utely painted, that distant objects may be
examined by a telescope or opera-glass.

"From what has now been said, it may be understood, that for the purpose
of representing still-nature, or mere momentary states of objects in
motion, a picture truly drawn, truly coloured, and which is either very
large to correct the divergence of light and convergence of visual axes,
or if small, as viewed through a glass, would affect the retina exactly
as the realities. But the desideratum still remained of being able to
paint motion. Now this too has been recently accomplished, and in many
cases with singular felicity, by making the picture transparent, and
throwing lights and shadows upon it from behind. In the exhibitions of
the diorama and cosmorama there have been represented with admirable
truth and beauty such phenomena as--the sun-beams occasionally
interrupted by passing clouds, and occasionally darting through the
windows of a cathedral and illuminating the objects in its venerable
interior--the rising and disappearing of mist over a beautiful
landscape, runningwater, as for instance the cascades among the sublime
precipices of Mount St. Gothard in Switzerland;--and most surprising of
all, a fire or conflagration. In the cosmorama of Regent-street, the
great fire of Edinburgh was admirably represented:--first that fine city
was seen sleeping in darkness while the fire began, then the
conflagration grew and lighted up the sky, and soon at short intervals,
as the wind increased, or as roofs fell in, there were bursts of flame
towering to heaven, and vividly reflected from every wall or spire which
caught the direct light--then the clouds of smoke were seen rising in
rapid succession and sailing northward upon the wind, until they
disappeared in the womb of distant darkness. No one can have viewed that
appalling scene with indifference, and the impression left by the
representation, on those who knew the city, can scarcely have been
weaker than that left on those who saw the reality. The mechanism for
producing such effects is very simple; but spectators, that they may
fully enjoy them, need not particularly inquire about it."

Even for the present we cannot omit mention of the delight with which we
have read several of the more playful portions of the present work; we
allude to such passages as the Influence of Heat on Animated Beings, in
which Dr. Arnott has really blended the pencil of the artist with the
pen of the philos