Part II. Alleged References to Magic Mirrors.

(i.) The Mirror of Pythagoras. The passage in question is in the Physica Curiosa of Gaspard Schottus (4to Edition, Herbipolis, 1667), p. 538, referring to his own book on magic, and runs as follows:

“Ibidem mentionem fecimus speculi Pythagorae, in quo sanguine dicitur scripsisse quae volebat significare, et eo ad Lunam obverso commonstrasse res exaratas stanti a tergo in disco Lunae.”

The reference is to another passage on page 553 of Schottus’ Magia Divinatoria (Herbip., 1657-59, par. iv.), in the chapter De Catoptromantia:

“Huc referunt aliqui speculum Pythagorae cujus meminit Agrippa in Retractat. de Magia, cap. de Prestigiis, qui sanguine perscripsisse dicitur, quae collibuisset, in speculo et eo ad Lunam obverso, commonstrasse res exaratas stanti a tergo in disco Lunae. Hoc si verum est, utique non naturaliter contingit sed ope Daemonis.”

In the same work, par. i., p. 438-440, is a discussion of the proposition: “Utrum in lunari disco aliquid legendum exhiberi potest arte catoptrographica.” He says that Baptista Porta maintained this in his Natural Magic (cap. xvii., lib. 17). He also quotes from the Philosophia Occulta of Cornelius Agrippa (lib. i., cap. 6) as follows:

“Si litteras parabolico speculo inscripseris idque tempori plenilunii Lunae exposueris eae litterae ceu in vasto quodam speculo impressae reflexaeque ubilibet locorum legi poterunt. Ita Pythagoram aiunt, dum Hydrunti moraretur, litteras Lunae inscriptas Constantinopoli amicis legendas dedisse.”

There is also a passage in Dr. Thomas Browne’s Pseudodoxia Epidemica (Vulgar Errours), p. 60 (Edition of 1650), in reference to this myth: “Which is a way of intelligence very strange; and would requite the Art of Pythagoras; who could read a reverse in the Moon.”

Other references in occult literature to the alleged mirror of Pythagoras are as follows:

Athanasius Kircher. Ars Magna Lucis et Umbrae (Cryptologia, cap. i.) (Romae, 1646, fol.), p. 908. (Quotes from Cornelius Agrippa and Porta, and denounces the account as absurd, and against natural possibility.)

Bubalus. Commentationem de Angelis (Lugduni, 1622, fol.), 9-50, art. 1, quaesito 2, difficult. 2, § 3, pp. 64-66. (Combats views of Paracelsus.)

Paracelsus. Magia, lib. 5, de Speculi constitutione. (Distinguishes five kinds of alleged magic mirrors; none of them, however, having any optical significance.)

Boissardus. Tractatus de Divinatione (Oppenheim, 1616, folio), p. 297.

(ii.) Aulus Gellius. Carus Sterne (Gartenlaube, 1877) and Ayrton (Journal Royal Institution, 1879) refer to Aulus Gellius as having written of mirrors which “sometimes reflected their backs and sometimes did not.” The reference appears to be a mistaken one; for all I have been able to find in Aulus Gellius is the following passage in the Noctes Atticæ, bk. xvi., ch. xviii. (which is upon that branch of Geometry called ὀπτικὴ):

Ὀπτικὴ facit multa demiranda id genus; (1) ut in speculo uno imagines unius rei plures appareant; (2) item, ut speculum, in loco certo positum, nihil imaginet, aliorsum translatum, faciat imagines; (3) item, si rectus speculum spectes, imago fiat tua hujusmodi, ut caput deorsum videatur pedes sursum.

The passage which I have put into italics appears to have been mistaken in meaning. In Beloe’s translation, vol. iii., p. 249, this clause is rendered as follows: “A glass placed in a certain position shows nothing. Turn it, and it shows many things.” This is hardly adequate. More accurately it should run: “A mirror set in a certain place shows no image, but when transferred to another position produces images.” There is nothing in this at all suggestive of the mirror reflecting from its face the pattern on its back.

