Silver printing, however, still maintains the field against all comers, and does so by its intrinsic merits alone. No other process has equalled it in ease of production and in beauty of finish, and it is doubtful if any process has results of greater permanence, taking the best products of the process as samples.

The one defect of the process is the possibility of its products fading, but we must not judge of a process by its poorest examples, but rather by its best; if such should be the decision, there are at this day thousands of silver prints that are co-existent with the process and remain as perfect as it is possible for anything on paper to be after such a lapse of time.

A process that is so simple and easy that it can be p71 acquired in a few hours, is predestined to careless working, slovenly manipulation, and to endless scamping at the hands of careless workers. What wonder then if prints fade which were only half made.

Suffice it that the process, intelligently and conscientiously worked, would never suffer from such an imputation.

THE PRINTING ROOM.

All professional photographers practice the silver printing process with more or less of success, as they bestow care and intelligence in the working and are zealous for the reputation of their work.

The proper handling of a negative by the printer requires as much study and skill on his part as does the posing and lighting of the subject in the studio; and the printing room should be as replete with every convenience for forwarding and improving the operations therein conducted, as any other department of the establishment.

This room is generally situated at the top of the house, and wherever situated, should be so arranged that the east, south and west sides may be opened to the sun, that his direct rays may be utilized from the earliest to the latest working hours. Part of the room should be partitioned off in such a manner, and illuminated in such a moderate degree, that the sensitized paper may not suffer from excess of light while the frames are being filled and the changes made.

The printing room outfit consists of the various sizes of printing frames, cardboard, tissue paper and cotton-wool for vignetting, and knives, long-blade scissors, and glass forms for cutting the paper to various sizes, p72 light tight drawers to hold the prepared paper, shelves, and racks for the negatives.