THE BOOK OF THE LANTERN. 93 



T know most of the lecture-halls in the kingdom, but I am 

 not aware of a single one where this arrangement exists. 

 The lecturer who visits these places is responsible for 

 bringing his own screen, and his assistant must fit it up, 

 an operation which is sometimes, owing to the structure 

 of the hall, very troublesome and difficult. A permanent 

 rolled-up screen would obviate all this difficulty, and would 

 add greatly, for the reasons already given, to the success of 

 the exhibition. I can only suppose that this is one of those 

 matters which comes under the head of everybody's 

 business, and therefore nobody attends to it, or seeks to 

 remedy what I feel is a mistake. 



We will next consider the method of hanging a sheet on 

 a portable frame. Some lecturers adopt this plan, and if 

 they are not afraid of adding to their luggage a huge 

 bundle of sticks, they certainly have the advantage of 

 being independent of ladders, staples, and all the things 

 necessary for hanging a sheet in the ordinary way. There 

 are several descriptions of frames made for this purpose, 

 which are sold by dealers ; some are good, and some 

 are very much the reverse, giving much more trouble 

 than they are worth. Perhaps the best form of frame is 

 that which is made of round pine sticks, about 4 or 5 feet 

 long, like broom-sticks, and which fit to one another, 

 fishing-rod fashion, by means of brass sockets. The 

 corners of the frame are represented by sockets mitred, and 

 brazed together, see fig. 37. Such a frame as this is easily 

 put up. First of all the top pieces are socketed together, 

 and furnished with their corner pieces and one length of 

 the wooden rods. The side pieces are next placed in their 



