller S lide to match created qu ite a f u r or in both England

-

b u t from 1 839 to 1 8 5 5or thereabou ts

,

and the States , , ,

every English amateu r u sed paper as the s u pport for h i s calo

”
type pictu res ; and the roller slide is at least thirty three years
- -

old
’
.

M elhu i sh s R oller S li d e The first acco u nt of a roller slide

-
.
— -

w hich w e have been able to discover is contained in a paten t ,

taken o u t in England b y J B S pencer and A J M elh u i sh on

May 2 2 d l 8 5
,
. . . .

4 .
“
The specification describes h ow a series of
,

photographic pictur es may be Obtained in su ccession u pon

a long sheet of sensitive paper the parts of the paper or ,
.

sensitive su rface not in u se being rolled u p w ithin the ,

frame of the camera The frame in w hich the prepare d

.

’
su rfaces are employed is fitted u p w ith two rollers ; in
u sing the apparat u s after one pict u re has been taken that part ,

of the prepared sensitive su rface is w o u n d u p on to one of the

rollers and a fresh qu antity of the prepared su rface su itable
,

for r ecei v mg another pict u re is u nw ou nd Off the other roller ,

and so on till all the prepared paper or su rface on the roller has
been u sed Tw o rods or tu bes of yellow glass are employed to
.

retain the part of the sensitive s u rface which for the time b e
ing is bro ught into position in the correct plane or position It .

is preferred to focu s directly on to the prepared su rface w hen

u sing w axed paper
( instead of focu sing on to a plate of gro u nd
glass) a plate of yello w glass ha v ing previo u sly been placed in
,

front of the lens to prevent the light from inj u riou sly affecting
the su rface and a plate of yellow glass is also placed behind the
,
”
paper for the same p u rpose .
 A H I S TOR Y OF P H OTOGR A P H Y .

The fact of the focu sing being effected u pon the paper coate d
with silver iodide and protecte d only by yello wglass sho w s
'

how comparatively insensitive to light w ere the materials then ‘

’
employed A defect i n M elh u i sh s slide w as the apparent lack
.

of any mode Of registering w hen su fficient paper h ad been *

w o u n d off one roller on to another to allo w a fresh e xposu re

It is clear that i t does not s u ffice to si pl y c ou nt the nu mber of
tu rns of the roller on to which the paper is w ou nd since that
m .

roller continu ally I ncreases in thickness Still as the lon g ,

.
,

band of paper was composed Of a n u mb er of sheets gu mmed

,

together it Was possible to see when one sheet h ad been

,

completely rolled u p by lookin g in at the back of the

c amera .

In the J ou r n a l of the P hotogr ap hi c S oci ety for April 2 l st

1 85
,

6 ther e is a l etter from Mr M elhu i sh giving an accou nt of

‘

,
.

his slide and stating that m

,
“
y best specimens at the Exhi b i
\

tion w ere taken with the roller slide I t has been u sed b y
“

-
.

m
J ames Glaisher Esq F R S ; J ohn S ou t h Esq of St "
’
.
, , ,
.
,
. . .

Tho as H ospital and Frank H aes Esq w h o have expressed

, ,
.
,
”
themselves satisfied with its p erformance In the d rawing s
, .

which accompany this n ote we see that the rollers w ere placed
.

o n e on each s i d e of the camer a instea d of one on top and one ,

below as i n all other roller slides

5
-
.

“
B u t in 1 8 4 the roller slide was before its time -
and its ,

u se w as probably confined to the three or fo u r gentlemen

named above
’
.

C ap ta i n B a r r s “D a r k S li d e ”
I t is singu lar that at the
-
.
—

very time that M elhu i sh was striving to introdu ce his roller

slide to the notice of English photographers an amate u r ,

worker I n In dia C aptain B arr had devised and w as u sing a

— —

very similar instru ment being led thereto probably by the ,

necessity for the lightest and most compact form of apparatu s

which co u ld be constru cted in or d er to overcome the d ifficul
ties of transport which presen ted themselves in many parts of
that cou ntry A description of this very original dark S lide
.
-

-
as C aptain B arr called i t appeared in the first nu mber of —

the J ou r n a l of the P hotogr ap hi c S oci ety of B om b a y and w as

reprinted in N otes a n d Qu er i es for A pril 2 1 st 1 8 5 5 It con
,

.
,

sisted of a narrow box made to fit the back of the camera and ,

1 1 0 A H I S TOR Y OF P H OTOGR A P HY .

another I nto i ts place .

’
S u rely Mr Merritt s roller m u st have
.

been of a disproportionate diameter "

’
War n er he s R oller S l i d e From 1 8 5 5we pass to 1 8 71
- —

when M L eon Warn erke a Hu ngarian e ng i neer w ho has

.

—
.
,

d one so m u ch good w ork in England that he may be fai rly

clai m ed as an English ph otograp h er i n ven ted wh at w as per fl

haps the first re ally practical roller slid e M Warn erk e ap -

.

pears to have p u blished the first acco u nt of his roller slide I n -

the middle o f
,
H e w r ites " The principal componen ts
of the new dark slide are two rollers on which the sensitive
-

film is w o und an d there is roo mfor one h u nd red plates A

,
.

d arkened glass plate is fi x ed in the front i n the place corre ,

sp on d in with the foc u sing s u face ; this glass plate g u i d es

g r
the sensitive film in the progress fro mone roller to the other ,

an d sec u res its proper position Each roller has a metallic .

head by whic h it can be p u t in motion By means of thes e .

heads all th e ribbon of sensiti v e film can b e consec u tively

drawn fro m one roller and after expos u re rewo u nd on an , , ,

Othe r roller B u t to sec u re perfect flatness there is attached

.

to each head a pressing scre w that arrange ment permitting ,

the stretching of the film when in position B efore the sensi .

tive film is attached to the roller it is d ivided into sections ,

corresponding with the si z e of the plates b y b lack lines d raw n

in pencil or otherw ise and each se ction is n u mbered
, ,
.

“In the sliding sh u tter ther e is a little w indow sec u red with

orange glass and spring metallic sh u tter Thro u gh the orange .

glass I amable to Obser v e the black lines forming the d ivision s

.

betwee n the plates and their corresp ond ing n u m b ers This
, .

permits me to j u dge of the proper position of each consec u tive

”
plate
’
In 1 8 75M W arn erk e s paper o r tiss u e was coated with
.

,
.

col lodio n e m u lsion Ou r mo re sensitive gelatine emu lsion

.

d oes not permit observation thro u gh a n oran ge w ”

indo w so
’
,

that in the im proved form o f M W arn erk e s roller slide which -

he introd u ced in 1 8 8 5he u sed first an electrical alarm then a

.

, ,

*
I n th e
“
P h o to g rap h e rs
’A nn u a l , iss ue d by A . H . W a ll fo r 1 8 70
, ,

th ere i s a s k e tch of a n i n g en i o u s ro ll l i d e d e s ig n e d
e r- s by T W i s e ma n
1 875p 3 06
, . .

{ B r i ti s h j ou r n a l o
f P hotog rap hy , , . .
 A H I S TOR Y OF P H OTOGR A P HY 1 11

sp rin g i n dicator and lastly a measu ring roller with i ndicator

, , ,
*
o u tside
M od er n F or m
.

R ll er S li d es The idea of the roll er

s of o - —

s li de is as w e have seen essentiall y English B ut it w as r e

, ,
.

served for the American firm of Eastman W alker C o (of ,

.

R ochester N to step in and achieve a commercial su ccess

,
.

w here M el h u i sh and W ar n erk e had failed This was done by .

the introd u ctio n of an admirably designed roller slide of ex -

c ell en t w orkmanship machine made w ith all its parts inter

— -
,

c hangeable the details of w hich were first p u bli shed in the

—

s ummer of 1 88 5 The su ccess of the Eastman apparat u s has

.

been mainly d u e to the facts (1 ) that the roller S lide and the -

sensiti v e paper w hich it was to carry w ere p u t into the market

together and by the same firm ; (2) that the roller slide was -

d esigned by sk illed engineers ; thoro u ghly tested before being

o ffered for sale and excellent workmanship invariably ut in
, p
to it.

Other roller slides all showing ingen u ity have been pat
-

ring 1 8 8 58 7 by Messrs Morgan and K idd (of R ich

”
, ,

en ted d u —
.

mond) S M cKell en and J E Thornton (of Manchester)

,
.
,
. .
,

a n d by several others B u t these are “creatu res of to day

.
-

t hin gs w hose descriptions still li nger in ou r ears Our main .

Object here h as been to dra w attention to the past and to S how ,

t hat the roller S lide like most other inventions di d not

- — —

spring int obeing perfec t and fu ll fl ed ed b u t that it w as first

g
-
,

devised more than thirty years ago by M elh u ish and b y B arr -

t hen improved by W ar n erk e ; an d fin ally we m a

y say per , ,

fected by Eastman and others .

B e i n tr od u cti on of P ap er f or N ega ti v e m
-
a lt i n
g W e -
.
—

have seen that Fox Talbot employed paper solely as the su pport
-

for the sensitive salt of silver (the iodide) w hich he u sed in

h i s calotype proces s so largely w orked by amateu rs from —

1 84 1 to 1 8 5 5or thereabou ts By this method the silver io d ide

, .

w as literally formed w ithin the paper and w as mu ch a part of ,

it as if it had been mixed w ith the pu lp w hen the paper w as

made The effect of this w as that except in the largest siz es
.
, ,

the grain of the paper w as d isagreeably evident in the fin

*
B r i ti s h j ou r n a l
f
o P h otog rap hy , 1 8 8 5p
, . 6 01 .
1 12 A H I S TOR Y OF P H OTOGR A P HY .

i sh ed p ;rint and altho u gh the waxing of th

,
e
p aper befor e
sen si ti z m an improvement d u e to L e Gray tended to obviate
,

g , ,

this by filling th e pores of the paper and so keepin g the pi c ,

-

tu re more or less on the su r face yet it was only a partial ,

remedy
’
.

