$674
[M&L?]
P939b
880159
Office of
J. Duncan Putnam Corresponding Secretary.
Davenport Academy of Natural Sciences.
Davenport, Iowa. Feb. 9th 1880
Prof. C. E. Bessey,
Dear Sir:
I have been very busy since my return
home so that I have not been able to write to you
in regard to the etching as I promised. The process is
very simple & only requires a little care & practice. The materials
necessary are 1st a steel or copper plate which can be had ready
polished (Plates 8x5 in cost copper 75 g steel 2.00); 2nd a small handvice;
3rd a spirit lamp; 4th alcohol; Turpentine, Nitric Acid; 5th a ball
of etching ground – wrapped in a piece of silk; 6th a dabber
made of kid lather & silk & stuffed with wool; 7th [?]
sheet geletine; 8th a sharp needle set in a wood handle; 9th an
etching point; 10th some wall wax (White wax & [?] kitch – equal
parts); 11th a magnifing glass; 12th a straight edge on [auler?] to serve
for a hand rest; to which may be added a burnisher, scraper &
graver & plenty of soft clean cotton rags, also asphatum varnish.
The process is as follows: first clean the plate with
Turpentine finishing with alcohol; then fasten the plate
in the vice and heat it over the spirit lamp until
it causes the etching ground to ooze through the silk,
distribute it evenly over the plate with the dabber, then
smoke it over a candle until the grounded becomes sufficiently
dark. This preparing the grounds requires a good deal of care.
Having made the [?] on [?] – lay a piece of gelitine upon there & trace
them with the small needle, then fill in the lines with vermillion
[or?] black lead, then place it reversed [?] the [?] plate
fastened as the sides with wax and varnish – this will
leave the tracings transfered to the plate – reversed. It is
now a comparatively [enviable?] matter to scratch away the
ground with the etching needle – the [steel?] shows in [?]
contrast to the dark ground. After the drawing is completed
to satisfaction – [?] out the mistakes with asphaltum
varnish. Build a wall of wax around the plate, a [?]
on the acid (say 1 part Nitric to 3 parts Water) – the length
