a small picture, and that not very distinct at the edges. The best
objective is the portrait combination lens usually of the Petzval
type as used in ordinary photographic cameras. These are carefully
corrected both for spherical and chromatic aberration, which is
absolutely essential in the objective, although not so necessary in the
condenser.
Objects.—The commonest objects used for exhibiting with the optical lantern are named “slides” and consist of pictures printed on transparent surfaces. Solid objects mounted on glass after the ordinary manner of mounting microscopic objects are also possible of exhibition, and hollow glass tanks containing organisms or substances undergoing some alteration are also available for use with the lantern. If it be necessary to eliminate the heat rays, which may act deleteriously on the object, a vessel is introduced containing either water or a 5% solution of ferric chloride. In the ordinary slide the pictures are painted with transparent water or oil colours, or photographed on pieces of glass. If parts of the picture are to be movable, two disks of glass are employed, the one movable in front of the other, the fixed part of the picture being painted on the fixed disk and the movable part on the other. By means of a lever the latter disk is moved in its own plane; and in this way a cow, for instance, can be represented drinking, or a donkey cutting amusing capers. In the chromatrope slide two circular disks of glass are placed face to face, each containing a design radiating from the centre, and painted with brilliant transparent colours. By a small pinion gearing in toothed wheels or endless bands the disks are made to move in opposite directions in their own plane. The effect produced is a singularly beautiful change of design and colour. In astronomical slides the motions of the heavenly bodies, eclipses, the phases of the moon or the like are similarly represented by mechanical means.
Dissolving Views.—For this purpose two magic lanterns are necessary, arranged either side by side or the one on the top of the other. The fronts of the lanterns are slightly inclined to each other so as to make the illuminated disks on the screen due to each lantern coincide. By means of a pair of thin metallic shutters terminating in comb-like teeth, and movable by a rack or lever, the light from either lantern can be gradually cut off at the same time that the light from the other is allowed gradually to fall on the screen. In this way one view appears to melt or dissolve into another. This arrangement was first adopted by Childe in 1811.
Phantasmagoria.—In this arrangement the pictures on the screen appear gradually to increase or diminish in size and brightness. To effect this a semi-transparent screen of cotton or other material is used, the lantern being behind and the audience in front. The lantern is mounted on wheels so that it can be rapidly moved up to or withdrawn from the screen; and an automatic arrangement is provided whereby simultaneously with this the objective is made to approach or recede from the slide so as to focus the picture on the screen in any position of the lantern. In this way a very small picture appears gradually to grow to enormous dimensions.
See L. Wright, Optical Projection (1891); E. Trutat, Traité des Projections (Paris, 1897 and 1901); P. E. Liesegang, Die Projektions-Kunst (Leipzig, 1909).
LANTERN-FLY, the name given to insects belonging to the
homopterous division of the Hemiptera, and referable to the
genus Fulgora and allied forms. They are mostly of large size,
with a superficial resemblance to lepidoptera due to their brilliant
and varied coloration. Characteristic of the group is the presence
on the front of the head of a hollow process, simulating a snout,
which is sometimes inflated and as large as the rest of the insect,
sometimes elongated, narrow and apically upturned. It was
believed, mainly on the authority of Marie Sibylle de Mérian,
that this process, the so-called “lantern,” was luminous at
night. Linnaeus adopted the statement without question and
made use of a number of specific names, such as lanternaria,
phosphorea, candelaria, &c., to illustrate the supposed fact, and
thus aided in disseminating a belief which subsequent observations
have failed to establish and which is now generally
rejected.
LANTERNS OF THE DEAD, the architectural name for the small towers in stone, found chiefly in the centre and west of France, pierced with small openings at the top, where a light
was exhibited at night to indicate the position of a cemetery.
These towers were usually circular, with a small entrance in the
lower part giving access to the interior, so as to raise the lamps
by a pulley to the required height. One of the most perfect
in France is that at Cellefrouin (Charente), which consists of a
series of eight attached semicircular shafts, raised on a pedestal,
and is crowned with a conical roof decorated with fir cones;
it has only one aperture, towards the main road. Other examples
exist at Ciron (Indre) and Antigny (Vienne).
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Lantern of the Dead at Cellefrouin (Charente).
LANTHANUM [symbol La, atomic weight 139.0 (O = 16)] one of the metals of the cerium group of rare earths. Its name is
derived from the Gr. λανθάνειν, to lie hidden. It was first isolated
in 1839 by C. G. Mosander from the “cerium” of J. Berzelius.
It is found in the minerals gadolinite, cerite, samarskite and
fergusonite, and is usually obtained from cerite. For details
of the complex process for the separation of the lanthanum
salts from cerite, see R. Bunsen (Pogg. Ann., 1875, 155, p. 377);
P. T. Cleve (Bull. de la soc. chim., 1874, 21, p. 196); and A.
v. Welsbach (Monats. f. Chem., 1884, 5, p. 508). The metal
was obtained by Mosander on heating its chloride with potassium,
and by W. F. Hillebrand and T. Norton (Pogg. Ann., 1875,
156, p. 466) on electrolysis of the fused chloride, while C.
Winkler (Ber., 1890, 23, p. 78) prepared it by heating the oxide
with a mixture of magnesium and magnesia. Muthmann and
Weiss (Ann., 1904, 331, p. 1) obtained it by electrolysing the
anhydrous chloride. It may be readily hammered, but cannot
be drawn. Its specific gravity is 6.1545, and it melts at 810°.
It decomposes cold water slowly, but hot water violently. It
burns in air, and also in chlorine and bromine, and is readily
oxidized by nitric acid.
Lanthanum oxide, La2O3, is a white powder obtained by burning the metal in oxygen, or by ignition of the carbonate, nitrate or sulphate. It combines with water with evolution of heat, and on heating with magnesium powder in an atmosphere of hydrogen forms a hydride of probable composition La2H3 (C. Winkler, Ber. 1891, 24, p. 890). Lanthanum hydroxide, La(OH)3, is a white amorphous powder formed by precipitating lanthanum salts by potassium hydroxide. It decomposes ammonium salts. Lanthanum chloride, LaCl3, is obtained in the anhydrous condition by heating lanthanum ammonium chloride or, according to C. Matignon (Compt. rend., 1905, 40, p. 1181), by the action of chlorine or hydrochloric acid on the residue obtained by evaporating the oxide with hydrochloric acid. It forms a deliquescent crystalline mass. By evaporation of a solution of lanthanum oxide in hydrochloric acid to the consistency of a syrup, and allowing the solution to stand, large colourless crystals of a hydrated chloride of the composition 2LaCl3·15H2O are obtained. Lanthanum sulphide, La2S3, is a yellow powder, obtained when the oxide is heated in the vapour of carbon bisulphide. It is decomposed by water, with evolution of sulphuretted hydrogen. Lanthanum sulphate, La2(SO4)3·9H2O, forms six-sided prisms, isomorphous with those of the corresponding cerium salt. By careful
