In other words, Edison's real work has seldom been seriously discussed. Rather has it been taken as a point of departure into a realm of fancy and romance, where as a relief from drudgery9 he is sometimes quite willing to play the pipe if some one will dance to it. Indeed, the stories woven around his casual suggestions are tame and vapid10 alongside his own essays in fiction, probably never to be published, but which show what a real inventor can do when he cuts loose to create a new heaven and a new earth, unrestrained by any formal respect for existing conditions of servitude to three dimensions and the standard elements.
The present chapter, essentially11 technical in its subject-matter, is perhaps as significant as any in this biography, because it presents Edison as the Master Impresario12 of his age, and maybe of many following ages also. His phonographs and his motion pictures have more audiences in a week than all the theatres in America in a year. The "Nickelodeon" is the central fact in modern amusement, and Edison founded it. All that millions know of music and drama he furnishes; and the whole study of the theatrical13 managers thus reaching the masses is not to ascertain14 the limitations of the new art, but to discover its boundless15 possibilities. None of the exuberant16 versions of things Edison has not done could endure for a moment with the simple narrative17 of what he has really done as the world's new Purveyor18 of Pleasure. And yet it all depends on the toilful conquest of a subtle and intricate art. The story of the invention of the phonograph has been told. That of the evolution of motion pictures follows. It is all one piece of sober, careful analysis, and stubborn, successful attack on the problem.
The possibility of making a record of animate19 movement, and subsequently reproducing it, was predicted long before the actual accomplishment20. This, as we have seen, was also the case with the phonograph, the telephone, and the electric light. As to the phonograph, the prediction went only so far as the RESULT; the apparent intricacy of the problem being so great that the MEANS for accomplishing the desired end were seemingly beyond the grasp of the imagination or the mastery of invention.
With the electric light and the telephone the prediction included not only the result to be accomplished21, but, in a rough and general way, the mechanism22 itself; that is to say, long before a single sound was intelligibly23 transmitted it was recognized that such a thing might be done by causing a diaphragm, vibrated by original sounds, to communicate its movements to a distant diaphragm by a suitably controlled electric current. In the case of the electric light, the heating of a conductor to incandescence24 in a highly rarefied atmosphere was suggested as a scheme of illumination long before its actual accomplishment, and in fact before the production of a suitable generator25 for delivering electric current in a satisfactory and economical manner.
It is a curious fact that while the modern art of motion pictures depends essentially on the development of instantaneous photography, the suggestion of the possibility of securing a reproduction of animate motion, as well as, in a general way, of the mechanism for accomplishing the result, was made many years before the instantaneous photograph became possible. While the first motion picture was not actually produced until the summer of 1889, its real birth was almost a century earlier, when Plateau, in France, constructed an optical toy, to which the impressive name of "Phenakistoscope" was applied26, for producing an illusion of motion. This toy in turn was the forerunner27 of the Zoetrope, or so-called "Wheel of Life," which was introduced into this country about the year 1845. These devices were essentially toys, depending for their successful operation (as is the case with motion pictures) upon a physiological29 phenomenon known as persistence30 of vision. If, for instance, a bright light is moved rapidly in front of the eye in a dark room, it appears not as an illuminated31 spark, but as a line of fire; a so-called shooting star, or a flash of lightning produces the same effect. This result is purely32 physiological, and is due to the fact that the retina of the eye may be considered as practically a sensitized plate of relatively33 slow speed, and an image impressed upon it remains34, before being effaced35, for a period of from one-tenth to one-seventh of a second, varying according to the idiosyncrasies of the individual and the intensity36 of the light. When, therefore, it is said that we should only believe things we actually see, we ought to remember that in almost every instance we never see things as they are.
Bearing in mind the fact that when an image is impressed on the human retina it persists for an appreciable37 period, varying as stated, with the individual, and depending also upon the intensity of the illumination, it will be seen that, if a number of pictures or photographs are successively presented to the eye, they will appear as a single, continuous photograph, provided the periods between them are short enough to prevent one of the photographs from being effaced before its successor is presented. If, for instance, a series of identical portraits were rapidly presented to the eye, a single picture would apparently38 be viewed, or if we presented to the eye the series of photographs of a moving object, each one representing a minute successive phase of the movement, the movements themselves would apparently again take place.
With the Zoetrope and similar toys rough drawings were used for depicting39 a few broadly outlined successive phases of movement, because in their day instantaneous photography was unknown, and in addition there were certain crudities of construction that seriously interfered40 with the illumination of the pictures, rendering41 it necessary to make them practically as silhouettes42 on a very conspicuous43 background. Hence it will be obvious that these toys produced merely an ILLUSION of THEORETICAL motion.
