The Optical Magic Lantern Journal (July 1900)

90 _ The Optical Magic Lantern Journal and Photographic Enlarger. A HyproquinonE DEVELOPER. ich gi Its | : = Sarees ee ee vy ced which knowledge, coupled with his technical with all kinds of lantern plates is made as follows :— 1. Hydroquinone . 170 grains. Potasa bromide 30 grains. Soda sulpbite .. : 900 grains. Water (distilled) 20 ounces. IL. Caustic soda .. . 110 grains. Water (distilled) 20 ounces. Use I., 1 part; II., 1 part; water, 2 parts. alum bath after this developer.—Photographische Chrontk. THe Usr or Aa CoLouRED SCREEN in lantern projection is of course not new, but a rather tasteful use of it was made at the Kingston-on-Thames Photographic Society some time ago. The subject was a fireside scene, and the lanternist produced a very realistic effect by interposing an orange screen which greatly added to the warm glowing effect of the firelight. be made (as was this particular one) by soaking lantern plates (fixed and washed) in a solution of Judson’s dyes, a penny packet being mixed with an ounce or so of water. The production of an effect somewhat similar to that produced by printing a half-tone block on a tinted ground is thus a matter of ease. sitea —QHRee< The Lanternist as Lecturer. By GEORGE E. BROWN, F.IL.C. T is only natura] that the lanternist ‘ should seek to forsake at times his position by the lantern and should other office follows from his experience of lecturers and _ their audiences. He has frequent opportu nities of gauging the popularity or otherwise of lecturers and subjects, and if he is a close observer, he will have come to certain conclusions as to why certain lecturers are successful, even’ when handling unattractive subjects, and’ why the most popular subjects | fail, through the lecturer, in proving acceptable to the audience. Moreover, he will have formed his opinions’ of' the type of lecture best suited to certain audiences—the Literary and face the audience as lecturer. That : he is eminently qualified to fulfil this | . acquaintance. ty , | Paradoxical as it may at first appear, almost In warm weather it is advisable to use an | Philosophical Society, the Saturday Evening Assembly, or the Semi-Religious Body—all of experience in the proper mounting of the projection part of the lecture, places him in an | advantageous position to meet the wants of the + public. Perhaps he may be diffident of his own capacity to appear in public as an instructor of—or at any rate a speaker on—a subject with which he may have none, or only the slightest But this is an entire mistake. entire ignorance of a subject is one qualification | for lecturing upon it, and for this reason: The | lecturer himself realises the elementary difficulties in the subject—the things which the expert will be prone to consider too obvious to require explanation. It is often the case that there is no worse lecturer on a given subject (for the average audience) than the man who is the last and final authority on that | subject, who has made it the No! study of his life, Screens of this kind can easily | who is the founder of a ‘“‘ school,” or the leader / of a camp. We all know the Professor Dryasdust of the cartoonist, whose discourse igs a monument of erudition, but can only be appreciated by one other man living, and it is doubtful whether he can understand all the points touched upon by the learned Professor. Ignorance—if it be tempered with a clear ' and honest conception on the part of the ’ ignoramus of its extent and accompanied by the : disqualification to success in lecturing. ability to sift facts and weigh conclusions—is no There are two kinds of lantern lectures. In one the lecturer’s part is the same as that of the “ literary’ matter in some of.our illustrated. magazines—merely a convenient and agreeable background for the pictures. In the other the lecture is the thing; the pictures take the second place. I have nothing to say about lectures of the first class, but I feel I can say something on those of the second; and before doing so I may observe that the summer is the time to get one’s lecture or series of lectures together. The caterers for winter entertainment and instruction begin to make their arrangements in August and September. Hence, during the slack season the lanternist may well fill in some time in this way. I may divide what I have to say into three sections: — (1) Subject, (2) Treatment, (2) Delivery. As regards the first there is a wide field. ‘Intelligent anticipation of events before, they