(iii.) Muratori. Sterne (op. cit.) and Ayrton (op. cit.) refer vaguely to the Italian historian Muratori as the authority for accounts of a “magic mirror found under the pillow of the Bishop of Verona, who was afterwards condemned to death by Martin (sic) della Scala, as well as of the one discovered in the house of Colla da Rienzi (sic) on the back of which was the word ‘Fiorone.’” The bishop in question was Bartolomeo dalla Scala, who was put to death in 1338 by Mastino della Scala, as narrated by Muratori (Annali d’Italia, vol. viii., p. 212, of the folio edition of 1744-49). Cola di Rienzo (or Rienzi) is mentioned many times in the same volume viii. I have not, however, been able to find in this work the mention of the mirror in either case. Neither have I found any as yet in Lessmann’s life of Mastino della Scala (Berlin, 1829); nor in Du Cerceau’s Life and Times of Rienzi (Lond. 1836). Muratori was, however, a prolific writer. Amongst his works were: Delle forze dell’ Intendimento Umano; Riflessioni sopra il Buon Gusto nelle Scienze e nelle Arte; La Filosofia Morale. It is possible that the reference may be to some passage in these. Muratori also refers to a Vita di Cola di Rienzo, the authorship of which is unknown to me.

(iv.) Von Humboldt. In 1830 Von Humboldt brought a supposed magic mirror from Berlin to Paris to exhibit it to members of the Académie des Sciences. It was indeed shown to some of them at the apartments of M. Arago at the Observatoire. No reference to the occurrence is to be found in the journals of the Académie, published or private, or in any contemporary journal. Perhaps the reason is that, as is known, the experiments proved a total failure. My information on the subject is derived from Bertin (Ann. Chim. Phys., xxii., 1881, p. 478).

(v.) Babinet. The name of Babinet is sometimes given along with that of Arago in connection with this subject; but I am unable to find that he did anything.

(vi.) Harting (Pieter). In their 1878 paper Ayrton and Perry refer to a short paper by Professor Harting in the Album der Natuur some years before. It appears that this was a short-lived periodical, edited by Harting and Logeman, which was issued at Haarlem (A. C. Kruseman, publisher) in 1872. There is a single part (No. 3 of vol. i.) in the British Museum. No copy containing the article in question is known in England.

(vii.) Tennant, Prof. James. The well-known mineralogist Tennant is believed to have issued, about the year 1869, a small pamphlet of about four pages on the subject of Japanese mirrors. No copy has yet been found.

(From a Drawing in the British Museum by Tachibana no Binkō, 1784.)

Mask of Uzume (O-kame).
From a netzuké in the possession of Charles Holme, Esq. (Pilgrim).

APPENDIX II.
THE MYTH OF THE SUN-GODDESS
AND THE INVENTION OF
THE MIRROR.

(Abstracted from the account given by Mr. E. Satow in vol. ii. of the “Transactions of the Asiatic Society of Japan,” 1874.)

OF all the gods of old Japan, there were two whom the father of the gods, Izanagi no mikoto, loved most. These were Amaterasu oho-mi-kami, who shone beautifully and illuminated the heavens and the earth, and her brother, Susanowo no mikoto, who was ruler of the blue sea. Amaterasu was made ruler of heaven, which she reached by climbing up the pillar on which the sky rested. Susanowo no mikoto, who was ever a mauvais sujet, neglected his kingdom, so much so that the rivers and seas all dried up. Amongst other evil deeds, he offended his sister Amaterasu by throwing into the room where she was weaving the body of a piebald horse which he had flayed, so terrifying her that she hurt herself with her shuttle, and retired in wrath to a cave, which she closed with a rock door. Heaven and earth were long plunged into utter darkness, during which time the more turbulent of the gods made a noise like the buzzing of flies, and the general disaster was great.

