l Colors in Heliography--Multiplying
Daguerreotypes on one Plate--Deposit in Gilding--Practical Hints on the
Daguerreotype, . . . 149

CHAPTER VI.

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

AMERICAN HAND-BOOK of THE DAGUERREOTYPE.

CHAPTER I.

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.

There is a general tendency with beginners to slight this operation;
hence the necessity of adopting a system which precludes the
possibility of doing so. During many years' study and practice in the
art, I have tried numerous methods and substances for the better
accomplishment of the end in view, and have finally settled upon the
following, as being (so far as experience allows me to Judge) the modus
operandi, best suited to all circumstances; under no condition would I
approve of a method less rigorous or precise.

The operator being provided with a bottle of finely prepared rotten
stone, cover the mouth of the bottle with a piece of thick paper, this
perforated with a pin so that the rotten stone can be dusted on the
plate. Fasten the plate on the holder, take the rotten stone (Becker's
can always be depended upon), and dust on lightly until the surface is
freely covered; now drop on the plate's surface a few drops of an
alcoholic solution.*

* This solution is composed of