Also collodium. [mod. f. Gr. κολλώδ-ης glue-like (f. κόλλα glue); in the L. form collodium ‘a term of Paracelsus for some gluey substance’ (Mayne, Expos. Lex.).]
A solution of gun-cotton in ether, forming a colorless gummy liquid, which dries rapidly in the air, owing to evaporation of the ether; used in photography for covering plates with a thin film, and in surgery for coating wounds, burns, etc.
1851. F. S. Archer, in Chemist, 257. I find from numerous trials that Collodion … is admirably adapted for photographic purposes as a substitute for paper.
1859. Proc. Amer. Phil. Soc., VII. 15. Photographs of the moon … taken … on collodion.
1878. T. Bryant, Pract. Surg., I. 35. An artificial covering of the flexible collodion is occasionally of … use.
b. attrib., as collodion process (in photography), collodion balloon.
1859. Reeve, Brittany, 6. The wet collodion process.
1863–72. Watts, Dict. Chem., I. 1084. Collodion balloons may be made much lighter than those of gold-beater’s skin, so that much smaller ones will rise in the air when filled with detonating gas.
1879. G. Prescott, Sp. Telephone, 11. The smaller … end of the tube is closed by means of a collodion membrane.
