THE PHOTOGRAPHIC NEWS May 8, 1861, p.211
AMATEURS and others only requiring to mount a print now and then often find it inconvenient to prepare starch paste in small quantities; but the following mixture, when once made, will keep for months ready for use. It is smooth as oil, easy to prepare, does not thicken, and will stick like glue; it also has the advantage of not cockling the prints so much as the ordinary starch paste--
| Picked white gum-arabic | ½ oz. |
| Dextrine | 2¼ oz. |
| Liquid ammonia | 4 drops |
| Water | 8 oz. |
The gum arabic is to be pounded in a mortar, and mixed with the dextrine; then rubbed in the mortar, with two ounces of the water, till quite smooth; then the rest of the water added, and boiled in an enamelled saucepan for ten minutes. When cold, it may be put into a wide-mouthed bottle, the ammonia added, and thus kept for use.
17, Heathfield-street, Swansea.