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MAGIC SHADOWS

MAGIC SHADOWS

The Story of the Origin
of Motion Pictures

by
MARTIN QUIGLEY, JR.

QUIGLEY PUBLISHING COMPANY
New York, N. Y. 1960

Copyright, 1948–1960, by Martin Quigley, Jr.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form without written permission except in the case of brief quotations included in reviews.

Library of Congress Catalog
Card Number: 60-14797

Printed in the United States of America

CONTENTS

ILLUSTRATIONS

FOREWORD

Ask almost anyone about the origins of the motion picture, and you’ll get a glib and automatic answer. It will include a fast, indefinite reference to Edison and Eastman and will move on, with more-or-less authentic nostalgia, to Mack Sennett, Fatty Arbuckle, D. W. Griffith and maybe a few others. With luck, one or two titles—The Great Train Robbery, for example—may creep in.

The fact is, most of us simply do not know much about it.

It is good, therefore, to take a long look at the people, the events, and the discoveries—accidental and otherwise—which combined, during the years of many centuries, to produce the motion picture as we know it today.

This book gives us the long look, the authentic perspective. It may tend to slow down our glibness, to clothe our fancy with fact, and to deflate any notion that the movies belong exclusively to our own well-publicized 20th Century.

It is sobering, but it is necessary. For, unless we brace ourselves with some knowledge of what has gone before, we cannot be adequately prepared for what lies ahead. The industry, as we have known it in the past, is undergoing great changes. It is difficult to predict exactly what form it will eventually take. One thing is certain, however—the “Magic Shadows” in one form or another will continue to entertain and instruct the millions in every land for generations to come.

Edward P. Curtis

Rochester, N. Y.
July 2, 1960

Ars Magna Lucis et Umbrae, 1671

ATHANASIUS KIRCHER, the first person to project pictures. His magic lantern originated the screen art-science in Rome circa 1645.

INTRODUCTION

The art of magic shadows, which just before the dawn of the twentieth century evolved into the modern motion picture, was born three centuries ago, at Rome. There Athanasius Kircher, a German priest, first showed his invention, the magic lantern, to friends, and enemies, at the Collegio Romano, where he was a professor of mathematics.

The world premiere of the first real “magic shadow” performance passed without public notice. In those days there were no press agents or publicists. There were no newspapers. The people did not care what the nobles and scholars were doing in their idle moments; the intellectuals paid little attention to the people.

History has not recorded the day and month in which Kircher presented his projector, the fundamental instrument of all screen shows, then and now. The occasion can be set only approximately—some time in the year 1644 or 1645. The hour of the performance presumably was in the evening, for the light and shadow pictures had to be shown in darkness, just as today films must be exhibited in darkened theatres.

We may be sure that the score or more of invited guests—Romans and distinguished foreigners—eagerly accepted an opportunity to see what Kircher was up to. Rome had been buzzing with rumors. The energetic little Jesuit priest who earned for himself the title, “Doctor of a Hundred Arts,” had even been suspected of necromancy and working in league with the devil. After the showing of the magic lantern and its projected pictures some were certain that he practiced the “black arts.”

The audience for the first screen performance was as distinguished as any that has since graced a Hollywood production. Other professors of the Roman College were there to note for themselves on which one of his “hundred arts” Kircher had been busy. These men were among the most learned in Europe and had made the Jesuit University, established in 1582, already an influence in all circles of thought. A selected group of students, young Romans of noble birth, surely were also invited. Until the hour of the demonstration, these stood outside in the large Piazza di Collegio Romano before the main entrance. Three centuries later, from June, 1944 to late 1945, American Army MPs raced through this same Piazza on jeeps and motorcycles to their headquarters in Rome, just across the square from the entrance to the Collegio Romano.

Just at the appointed hour for Kircher’s show, a few distinguished monsignori, in flowing purple were driven to the entrance in their carriages with mounted escort. Perhaps, too, a hush went through the small group, assembled in an upper hall, when a Prince of the Church, such as Cardinal Barberini who had summoned Kircher to Rome a decade before, came to see for himself. After all the monsignori and other visitors had been greeted with ceremony and salutation in keeping with their rank, the candles and lamps were extinguished; Kircher slipped behind a curtain or partition where his projector was concealed and the first light and shadow screen show was on.

For a moment Kircher’s audience could see nothing. Then slowly their eyes became accustomed to the darkness and a faint light appeared on a white surface set up in front of the few rows of seats. As the flames in Kircher’s lantern began to burn more brightly and he adjusted the crude projection system, the picture of his first glass slide was thrown upon the screen.

The young men with keen eyesight were the first to note that the light and shadow on the screen, like some ghostly figment, began to take form into a recognizable picture. Then the older ecclesiastics saw or thought they saw. The incredulous murmured prayerful ejaculations. The wonder increased as successive pictures were projected. Kircher was enough of a showman to use pictures which would entertain and amaze. He included animal drawings, artistic designs and, to taunt those who thought he was dabbling in necromancy, pictures of the devil. Prudence was not one of his “hundred arts.”

We may be amused now at the disbelief of Kircher’s first audience. But by trying to place ourselves in that hall of the Roman College, three centuries ago, it is easy to realize the difficulties. Nothing like Kircher’s show had ever been presented before. He had chained light and shadow, but the suspicion was held by some of the spectators that there was dark magic about it all and that Kircher had dabbled in the “black arts.”

The first audience congratulated Kircher at the end of the performance, but some went away wondering, dubious. Years later, Kircher wrote in his autobiography, “New accusations piled up and my critics said I should devote my whole life to developing mathematics.”

* * * * *

Two and a half centuries later, the screen art of magic shadow projection came to life in the motion picture. This was quite a different premiere. But Kircher would have recognized the device as an improvement on and development of his magic lantern. He, and hundreds who came after him, had tried to capture the animation of life in light and shadow pictures. Full success was not possible until a later date because the necessary materials were not available until near the end of the nineteenth century.

The scene of the most significant motion picture premiere was at Koster & Bial’s Music Hall, 34th Street, New York, which stood on the site now occupied by the R. H. Macy department store. The time was April 23, 1896. But in contrast to Kircher’s premiere, though “Thomas A. Edison’s Latest Marvel—the Vitascope” had featured billing on the show, it was not the only entertainment on the program. Albert Bial, manager, preceded the showing of the motion pictures with a half-dozen acts of vaudeville. There were the Russian clown, eccentric dancer, athletic and gymnastic comedian, singers and actors and actresses. But the movies stole that show and, in little more than a decade, became staple entertainment in tens of thousands of theatres all over the world.

The special top hat and silk tie audience at Koster & Bial’s Music Hall that Spring evening a half-century ago was treated to a selection of short films which ran only a few moments each: “Sea Waves”, “Umbrella Dance”, “The Barber Shop”, “Burlesque Boxing”, “Monroe Doctrine”, “A Boxing Bout”, “Venice, Showing Gondolas”, “Kaiser Wilhelm, Reviewing His Troops”, “Skirt Dance”, “Butterfly Dance”, “The Bar Room” and “Cuba Libre”.

Thomas Armat, the inventor of the projector which had been built by Edison, supervised projection of those first screen motion pictures shown on Broadway. We can well imagine that Kircher was looking over his shoulder, delighted that his work started 250 years before had been brought to the triumph of the living moving picture.

The great Edison was in a box at the Music Hall that evening and he, too, was glad that the New York audience of first nighters so well received the large screen motion pictures. A few years before, his Kinetograph camera and his Kinetoscope peep-hole viewer had presented motion pictures. But as Kircher in the 17th century wanted his pictures life-size on the screen, so did the public of the Nineties.

* * * * *

Kircher and Edison do not stand alone in the parade of pioneers in the art and science of the screen. The list of builders of the cinema is as cosmopolitan as its appeal: Greeks, Romans, Persians, British, Italians, Germans, French, Belgians, Austrians and lastly, and in some ways most importantly, Americans. Ancient philosophers, medieval monks, scholarly giants of the Renaissance, scientists, necromancers, modern inventors—all had a role in the 2500 year story of the creation, out of light and shadow, of this most popular and most influential expression—the motion picture.

Great and strange men, some whose fame derives from activities in other fields, others hardly recorded in the passing of history, contributed to what was eventually to become the motion picture. Many of the pioneers of the magic shadow art-science realized the entertainment, educational and scientific potentialities of their discoveries; others did not, because they were preoccupied with other affairs and only toyed with the light and shadow devices.

The following chapters tell how men learned about vision and light, and how apparatus to record and project living realities was developed.

It is the story of the origin of the motion picture, from Adam to Edison.