But with the knowledge of even an illusion of motion, and with the philosophy of persistence of vision fully44 understood, it would seem that, upon the development of instantaneous photography, the reproduction of ACTUAL motion by means of pictures would have followed, almost as a necessary consequence. Yet such was not the case, and success was ultimately accomplished by Edison only after persistent45 experimenting along lines that could not have been predicted, including the construction of apparatus46 for the purpose, which, if it had not been made, would undoubtedly47 be considered impossible. In fact, if it were not for Edison's peculiar48 mentality49, that refuses to recognize anything as impossible until indubitably demonstrated to be so, the production of motion pictures would certainly have been delayed for years, if not for all time.
One of the earliest suggestions of the possibility of utilizing50 photography for exhibiting the illusion of actual movement was made by Ducos, who, as early as 1864, obtained a patent in France, in which he said: "My invention consists in substituting rapidly and without confusion to the eye not only of an individual, but when so desired of a whole assemblage, the enlarged images of a great number of pictures when taken instantaneously and successively at very short intervals52.... The observer will believe that he sees only one image, which changes gradually by reason of the successive changes of form and position of the objects which occur from one picture to the other. Even supposing that there be a slight interval51 of time during which the same object was not shown, the persistence of the luminous53 impression upon the eye will fill this gap. There will be as it were a living representation of nature and . . . the same scene will be reproduced upon the screen with the same degree of animation54.... By means of my apparatus I am enabled especially to reproduce the passing of a procession, a review of military manoeuvres, the movements of a battle, a public fete, a theatrical scene, the evolution or the dances of one or of several persons, the changing expression of countenance55, or, if one desires, the grimaces56 of a human face; a marine57 view, the motion of waves, the passage of clouds in a stormy sky, particularly in a mountainous country, the eruption58 of a volcano," etc.
Other dreamers, contemporaries of Ducos, made similar suggestions; they recognized the scientific possibility of the problem, but they were irretrievably handicapped by the shortcomings of photography. Even when substantially instantaneous photographs were evolved at a somewhat later date they were limited to the use of wet plates, which have to be prepared by the photographer and used immediately, and were therefore quite out of the question for any practical commercial scheme. Besides this, the use of plates would have been impracticable, because the limitations of their weight and size would have prevented the taking of a large number of pictures at a high rate of speed, even if the sensitized surface had been sufficiently59 rapid.
Nothing ever came of Ducos' suggestions and those of the early dreamers in this essentially practical and commercial art, and their ideas have made no greater impress upon the final result than Jules Verne's Nautilus of our boyhood days has developed the modern submarine. From time to time further suggestions were made, some in patents, and others in photographic and scientific publications, all dealing60 with the fascinating thought of preserving and representing actual scenes and events. The first serious attempt to secure an illusion of motion by photography was made in 1878 by Edward Muybridge as a result of a wager61 with the late Senator Leland Stanford, the California pioneer and horse-lover, who had asserted, contrary to the usual belief, that a trotting62-horse at one point in its gait left the ground entirely63. At this time wet plates of very great rapidity were known, and by arranging a series of cameras along the line of a track and causing the horse in trotting past them, by striking wires or strings64 attached to the shutters65, to actuate the cameras at the right instant, a series of very clear instantaneous photographs was obtained. From these negatives, when developed, positive prints were made, which were later mounted on a modified form of Zoetrope and projected upon a screen.
One of these early exhibitions is described in the Scientific American of June 5, 1880: "While the separate photographs had shown the successive positions of a trotting or running horse in making a single stride, the Zoogyroscope threw upon the screen apparently the living animal. Nothing was wanting but the clatter67 of hoofs68 upon the turf, and an occasional breath of steam from the nostrils69, to make the spectator believe that he had before him genuine flesh-and-blood steeds. In the views of hurdle-leaping, the simulation was still more admirable, even to the motion of the tail as the animal gathered for the jump, the raising of his head, all were there. Views of an ox trotting, a wild bull on the charge, greyhounds and deer running and birds flying in mid-air were shown, also athletes in various positions." It must not be assumed from this statement that even as late as the work of Muybridge anything like a true illusion of movement had been obtained, because such was not the case. Muybridge secured only one cycle of movement, because a separate camera had to be used for each photograph and consequently each cycle was reproduced over and over again. To have made photographs of a trotting-horse for one minute at the moderate rate of twelve per second would have required, under the Muybridge scheme, seven hundred and twenty separate cameras, whereas with the modern art only a single camera is used. A further defect with the Muybridge pictures was that since each photograph was secured when the moving object was in the centre of the plate, the reproduction showed the object always centrally on the screen with its arms or legs in violent movement, but not making any progress, and with the scenery rushing wildly across the field of view!
In the early 80's the dry plate was first introduced into general use, and from that time onward70 its rapidity and quality were gradually improved; so much so that after 1882 Prof. E. J. Marey, of the French Academy, who in 1874 had published a well-known treatise71 on "Animal Movement," was able by the use of dry plates to carry forward the experiments of Muybridge on a greatly refined scale. Marey was, however, handicapped by reason of the fact that glass plates were still used, although he was able with a single camera to obtain twelve photographs on successive plates in the space of one second. Marey, like Muybridge, photographed only one cycle of the movements of a single object, which was subsequently reproduced over and over again, and the camera was in the form of a gun, which could follow the object so that the successive pictures would be always located in the centre of the plates.
