281 



SUMMARY OF CURRENT RESEARCHES RELATING TO 



Fig. 43. 



a 



spectacles or eye-glasses, a person would be able to carry the contents 

 of a wholo volume, and as the glasses are detachable and very thin, a 

 person would be ablo to carry from fifty to a hundred pairs of theso in a 

 case loss than an ordinary pocket-book. 



The glasses might be numbered, and the 

 case contain an index of tbe subjects ; thus a 

 person would be enabled to carry from fifty to 

 a hundred volumes in his waistcoat pocket. 



By the aid of the type-writer in prepar- 

 ing the text, books instead of being printed 

 could be published microphotoscopically with 

 greater expedition than at present, for the 

 known resources of the modern photographer 

 are so great that within twenty-four hours of 

 receiving tbe text, he would be able to place 

 numbers of microphotoscopical copies in the 

 market. 



Microphotoscopical books would be almost 

 indestructible, would never become mouldy or 

 worm-eaten, and would take up so little space 

 that a very large library could be contained in 

 a small cabinet. 



The postage and carriage of books so 

 published would be very small, and would be a great gain to those who 

 Lad to send them abroad. 



The captain of an ocean-going vessel could have copies of his charts, 

 maps, &c, in his spectacles, and in times of danger and peril would not 

 require to leave the bridge for the chart room. In the darkest and 

 stormiest night, by looking towards any of the lights that a vessel 



Fig. 44. 



generally carries, or by looking towards the moon or even tbe stars, he 

 could see his charts and maps as distinctly as in the dayligbt ; for the 

 matter contained in the microphotoscope can be read in a light so dim 

 that ordinary printed matter cannot be seen. 



The University student would be able to carry all his text-books in 

 his waistcoat pocket, however diversified his studies were ; the doctor, 

 lawyer, or literary man would be able to have always with him micro- 

 photoscopical copies of all the works of reference he could possibly 

 require. A man with a bad memory might have microphotoscopical 

 copies of a whole encyclopaedia always before his eyes. In a single pair 

 of glasses the leader of an orchestra could carry more music than he 

 would be able to get through in one evening ; a continental traveller, a 

 whole pronouncing dictionary ; a cyclist or tourist, maps of every road 

 in the United Kingdom or other country ; a member of parliament or 



