All About Inventions and Discoveries
The Romance of modern scientific and mechanical Achievements

CHAPTER XV Animated Pictures If one were to ask what constitutes the most popular form of entertainment at the present moment, the answer would come unhesitatingly—the cinema. No other means of amusing the public—whether it be to beguile the tedium of an idle half-hour or the whole of an afternoon or evening—has ever secured such a firm grip upon the public fancy. Moreover, its influence is not confined to any one class of the com- munity. It appeals as strongly to the rich as to the poor, and entertains the old as triumphantly as it does the young, while it provokes as much delight among the unsophisticated natives of the dark coun- tries as it fascinates the developed minds of the centres of civilisation. The general impression prevails that the cine- matograph is a product of the past fifteen years’ ingenuity. But this is an error. Animated pictures were shown half a century or more ago, when, according to the records of the patent offices, the fundamental principles governing the idea were first perfected. But the pictures were exceedingly crude, and consequently failed to meet with popular appreciation. This was not the fault of the invention. It failed because the photographic art had not been advanced sufficiently to enable it to be brought into service in this new field. 324