The review above given, as briefly72 as possible, comprises substantially the sum of the world's knowledge at the time the problem of recording73 and reproducing animate movement was first undertaken by Edison. The most that could be said of the condition of the art when Edison entered the field was that it had been recognized that if a series of instantaneous photographs of a moving object could be secured at an enormously high rate many times per second—they might be passed before the eye either directly or by projection74 upon a screen, and thereby75 result in a reproduction of the movements. Two very serious difficulties lay in the way of actual accomplishment, however—first, the production of a sensitive surface in such form and weight as to be capable of being successively brought into position and exposed, at the necessarily high rate; and, second, the production of a camera capable of so taking the pictures. There were numerous other workers in the field, but they added nothing to what had already been proposed. Edison himself knew nothing of Ducos, or that the suggestions had advanced beyond the single centrally located photographs of Muybridge and Marey. As a matter of public policy, the law presumes that an inventor must be familiar with all that has gone before in the field within which he is working, and if a suggestion is limited to a patent granted in New South Wales, or is described in a single publication in Brazil, an inventor in America, engaged in the same field of thought, is by legal fiction presumed to have knowledge not only of the existence of that patent or publication, but of its contents. We say this not in the way of an apology for the extent of Edison's contribution to the motion-picture art, because there can be no question that he was as much the creator of that art as he was of the phonographic art; but to show that in a practical sense the suggestion of the art itself was original with him. He himself says: "In the year 1887 the idea occurred to me that it was possible to devise an instrument which should do for the eye what the phonograph does for the ear, and that by a combination of the two, all motion and sound could be recorded and reproduced simultaneously76. This idea, the germ of which came from the little toy called the Zoetrope and the work of Muybridge, Marey, and others, has now been accomplished, so that every change of facial expression can be recorded and reproduced life-size. The kinetoscope is only a small model illustrating77 the present stage of the progress, but with each succeeding month new possibilities are brought into view. I believe that in coming years, by my own work and that of Dickson, Muybridge, Marey, and others who will doubtless enter the field, grand opera can be given at the Metropolitan78 Opera House at New York without any material change from the original, and with artists and musicians long since dead."
In the earliest experiments attempts were made to secure the photographs, reduced microscopically79, arranged spirally on a cylinder81 about the size of a phonograph record, and coated with a highly sensitized surface, the cylinder being given an intermittent82 movement, so as to be at rest during each exposure. Reproductions were obtained in the same way, positive prints being observed through a magnifying glass. Various forms of apparatus following this general type were made, but they were all open to the serious objection that the very rapid emulsions employed were relatively coarse-grained and prevented the securing of sharp pictures of microscopic80 size. On the other hand, the enlarging of the apparatus to permit larger pictures to be obtained would present too much weight to be stopped and started with the requisite83 rapidity. In these early experiments, however, it was recognized that, to secure proper results, a single camera should be used, so that the objects might move across its field just as they move across the field of the human eye; and the important fact was also observed that the rate at which persistence of vision took place represented the minimum speed at which the pictures should be obtained. If, for instance, five pictures per second were taken (half of the time being occupied in exposure and the other half in moving the exposed portion of the film out of the field of the lens and bringing a new portion into its place), and the same ratio is observed in exhibiting the pictures, the interval of time between successive pictures would be one-tenth of a second; and for a normal eye such an exhibition would present a substantially continuous photograph. If the angular movement of the object across the field is very slow, as, for instance, a distant vessel84, the successive positions of the object are so nearly coincident that when reproduced before the eye an impression of smooth, continuous movement is secured. If, however, the object is moving rapidly across the field of view, one picture will be separated from its successor to a marked extent, and the resulting impression will be jerky and unnatural85. Recognizing this fact, Edison always sought for a very high speed, so as to give smooth and natural reproductions, and even with his experimental apparatus obtained upward of forty-eight pictures per second, whereas, in practice, at the present time, the accepted rate varies between twenty and thirty per second. In the efforts of the present day to economize86 space by using a minimum length of film, pictures are frequently taken at too slow a rate, and the reproductions are therefore often objectionable, by reason of more or less jerkiness.
During the experimental period and up to the early part of 1889, the kodak film was being slowly developed by the Eastman Kodak Company. Edison perceived in this product the solution of the problem on which he had been working, because the film presented a very light body of tough material on which relatively large photographs could be taken at rapid intervals. The surface, however, was not at first sufficiently sensitive to admit of sharply defined pictures being secured at the necessarily high rates. It seemed apparent, therefore, that in order to obtain the desired speed there would have to be sacrificed that fineness of emulsion necessary for the securing of sharp pictures. But as was subsequently seen, this sacrifice was in time rendered unnecessary. Much credit is due the Eastman experts—stimulated and encouraged by Edison, but independently of him—for the production at last of a highly sensitized, fine-grained emulsion presenting the highly sensitized surface that Edison sought.
