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"^XKQmtnXs 0t ^cijeixjcje. 



An Episode in the Early History of Ani- 

 mated Pliotography. — The following inter- 

 esting letter from Henry R. Heyl is published 

 in the Journal of the Franklin Institute for 

 April : " Among the earliest public exhibi- 

 tions of photographs taken from living sub- 

 jects in motion projected by the lantern upon 

 a screen, was that given at an entertainment 

 held in the Academy of Music, in Phila- 

 delphia, on the evening of February 5, 1870, 

 and a repetition of this exhibition was made 

 before the Franklin Institute at its nest 

 following monthly meeting, on March 16th, 

 by the writer. The printed programme of 

 this event contains the following allusion to 

 this feature of the entertainment: 'The 

 Phasmatrope. This is a recent scientific in- 

 vention, designed to give various objects and 

 figures upon the screen the most . . . life- 

 like movements. The effects are similar to 

 those produced in the familiar toy called the 

 zoetrope, where men are seen walking, run- 

 ning, and performing various feats in the 

 most perfect imitation of real life. This 

 instrument is destined to become a most in- 

 valuable auxiliary to the appliances for illus- 

 tration, and we have the pleasure of having 

 the first opportunity of presenting its merits 

 to our audience.' The subjects exhibited 

 embraced waltzing figures and acrobats, 

 shown upon the screen in life size, while 

 the photographic images were only three 

 fourths of an inch in height. At that day 

 flexible films were not known in photog- 

 raphy, nor had the art of rapid-succession 



picture-making been developed; therefore, 

 it was necessary to limit the views of 

 subjects to those that could be taken by 

 time exposures upon wet plates, which 

 photos were afterward reproduced as posi- 

 tives on very thin glass plates, in order 

 that they might be light in weight. The 

 waltzing figures, taken in six positions, cor- 

 responding to the six steps to complete a 

 turn, were duplicated as often as necessary 

 to fill the eighteen picture spaces of the 

 instrument which was used in connection 

 with the lantern to project the images upon 

 the screen. The piece of mechanism, then 

 named the ' phasmatrope,' consisted of a 

 skeleton wheel having nine radial divisions, 

 into which could be inserted the picture- 

 holders, each consisting of a card upon which 

 was mounted two of the photo positives, in 

 such relative position that, as the wheel was 

 intermittently revolved, each picture would 

 register exactly with the position just left 

 by the preceding one. The intermittent 

 movement of the wheel was controlled by a 

 ratchet and pawl mechanism operated by a 

 reciprocating bar moved up and down by the 

 hand. It will be apparent that the figures 

 could be moved in rapid succession or quite 

 slowly, or the wheel could be stopped at any 

 point to complete the evolution. In the 

 exhibitions at the Academy of Music, above 

 alluded to, the movement of the figures was 

 made to correspond to the time of the waltz 

 played by an orchestra, and when the acrobat 

 performers were shown a more rapid motion 