H owever the beau ty and above all th e rapidity of Archer s

, ,

collodion process ou gl ass was su ch th at in a very few years

‘

after its introdu ction in 1 8 5

,

1 it knocked paper ou t of the ,

field altogether and for negative taking glass coated with col -

l od i on was al most exclu sively u sed from 1 8 5

, ,

1 to 1 8 80 an d
glass coated with gelatine from 1 8 8 0 to 1 8 8 5 In the last
,

named year paper Once more came promin ently to the front
I h 1 8 7 5V alentine
’
.

B l a n cha r d s E n la r ged N ega ti v es —

B lanchard u sed paper for m ak i n enl ar ed n egatives in the

g g _
_

following way H e made an enlarged transparency in the

.
.

camera and from this took a dee p prin t (wh ich of cou rse
, , ,

wou ld be a negative ) w hich he waxed to increas e its trans ,

p ar en c
y and u sed as an ordinary negative
,
In ar tistic hands .
,

this method Offers gre at facilities for introdu cin g effects as r e ,

tou chi ng etc can be done both on the transparency and on

,
.
,

the en larged negative .

Gel a ti n o B r omi d e P ap er f or N ega ti ves

-
A fter the com —

p l et e s u ccess of gelatino bromide emu lsio n spread u pon glass -

,

in 1 8 79 8 0 it was b ut natu ral to endeavor to apply the same

—

material to paper W T Morgan o f Greenwich placed . . .

, ,

paper coated in this way in the market early in 1 8 8 0 intend ,

ing it mai nly to b e u sed for printin g by development after , (

*
the manner su ggested by Abney in the same year .
Bu t P almer R an king and other amateu rs saw the possibili
, ,

ties of the new material and cu tti n g the paper to fit their

dark slides u sed it for work in the field The manu fact u rers
, ,

-
.
,
"
‘

took the hint and in 1 8 8 4 made a more sensitive p per in

,
a ,

tended specially for negative work Then in the su mmer of

’
1 8 8 5the Eastman C ompany s n egative paper w as introdu ced
.

sim u ltaneou sly in England and the United States and from ,

the care and skill displayed in its manu factu re at once took a ,

lead i ng position It is n ow very l argely u sed both in roll

.
,

*
B r i ti s h j ou r n a l o f P hotog rap hy , pp . 1 03 , 1 6 0 .
1 1 4 A H I S TOR Y OF P H OTOGR AP HY .

textu reless as glass was produ ced u pon enamele d paper and ,

th is was coated first with Indi a ru bber and then with collodion
,

emu lsion
After g elatine had displaced c ollodion Warn erke ( in 1 8 8 5
.

) ,

manu factu red a similar article u sing gelatine in place of col

’
,

l od i on b u t in neit h er fo rmcaa arn erk e s tiss u e b e sai d to

‘

have come into general u se .

A notable discovery made by W arn erk e and patented by ,

him in is that an exposed gelatine film developed with

‘

py rogallic acid beco m es insolu ble in hot water in the parts

affected by light If it is soaked in w arm w ater and squ ee
.

eed u po n a glass pla te the paper can be st ripped off and the
g , ,

sol u ble gelatine washed away leaving a reversed n egative at ,

tach ed to the glass Great things were e x pected of this process

.

at the time of the d iscovery b u t practically no u se has been ,

made of it .

In 1 88 1 H R ogers sho wed h o w to s trip negative films by

,
.

varnishing them w ith g u mdammar dissolved in chloro form -

,

an d then soakin them in water

g .

“ ”
The book on R eto u ching p u blished by B u rrows C ol ,

ton in 1 8 7 6 has for frontispiece an excellent f p ellip ul ar nega

,
‘

”
tive apparently co n si sting of a film of collodion coated w ith
,

gelatine .

The late W B W oodb u ry u sed d u ring the collodion times

. .
, ,

a method by which gl ass was p a r tly s u perseded the same ,

glass plates being u sed day after day The glass was r u b bed .

with talc and then coated with collodion em u lsion A fter e x

,
.

su r e these plates were developed fi xed and washe d and a

p o , , ,

sheet of gelatine paper w as squ eegeed to the finished negative .

W hen dry the w hole cou ld be peeled off the glass w hich was
, ,

then ready for u se again At any convenient time the paper .

bearing the fil mwas w etted and squ eegeed do w n to a glass

plate coate d w ith insol u b le gelatine Finally the w hole was .

soaked in w arm w ater which dissolved the u pper layer of ,

sol u ble gelatine and the paper w as stripp ed Off l eav 1 ng the
'

, ,

negative pe rmanently attached to th e glass .

I n 1 881 82 S tebbing of P aris and P u mphrey of Bi rm

—

, ,
in
g , ,

ham introdu ced sheets of gelatine made insol u ble by a little

b r om e al u m and coated wi th gelatine e m
,

,
u lsion P um p h .
 A H I S TOR Y OF P H OTOGR AP HY .

’ “
rey s Filmo graph as the camera adopted for u se w ith these
-
,

films was called was a really ingenio u s instru ment carrying a

, ,

h u n d red films with ease .

The Eastman stripping films which w e first saw in the

“ ”

s u mmer of 1 8 8 5are n ow j u st comin g into u se They consist

,

.
,

of a film of i n sol u b le gelatine emu lsion attached to a sheet of

paper by a thick layer of solu b le gelatine After the film has been .

e xposed and develope d in the same manner as a gelatine plate ,

it is squ eegeed face downwards on a glass plate coated

, ,

with India r u bber solu tion allow ed to dry and is then , ,

place d in hot water w h en the solu ble gelatine is dissolved and

,

the paper can be readily stripped off l eav in g th e insolu ble gel ,
'

”
atine film firmly on th e glass Finally a skin of prepared .
,

gel atine is moistened an d squ eegeed u pon the negative w hich ,

w hen dry is easily stripped as a w hole from its glass s u pport

, , ,

F i lm
.

s u on
p C a r d b oa r d I n 1 8 83 T h i é b au t o f P aris
—

, ,

patented a method of coating gelatinized paper first w ith collo

dion (hard ened by a little castor Oil) and then w ith a gelati ne ,

emu lsion S u ch films cou ld be stripped d r y from the paper

.

s u pport after exposu re development and fixing Thi é b au t in

1 885
, ,
.

su bstitu ted card board instead of paper as a su ppor t for

,
-

the em u lsion .

In 1 8 8 6 P u mphrey of B irmin gham manu factu re d gelati ne

, , ,

films w hich w ere placed u pon a su pport of thin eb onite cov

m
,

ered with so e adhesive su bstance for exposu re i n ordina ry

dark slides In 1 88 7 he u sed card board as the s u pport an d
-
.
,
-
,
“
the film (know n as flexible glass ) is stripped b ef or e develop ”

ment The fil m. s are developed and fixed as easily as glass

plates ; they are then dried on card board varnished and r e -
, ,

main fl at and highly transparent .

A d v a n tages a n d D i s a d v a n ta ges of P ap er a n d F i lm s

The principal advantage of paper or films over glass for nega

tive makin g is of cou rse their comparative li ghtn ess T his i s
m
-
, ,
.

ost felt wi th the large sizes whole plate and u pw ards an d — —

i s an e special boon to travelers and to u rists Then there is a

marked absence of the halation or bl u rring which is so comm
.

on
u pon glass s u rro u nding brightly lit objects or wi n do w s
,
etc -
, ,
.
,

w ith a mist or halo of light P aper negatives are also n u .

breakable flexible an d can be stowed aw ay in a very small

, ,
 A H I S TOR Y OF P H OTOGR AP H Y .

space . Th ey can also to —

owing thei r
thinn ess b e prin ted —

f m ei ther s i d e th u s obviati n g the necess ity in ce rtain pro

m
r o ,
.

cesses of produ ci ng a rev ersed negative Fro several p aper

negativesit is easy to formby carefu l cu tting a sin gle com
.

, ,

b i n a ti on n ega ti ve which s h all u nite the good qu alities of each

of its com ponents
‘

The d isadvantages of paper are not m any ; it is not qu ite so

easy to manipu late as glass ; not being so transparent it does
not yiel d prints so qu ickly ; and n o thoro u ghly satisfactory
mode of varnishing paper negatives has yet been ann ounced
The grain visible in many paper negatives has already been
.

’
allu ded to ; lastly it is not so easy to get good lantern slides
,
-

from paper as fr om glass .

B alancin g these points good and evi l it is probable that

, ,

lass will retain its pre eminence for st u d io work and for small
g
-

pictu res ; while by those wh o travel and w h o desire to take

good siz ed pict u res paper or films will certain ly
-
,
preferred .
1 1 8 A HI S TOR Y OF P H OTOGR AP HY .

produ ce d u pon a sensitive su rface of chloride of silver Upon

, .

this su bstance he w as af terwards su rprised to see distin ct

traces of color D escribing the experiment in the F a r b en
. lehr e .

“
of Goethe Seebeck writ es " When a spectru m produ ced by
,

a properly constr u cted prism is t hr ow n u pon moist chloride of

silver paper if the printing be c ont in ued for from fifteen to
,
,

t w enty minu tes whilst a c onstant position for the spectru m is

,

m aintained by any means I observe the follow ing " In the

,

viol et li ght the chloride becomes a reddish bro w n (sometimes

m
—

more violet someti es more blu e ) an d this coloration extends

, ,

well beyond the limit of the violet In the blu e part of the .