Having at last obtained apparently the proper material upon which to secure the photographs, the problem then remained to devise an apparatus by means of which from twenty to forty pictures per second could be taken; the film being stationary87 during the exposure and, upon the closing of the shutter66, being moved to present a fresh surface. In connection with this problem it is interesting to note that this question of high speed was apparently regarded by all Edison's predecessors88 as the crucial point. Ducos, for example, expended89 a great deal of useless ingenuity90 in devising a camera by means of which a tape-line film could receive the photographs while being in continuous movement, necessitating91 the use of a series of moving lenses. Another experimenter, Dumont, made use of a single large plate and a great number of lenses which were successively exposed. Muybridge, as we have seen, used a series of cameras, one for each plate. Marey was limited to a very few photographs, because the entire surface had to be stopped and started in connection with each exposure.
After the accomplishment of the fact, it would seem to be the obvious thing to use a single lens and move the sensitized film with respect to it, intermittently92 bringing the surface to rest, then exposing it, then cutting off the light and moving the surface to a fresh position; but who, other than Edison, would assume that such a device could be made to repeat these movements over and over again at the rate of twenty to forty per second? Users of kodaks and other forms of film cameras will appreciate perhaps better than others the difficulties of the problem, because in their work, after an exposure, they have to advance the film forward painfully to the extent of the next picture before another exposure can take place, these operations permitting of speeds of but a few pictures per minute at best. Edison's solution of the problem involved the production of a kodak in which from twenty to forty pictures should be taken IN EACH SECOND, and with such fineness of adjustment that each should exactly coincide with its predecessors even when subjected to the test of enlargement by projection. This, however, was finally accomplished, and in the summer of 1889 the first modern motion-picture camera was made. More than this, the mechanism for operating the film was so constructed that the movement of the film took place in one-tenth of the time required for the exposure, giving the film an opportunity to come to rest prior to the opening of the shutter. From that day to this the Edison camera has been the accepted standard for securing pictures of objects in motion, and such changes as have been made in it have been purely in the nature of detail mechanical refinements93.
The earliest form of exhibiting apparatus, known as the Kinetoscope, was a machine in which a positive print from the negative obtained in the camera was exhibited directly to the eye through a peep-hole; but in 1895 the films were applied to modified forms of magic lanterns, by which the images are projected upon a screen. Since that date the industry has developed very rapidly, and at the present time (1910) all of the principal American manufacturers of motion pictures are paying a royalty94 to Edison under his basic patents.
From the early days of pictures representing simple movements, such as a man sneezing, or a skirt-dance, there has been a gradual evolution, until now the pictures represent not only actual events in all their palpitating instantaneity, but highly developed dramas and scenarios95 enacted97 in large, well-equipped glass studios, and the result of infinite pains and expense of production. These pictures are exhibited in upward of eight thousand places of amusement in the United States, and are witnessed by millions of people each year. They constitute a cheap, clean form of amusement for many persons who cannot spare the money to go to the ordinary theatres, or they may be exhibited in towns that are too small to support a theatre. More than this, they offer to the poor man an effective substitute for the saloon. Probably no invention ever made has afforded more pleasure and entertainment than the motion picture.
Aside from the development of the motion picture as a spectacle, there has gone on an evolution in its use for educational purposes of wide range, which must not be overlooked. In fact, this form of utilization98 has been carried further in Europe than in this country as a means of demonstration99 in the arts and sciences. One may study animal life, watch a surgical100 operation, follow the movement of machinery101, take lessons in facial expression or in calisthenics. It seems a pity that in motion pictures should at last have been found the only competition that the ancient marionettes cannot withstand. But aside from the disappearance102 of those entertaining puppets, all else is gain in the creation of this new art.
The work at the Edison laboratory in the development of the motion picture was as usual intense and concentrated, and, as might be expected, many of the early experiments were quite primitive103 in their character until command had been secured of relatively perfect apparatus. The subjects registered jerkily by the films were crude and amusing, such as of Fred Ott's sneeze, Carmencita dancing, Italians and their performing bears, fencing, trapeze stunts104, horsemanship, blacksmithing—just simple movements without any attempt to portray105 the silent drama. One curious incident of this early study occurred when "Jim" Corbett was asked to box a few rounds in front of the camera, with a "dark un" to be selected locally. This was agreed to, and a celebrated106 bruiser was brought over from Newark. When this "sparring partner" came to face Corbett in the imitation ring he was so paralyzed with terror he could hardly move. It was just after Corbett had won one of his big battles as a prize-fighter, and the dismay of his opponent was excusable. The "boys" at the laboratory still laugh consumedly when they tell about it.
The first motion-picture studio was dubbed by the staff the "Black Maria." It was an unpretentious oblong wooden structure erected108 in the laboratory yard, and had a movable roof in the central part. This roof could be raised or lowered at will. The building was covered with black roofing paper, and was also painted black inside. There was no scenery to render gay this lugubrious109 environment, but the black interior served as the common background for the performers, throwing all their actions into high relief. The whole structure was set on a pivot110 so that it could be swung around with the sun; and the movable roof was opened so that the accentuating111 sunlight could stream in upon the actor whose gesticulations were being caught by the camera. These beginnings and crudities are very remote from the elaborate and expensive paraphernalia112 and machinery with which the art is furnished to-day.
