The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1895-03-24
Lon the ChIeaEo -.

From the Chicago Record
Almost the first thing q photographer
does when he begins work is to roll his
shirt sleeves up above the elbows He
does not bare the buley muscles Of his
forearms that ne may save on laundry
bills, but because the skin over those
same bulgy muscles gives an extra super
fine polish 10 the smoothod face OF Iitho-
graphic stones which S. the pride Of the
photographer.
An afternoon spent in an establishment
where letter heads. bonds. checks and 9th
er commercial stationery Of an artistic
kind are printed from the Hthographic
stones brought from Germany disclosos
the fact that photography is a wonderfully
complicated, decidedly mysterious and ex-
ceedingly interesting art. The wonder Of
81. all is that it should have been brought
out for the barred forearms Of the trans
ferers, the saliva Of the engraver, gum ara
bic, acetic acid, turpentine. nitric acid. Nee
dies, Chinese paper, greasy ink. Scotch
homes, split diamond. ruling machines,
resin dust asphaltum and plenty Of plain
water are so mixed up I'm the sequence
of processes which compose the entire sys-
TEN that the observer finds himself lost
inthe labyrinth.
Yet the whole art and this includes
Autograph engraving the crayon ltho-
graph, the chrome Autograph and the
other branches Of the art sprung from a
wash list which an unemployed man wrote
on peculiar smooth stone in Bavaria
number OF years ago. Because mis-
mother asked him to make a memoran-
dun of some linen which she had just
set out to wash, a statue is to- be erected
by photographers to the memory of the
man who gave the world a new art.
The monument viii bear the name Of
Alois Senefleder. His father was an actor
in the Theater Royal of Munich. The son
wanted to tread the stage behind the foot
lights but the father sent him to the uni
Versity to study law. The young lawyer
was failure for he hated the profession,
loved music and had an itching for au-
thorship. He loafed around printing Of
fees most Of the time and picked up in
formation in the way OF setting type and
press work and etching on copper, and
tried TO do his own printing.
He had in his home a fine. smooth stone
which he used for grinding his ink one
day his mother asked him to write out a
e-'Aa 4AFtf anu as lAb paper was NdlltANs ne
made up the list on the stone. The ink
used was composed of wax. soap and lamp
black. Next day he saw the writing on the
stone, and the inspiration which made
him famous induced him TO see If he could
not eat the stone with nitric acid, such
as he used In etching music on copper
plate. He tried the experiment, and to his
delight found that the acid attacked all
the stone except where the greasy ink
lay, and when he had daubcd the raised
lines with printers ink he secured some
impressions. Ha experimental further.
and brought his new art to a high degree
of excellence.
This was the beginning of TYPOGRAPHY.
for the stone young Senefelder used was
one which had been brought from what
Is now one OF the greatest photographic
stone quarries in the world.
Germany produces the best lithographic
stones, and, in fact, about all Of the stone
which is used In the art, for the scattered
spots in America where the stone is found
produce an inferior quality. This peculiar
stone is an unusually fine variety of lime
stone and the principal quarrles are at
Solenhofen, Moernsheim, Eichstaett and
Kelheim situated about half way be-
tween Munich and Nurnbuerg in Bavaria.
The stone is remarkably homogeneous and
line grained, generally of gray or light
cream color, and can be readily split into
plate several feet square and of a uni
form thickness, varying from seven inches
to one-twelfth of an inch. Because of this /
splitting popularity the stone is some
time called photographic slate
Quarrying this stone is a simple. easy
process. No blasting is necessary, for the
layers are 80. loose that they can be re-
moved with pick and shovel The stones
are trimmed at the quarry with small
hammers and chisels and are smoothed
and polished with sand and water. The
hardest layers are used for the finest work
and most of the stone of high quality is
Kept in Germany where the best Htho-
graphic work is done. For chalk drawings
and graduated tints an artificial grain is I
given to the stone with the sand blast
Some of the most renowned fossils ever
found were taken from these quarries, and
the owners derive a large income from
the sale of the fossil fish, reptiles and
animals which are disclosed when the Law
ers of the stone are separated. More than
800 different species have been found in
the quarries, and some of the fossils have
been sold for $1,000 each.
The art of photography rests upon the
well known principle that under ordinary
conditions oil and water will not mix A
greasy composition or ink is made to stick
TO the stone, and this composition will take
printers ink. Before the ink roller is
passed over the stone the surface is damp
ened with water, either with sponge or
roller, and the ink on the roller viii pass
over the film OF water without touching
the stone, but will stick to the compost !
ton, to that when a sheet of paper is
pressed on the stone it will receive the i'm
preston. In practice all the surface of
the stone except that part protected by
the greasy ink or composition is eaten
away by nitric acid, so that the design. /
Lettering and figures are raised above the |
general surface. The comparatively re-
cent modification of the printing press to |
meet the peculiar needs of lithographing. |
and the introduction of other machinery
in the process has brought the art within |
reach of the commercial business world |
and now a very large proportion of the |
commercial stationery is printed from |
Autograph stones.
While the fundamental principals are /
the same the difference in preparing the /
stone and in the printing between the /
engraved process, used principally for
business stationary. and the chalk pro- |
cess, used for colored work, is consider /
able. The engraved or transfer process
runs as follows: Before the lithograph /
stone can be used it must be polished /
For this purpose it IS first passed through /
a palmer which scnapes the stone smooth /