IT STARTED WITH “A”

First magic shadow show—Ancient optical studies—Chinese Shadow Plays, Japanese and English mirrors—The art-science begins with Aristotle and Archimedes, Greeks, and Alhazen, an Arab.

From any viewpoint the story of the origin of the motion picture begins with “A”. The fundamental and instinctive urge to create pictures in living reality goes all the way back to Adam. Aristotle developed the theoretical basis of the science of optics. Archimedes made the first systematic use of lenses and mirrors. Alhazen, the Arab, pioneered in the study of the human eye, a prerequisite for developing machines to duplicate requisite functions of the human eye.

Lights and shadows were made when the night and the day were made:

And God said: Be light made. And light was made.

And God saw the light that it was good; and He

divided the light from the darkness.

And He called the light Day, and the darkness Night;

and there was evening and morning one day.

* * * * *

And God said: Let there be lights made in the

firmament of heaven....

And God made two great lights: a greater light to

rule the day; and a lesser light to rule the night;

and the stars.

—Book of Genesis

The moon playing upon silent waters, the sun casting deepening shadows in the woods, a twinkling campfire, starlight dancing on ruffled waters—all provided the first pageantries of light and shadow. The first eclipse of the sun seen by man was the most thrilling and terrifying light and shadow show of that era, a premiere never rivalled by Hollywood’s best.

From the beginning of the record of human aspiration men had the urge to create representations of life. Efforts were made to duplicate in permanent form the pictures reflected in still water, shadows, and birds and animals and people. And so, in a very early day man took up drawing, a variation of light and shadow portrayal. But the early drawings, and attempts for centuries thereafter, did not wholly succeed in their purpose. Life of the surrounding world could not be caught in all its wondrous detail no matter how skilled was the artist. The first picture critics pointed out that the drawings were unnatural because no action was shown and life itself was full of motion.

For cinema purposes, one of the earliest examples of “motion” still pictures is a representation of a boar trotting along, for some 10,000, 20,000 or 30,000 years, on a wall of the Font-de-Faune cave at Altamira near Santillana del Mar in Northern Spain. The artist tried to show the boar’s headlong pace by equipping the animal with two complete sets of legs. It was recognized a long while before Walt Disney that more than one still picture was necessary to portray natural motion.

For centuries artists continued to strive for the “illusion” of motion without “moving pictures.” Depending on the skill of the artist, the result approached the goal in varying degrees. Action was always, and still is, a problem to the artist working with a “still” medium. A pinnacle of success in this quest was reached in the Winged Victory of Samothrace in which the artist did all in his power to show motion in the medium of cold, lifeless marble.

However, the potential progress was limited as long as it was necessary to rely upon the skilled hand of the artist to convey motion. More had to be learned about light and shadow and also a great deal about the everlasting wonder of the human eye before living reality could be captured for future representation.

The poets may speculate about man’s first thoughts on light, the sun, moon and stars, and fire. But man used his eyes for ages before he became interested and considered why and how he could see, and what light and shadow might be and how they could be usefully harnessed. Even in our day of apparent enlightenment, the underlying explanation of vision and light still eludes our scientists, so we should be patient about the time it took our ancestors to devise ways of harnessing light and shadow to prepare the brightly lighted way for the Bing Crosbys and Betty Grables of our day.

The study of light and vision, and the need for better methods and instruments for observing life resulted in time in the invention of the first optical device—the magnifying glass. All telescopes, microscopes, spectacles, cameras, projectors and other optical instruments have been evolved from the simple lens or magnifying glass. That lens was a special boon to the men and women who through birth, age or misfortune had poor eyesight.

Some authorities hold that as long ago as 6000 B.C. magnifying glasses were used by the Chaldeans in the ancient biblical lands. It is known that the Chaldeans, who developed an elaborate civilization, gave first attention to the study of light and all its problems. A few thousand years before the new era the Babylonians, famed too as gardeners, became great astronomers. The heavens, then and now, present the greatest natural light and shadow show, with a continuous run every night since the beginning of time. So it is not surprising that the first study of light and shadow should concern itself with the stars and planets. The Babylonians, with but the naked eye, picked out constellations and identified them. It was a desire to learn more about the stars that resulted in the development of a telescope, which was a marked advance in the science of light and shadow.

In the ruins of Nineveh, destroyed in 606 B.C., was found a convex lens of quartz and an inscription too fine to be read by the naked eye—proof that those people knew the uses of lenses and treasured fine artistic drawings and writings which could be inscribed only through the use of a magnifying glass.

* * * * *

At an early date the conflict arose between those who wished to use the magic shadows to entertain and instruct and those who wished to use them for purposes of deception.

The Egyptian priests have first claim on the title of light and shadow showmen. Some of the fragments of hieroglyphics indicate that they used optical devices to deceive. It is likely that a simple mirror was used to throw images into space. But that would have amazed the people and would have been taken as a sure sign of miraculous power.

The oldest media of light and shadow entertainment and deception was developed by another great and scholarly group, the early Chinese scientists. These were the Chinese Shadow Plays, the origin of which is lost in antiquity, dating back perhaps to 5000 B.C. Silhouette figures shown on a background of smoke and animated as in a puppet show entertained a public thousands of years ago in the Far East. The Chinese Shadow Plays appear to have a close relation to the old-time fireside tricks of twisting the fingers so as to form what appeared to be the shadow of a donkey’s head or a representation of a rabbit or of some other animal. Despite the troubled history of China, these Shadow Plays were never lost and they are still presented in remote parts of China and in Java.

Dates of the Chinese contributions to the story of the origin of the cinema and related sciences are uncertain. The Chinese empire was founded around 2800 B.C. and within 500 years of that time the heavens had been charted by the Chinese. A hundred years after an hereditary monarchy was established in China, about 2200 B.C., the ruling powers executed two astronomers for failing to observe properly an eclipse of the sun.

After the Chinese Shadow Plays, mention should be made of another Oriental light and shadow invention. This one was developed by the Japanese. The devices are known as Japanese Mirrors. These are famed in legend and history as being endowed with great magical powers. They, as in the inventions of the Egyptians, used an optical illusion to entertain and also to trick.

The method of the Japanese Mirrors was simple: They were of polished bronze with a design embossed on the surface. When held to the sun, the reflected light would fall on a wall or other smooth surface, and the spectators would see the design, appearing as if through the power of the devil or some propitious deity. If the operator did not allow his mirror to be closely examined by the audience he could certainly be credited with magical powers—the power to bring animals and men, and any kind of design to life. Not a devil or a god; but in reality only an early showman! And done with mirrors!

The so-called English Mirrors, of a much later date, worked on a similar principle, but were even more ingenious. They had greater “magical” power. The English Mirrors resembled the Japanese Mirrors, yet on close examination no embossing would be discovered on the surface. Even today one might have a difficult time discovering the secret.

The picture to be projected was very carefully and lightly etched with acid upon the brass surface of the English Mirrors. The mirror was then polished until the etched pattern could not be detected by eye or touch. But the imperceptible roughness outlining the pattern remained on the mirror and was sufficient to record and reflect the outline of the design in what seemed a magical fashion.

After a vague start in Babylonia, Egypt and the Far East, the study of light and shadow, like many another art and science, began in a thorough way in Greece.

Aristotle, great Greek philosopher, born about 384 B.C., made the first important contribution to the history of the light and shadow art-science which can be assigned to an identifiable individual.

Aristotle’s family had been long identified with medicine. His father was court physician to the King of Macedonia and several of his ancestors had similar posts. Therefore, in a sense, it was natural for him to seek learning. For some years he was a student of the philosopher Plato at Athens. He was a more practical man than his teacher, favoring experimental observation as supplemental to philosophy.

Universal truth and knowledge were the goals Aristotle set for himself. Also he believed it well to keep in the good graces of the rulers. When Alexander the Great was 13 years old, Aristotle was appointed his teacher and from that time on had a deep influence on the pupil who, they tell us, came to tears because he had no more worlds to conquer. Aristotle later headed the Peripatetic or “walk about” school at Athens, so named because knowledge was imparted from teacher to student as they strolled about the groves. Aristotle wrote authoritatively on almost every subject. The sun, light, and vision, of course, received the attention of this philosopher whose word on philosophic and scientific matters was accepted by many without question as law for centuries. Even today many principles first enunciated by Aristotle are still generally respected in philosophy.

In Aristotle’s book titled Problems there was described the phenomenon of sunlight passing through a square hole and still casting an image of a round—not square—sun on the wall or floor.

This was an astounding discovery! It may strike the reader as strange, but he may easily convince himself by making a little experiment: cut a square hole in a piece of dark paper and let the image of the sun fall on a mirror or other smooth surface and you will see that the sun is still round despite the square hole. As a word of caution, one must be careful to avoid eye strain when viewing the sun and its reflections. Several of the principal characters in motion picture pre-history ruined their eyes by studying the sun for too long a period at one time.