At the present time the studios in which motion pictures are taken are expensive and pretentious107 affairs. An immense building of glass, with all the properties and stage-settings of a regular theatre, is required. The Bronx Park studio of the Edison company cost at least one hundred thousand dollars, while the well-known house of Pathe Freres in France—one of Edison's licensees—makes use of no fewer than seven of these glass theatres. All of the larger producers of pictures in this country and abroad employ regular stock companies of actors, men and women selected especially for their skill in pantomime, although, as most observers have perhaps suspected, in the actual taking of the pictures the performers are required to carry on an animated113 and prepared dialogue with the same spirit and animation as on the regular stage. Before setting out on the preparation of a picture, the book is first written—known in the business as a scenario—giving a complete statement as to the scenery, drops and background, and the sequence of events, divided into scenes as in an ordinary play. These are placed in the hands of a "producer," corresponding to a stage-director, generally an actor or theatrical man of experience, with a highly developed dramatic instinct. The various actors are selected, parts are assigned, and the scene-painters are set to work on the production of the desired scenery. Before the photographing of a scene, a long series of rehearsals115 takes place, the incidents being gone over and over again until the actors are "letter perfect." So persistent are the producers in the matter of rehearsals and the refining and elaboration of details, that frequently a picture that may be actually photographed and reproduced in fifteen minutes, may require two or three weeks for its production. After the rehearsal114 of a scene has advanced sufficiently to suit the critical requirements of the producer, the camera man is in requisition, and he is consulted as to lighting116 so as to produce the required photographic effect. Preferably, of course, sunlight is used whenever possible, hence the glass studios; but on dark days, and when night-work is necessary, artificial light of enormous candle-power is used, either mercury arcs or ordinary arc lights of great size and number.
Under all conditions the light is properly screened and diffused117 to suit the critical eye of the camera man. All being in readiness, the actual picture is taken, the actors going through their rehearsed parts, the producer standing118 out of the range of the camera, and with a megaphone to his lips yelling out his instructions, imprecations, and approval, and the camera man grinding at the crank of the camera and securing the pictures at the rate of twenty or more per second, making a faithful and permanent record of every movement and every change of facial expression. At the end of the scene the negative is developed in the ordinary way, and is then ready for use in the printing of the positives for sale. When a further scene in the play takes place in the same setting, and without regard to its position in the plot, it is taken up, rehearsed, and photographed in the same way, and afterward119 all the scenes are cemented together in the proper sequence, and form the complete negative. Frequently, therefore, in the production of a motion-picture play, the first and the last scene may be taken successively, the only thing necessary being, of course, that after all is done the various scenes should be arranged in their proper order. The frames, having served their purpose, now go back to the scene-painter for further use. All pictures are not taken in studios, because when light and weather permit and proper surroundings can be secured outside, scenes can best be obtained with natural scenery—city streets, woods, and fields. The great drawback to the taking of pictures out-of-doors, however, is the inevitable120 crowd, attracted by the novelty of the proceedings121, which makes the camera man's life a torment122 by getting into the field of his instrument. The crowds are patient, however, and in one Edison picture involving the blowing up of a bridge by the villain123 of the piece and the substitution of a pontoon bridge by a company of engineers just in time to allow the heroine to pass over in her automobile124, more than a thousand people stood around for almost an entire day waiting for the tedious rehearsals to end and the actual performance to begin. Frequently large bodies of men are used in pictures, such as troops of soldiers, and it is an open secret that for weeks during the Boer War regularly equipped British and Boer armies confronted each other on the peaceful hills of Orange, New Jersey125, ready to enact96 before the camera the stirring events told by the cable from the seat of hostilities126. These conflicts were essentially harmless, except in one case during the battle of Spion Kopje, when "General Cronje," in his efforts to fire a wooden cannon127, inadvertently dropped his fuse into a large glass bottle containing gunpowder128. The effect was certainly most dramatic, and created great enthusiasm among the many audiences which viewed the completed production; but the unfortunate general, who is still an employee, was taken to the hospital, and even now, twelve years afterward, he says with a grin that whenever he has a moment of leisure he takes the time to pick a few pieces of glass from his person!
