There is no need to despair if there is no dark room, no place to build one, no means to pay for one. Some of our most successful plates were developed in a scullery, and others in the bedroom of a house-boat. In fact, the sooner the student learns to develop anywhere, the better, for no one, studying to do artistic work, should leave his plates till his return homo (if he is away on a journey), they should without fail he developed the same day on which they are exposed.

Dark Room

Developing rule.

Dark room.

Ventilation.

Apparatus.

Ruby glass.

Only for portraiture is a dark room very necessary, and you cannot do better than build one as suggested by Captain Abney, in his "Treatise on Photography," modifying it to suit your taste and means. One thing, however, you should be careful about, and that is the ventilation, and money should not be spared on that department. The dark room can be scientifically ventilated by any good sanitary engineer. We have already, elsewhere, gone into the subject of ventilation of darkrooms, warning photographers of the pernicious effects of defective ventilation.1 The best sinks are made of earthenware, as supplied by Doulton. The lamp should be large, and give a good light. Ruby glass is, to some, injurious to the eyesight, and has been known to produce nausea and vomiting, in which cases cathedral green and yellow glass should be used. The photographer will require at least eight dishes, and at the very start he should make it a rule never to use a dish save for one purpose. We consider the best dishes for all purposes are made of ebonite. They should be bought in a nest, the smallest size taking the largest plate used by the operator, and the other seven increasing in size, so that one fits into the other. This makes them more convenient for carriage. The dishes should be marked by painting on their bottoms. One will be wanted for developing, one for the alum bath, one for the changing bath, one for the hyposulphite bath, one for the acid bath in developing platinotype prints, one for the water bath in the same process, one for an intensifying bath, leaving one over for odd jobs.

1 "Ventilation of the Dark Room" and "Ammonia Poisoning" in the "Year Book of Photography and Photographic News Almanac" for 1885-87, and on "Pharyngitis and Photography" in the "Year Book of British Journal of Photography" for 1887.

Dishes

When it is remembered that hyposulphite of soda is so "searching" that it has been known to penetrate through the ordinary so-called "porcelain" dishes and crystallize on the outside, one may judge how important it is to keep a separate dish for each operation.

Light Cover

Sable brush.

A light wooden board with a handle is most convenient for putting over the developing dish, in the earlier stages of developing, especially when using ortho-chromatic plates, but the student must be careful to keep it on a shelf by itself. Another requisite is a broad brush of fine sable hair, say three inches broad, this had better be kept perfectly dry and clean in a box of its own.

Chemical solutions.

Plate washer.

Drainage rack.

Travelling lamp.

Measures

The chemical solutions should be kept in bottles with glass stoppers, each bottle should have an enamelled label, so that it can be readily seen in the dark room, and cannot be destroyed by acids. A zinc washing trough which holds two dozen plates must be procured. A simple wooden drainage rack is also necessary. We have tried several travelling lamps, and have so far found no satisfactory one. There are several in the market, and the photographer must choose his own. Two measuring-glasses at least must be procured, and it is a good plan to use Hicks' opaque glass measures, as they can be so easily read in the dark room. It is as well to have one minim glass to hold sixty minims, and a large measure to take the full quantity of developer required for one plate. A pair of ordinary scales with weights (apothecaries'), costing a few shillings, will complete the list of apparatus required. A few simple printing frames will be wanted, one of which should be a size larger than the plate used. A square slab of glass, the size of the plate, and another a few inches larger each way, will be found the best for trimming prints upon. A razor or very sharp knife will be found the best tool for this purpose.

Scales

Printing frames.

Slabs of glass.

Our student should get all these things of good quality, and set his face against the syrens who whisper in his ear that he ought to get this, and ought to have that; he does not want anything more than we have told him, a greater number of things will only embarrass him. We are perfectly well aware that the most elaborate fittings have been put up by "amateurs" and "professionals" and we are equally aware that these have as yet not led to the production of a single picture.