Aristotle’s square hole and round sun experiment was a beginning and scientists were starting to learn something important about light and optical phenomena.

Aristotle also made a valuable contribution to the study of vision. In his book, On Dreams, he noted the existence of after-images, a persistence of vision phenomenon. That faculty contributes vitally to the motion picture effect. A common example is that a whirling firebrand appears to make a complete continuous circle of fire. A strong light or image of any kind will be visible to the eye for a moment after the physical stimulus has been removed.

Aristotle also was interested in color and in a study in this connection he noted that certain given plants were bleached by the sun. This was the initial scientific observation in the chain which ultimately, though indirectly, led to photography.

Archimedes (287–212 B.C.), a half-century after Aristotle, developed at Syracuse, then a Greek colony on the island of Sicily, the first recorded light apparatus, “The Burning Mirrors or Lenses.” Famed as the first great geometrician, Archimedes is best known for his principle upon which all ship construction is based—the buoyant force exerted by a liquid is equal to the weight of the displaced liquid. In other words, a shaped object of metal, such as a ship, will float if it displaces a sufficient quantity of water. King Hiero of Syracuse, a relative of Archimedes, gave him the problem of determining whether or not a new crown he had received was made of pure gold, as ordered, or whether the gold had been mixed with silver. This would have been no task at all if the King had not been fond of the crown and wished the information secured without damaging it in any way. As was the custom in those days, Archimedes considered the problem one afternoon at the local bath which served the double function of promoting cleanliness and of fostering every kind of discussion. It was the gentlemen’s club of the day and place.

Archimedes liked to bathe with a tub full of water and this particular afternoon he noted that a considerable amount of water was spilled over the sides of the tub as he stepped in. He immediately and correctly concluded that there was a relation between the mass of his body and the weight of the water displaced. Then according to tradition he rushed home, through the streets of Syracuse, naked, in order to test the King’s crown, shouting “Eureka—I have found it.”

This talented Greek was keenly aware of his scientific prowess and was not a man to keep his ideas secret. He promised to lift the world with a lever (the principle of which he had developed scientifically) provided someone would furnish him a fulcrum. There were no takers.

When Archimedes was 73 years old and respected throughout the civilized world for his work in mathematics and science, the Roman invader Marcellus lay siege to Syracuse. At the beginning of the two long years of struggle, Archimedes put aside his theoretical work and with the vigor of a youth helped to defend the city, inventing numerous engines of war for the purpose. In this he was the real pioneer of the scientists of our own day who perfected in wartime the atomic bomb, radar and other devices.

Archimedes’ most important development in his martial pursuits was the Great Burning Glasses or Lenses upon which much of his fame has since rested. According to tradition, the Great Burning Glasses of Archimedes were used to burn the fleets of Marcellus, acting on the same principle used by the modern Boy Scout or woodsman in starting a fire with a pocket magnifying glass.

The efficacy of Archimedes’ lenses for burning purposes has been argued for centuries. This much is certain: they did not succeed in their purpose for Marcellus sacked the city in 212 B.C., after the walls had been stormed. Archimedes was killed but after his death he was honored even by the invader Marcellus, who ordered a monument erected over his grave.

One explanation is that the Burning Glasses of Archimedes were used in what would now be called psychological warfare. Archimedes knew how to construct glasses, systems that would set small fires at a close range; the enemy knew this. So what better ruse would there be than to construct a gigantic Burning Glass atop the highest building of Syracuse, clearly in view of the enemy fleet and let the intelligence report leak out that on such and such a day Archimedes was going to burn up the whole fleet and raise the siege? One can imagine what the effect was on the sailors and officers of the fleet, including Marcellus himself. Archimedes’ strategy might have prolonged the defense through a great part of the two years in which the city resisted. The main problem, of course, and suspicion in the minds of the enemy was—could Archimedes actually burn the fleet with his mysterious mirrors and lenses? (Illustration facing [page 32].)

The possibility of actual use of the Burning Glasses to start fires on the ships of an invader was not entirely dismissed by Athanasius Kircher who made a special trip to Syracuse in 1636 to study the problem on the spot. He wrote in the same book in which the magic lantern is described that he had constructed a burning glass or lens which started a fire at a distance of 12 feet and that a friend of his, Manfred Septal, on February 15, 1645, shortly before Kircher’s book was completed, had started a fire at 15 paces.

Kircher did not believe burning glasses could be used to start a fire at a great distance as claimed by some scientists and experimenters. He said that Cardano’s story of burning at 1,000 paces was ridiculous, as were exaggerated claims of Porta. But Kircher did point out that there may be something of truth in the original story of Archimedes because, in his opinion, ships of the attacking force would be anchored just off the walls of the city, perhaps only 25 to 50 feet away. This was done so the full force of the fleet’s armament of the day could be thrown against the defenders on the walls and yet the men of the ships would be out of range of hand-to-hand encounters with the Syracusans.

Kircher reasoned that a great Burning Glass could start a fire in a ship right under the walls of the city if the glass were mounted on top of a nearby building. It is likely that at the most Archimedes would have been able to start only a small fire on the sail of one of the enemy’s ships.

Archimedes’ Burning Glasses are the only real ancient optical instruments about which we have a contemporary or nearly contemporary record. These early water-filled glasses were the first projection lenses. Archimedes’ Burning Glasses played an important part in the developments which led to the modern motion picture because, without lenses for the projection, films would be nothing but peep-shows, visible to one person at a time. Without lenses our cameras would be very crude instruments. In a true sense the focused mirror or lens burning glass is the foundation of every kind of camera and all projection work.

Aristotle and Archimedes and other Greek scientists, including Euclid, who is credited with being the first to demonstrate that light travels in straight lines, opened the book of knowledge of the light and shadow art.

Ptolemy who flourished at Alexandria around 130 A.D. was the greatest scientist of his era and his influence was powerful for fifteen centuries. It was he who developed the Ptolemaic theory which viewed the earth as the center of the universe, with the sun and other bodies revolving around it. That theory very naturally tended to increase man’s idea of his own importance. Ptolemy was a geographer and mathematician as well as an astronomer. His great work was called Almagest by the Arabs. Ptolemy discussed the persistence of vision, the laws of reflection and made studies of refraction.

The poor tools then available and inaccurate understanding of some basic principles prevented in ancient days the discovery of devices capable of capturing the illusion of motion. History played its part, too.

After the stimulus given to all knowledge by the Greeks, little interest in the arts and sciences was taken anywhere for a long time. Then in the 9th century the scholarship of Greece was advanced by the Arabs, from whom Europe began to receive it in the 12th century. During the early Middle Ages, the real “Dark Ages” when barbarian hordes overran much of Europe, the seat of learning was in the Near East, in Arabia and Persia.

Today it may be difficult for some to attribute great intellectual advance to a people often associated in the common mind with desert life and the crudities of camel transport. But around the year 850 A.D. the most elaborate courts of the world, and keenest scholarship, were in the Near East. The latest of the ancient pioneers in magic shadows, the fourth “A”, was Alhazen, the Arab.

Alhazen (Abu Ali Alhasan Ibn Alhasan, Ibnu-l-Haitam or Ibn Al-Haitan) was the greatest Arab scientist in the field of optics and vision. Born in 965 at Basra, Arabian center of commerce and learning, near the Persian Gulf, Alhazen from an early age devoted himself to science of a practical rather than theoretical nature. He was what would be called a civil engineer in our day.

At the invitation of the King of Egypt, Alhazen undertook the gigantic task of regulating the Nile. He was indeed a man of courage. Even back in those days the floods of that great river were a serious menace to lives and property, and control was attempted. But it was not until modern times that any successful regulation of the flood waters of the Nile was effected, and this was under the skill of British engineering; so Alhazen should not be blamed for his failure.

Alhazen went to Egypt and made preliminary calculations. He saw that the task was impossible with available tools, men and knowledge, but to admit failure in those days usually meant losing a life—one’s own. Absolute rulers did not like to have agreements broken. Alhazen feigned madness and escaped. By pretending to lose his head he saved his life.

Despite his failure with the Nile, Alhazen is regarded as the first great discoverer in optics after the time of Ptolemy. The Arabs were enthusiastic followers of Aristotle and also knew of the work of Archimedes, Ptolemy and other Greek scholars.