Then the gods held a council in the bed of one of the dry rivers as to how they might appease the anger of the great goddess, and at the suggestion of Taka-mi-musu-bi no kami the plan of campaign was entrusted to the wisest of the gods, Ame-no-koya-ne no mikoto, who suggested that Amaterasu should be enticed out by artifice to look at her own image. Accordingly two gods, Amatsu-mara no mikoto, the Japanese Vulcan, and Ishi-kori-dome no mikoto, were set to work to make a mirror of the shape of the sun, and of metal taken from the mines in heaven. Their bellows were made from the whole skin of a deer. The first two mirrors were voted too small, but the third was large and beautiful. Five gods were then ordered to prepare striped cloth and fine cloth from bark and hemp fibre, and two other gods erected posts and built a palace near the cave. Then Taka-mi-musu-bi no kami commanded another god, Ame-no-kushi-akaru-tama no mikoto, to make a string of magatama, or curiously curved charms, such as were worn in those days as ornaments, whilst two other gods made wands from the sakaki tree. Having by strange divinations satisfied themselves that their preparations were likely to come to a successful issue, the gods began their campaign.

First, Ame-no-koya-ne no mikoto pulled up a sakaki tree by the roots and hung upon it the string of charms, the mirror, and the strips of cloth. This trophy was held up by Ame-no-futo-damo no mikoto in front of the cave whilst Ame-no-koya-ne no mikoto pronounced an oration in honour of the goddess. They placed in concealment near the cavern door the god Ta-jikara-wo no mikoto, the Japanese Hercules. Then they set a number of cocks to crow in concert, and organized a dance to the accompaniment of music. A lively goddess, Ame-no Uzume no mikoto (or O-kame), she of the diminutive forehead and swollen cheeks, officiated as mistress of the ceremonies. She blew a bamboo flute, whilst the assembled deities kept time to the music by striking together two pieces of wood. Two other gods performed upon a primitive harp with six strings, which they bowed, violin-like, with grass. Uzume no mikoto adjusted her head-dress and bound up her sleeves preparatory to a dance, and flourished around a spear decorated with grass and bells. Bonfires were lighted, and a large circular box was laid upon the earth, upon which Uzume mounted to execute a pas seul As she flung herself about to the strains there descended upon her the spirit of folly, which possessed her and inspired her to sing. She sang a quatrain of six syllables to each line, which, though in modern Japanese it reads merely “One, two, three, four, five,” and so on, may also be rendered in old Japanese with the following meaning:

Gods, look now at the lid;

The Goddess no longer is hid.

Our longings she now satisfies:

Behold my bosom and thighs.

And as she pronounced these words she shook off her garments one by one, whilst finally the air shook with a burst of Homeric laughter from the assembled gods.

Hereupon Amaterasu oho-mi-kami, slightly opening the cavern door, called out from within, “I fancied that in consequence of my retirement both heaven and Japan were in darkness. Why has Ame-no Uzume danced, and why do the gods laugh?” Thereupon Uzume answered, “I dance and they laugh because there is here an honourable deity who surpasses your glory” (alluding to the mirror). As she said these words Ame-no-futo-dama no mikoto, who held the trophy, pushed the mirror toward her, so astonishing her that she came forward to look. As they were putting the mirror into the mouth of the cave it struck against the door and received a flaw, which it bears to this day. As the goddess came forward Ame-no tajikara-wo-no kami pulled open the door and dragged her forth, whilst Ame-no-koya-ne no mikoto passed behind with a straw rope to prevent her return.

So light was restored to the world; and in after days Amaterasu oho-mi-kami gave the mirror to her adopted grandson Nini-gi no mikoto, who in turn handed it down to his descendants, who, after various turns of fortune, placed it, in the year 4 B.C., in the sacred shrine on the bank of the Isuzu river, by the village of Uji in Isé, where it is preserved to this day with religious care.

APPENDIX III.
ORIENTAL WRITINGS UPON THE
MAGIC MIRROR.

M. STANISLAS JULIEN, the erudite author of Les Industries anciennes et modernes de l’empire chinois, has given the following extract from the fifty-sixth volume of the Chinese encyclopædia called Ke-chi-king-yonen.

