Page:Notes and Queries - Series 2 - Volume 1.djvu/446

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NOTES AND QUERIES.

[2nd g. N 22., MAY 31. '56.

three, as stated by Tennyson. For the benefit of CUTHBERT BEDE I give the names of these chil- dren, with the dates of the births of all except one. They were :

1. Sophia, born February 4, 1793 (before her father became a peer), and died Nov. 2, 1823.

2. Henry, Lord Burleigh, born and died 1794.

3. Brownlow, now Marquis of Exeter, born July 2, 1795.

4. Lord Thomas, born January 1, 1797, seven- teen days prior to bis mother's death.

Her ladyship probably died of scarlatina, which frequently supervenes on childbirth, and of puer- peral fever, and may have thus occasioned the error into which Tennyson fell as to the cause of her lady- ship's death. It is plain that her husband, Mr. Cecil, could not have taken her, on his marriage, to Burleigh Hall as his residence ; for he married Miss Hoggins in October, 1791, and did not be- come the owner of Burleigh Hall until December, 1793, more than two years after his marriage. The countess survived her marriage six years and three months; and I agree with your talented cor- respondent (1 st S. xii. 581.) that "the 'fading' of the countess must have been unusually slow, and that the ' shock ' was protracted beyond the customary limits." For confirmation of the above- mentioned dates, see Lodge's Peerage, G. L. S.

Conservative Club.

PHOTOGRAPHIC CORRESPONDENCE.

M. de Gamma's Waxed Paper Process. The follow- ing account of the process employed by him has been presented to the Socie'te Fran9aise ,de Photographic by M. de Caranza :

" The paper which most photographers reject is pre- cisely that which I employ in preference. All my nega- tives are obtained with paper very much pressed, and pierced through with an infinite number of small holes. These papers appear to me to retain more wax than those of a more compact texture, where the wax cannot so easily lodge and rest on the surface. The papier pelure in which I find all the qualities which I have just mentioned, has furnished me with pictures which are second to no- thing in delicacy to collodion and albumen, without having their dryness. I commence, then, by choosing those sheets which have an even grain and thickness, and which contain no metallic dust. After having cut them large enough to extend three or four centimetres on each side beyond the plate of my frame, I submit them to the operation of waxing.

" I have obtained "good results with both white and yellow wax ; I prefer, however, the white. I melt it in a very clean vessel, which is used entirely for this purpose. As soon as it is melted it should be strained through muslin to get rid of the impurities which it may contain, placed again on the fire ; then as it is on the point of evaporating by the heat, by the aid of a large brush called nueue-de-morve, I cover a sheet of paper on both sides. If I have a certain number of sheets to prepare, sixty for example, I cover ten sheets with wax on both sides, and these serve to wax the fifty others.

'' These ten sheets being waxed on both sides, I place

five sheets of unwaxed paper on a portfolio of blotting- paper, covered with a sheet of ordinary' paper, then that waxed on both sides, and lastly five others not waxed. I cover all with a large sheet of ordinary paper, rather stronger, and I pass over it a moderately hot iron until the heat has melted the wax, and the two first sheets on both sides of the waxed sheet have perfectly imbibed the wax : I change the sheets, and I obtain them equally well waxed.

" The absorption of the superfluous wax, which many photographers perform with blotting-paper, is tedious and defective ; in many sheets the wax is found to be too completely removed, or they retain on the surface some of the fibres of the blotting-paper. These sheets ought to be rejected, as, in the first place, the proofs are granulated, and in the second they are stained.

"For the purpose, then, of unwaxing my selected negative paper, I place alternately on a cushion of blotting-paper an unwaxed and a waxed sheet, to the number of about forty. Then, with a moderately hot iron, I make the excess of wax pass to the new sheets. One operation will ordinarily suffice, and by this process in half a day I can easily prepare a hundred sheets of paper.

" To Iodize the Paper. In 1000 grammes of distilled water I put three grammes of starch, and boil it till it is perfectly dissolved. Having taken it off the fire I add

Sugar of milk - - -40 grammes

Iodide of potassium - 15 do.

Cyanide of potassium - - 8 do.

This solution is that indicated by M. G. Legray ; I have omitted the fluoride of potassium, which, without adding to the sensitiveness of the paper, makes it granulated. Whilst this solution is still tepid, I strain it and pour it into a porcelain or gutta percha dish, and I introduce one by one a dozen sheets of wax paper, taking care to let the liquid run all over them, and with a badger brush I re- move the bubbles of air which would otherwise adhere to the sheet.

" The paper ought to remain thus for about half an hour, but it is necessary to agitate the dish frequently, in order that the combination of the wax and the salts should be as complete as possible ; after this the sheets should be taken out one by one, and hung up to dry.

" Care must be taken not to put the waxed sheets into the solution without first making it tepid ; I insist on this point, because in a hot atmosphere, if the paper lias not been treated in this manner, the wax reappears again in about fifteen or twenty days, and the sensitizing becomes difficult. The dry sheets ought to be very white, and of a verv granulated appearance. It should be remembered that in order to obtain good pictures, iodized paper should not be kept more than a month ; after that time the iodizing should be renewed. It would be better not to use the iodizing solution more than once or twice ; beauty of the pictures depending on the recent preparation of this solution.

" Sensitizing the Paper. The following solution is to bo prepared in a blue or black bottle :

Distilled water - - 500 grammes.

Nitrate of silver - - 35 do.

Crystallisable acetic acid - - 40 do.

This may be used an hour after it has been made. The sensitizing the paper should be done in a dark room, or by the light of a candle.

" Filter this solution into a porcelain dish rather larger than the paper, and plunge a sheet of paper into it, taking care to agitate the dish continually. After four minutes of immersion the sheet becomes of a milky colour, and resembles opal glass. It should then be taken out of the acetonitrate and immersed in a dish of rain water, or what