We put the world before you by means of the Bioscope and Urban films (Nov 1903)

92 Extract from " Mohninc; Lkadee." August 24th, 1903. No Micro-bioscopes and no Alhambra in Comaro's days ; else Comaro might never have been a centenarian I think it would have prostrated, if not killed, the dear old gentleman to see those many-armed, angry, spiteful little mites waging war against one another in cheese and water. Heavens, what combatants, what warriors! Many an abstainer has gone shuddering out of the Alhambra, and many a cheesemonger forsees failure. " Weekly Dispatch," August 23rd, 1903. 1 wonder who remembers that the original Alhambra was a competitor of the old Polytechnic, called the Panopticon, opened with prayer, operated under a Royal charter, and filled with scientific toys? It does not matter much ; hut the thought occured to me when I inspected Mr. Douglas Cox's collection of scientific toys in the shape of animated photographs the other evening. Science, to be sure, has progressed a little since lH.r)4. The microscopic and bioscopic studies of blood in circulation, vegetation in growth, cheese in animation, and so forth, that nightly enthral the Alhambra audience are weird and fascinating. " Sunday Spbcial," August 23rd, 1903. A visit to the Alhambra last Monday evening resulted in a firm resolve never to eat cheese or drink water again. A microscopic examination of the former, magnified to the size of a Bioscope screen, revealed one of the most blood-curdling pictures imaginable with mites of v arious shapes and sizes, but all equally hideous, prowling around in a most businesslike manner. As regards the fresh water hydra. In was a horror hiiilt on more graceful lines; but to sec the tentacles shooting out lor food was sufficient to shake the confidence of the most rahid teetotaler. A serief of pictures showing every phase of bee culture completed a most interesting and instructive addition to the programme. " News op the World," August 23rd, 1903. An important step in the educational development of the music-hall has been added to the Alhambra programme. The limitations of the Bioscope appear endless judging bj the extraordinary pictures of animate natural phenomena shown hv the Imperial Bioscope Company. By the aid of the microscope the Bioscope enables the minutest insect life to lie reflected on the curtain with a realism quite wonderful. Purveyors and consumers of sheese will probably not relish the exposure of life in that article of diet, and some of the other displays are a trifle uncanny. The series dealing with the "busy bee" are quite the most attractive, though the whole display excites keen attention. "The People," August 23rd, 1903. There seems no limit to the possibilities of the "Micro-bioscope," which is now numbered among the most interesting features of the really excellent programme at the Alhambra. To be amused is good ; but to be amused and instructed is better. The way in which the Alhambra audiences watch the screen during the presentation of the pictures of insect life is significant. Here tnere is something new to so many that if the educational pill is gilded, as it is at the Alhambra, that is so much gained from the entertainment point of view. The representation of the protoplasmic circulation hi a leaf must be seen to be appreciated. The Micro-bioscope is what its name implies, and combines all the charm of the microscope with the publicity of the broad screen. In due time we are to see still more wonderful things at the Alhambra. " Manchester Guardian," August 18th, 1903. One notes with pleasure the new ways of the Bioscope. A series of pictures exhibited at the Alhambra for the first time on Monday marks an epoch in its sensational and often frivolous career. These pictures deal with some plain facts of animal and vegetable lite" Included are husy life in an atom of cheese, the circulation of the tdood in the fort of the frog, the husy bee, and the protoplasm of the water weed. Perhaps the last-named is the most remarkable of these. It illustrates the movement of the countless atoms in the blood circulation of a plant. The delicacy of Mr. Charles Urban's work may be gathered from the fact that the subjects have been magnified anything from 8,00O,(JU0 to 3fi,OUO,000 degrees. The pictures had a great reception.