“Théou-kouang-kien, or Mirrors which let the light pass through (an expression due to a vulgar error). If one receives the rays of the sun upon the polished surface of one of these mirrors, the characters or flowers which are in relief on the back are reproduced faithfully in the (reflected) image of the disk. Chin-kouo (a writer who flourished in the middle of the eleventh century) speaks with admiration of them in his memoirs entitled Mong-ki-pi-tân, book xix., fol. 5. The poet Kin-ma celebrated them in verse; but, down to the time of the Mongolian emperors, no author had been able to explain this phenomenon. Ou-tseu-hing, who lived under this dynasty (between 1260 and 1341), has the merit of having first done so. This is how he expresses himself on this subject:

“‘When one places one of these mirrors facing the sun, and causes it to reflect, upon a very near wall, the image of its disk, one sees distinctly appear therein the ornaments or characters which exist in relief upon the back. Now the cause of this phenomenon, which arises from the distinct employment of fine copper and of crude copper. If on the back of the mirror one has produced, by casting it in a mould, a dragon arranged within a circle, one engraves deeply on the face of the disk an exactly similar dragon. Next, one fills the deeply-chiselled cuts with a somewhat baser copper; then one incorporates this metal with the first, which ought to be of a finer quality, by submitting the mirror to the action of fire; after which one flattens and smoothens down the face of the mirror, and spreads over it a slight layer of lead (tin?).

“‘When one turns toward the sun the polished disk of a mirror so prepared, and reflects its image upon a wall, it distinctly presents bright tints and dark tints, which come, these from the purest parts of the copper, those from the baser parts.’

“Ou-tseu-hing, to whom we owe the preceding explanation, tells us that he has seen a mirror of this sort broken into fragments, and that he recognized for himself the accuracy of his description.”

Ayrton quotes from a Japanese work, the Shim-pen-kamakura-shi, or New Collection of Writings about Kamakura, a description of a temple-mirror, which when looked at obliquely shows the face of a Buddhist priest, not resembling in the least the raised ornament on the back (see p. 45, supra).

The same authority refers to the Kokon-i-to, or Genealogy of the Old and New Physicians, for an alleged process of producing magic effects on mirrors by treating the surface with a peculiar paste. The recipe is as follows: “Take ten parts of shio (gamboge), one of funso, and one of hosha (borax). Powder them thoroughly, and mix them to the consistency of a paste with a little dilute glue. If any pattern be drawn on the surface of a mirror with this paste, and then allowed to dry, the pattern will be seen, even after polishing, if looked at obliquely.”

It appears that this process fails in reality to give any result. The process of inlaying described by Ou-tseu-hing is also an error. The magic effect is certainly not produced in this way. Probably he was misled by the circumstance that flaws in the bronze castings are sometimes filled by the insertion of soft copper beads.

APPENDIX IV.
ANALYSES OF JAPANESE MIRRORS.

MM. CHAMPION AND PELLET (Industries de l’empire Chinois, p. 64) give the following composition for Chinese mirrors:

Copper50·8
Tin16·5
Zinc30·5
Lead2·2
———
100·0
———

Dr. Geerts gives (Trans. Asiatic Soc. of Japan, vol. iv., p. 40), for the alloy used in one of the largest mirror-foundries in Kioto:

Copper80
Tin15
Lead5
——
100
——

And for mirrors of inferior quality:

Copper80
Lead10
Shirome10
——
100
——

Shirome is a natural sulphide of lead and antimony from Choshiu or Iyo.

Professors Ayrton and Perry (Proc. Roy. Soc., 1878) give:

For mirrors of first quality:

Copper75·2
Tin22·6
Iyo Shirome2·2
———
100·0
———

For mirrors of second quality:

Copper81·3
Tin16·3
Iyo Shirome2·4
———
100·0
———

For mirrors of third quality:

Copper87·0
Tin8·7
Iyo Shirome4·3
———
100·0
———

For mirrors of fourth quality:

Copper81·3
Tori Shirome16·3
Iyo Shirome2·4
———
100·0
———

For mirrors of fifth quality:

Copper71·5
Tori Shirome28·5
———
100·0
———

The mercurial amalgam used in polishing the mirrors consists, according to Dr. Geerts (op. cit.), of quicksilver, tin, and a little lead. Ayrton gives it as one of tin to one of quicksilver. Champion and Pellet (op. cit.) give the composition as:

Tin69·36
Mercury30·0
Lead0·64
———
100·00
———

On the occasion of the delivery of this discourse the Author exhibited a collection of thirty-four Japanese mirrors, and by the aid of a lime-light lantern displayed their magic properties upon a translucent screen. He also exhibited sundry experiments with Laurent’s apparatus, and showed the effect of heating mirrors.

