The processes in which cyanogen is employed are so called :— Sir John Herschel makes the following remarks on the subject of his experiments with the cyanides :—

" I shall conclude this part of my subject by remarking on the great number and variety of substances which, now that attention is drawn to the subject, appear to be photographically impressible. It is no longer an insulated and anomalous affection of certain salts of silver or gold, but one which, doubtless, in a greater or less degree pervades all nature, and connects itself intimately with the mechanism by which chemical combination and decomposition is operated. The general instability of organic combinations might lead us to expect the occurrence of numerous and remarkable cases of this affection among bodies of that class, but among metallic and other elements inorganically arranged, instances enough have already appeared, and more are daily presenting themselves, to justify its extension to all cases in which chemical elements may be supposed combined with a certain degree of laxity, and so to speak in a tottering equilibrium. There can be no doubt that the process, in a great majority, if not in all, cases which have been noticed among inorganic substances, is a deoxidising one, so far as the more refrangible rays are concerned. It is obviously so in the cases of gold and silver. In that of the bichromate of potash it is most probable that an atom of oxygen is parted with, and so of many others. A beautiful example of such deoxidising action on a non-argentine compound has lately occurred to me in the examination of that interesting salt, the ferrosesquicyanuret of potassium, described by Mr. Smee in the Philosophical Magazine, No. 109, September, 1840, and which he has shown how to manufacture in abundance and purity, by voltaic action on the common, or yellow ferrocyanuret. In this process nascent oxygen is absorbed, hydrogen given off; and the characters of the resulting compound in respect of the oxides of iron, forming, as it does, Prussian blue with protosalts of that metal, but producing no precipitate with its persalts, indicate an excess of electro-negative energy, a disposition to part with oxygen, or, which is the same thing, to absorb hydrogen (in the presence of moisture), and thereby to return to its pristine state under circumstances of moderate solicitation, such as the affinity of protoxide of iron (for instance), for an additional dose of oxygen, etc.

" Paper simply washed with a solution of this salt is highly sensitive to the action of light. Prussian blue is deposited (the base being necessarily supplied by the destruction of one portion of the acid, and the acid by decomposition of another). After half an hour or an hour's exposure to sunshine, a very beautiful negative photograph is the result, to fix which, all that necessary is to soak it in water in which a little sulphate of soda is dissolved, to ensure the fixity of the Prussian blue deposited. While dry the impression is dove-colour or lavender blue, which has a curious and striking effect on the greenish-yellow ground of the paper, produced by the saline solution. After washing, the ground colour disappears, and the photograph becomes bright blue on a white ground. If too long exposed, it gets 'over sunned,' and the tint has a brownish or yellowish tendency, which, however, is removed in fixing; but no increase of intensity beyond a certain point is obtained by continuance of exposure.

" If paper be washed with a solution of ammonio-citrate of iron, and dried, and then a wash passed over it of the yellow ferrocyanuret of potassium, there is no immediate formation of true Prussian blue, but the paper rapidly acquires a violet-purple colour, which deepens after a few minutes, as it dries, to almost absolute blackness. In this state it is a positive photographic paper of high sensibility, and gives pictures of great depth and sharpness; but with this peculiarity, that they darken again spontaneously on exposure to the air in darkness, and are soon obliterated. The paper, however, remains susceptible to light, and capable of receiving other pictures, which in their turn fade, without any possibility (so far as I can see) of arresting them; which is to be regretted, as they are very beautiful, and the paper of such easy preparation. If washed with ammonia or its carbonate, they are for a few moments entirely obliterated, but presently reappear, with reversed lights and shades. In this state they are fixed, and the ammonia, with all that it will dissolve, being removed by washing in water, their colour becomes a pure Prussian blue, which deepens much by keeping. If the solution be mixed, there results a very dark violet-coloured ink, which may be kept uninjured in an opaque bottle, and will readily furnish, by a single wash, at a moment's notice, the positive paper in question, which is most sensitive when wet.

" It seems at first sight natural to refer these curious and complex changes to the instability of the cyanic compounds; and that this opinion is to a certain extent correct, is proved by the photographic impressions obtained on papers to which no iron has been added beyond what exists in the ferrocyanic salts themselves. Nevertheless, the following experiments abundantly prove that in several of the changes above described, the immediate action of the solar rays is not exerted on these salts, but on the iron contained in the ferruginous solution added to them, which it deoxidizes or otherwise alters, thereby presenting it to the ferrocyanic salts in such a form as to precipitate the acids in combination with the peroxide, or protoxide of iron, as the case may be. To make this evident, all that is necessary is simply to leave out the ferrocyanate in the preparation of the paper, which thus becomes reduced to a simple washing over with the ammonio-citric solution. Paper so washed is of a bright yellow colour, and is apparently little, but in reality highly sensitive to photographic action. Exposed to strong sunshine, for some time indeed, its bright yellow tint dulled into an ochrey hue, or even to grey, but the change altogether amounts to a moderate per-centage of the total light reflected, and in short exposures is such as would easily escape notice. Nevertheless, if a slip of this paper be held for only four or five seconds in the sun (the effect of which is quite imperceptible to the eye), and, when withdrawn into the shade, be washed over with the ferrosesquicyanate of potash, a considerable deposit of Prussian blue takes place on the part sunned, and none whatever on the rest; so that on washing the whole with water, a pretty strong blue impression is left, demonstrating the reduction of iron in that portion of the paper to the state of protoxide. The effect in question is not, it should be observed, peculiar to the ammonio-citrate of iron. The am-monio and potassia-tartrate fully possess, and the perchloride exactly neutralized, partakes of the same property: but the experiment is far more neatly made, and succeeds better, with the other salts".