If it is impossible to bring a supply of water to the sink an effort should at any rate be made to connect the waste pipe with the nearest drain or gutter, otherwise it will be necessary to place a pail, or other receptacle, underneath the sink to catch the sloppings and waste water, and it will, moreover, require constant vigilance on the part of the operator to see that the pail does not overflow and allow the contents to find their way to the ceiling of the apart ment beneath.
While it is necessary to stop up all chinks and crannies which admit promiscuous rays of light, it is also important to take precautions to ensure the efficient ventilation of the dark-room, for the reader will probably find, if he becomes at all enthusiastic, that a considerable portion of his leisure will be spent there. If a fireplace exist in the room, matters will be simplified, and little will remain to be done. With a centre bit about an inch in diameter bore out a, row of holes about an inch apart in the bottom of the door near the floor, and just above these nail a, piece of wood, the edge of which has been bevelled off, so that it may stand out at an angle, as shown in the sketch at fig. 15. This, in conjunction with the fire
place, will ensure a, current of air continually passing through the room.
If the foregoing directions have been care fully carried out, the rertdor will bo in possession of as comfortable and practical a dark-room as even the most experienced of photographers could desire, and his operations will be much facilitated. At the same time it must not be supposed that possession of a, properly appointed dark-room is absolutely essential to success ; were it so, the very large army of amateur photographers would be sadly thinned. Many amateurs, under the exigencies of their surroundings, are compelled to either work under conditions which, to say the least, are adverse to success, or to give up the practice of their hobby. Ill the next chapter I propose to describe the construction of a portable dark-room, which may be made from very ordinary materials and at a nominal cost by any one able to use a hammer and a saw.