Alhazen’s great work, Opticae Thesaurus Alhazeni Arabis, was first printed in 1572 but manuscript copies of the De Aspectibus or Perspectiva and the De Crepusculis & Nubium Ascensionibus had found their way about the late 12th century into all the great libraries of the Middle Ages and his influence on all subsequent work in optics was great and widespread. The book is very curious, covering a multitude of subjects. Alhazen studied images, the various kinds of shadows and even attempted to calculate the size of the earth. He is credited with being the first to explain successfully the apparent increase of heavenly bodies near the horizon—the familiar phenomenon of the great sun at sunset and the huge harvest moon as it comes up in the East. Light also was extensively considered by Alhazen and he treated its use, setting down many rules on reflection and refraction. He recognized the element of time necessary to complete the act of vision; in other words, the persistence of vision or the time lag. He gave a description of the lens’ magnifying power as he was familiar with various lenses and mirrors.

But, perhaps of most importance, Alhazen was the first to note in some detail the workings of the human eye. Alhazen discussed how we see but one picture even though we have two eyes, both functioning at the same time. He is also one of the authorities who made it possible for later scholars to know that the Greeks and Phoenicians knew and understood the simpler optical phenomena.

It would be expecting too much to hope that Alhazen’s work would be unmixed with error. At his time and for centuries later, on account of the lack of suitable instruments and knowledge of what was being sought, the imagination was relied on more than it should have been in an exact science.

In early days much of the advance in learning had to be reasoned out and then verified, if possible, by experiments. Now we reverse the process. Our scientists experiment first by observing phenomena under all sorts of conditions and then later try to reason to a satisfactory explanation which, even with all our learning, cannot always be found. In fact, the underlying explanation of many of the commonest things in life escape us. For example, we do not know a great deal more than the ancients about the ultimate constituents of matter, the nature of light or how our senses really work.

Alhazen did valuable work himself but was far more important as the inspiration for study in optics for the greatest scientist of the Middle Ages, the first experimental scientist and one of the greatest Englishmen of all time, Roger Bacon.

II
FRIAR BACON’S MAGIC

Roger Bacon, English monk of the 13th Century, studies the ancients—and the Greeks—and inaugurates the scientific study of magic shadows and devices for creating them.

Roger Bacon made a great contribution to human knowledge, especially in scientific matters. Yet this great philosopher and scientist was generally regarded as “Friar Bacon,” a mad monk who played with magic and dealt with the powers of darkness. This myth persisted even though Bacon’s contemporaries had bestowed upon him the title of “Doctor Mirabilis.” Studies made in the 19th century and the first part of this century have tended to confirm him in his proper high place in history.

Roger Bacon was born at Ilchester in Somersetshire, England, about 1214, the year before the Magna Charta was signed. In those days serious education began early. When Bacon was 12 or 13 he was sent to Oxford. Later on he continued his studies at Paris. In his youth Bacon’s family gave him the considerable sums he needed for his education.

After completing his studies, Bacon was a professor at Oxford and then entered the Franciscan Order. As a monk he found the pursuit of learning somewhat more difficult even though the libraries of the religious orders were the best of the period and most of the learned men were ecclesiastics. After having taken a vow of poverty Bacon had difficulty in obtaining from some of his superiors money to buy pens and pay copyists. Certain authorities did not look with complete satisfaction on his experimental science investigations and they liked even less his barbed comments on other philosophers of the day.

Bacon as a member of the Franciscan Order found himself confronted with the rule requiring his superiors’ permission to publish any work. However, Pope Clement IV, a Frenchman, had the requirement lifted so far as Bacon was concerned by personally communicating with him and asking him to publish his studies. When that Pope was Cardinal Guy le Gros de Foulques (or Foulquois), the Papal Delegate in England, he had been impressed with Bacon’s scholarship.

Following the Pope’s command, Bacon set out to do the job. After some difficulty in obtaining money for pens and copyists, the three great works, Opus Majus, Minus and Tertium (1267–68) were completed in the almost unbelievable time of 18 months. These, together with his short book, “Concerning the marvelous power of art and nature and the ineffectiveness of magic”—also known as “Letter concerning the secret works of art and nature”—are his best known writings.

As soon as his first book was completed Bacon sent it off to the Pope in care of his friend, John of Paris. Unfortunately, Pope Clement IV died within a year of receiving Bacon’s book and no official papal action was taken in connection with his scientific opinions. Bacon continued to teach, study and experiment at Oxford where he held for a time the office of Chancellor. Some say he was eventually imprisoned; the record is not clear.

The most interesting part of Bacon’s work, so far as motion picture prehistory is concerned, is contained in his letter “On the Power of Art and Nature and Magic.” It is in this work that Bacon speaks of the many wonderful devices he knows about and which would be in service in the future. Here we read of self-propelled vehicles, under-water craft, flying machines, gun-powder (the idea of which probably came from the East), lenses, microscopes, telescopes. Bacon claimed that he had seen all these wonderful things with the exception of the flying machine. But even this did not leave him at a loss, for he tells us that he has seen drawings by a man who has it all worked out on paper!

In that book of Bacon there is also the theory of going westward to India—the idea that later resulted in the discovery of America. The idea, therefore, was not original with Christopher Columbus. Bacon deserves great credit, for his views at least had a direct influence. His statements were used without credit by Pierre d’Ailly in his Imago Mundi, published in 1480. We know Columbus consulted this work, for he quoted a passage in his letter to Ferdinand and Isabella when seeking financial support for the voyage. And it was the very passage of Bacon, stolen by d’Ailly, which Columbus used to drive home his arguments with the King and Queen of Spain.

Bacon devoted ten whole years to the study of optics and some of his best work was done in that field. The principal influence on Bacon in this subject was the work of Alhazen, the Arab. The concentration of rays and the principal focus, knowledge necessary for fine camera work, as well as good picture projection, were familiar to Bacon. This was an advance over Euclid, Ptolemy and Alhazen. Bacon recognized that light had a measurable speed. Up to that time most men thought that the speed of light was infinite. (Measurements were not made until the 19th century.) Bacon also studied the optical illusions pertaining to motion and rest, fundamental for the motion picture. He belonged to the school of vision study that believed we see by something shot out from the objects viewed. This is directly opposed to the idea of Lucretius and others who held that something was shot out of the eye to make sight possible. There is no evidence that Bacon actually invented a telescope but he certainly was aware of the principle. He planned a combination of lenses which would bring far things near.

Roger Bacon has often been called the inventor of the camera obscura, or “dark room,” which is the heart of the system for taking and exhibiting pictures. (Illustration facing [page 40].)

However, the original of the modern box pin-hole camera in its simplest form is only a dark room with a very small hole in one wall, and was never actually invented. The phenomenon of an image of what was on the outside appearing upside down in a dark room was surely a natural discovery first observed in the remote past. The “dark room” can easily be considered as a giant box camera with the spectator inside the box. An inverted image of the scene outside appears on the wall or floor with the light coming through a small circular opening, as in a “pin-hole” camera.

Record of the first use of the “dark room” for entertainment or science has been lost in the dim past. As late as 1727 the French Dictionnaire Universel suggested, in desperation, that Solomon himself must have invented the room camera. Until the 13th century, the images in the room camera were faint and upside down because no lens system was used. In ancient days and through the Middle Ages the camera was a wonderful and terrifying thing. The theatre always was some small darkened room. With a brilliant sun and the necessary small hole and a white wall or floor, the outside scene would be projected. Spectators and students certainly were thrilled and awed.

The Romans learned about the camera from the Greeks, who probably had obtained the knowledge from the East where, with brilliant sun in which the best results could be obtained, it is likely the effects were first noticed. Such learned Arabs as Alhazen are believed to have had a knowledge of the use of the room camera, but Alhazen did not leave any good description of it in his writings.

To Bacon must go the credit for the first description of the camera used for scientific purposes. Two Latin manuscripts, attributed to him or one of his pupils, in which the use of the room camera to observe an eclipse is described, have been found in the French National Library. It was pointed out that this method makes it possible for the astronomer to observe the eclipse without endangering his eyesight by staring at the sun.

It is certain Bacon used a mirror-lens device for entertainment and instruction. In his Perspectiva there appears the following passage:

Mirrors can be so arranged that, as often as we wish, any object, either in the house or the street, can be made to appear. Anyone looking at the images formed by the mirrors will see something real but when he goes to the place where the object seems to be he will find nothing. For the mirrors are so cleverly arranged in relation to the object that the images appear to be in space, formed there by the union of the visible rays. And the spectators will run to the place of the apparitions where they think the objects actually are, but will find nothing but an illusion of the object.

Bacon’s description is not clear: the effects and not the apparatus are described. The words could apply to a variation of the camera principle but it seems more likely that only a mirror system, related to the modern periscope, was used. The device did not achieve projection in the strict sense. Bacon’s description clearly states that through the use of mirrors objects were made to appear where they were not. In effect, this reminds us of the illusion of the modern motion picture. There are stories that native people when first seeing motion pictures, attempt to run up to the screen and greet the pictures. It is only through experience that they learn the characters are not actually alive on the screen.