Edison's great contribution to the regular stage was the incandescent129 electric lamp, which enabled the production of scenic130 effects never before even dreamed of, but which we accept now with so much complacency. Yet with the motion picture, effects are secured that could not be reproduced to the slightest extent on the real stage. The villain, overcome by a remorseful131 conscience, sees on the wall of the room the very crime which he committed, with HIMSELF as the principal actor; one of the easy effects of double exposure. The substantial and ofttimes corpulent ghost or spirit of the real stage has been succeeded by an intangible wraith132, as transparent133 and unsubstantial as may be demanded in the best book of fairy tales—more double exposure. A man emerges from the water with a splash, ascends134 feet foremost ten yards or more, makes a graceful135 curve and lands on a spring-board, runs down it to the bank, and his clothes fly gently up from the ground and enclose his person—all unthinkable in real life, but readily possible by running the motion-picture film backward! The fairy prince commands the princess to appear, consigns136 the bad brothers to instant annihilation, turns the witch into a cat, confers life on inanimate things; and many more startling and apparently incomprehensible effects are carried out with actual reality, by stop-work photography. In one case, when the command for the heroine to come forth137 is given, the camera is stopped, the young woman walks to the desired spot, and the camera is again started; the effect to the eye—not knowing of this little by-play—is as if she had instantly appeared from space. The other effects are perhaps obvious, and the field and opportunities are absolutely unlimited138. Other curious effects are secured by taking the pictures at a different speed from that at which they are exhibited. If, for example, a scene occupying thirty seconds is reproduced in ten seconds, the movements will be three times as fast, and vice28 versa. Many scenes familiar to the reader, showing automobiles139 tearing along the road and rounding corners at an apparently reckless speed, are really pictures of slow and dignified140 movements reproduced at a high speed.
Brief reference has been made to motion pictures of educational subjects, and in this field there are very great opportunities for development. The study of geography, scenes and incidents in foreign countries, showing the lives and customs and surroundings of other peoples, is obviously more entertaining to the child when actively141 depicted142 on the screen than when merely described in words. The lives of great men, the enacting143 of important historical events, the reproduction of great works of literature, if visually presented to the child must necessarily impress his mind with greater force than if shown by mere words. We predict that the time is not far distant when, in many of our public schools, two or three hours a week will be devoted144 to this rational and effective form of education.
By applying microphotography to motion pictures an additional field is opened up, one phase of which may be the study of germ life and bacteria, so that our future medical students may become as familiar with the habits and customs of the Anthrax bacillus, for example, as of the domestic cat.
From whatever point of view the subject is approached, the fact remains that in the motion picture, perhaps more than with any other invention, Edison has created an art that must always make a special appeal to the mind and emotions of men, and although so far it has not advanced much beyond the field of amusement, it contains enormous possibilities for serious development in the future. Let us not think too lightly of the humble145 five-cent theatre with its gaping146 crowd following with breathless interest the vicissitudes147 of the beautiful heroine. Before us lies an undeveloped land of opportunity which is destined148 to play an important part in the growth and welfare of the human race.
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sensational
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| adj.使人感动的，非常好的，轰动的，耸人听闻的 | |
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versatile
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| adj.通用的，万用的；多才多艺的，多方面的 | |
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mere
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| adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过 | |
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prosaic
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| adj.单调的，无趣的 | |
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irrelevant
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| adj.不恰当的，无关系的，不相干的 | |
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dubbed
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| v.给…起绰号( dub的过去式和过去分词 )；把…称为；配音；复制 | |
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verbosity
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| n.冗长，赘言 | |
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surmise
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| v./n.猜想，推测 | |
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drudgery
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| n.苦工，重活，单调乏味的工作 | |
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vapid
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| adj.无味的；无生气的 | |
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essentially
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| adv.本质上，实质上，基本上 | |
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impresario
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| n.歌剧团的经理人；乐团指挥 | |
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theatrical
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| adj.剧场的，演戏的；做戏似的，做作的 | |
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14
ascertain
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| vt.发现，确定，查明，弄清 | |
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15
boundless
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| adj.无限的；无边无际的；巨大的 | |
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16
exuberant
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| adj.充满活力的；（植物）繁茂的 | |
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17
narrative
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| n.叙述，故事；adj.叙事的，故事体的 | |
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18
purveyor
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| n.承办商，伙食承办商 | |
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19
animate
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| v.赋于生命，鼓励；adj.有生命的，有生气的 | |
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20
accomplishment
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| n.完成，成就，（pl.）造诣，技能 | |
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21
accomplished
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| adj.有才艺的；有造诣的；达到了的 | |
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22
mechanism
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| n.机械装置；机构，结构 | |
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23
intelligibly
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| adv.可理解地，明了地，清晰地 | |
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24
incandescence
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| n.白热，炽热；白炽 | |
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25
generator
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| n.发电机，发生器 | |
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26
applied
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| adj.应用的；v.应用，适用 | |
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27
forerunner
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| n.前身，先驱（者），预兆，祖先 | |
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28
vice
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| n.坏事；恶习；[pl.]台钳，老虎钳；adj.副的 | |
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29
physiological
|
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| adj.生理学的，生理学上的 | |
