THE BOOK OF THE LANTERN. 125 



A is a base board, fixed on legs, as shown. It will be 

 evident that a spare table, or even the top of a packing- 

 case, would do as well, but it must be firm. Upon this base, 

 and fixed firmly to it, is a kind of railway formed by two 

 parallel grooves. D is a skeleton carriage furnished with 

 two runners at the bottom which will fit the grooves in 

 A, so as to run easily to and fro. The carriage D is also 

 furnished with grooves, and these are for the reception of 

 the runners affixed to the super-carriage, E. Upon E is 

 fastened the photographic camera, the camera screw being 

 placed through the centre hole for that purpose. 



In use, the picture to be copied is pinned to the back- 

 board, F, and I may mention as a detail of some im- 

 portance, that the little bead-headed arrangements known 

 to drapers as " ladies' bonnet-pins " are best for the purpose. 

 The camera is placed on E, E on D, and D placed on the 

 rails of the baseboard, A. We thus have two separate 

 movements at our disposal in getting the image of the copy 

 focussed centrally on the ground glass. A furnishes the 

 to and fro movement, and the grooves on D give the right 

 and left movement. The board, F, runs between upright 

 grooves, and thus we have a vertical movement. With 

 this simple contrivance a picture can be focussed in a few 

 seconds, and the camera all the time is bound to keep square 

 with the copy. A 3 -inch circle drawn in pencil on the 

 ground-glass of the camera is useful as a reminder of the 

 size to which the picture must be reduced. 



Lastly, this useful contrivance can serve another pur- 

 pose. We may wish to obtain a reduced positive on glass 

 from a larger negative. We can do this direct in the 



