The dressing of objects to show up clearly is often needful. Incised objects can be filled in with charcoal powder if light, or chalk if dark; in any case a coarse powder, so as not to stain the object. For faint cutting on glass or crystal go over the lines with 'China ink in a pen, so as to cover them. Harden the ink in the sun, and then gently wipe with a damp finger until all the excess is removed and only the roughness of the lines remains black. On large objects light dust or sand is often useful, to make relief clearer.
For objects in a bad light, or in the interior of tombs, reflected light must be used. Lids of biscuit tins serve well; a lid in the sun sixty feet off, and another lid reflecting the light on to a wall, will suffice for a two minutes' exposure of a slow plate. Three or four successive reflections into a totally dark chamber will suffice in five or six minutes.
When an important subject cannot be revisited it is well to take duplicates; the camera should be shifted laterally a few inches for a near object, or a few feet for a distant view, and then the two films will form a stereograph, if both succeed.
In arranging groups of small objects, put together what will go in a three–inch circle, and minor pieces around, and then the best in the middle can be printed direct on lantern slides.
7. Preservation and Packing.
While travelling little can be done for preserving objects. Papyrus rolls should be wrapped at once in a damp handkerchief, to be carried, and then wrapped in paper, packed in a tin box, and filled round with cotton wool. Small papyri can be safely damped in a wet cloth, and flattened out between the leaves of a book; secure one edge straight in the hinge, and gradually press flat and secure by advancing leaves over it. Glass, if perfect, should be packed in tins with wool; old food or tobacco tins do well for tender things.
Flint implements and coins, though hardy, should be saved from grinding by wrapping in waste paper.
Ivory, if it has been buried, is very liable to flake. The cure is to soak it in paraffin wax; but temporarily it is secured by winding cotton thread round it in many directions. Some anoint it with vaseline, but if vaseline penetrates the ivory, it will not take up paraffin or gelatine later. Tender wood may be likewise saved.
A much–cracked glazed jar was packed by winding string round it in all directions, with tufts of wool under the string.
A whole mummy in most fragile condition, so that it could not be lifted, was made up solid with 40 lb. of paraffin wax which was melted out of it afterwards in England, making hardly any change. If contracted burials should be preserved, dust carefully, splash on about 5 lb. of paraffin wax heated to smoking–point. When cold, detach from soil, turn over, paraffin the lower side, and build up weak parts with a sludge of melted paraffin and sand, nearly chilled. About 8 to 10 lb. of wax will do the whole. The skull should be packed separately. Pad all hollows of the body with soft rag to spread pressure in packing. Paraffin wax is the best preservative as it is tough, and may be used as a coat over an object for safety. When not needed it can be cut away, or melted away, and cleaned off completely with benzol. It should be melted in an iron saucepan, as solder will give way if it is superheated. As it melts at about 120 degrees F., and boils at about 600 degrees F., it can be greatly superheated, and used when smoking, so as to penetrate deeply into wood or porous material. It is perfect for strengthening skulls; most rotten examples slopped with paraffin, and finally soused for a few seconds so as entirely to cover the bone in and out, will travel safely, if not crushed.