Popular Science Monthly 



397 



used, it was necessary that 

 these buildings be made of 

 durable materials, owing to 

 the destructiveness of the 

 West Indian hurricanes. 

 Thirty thousand dollars is 

 the estimated cost of this 

 city. 



Another important fea- 

 ture which will be unicjuc 

 in film history is the storm- 

 ing of the historic old 

 fortress of Augusta. \W- 

 fore reconstruction of this 

 aged ruin could be attempt- 

 ed, it was necessary to 

 make the locality thorough- 

 ly sanitary. For putting 

 the fort in presentable 

 shape several boatloads of 

 concrete, stone and steel — all of ihestuif 

 of which fortresses are made — were 

 shipped down from New York. It has 

 taken five months to complete the restora- 

 tion. 



Now that it has been rcljuik, I'ori Au- 

 gusta is to be destroyed and the task of 

 destruction falls to the lot of the West 

 Indian squadron of the British na\y. 

 Real powder and real shells will be em- 

 ployed. Needless to say. it required sev- 

 eral weeks of persuasion ])efore the per- 

 mission to stage this battle could bo oli- 

 tained. Before this issue of Poi'ilar 

 Science Monthly will have reached 

 the newsstands, the West Indian ficei 

 with decks stripped as in actual battle, 

 with gun crews stripped to the waist, 

 with range finders perched in the con- 

 ning towers, will be bombarding the for- 

 tress — and Fort Augusta will lia\e again 

 crumbled into ruins. 



Quite as interesting as the construc- 

 tion problems that have been involved is 

 the number of players who will appear 

 in the film. In addition to the twelve 

 hundred actors and "mermaids." there 

 are scheduled to appear ten thousand 

 Hindus who have been held in Jamaica 

 since the completion of the Panama ca- 

 nal, five thousand British cavalrymen 

 and more than five thousand native Ja- 

 maicans who have been recruited for the 

 various mob scenes. 



The exact nature of the film has not 

 yet been divulged, nor has a name been 



A section of the big stage floor, with the executive 



offices at one side- A portion of a Moorish house may 



be seen in the foreground 



decided upon. A few of the facts that 

 are known is that besides the bombard- 

 ment of Fort Augusta, and the use of a 

 Moorish city, there will be a number of 

 mermaid scenes ;. Trinidad asphalt lake 

 will figure ; some of the scene's will take 

 l)lacc in the heart of the jungle; and a 

 submarined ship is included somewhere 

 on the programme. Just how consistent 

 the plot will be with all this array of the 

 s[)ectacular, is something for time and 

 the audience to decide. 



A Transfer Solution 



PklXTFD pictures from magazines, 

 newspapers, folders, etc., may be 

 transferred to paper, cloth, cardboard, 

 glass or china with the following solu- 

 tion : 



< )ne bar of common soap is dissolved 

 in a gallon of hot water, to which one- 

 half pint of turpentine is added. After 

 it has stood for a night, stir well and 

 bottle. The solution is applied to the 

 print with a soft brush or one's fingers, 

 and the material to which it is to be 

 transferred is placed upside down on it. 

 'I"he back of the material is then rubbed 

 and the design is transferred. 



A picture may be transferred to glass 

 for the purpose of a lantern slide. In 

 such a case the glass must be varnished 

 with a perfectly transparent varnish be- 

 fore transferring; then proceed as be- 

 fore. Pictures are transferred to china 

 in the same way. 