Bacon knew that light and shadow instruments were not always used for worthy purposes of entertainment or instruction but were also used to deceive. He vigorously attacked the practices of necromancy—showing the correctness of his position even though in gossip his name has been linked with the “Black Art”, as was Kircher’s four centuries later.

“For there are persons,” Bacon wrote, “who by a swift movement of their limbs or a changing of their voice or by fine instruments or darkness or the cooperation of others produce apparitions, and thus place before mortals marvels which have not the truth of actual existence.” Bacon added that the world was full of such fakers. It is not surprising that those skilled in the black arts tried to use the strange medium of light and shadow to impose upon the ignorant and unwary.

The death of Roger Bacon in 1294 was the passing of one of the greatest men in the history of light and shadow. With him the art-science had reached a point at which magic shadow entertainment devices could be built. Friar Bacon did much more to prepare the way for devices which were not to be perfected for centuries than merely make a contribution to the knowledge of light, lenses and mirrors. He blazed the way for all later experimental scientists. Up to his time emphasis had been placed on theoretical, speculative thinking. Bacon showed that science must be based on practical experimentation as the foundation for its principles.

III
DA VINCI’S CAMERA

Italy of the Renaissance dominates magic shadow development—Leonardo da Vinci describes in detail the camera obscura—Inventions are by Alberti, Maurolico, Cesariano and Cardano.

To the giant of the Renaissance, Leonardo da Vinci, must go the credit for being the first to determine and record the principles of the camera obscura, or “dark room”, basic instrument of all photography. Da Vinci lived in a wondrous age. Michelangelo was painting and sculpturing his unparalleled creations. Raphael was at work. The Italians of the Renaissance led the world in a new culture. The torch of learning and art once held high in Greece, then at ancient Rome, later by the Arabs, was carried high in Italy of the late Middle Ages.

Together with the general Renaissance in Italy there was a rebirth of interest in optics and especially light and shadow demonstrations and devices. The new activity had come after a second “dark age” of nearly two centuries, from the time of Roger Bacon to da Vinci. After this “dark age” the room box-camera was “rediscovered” in Italy. Of course, as noted above, since the camera had never been invented in the usual sense of the term, it was not actually “rediscovered” either. It is likely that da Vinci and others received their stimulus in this general subject from Bacon and perhaps Alhazen or Witelo.

The renewed interest in scenic beauty in the Renaissance suggested work with a portable camera, as it was found to be an excellent aid in painting and drawing the beauties of nature.

Leone Battista Alberti (1404–1472), a Florentine ecclesiastic and artist, was the first Italian to make a notable contribution to the magic shadow story. Alberti, like the greater da Vinci, had many talents. A native of Florence, he grew up in an atmosphere of artistic culture. He was a priest, poet, musician, painter and sculptor, but most noted as an architect. He wrote De Re Aedificatoria, “Concerning architecture or building”, published after his death in 1485 and many other works, including Della Famiglia, “The Family”.

Alberti completed work on the Pitti Palace in Florence but his best design is said to be the St. Francis Church at Rimini. He also designed the new facade of St. Maria Novella Church at Florence and is believed to be the architect of the unfinished courtyard at the Palazzo Venezia which nearly 500 years later was the office of the late and unlamented Benito Mussolini. His painting, “La Visitazione”, is in the Uffizi gallery. As an ecclesiastic, Alberti was Canon of the Metropolitan Church of Florence in 1447 and later was Abbot of the San Sovino monastery, Pisa.

But it was as an artist that Alberti made his contribution to the art and science of light and shadows. He invented the camera lucida, a machine which aided artists and painters by reflecting images and scenes to be painted or drawn. The device, a modification of the “dark room”, could also be used to make it easy to copy a design. In a sense, the camera lucida was the forerunner of the modern blue-print duplicator. After Alberti had made his original drawings, an assistant, with the aid of the device, could rapidly copy them and give duplicates to the builders for use on the construction job.

Vasari’s Lives of Painters, Sculptors and Architects is the chief source of information about Alberti. That writer said Alberti was more anxious for invention than for fame and had more interest in experimenting than in publishing his results. This is an attempt to explain why Alberti’s own words of description of his camera lucida are not preserved.

Alberti was said to have written on the art of representation, explaining his “depictive showings” which “spectators found unbelievable”. According to Vasari’s description it would appear that Alberti used a form of the camera obscura or room box-camera but introduced special scenes such as paintings of mountains and the seas and the stars. In this way Alberti sought to introduce a touch of showmanship into the performances of the room camera which up to this time was used chiefly for observation of eclipses and other scientific purposes.

Though Alberti died when Leonardo da Vinci was a young man, it is certain that Leonardo knew of him, as they were natives of the same city. Perhaps da Vinci had even attended some of Alberti’s magic shadows exhibitions.

Leonardo di Ser Piero da Vinci was born near Florence in 1452 and died near Amboise, France, in 1519. In 1939, 420 years after his death, a great exhibition of the master’s works was held at Milan and parts of it were shown in the next year at the Museum of Science and Industry in Rockefeller Center, New York. The Milan exhibit included works in the following fields: studies and drawings in mathematics, astronomy, geology, geodesy, cosmography, map-making, hydraulics, botany, anatomy, optics (including proof of Alhazen’s problem of measuring the angle of reflection of light), acoustics, mechanics, and flying; not to mention sculpture, painting, drawing, sketches, architecture, town planning and military arts and sciences.

Da Vinci is best known today for his paintings, such as the renowned “Last Supper”, beloved everywhere, and the “Mona Lisa”. He was one of the truly universal geniuses. There was little indeed that he could not do.

Leonardo’s study of optics and perspective was reported in his Treatise on Painting, written about 1515 and first published at Paris in 1651, but well known prior to that time through manuscript copies. Da Vinci has been a great trial to the students and historians, for he wrote in his own special form of shorthand which was found to be extremely hard to decipher.

Da Vinci experimented with the camera obscura and wrote an accurate scientific description of it, preparing the way for the men who were to make the machine a practical medium. Vasari in his famous Life of Leonardo points out that he gave his attention to mirrors and learned how they operated and how images were formed. But more important than this, he studied the human eye and was the first to explain it accurately, using the camera as his model, and in this way he really learned the fundamentals of its functional principles. To this day the camera is explained in simplest terms as a mechanical eye and the human eye is explained as a marvelous, natural camera. Da Vinci also noted the effects of visible impressions on the eye.

Roger Bacon was undoubtedly Leonardo’s master in optics and this is a definite link in the chain of the growing knowledge of light and shadow and of devices which would create illusions for instruction and entertainment. It has been pointed out that Leonardo and Roger Bacon had much in common—both being so far ahead of their own times that they were not understood until centuries later. And both men believed passionately in scientific research and investigation. As an example, Leonardo would spend hours, days or even weeks studying a muscle of an animal appearing in the background of a painting so that it could be drawn perfectly. As a concrete link with Bacon, Leonardo described a mirror camera device which made it possible for people on the inside to see the passerby in the street outside. Bacon, you may recall, achieved and described a similar effect.

Within two years after da Vinci’s death two other Italians, Maurolico and Cesariano, advanced the magic shadow art-science by writing scientific and experimental discussions of the subject. Somewhat later another Italian, Cardano, made another contribution.

Francesco Maurolico (Maurolycus), 1494–1575, a mathematician of Messina, and the great astronomer of his day, wrote De Subtilitate, about 1520, in which Pliny, Albertus Magnus, and Leonardo da Vinci are mentioned. The material included a mathematical, rather than experimental, discussion of light, mirrors and light theatres. This last subject shows that the use of light and shadow for theatrical purposes was being rapidly advanced. In 1521, Maurolico was said to have finished Theoremata de lumine et umbra ad perspectivam et radiorum incidentiam facientia, which was published in 1611 at Naples and in 1613 at Leyden. This book explained how a compound microscope could be fashioned. Men were now learning how to use lenses and how to make better ones so necessary for satisfactory projection of images.

Ars Magna Lucis et Umbrae, 1646

BURNING GLASSES of Archimedes were ancient optical devices. They were used in the defense of Syracuse in 212 B. C. Some type of glass or lens is required in every camera or projector.

Proposition 20 of the book was entitled “An object’s shadow can be converted and projected.” The author pointed out that if an object between a light and an opening is moved one way its shadow appears to move the other. He then went on to explain the reasons for Aristotle’s square hole and round sun. He also showed accurately the relation of images and objects which was fundamental for understanding how to focus lenses and mirrors.

