Samuel D. Humphrey

The following process possesses some interest, and is worthy a trial from operators. M. Natterer, of Vienna, discovered a process for obtaining proofs on iodized plates with the chloride of sulphur, without the use of mercury.

by Samuel D. Humphrey

It is necessary, first of all, to know that you have a chemical which is capable of producing good results when in skillful hands. For this reason it is best to prepare your own quick, after some formula which is known to be good. Those quick-stuffs which contain chloride of iodine are noted for their depth of tone while they probably operate with less uniformity than those which are destitute of it. For operating under ordinary circumstances, especially with an inferior light, probably no accelerator is more quick and sure than Wolcott's.

First of all, cleanliness should be observed. When there is dust or dirt about your room, particularly about the work-bench, failures will be frequent; for the smallest particles of rotten-stone, when allowed to come in contact with the buffs, will produce scratches on the surface of the plate, which very much injures the operation, and often causes failures.

Dust flying about the room is injurious, if allowed to fall on the plate, either before or after it has been coated, as it causes black spots which cannot be removed.

Polishing the Daguerreotype Plate--Buffing the Plate--Coating the Plate--Exposure of the Plate in the Camera--Position--Developing the Daguerreotype--Exposure to Mercury--Removing the Coating--Gilding or fixing the Image--Coloring Daguerreotype.

I am indebted to Mr. J. H. Fitzgibbons for the following process, which he employed in producing the excellent specimens he exhibited at the Crystal Palace:

An article so extensively used in the practice of the Daguerreotypic art as Bromine, is deserving of especial attention, and accordingly every person should endeavor to make himself familiar with its properties and applications.

This process is patented in the United States, by J. A. Whipple, of Boston, and of course no honorable person will use it for his own benefit without purchasing a right.

History of Iodine.--This is one of the simple chemical bodies which was discovered in 1812 by M. Courtois, of Paris, a manufacturer of saltpetre, who found it in the mother-water of that salt. Its properties were first studied into by M. Gay Lussac. It partakes much of the nature of chlorine and bromine. Its affinity for other substances is so powerful as to prevent it from existing in an isolated state. It occurs combined with potassium and sodium in many mineral waters, such as the brine spring of Ashby-de-la-Zouche, and other strongly saline springs.

This process is also patented, and the remarks on the preceding subject will apply in this case. The plate is prepared and exposed as in the usual method of the Daguerreotype. A white back-ground is employed. Let the head of the sitter come in the middle of the plate, and before exposing it to the vapors of mercury, put a small mat or diaphragm, having a small hole through it, over or directly on the surface of the plate. This diaphragm should be bevelled, and the bevel should be towards the surface of the plate; this, in order to prevent too sharp a line on the impression.