S pectru m the chloride takes a clear b l u e tint which fades ,

away becoming lighter in the green In the yellow I u su ally

fou nd the chloride u naltered ; so m
,
.

etimes how ever it had a , ,

l ight yellow tint In the red and beyond the red it took a
.
, ,

rose or lilac tint This image of the spectru m sho w s beyond

‘

the red and beyond the violet a regio n more or less light and
.

, ,

u ncolo r ed
Ob ser v a ti on s of H er s chel D a gu er r e a n d Ta lb ot
,
I n 1 839 —

Sir J ohn H erschel also n oticed the col or s produ ced on sen .

si ti v e su rfaces by the action of colore d light H e fo u nd that .

the spectru m impressed u pon a paper spread with the chlo r

ide of silver is often beau tifu lly tinted giving w hen the su n , ,

shine has been favorable a r ange of colors very nearly corres

ponding w ith the nat ural hu es of the pris matic S pectru m Th e
,

mean red ray leaves a red impression Which passes into green ,

over the space Occu pied by the yellow rays Beyond thi s a .

leaden blu e is discovered ”

D agu erre noticed that a red house
.

ga v e a reddish imag e on his iodi z ed silver plates in the cam

era and at an equ ally early date Fox Talbot observed that the
,
-

red portions of a colored print were copied of a red color on

paper prepared w ith chloride of S ilver .

H u n t Ob ta i n s P hotogr ap hs C olor ed b y L i ght B et w een —

1 8 4 0 and 1 8 4 3 R obert Hu nt tried many experiments on the

produ ction of colored images by light B y dipping paper .

first into nitrate of silver and then into sodiu m flu oride ; he

,

obtained a th i n coatin g of silver flu oride When this paper .

w as exposed to the S pectru m

“ the action commenced at the
center of the yellow ray an d rapidly proceeded u pwards ar
, ,
 A H I S TOR Y OF P H OTOGR AP HY . 1 1 9

rivin g at its maximu m in the blu e ray To the end of the .

indigo the action was pretty u niform it then appeared to be

very su ddenly checked and a brown tint w as produ ced u nder ,

the violet rays all action ceasing a few lines beyond the lu mi
,

no u s S pectru m The colors of this S pectru m are not a little re

.

markable I have n ow before me a spectru m impressed tw o

.

months since an d the colors are still beau tifu lly clear and di s
, ,

tinct The paper is slightly bro wned by diffu sed light u pon
.
,

which appears the follo wing order of colors " A yell o w lin e r

distinctly marks the space occu pied by the yello w ray and a ,

green band the space of the green throu gh the blu e and in
digo region the color is an intense blu e and over the violet a ,
”
ru ddy brown Althou gh this description is not very clear
.
,

it seems to point to two modes of treatment of the sensiti z ed

paper The colors w ere only obtained in the second case
.
,

when the paper had been insolated or e xposed to light for a ,

short time b efore th e spectru m was allowed to fall u pon it .

Other result s Obtain ed b y Hu nt are recorded as follows

,
if

A paper prepared by washing w ith bari u m chloride an d

nitrate of silv er allowed to darken w hilst w et to a chocolate
,

color was placed u n d er a frame contain ing a red a yellow a

’
, , ,

green and a blu e glass A fter a w eek s exposu re to di ffu sed

,
.

light it became red u nder the red glass a dirty yello w u nder ,

th e yellow glass, a dar k green u nder the green and a li ght ,

”
olive u nder the bl u e .

In another experiment tried in 1 84 3 w ith paper prepared ,

w i th bromide of silver and gallic acid “ the camera embraced ,

a pictu re of a clear b lu e S ky stu cco fronted hou ses and a green ,

-

field The paper w as u navoidably exposed for a longer period

.

than w as intended abo u t fifteen minu tes A very beau tifu l

—
.

pictu re w as impressed wh ich when held betw een the eye and , ,

the light exhibited a cu ri ou s order of colors The sky w as of .

a crimson hu e the houses of a S laty bl u e and the green fields

, ,

of a brick red tint ”

H u nt adds "
-
S u rely these resu lts ap
.

p ear to encou rage the hope that w e may eventu ally arrive at
a process by w hich external natu re may be made to impress i ts
images on prepared su rfaces in all the beau ty of their native
coloration .

“
R ese a r ch e s on L i g h t, 1 844 ,
p . 2 77 .
1 20 A H I S TOR Y OF P H OTOGR A P H Y .

B ecg ’
uer el s E x er i m en ts i nC olor P hotogr ap hy *
P erhaps
p
—
.

the most su ccessfu l repro du ctions of col or by means of pho

tog r aphy which h ave ever been made were obtained by the ,

French physicist Edmond B ecqu erel in 1 8 4 8 Taking a sil

, ,
.

ver plate su ch as is u sed in Dagu erreotype he obtained a th in

, ,

and very u niform coating of chloride of silver u pon its su rface .

This he sometim es effected b y soaking it in chlorine water

p
u ntil the silver assu med a rose tint or by d i ping it in t o solu , ,

tion s of cu pric or ferric c hloride B y preference ho w ever .

, ,

B ecqu erel placed the si lver plate i n a solu tion of hy d rochloric

acid and attached to it a wire from the positive pole of a vol
,

tai o battery the wire fr Om the negative pole being fasten ed

to a plate of platinu m w hich also dipped into the acid solu ,

tion By this means the hydrochloric acid was decomposed

.
,

and the chlorine being dra w n by electrical attraction to the

silver plate combined with it chemically forming a su rface of
, ,

silver chloride of great p u rity As the combination of silver .

an d chlorine took place the layer of silver chlori d e gradu al ly

,

increased in thickness and as it did so i ts color changed to ,

gray yellow violet and blu e and continu ing th e action

, , , , ,

these colors appeared asecond tim e When the second violet .

tint had been obtained the silver plate was withdraw n from ,

the solu ti on washed and d ried and gently heated u ntil the
, ,

s u rface assu med a rosy h u e W hen the spectru m of s u nlight .

or of the electric arc was received u pon a plate so prepared ,

an e xpos u re of a few mi nu tes w as su fficient to impress the

diverse colors C olored images of bright dressed dolls were
.

also obtained
F a i lu r e i n Ei a i n g C olored I m
.

a es
g After
'
B ecqu erel had —

obtained su ch favorable resu lts it may be asked h ow is it that , ,

fu rther progress has not been made and why are not colored ,

photographs more frequ en tly prod u ced " The answer is that
no certain means has hitherto been fou nd of fir i n g the colored
images secu red ; they can only be examined in a faint light ,

and mu st be kept locked u p in drawers and exclu ded from the

day They last longer when protected f rom the air for o xy
.
,

*
S ee C o m p te s n
R e d u s, 1 848 an d 18 4 ; 5 al so A nn a l de C h i mi e ,

1 8 49 .
1 22 A HI S TOR Y OF P HOTOGR AP HY .

reprodu ced onthe paper P oitevin states that the colors so .

ob tained cou ld be fixed by means of su lph u ric acid .

Another French e xperimenter St Florent in 1 8 74 de ,

.
, , "

*
scribed a method of obtaining similar resu lts in a rather dif
fer en t manner P aper is soaked first i n silver nitrate and
.
,

then I n a mixt u re of u raniu m nitrate and z inc chloride ,

dered acid w ith hy d rochloric acid The paper is dried and .

exposed to light u ntil th e su rface is slightly darkened it is

then floated on a solu tion of mercu ric nitrate again dried and , ,

i s t hen ready for e x pos u re to the colored light whose I mpres

sion it is desired to secu re ;
’
C olor ed C o i es ob ta i n ed wi th P a er A b n e s R esear ches
p p y
—
.

—
W ith reference to colored images Obtained u pon paper ,
C ap
tain Abney remarks It m u st not b e forgo tten that pu re salts -

of silver are not being deal t with as a ru le An org an ic salt of .

silver is u su ally mixed w ith chloride of silver paper this ,

salt being d u e to the si z in g of the paper which towards

'

, ,

the red end of the spectru m is u su ally more sensitive ,

than th e chloride If a piece of the ordin ary chloride of silver

.

paper is exposed to the spectru m til l an I mpression is made it ,

w ill u su ally be fo u nd that the blu e color of the d arkened

chloride I s mixed w i th that d u e to the coloration of the dark
ened organic compo u nd of silver I n the violet re gion w hereas ,

in the blu e and green thi s organic compou nd is alone affected

and is of a different color from that of the d arkened mixed
chloride an d organic compo u nd This natu rally g I v es an u n .

pression that the different rays yield different tints whereas ,

this res u lt is S imply owing to the different ran ge of sensitive

ness of the bodies .

B u t the colored images obtained u pon dagu erreotype plates by

the method of B ecqu erel mu st be tr u ly d u e to the distinct effects
of diff erent rays of light for in that case th ere is n oorganic ,

c ompou nd presen t to interfere w ith the resu lts

Acting on a su ggestion made in December 1 86 5by the
.

, ,

then P aris correspondent of the B r i ti sh J ou r n a l of P hotog

ra h
p y R,
J Fo w
.ler (
.formerly of L eeds ) several trials were ,

made by English experimentalists and in partic u lar by J ,

.

I n th e B u l leti n d e l a
’’
S oci ete F r a n ga i s e
’
ae P h otog r ap h i e
5(n i n th d i ti n)
.

l E n c y c l o p aed i a B ri t a nn i c a ,
”
v ol . x v iii .
,
p . 83 e o .
 A H I S TOR Y OF P H OTOGR A P HY . 1 23

Traill Taylor and G W harton Simpson in the co u rse of the

.
,

follow ing year to u tilize collodio chloride of S il ver fil ms in oh

,
-

taining col ored images The colors obtained w ere not so vivid
.

as those secu red by B ecqu erel u pon dagu erreotype plates b u t ,

they w ere visible by transmitted as w ell as reflected light .

