The Boy's Playbook of Science / Including the Various Manipulations and Arrangements of Chemical and Philosophical Apparatus Required for the Successful Performance of Scientific Experiments in Illustration of the Elementary Branches of Chemistry and Natural Philosophy

by John Henry Pepper

One side of a sheet of selected Cansan's paper is first covered (by means of a spreader) with a solution of nitrate of silver (thirty grains to the ounce of water), hung up in a dark room and dried; it is then immersed in a solution of iodide of potassium of five hundred grains to a pint of distilled water, for five or ten minutes, and immediately changes to a yellow colour in consequence of the precipitation of the yellow iodide of silver; it is then well washed with plenty of water, and being dried, may be kept for any length of time, and is called "iodized paper." Light has no action whatever upon it. To render the paper sensitive, three solutions are prepared in separate bottles, and marked 1, 2, 3.

No. 1, contains a solution of nitrate of silver, fifty grains to the ounce of water.

No. 2, glacial acetic acid.

No. 3, a saturated solution of gallic acid.

With respect to No. 3, Mr. William Crookes has shown, that when a saturated solution of gallic acid is required in large quantities, that it is better to dissolve at once two ounces of gallic acid in six ounces of alcohol (60° over proof); to hasten solution, the flask may be conveniently heated by immersion in hot water; when cold it should be filtered, mixed with half a drachm of glacial acetic acid, and preserved in a stoppered bottle for use; so prepared it will keep unaltered for a considerable length of time. The gallic acid is not precipitated from this solution by the addition of water; consequently, if in any case desirable, the development of a picture may be effected with a much stronger bath than the one usually employed. To obtain a solution of about the same strength as a saturated aqueous solution, such as No. 3, half a drachm of the alcoholic solution is mixed with two ounces of water; but for my particular purpose, says Mr. Crookes, referring to the wax-paper process, "I prefer a weaker bath, which is prepared by mixing half a drachm with ten ounces of water." In either case it will be found necessary to add solution of nitrate of silver in small quantities, as the developing picture seems to require it.

Returning again to the solutions marked 1, 2, 3, the numbers will assist the memory in mixing the proportions of each. If the paper is required to be used at once, a drachm of each may be mixed together and spread over the iodized paper (of course, in a dark room), which is then transferred to a clean blotting-book of white bibulous paper, and being placed in the paper-holder may be taken to the camera and exposed at once. If the paper is not required to be used immediately, the solutions are mixed in the proportions of the numbers—viz., one of No. 1, two of No. 2, three of No. 3; and in making the mixture, it is advisable to keep a measure specially for No. 3, the gallic acid, or else the measure, if used for the three solutions, will have to be washed out every time, which is very troublesome, particularly where water is not plentiful.

If the excited paper is required to be kept some hours before use, No. 3 must be added in still larger proportion, as much as ten or even twenty measures of No. 3 to two of No. 2, and one of No. 1, being used, and even this large dilution is frequently insufficient to prevent the paper spoiling in hot weather; therefore if the temperature is high, too much reliance must not be placed on this paper, as it is peculiarly disappointing, after walking some miles to romantic and beautiful scenery, to find, when developing the pictures in the evening, that the paper used was all spoilt before exposure; and it will be seen presently that when the excited paper is to be carried about for use, it is better to adopt the wax-paper process.

After the excited iodized paper is exposed in the camera—and the time of exposure cannot be taught, as that speciality is only acquired by experience, and may vary from five to thirty minutes, or even more—the invisible picture is developed and rendered visible, not by exposure to the vapour of mercury, as in Daguerre's process with silver plates, but by a mixture of one of No. 1 with four of No. 3. The development is carefully watched by looking through the negative placed before a lighted candle, and the time of development may vary from ten to thirty minutes, and all the time the picture must be kept wet with the solution, so that it is better perhaps to make a bath of the solution and lay the picture on its surface than to pour the liquid over the picture. After the development is matured, the picture is now washed in clean water, and fixed temporarily, if required, by immersion in a bath containing 200 grains of bromide of potassium in one pint of water, or permanently by the hyposulphite of soda, made by mixing one part of a saturated solution with five or ten of water, or one ounce of the salt to six or twelve of water; but, as before mentioned, it is better to keep a Winchester quart full of a saturated solution of hyposulphite of soda, and then it is always ready for use instead of employing the weights and scales, and continually weighing out portions of the salt. The picture after fixing is thoroughly washed with water, and being dried is now placed between the folds of a wax book—i.e., some leaves of blotting-paper are kept saturated with white wax, and when a picture is placed between them, and a hot iron passed over the outside sheet, the wax enters the pores of the paper, and after removing any excess of wax by passing the picture through a book of bibulous paper, over which the hot flat iron is passed, the negative picture at last is ready for use, and any number of positive copies may be taken from it, as already described in the first experiment, [page 139.]

This mode of manipulation is called the Talbotype, and before dismissing the subject another process of iodizing the paper may be explained.

To a solution of nitrate of silver of twenty, thirty, or fifty grains to the ounce of water, a sufficient number of the crystals of iodide of potassium is added, first to produce the yellow iodide of silver, and then to dissolve it, so that the yellow precipitate appears with a small quantity, and disappears with an excess of the iodide. If this solution is spread over sheets of paper, and these latter then placed in a bath of water, the iodide of silver is precipitated on the surface, and after plenty of washing to remove the excess of iodide of potassium, the paper may be dried, and will keep for any length of time without change. This paper may be excited, exposed, developed, fixed, and waxed, as already explained.