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To Prepare a Fixing Bath

Take water, 6 ounces; hyposulphite of soda, 1 ounce. This solution dissolves from the paper all of the chloride of silver that has not been acted upon by the light, but does not injure the picture or image. The usual time for leaving the print in this bath is about 15 minutes. If the print is held up to transmitted light before it is placed in this solution, it will appear quite opaque and cloudy in what should be the clear parts of the picture.

After the print has been in the bath the proper time this will disappear, and the print have a clear, translucent effect. The print should now be washed in 2 or 3 waters, and left to soak in a dish of water all night. In the morning it can be hung up to dry, and then mounted, as the taste of the experimenter may suggest. If the saving of time is an object, the print, after coming from the fixing bath, can be rinsed in water and passed through a common clothes-wringer a few times, each time being dipped in clean water, when the print will be found to be perfectly washed. When properly fixed, as already described, they are to be washed, and finally mounted on card or bristol board. The best paste for this purpose is common laundry starch.