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MOVING PICTURES.
EVOLUTION OF MACHI'E.
The immense popularity of the blo
scope, or moving picture shows, all over
the world, must naturally excite wonder
and a desire to know how it is done, and
who weio -the inventors of the instru
ments which produce such marvellous
effects (says a writer in the "Cape
Times"). To satisfy this laudable curi
osity, it.will be necessary to go back
little less than a hundred years to got
at the very root of the matter.
The foundation of. the whole subject
Is retention of vision. It was discov
ered by a French philosopher, Mt. D'Ar
cot, that the impressions of light con
tinued on the retina of the eye about
the eighth part of a second after the
luminous body had been removed, and
by repeating the figure in a different po
sition in loss time the effect of move
ment is produced.. This may or may
not have been known to, two gentlemen
sitting at a table discussing the question
as to whether it was possible to see both
sides of an object at the same time; whe
ther there was a bet or not, history
does not tell, but one of the gentlemen
took a shilling out of his pocket and
made it spin upon the table so that both
head and tails were visiblo at one time.
From- this simple little incident o 'Dr.
Paris invented the pretty toy called the
Thaumatrope or Wonder Turner. It
consisted of a circular piece of card
board two or three inches broad which
may be twirled rounid with great rapid
ity by the finger and thumb of each
hand to pieces of silk attached to op
posite sides of the circumference. On
each side of the cardboard is printed
parts of a figure or picture, In such a
manner that f we could see both "sides
at once the picture would be complete.
For instance, on one side may be a homrse
and on the other side an Indian, so
that when twirling the curd the Indian
is seen. en the back of the homse; or a
cage may be on one side and a bird on
the other: when being twirled the bird
will be seen in the cage, and so on. This
toy was very popular in the toyshops
in the early years of the last century.
N??O further progress was made in this
direction for many years; but great ad
vancement wan being pnado in improving
the magic lanterm, both as regards lenses
and condensers, and sale - in lighting.
With lbs dissolving lantern many beau
tful effects were produced,n such a an
ld mill wit the wheel turntceg round;
a storm at sea with shlip rocking; or
Perhaps a snowstorm with the snow
fyailing. Also astronomical subjects
showing the movements of the planets.
In ohis way the lantern, from being a
more toy, became an instrument of
scientlifi importance..- The magic lan
tern wan invented b~y Icireher about the
middle of the seventeenth century; but
there is evidence to show that phantas
magoria was produced by tho priests a
century earlier to impose on the credu
lity of the people. It is a blessing they
did not have a bioscopo, or knew any
thing about -photography.
The earliest known "wheel of life."
that is to say, an instrument ,showing
actual motion, was . a cumbrous but
clever macline shown in the- Royal Poly
technic, London, many years ago; it was
old in 1860. It- was a large, solid wheel
or disc, about 3ift in diameter, with open
slots all round the outside edge at fixed
intervals. TWien the. wheel raevolved, a
person looking through -the slots saw in
a mirror opposite the moving figures,
such asa .lady -and gentlemnan waltzing;
the figures or pictetres were- on the back
of the wheel, and were in different poso
tions as the wheel revolved. As this
machine was too cumbrous for publica
tion and confined to the Polytechnic it
excited very" little Interest.
The camera obscura must not be for
gotten, as it showed in a wonderful man
ner, and in nature's own colour, land
scape and moving figures. The camera
obscura was -a dark chamber in the
centre of-which was a round white table,
with a plane.reflector and a convex lense
placed on top, which reflected on to
the table the most beautiful" pictures:
by turning the .lenses the scene could
be changed, showing carriages, horses,
and figures,- all in motion, more nearly
approaching the blosecope of to-day than
any other previous invention.
In 1860 the zoetrops was invented and
patented by Mr. Peter Herbert Deavigoes.
This invention comes from America, and
at once became very popular. It was
exhibited in the Great Exhibition in Lon
don, 1862, and the inventor was deserv
edly rewarded with honourablo mention.
The form :of this toy was something like
a tin saucepan or cylinder, revolving
upon a pivot. It was Japanoed black
outside, and white inside; round the top
side of the cylinder were 13 slots at
equal distances all around. The pie
tucies were printed on long slips of
paper, equal to the inside circumference
of the cylinder. W&cn the cylinder was
made to revolve on its pivot, by looking
through the slots the figures were teen
in perfect motion. As any number of
subjects could be procured at a trifling
price, the popularity of the zoetropo .a
turally increased until there were few
houses:-which had not one of these fas
cinating toys. '
To put this zoetrope into the magic lan
tern in its present form was a sheer
lmpossibility; still the principle was
there, and many attempts were made to
overcom -the difficulty, which was at
last solved by Mr. Thomas Ross, of Glas
gow, who made his first invention of the
-oetropo for the magic lantern, accord
leg to the principles of tie-zostropo5 with
thirteen (13) slots-this invention was
made in "1869, which, after taking out
provisional protection, was sold to
Messrs. Negretti and Zambra, of London,
and was exhibited for the first time in
th6 Royal Polytechnic. This slihe re
quires some explanation as briefly as pos
sible. It was made in the form of a lan
tern slide, something like the well-known
chromatrope, with two revolving discs,
ono of glass, containing the subject, and
the other of metal, with thirteen (fl3)
slots, which made one revoluti-m for bnoe
of the glass disc. The glass contains 13
subjects; but, strange to say, it showed
when exhibited oh the screen 26 subjects,
very much reduced in- size, anda certain
-amount of distortion, which the inventor
ef the original. oetrope, Mr. Desvignos,
,Was perfectly aware of, as he drew his
Ilctures so "as to overdome this distortion.
