American Hand Book of the Daguerreotype

From the opening

Bromine and its Compounds—Iodine and its Compounds—Chlorine and its Compounds—Cyanide of Potassium—Hyposulphite of Soda—Hyphosulphite of Gold—Nitric Acid—Nitro-Muriatic Acid—Hydrochloric Acid—Hydrofluoric Acid—Sulphuric Acid—Accelerating Substances—Liquid Sensitives—Dry Sensitives, etc., etc., . . . . . 72

Light—Optics—Solar Spectrum—Decomposition of Light—Light, Heat, and Actinism—Blue Paper and Color for the Walls of the Operating Room—Proportions of Light, Heat and Actinism composing a Sunbeam—Refraction—Reflection—Lenses—Copying Spherical Aberration—Chromatic Aberration, . . . 131

To make Plates for the Daguerreotype—Determining the Time of Exposure in the Camera—Instantaneous Process for Producing Daguerreotype—Galvanizing the Daguerreotype Plate—Silvering Solution—Daguerreotype without Mercury—Management of Chemicals—Hints and Cautions—Electrotyping—Crayon Daguerreotypes—Illuminated Daguerreotypes—Natural Colors in Heliography—Multiplying Daguerreotypes on one Plate—Deposit in Gilding—Practical Hints on the Daguerreotype, . . . 149

An Account of Wolcott and Johnson’s Early experiments in the Daguerreotype, . . . 188

Polishing the Daguerreotype Plate—Buffing the Plate—Coating the Plate—Exposure of the Plate in the Camera—Position—Developing the Daguerreotype—Exposure to Mercury—Removing the Coating—Gilding or fixing the Image—Coloring Daguerreotype.

Polishing the Daguerreotype Plate.—I shall endeavor to present to the reader the process I have found productive of good and satisfactory results, presenting the same in a clear and concise manner, so that any one, by following the various manipulations given, will be enabled to succeed. If there is any one part of the process in Daguerreotype in which operators fail more than all others, it is in not properly preparing the plate. It has truly been said that it would take a volume to describe all the methods that have been suggested for polishing the plate.

I shall confine myself to the following description, which has been successfully practised, also most generally adopted by our operators, and I believe equal, if not superior to any other method, yet at the same time it is not of so much importance what particular method is employed, so that it be thoroughly and skillfully carried out.

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