ctures, time of day and of exposure, stop and any other items of
interest. We now take the plate-holder in our dark room and prepare
our developer. There are a great many developers on the market and we
can scarcely make a mistake with any of them. Probably the best of all
is "pyro," but the fact that it stains the fingers is a serious
objection to it for amateur use, and almost any other developer, such
as metol, eikonogen or hydroquinon will be better.

These stock developers usually come in dry salts, which must be
dissolved and mixed. All of this work must be done in the light so we
can see that we are getting the proper proportions and that the
chemicals are thoroughly in solution. The developing trays should be
washed thoroughly and placed conveniently at hand so that we can find
them in the dark. In addition to developers we must have what is
called the "hypo" fixing bath. This is a solution of hyposulphite of
soda, a chemical which is used in development and which renders the
plate no longer sensitive to light, but dissolves that part which has
not been acted upon by the developer. The hypo should be in a tray or
box placed conveniently at hand but not so located that it will be
liable to become mixed with the developer or in any way to splash or
spot the plate. We must always wash the hands thoroughly after
immersing a plate in the hypo before handling a fresh plate, as a very
few drops will ruin a negative.

After we have prepared the hypo and the developer we are ready to
develop the plate. Place it face side up in the tray and quickly pour
the developer over it, being sure that the solution covers the surface
immediately, to avoid unequal development. While we should not develop
in a strong red or yellow light we can at least place our tray in
such a position that we may watch the process of bringing up the
image out of the creamy surface of the plate. This is the most
fascinating part of photography. First the high lights will appear and
then the shadows, and then after an instant the whole image will come
into view and then begin to fade away. To know at what point
development should stop will only come by experience with negatives of
all sorts of classes. Generally speaking, when the image fades from
view and begins to appear through the film on the glass side we should
wash it quickly and immerse it in the hypo. The "fixing" in hypo will
take probably five minutes and should be continued until the white