P r eten d ed D i s cover i es of P hotogr ap hy i n C ol or s A year —

seldom or never passes w ithou t the anno u ncement in some

ne w spaper or other that P hotography in colors is at last an
accomplished fact " ” “
In some cases the discovery merely
relates to a modification of the w ell kno w n mechan ical process -

by w hich several negatives bein g employed the pictu re i s

— —

printed piecemeal each por ti on receiving a dau b of a separate

,

color Frequ ently the method adopted is to ren d er the pho

.

t og rap h tran sparent and color it on the back ; some s u ch plan

h as been patente d on an av erage t w ice a year for the last
tw enty y ears
Other rep u ted “ discoveries are d u e to th e fact that by ‘

fau lty manip u lation colors of some kind or other are not u n
’
,

frequ ently obtained u pon collodi on as in Hu nt s example —

or even on gelatine plates ; or they may be the resu lt of a

splitting of the film giving the colors of thin plates

,
“ ”
Some .

nov ice noting these to him marvelou s appearances w rites in

, , ,

haste to the papers that he has secu red the lon g w ished for re - -

su lt a resu lt however w hich h e finds himself u nable to r e

—

, ,

produ ce
Still other cases are deliberate frau ds Thu s in 1 8 5
.

1 an .
, ,

American preacher named H ill obtained almost general cre ,

dence for his statement that he cou ld produ ce photographs

”
glow ing w ith all the colors of natu re " N atu rally so w on ,

d erfu l a process w as to be called H ill oty pe The R ev Mr . .

H ill obtained a considerable su mof money by indu cing pho

.

tog r aph er s g e nerally to su bscribe payment in advance of ,

cou rse for a book w hich sho u ld contain all the details of this
—

startling discovery After man y delays the promised book

.

appeared ; b u t w hat w as the disappointment of the su bscribers

to find it a mere tw o penny pamphlet containing the o u tlines
-

of the Dagu erreotype process w ith complications and addition s

,

j u st s u fficient to render the obtaining of any pict u re at all a

v ery improbable m atter "
1 24 A H I S TOR Y OF P H OTOGR AP H Y .

Or i gin O
f th e C olor s
fob ta i n ed up on
The S a l ts o S i lver .
-

most recent researches u pon photography in colors are those

*
of C ap tain Abney H e states that the colors obtai ned by
‘

B ecqu erel and others u pon D agu erreotype plates a r e d u e to

the oxidation of th e silver compo u nds employe d When th e .

sensitive plates are e xposed i n the presence of some o x idi z ing

agent as by dipping them into peroxide of hydrogen before
,

or du rin g expos u re the colors are prod u ced more speedily

, .

Th e same investigator points ou t that there are s everal

known molecu l ar combinations of bromide of silver which can ,

readily be distingu ished from each other by the fact that they
absorb different rays Of light .

Thu s we are acqu ainted with

( )
1 A modification of silver bromi d e which transmits and
reflects orange ligh t This form of the silver bromide mole
.

m
cu le exists in paper which has been sensiti z ed with sil v er bro
ide on plates coated wit h a collodio bromide film and on
,
-
,

collodion bath plates This mol ecu l e will clearly be chiefly

-
.
e

affected by the blu e rays since it absorbs the blu e end of the
spectru m and work is done only by those rays which are
,
‘

,
.

absorbed .

( )
2 Another form Of the silver bromide molec u le appears of -

a blu ish green tint by transmitted light This modification

-
,
.

absorbs the light of the red end of the spectru m and even the ,
”
invisible or dark heat rays which lie beyond the red B y
. .

taking advantage of this property C aptain Abney was enabled ,

to obtain photographs of the region called the u ltra red ,

w hich proved its extension over a length exceeding that of the

whole of the spectru m ordinarily visible .

( )
3 Silver bromide contained in em u lsions w hich have been

boiled or treat ed with ammonia ap pears of a gray tint by

, ,

transmitted light .

B y an exposur e of two m inu tes to the band of colored ligh t ,

produ ced by passing a beam of white light thro u gh a S pectro

scope Abney Obtained colored pictu res of the solar spectru m
,

u pon silver (D agu erreotype plates and u pon collodion film s

) ,
.

“
n
P ro c e e d i g s of th e R oy al S o c i e ty , 1 8 79 ,
v ol . xx i x .
,
p . 1 90 ; v ol .

xxx i ii , p 1 6 4
. . .
1 26 A H I S TOR Y OF P H OTOGR AP H Y .

C H AP TE R XV .

HI S TOR Y OF THE I NTR ODUC TI ON OF DEVE OP ER S L —

S UMMI NG UP .

A B r i ef H i s tor y D ev el o m L
In N i ep ceotype the
f
o
p en ts—
l .

”
pictu re was brou ght ou t by S imply w ashing the exposed
bit u menized plate with a solvent w hich washed away those ,

portions of the asphalt that had not been acted on by light

( 1 8 2 7)
2 A D ag u erreoty pe was d evelope d by cau sing the v apor of
.

mercu ry to act u pon a su rface of silver iodide ; the metallic

vapor condensed on those places where the light h ad acted in , .

proportion to the intensity of the light

3 The developer for caloty pes was a mixt u re of gallic acid
.

and silver nitrate ; The former of these bodies is a powerfu l

r ed u cer i e it is able to separate the metallic silver in the
.
,
.

sil ver nitrate from the other s u bstances w ith which it is com
’

b i n ed This n ewly li b erated sil v er is a ttr a cted b y those por

.
-

tions of the sensitive su rface u pon w hich the light has acted and l
,

is deposited u pon them in the e x act ratio of th e i n ten sity of the

light
4 Archer (in 1 8 5
. 1 ) d eveloped his co llodion plates by p
ing on them a mixtu r e of pyrogallic acid and acetic acid in
w ater The action w as p r ecisely the same as in the cal otype pro
.

cess ; and as the w et collodion film w as already covered w ith u i

,

trate of silver there was no necessity to add more of that S u b

, ,

stance to th e developer Fer rou s su lphate (first u sed b y R obert

.

H u nt in 1 8 44 ) was frequ e n tly employed i n stead of gallic or ‘

p yrogallic acid as a silver red u cer in the w et col lodion process

5For ou r modern dry pl ate w ork all the d e v elopers de
.

-
.

scribed above h ave b een displaced by wh at is kno w n as alka

”
line development in whi ch the developer consists of pyro
,

gallic acid ammonia a nd ammoni u mbromide dissolved in

, , ,

w ater The ammoni a exercises a stim u lati n g action u pon the

.

pyro while the ammoniu m bro m

,
ide prevents any action on the
 A H I S TOR Y OF P H OTOGR AP HY . 1 27

parts of the sil v er bromide which have not been affected by

light The silver to fOrmthe image is obtained from the sil
ver bromide embedded in the gelatine or in the collodion w ith ,

w hich the pl at e is coated L ight acts u pon certain of the su r

.

face molecu les Of this silver bromide displacing so me or all

’
,

Of the b romide and leaving (l e ,

t u s say for simplicity s sake ) ,

scattered molecu les of silver to bear testi m ony to its action .

Yet u pon removing an exposed plate from the camera no pic

, ,

t u re is visible u pon its wh i te s u rface The reason is that the .

isolated partic les of silver are too small and too fe w to be visi
ble ; j u st as a handfu l of shot cou ld not be detected by the eye
if mixed w ith a sack of flo u r B u t u nder th e stimu lu s of the .

alkaline developer the redu ced silver molecu les attack the
molec u les of silver bromide b en ea th them abstracting their sil ,
“
"

ver and this action goes on u ntil the high lights become
,
-

vi si b le at the back of the pl a te by which time i t is as a ru le , , ,

su fficiently developed to give a de n se i mage after fixin g “ ”

,

as w e c all the proc ess of clearing aw ay th e u n acted ou s ilver -

bromide .

The alkaline de v elo per ap pears to have had its inception in

A merica In 1 86 2 the new s reached England that Messrs A n
.
,
.

thou y and B orda had fou nd great benefit in fu ming dry pl ates -

w ith ammonia before development A t the same time Mr . .

L eahy of Du blin fo u n d that a little liq u id ammonia added to

, ,

a plain pyrogallic acid developer brou ght ou t the image very

rapidly Bu t Major R u ssell the au th or of the tannin process
.
, ,

had for some time been at w ork in the same direction and in ,
”
the second edition of his book on the Tannin P rocess p u b ,

lish ed in 1 8 6 3 we find the first complete accou nt of a w orka

,

ble system of alkaline devel o pmen t R u ssell not only described .

the accel erating action of ammonia b ut he sho w ed the necessity ,

for the presence in the developer of a solu ble bromi d e in order ,

to prevent fog Si nce 1 86 2 the carbonates of ammonia soda

.
, ,

and potash have been u sed in tu rn as the alkaline element of

th e developer in place of ammonia b u t the latter still retains ,

most votaries in En glan d althou gh the fixed alkalies (soda and

,

potash) find great favor in America .

6 In 1 8 77 C arey L ea in A merica and W illis in Engl and

.
, , , , ,

S imu ltaneo u sly anno u nced that ferro u s oxalate formed an ad

1 28 A H I S TOR Y OF P H OTOGR AP HY .

