A scrap-book full of these machine- and scissor-made silhouettes, with copious notes made by Lavater on the character of the sitters, judged by the shadow portraits, is one of the chief treasures in the collection of Mr. Wellesley, and forms an important item in silhouette history in its use for scientific purposes. A machine for the use of amateurs is owned by Dr. Beetham, descendant of Mrs. Edward Beetham, the clever silhouettist of Fleet Street. This machine for taking silhouettes is a box about the size of a cigar box. One end has a lens glued into a sliding block or frame for focusing purposes. A piece of looking-glass reflects the object on to a piece of frosted glass on the top of the box. The subject is drawn from this reduced shadow. There were others besides Lavater who published advice as to the best way of taking silhouettes. In “A Detailed Treatise on Silhouettes: their Drawing, Reduction, Ornamentation and Reproduction,” published in 1780, the author, after many allusions to prisma, cylinder, pyramid, cone, the sun and moon, and perpendicular and horizontal lines, gives indispensable rules for the silhouetteur:— 1. The surface on which the shadow is made must be upright. 2. It must be parallel with the head of the sitter. 3. The imaginary line running from the centre of the flame to the middle of the profile must be horizontal with the surface on which the shadow is to be cast. 4. The light must be as far from the head as possible, but the surface for drawing on must be as near the head as possible. As will be seen from the print taken from Lavater’s book, these rules were fairly accurately carried out in the chair depicted. Practical hints are also given in the treatise as to paper, light, pencils, etc. Great stress is laid on the importance of obtaining paper large enough for the drawing of the enormous modern head-dress of women, for which, sometimes, two pieces were put together. We have seen interesting examples of this, where the paper is actually joined together with the thin old-fashioned pins of the period, and life-size heads, executed in black paper, in a country house in Sussex. “A wax light is better than tallow or suet,” this careful mentor continues, “as there is nothing so harmful as a flare, which makes the shadow tremble. If one cannot obtain a wax candle, and must use a lamp, let it be dressed with olive oil. Coughing, sneezing, or laughing are to be avoided, as such movements put the shadow out of place.”