Self portrait. Royal Palace, Turin

LEONARDO DA VINCI, famed Renaissance painter and sculptor, explained how to use the camera and described its relationship to the human eye.

Later astronomers credit Maurolico with having described the application of the camera obscura method to an observation of eclipses (but this was done for the first recorded time by Bacon or his contemporaries). Maurolico knew the works of Bacon and John Peckham, another English Franciscan monk of the 13th century, and studied both carefully. In 1535 he wrote Cosmographia and in later life studied the rays of light that make the phenomenon of the images appearing in a camera obscura, or any camera, possible without mentioning the apparatus or device or describing it. Being a mathematician primarily he was interested in that side of the problem and was not a practical demonstrator or showman.

Cesare Cesariano, an architect, painter and writer on art, made a reference to a light and shadow device which curiously has never been adequately explained. Cesariano was born in Milan in 1483 and died there on March 30, 1543. In 1528 he became architect to Carlo V and in 1533 architect to the city of Milan. In 1521 he designed the beautiful cathedral of Como.

While at Como, Cesariano prepared a translation and commentary on the Architectura of Vitruvius, architect to Emperor Augustus, whose classic on the subject was rediscovered in the 15th century. Vitruvius’ book included a chapter on “Acoustic Properties of a Theatre”—a good subject for study even today. Cesariano’s edition was published at Como in 1521 with a note saying that after the sudden departure of the translator and commentator from Como the work was finished by Bruono Mariro and Benedetto Giovio. It was considered a marvelous work, to be in the vernacular and not in Latin. At this period people wanted to have books in their own language and not in Latin.

While commenting on the word, spectaculum, translated as a “sighting tube”, Cesariano described how a Benedictine monk and architect, Don Papnutio or Panuce, made a little sighting tube and fitted it into a small hole made for the purpose in a door. It was so arranged that no light could enter the room except through the small tube. The result was that outside objects were seen, with their own colors, in what really was a natural camera system. Of course, the images were upside down, as in any camera, without a special lens arrangement, but this fact was not noted by Cesariano.

The whole matter is perplexing. What is described is a “dark room” camera which, as has been observed, was never actually invented or discovered and was known for centuries. This Benedictine monk and architect may have made some refinements by carefully fitting the small opening to admit the light but that is all. At about this time, or a little earlier, the principles of the camera were set down by Leonardo da Vinci. The writer and other researchers have not been able to discover any trace of Benedettano Don Papnutio or Panuce. He certainly did not write any books or his name would be known to history and it would be possible to find more information about him and his work. There is no record of him in the Benedictine bibliography. Guillaume Libri, Italian writer, who worked in Paris in the 19th century and, incidentally, was charged with stealing da Vinci’s manuscripts, said, “I have not so far been able to ascertain who Don Panuce was, or when he lived.” Libri asserted that at any rate Leonardo’s observation of the camera obscura must have been made before Cesariano saw or heard about this monk. However, Cesariano seems to have the record for the first published account of how to make a workable camera obscura.

Girolamo or Hieronimo Cardano (1501–1576) was an Italian physician and mathematician who has been described by Cajori, the mathematical historian, as “a singular mixture of genius, folly, self-conceit and mysticism.” He lectured in medicine at the Universities of Milan, Paris and Bologna. In 1571, after having been, according to some, jailed for debt the year before, he was pensioned by the Pope and went to Rome to continue special work in medicine.

Cardano’s contribution to motion picture pre-history was made in his De Subtilitate, published at Nuremberg in 1550. He showed how a concave mirror could be used to produce quite a wonderful show:—“If you wish to see what is happening on the street, put a small round glass at the window when the sun is bright and after the window has been shut one can see dim images on the opposite wall.” He went on to explain how the images could be doubled, then quadrupled and how other strange appearances of things and one’s self could be devised with a concave mirror. He remarked that the images appeared upside down. This, of course, is another description of the camera obscura, with a few additional points for recreational and instructional purposes. It will be noted that Cardano’s description is very like those of Bacon, Leonardo and Cesariano.

Now da Vinci’s camera, the original “dark room” camera and progenitor of the modern pin-hole box camera, was ready for showmen to turn it to successful uses. Just after the middle of the 16th century, a young Neapolitan was prepared to spread the knowledge of the sporting use of the device throughout the world.

IV
PORTA, FIRST SCREEN SHOWMAN

Porta, a Neapolitan, blends fancy and showmanship for magic shadow entertainments in the 16th century—Barbaro and Benedetti put a lens in the “pin-hole” camera or camera obscura.

The first contact of the new dramatic art, then being developed in Europe and especially in England, with the magic shadow medium was made by a remarkable Neapolitan, Giovanni Battista della Porta.

Porta, a boy wonder, who would have felt at home in the modern Hollywood, put the room camera to theatrical uses. In a way Porta was both the last of the necromancers, who used lens and mirror devices to deceive, and the first legitimate screen writer and producer of light and shadow plays with true entertainment values.

Porta was born in Naples about the year 1538. He and his brother, Vincenzo, were educated by their uncle Adriano Spatafore, a learned man. The uncle had considerable wealth, which enabled young Porta to travel extensively and have the best available instructors. From boyhood Porta’s chief interests were the stage and magic.

At an early age he started writing for the theatre and his comedies are rated with the best produced in Italy in the 16th century. But even before he began his professional writing for the stage, he had developed an interest in magic and anything approaching the magical. This avocation was developed during the rest of his life.

Porta was very fond of secrets and secret societies, founding the Academy of Secrets at Naples. He was also a member of the Roman Academy of the Lynxes, scientific society founded in 1603—named for its trademark. Even magic inks for secret writing were an attraction to him.

For years it was generally believed that Porta invented the camera obscura but, as we have seen, it was known long before he was born. At the time of the discovery of photography Porta’s title to the invention of the camera was discussed and it was definitely established that while he made some refinements and, of course, devised some special uses, he had nothing to do with its invention.

When about 15, Porta began the investigations which led to the writing of Magia Naturalis, sive de Miraculis Rerum Naturalium, “Natural Magic, or the wonders of natural things.” The material was published five years later, at Naples, in four “books”, or large chapters. Through the years he increased his notes on the subject and in 1589 the work was printed in twenty chapters.

Porta’s Natural Magic was a popular book, a best-seller of the day. It was first translated into English and published in London in 1658. It was also translated into many other languages. Natural Magic contains a wide variety of subjects, including developments in the light and shadow art-science. Porta published the first detailed explanation of the construction and use of the camera obscura in the fourth “book”.

“A system by which you can see, in their own colors, in the darkness objects outdoors lighted by the sun,” was Porta’s title for the section. He continued:

If anyone wishes to see this effect, all the windows should be closed, and it would be helpful if the cracks were sealed so that no light may enter to ruin the show. Then in one window make a small opening in the form of a cone with the sun at the base and facing the room. Whiten the walls of the room or cover them with white linen or paper. In this way you will see all things outside lighted by the sun, as those walking in the streets, as if their feet were upwards, the right and left of the objects will be reversed and all things will seem interchanged. And the further the screen is from the opening, proportionately the larger the objects will appear; the closer the paper screen or tablet, is drawn to the hole, the smaller the objects will appear.

Porta also had an explanation of the persistence of vision, so far as it was then understood. As an example, he mentioned that after walking in the bright sun it is difficult to discern objects in the darkness, until our eyes become accustomed to the change—and then we can see clearly in the dim light. To see the natural colors, Porta proposed the use of a concave mirror as the screen for the camera images. He then discussed phenomena resulting from the principal focus of the mirror. He tried to use the parallel to show how we see things rightside up instead of upside down. But his knowledge was not sufficient for that purpose, for he held that the seat of vision was at the center of the eye, as the focus of a concave mirror or lens system. In this he was not correct, according to modern experiments, but at least it was a plausible theory.

As a third point in his description of uses of the natural camera Porta said, “Anyone not knowing how to draw can outline the form of any object through the means of a stylus.” Here was Alberti’s camera lucida, or the camera adopted for the use of painters and designers. Porta instructed his readers to learn the colors of the object and then when it was thrown on the screen it would be easy to trace and paint in natural colors. He pointed out another interesting and important fact—a candle or lamp could be used as the light source instead of the sun.

Porta concluded his account of 1558 with an assertion that the system could be used to deceive and to do tricks through the aid of other devices. His last words on the subject were confusing: “Those who have attempted these experiments have produced nothing but trifles, and I do not think it has been invented by anyone else up to now.” Earlier in his account he mentioned that he was now revealing what he thought should be kept a secret.