'

mirable developer for plates containing bromide of silver ‘

Ferrou s o x alate is best made by pou ring one part by measu re , ,

Of ferro u s s u lph ate into three parts by measu re of potassi u m , ,

oxalate both the s olu tions being satu rated This devel oper has
,
.
.

fou nd great f avor On the C ontinent It gives clean pl ates b u t .

,

m
there 1 s not the same power of remed ying an incorrect exposu r e
as with pyro and a monia .

Scores of other developers h ave been proposed w hich the ,

limits Of ou r space forb id u s referring to in detail .

A d v a n ce of P hot ogr ap hy Fro mwhat has been written it —

will be seen that th e pr og ress whi ch has been achieved in pho l

tog r aphy d u ring the brief half centu ry of its existence has been
mainly in the direction Of r ap i d i ty It is n ot so mu ch that we .

take b etter photographs in 1 8 8 7 than in 1 83 9 as that we take ,

the min a fraction of the time then requ ired The following .

table shows this very clearly

P r oces s D a te of D i s cov er y . Ti m
e r eq u i r ed

H
. .

el i o g rap h y .

D a g u e rr e o ty p e .

C a l o ty p e .

C ll o d i o n E m u l s i o n
o D ry P l a te s
G e l a ti n e E m u l si o n .

The ab ove are average exposu res compared with a certai n ,

standard ; b u t gelatine plates can be prepared to take fu lly

exposed pict u res of brightly lit landscapes in the t wo h u n dred th - -

part of a second P erhaps the most rapid exposu res made are
those b y which M J anssen the French astron omer fd aily takes
.

,
.

m
photographs of the su n at the Observatory of Meu don near ,
'

P aris in the
,
o tho u sandth part of a second -
This rapidity .

Of ou r modern gel atine plates has led to the invention of a

great variety Of shu tters by w hich the Op ening ad mitting

“ ”
,

light throu gh the camera lens is Opened and closed in the frac
tion Of a seco n d A ski llfu l operator can take Off and replace
.

“
the ordinary cap Of a lens in the third Of a second b u t for ,

what are called instantaneou s e x pos u res it is necessary to do

this in the one eighth Or less Of a second and for this p ur
- — —

pose w e replace the cap by a sh u tter .

0 on clu si on And now we are compelled to end our review

.
—
 A P P EN D I X .

A P P E N DIX .

DR . MADDOX ON THE DI S C OVER Y OF THE GE ATI NO-BR OMI DE P R OC ES S L .

4.

F E E L I N G that some fu rther details of the discovery Of the

now u nivers ally employed gelatino bromide Of si lver process -

wou ld be of great interest in the history Of photography I ,

wrote to the veteran worker Dr R ichard L each Maddo x to ,

.
,

whose labors we are indebted for Ou r gelatine dry plates to gain ,

-
,

additional information as to the steps b y which he was led to the

i n cept ion Of the work which will always b e associate d with his ;

name I am su re that the readers of this boo k will peru se with

.

special pleasu re the accou nt which h e has given of the w ork

done by him si xte en years ago which has been so fr u itfu l
[

, .

Some may feel incl ined to wonder that havi ng done so mu ch

having advanced so far on the road to s u ccess and with the
‘

m
,

goal in view that Dr Maddo x d i d not do more and hi sel f

—
.
,

perfect his valu able discovery TO s u ch be i t said that for more

.

than half a centu ry Dr Maddo x has bor ne w ith patienc e a pain

fu l disease wh ich w o u ld have incapacitated m
.

ost men from all

work that w as not absol u tely necessary Then the imperative .

calls Of his profession and th e splendid work he has also don e

,
-

in photo micrography mu st be tak en into accou nt and when

-
,

we remember all this we see th at the wonder is not that he did

,

n ot do m ore b u t that he d i d so mu ch an d did it so well

, ,
.

A nd n ow we w ill let Dr Maddox spe ak for himself

.

S OU TH AMP TON Au gu st 1 9 1 88 7
P oR Tsw OOD ,
'

.
, ,

D ea r S i r I n you r favor Of the 1 7th inst you e xpress a wish

—
. .

“to kno w more h ow and why my attention w as d irecte d to gel

”
atin e and silver bromide " If you find th e an swer rather a ‘

complex one you m u st excu s e it u pon its thre efold cha racter .

Firstly the cost of the collodion with the trou blesome manu ,

n
Bor at Ba th 1 8 1 6 , .
 A P P EN DI X . 1 31

factu re Of the cotton Secon dl y health more or less affected

.
,

by its constant u se w hen w orking as I w as in my camera a , ,

dr essing room often at a v ery high temperatu re in the su mmer

-
,
”

months ; and thirdl y dissatisfaction w ith the dry methods for

‘

the photo micrographic w ork u pon which I w as mu ch en

-

gaged .

The first reason may be dismissed as of little moment wh en

there was an adequ ate retu rn u pon the w ork done ; b u t not so
’
,

w hen there was an absol u te loss even in an amateu r s poi n t Of

view The second reason w as a more important one B eing
m
. .

Often shu t u p for ho u rs in the said ca era the temperatu re at ,

fu ll s u mmer heat I fo u nd the system completely sat u rated

,

with the vapor of the collodion so mu ch so that it cou l d be ,

tasted in the breath on aw akening in the night an d sleep was ,

generally mu ch distu rbed and u nrefreshing w hile it w as mu ch ,

n eeded to restore the ner v ou s energy w asted by constant s uffer

’
ing Often v ery sev e re in character moreover th ere w as an ou t
,

cry in the h ou seh ol d tha t the collodion vapor u npl easantly per
vaded every room in the hou se The third reason was that I .

cou ld find no satisfactory dry or sticky process that d i d not em

brace the first tw o reasons an d add another Of its own in the ,

shape of ad d itional time and trou ble in the preparation Of the

plate .

These r easons set me experimenting sometimes on paper , ,

sometimes on gl ass w ith vegetable gu mmy matters as lichen

,

linseed qu ince seed a n d starchy su bstances as rice tapioca

, , ,

sago etc and w ith w axy material as J apanese vegetable w ax

,
. .

Often I fancied I w as j u st w ithin the door way wh en the door

closed; and other plans had to be tried A ll the literatu re I .

cou ld find bordering on the su bject w as search ed b u t it rather ,

be wildered than enlightened At last I t u rned to the animal .

series and wasted many eggs and some little silver ; then I
,

w ent to the finest isinglass at abo u t t wenty shillings the pou nd

w eight and the very first experiment led m
, e to h O e I w as on
p
the right track ; something had to be altered as I was u sing ,

iodo bromide in varying collodion proportions and the isin

-
,

glass d i d not appear to yield a su fficiently even s u rface in spite

Of all kinds Of filtering yet co n fidence was felt that a vein
;
had been stru ck Search w as now made in the hou se for a
.
1 32 A P P EN DI X .

’
packet of N elson s gelatine ; this afforded a better su rface
"
,

especially as the plates were dried generally on a hot one inch

"
-

thick iron sl ab an d tested at once T hen came th e mi xtu re

,
/
.

g
Of isin lass and ge l atine b u t the advantages pointed to gela ,

tine The little plates w ere tried u nder a negative then on

ou t Of door Obj ects b u t it was im
.
,

m m
- -
possible to get s ome l au rels
,

depicted in anythi n g ore than black an d white I reme .

bered that someone h ad stated that the bromides were better

su ited than the iodides for foliage now came the experiment —

Of diminishing the iodide and increasi n g the bromide u nti l it

settled into b romide alone Y et I was n ot satisfied ; b ut e x .

er i men ti n w ent on so rapidly that O ften I did not wait to

p g
filter the gelatine before mixing the bromide of silver m it .

B efore this perio d tha t talented e xperimenter Mr C arey L ea

m
, ,
.
,

had spoken Of the u se of aqu a regi a and y attention w as ,

tu rned to it fancying that its u se wou ld decompose some Of

,

the g elatine and fu rnish the extra silver a chance of forming

an organic s alt Of silver which might possibly improve the
image After working w ith this and ge tting more s atisfactory
.

resu lts vario u s su bst an ces w er e mixed with the gelatin e as

"

, ,

u m s u gar glycerine etc which gave di ffer ent tints to the

g , , ,
.
,

developed negatives and it was seen that it only requ ired ,

fu rther e xperimenting to pu t gelatine into u se for some Of ‘

the negatives were fairly plu cky and half t ones beau tifu lly ,

rendered b u t compared with collodion the gelatine was

, , ,

slower althou g h it stood its gro u nd with some Of the dry pro
,

cesses .

P aper had not been neglected for among the paper trials ,

w ith the gelatine w as one w hich I thou ght gave mu ch p romise ,

the tint on development equ alin g mu ch of the kind at the -

presen t day This was Obtained by the addition Of a small

.

qu antity of arsenite Of silver .

There w as no th o u ght of bringing the su bj ec t into noti ce

u ntil it had been lifted from the cradle Soaking the plates .

before u se for Of co u rse I knew the u seless salts w ere le ft in

, , ,

the gelatine w as n oted do wn for trial ; b u t at this stage an d

, ,

w hile in the very hey day O f experimenting there came an

- u r
,

gent appeal from my kind frien d Mr J Traill Taylor to as ,

. .
,

sist him witho u t delay by an article for th e B r i ti sh J ou r n al

, ,
 A B I OGR A P HI C S K E TC H OF TH E A U TH OR .

