DEVELOPING WITHOUT A DARK-ROOM.
The necessity of a dark-room for de veloping purposes has long been insist-ed upon, but it has now been demonstrated that plates and films may be successfully dish under the cover of a focussing cloth or changing bag, so that light may not reach it until it is actually in the machine or coloured solution. This does not apply to Daylight roll films, of various makes, which are so provided with a surplus length of black paper at the end of the roll that they may be inserted in either camera or developing machine without recourse to a dark-room. The beginner, however, is strongly recommended to adopt the more general method of develop ing in the dark-room. A better grasp of developed in full daylight by means of special contrivances. Among these may be mentioned developing machines for holding the plate or film in a light-tight receptacle, into which the developer and other solutions are poured in turn by means of an outside funnel, while the progress of development is judged by looking through a pair of small ruby windows in the front and back; others in which a length of film is drawn through the developer, and kept in motion by rollers operated by handles placed out side ; and solutions or compounds for staining the film of the plate, or the de veloper, to a ruby or other non-actinic colour, the stain being afterwards removed by washing. In most cases, however, the
plate has to be placed in the machine or the subject will be obtained by this means, besides which there are numerous things that can be done in the dark-room that cannot be done with developing machines and similar devices, useful as these are under favourable conditions.
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