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Henry Langdon Childe (1781–1874) was an English showman, known as a developer of the magic lantern and dissolving views, a precursor of the dissolve in cinematic technique. While the priority question on the technical innovations Childe used is still debated, he established the use of double and triple lanterns for special theatrical effects, to the extent that the equipment involved became generally available through suppliers to other professionals. By the 1840s the "dissolving view", rooted in Gothic horror, had become a staple of illustrated talks with restrained animations. ==Development of lantern technique== Paul de Philipsthal used a magic lantern in London in 1802, for a ''phantasmagoria''; he used effects such as animation of images, and a lantern on rails so that images could be changed in size. Childe reportedly worked for Philipsthal. He demonstrated his own magic lantern at the Sanspareil Theatre which was replaced by 1806, by the Adelphi Theatre. The magic lantern had not advanced much from the 17th century to the latter part of the 18th century. Childe used achromatic lenses and an improved oil-lamp; and moved to the limelight, then associated with Thomas Drummond. The limelight has also been attributed to Robert Hare, and Goldsworthy Gurney. In Childe's hands, it increased the scale and brightness of the projected images at public performances. It was the combination of the double image and the improved lighting that made the lantern technique standard for a time; credit for this advance in projection, underpinning "dissolving views" in practice, has been given to John Benjamin Dancer. The innovations of Childe and the instrument-maker Edward Marmaduke Clarke (the "biscenascope") played a part in displacing the diorama as a fashionable entertainment; it was a type of double lantern, but in fact had a single light source, divided by a mirror system. Claims of priority were made on Childe's behalf, by 1885.〔Thomas Humphry Ward, ed., ''Men of the Reign; a biographical dictionary of eminent persons of British and colonial birth who have died during the reign of Queen Victoria'' (1885), p. 179; (archive.org. )〕 On this account, repeated in the ''Dictionary of National Biography'' account of 1887, Childe innovated with his method of "dissolving views": one picture appeared to fade away, while another as gradually took its place, an effect created by two lanterns with shutters. He worked from 1807, and completed his method in 1818; a brother of the artist Elias Childe, he had learned while still a young man to paint on glass, and prepared his own lantern slides.〔 The date of the original introduction of dissolving views was the subject of an 1893 debate in ''The Optical and Magic Lantern Journal''. At that point, the search for the earliest written reference to the technique was pushed back only to 1843, in 25 March issue of the ''Magazine of Science''. Later, a slightly earlier reference was found, to the 12 and 19 February issues during 1842 of ''The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction''. Childe had made a demonstration on 5 December 1840, at the Adelaide Gallery in London, before those at the Royal Polytechnic Institution the following year.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Henry Langdon Childe」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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