A B I OGR A P H I C S K ET C H OF TH E A UT H OR '

BY W I . . L I N C OL N A DA M S

W I L L I AM JER OM E H AR R I S ON the bibliographer as well as , ,

his torian of photography was born at H em sw orth 1 n Y ork

shire March 1 6 th 1 8 4 5W hile still a chil d he accompanied his

, ,

.
, , ,

parents to Au stralia a jo u rney u ndertaken in the ho pe o f

’
,

p roving his father s health w h o ho w ever died shortly a fter

, ,

his arrival there R etu rning to Engl an d yo u ng H arrison was

.
,

ed u cated w i th a spe cial view to his joinin g the scholastic pro

—

fesS i on for seven years at the W estminster Training C ollege

—

and afterw ar d s for tw o years at C heltenham H e l eft C hel ten .

ham C ollege as senior prizeman an d holder of the highest ,

obtainable government certific ate and was shortly afterw ards

’
,
'

oi n t e d h e ad master of a large boys S chool in L eices ter

m
a
pp
’
.
,

Mr H arrison S scientific edu cation may be said to have co

.

men ced m 1 8 6 8 when he began to stu dy for the e xaminatio n s

,

of the science and ar t department W ithin the next ten .

years he carried Off the highest distinctions 1 n chemistry phy ,

sics geology and physical geography being do u ble g ofd

, ,

medalis t ( b y marks) in the last tw o su bjects I n 1 8 72 Du ring

these years he spen t m u ch time in the laboratories of the gov
er n m en t science schools at So u th K ensington u nder P r ofes ,

sors Frankland V alentin H u xley Gu thrie J u dd etc

, , , , ,
.

In 1 8 72 Mr H arrison was appointed chief c u rator Of the

.

L eiceste r C orporation M u se u m i n connection with which he ,

established very large and s u ccessfu l science classes H is .

"

original w ork at this time was done mainly in connection wi th

geology H e w as elected a Fellow Of the Geological Society
.

in 1 8 7 6 and received re peated grants from the R oyal Society

,

to enable him to prosec u te geological researches .

“
In 1 8 7 6 he p u blished a Man u al of P ractical Geology ,

b u t his most i m p or tan t i b ook in this line is the G eo l ogy Of

the C o u nties of England and of N orth and So u th W ale s ”

,
 A
'

B I OGR AP HI C S K ETC H OF TH E A UT H OR . 1 3 5
'

which app ear ed i n 1 8 8 9 and at Once w as recogni z ed as a ,

sta ndard w ork The establishment of the school board sys

.

tem in 1 8 70 revol u tionized ed u cational m

, ,
atters in England .

Whe n the new boar d s got fairly to w ork those Of the great ,

man u fact u ring to w ns recognized the importan ce of sci ence as

a branch of e d u cation and in 1 8 8 0 Mr H arrison received the .

important appointment o f Science Demonstrator to the School

B oard of B irmingham a town w ith a pop u lation of half a
m
,

illion situ ated i n the very center of England W ith a large

,
.

staff of assistants w ell appointed labora tories and a techn ical

, ,

school he h asth e d irection of the scientific stu dies of abo u t six

,

tho u sand of the elder children and Of some h un d 1 eds of the ,

yo u nger teachers .

For his s u ccess in the organiz a tion Of this work Mr H ar ,

.

riso n was aw arde d a medal by the Society of Arts in 1 8 8 1 .

For continu ed Work in geology he received the Darw in M edal

in 1 8 8 4 and at the rece n t meeting of the British Association
in B irm
,

ingham he acted as Secretary of Section C (Geology)

, ,

to which he al so contrib u ted several papers H e is also a .

frequ ent contrib u tor to the Oor n hi l l Kn ow led ge The N a ti on a l , ,

D i cti on a r y of B i ogr ap hy etc ,

.

In photography M r H arrison is essentially a d ry plate .

-

man not having commenced practical w ork in the art science

,
-

till 1 8 8 1 H e has devoted his atten tion mai nly to the h istorical
.

and scientific S ide of the su bject and his researches On the ,

-

“L iterat u re of P hotography ” have res u lted in the p u blica

tio n for the firs t time of a cOm
, pl ete list Of English books on
,

the su bject embracing more than three h u ndred w orks by

,

abo u t half as many au th ors .

“
In this History of P hotography Mr H arrison has g1 v en
”
.
'

the condensed res u lts Of his stu dy of the contents of these

books b u t he has also collected a great mass of i n format1 o n I n
the for mof all the papers on photography w hich h ave ap
“ ”

ear e d in general literat u re d u ring the past half cent u ry to

p ,

gether w ith the nu merou s periodical s w hich have been iss u ed

‘

in connection w ith the science

’
.

Mr Harrison s favorite implement is a Scovill Whole plate

.
-

camera fitted w ith the East m an r oll h old er ; b u t he also carries 4

a 4 X 5camera from which he enlarges and makes lantern

,

,
1 36 A B I OGR A P HI C S K ETC H OF TH E A U THOR ;

slides H is pictu res illu strating geological phenom

.
,
e na at .
"

tracted m u c h attention at an important exhi b itio n held in

B irmingham in c onnection wi th the visit of the B ritish A s
”

S OC 1 ati on in September 1 8 86 F rom the C o u n cils of the

, .

So u th K ensington Exhi b itions of 1 8 76 ( Scientific App

t u s) a nd 1 8 8 4 (Edu cation)
, ,
received in the
’

one case the thanks Of the C o uncil an d ih th e other a Diploma

'

Of H onor for assistance rendere d .

M r H arriso n is V ice P residen t of the B irmi n gham P hoto

.
-

'

graphic Society of which he w as one Of the fo u n d ers and is

, ,

also a member Of the C o u ncil Of the P hotog raphic C on vention

of Great B ritain .
 8 5P
5
5 ’
G m
MO 8 En g r a v i n g o
p a i
jy ,
6
ea rl § tr e e t
, N e w Yo rk .

S P EC I M EN O F ENG R AV I NG BY T H E “
M OS S -TY P E P R OC ES S .

FR O M A P HO T O G R A P H
o ri g i nal and d iffe r e nt fr o m o th e r m e th o d s p r o d u c in g ap
p a r a

ntl y simil ar lt s nd is lar g c te p in the dv a n c e

”

a
x '

a
‘

e r es u ,
~
- c
s a
i

in th e re a lm Of p h o t o ra h
g p y as a p p lie d to i ll u s t ra ti o ns as
’
p ro d u c e d b y p r int e r s ink . B e sid e s th e su
p i
er o r ex c e ll e n c e
Of the re s u lt s s h o w n and th e ease w i t h w hi c h th e y can b e

use d On th e o rd i na ry p r i ntin g p re s s by any p r int e r who

u n d ers t and s cut p r intin g th e i r c h e a p n e s s

, ,
as co mpare d w ith

th e o th e r m e th o d s Of ill u s t r a ti on, m a k e s th i s m e th o d of

g r e a t im p o r t a n c e to th e pu b li s h e r of p e r o dic i al s ,
b oo ks and
“

t
c a a lo g u e s . Fo r th e s e reas o ns it is b e in g v er
y g e n e r a ll y
ad o
p t ed by p ub li s h e r s o f th e p re s e nt d ay as a S u b s tit u t e
fo r the O l d e r m e th o d s of i l l u s t r a ti o n . The c o py fo r th I S

m e th o d s ho u ld b e l
c ea n ,
s harp ,
d i s tin c t p h o t o
g r a
p h s with
“

th e ou tlin e s w ell d e fin e d . A ls o ,
fr o m sui ta
b ly p re
p a r e d

b ru s h or p e n ci l d r a w in g s , the m os t ac ce
p t a b le res u l ts a re

Ob t a in e d ,
w h il e v er
y p l e a s in g e ffe c t s are s e c u re d fro m eve n
th e mo s t o rd in a r y p h o t o g r a ph s b y h a v i n g th e m t o u c h e d u
p

by our a rt s i ts s p e c 1 a l ly tr a in e d to thi s s ty el Of w o rk .

S ’ mp i l M OS S T Y P E S
en a
g r een s ta f or ou r c r cu a r -
P EC I

’
S
’P h o to h D r a w i ng P es t i mt
M EN S . en a
g ra p ,
or r i nt, f or a e .

MOS S ENGR AVI NG C O

5
35PEARL S T , NEW YORK
. .
 33 YEARS S ERVI CE

A R T s el enee

S end for our I llustrated C ata

logue ,

G I VI N G F U LL D E S C P RI T I ON AND L OW E S T P RI C ES OF

LENS ES , CAMERA BO
XES , APPARATUS , CHEMI CALS , ETC .

S ub scri pti ons Recei ved for al l P hotographic Journal s .

E S T I M A T E S F O R O U T F I T S

F u rn is h e d o n A p p lic a tio n .

Da rk R o o m s a nd P h otog ra p
’
her s S e rv i c e s

F R E E T O P A T R ON S .
 P H I L A D E L P H I A,

M A N UFAC T U R ER S OF

AND

B OA R D
“

Q u a l i t y, t h e B est . S t yle s a nd C o l o rs in

V a ri e t y U n e xc e l l e d .

T H ES E S TA N D A R D GOO D S AR E FO R S AL E

BYALL PHO
TORAPH
G IC MERCHANTS .
 P r es t . a n d Tr ea s
‘

W E D EA L EXC L U S IV EL Y I N

WE C A R R Y TH E

m
Most Co plete S tock of ny W
a esternHouse;

W e have th e b est a rran g ed stor e fo r th e di splay o f P h oto Goo d s

in th e U nit ed S tat e s Y o u c an b e fu rn ish ed with
.

Ei th er P o rtral t or V i ew ,
fr o m o n e-q u a r t er si z e to 20 x 9 4, o n an

’
in stant s noti c e .

FOR THE LI TTLE ODDS ANDENDS I N THE P HOTOLI NE TRY US ,

W e are th e P ro mp t e st H o u se i n M i ch ig an .

HARRI S PHOTOGRAPHI C S UPPLY C O .

