552 PHENICINE 



which a crescented aperture runs, the interval between the horns of the crescent being 

 occupied by a circular opening, covered by a screwed plate, removeable at pleasure. 

 This plate is fixed to a horizontal wooden axis, at the other end of -which is a handle, 

 by which the plate can bo caused to rotate. The axis of wood is supported by two 

 pillars connected with a flat piece which is secured to the tray. This apparatus is 

 placed between the lanterns in such a manner that the circular plate is irt front of the 

 tubes of both, while the handle projects behind the lanterns at the back. The plate 

 can, therefore, be turned round by means of the handle, without difficulty, from behind. 

 A peg of wood is fixed into the axis, so as to prevent its effecting more than half a 

 revolution. The widest part of the crescentic opening in the plate is sufficient to 

 admit all the rays of the lantern before which it happens to be placed. On the plate 

 being slowly turned half round, by means of the handle behind, the opening narrows 

 until it is altogether lost in one of the horns of the crescent. The light of that lantern 

 is gradually cut off as the aperture diminishes, until it is at length wholly shaded under 

 the moveable cover occupying the interval between the horns of this crescentic open- 

 ing. In proportion as the light is cut off from one, it is let on from the other tube, in 

 consequence of the gradually-increasing size of the crescent revolving before it, until 

 at length the widest part of this opening in the plate is presented before the tube of 

 the second lantern, the first being, as we have seen, shaded. This movement being 

 reversed, the light is cut off from the second lantern, and again let on from the first, 

 and so on alternately. Thus while the screen always presents the same circle of light, 

 yet it is derived first from one lantern, then from the next. 



When in use a slider is introduced into each lantern. The lantern before the mouth 

 of which the widest part in the opening in the plate is placed, exhibits the painting on 

 the screen, the light of the other lantern being then hid behind the cover. On turn- 

 ing the handle, this picture gradually becomes shaded, while the light from the second 

 lantern streams through the widening opening. The effect on the screen is the melt- 

 ing away of the first picture, and the brilliant development of the second, the screen 

 being at no instant left unoccupied by a picture. 



The principle involved in this apparently complex, but in reality simple mechanism, 

 is, merely the obscuration of one picture and the throwing of a second in the same 

 place on the screen. And it may be accomplished in a great variety of ways. Thus 

 by simply placing a flat piece of wood, somewhat like the letter Z, on a point in the 

 centre, so that alternately one or the other of the pieces at the end should be raised or 

 depressed before the lanterns, a dissolving scene is produced. Or, by fixing a move- 

 able upright shade, which can be pushed alternately before one or the other of the 

 lanterns, the same effect is produced. 



There are many individuals whose sole occupation consists in painting the minute 

 scenes or slides used for the phantasmagoria lanterns. The perfection to which these 

 paintings are brought is surprising, There are two methods by which the sliders 

 now employed are produced. In one of these, the outline and detail are entirely the 

 work of the artist's pencil. For pictures representing landscapes, or wherever a 

 spirited painting is required, this is the exclusive method employed. The colours are 

 rendered transparent by being ground in Canada balsam and mixed with varnish. 

 The other method is a transfer process. The outlines of the subject are engraved on 

 copper-plates, and the impression is received from these on thin sheets of glue, and is 

 then transferred to a plate of glass, the impression being burnt in the same manner as 

 is effected in earthenware. Sliders produced in this way receive the distinctive name 

 of copper-plate sliders. The subject is merely represented in outline, it being left to 

 the artist to fill up with the necessary tints, &c. The advantages of this method for 

 the production of paintings of a limited kind are obvious. Photography on glass 

 is now very largely employed to obtain pictures for the magic lantern. 



Beechy's Trinoptric Lantern, which has been long manufactured by Mr. Abrahams 

 of Liverpool, is an improvement on the ordinary phantasmagoria. The Bridgman 

 Triple Lantern has recently been introduced. 



PHEWAKITE. A silicate of glucina. The Siberian crystals are occasionally 

 cut for jewellery, and resemble rock crystal. 



PHEI7AIVIEI1?E. See ANILINE VIOLKT. 



PHENICINTE, Phenicienne, or Phenyl Brown. A colouring-matter produced by 

 the action of nitro-sulphuric acid on phenylic alcohol (carbolic acid). Phenicine is au 

 amorphous powder of a brown colour. It is sparingly soluble in water, but it dis- 

 solves readily in alcohol, ether, and acetic acid, also in the alkaline solutions, and in 

 lime-water. The solution in an alkaline fluid is of a fine violet-blue, but it is changed 

 to brown by the least excess of acid. It appears to be a mixture of two colour ing- 

 matters, one yellow, and the other black. Phenicine dyes silk and wool, like the 

 aniline colours, without the intervention of a mordant. If a piece of silk or wool is 

 dyed with phenicine. it acquires a fine garnet-red colour, on immersion in a solution 