itnother fault was that on account of the
a ow motion, -the disc also shbwed itself
ois the scieen. Although the motion of
th. figures was perfect and otherwise
en rcet according to the zoetrope, it was
taz from perfect -as a lantern slide. To
ovtrcome these defects, Mr. Rose experi
mented, and at-lest discovered the cure,
whibh was to make a disc with cno slot
onlt this slot being equil to the 13 slots
put- together; by making Ihis wew disc re
volveo13 times for one of the glass disc
the difieulty was overcome, and, strange
to sayt instead of 28 flgu.'es there were
row o?ly 14, and no distartion-the most
perfect rootrope that could possibly be
made. - After taking out protection, this
inventich was sold by Mr. Ross to Messrs
Pumphrey Brothers, Birmingham, who
have sitae 1809 published it all over the
world. \But as it was published in the
name ok Pumphrey Brdthers,, the inven
tor's name was unknown to the general
public, apthcugh a full.account of his in
vention wa$ published at the timo in the
"British Journal of Photography." by re
quest of th8 hditor. Up to thia- time all
the- subjeetd wero from drawings, and it
was reserved. fpr .Mr. Muy ridge, of San
Francisco. to have the honour of being
the first to take figures fromi life for the
zoetrope, T- e 1weme of ais trotting horses
iaworld-wide. In. 182 h@ camns t( Lon
don, and caused quito a sonnation thero
among tho artists on account of the. ex
traordinary positions of tho horsos' logs,
which was contrary to all their precon
colved notions of art. These pictures
were also published in several magazines
of the time.
Instantaneous plates and films being
now available, it was possible to tate
moving figres without any dimculty. The
ilims were first made for usn it the kodak
camera, cartridge rolls being ,inventvd by
a Mr. Silvey so far back as 1870, by whicls
means films could be changed in daylight.
Thir brings us to the inventing of the
cinematograph. Some are under thb. Im
pression Chat Mr. T. A. Edison was thl
first inventor, but the general opinion is
that France has the better claim. Ac
cording to a newspaper cutting, "the cine
matograph was first exploited by a
Frenchman, and the making of films for
the countless thousands of machines toat
now provide entertainment in palaces and
musoi halls, in splendid theatres and inr
penny shows, is very largely in the hands
of two French firms."
In the year 1887 the idea occutrred to
Mr, Edison that it was possible to deviso
an instrument which should do for the
eye what the phonograph does for the
ear. The idea, the germ of which came
from the little toy called the zootropo
and the work of Muybridge, Marie, and
others, has now been accomplished. In
describing his arrangement, Mr. Edison
says:-"The photographic Impressiono
pass before the eye at the rote of 46 per
second through the medium of a rotating
slotted disc; the slot exposing a picturo
at each revolution, and separating the
particular gradations of pose." If Mr.
Edison got his idea from thu little toy
roetrope, why did he not make 13 slots
instead of only one? The aretrope for
the lantern was on the market for nearly
20 years with its one slotted disc, to say
tire least a very remarkable coincidence.
and more remarkable still is it that
neither French, American, nor English
can make a cinematogr'aph, kinetoscope,
bloscope, or any other instrument for
showing moving figures without this ittlo
revolving 'disc invented by Mr. Thomas
Ross, in 1860.
Mr. Edison described his invention of
the cinematograph at New York. on the
26th May, 1891, and on the 7th March,
1894, at New York, he described his kine
toscope. Since then many inventors have
entered the' field and made imany improve
ments and arrived at as near perfection
as nossibl.
As a fitting conclusion to this artileo
on the origin of the cinematograph, the
scientific manner in which Sir David
Brewster forshadowed its possibility in
his letters to Sir Walter Scott in 1832.
is very remarkable. Describing the thau
matropo invented by Dr. Paris, he writes
as follows:--'As the revolving eard Is
virtually transparent, so that bodies be
yond it can be seen through it, the
power of the illusion might be greatly
extended by introducing into the plcture
other figures, either animate or inani
mate. The ,setting sun, for example,
might be introduced into a landscape;
part of the flame of a fire might bh seen
to issue from the crater of a volcano,
anl cattle grazing in a field might make
part of a revolutionary landscape.' For
ouch purposes, however, theuforan cif the
instrument wold require to Joe com
pletely changed, and the rotation should
he effected round a standing axis by
wheels and pinions, and a screen placed
in front of the revolving plane, witk
opoe compartments or apertures, 'hrough
which the principal figures would appear.
Had the principle of this instrument
been known to the ancients it would
doubtless have formed a powerful engine
of delusion in their temples, and might
have been more effetievo than the opti
cal means which they seem to have em
ployed for producing the apparitIons of
their gods." It is a pity Sir David Brew
ster did not carry out his idea and comn
plcte his invention.
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