O. V.
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Edition limited to 100 copies.

Related by His Oddship W. M. Thompson, President of the Sette of Odd Volumes, at the Freemasons’ Tavern, Great Queen Street, on June 1st, 1883. (pp. 26.) Presented on July the 13th, 1883, by His Oddship W. Mort Thompson.

Edition limited to 250 copies.

Being a Compleate Manualle of ye Science and Arte of Expoundynge ye Past, ye Presente, ye Future, and ye Charactere, by ye Scrutinie of ye Hande, ye Gestures thereof, and ye Chirographie. Codicillus I.—Chirognomy. (pp. 118.) Presented on November the 2nd, 1883, by Bro. Ed. Heron-Allen.

Edition limited to 133 copies.

An Address by Bro. Edward Renton, delivered at the Freemasons’ Tavern, Great Queen Street, on December 5th, 1884. (pp. 74.) Presented to the Sette by His Oddship Edward F. Wyman.

Edition limited to 200 copies.

An Address by Bro. Cornelius Walford, F.I.A., F.S.S., F.R. Hist. Soc., Barrister-at-Law, Master of the Rolls in the Sette of Odd Volumes, delivered at the Freemasons’ Tavern, Great Queen Street, on Friday, February 5th, 1885. (pp. 72) Presented to the Sette by His Oddship Edward F. Wyman.

Edition limited to 133 copies.

The Implements and Practice of Writing, both Ancient and Modern, with Curiosa, and an Appendix of famous English Penmen, by Bro. Daniel W. Kettle, F.R.G.S., Cosmographer; delivered at the Freemasons’ Tavern, Great Queen Street, on Friday, November 6th, 1885. (pp. 104.) Presented to the Sette on January 8th, 1886, by Bro. Daniel W. Kettle.

Edition limited to 233 copies.

With a few Words on the Philanthropic Publisher of St. Paul’s Churchyard. A paper read at a Meeting of the Sette of Odd Volumes by Brother Charles Welsh, Chapman of the Sette, at the Freemasons’ Tavern, on Friday, the 8th day of January, 1886. (pp. 108.) Presented to the Sette by Bro. Charles Welsh.

Edition limited to 250 copies.

An Address by Bro. Edward Walford, M.A., Rhymer to the Sette of the Odd Volumes, delivered at Willis’s Rooms, on Friday, December 3rd, 1886. (pp. 76.) Presented to the Sette by His Oddship George Clulow.

Edition limited to 133 copies.

By Bro. Charles Welsh, Chapman to the Sette. Read before the Sette, at Willis’s Rooms, on Friday, the 6th May, 1887. With a Catalogue of the Books Exhibited. (pp. 60.) Presented to the Sette by Bro. James Roberts Brown.

Edition limited to 255 copies.

Illustrated by Examples Manuscript and Printed. A Paper read at a Meeting of the Sette of Odd Volumes by Bro. Bernard Quaritch, Librarian and First President of the Sette, at Willis’s Rooms, on Friday, June 10th, 1887. (pp. 86.) Presented to the Sette by Bro. Bernard Quaritch.

By his Kinsman, Edward Walford, M.A., Rhymer to the Sette of Odd Volumes. Read before the Sette at Willis’s Rooms, on Friday, October 21st, 1887. (pp. 60.) Presented to the Sette by Bro. Edward Walford, M.A.

Edition limited to 255 copies.

By Frederick H. Gervis, M.R.C.S., Apothecary to the Sette of Odd Volumes, delivered at Willis’s Rooms, on Friday, November 4th, 1887. (pp. 48.) Presented to the Sette by Bro. Fred. H. Gervis.

Edition limited to 133 copies.

