the glass, pressing down well, and the strips will be cut off leaving a
smooth, straight edge.

After the prints have been trimmed, they should be soaked in water for
fifteen minutes. If you have not running water in which to place them,
the water should be changed several times. This preliminary washing must
be very thorough, or the toning will not be satisfactory.

To prepare your toning bath, make up first a stock solution of fifteen
ounces of water and fifteen grains of chloride of gold and sodium. The
chloride of gold and sodium can be obtained in small bottles which come
for the convenience of the amateur prepared in just the desired
quantity.

For a toning bath for twenty prints, take ten ounces of water, three
grains of sodic bicarbonate, six grains of sodic chloride (common salt),
and three ounces of your stock solution of gold. Add to this bath three
ounces of the stock solution of gold that has had three drops of
saturated solution of bicarbonate of soda added to it. This bath should
be alkaline, and you can test it with red litmus paper. If it turns the
paper slightly blue, it is ready for use. Put this bath in a flat tray
(porcelain preferably), and then lay the prints in it face down. Move
them all the time, to insure evenness of tone and to prevent spots. It
is a good plan to keep drawing out the undermost one, and putting it on
the top.

The prints are of a reddish-brown color when they are put into the
toning bath, and in about fifteen or twenty minutes they begin to turn
to a rich purplish black. Experience will teach the amateur at what
point the prints should be removed from this bath. They should lie long