a highly flammable, colorless or yellowish syrupy solution of pyroxylin, ether and alcohol, used as an adhesive to close small wounds and for photographic plates, from the Greek, kollodes, glutinous, glue like
When allowed to dry it left a clear, thin, tough flexible coating. In 1851 Frederick Scott Archer found it to be a perfect vehicle to hold light sensitive chemicals on glass and later a wide variety of surfaces including asphalted iron for making ferrotypes, popularly called tintypes. A positive image on glass, called an ambrotype; a positive image on asphalted iron, called a "tintype" or ferrotype; and a negative, can all be made using the wet-plate collodion process. Also called "cellulose nitrate," this is similar to the base used later for making movie films.