After this wash well, and should it be deemed necessary to tone to a black tone, use a weak solution of bichloride of platinum and chloride of gold, or a very weak solution of iridium, in equal quantities, allowing the picture to lie in the solution till the color has changed right through to the back of the glass. Should a warm pinkish tone be desired, I tone with weak solutions of ferri cyanide of potassium, nitrate of uranium, and chloride of gold in about equal quantities.
After toning, wash well and dry; they dry quickly. Varnish with Soehnee crystal varnish, then mount with covering glasses, and mark. Bind round the edges with paper and very stiff gum, and the picture is complete.
The making of a really good transparency is by no means an easy or pleasant task with a wet collodion plate, but with these dry plates an amateur can, with a little practice, produce comfortably slides quite equal to those procurable from professional makers.
Abstract of a paper communicated to the Glasgow and West of Scotland Amateur Photographic Association.—From the Photographic News.
THE HONIGMANN FIRELESS ENGINE.
The invention of a self propelling engine, capable of working without fuel economically and for a considerable time, has often been attempted, and was, perhaps, never before so nearly accomplished as about the time of the introduction into practical use of Faure's electric storage batteries; but at the present moment it appears that electric power has to give way once more to steam power. Mr. Honigmann's invention of the fireless working of steam engines by means of a solution of hydrate of soda—NaO HO—in water is not quite two years old, and has in that time progressed so steadily towards practical success that it is reasonable to expect its application before long in many cases of locomotion where the chimney is felt to be a nuisance. The invention is based upon the discovery that solutions of caustic soda or potash and other solutions in water, which have high boiling points, liberate heat while absorbing steam, which heat can be utilized for the production of fresh steam. This is eminently the case with solutions of caustic soda, which completely absorb steam until the boiling point is nearly reached, which corresponds to the degree of dilution. If, therefore, a steam boiler is surrounded by a vessel containing a solution of hydrate of soda, having a high boiling point, and if the steam, after having done the work of propelling the pistons of an engine, is conducted with a reduced pressure and a reduced temperature into the solution, the latter, absorbing the steam, is diluted with simultaneous development of heat, which produces fresh steam in the boiler. This process will be made clearer by referring to the following table of the boiling points of soda solutions of different degrees of concentration, and by the description of an experiment conducted by Professor Riedler with a double cylinder engine and tubular boiler as shown in Fig. 2: