RENDERING THE PLATE SENSITIVE.
Fig. 3.
The plate being placed, coated side outwards, on the dipper, is to be plunged without hesitation into the nitrate of silver bath ([Fig. 3]). This must be done without stopping, otherwise a line across the plate will indicate, on development, the position of the plate in the bath at the time this stoppage took place; so that if we were to immerse the plate by a series of jerks, we should have as a result, so many bands of unequal development in the finished picture; showing the importance of plunging the plate into the bath without any stoppage during its descent.
Fig. 4.
When the plate has rested for half a minute in the bath, it may be withdrawn, and quickly re-immersed. This washing must be continued at intervals, until the greasy appearance goes off, generally for the space of two minutes, when the plate is to be taken out of the bath and placed with its lower edge on a pad of blotting paper, in a position as shown in the cut ([Fig. 4.]) A fragment of blotting paper is then to be used to absorb the moisture from the back of the plate, and a pneumatic plate holder—which should only be used for this purpose—is applied to it to form a support while