3.—FRUSTRATION.
CHAPTER XX.—THE MAGIC-LANTERN, AND ALL ABOUT IT.
I.—Pleasant Hours with the Magic-Lantern.—By A. A. Wood, F.C.S.
1.—ALL ABOUT LANTERNS.
The magic-lantern is of very respectable antiquity. As early as the seventeenth century a Jesuit, named Kircher, had constructed one. He was not unwilling to excite the fears of the persons who witnessed the effects of his apparatus, and not only did he apply the word magic to his lantern, but when exhibiting it he had the darkened room divided into two compartments, in one of which was the lantern, and in the other the spectators. These gazed on the shadowy forms before them in amazement, and were unable to perceive how they were produced.
Kircher’s lantern consisted of a large wooden box, with a door on one side and an opening in front for the reception of a tube containing a magnifying lens. The light was obtained by means of an oil lamp with a polished brass reflector, the smoke of the lamp being conveyed away by a chimney in the top. The pictures exhibited were painted on long strips of glass, and were passed through a groove in the front tube, and although the effects thus obtained must have been of the most imperfect character, yet from their novelty they produced a most profound impression.
There are reasons to believe that the lantern was in use even earlier than the seventeenth century, and that the mysterious figures which the old astrologers produced in the smoke of their mystic fires were produced in the same way as Kircher’s, the smoke forming the screen. With this brief description of the history of the magic-lantern, we must be content. Our main business is to describe the construction and use of the lantern as manufactured now.