e planishing
hammer has left amazingly visible indications of its busy work. One
would suppose the manufacturer intended the surface of the plate to
represent the undulations of the sea, instead of that smooth and level
character so strongly recommended by M. Daguerre.

Such a plate necessarily requires at the hand of the operator
considerable labor before the surface is in a proper condition to
receive a suitable polish from the buffer. The least reflection in the
world should teach any one that so long as the undulatory character
continues upon the surface of the plate, it is in a very imperfect
condition for buffing, because the buffer cannot touch every point
equally; the elevated portions alone receiving a high degree of polish
while the depressed portion, from their roughness acting as nuclei,
gather dust, rouge, and other foreign bodies, so detrimental to
sensitiveness. The secret of the superior judgment and skill of one
operator over another, is intimately connected with this point: his
success depends very much upon the first process of cleaning the plate.

Let us examine the manipulation of the complaining operator. He takes
one of these plates and gives it a careful scouring with rotten-stone
and alcohol or any other liquid preferred for this part of the
operation--that is, he gives it what he terms a careful scouring--very
gently indeed because, from the frequent trials he is in the habit of
making in the camera, he fears he will rub the silver entirely away
before he succeeds in obtaining a good impression. The dark patches,
specks, and granular appearance resulting entirely from the unevenness
of the surface of the plate, look like copper to him, and he is
surprised that he should have rubbed away the silver so soon,
particularly by such delicate handling.

The judgment and experience of the successful operator, however, teach
him that scouring injures a plate less than buffing. He knows that
unless the hammer marks be obliterated, he cannot by the buffer produce
a surface of uniform polish and sensitiveness, without which a fair
proof is extremely doubtful; he knows that the time employed in the
preliminary operation of cleaning the plate properly is economy.

There is a style of French plates in the market, denominated heavy,
which are truly excellent, if properly managed. Much patience,
however, is required to remove the marks of the hammer; but with
tripoli and alcohol the surface is readil