THE BOOK OF THE LANTERN. 209 



which winter must bring, in which such work is impossible. 

 But now is his time for lantern preparation. The negatives 

 are looked up and sorted out, and by means of a gas flame 

 or paraffin lamp he can print off transparencies more 

 quickly than even on a favourable day he could produce 

 paper prints. There is no tedious toning or extended 

 washing necessary, and therefore the work does not entail 

 half the trouble that he is accustomed to in ordinary print- 

 ing. In addition to these advantages there is one other. 

 A transparency on glass is far finer in effect than any 

 paper print, for the reason that the picture is absolutely 

 without texture. Magnify a paper print and the texture 

 of the paper becomes at once evident; treat a good 

 glass positive in the same way and its beauty is only 

 increased. 



Lastly, the possessor of a lantern has another field of 

 work in which it can be usefully and efficiently employed, 

 namely, in making enlargements. Not the evanescent 

 and fleeting images already described, but permanent en- 

 largements of a quarter-plate negative, which is sufficiently 

 rich in detail and interest - to warrant its production in an 

 enlarged form. By means of an oil lantern, and a sheet 

 of the excellent gelatino-bromide paper now to be pur- 

 chased, an enlarged positive from a small negative is easy 

 to produce. And here, again, the work is quite indepen- 

 dent of the fickle sun, and can be accomplished in any 

 room not specially set apart for the purpose. 



I have by no means exhausted the list of services 

 which a simple form of optical lantern is able to render, 

 but I have enumerated several which will serve my pur- 



p 



