We should add that a tin chimney, bent as in magic lanterns, will, of course, be required to complete the apparatus.
THE IMAGE LIKE LIFE.
Take a concave mirror of the diameter of 40 inches, and three in concavity, made by cementing pieces of looking-glass on a wooden mould. The focus will be three feet six inches or so from the mirror.
The image of a person standing before it will be so vivid and seemingly solid that it will terrify even a strong-minded experimentalist.
As a reflector of light or a burning-glass, the effects are wonderful, even with an English sun.
THE NOSTRADAMUS TRICK.
The story goes that Nostradamus, the great trickster of France in the days of Francis and the Henries, showed the Queen Dowager Marie de Medicis a throne occupied by Henry the Fourth.
Upon a throne he had a confederate, costumed and “made up” to resemble the Béarnais. In the wall of the room, at a point opposite him, an opening was made by which a plane mirror hidden in a canopy in another room should reflect the figure upon a second mirror naturally visible. As the two reflectors were set at the same angle, the picture presented by the second was an exact counterpart of the counterfeit prince.