894 - How to photograph ghosts

As far as I can tell, text says:

How to Photograph Ghosts
The discoverer of the photography of ghosts was a man named Mumler, who made his fortune by his discovery. He was a very competent engraver, in the employ of Bigelow, of Boston in 1861 (?). In his spare moments Mumler took to studying photography. The discovery was purely accidental. He had omitted to clean his camera properly , so that two impressions were rendered on one plate, the first less distinct than the second. Mumler was very sharp, and did not fail to take advantage of his secret, and succeeded in producing these effects in a permanent way. He quitted his former profession and set up business as a spirit photographer. This is how the business was carried on. The customer who wished to have the photograph of the spirit of a dear departed, had to send his or her cabinet photograph, and a fee of (20 cents?) ; then there would be a sitting, and a few days after the photos were received, together with the ghost of the departed. It so happened, however, that a father desired the photo of his dead son's ghost, but, on receipt of the photos, he found that his two-year-old boy's ghost had grown to that of a man, at least thirty years old. This mishap and many others finally attracted the attention of the authorities, and the business was declared illegal in 1875.

The following hints may be useful to amateurs who wish to obtain results similar to those in the photographs here reproduced. The most practical method is that of two exposures, the first to obtain the "ghost," the second to obtain the portrait of the sitter. First, then, place your ghost draped in a white sheet before a dark background, the sheet having been rendered slightly (?) before drying, by immersion in a strong solution of water and (?). Mark by two or three lines on the focusing glass the position where the "ghost" has been impressed upon the negative, and expose the "ghost" for a moment. Next place your sitter in a fitting posture, and take his picture on the same plate as before, choosing for background some dark piece of furniture in freference, such as shown in the accompanying illustrations. The "blue" in the sheet, of course, gives the ghost a more ethereal appearance, thus rendering the illusion more complete. It is needless to add that there is no end to the different combinations which may be arrived at by means of this litter subterfuge, and they offer, therefore, a wide field for the exercise of the ingenuity of our readers.

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