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30
persistence
|
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| n.坚持，持续，存留 | |
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31
illuminated
|
|
| adj.被照明的；受启迪的 | |
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32
purely
|
|
| adv.纯粹地，完全地 | |
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33
relatively
|
|
| adv.比较...地，相对地 | |
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34
remains
|
|
| n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹 | |
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35
effaced
|
|
| v.擦掉( efface的过去式和过去分词 )；抹去；超越；使黯然失色 | |
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36
intensity
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|
| n.强烈，剧烈；强度；烈度 | |
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37
appreciable
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|
| adj.明显的，可见的，可估量的，可觉察的 | |
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38
apparently
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| adv.显然地；表面上，似乎 | |
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39
depicting
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| 描绘，描画( depict的现在分词 )； 描述 | |
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40
interfered
|
|
| v.干预( interfere的过去式和过去分词 )；调停；妨碍；干涉 | |
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41
rendering
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| n.表现，描写 | |
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42
silhouettes
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|
| 轮廓( silhouette的名词复数 )； （人的）体形； （事物的）形状； 剪影 | |
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43
conspicuous
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|
| adj.明眼的，惹人注目的；炫耀的，摆阔气的 | |
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44
fully
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|
| adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地 | |
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45
persistent
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|
| adj.坚持不懈的，执意的；持续的 | |
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46
apparatus
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|
| n.装置，器械；器具，设备 | |
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47
undoubtedly
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|
| adv.确实地，无疑地 | |
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48
peculiar
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|
| adj.古怪的，异常的；特殊的，特有的 | |
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49
mentality
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|
| n.心理，思想，脑力 | |
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50
utilizing
|
|
| v.利用，使用( utilize的现在分词 ) | |
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51
interval
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|
| n.间隔，间距；幕间休息，中场休息 | |
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52
intervals
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|
| n.[军事]间隔( interval的名词复数 )；间隔时间；[数学]区间；（戏剧、电影或音乐会的）幕间休息 | |
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53
luminous
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|
| adj.发光的，发亮的；光明的；明白易懂的；有启发的 | |
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54
animation
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| n.活泼，兴奋，卡通片／动画片的制作 | |
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55
countenance
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|
| n.脸色，面容；面部表情；vt.支持，赞同 | |
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56
grimaces
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|
| n.（表蔑视、厌恶等）面部扭曲，鬼脸( grimace的名词复数 )v.扮鬼相，做鬼脸( grimace的第三人称单数 ) | |
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57
marine
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|
| adj.海的；海生的；航海的；海事的；n.水兵 | |
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58
eruption
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|
| n.火山爆发；（战争等）爆发；（疾病等）发作 | |
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59
sufficiently
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|
| adv.足够地，充分地 | |
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60
dealing
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|
| n.经商方法，待人态度 | |
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61
wager
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|
| n.赌注；vt.押注，打赌 | |
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62
trotting
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| 小跑，急走( trot的现在分词 )； 匆匆忙忙地走 | |
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63
entirely
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|
| ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地 | |
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64
strings
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| n.弦 | |
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65
shutters
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|
| 百叶窗( shutter的名词复数 )； （照相机的）快门 | |
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66
shutter
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|
| n.百叶窗；(照相机)快门；关闭装置 | |
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67
clatter
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|
| v./n.(使)发出连续而清脆的撞击声 | |
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68
hoofs
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|
| n.（兽的）蹄，马蹄( hoof的名词复数 )v.（兽的）蹄，马蹄( hoof的第三人称单数 ) | |
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69
nostrils
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|
| 鼻孔( nostril的名词复数 ) | |
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70
onward
|
|
| adj.向前的，前进的；adv.向前，前进，在先 | |
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71
treatise
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|
| n.专著；(专题)论文 | |
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72
briefly
|
|
| adv.简单地，简短地 | |
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73
recording
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|
| n.录音，记录 | |
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74
projection
|
|
| n.发射，计划，突出部分 | |
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75
thereby
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|
| adv.因此，从而 | |
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76
simultaneously
|
|
| adv.同时发生地，同时进行地 | |
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77
illustrating
|
|
| 给…加插图( illustrate的现在分词 )； 说明； 表明； （用示例、图画等）说明 | |
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78
metropolitan
|
|
| adj.大城市的，大都会的 | |
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79
microscopically
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|
| 显微镜下 | |
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80
microscopic
|
|
| adj.微小的，细微的，极小的，显微的 | |
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81
cylinder
|
|
| n.圆筒，柱(面)，汽缸 | |
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82
intermittent
|
|
| adj.间歇的，断断续续的 | |
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83
requisite
|
|
| adj.需要的，必不可少的；n.必需品 | |
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84
vessel
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|
| n.船舶；容器，器皿；管，导管，血管 | |
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85
unnatural
|
|
| adj.不自然的；反常的 | |
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86
economize
|
|
| v.节约，节省 | |
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87
stationary
|
|
| adj.固定的，静止不动的 | |
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88
predecessors
|
|
| n.前任( predecessor的名词复数 )；前辈；（被取代的）原有事物；前身 | |
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89
expended
|
|
| v.花费( expend的过去式和过去分词 )；使用（钱等）做某事；用光；耗尽 | |
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90
ingenuity
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|
| n.别出心裁；善于发明创造 | |
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91
necessitating
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|
| 使…成为必要，需要( necessitate的现在分词 ) | |
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92