Roger Bacon, Alberti and Leonardo da Vinci and others were figuratively watching Porta when he wrote those lines and made those experiments. Even the same words about seeing people on the streets outside go back to Bacon, at least; and the use of the camera for drawing to Alberti and Leonardo. It is not clear whether or not Porta actually wished his readers to believe that he had invented the camera obscura which he described or that he had merely found some interesting applications. Perhaps he wanted the whole matter considered a secret.

But though Porta borrowed from the ancients without giving them credit, he deserves praise for publishing descriptions, following tests which he himself must have made. As in all sciences, the prehistory of the motion picture had experimenters and popularizes—and not infrequently the two functions were separated by a considerable period.

The developments claimed by Porta in the second edition of Natural Magic published in 1589 had been described previously by others. Once again he was a copier and popularizer rather than an inventor and discoverer. And that seems proper for a man who was by profession a playwright with a hobby interest in secret things, especially those relating to natural phenomena.

During the three decades prior to 1589, important developments were made in the science of optics. Both Barbaro and Benedetti described camera obscura systems fitted with lenses to improve the images, and E. Danti, an editor and translator, explained in 1573 how an upright, instead of an upside down, image could be shown through the use of a lens-mirror system.

Monsignor Daniello Barbaro published at Venice, in 1568, La Pratica della Perspettiva, “The Practice of Perspective”, a book on optics. He describes the instrument designed by Alberti, the camera lucida, and gives an illustration of it. As in the case of Benedetti, Barbaro’s chief title to memory is that he introduced the projection lens to the natural camera, thereby enlarging its scope. Without any lenses even a modern camera would give only inferior results and motion pictures would not be practical. It is also said Barbaro introduced the diaphragm, which is very important as a means of controlling the light in the camera.

Giovanni Battista Benedetti, a patrician of Venice, 1530–90, published at Turin a book called Diversarum Speculationum Mathematicarum et Physicarum Liber, “A Book of Various Mathematical and Physical Speculations”, in which was included the first complete and clear description of the camera obscura equipped with a lens. The date of the volume was 1585, four years before Porta published his revised edition.

Benedetti used a double convex lens. His first knowledge of optics came from a study of Archimedes, whom he admired greatly. But his learning was not confined to optics. He influenced the great Descartes in geostatics, studying the laws of inertia and making the contribution of the path taken by a body going off from a revolving circle, i.e., tangent. In 1553 he reported that bodies in a vacuum fall with the same velocity.

Benedetti’s description of the camera obscura included details on how to make the images appear upright. The material is contained in a printed letter to Pierro de Arzonis. First Benedetti discusses light and the fact that a greater light overshadows a smaller, “just as by day the stars cannot be seen.” He then pointed out that if the light were controlled in a camera the outside images could be seen, but if the rays of the sun were allowed to enter (as by making the opening hole too large) then the images would “more or less vanish according to the strength or weakness of the solar rays.”

Benedetti continued:

I do not wish to keep any remarkable effect of this system a secret from you ... the round opening the size of one small mirror may be filled in with one of those spectacles which are made for old people (but not the kind for those of short sight), but one whose both surfaces are convex, not concave. Then set up a white sheet of paper (as the screen), so far back from the opening that the objects on the outside may appear on it. And if indeed these outside objects are illuminated by the sun they will be seen so clearly and distinctly that nothing will seem to be more beautiful or more delightful. The only objection is that the objects will appear inverted. But if we wish to see those objects upright, this can be done best by interposing another plane mirror.

In the revised and expanded edition of his Natural Magic, Porta gave a more complete description of the uses of the camera. Part of the text was identical with the earlier accounts; part was new.

Ars Magna Lucis et Umbrae, 1646

CAMERA OBSCURA, the natural room camera, was accidentally discovered in antiquity, probably in the Far East. Here is shown an improved version by Giovanni Battista della Porta, 16th Century Neopolitan writer, scientist and showman. A translucent sheet was the screen. The images were upside down and indistinct as no lenses were used. Artists and entertainers found the apparatus of value.

Porta had learned how to make his opening in the single window better by this time—“make the opening a palm’s size in width and breadth and glue over this a sheet of lead or bronze which has in the middle an opening about the size of a finger.” He next pointed out that the outside objects can be seen clearer and sharper if a crystalline lens is put in the opening of the camera as suggested by Barbaro and Benedetti. Porta also mentioned that the insertion of another mirror in the system would make the images appear upright instead of upside down.

Wissenschaftliche Abhandlungen, 1878

JOHANNES KEPLER developed the scientific principles of the camera and its use in astronomy.

But Porta showed himself a real showman by his final word—describing how hunting, battles and other illusions may be made to appear in a room. Here artificial objects and painted scenes were substituted for the natural outdoors as the pictures for the room camera in a method originally suggested by Alberti. Porta said, “Nothing can be more pleasing for important people, dilettants and connoisseurs to behold.”—An early premiere audience of invited guests!

Porta recommended the use of miniature models of animals and natural scenes, the first stage sets for “motion pictures,” with puppet-like characters. He wrote, “Those present in the show-room will behold the trees, animals, hunters and other objects without knowing whether they are true or only illusions.” Porta revealed that he had put on shows of this kind many times for his friends and the illusions of reality were so good that the delighted audience could scarcely be told how the effects were achieved. He also told how the audience could be terrified.

Porta concluded this account with a description of how to use the camera in order to observe an eclipse, something which Bacon or one of his contemporaries had already worked out. Before good instruments were developed, the room camera was an excellent device to save the astronomer’s eyesight and still give him a good view of an eclipse. The giant 200-inch telescope at Palomar in California is closely related to the original use of the camera for astronomical work.

There does not seem to be any evidence that Porta developed a portable camera, the direct ancestor of the modern photographic camera. He also did not appear to have much success with his lenses, as he found the concave mirrors as good as or better than a camera obscura with a lens.

The general subject of the chapter which included the camera was “Herein Are Propounded Burning Glasses” “and the Wonderful Sights to be Seen by Them.” (Recall Archimedes and his Burning Glasses.) Let Porta tell it: “What could be seen more wonderful, than that by reciprocal strokes of reflexion, images should appear outwardly hanging in the air and yet neither the visible object nor the glass seen? that they may seem not to be repercussions of the glasses, but spirits of vain phantasms.”

In a book on refraction, published in 1593, the eye and the camera obscura were compared by Porta. He also covered refraction, vision, the rainbow, prismatic colors (all subjects treated by the early experimenters in optics).

Porta had a great, though mixed, influence. Even in his own mind he did not seem able to decide whether the magic shadows should be used to deceive the public as effects of secret powers or whether they should be used for genuine entertainment and instruction.

After Porta, the “dark chamber” was developed for the use of painters and artists in England and on the continent.

V
KEPLER AND THE STARS

Kepler, German astronomer, develops the scientific principles of the camera obscura and applies magic shadows to the stars of the heavens—Scheiner and D’Aguilon improve image devices.

Johannes Kepler, the great astronomer, advanced the art-science of magic shadows by developing the theory of the projection of images as well as the scientific use of multiple lenses and the camera obscura or “dark chamber”. Da Vinci told how the camera could be used; Porta tried it out for entertainment on a considerable scale but there still was need for penetrating attention from a scientist. That Kepler supplied.

Kepler was a precocious child though he suffered from poor health. He had no special interest or inclination towards astronomy until in 1594, at the age of 23, he found himself required to teach a class in that subject. Soon he became an expert and before his death announced the Kepler laws explaining the planetary system. In 1600 Kepler became assistant to Tycho Brahe (1546–1601), the greatest practical astronomer to that date but one who rejected the Copernican theory that the earth and planets revolve around the sun, a theory which was firmly proved by Kepler. Brahe lost the tip of his nose in a duel, so he wore a gold one, carrying with him cement with which to stick on the tip whenever it fell off.

A few years after becoming astronomer to the Emperor, Kepler published, in 1604, Ad Vitellionem Paralipomena—“Supplement to Witelo”; Witelo, a Pole called Thuringopolonus, wrote a treatise on optics about 1270. He was a contemporary of Roger Bacon. Kepler used da Vinci’s parallel of the eye and the room camera and set the latter’s principles on a firm scientific basis.

Kepler wrote, “This art, according to my knowledge, was first handed down by Giovanni Battista Porta and was one of the chief parts of his Natural Magic.” (But, as the reader recalls, Porta was not the first to know about the camera obscura and was not its inventor but only a popularizer.) “But content with a practical experience,” Kepler continued, “Porta did not add a scientific demonstration. Yet only by the use of this device can astronomers study the image of the solar eclipse.”

