214 BENJ. PIKK'S, JR., DESCRIE'TIVE CATALOGUE. 



upwards the image is represented on the ceiling. The image 

 may be made of different sizes by removing the lantern 

 further from, or nearer to the screen ; for in proportion as 

 the distance is increased the image is enlarged, but at the 

 same time becomes fainter. When the microscope is used 

 the tin cap should be pushed over the large lenses of the 

 lantern, to prevent the light from escaping. 



The following is a list of the objects best adapted to this 

 microscope : Cuttings of woods and herbaceous plants, par- 

 ticularly such as have large pores ; wings of insects ; scales 

 of fish ; the cast skins of spiders and other insects, snakes, 

 lizards, &c. ; feathers, particularly those of the open kind ; 

 dissected leaves ; corallines, called sea moss ; marine fuci, 

 or sea weeds ; small living insects, such as aphides or plant 

 lice, cheese mites, small flies of various kinds, the common 

 bug, &c., &c. ; some kinds of seeds, as carrot, thistle, cyan- 

 thus minor, &c. Many artificial objects have a good effect, 

 such as cambric, worked muslin, gauze ribbons of different 

 patterns, sewing silk and cotton, pins and needles, &c. Any 

 of the above may be inclosed between the glass of the spare 

 slider. The water furnishes a great number of various "ob- 

 jects, admirably adapted to the lucernal microscope ; they 

 must be exhibited in the water slide, fig. 5. 



The Dissolving Views. The exhibition of the dissolving 

 views is one of the most extraordinary and magical effects 

 that the lantern is capable of producing. No term can 

 better express these wonderful changes than " dissolving ;" 

 for while the spectator is viewing a painting, it is made most 

 imperceptibly to melt into quite a dissimilar picture, e. g. a 

 painting representing the exterior of an Abbey being under 

 view, this is insensibly changed into the interior of the same 

 building, without the observer being able to detect any ap- 

 parent alteration, until the new picture appears to grow 

 perfectly distinct before him ; hence he is led to suppose 

 the change to have taken place upon the same painting, 

 whereas another view has been substituted, without leaving 

 the screen in darkness for an instant. A great convenience 

 connected with this exhibition is, that it may readily be ex- 

 hibited in an ordinary sitting room, and if the room should 

 be furnished with folding doors, the effect is much increased, 

 as the exhibitor may be placed in one room, while the 

 spectators are in the other. 