By Bro. Charles Holme, Pilgrim of the Sette of Odd Volumes. Read before the Sette at Willis’s Rooms on Friday, January 6th, 1888. (pp. 46.) Presented to the Sette by Bro. Charles Holme.

Edition limited to 133 copies.

from 1883 to 1888. Carefvlly Compiled and painsfvlly Edited by ye vnworthy Historiographer to ye Sette, Bro. William Mort Thompson, and produced by ye order and at ye charges of ye Sette. (pp. 157.)

Edition limited to 115 copies.

By Bro. James Orrock, R.I., Connoisseur to the Sette of Odd Volumes. Read before the Sette at Willis’s Rooms, St. James’s, on Friday, January 4th, 1889. (pp. 33.) Presented to the Sette by Bro. James Orrock, R.I.

Edition limited to 133 copies.

A Dramatic Sketch by Bro. J. Todhunter, Bard of the Sette of Odd Volumes. Performed at a Conversazione of the Sette at the Grosvenor Gallery, on Thursday, July 17th, 1890. (pp. 46.) Presented to the Sette by His Oddship Bro. Charles Holme.

Edition limited to 600 copies.

By Bro. Walter Hamilton, F.R.G.S., Parodist to the Sette of Odd Volumes. Read before the Sette at Limmer’s Hotel, on Wednesday, January 8th, 1890. (pp. 80.) Presented to the Sette by Bro. Walter Hamilton.

Edition limited to 201 copies.

By Bro. Silvanus P. Thompson, D.Sc., B.A., Magnetizer to the Sette of Odd Volumes. Read before the Sette at Limmer’s Hotel, on Friday, July 4th, 1890. (pp. 63.) Presented to the Sette by Bro. Silvanus P. Thompson.

Edition limited to 249 copies.

By Bro. Douglas H. Gordon, Remembrancer to the Sette of Odd Volumes. Read before the Sette at Limmer’s Hotel, on Friday, December 6th, 1889. (pp. 48.) Presented to the Sette by Bro. Douglas H. Gordon.

Edition limited to 133 copies.

By Bro. William Manning, Seer to the Sette of Odd Volumes. Delivered at a Meeting of the Sette held at Limmer’s Hotel, on Friday, December 7th, 1890. (pp. 81.) Presented to the Sette by Bro. William Manning.

Edition limited to 205 copies.

By Bro. J. W. Brodie Innes, Master of the Rolls to the Sette of Odd Volumes. Read before the Sette at a Meeting held at Limmer’s Hotel, on Friday, November 7th, 1890. (pp. 66.) Presented to the Sette by Bro. Alderman Tyler.

Edition limited to 245 copies.

By Bro. Alexander T. Hollingsworth, Artificer to the Sette of Odd Volumes. Delivered at a Meeting of the Sette held at Limmer’s Hotel, on Friday, February 6th, 1891. (pp. 70.) Presented to the Sette by Bro. Alexander T. Hollingsworth.

Edition limited to 245 copies.

A Forgotten Sketch by Wm. M. Thackeray. Communicated by Bro. Chas. Plumptre Johnson, Clerke-atte-Lawe to the Sette of Odd Volumes, to the Sette at Limmer’s Hotel, on Friday, May 1st, 1891. (pp. xi and 66.) Presented to the Sette by Bro. Chas. Plumptre Johnson.

Edition limited to 321 copies.

to which are added some Rondeaux of his Rejuvenescence, laboriously constructed by the Necromancer to the Sette of Odd Volumes. (pp. 88.) Presented to the Sette by Bro. Edward Heron-Allen, in October, 1891.

Edition limited to 99 copies.

By Bro. Conrad W. Cooke, Mechanick to the Sette of Odd Volumes. Read before the Sette at a Meeting held at Limmer’s Hotel, on Friday, November 6th, 1891. (pp. 118.) Presented to the Sette by Bro. Conrad W. Cooke.

Edition limited to 255 copies.

By Bro. Silvanus P. Thompson, D.Sc., F.R.S., Magnetizer to the Sette of Odd Volumes. Read before the Sette at Limmer’s Hotel, on Friday, December 2nd, 1892. (pp. 96.)

Edition limited to 97 copies.