CHAPTER VII. 



THE PEEPAEATION OF LANTERN SLIDES, DIAGRAMS, ETC., 

 WITHOUT THE AID OF PHOTOGRAPHY. 



it became possible to use photography in 

 conjunction with the lantern, what are called 

 hand-painted slides had to be depended upon, 

 for they were the sole pictures that could be obtained. 

 In those days it was common to use a very much 

 larger picture for the lantern than at present. Those 

 pictures which delighted one or two generations of sight- 

 seers at the old Polytechnic, measured about eight inches 

 by five. Some of these pictures were most elaborate works 

 of art ; so much so, that at the sale of the belongings of 

 the Polytechnic in 1881, when the Institution as a place of 

 entertainment was broken up, many of these slides real- 

 ised as much as fifty shillings each. It is to be feared that 

 such hand-painting on glass is now almost a lost art, for 

 people will not pay the price which would remunerate a 

 competent artist, when they can obtain a more perfect 

 representation, as to form at least, by means of a photo- 

 graph. The slide-painter of those days used to work both 



