§5. THE PHOTOGRAPHIC LABORATORY.
This section is divided into a, Description of the Apartment; and b, Photographic Processes.
a. Description of the Apartment.
The room in which the photographical operations are carried on, adjoins and connects with the observatory on the southeast, as is shown in Figs. [28] and [38]. It is 9 by 10 feet inside, and is supplied with shelves and tables running nearly all the way round, which have upon them the principal chemical reagents. It is furnished, too, with an opening to admit, from a heliostat outside, a solar beam of any size, up to three inches in diameter.
The supply of water is derived from rain falling on the roof of the building, and running into a tank i, Fig. [38], which will contain a ton weight. The roof exposes a surface of 532 square feet, and consequently a fall of rain equal to one inch in depth, completely fills the tank. During the course of the year the fall at this place is about 32 inches, so that there is always an abundance. In order to keep the water free from contamination, the roof is painted with a ground mineral compound, which hardens to a stony consistence, and resists atmospheric influences well. The tank is lined with lead, but having been in use for many years for other purposes, is thoroughly coated inside with various salts of lead, sulphates, &c. In addition the precaution is taken of emptying the tank by a large stopcock when a rainstorm is approaching, so that any accumulation of organic matter, which can reduce nitrate of silver, may be avoided. It has not been found feasible to use the well or spring water of the vicinity.
The tank is placed close under the eaves of the building, so as to gain as much head of water as is desirable. From near its bottom a pipe terminating in a stopcock k, Fig. [38], passes into the Laboratory. In the northeast corner of the room, and under the tap is a sink for refuse water and solutions, and over which the negatives are developed. It is on an average about twelve feet distant from the telescope. In another corner of the room is a stove, resembling in construction an open fireplace, but sufficient nevertheless to raise the temperature to 80° F. or higher, if necessary. As a provision against heat in summer, the walls and roof are double, and a free space with numerous openings above is left for circulation of air, drawn from the foundations. The roof is of tinplate, fastened directly to the rafters, without sheathing, in order that heat may not accumulate to such an extent during the day as to constitute a source of disturbance when looking across it at night.
For containing negatives, which from being unvarnished require particular care, there is at one side of the room a case with twenty shallow drawers each to hold eighteen. They accumulate very rapidly, and were it not for frequent reselections the case would soon be filled. On some nights as many as seventeen negatives have been taken, most of which were worthy of preservation. Not less than 1500 were made in 1862 and ’63.
b. Photographic Processes.
In photographic manipulations I have had the advantage of my father’s long continued experience. He worked for many years with bromide and chloride of silver in his photo-chemical researches (Journal of the Franklin Institute, 1837), and when Daguerre’s beautiful process was published, was the first to apply it to the taking of portraits (Phil. Mag., June, 1840) in 1839; the most important of all the applications of the art. Subsequently he made photographs of the interference spectrum, and ascertained the existence of great groups of lines M, N, O, P, above H, and totally invisible to the naked eye (Phil. Mag., May, 1843). The importance of these results, and of the study of the structure of flames containing various elementary bodies, that he made at the same time, are only now exciting the interest they deserve.
In 1850, when his work on Physiology was in preparation, and the numerous illustrations had to be produced, I learnt microscopic photography, and soon after prepared the materials for the collodion process, then recently invented by Scott Archer. We produced in 1856 many photographs under a power of 700 diameters, by the means described in the next section.