By T.N. ARMSTRONG.

When the season for out-door work closes, amateurs begin to look about for means of employment during the dark evenings. There is, fortunately, no necessity for being idle, or to relinquish photographic pursuits entirely, even though the weather and light combine to render out-door work almost impracticable; and most amateurs will be found to have some hobby or favorite amusement which enables them to keep in practice during those months when many channels of employment are closed to them; and probably one of the most popular as well as the most pleasing occupations is the production of transparencies for the lantern.

It is not my desire to enter into any discussion as to this or that being the best means of producing these delightful pictures, but merely to describe a way by which a pleasant evening can be spent at photography, and slides produced of much excellence by artificial light.

To-night I propose, by the aid of artificial light, to make a few slides with Beechy's dry plates. On the whole, I have been most successful with them, and have obtained results more satisfactory than by any of the other processes I have tried. I do not say that results quite as good cannot be obtained by any other method, for I know manipulative skill plays a most important part in this class of work.

When I first took up the making of transparencies with wet collodion, I was told that my sorrows would not be far to seek, and so I soon found out. Need I tell you of all my failures, such as films floating off the glass, oyster-shell markings, pin-holes, films splitting when dry, etc., etc., not to speak of going to business with fingers in fearful state with nitrate of silver and iron developer? Now all these miseries have gone, and I can, with dry collodion plates, work with the greatest of comfort, and obtain results quite equal to the best products of any method.

It may be interesting to some to know the formula by which the emulsion is made, and as the making of it is by no means a difficult operation, I may be pardoned if, before going fully into the more practical part of my paper, I describe the formula, and also the manner in which I coat and dry the plates. The formula is as follows, for which the world is indebted to Canon Beechy:

In 8 ounces of absolute alcohol dissolve 5 drachms of anhydrous bromide of cadmium. The solution will be milky. Let it stand at least twenty-four hours, or until perfectly clear; it will deposit a white powder. Decant carefully into an 8-ounce bottle, and add to it a drachm of strong hydrochloric acid. Label this "bromide solution;" and it is well to add on the label the constituents, which will be found to be nearly:

 Alcohol. 1 ounce.

Bromide of cadmium. 32 grains.

Hydrochloric acid. 8 drops. 

This solution will keep for ever, and will be sufficient to last two or three years, and with this at hand you will be able in two days to prepare a batch of plates at any time. In doing so, you should proceed thus: Make up your mind how many plates you mean to make, and take of the above accordingly. For two dozen ½-plates or four dozen 3¼ by 3¼, dissolve by heat over, but not too near, a spirit lamp, and by yellow light, 40 grains of nitrate of silver in 1 ounce of alcohol 0.820. While this is dissolving in a little Florence flask on a retort stand at a safe distance from the lamp - which it will do in about 5 minutes - take of the bromized solution ½ an ounce, of absolute ether 1 ounce, of gun-cotton grains; put these in a clean bottle, shake once or twice, and the gun-cotton, if good, will entirely dissolve. As soon as the silver is all dissolved, and while quite hot, pour out the above bromized collodion into a clean 4-ounce measure, having ready in it a clean slip of glass. Pour into it the hot solution of silver in a continuous stream, stirring rapidly all the while with a glass rod.

The result will be a perfectly smooth emulsion without lumps or deposit, containing, with sufficient exactitude for all practical purposes, 8 grains of bromide, 16 grains of nitrate of silver, and 2 drops of hydrochloric acid per ounce. Put this in your stock solution bottle, and keep it in a dark place for twenty-four hours. When first put in, it will be milky; when taken out, it will be creamy; and it will be well to shake it once or twice in the twenty-four hours.

At the end of this time you can make your two dozen plates in about an hour. Proceed as follows: Have two porcelain dishes large enough to hold four or six of your plates; into one put sufficient clean water to nearly fill it, into the other put 30 ounces of clear, flat, not acid, bitter beer, in which you have dissolved 30 grains of pyrogallic acid. Pour this through a filter into the dish, and avoid bubbles. If allowed to stand an hour, any beer will be flat enough; if the beer be at all brisk, it will be difficult to avoid small bubbles on the plate. At all events, let your preservative stand while you filter your emulsion. This must be done through perfectly clean cotton-wool into a perfectly clean collodion bottle; give the emulsion a good shaking, and when all bubbles have subsided, pour it into the funnel, and it will go through in five minutes. The filtered emulsion will be found to be a soft, smooth, creamy fluid, flowing easily and equally over the plates. Coat with it six plates in succession, and place each, as you coat it, into the water. By the time the sixth is in, the first will be ready to come out.

Take it out, see that all greasiness is gone, and place it in the preservative, going on till all the plates are so treated.

A very handy way of drying is to have a flat tin box of the usual hot plate description, which fill with hot water, then screw on the cap; on this flat tin box place the plates to dry, which they will do rapidly; when dry, store away in your plate box, and you will have a supply of really excellent dry collodion plates.