1 7 an d 1 9 G r an d R iv er A v en u e ,

D ET R OI T .

v ii i
UNI FO R M l N QUA L I TY .

A L WAYS R EL I A BL E .

A c k n o w l e d ge d tooa c h e d fo r e x q u i sit e grad ation o f

b e u n a pp r

t on e g I V I n g p erfec t d e t ai l o f p rinti n g q u ality fr o mth e h i g h est

, ,

li ght s t o th e d e ep e st sh a d o w s t h u s p ro d u c i n g c o r r e c t r epro
,

d u c ti o n s o f th e Obj ec t s p h oto grap h ed

-
W h en h an d l ed a s d irec t .

e d th ey d o not re q u ir e for c in g i n d ev el o p m
,
ent or in ten si fyi ng

a ft er war d s .

Portrait and I nstantaneous .

m
Ra aLafl fl S G
aDB
a
L ndSoaoeand T ncy
ranspare .

Ofm t OS
'

ex q tC
Th e pl a t e ch o s e b n y
Th e m o s t r ap i p l a te d q al i ty a n d fa i
I

p e ed n na
th e I te r ti o n alP ho
s
i n t h e ma r k e t i n d i s —
u

mm
r

e n tl y
,
x a
t o g ra p h i c E c h n g e as
n bl
p e s a e fo r th e D etec it
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t d
re e

w or
TH E
k th e b
es t fo r L t e rn an
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l l pla
-

t i v e C am e r a
d ph t m
S id es A s ow te o f
t c r o g ra p h y
.

q al
.

an o o- .

u nq i u e u i ti e s .

S P EC I AL P L A T ES _ FO R L I NE W OR K .

S t rip p i ng P la t e s of E i t h e r B ra n d .

THE GEOR GE H R I P L EY C D . .
,
OF NEW YOR K ,

Office and Work s " 32 Ti ffany P l ace . , Brookl yn, N Y . .

Fo r s al e b y

S C OVI LL MANUFAC TURI NG C O ,

m
'

4 3 B S t t N w Y k 2 ro o e ree , e o r .

x ii
 XT R A R Y L AT E

Wi th th e c omp tion
l e

of th e n ew an d l a r ge

ad d itio n to ou r fa c

t o ry ,
we a re en a b l ed
AR R OW B R AND
to fi ll al l o r d er s
om
.

P er f e c tl y l a n c e ,
w or p r tl
p y .

i ng q u i c k l y d ev e l ,

o p e a s i l y a n d p ri n t

r ap i d l y g i v i n g t h e
,

v er fi n e st r e s u l ts
y .

C l e a r b ri l l i a n t
, ,

b e au ti f u l t e
,

s em b l i n g i n a p

p e a ran c e t h e
W e t P te la
n eg a ti v es .

FO R S A L E B Y A L L D EA L ER S .

Pl S EED P LATE C OMP ANY

5
.

NEW YORK OFFI CE,

fifiii fifiif
12 2
T
t iue .
Works at WOOdland MO
, No 2 Bond so
. .

x i ii
 5
E S TAB LI S H ED 1 8 7 .

S . Q e e P ER

M A N U FAC T U R I N C

1 9 4 W OR T H S T R E ET ,

N e a r C h ath a mS q u a re , N EW Y OR K .

Che icals,
m
Medicinal Photo rap

FOR T HE T R A DES .

C H AR L ES PE R
i
C

Works at Newark N J
OO .
N eW Y o r k .

i
iézt séfiiffifia
B L
. .
B , ,
 the b es t fer P ertre its fi reu ps '

ev er
’
cens cmctecl .

For Portraits Vi ews ,

and General

TRAPP MUNCHALBUMEN
S o le A m eri can A g e n ts ,

B ENJ . FR ENC H CO
N o . 8 1 9 W a s h i n g t o n S tr e e t,

B OS T O N , M A S S .

W Our n ew I l l u s tr a te d L en s C a ta l o g u e s en t on a p
p l ic a ti o n.
 W h o les a le an d R eta il M er c h an ts i n

S o le A g e n t s fo r t h e

OR I HO
YI -
'

IQ A NA G I I
I I NI G I m
us .

N ew E n g la n d A g e n t s fo r

Ami er can Optical C o pany s Apparatus m ’

.

P R IC E L I S T ON A P P L IC A T IO N .

B OM D S BOS TON MAS S

’

34 R FI EL T ,
.
 ’
MPANYS
HEAMERI CANOPTICAL CO
T
A P P A R A TU S
LL L L L L LL L L LL LL L L L L L L

C a m er a s ; E n la r g in g , R ed u c in g, C o p y in g an d M u ltip ly

in g B o x es ; T r ip o d s ; P l a t e -H o ld er s, fo r W et o r

D r y -P l at e s ; P r i n ti n g F r a m es ; A mt a eu r

O u t fi t s , etc .
, e tc h as l On g b een

U A
NRIVLEI] FU U
R BE AT IF D
Y[ ESI G
N ,

U IIA
NEQ LE RD
DFU U
RA Y[IFCO
BILIT RU
NST IO
CT N ,

—
AND

UNAPP ROACHEDFOR FI NENES S OFFI NI S H .

HEYA
T LWAYS G ND
IVEU U
ALIF
IEDSA A
IS F
T CTI O
N .

F OR S A L E B Y AL L

Reputab l e Photographi c Deal ers ,

S C OVI L L MANUFAC TUR I NG C o .

,

4 28 B R OOM E S T R E ET ,

N E W Y OR K .

W . I R V I N G A DA M S , A g en t .

S en d fo r L a te s t C a ta l o g u e .
 “
TH E PH OT OG R AP HI C T I ME S i s an a bl e vi g o ous ,
‘
r ,
an d e n t p ising p i od i c l
er r er a .
” —
B enj .

TOGRAPHI C I ME
‘

F R E QUE N T L Y I L L US T R A T E D
‘

I s a WEEKL Y J O U R N A L d ev o t e d t o t h e

H
T EO D
I CE andA
RYPRACT VNCE M
A E NT(If PHO
TOG
RAP , ,

I T S D E P A R T M E N T S A R E

E d i to r Arti l s
ia G n r l Ed i t ri al N t
l —
c e on p r t i l ubj t
ac ca s ec s , a n d e e a o o es
M i s c e l l a n e o u s A ti l by th b t p h t g r p hi w ri t s t h
.

a n d te l
gg fi
c o n t r b t r c es e es o o a c er a

mmu n i c a t i o n s t o S o c i e t i e s I n l u di g P p r L t r D m n t r t i n etc
an a r oa
C c n
f m ti g f
o a e s, ec u es , e o s a o s,
S t t ing d t d p l ll P h t g p hi S i
. .

M e e ti n g s f S o c i e ti e s a e an
b t h p r f ssi n l d m t u din g s f ll m ting
o a ac e o ee n o a o o ra c oc e
d giving f u ll p
—

an a a e r , an r o c ee
t i l di u ssi n f i mp r t n t d in t r s t i g q t
o o e o a o a ee s
nd p r
.

C o rre s p n d e n c e S i ti fi
by p r t i l ph t gr p h r nd l t t r f r m ll q u r t r f t h gl b by i t llig n t
o —
c en c a ac ca sc o o o a an e e n u es
ac ca o o a e s, a e e s o a a e s o e o e, n e e
bs rvin g r p nd n t s
o e
c o r es o e
R vi w f b k g s
.

O u r E d i to i a l T a b l e ch t s , ex an
I mp r t i l ri ti i m d t i f l l p h t g p h s t in
r —
e e s o oo e . e c .

P ict e s R e c e i e d u r v —
a a c c s an no ce o a o o ra s en
A s w r b y t h E di t r t rr s p d t in r h f k n w l d g
.

C o mme c i a l I n t e l l i g e n c e
N ote s a n d Q u e r i e s —
n e s e o s o co e on en s sea c o o e e
D s i pti n f
r w p h t g r p hi p p li n s t di h —
e cr o o ne o o a c a a ce s u o c a
rd f p h t gr p hi p t n t s
,

d an a r ec o o o o a c a e .

A P ARTI AL L I S T OF WRI TER S TO THE P HOTOGR AP HI C TI MES .

CA P T W DE W NEY W E ng l a n d
H WA MS E P h il d l
W M SH A
P ROF W K RTON
.
.

. A
.

M N,
. AB
F A J AC K S O N
P ROF R AN ALL S P A UL IN G
.

M N w H
nt l i r
.

R ED ER I C K
L .

.
L Y,
, e
a e

W E D E E N HA BU D D o c a
PROF W HARKNESS W hi gt
.
. . .
, , ,

O IN S ON M,
DC R D JOCHHNENHE ANE WAY
B M as n on ,
H
. . . .
,

P R B U J ‘

WE STER H b k
. . . .
.
. ,
G W
AWRNJOL SP I HAERR
ATMOU GH
.

D LL R
I
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S ON
,
,
PROF K ARL KL AU SER
G H JO HN S N
F m
B i ng
i
. .

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n

AC HNARREL WS PRIN E
D
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E
.

GL ,
S C OL I K ,
,
S
Vi
l d M I SS A EL I S EE
CR HARL SMWSAEGAERRLEH L
co t a n
e n na
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EO .

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D MAL L MAN , G
G m y C W C AN IEL
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. . . .

K S OH W I ER ,
IC OR
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er an . . . F
S OHUM AN N P C D
HENR Y M P
V T
R m
UC H OC H OI S ,
W J S I LL AN
. .

H D GA RRI S O N C E W ODMA N P D
. . T M . o e . AR K H U R S T
.

D R Ch i g R ca o EV O H
S W B RN HAM H E W AR S F KEN
. . . .
. . .
, , .

