CAmSraI  3''9


I  have  been  in  dark-rooms  that  were  so  hot  that  it  was  like  taking  a  bath,
and  then  if  the  plates  came  up  all  blocked  up  in  the  high-lights  with  no  sparkling
darts  of  lights  they  were  pronounced  no  good  and  the  manufacturer  called  all
kinds  of  bad  names.  It  was  not  the  fault  of  the  plate,  for  the  manufacturer
expressly  stated  that  the  temperature  should  be  kept  down  in  the  summer  and
up  in  the  winter.  Again  the  developer  would  be  so  warm  that  it  would  almost
float  the  film  off  the  plate  and  of  course  the  result  was  the  same.  Now  the
plates  of  any  make  will  work  better  in  a  cold  solution  in  summer  than  they  will
in  a  warm  one.  But  the  average  workman  will  be  in  an  awful  hurry  to  see  what
he  has,  and  will  develop  in  any  thing  he  has  at  hand,  it  makes  no  difference
what  the  temperature.  If  it  is  warm,  the  plate  will  flash  up  all  at  one  time  and
the  high-lights  all  run  together  and  then  begin  to  bury  down  into  the  emulsion,
so  that  there  is  no  sparkle  to  them  at  all.  We  think  we  can  make  matters  all
right  next  time  by  giving  less  time  so  that  development  will  be  slower.  This  is
not  true,  for  the  temperature  has  its  part  to  perform  as  well  as  the  exposure,
and  the  part  it  plays  has  nothing  to  do  with  the  exposure.  Try  developing
one  plate  in  a  warm  solution  and  another  in  an  ice  cold  solution  and  see  which
has  the  finest  grain  and  detail.  It  will  be  found  that  the  cold  solution  will  give
a  fine  grained  result  and  that  the  detail  is  fine  and  delicate,  while  the  high-
lights fairly  sparkle,  and  dance  up  in  perfect  ratio.
