Place a small magic lantern in a box large enough to contain a small swing dressing-glass, which will reflect the light thrown on it by the lantern in such a way, that it will pass out at the aperture made at the top of the box, which aperture should be oval, and of a size adapted to the cone of light to pass through it. There should be a flap with hinges, to cover the opening, that the inside of the box may not be seen. There must be holes in that part of the box which is over the lantern, to let the smoke out; and over this must be placed a chafing-dish, of an oblong figure, large enough to hold several lighted coals. This chafing-dish, for the better carrying on the deception, may be inclosed in a painted tin box, about a foot high, with a hole at top, and should stand on four feet, to let the smoke of the lantern escape. There must also be a glass planned to move up and down in the groove, and so managed by a cord and pulley, that it may be raised up and let down by the cord coming through the outside of the box. On this glass, the spectre (or any other figure you please) must be painted, in a contracted or squat form, as the figure will reflect a greater length than it is drawn. When you have lighted the lamp in the lantern, and placed the mirror in a proper direction, put the box on a table, and, setting the chafing-dish in it, throw some incense in powder on the coals. You then open the trap door and let down the glass in the grove slowly, and when you perceive the smoke diminish, draw up the glass that the figure may disappear, and shut the trap door. This exhibition will afford much wonder. The lights in the room must be extinguished; and the box should be placed on a high table, that the aperture through which the light comes out may not be seen.
A Magic Lantern Trick.
The light of the magic lantern, and the color of images, may not only be painted on a cloth, but also reflected by a cloud of smoke. Provide a box of wood or pasteboard, about four feet high, and seven or eight inches square at bottom, but diminishing as it ascends, so that its aperture at top be but six inches long, and half an inch wide. At the bottom of this box there must be a door that shuts quite close, by which you are to place in the box a chafing-dish with hot coals, on which is to be thrown incense, whose smoke goes out in a cloud at the top of the box: on this cloud, you are to throw the light that comes out of the lantern, and which you bring into a smaller compass by drawing out the movable tube. In this representation, the motion of the smoke does not at all change the figures; which appear so conspicuous that the spectator thinks he can grasp them with his hand. In the experiment, some of the rays passing through the smoke, the representation will be much less vivid than on the cloth; and if care be not taken to reduce the light to its smallest focus, it will be still more imperfect.
The Phantasmagoria.
In showing the common magic lantern, the spectators see a round circle of light with the figures in the middle of it; but, in the Phantasmagoria, they see the figures only, without any circle of light. The exhibition is produced by a magic lantern, placed on that side of a half transparent screen which is opposite to that on which the spectators are, instead of being on the same side, as in the ordinary exhibition of the magic lantern. To favor the deception, the slides are made perfectly opaque, except in those places that contain the figures to be exhibited, and in these light parts the glass is covered with a more or less transparent tint, according to the effect required. The easiest way is to draw the figures with water colors on thin paper, and afterward varnish them. To imitate the natural motions of the objects represented, several pieces of glass, placed behind each other, are occasionally employed. By removing the lantern to different distances, and at the same time, altering, more or less, the position of the lens, the images are made to increase and diminish, and to become more or less distinct at the pleasure of the exhibitor; so that, to a person unacquainted with the effect of optical instruments, these figures appear actually to advance and recede. Transparent screens for the Phantasmagoria are prepared by spreading white wax, dissolved in spirits of wine or oil of turpentine, over thin muslin: a screen so prepared may be rolled up without injury. A clearer screen may be produced, by having the muslin always strained upon a rectangular frame, and preparing it with turpentine, instead of wax: but such a screen is not always convenient, and cannot be rolled without cracking, and becoming, in a short time useless.
Chinese Shadows.
Cut out an aperture in a partition wall, of any size; for example, four feet in length and two in breadth, so that the lower edge may be about five feet from the floor, and cover it with white Italian gauze, varnished with gum-copal. Provide several frames of the same size as the aperture, covered with the same kind of gauze, and delineate upon the gauze different figures, such as landscapes and buildings, analogous to the scenes which you intend to exhibit by means of small figures representing men and animals. These figures are formed of pasteboard, and their different parts are made movable, according to the effect intended to be produced by their shadows, when moved backward and forward behind the frames, at a small distance from them. To make them act with more facility, small wires, fixed to their movable parts, are bent backward, and made to terminate in rings, through which the fingers of the hand are put, while the figure is supported by the left, by means of another iron wire. In this manner they may be made to advance or recede, and to gesticulate, without the spectators observing the mechanism by which they are moved; and as the shadow of these figures is not observed on the paintings till they are opposite those parts which are not strongly shaded, they may thus be concealed, and made to appear at the proper moments, and others may be occasionally substituted in their stead.
It is necessary, when the figures are made to act, to speak a dialogue, suited to their gestures, and imitate the noise occasioned by different circumstances. The paintings must be illuminated from behind by means of a reverberating lamp, placed opposite to the centre of the painting, and distant from it about four or five feet. Various amusing scenes may be represented in this manner, by employing small figures of men and animals, and making them move in as natural a way as possible, which will depend on the address and practice of the person who exhibits them.
A Wonderful Mirror.
Make two openings, of a foot high, and ten inches wide, and about a foot distant from each other, in the wainscoting of a wall; let them be at the common height of a man’s head; and in each of them place a transparent glass, surrounded with a frame, like a common mirror. Behind this partition place two mirrors, one on the outward side of each opening, inclined to the wainscot at an angle of forty-five degrees; let them both be eighteen inches square; let all the space between them be enclosed by boards or pasteboard, painted black, and well closed, that no light may enter; let there be also two curtains to cover them, which may be drawn aside at pleasure. When a person looks into one of these supposed mirrors, instead of seeing his own face he will perceive the object that is in the front of the other; so that, if two persons present themselves at the same time before these mirrors, instead of each one seeing himself they will reciprocally see each other. There should be a sconce with a candle or lamp placed on each side of the two glasses in the wainscot, to enlighten the faces of the persons who look in them, otherwise this experiment will have no remarkable effect.