H E N R L TALMAN S H H O R GA N
. . U ,
. D D -
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GAY O N A DO U GL ASS
Y
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.
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J M M RA
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GU STA C R ER St L i PROF L C L
. .
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V AM ou s AUDY ,
J F E D E W ORTH
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,

MRi lwh kt r CAHAMSORDENOFRED I C S

G D
WEORH ESEHERS MAANN
.
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. M ,
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.

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P R F H W L ORD
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. .

b D o u us R N,
E RN EST E W AR S
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,
B ff l
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JO HN C Ph i l d lp h i D C HAS E H R ANN
. c I OH AE L , u a o. D D ,

AR B UTT , a e a R M

W I L I N C O LN A D AM S E D I OR
. . .

m
. .
,
T

M n t hly E d i t i n i su d ’
I
th
The Photographic Ti es, I l t F id y i t
o
h asm n t h r I ssued Ev
aer y F o
l l n
s
e
e
o
on
.
e

S UB S C R I P TI ON S .

On e iss u e p o st age in l u d d t o“ l l p int s in ( I ; S C an a d

co py W e ek ly , c e ,
a o . or a,
M th ly
p I llus t
o
t d p o s t ge i n c l u d d t ll p in t s in U S C an d a ra e a e o a o or a ,

W k l y iss u t f o ign d d ss s p ost g in cl d d

. .
, ,

u re a e e
ee
M n t hl y
r e e o a e , ,

o
I llus t r t d p stag in l u d d o e c e
S ingl O p y M n thly 25c nt
a e
S ingl ’ o p y W k ly 1 0 cen t s , ,

e
A m n t h s t ri l ( f u w k s) f t h W k ly f 30 n t s R mi t by E p r ss M n ey O rd e D
e c ee e o , o , s .
, , q

or ce e x e o r,
P 0 O rd o R gi s t d L t t r A s p i mn n u mb r f r
o a o r ee ,
o e ee .

PH O G A H I C T I M r iv d by l l d l rs n p h t g p h m t e r
er r e ere e e ec e e ee
S u bs i p t i ns t
.
. . .

th o o e TO R P ES ec e e a ea e I o o ra ic a ia
t hi s c n t ry C n d W s t I d i Gr t Bri t in A us r li Ne w " l n d n d by th p b h h r
cr
ou a a a, e n es , ea a ,
t a a, ea a , a e u s e
,

S C OV I L L M A N UF A C T UR I N G C C .
,
W .
I R V I NG A DA M S Ag e n t , . 4 2 3 B m S t t N w r o o e r e e , e Y o

Th e Week l y P h ot og rap h i c Ti m d t h P h i l d l ph i P h t g ph
es an t dd e a e a o o ra er o on e a r ess,

TH E PH OT OG R TI ME i f t h m t p r gr s iv t
AP HI C h i l j urn l p u bli h d S s o ne o e os o e s e ec n ca o a s s e .

L w ll M o e or n i n g To
I t i s th e l di g p bli ti n f i t l brig h t n w sy in t r s t ing d in tru t iv e e e an s c e. Th e T
mp l t ly Th R i lw y N w
ea n u ca o o s c a ss , . ,

w i d fi l d w hi h i t fi ll
”
h as a e e , c s co e e .
—
e a a e s .

XX
 [
EET
A P RAC TI C A L G U I D E T O T H E P R O FES S I O N A L A N D A M A E U R T

m
W O R K ER .

’
S covi ll e Photo r hi S eri es, Nu b er Twenty two -
g p
a c .

W H B u rb a n k B y th e R ev . . .
,

I s v lum f mr th n p g s u ni f rmin si
a o e O d ty p w ith th
o e th r n u mb rs a 200 a e o ze a n e e o e e
vill P h t S ri s ; is n tly b u nd in l th w ith gilt titling ; d b th I ns d
,
O f th S e co an o i e
t mk s
o o e e ea
mst ttr tiv pp r n
o c o ,
an d ou a e a o a ac e a ea a ce
T r ting it d s f fi ld in p h t gr p hi lit r tu r l n g n gl t d d
.

ea as oe e e a e so o e ec e an on e
i mp rt nt t ll p r ti l p h t gr p h rs this b k w ill u nd u bt dly h v
o a o o a c
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S O M E OP I N I ON S
m m fi ll d w ith f m d mth ds
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Mor e t h an 5
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p u b l i c a t i on .

xx i
 A S TANDARD BOOK OF REFERENCE .

TH E

AMERI CAN ANNUAL OF P HOTOGRAP HY

F or 1 8 8 7

C . W . C AN F I E L D
‘

, E d it o r ,

AR E RA P I D L Y D I S A PP E A R I NG .

It co n t ai n s fiv e f u ll p ag e i ll u s t ra ti o n s
AN EX QUI S I TE P HOTO-GR AVUR E, b y Er n est Ed war d s .

A B R OM I DE P RI NT, h y t h e East m an Co mp an y .

A S I L VER P R I NT, b y Gu stav Or amer , Of S t L o ui s

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1 97 p a g e s Of C o n t r i b u t e d M a t t e r c o n s i s ti n g o f a r ti cl es o n v a ri o u s ,

s u b e c t s by 8 0 r e p res e n t a tiv e w r it e r s O f thi s c o u n t ry a n d Eu ro p e

j , .

A l s o i n a dditi o n to th e c o n t ri b u t e d ar ti c l es
, Y e arl y C al e n d ar Ec l i p —
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Of m e e ti n g s o f a ll A m e ri c a n P h o t o g ra p hi c S o c i e ti e s

a n d E u ro p ea n P h o t o g ra p h i c S o c i e ti e s
A l i s t Of A m er i c a n
P h o t o g ra p hi c P eri o di c al s A eri .
.

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c a n a n d E u ro p ea n B o o k s r e l a ti n g to P h o t o g ra p hy p u b l i s h e d 1 8 86
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p ro v ed S t a n d a r d F o rm u l ae fo r all p ro c e s s e s n e w i n g e n era l u s e T ab l e s
A m eri c an a n d F o r e ig n M o n ey V a l u es C o m
.

o f W e ight s a n d M ea s u re s . .

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e .

i n g s S ymb o l s a n d A t o mi c ity o f th e C h e mi c al El e m e n t s S ymb o l s

. .
,

C h e mi c a l a n d c o mm o n n a m es a n d s o l u bi l iti e s o f th e s u b st a n c e s u s e d i n
P h o t o g ra p hy T a b l e s fo r Enl a rg e m e n t s a n d R e d u c ti o n s
.
Eq u a ti o n s re .

l a ti n g t o F o c i T ab l e s O f C o m p arativ e Exp o s u re s F reezi n g M i x t u re s

. . .

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Fo r sa e l by all d eal e rs ,
an d by th e p u b l i sh ers ,

S C OVI L L MANUFAC TUR I NG C OMP ANY .

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 ’
S C OV I L L S
O T HER

Photographic Pub lications .

H OW T O MA K E P H O T O GR AP H S f mk in g P or a a
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T R A N S P AR E N T L I QU I D W A TE R C O L O R S B y I A BA R H Y D T P r ti l
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P H O T O NE W S Y E A R B OO K O F P H OTO GR A P H Y f 88 7 or 1 .

CA N O E AN D C AM E R A A P h t gr p hi t u r f t w h u ndred mil s t h u gh o o a c o o o e ro
M in f r sts By T H O A S S E D GW I C K S EE L E
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—

P R A C T I C AL I N S T R UCTO R O F P H OTO ENGR A V I NG A ND " I N C ETC H -

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OF T H E

P H O T O G R A P H to TI ME S .

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Y O U R P H O T O G RA P H I C T I M E S g e t s b e t te r e v ery n u m b e r F R ED WH ITE
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a n y o th e r I h a v e s ee n
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v e ry v a l u a b l e s t o re h o u s e o f i n f o r m a ti o n G F H B AR T L E TT . . . . .

R EC I E my w kl y T I M E S d md l ight d w ith i t f h
I E V ee ,
an a e e s re s and in
t u tiv
s r n t n t givi n g t l l tim
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. . Y, r es e” o e
'

z s ur z a eu r P /
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g ra
p hi c S y .

AS tim e s
th e r tight thi s s p ri n g I th o u gh t to e c o n o mi ze by
w ere ra ,

t a k i n g th e b u t it i s t o o m u c h’ w a t e e d to o thi n e n ti re l y t o o m u c h r —
,

c h a fl t o th e k e rn e l o f w h e a t I c a n t l iv e o n h u s k s a l o n e pl ea s e t k e p ity
'

on m n d s n d th e w e e kl y P H O T O G RA P H I C T I M E S f ro m th e b e gi nn i n g o f
.

e a e

th e p e s e n t v o l u m e a n d o b l ig e E F E RR I S M l o n e N e w Y o rk
r , , .
,
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.

T H E T I M E S i s a v e ry g re a t h e l p t o b gi nn e rs i n th e a rt o f p h o t o g ra p hy e

l i k e my s el f U nl i k e m a n y o th r j o u n a l s y o u r a rti c l e s r p ra c ti c al a n d
. e r ,
a e

s im pl e a n d w o n d e rfu l h el p t o th o s e o f u s w h o
,
a r t ryi n g to l ea r n t o a e

t a k e p i c t u re s I r e d it w ith i n t e n s e i n t e re s t n d h o p e th a t y o u w i ll
.
”
a , a

c o n ti n u e t o m a k e it a j o u r n a l fo r a m a t e u r s a s w e l l s fo r th s e m o r e a d a o

A D C U TT E R C l e v e l a n d 0
_

v a n c e d i n th e a r t . . .
, , .