Cameras, Lenses, and Shutters 31 



his house every day to see these light-painted 

 pictures, which were at first thought to be noth- 

 ing short of marvellous. In a short time, how- 

 ever, the camera obscura was made an adjunct of 

 many country houses, taking the shape of a small, 

 round house with a conical roof, in the centre of 

 which the lens was placed. Slanting mirrors 

 were so arranged as to reflect the light from 

 surrounding objects on to a table in the centre of 

 the room so that a reduced facsimile of the entire 

 view to be seen from the roof top was reproduced 

 on the table top. Its only disadvantage was the 

 fact that the picture could never be changed 

 except with the natural change of the seasons. 

 Up to within a very few years such places were 

 still in existence, and I am not sure that some of 

 them cannot be found to this very day, if any- 

 where, in some of the old country seats in Europe. 

 The photographic camera of to-day is, in fact, 

 nothing but a miniature camera obscura, for it is 

 simply a box with a lens at one end and a ground 

 glass screen, upon which the image is projected, 

 at the other. A modern camera, that is made by 

 any one of the numerous manufacturers in this 

 and other countries who turn out first-class goods, 

 is a veritable work of art. It is supplied with all 

 the appliances for simplifying the labor of the 

 operator and for producing absolutely the best 

 results, and is correspondingly expensive. 



