SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



379 



ANIMATED PICTUEES AT HOME. 



The scientific, as well as the artistic, side of 

 photography advances with rapid strides. By a 

 new invention, we amateur photographers may 

 prepare our own animated pictures, and show 

 them in a friend's drawing room, on the evening 

 of the day on which happened the event repre- 

 sented. Neither need the picture be amateurish, 

 for the machine is prepared to do its work per- 

 fectly, with all the accurate detail of the big 

 exhibitions given in places of public amusement. 

 This remarkable instrument is named the Biokam 

 fx-om the Greek words bios life and kamara, 

 meaning literally a living camera. As the Biokam 

 will not be available for purchase until after this 

 number appears, we have been favoured with 

 advance particulars. Not that the invention is 

 unknown, for we are informed orders for lip wards of 

 a thousand of them have already been given. This 

 we can understand, after an examination of the 

 Biokam, as without more outlay than the cost of 

 an ordinary photographic camera, we obtain that 

 instrument arranged for taking moving pictures, 

 also the apparatus for printing them, and finally 

 the Biokam itself, for throwing the image on a 

 six-foot screen. We have been favoured with a 

 couple of drawings by the proprietors of the 

 Biokam, who are the Warwick Trading Company, 

 Limited, of London. Pig. 1 shows the complete 

 instrument for taking the transparent film-pictures, 

 printing and projecting them, together with the 

 film-boxes, lenses, etc. ; while fig. 2 shows the 

 the projector only, detached from the film storage- 



Fig. 1. — The Biokam. Complete Outfit. 



box. This latter portion can be screwed into the 

 lens-flange of any ordinary lantern. The whole 

 Biokam and accessories pack away into a box 9£ in. 

 long, 3£ in. wide and 5£ in. high, weighing with the 



case only 3£ lb. Hitherto the difficulty of obtaining 

 animated pictures to show to one's friends has been 

 almost prohibitory, on account of the large size of 

 the room required to show the pictures, and the 

 great cost of the instrument and films. This 

 practically placed the subject beyond the reach of 

 amateurs as a body. Now, this has been entirely 

 overcome by the Biokam. One of its greatest recom- 

 mendations is the simplicity of the apparatus. It 

 requires little special knowledge to take a picture, 

 print and develop the films and throw the moving 

 image on a screen. The proprietors supply all the 

 necessary materials, 

 with ample illustra- 

 ted instructions for 

 their use ; the whole 

 forming the special 

 arrangements for 

 taking the necessary 

 photographs, and a 

 projection cinemato- 

 graph for exhibiting 

 them. Any intelli- 

 gent lady or gentle- 

 man may thus bring 

 back a series of inci- 

 dents taken on a 

 holiday trip, that 

 are infinitely more 

 expressive and en- 

 tertaining than the 

 most elaborate de- 

 scriptions. Neither 

 can they err on the 

 side of the narrator, 

 for they show on the 

 screen exact repre- 

 sentations of what 

 took place. The 

 camera portion of 

 the Biokam may be 

 used for taking mid- 

 get photographs, of 

 every description, 



Fig. 2. 



The Biokam. 



Projection portion. 



with a minimum of trouble. These 

 may be printed on paper in the usual 

 way, or they make good lantern 

 slides. Small pictures taken in this 

 manner are also suitable for enlarge- 

 ment, the apparatus lending itself to 

 this purpose. The company supplies 

 rolls of films, already prepared for 

 action. These may be developed and 

 used in the cinematograph, with very 

 little trouble, as the details and 

 implements have been well thought 

 out. It is now quite an easy matter 

 for the amateur to proceed with this 

 new and pleasurable form of photo- 

 graphy. So many uses for the aid 

 of the Biokam suggest themselves 

 for science work generally, that we 

 feel sure that many of our readers 

 will soon avail themselves of the 

 help to be given by this remarkable 

 little apparatus 



It is difficult to imagine to what ex- 

 tent this new form of photography will affect our 

 daily lives. May it not be possible to have 

 living pictures as illustrations to ephemeral 

 literature ? 



