to consider some of its appropriate fittings comforting ourselves, if it be comfort, that as we each cease to be "foreign devils," there is only one appropriate place for China to allocate to us, namely, the regions of Fairydom and the rank of Tmmortals.
There is a word which in our authorised version reads blackness, but which really means the ruddiness of fire. Surely our chamber dark room ought to be called The Ruddy Room. And as the element of illusiveness will percolate into the minds of Western students of Chinese literature, we may dignify our present subject by calling it a Dream of the Red Chamber.
amateurs can buy their outdoor apparatus ready-made, and almost buy experience ready-made nowadays, no completely fitted dark room is likely to be bought even from the far-famed Messrs. So and So of Shanghai. Ingenious "dark room sinks" containing many requisites do exist, and may be bought in England, perhaps in Chins. But the dark room has generally to be fitted up by the amateur, here there is no no yas, no pipe connected sewers, no nothing, except a few materials to be had on the spot.
The first material which he must not neglect, is air to breathe. Impressed with this necessity of life, an old lady is represented as addressing, 'A Apele for Are," to the 'Sextant of the Meetin' House,' somewhere in America. And here quotation from that sublime ode "0 Soxtant, Don't you know our lung is bolusses to Blo the fire of life and Keep it from a Gain out And how can bolusses work Without wind, and aint wind are?
T put it To your conshence. Are is the same tous As milk to babies, or pendulums to dox, Or little pills unto an omepath, Or rvoty and orbs unto an Injun doctor.
And so in seeking darkness, let us not shut ourself p in a tite place." A ly large little room, ax the children lit put it, ora ventilated tiny little room may be necessary for us. The method of such ventilation must be left largely to the amateur.
In this room is some sort of a table. A very creditable one may be made out of the lid "of " large packing case, planed and strengthened by a native carpenter, the lids of course being made by the sxmo invaluable personage, It is a great help to have let into this table-top (preferably toward the left hand), a ieee of apparatus known as a" rocking. table", a box about 9x4 inches contain: ing clock-work which keeps a little brass. platform rocking for twenty minutes together. It saves a great deal of wearying labour, and is a most valued inanimate confederate in our conjuring forth the best impression that the plate will yield. The cost in England is about "12/6; the manufacturers, The Birmingham Photographic Ca.
Tt should be so let into the table that it may he lifted out for toning when required. The wind-up key can be turned under: neath the table. And to make it complete, a wooden box cover, fined and edged with black cloth should be made so as to cover up the plate if we should be called away during development.
The sink may consist of " stamped tin basin such as are sold in the native streets, with atin tube soldered into the bottom for the purpose of going through our tnbletop and carrying elf the waste water into small kong. "This kong should be a little larger than the container of our
vessel with a tap fixed near the bottom. water supply, which may consist I use an earthorn barrel, with a bung and a small brass tap perched on " box so_as to elevate it well above the basin.
But my min supply of water is always a bucket of well water, and a jug to trans-for its contents as desired. River water will do in the cooler months, and it has the advantage of containing a trace of alum from the native process of clearing. Which, by the way is similar in its working to the Clarke-Porter process in use at Manchester. Lime is used there; and with us that which does more than the lime, apd. gives us a little material over that) will help.to keep the film unfrilled or undissolved.
Next we require our "A" and "B™ bottles, whatever developer vie may choose: to put into them. And here let me suggest that the method of differentiating: "A" and "B" is often on a par with that of marking dark slides,—with: labels similar in shape, and with small type thereon. My dark-slides are marked. with a large vertical gum-ticket for Number 1, and no label at all for the other side. Number 3 plate has a horizontal label, and
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.