The Optical Magic Lantern Journal (December 1899)

Explosion at a Lantern Entertainment.— On the day of going to press with our last issue, a lantern lecture at Tiverton on behalf of Dr. Barnardo’s Homes came to a sudden termination just as it was commencing, owing to an explosion. In the stampede which followed, three ladies were slightly injured. An expert, who examined the apparatus, expresses the opinion that the operator, who was using an ether saturator, had an overcharge of ether, the vapour from which had reached the cylinder regulator, and that when lighting up, the direct oxygen was first turned on instead of the vapourised oxygen, and a light applied. The regulator was well burned, and pieces of it were picked up in various parts of the hall, some as far as 20 yards off. ~ ~ ~ The Transvaal and South Africa.— A series of lantern photographs from Nature of places of great interest just now have been published by Mr. J. H. Steward, of 406, Strand, London, by the special permission of the Cape Government Railway. They include Mafeking, Bulawayo, Aliwal North, Bridges over the Orange and Modder Rivers; also Colesburg. In all there are about 50 slides in this set. Bead ~ Bend Telegraph Cypher for Newton's Slides. —In the new catalogue issued by Messrs. Newton « Co., of Fleet Street, they have adopted a distinguishing letter or letters, such as A, B, C, L, T, etc., for their different sets of slides, an arrangement which will greatly expedite matters with those ordering sets by telegram. With one or two exceptions all the slides of this firm are now made at their new factory, and we learn that their popular set of slides of South Africa and the Transvaal are being added to. mo te * Biokam Film Subjects.--Numerous film subjects. have lately been prepared by the Warwick Trading Company, Limited, Warwick Court, Holborn, for use with the popular Biokam. Each film is 25 feet long, and is sold at 10s. The pictures being very small in proportion to those of (say) Edison gauge, the number of pictures contained on a 25 feet Biokam film is about equal to an Edison gauge film of double the length. od > oad New Film Subjects for the Cinemato_ gtaph.—It may perhaps not be known to some of our readers that Messrs. Fuerst Brothers, 17, Philpot Lane, E.C., have just issued many excellent films, such as the departure of trqops, etc.; and also many humorous sets. The Optical Magic Lantern Journal and Photographic Enlarger. 159 Optical and Mechanical Effects for the Lantern.—No. XIII. By EDMUND H. WILKIE. (Late Roya Ponyrecunic Institurion.) “~T is a constant source of surprise to the specialist in lantern work to vi|“ys) discover the very cramped ideas of Seay, most lanternists with regard to ran) mechanical and dissolving effects. 2) They appear in most cases to imagine that all that can be done in this respect has already been accomplished, and that nothing remains for us to do but continue the same 4ld round of subjects year after year or abandon effects altogether. This idea I think mainly arises from the fact that the majority of opticians’ catalogues contain subjects with which we were familiar in early youth, and that only on very rare occasions are novelties offered. But the fault does not rest altogether with the dealers; they do not asa rule (even at Christmas time) conduct their businesses on purely philanthropic lines and cannot afford to produce a succession of optical novelties unless each subject meets with sufficient demand to justify its existence. The production of a new effect set is always expensive, frequently worrying and tedious, and almost invariably demands more attention and absorbs more time than it pays for, hence the paucity of novelties. Many exhibitors say that at the present time they cannot obtain fees of sufficiently magnificent dimensions to allow them to exhibit the class of work they would desire, but they lose sight of the truism that before we can gather the harvest we must sow the seed. As an instance, we may quote the case of a public exhibitor who was recently fitted out by the writer with views and apparatus. Commencing only this season, he is now booking an average of two lectures a week at five guineas each, but mark this, his pictures are gems; where he exhibits once he goes again, and sometimes at very short intervals. Good work pays, but the modern exhibitor appears to be sceptical as to that fact. We cannot insist too much or too often upon these two points, colour, and scenic effect, without these the exhibition is foredoomed to failure. In this paper we treat upon two effects or mechanical slides which are absolutely unique, and of which only one of each has ever been made to the writer’s knowledge. There is in Palestine somewhere, a bridge crossing a small stream, and the parapet of this