The Optical Magic Lantern Journal (April 1903)

AND PHOTOGRAPHIC ENLARGER. 79 Correspondence. Roya. Hore, TORQUAY, March 6th, 1908. “DEAR Sir, As a constant reader of your Journal I thought the enclosed cutting might interest you. I ama Lanternist dating from the Old Polytechnic days, and am bound to admit that the Lecture described in a chatty fashion in the said cutting, was the best I have heard, while the experiments were clean, smart and brilliant, and the Lecturer a wonderfully expert man at the lanterns. Yours faithfully, ¥. ELLior.” “OPTICAL PHENOMENA.” When the ‘chief,’ in a bland way peculiarly his own, intimated on Monday afternoon that that evening there was an ‘‘Ellacombe Mutual,’ and added the words: ‘‘ Will you please ‘do’ this?’’ the wind was howling, the office window threatened every moment to be blown in; the rain, the pitiless rain was drenching everybody whose business brought them out (nothing else would, I was sure). Ido not disguise the fact that I wished that wretched ‘‘ Mutual ’’—well, further! especially as I had ‘fixed up”’ a cosy hand at whist at a friend’s house for that night—I felt spiteful. I determined to have a cab and charge it to the office, so as to make myself as disagreeable as possible. Later on I started, it was raining harder than ever. By the time I reached the ‘own Hall, I had already had enough. No cab to be seen, no umbrella would shelter me in such a wind; I tried it, but it was inside out before I could get it over my head. No one was in the streets, and [ thought no one would be in the room, and that there would be no lecture; I shonld get my game of whist after all; but alas, on arriving at the Parish room it was already fairly filled. Had that audience been there since dinner time I wondered ; it was fine then. : Having placed my reeking mackintosh at the end of the room among a pile of others. I sat down, took out my note book, and surveyed the situation. I never saw such a heterogeneous lot of apparatus before. There were four projecting lanterns, mirrors flat, mirrors concave, mirrors strung on a bar like herrings, mysterious pipes coming from a bucket suspended from the ceiling, coursing through curioos peices of ‘‘machinery,” and finally ending in a foot bath ; then there were prisms of all sorts, a diffraction grating, coloured cards, specimens of colour printing, which I think I have seen at some distant date in the office of the 7. Z., sent there by some enterprising firm as specimens, and no doubt handed to the lecturer asa scientific curiosity, a few adjustable stands, and some odds and ends with which I am not familiar. These afforded plenty of diversion pending the commencement. . Then the Chairman, the Rev. T. L. Kember, announced that unfortunately their esteemed Vicar, the Rev. J. P. Baker, had met with a slight accident which prevented him from being with them ‘that evening, but he hoped the audience wouldd accept him as a substitute. He thought Mr. Stephen Bretton (he of the Navy League) needed no introduction to an Ellacombe audience, Of course he didn’t; so without more ado the ‘“‘show”’ started. Mr. Bretton began by referring to the fact that though they called themselves a mutual improvement society he thought the term mutual entertainment society was more to the point, except when they held discussions about trams. Then they became a borough improvement non-procrastination society— here everybody laughed. The lecturer at once took a more serious turn, and pointed out that when God said ‘“« Let there be light? He alone knew how that this was perhaps the most important of all His creations, Then came the reasons why. Next, reference was made to the fact that white light was not as was generally understood, a primary element, but was made up of seven different colours. The first recorded scientific fact referring to colour was, said the lecturer, when ‘‘God set His bow in the Heavens.”’ Then Mr. Bretton introduced us to a bulb of water which he called his rain-drop—projected a powerful light upon it, and behold a small] rainbow about 2ft. diameter appeared. Then came perhaps the most wonderful experiment I ever saw, the lecturer turned on a stream of water (this is where the foot bath came in), and by some ingenious arrangement of the light it became a stream of liquid fire, then it was coloured a brilliant red, and then orange, then yellow, blue, green, and finally violet. The applause was tremendous: it was deserved. Next came the projection of a very beautiful spectram band; this was in turn projected onto seven mirrors when a rather peculiar thing happened, the spectrum band became distributed like a pack of cards thrown down atrandom. They were then brought into line in their respective orders, then they were all converged on to one spot, and behold a white light appeared. One of the colours then being removed, it was no longer white, but coloured, thus affording a convincing proof that to obtain white light all the pure seven colours must be present. The printing of a photograph by white, red, and violet lights yielded a strange result to the uninitiated photographers; it seemed curious, however, that the dark looking violet end of the spectrum band, a seventh part of the same beam of light, was equally as effective photographically as the whole pure white beam, whereas the red end of the spectrum gave no impression at all. Many startling and curious experimeuts in complimentary colours followed, and finally a complete lecturette in colour photography, with the actual building up of the coloured image on the screen before the eyes of the audience. Mr. Bretton’s object in the latter portion of his lecture seemed to be to explain very practically why some of the older stained glass windows in our cathedrals and churches possessed the extraordinary property of yielding a white light, although they were composed entirely of colours—some wonderful chromotropes, wheel of life and chameleon slides, concluded this most enjoyable evening, enjoyable principally because it was something quite new and a delightful contrast to the endless panorama of pictures, good and bad, usually met with in a “lantern show;’’ and largely due no doubt, to the smart manner in which the triple combination of. lanterns, like the triple expansion engines of a battleship, were monipulated by Mr. S. Bretton, junr. Mr. Bretton was cordially thanked, on the motion of Mr. GoRDON MurRAY, seconded by Mr, FARLEY. I was very glad I went, after all, and I withdraw my evil thoughts at first expressed. When we came out the stars were shining. SPECTRUM. The Torquay Times and South Devon Advertiser,