The Optical Magic Lantern Journal (February 1900)

26 The Optical Magic Lantern Journal and Photographic Enlarger. its title-—became united. How differently are we made to learn a foreign language. I was talking to a little boy the other evening who has just begun French, and he already knows avoir and ¢étre all through, negatively, interrogatively, and negatively-interrogatively! How different from the rational and easy system of finding names for things and facts with which the student is familiar, which he sees every day, and of which, in a short time, he will think in French or German as the case may be. Now it is by teaching languages according to this system—a system which is gradually gaining ground—that the aid-of the lantern is so valuable. Itis not possible for the teacher to actually show his class all the things that he must familiarise them with, but the lantern enables him to present them almost as vividly as the realities would appear, and so to fix quickly and permanently the foreign equivalent of them in their minds. For example, here is a skeleton lesson, the slides for which will at once rise before the reader’s mind :— I fold up my letter, I take an envelope, I open the envelope, I put the letter in the envelope, I bring the envelope to my lips, I moisten the edge of. the envelope, I rub the flap down with my fingers, I take a pen, I dip it in the ink, I write the address, I take the blotting paper, I rub it down on the envelope, I take a stainp, I stick it in one corner. The letter is ready for the post. The reader will at once see how many words the student will learn in a single short lesson, such as this. Of course, in this particular subject the teacher could himself act the whole, but in the majority of cases this is not possible, and the lantern, and if special films can be obtained the kinetograph, must be used if the greatest dramatic effect is to be obtained. I am not aware that such a use of this has been made of the lantern, but I am sure that before long it will be found. essential to the teaching of languages. Wide-awake manufacturers may therefore take a hint and be prepared to supply a demand which is likely to be pretty considerable. The slides to illustrate such a series should, of course, be bold in design, all superfluous details being sacrificed to bring out the one point of theslide. Good line drawings would therefore be better than life model studies, and any slide maker contemplating preparing a seriés of the kind could no doubt obtain a skeleton outline made for him from a teacher according to this system, many of which are to be found in London. A Hint to Lantern Slide Makers.* By H. A. YAN DUSEN. Fp is almost universally acknowledged Sy, that a first-class lantern slide from i} a gelatine plate requires much experience and skill on the part of p the operator. (5 There is an inherent peculiarity ae in gelatine which makes it not specially e suited for giving clear high lights, which is what one really desires in a slide despite the artistic twaddle about the beauty of veiled lights. Brilliancy is the great desideratum in slide making if one has any intention of showing his slides upon a screen. The opalescence of the gelatine may, it is true, add to the artistic effect in a window transparency or ona slide intended to be viewed like a trausparency in the grapho : scope, but any haziness would condemn a slide intended for exhibition. A gelatine slide ought to be properly exposed and properly developed if you expect it to be considered by a judge, good. Any doctoring, in the shape of reduction or intensification or even toning, is but a makeshift. Endeavour, therefore, to get correct exposures, and to do this you must study your negatives, for upon the character of the negatives the tone of the slide depends. True, long exposure is liable to give warmer tones, but there is really very little latitude of exposure allowable in judging time on a slide. A very light excess of exposure will cause a lurring or slight solarization in the intense lights which would amount to nil in a negative, but which on projection is greatly exaggerated amounting to a smudge or smear. The tone of a properly exposed slide is satisfactory enough without any subsequent modification. Though there are many developers which act most energetically and beautifully in the making of negatives, I have never found anything equal to ferrous oxalate developer for slide work, (A) Oxalate of potassa .. 2 ounces (av.) Chloride ammonium 40 grains. Water : . 20 ounces. *(B) Sulphate of iron (cryst.) .. 4 drams (av.) Citric acid .. ae 2 drams (av.) Water . 20 ounces. (C) Bromide potaseium 1 ounce. Water : 3 ounces. Sugar 1 dram. *« American Journal of Photography.”