intermittently
|
|
| adv.间歇地；断断续续 | |
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93
refinements
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|
| n.（生活）风雅；精炼( refinement的名词复数 )；改良品；细微的改良；优雅或高贵的动作 | |
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94
royalty
|
|
| n.皇家，皇族 | |
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95
scenarios
|
|
| n.[意]情节；剧本；事态；脚本 | |
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96
enact
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|
| vt.制定(法律)；上演，扮演 | |
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97
enacted
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| 制定（法律），通过（法案）( enact的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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98
utilization
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|
| n.利用，效用 | |
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99
demonstration
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|
| n.表明，示范，论证，示威 | |
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100
surgical
|
|
| adj.外科的，外科医生的，手术上的 | |
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101
machinery
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|
| n.(总称)机械，机器；机构 | |
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102
disappearance
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|
| n.消失，消散，失踪 | |
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103
primitive
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|
| adj.原始的；简单的；n.原(始)人，原始事物 | |
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104
stunts
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| n.惊人的表演( stunt的名词复数 )；（广告中）引人注目的花招；愚蠢行为；危险举动v.阻碍…发育[生长]，抑制，妨碍( stunt的第三人称单数 ) | |
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105
portray
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|
| v.描写，描述；画(人物、景象等) | |
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106
celebrated
|
|
| adj.有名的，声誉卓著的 | |
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107
pretentious
|
|
| adj.自命不凡的，自负的，炫耀的 | |
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108
ERECTED
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|
| adj. 直立的，竖立的，笔直的 vt. 使 ... 直立，建立 | |
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109
lugubrious
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|
| adj.悲哀的，忧郁的 | |
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110
pivot
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| v.在枢轴上转动；装枢轴，枢轴；adj.枢轴的 | |
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111
accentuating
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|
| v.重读( accentuate的现在分词 )；使突出；使恶化；加重音符号于 | |
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112
paraphernalia
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|
| n.装备；随身用品 | |
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113
animated
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|
| adj.生气勃勃的，活跃的，愉快的 | |
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114
rehearsal
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| n.排练，排演；练习 | |
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115
rehearsals
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| n.练习( rehearsal的名词复数 )；排练；复述；重复 | |
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116
lighting
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|
| n.照明，光线的明暗，舞台灯光 | |
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117
diffused
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| 散布的，普及的，扩散的 | |
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118
standing
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| n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的 | |
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119
afterward
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| adv.后来；以后 | |
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120
inevitable
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| adj.不可避免的，必然发生的 | |
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121
proceedings
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| n.进程，过程，议程；诉讼(程序)；公报 | |
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122
torment
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| n.折磨；令人痛苦的东西(人)；vt.折磨；纠缠 | |
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123
villain
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| n.反派演员，反面人物；恶棍；问题的起因 | |
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124
automobile
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| n.汽车，机动车 | |
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125
jersey
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| n.运动衫 | |
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126
hostilities
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| n.战争；敌意(hostility的复数)；敌对状态；战事 | |
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127
cannon
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| n.大炮，火炮；飞机上的机关炮 | |
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128
gunpowder
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| n.火药 | |
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129
incandescent
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|
| adj.遇热发光的， 白炽的，感情强烈的 | |
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130
scenic
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| adj.自然景色的，景色优美的 | |
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131
remorseful
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| adj.悔恨的 | |
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132
wraith
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|
| n.幽灵；骨瘦如柴的人 | |
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133
transparent
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| adj.明显的，无疑的；透明的 | |
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134
ascends
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| v.上升，攀登( ascend的第三人称单数 ) | |
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135
graceful
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|
| adj.优美的，优雅的；得体的 | |
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136
consigns
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|
| v.把…置于（令人不快的境地）( consign的第三人称单数 )；把…托付给；把…托人代售；丟弃 | |
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137
forth
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| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
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138
unlimited
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|
| adj.无限的，不受控制的，无条件的 | |
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139
automobiles
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| n.汽车( automobile的名词复数 ) | |
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140
dignified
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| a.可敬的，高贵的 | |
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141
actively
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| adv.积极地，勤奋地 | |
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142
depicted
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|
| 描绘，描画( depict的过去式和过去分词 )； 描述 | |
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143
enacting
|
|
| 制定（法律），通过（法案）( enact的现在分词 ) | |
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144
devoted
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|
| adj.忠诚的，忠实的，热心的，献身于...的 | |
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145
humble
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|
| adj.谦卑的，恭顺的；地位低下的；v.降低，贬低 | |
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146
gaping
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| adj.口的；张口的；敞口的；多洞穴的v.目瞪口呆地凝视( gape的现在分词 )；张开，张大 | |
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147
vicissitudes
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| n.变迁，世事变化；变迁兴衰( vicissitude的名词复数 )；盛衰兴废 | |
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148
destined
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| adj.命中注定的；(for)以…为目的地的 | |
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