Kepler then described the camera obscura or “dark chamber,” adding an interesting observation. He proposed that the spectator should keep out of the daylight for fifteen minutes or a half hour before he planned to use the camera so that he could get his eyes accustomed to the darkness in order to observe the images more clearly. Kepler then instructed that the objects to be represented should be placed in bright light, either of the sun or lamps. He also noted that the objects were reversed, and remarked that the images appeared in the colors of the objects. Kepler also explained that a diaphragm was needed to control the amount of light admitted to the camera, and that best results were obtained when the sun was near the horizon.

A detailed and rather technical explanation of how the camera system works was given by Kepler. Towards the end of the description he wrote an important instruction: “All the walls of the camera except the one used as the screen for the images should be black.” This was necessary to prevent reflection and dulling of the brilliance of the images on the white wall or screen. Everyone knows how the insides of a modern camera are black for the very same purpose. Kepler also noted that the “camera” must be tightly sealed. He was the first to refer to the device under the simple name of “camera” which in time was adopted universally.

Kepler also was the first to give a sound theory of vision. (Recall the shot-from-eye or shot-from-object schools of the ancients.) Kepler stated, “Seeing amounts to feeling the stimulus of the retina which is painted with colored rays of the visible world. The picture must then be transmitted to the brain by a mental current and delivered at the seat of the visual faculty.” That is a rather good definition even by modern standards. Kepler, however, was not 100 per cent correct. He held that light had an infinite velocity. To Kepler goes the credit for being the first correctly to explain after-images, a knowledge of which is so vital to understanding how the illusion of motion is created.

Kepler started to use a telescope about 1609 and through its use he was able to develop improved ideas for the room camera by the time he published his Dioptrice, “Concerning Lenses,” a foundation of modern optics, in 1611. In that work the basis was first established for what was later to be long-range or “telescope” photography which makes possible many important effects in the modern motion picture.

The telescope, the most highly developed lens system and the reverse of a projection arrangement, was invented in Holland in the early part of the 17th century. Galileo, who with Kepler did much to popularize the telescope, admitted that he had seen one made by a Dutchman before he fashioned his own.

The name “telescope” was coined by Damiscian of the Italian scientific “Academy of the Lynxes,” to which Porta also had belonged. The invention of the telescope is commonly credited to “the spectacle maker of Middleburgh,” usually identified as Hans Lippershey. The compound microscope, effects of which had been indicated by Roger Bacon, evidently also was invented a few years prior to the telescope—by Zachary Janssen, in Holland. But it was first described in Italy. Early telescopes generally followed the model developed by Galileo, while by the middle of the 17th century the superiority of Kepler’s method was recognized and larger and more powerful telescopes were possible. In recent times the telescope has reverted to a mirror—or Burning Glass—reflecting system instead of the standard style refracting telescope.

To a contemporary of Kepler goes the acclaim for being the first to use the camera obscura apart from a room; in other words, in a portable form. Thus was the first portable camera developed more than two hundred years before photography was invented. The man was Scheiner, another astronomer.

Christopher Scheiner, a German Jesuit, born about 1575 in Swabia, did much work in astronomy and perfected various ingenious optical instruments. Some say he was the first to use the camera projection device for throwing the sun’s image on a screen in order to study its details. This replaced a system which used colored glasses. Kepler, prior to this, suggested the method but it is generally acknowledged that Scheiner made the first application. In 1610 Scheiner invented his Pantograph or optical copying instrument. In March, 1611, he observed sun spots. His superiors were afraid that he and they would be exposed to ridicule if he were to publish such a discovery under his own name—it was so opposed to the contemporary scientific as well as traditional scientific belief. And so his findings were published in 1612 by a friend, under an assumed name.

Scheiner was a believer in the need for accuracy in experiments to form a firm basis for future development of theory. He studied the eye and believed that the retina was the seat of vision. By the year 1616 he had so attracted attention of scientists that the Archduke Maximilian invited him to Innsbruck. Scheiner taught mathematics and Hebrew and continued his work in optics. He was the author of Rosa Ursina,—1626–30, the standard work on the sun for generations. In 1623 he was a professor of mathematics at the Roman College, where Kircher fell under his personal influence. The last years of Scheiner’s life were spent at Neisse in Silesia, where he died in 1650.

Scheiner was influenced by François d’Aguilon, the first of several Jesuits who made an important contribution to what was to be the modern motion picture. D’Aguilon advanced the knowledge of optics throughout Europe.

D’Aguilon was born in Brussels in 1566 and after entering the Jesuits in 1586 and being educated he became a professor of philosophy at the famous college in Douai, France. Later he was head of the College of Antwerp. D’Aguilon did not confine his interests to philosophy and speculative knowledge alone but was very much interested in certain sciences, notably optics. Moreover, he was a practicing architect and probably designed the Jesuit church at Antwerp.

His work on optics, published at Antwerp in 1613, was famous. In it is found for the first time the expression “stereographic projection,” which has survived to the present. This was known from the time of Hipparchus but had not received a permanent name until it was given by d’Aguilon, to whom must go part of the credit for the name of all devices with “stereo” somewhere in the title. D’Aguilon explored at length the subject of after-images. He correctly pointed out that the image physically disappears when the cause is removed (as a camera no longer “sees” after the shutter is closed) but there remains something impressed on the organ of sight, a certain effect on the sense of vision.

D’Aguilon was revising his book on optics when he died, in 1617. One edition was published in Antwerp in 1685 with the title Opticorum Libri Sex. Perhaps he was on the eve of the great discovery which was to be made in a few years by one of his successors. However, to him goes the credit for the name which was attached for centuries to all kinds of shadow-plays, and is still known today—Stereoscopic.

By the first quarter of the 17th century the camera was widely used for the observation of the greatest light and shadow show—the universe with sun, moon and stars. Experiments also had been made, by Porta and others, in the entertainment possibilities of the “dark chamber.” The stage was ready for the man who would bring about projection, as we know it, with the magic lantern. A long step would then be taken towards realizing man’s instinctive ambition to capture and recreate life for entertainment and instructive purposes.

VI
KIRCHER’S 100th ART

Kircher’s magic lantern projects pictures and the art of screen presentation is born—First screen picture show in Rome, 1646—Kircher’s book, Ars Magna Lucis et Umbrae, tells the world how.

In the second quarter of the 17th Century the stage was set for the birth of the magic lantern, progenitor of all cinematographic projectors. The chief actor was a German, a fellow countryman of Kepler and of many other serious scientists in the light and shadow field, but it was in Italy, native land of many arts and showmen, of Leonardo da Vinci and of Porta, that he worked. The man was Athanasius Kircher.

The age in which Kircher worked was a difficult period. The Thirty Years War ravaged Europe from 1618 to 1648 and the people suffered more than at any period down to our own. Europe politically was in chaos as after World Wars I and II. Only in literature and science were there signs of hope and promise. The eyes of many thoughtful Europeans turned away from the Old World to the new lands across the sea.

Ars Magna Lucis et Umbrae, 1646–1671

PICTURE WHEELS invented by Kircher. Above, rotating giant wheel caused one picture to succeed another. Below, story telling disk.

Kircher was born five years before the first permanent English settlement in the New World. But let him tell us in the words of his Latin autobiography, parts of which, it is believed, are here translated into English for the first time: “At the third hour after midnight on the second of May in the year 1602, I was brought into the common air of disaster at Geysa, a town which is a three hours’ journey from Fulda.” (Not far from the modern Frankfurt-on-Main, Germany.) “When I was six days old I was dedicated to Athanasius by my parents, John Kircher and Anna Gansekin, Catholics and servants of God and workers of good deeds, because I was born on that Saint’s Feast Day.”

Ars Magna Lucis et Umbrae, 1671

MAGIC LANTERN, Kircher’s projector, the original stereopticon. The screen images were crude silhouettes but the projector included the essential elements.

Kircher thus described his father, mother and the family: “John Kircher was a very great scholar and a doctor of philosophy. When the report of his learning and wisdom came to the Prince,” (probably Rudolph), “he was summoned and made a member of the council at Fulda. Later he was put in charge of the fortress of Haselstein because he had been diligent in destroying the printing machines of the heretics. He married a maiden of Fulda, Anna, daughter of an honest citizen named Gansekin. Nine children, six boys and three girls, were born to them. All the boys entered one of the several religious orders. Of all these I was the youngest and smallest.”

Kircher’s father was a man of influence and learning, though evidently not of noble birth. He had studied philosophy and theology but was not a religious, though he did teach for a time in a Benedictine monastery. Very likely he was a stern parent. The mother, it would appear, was the daughter of a merchant or store-keeper and certainly was not learned like her husband. But no doubt she was more liberal and understanding.

Kircher’s course of studies is interesting: “After the age of childhood, around the tenth year, I was placed in the elementary studies, at first at Music; then I was introduced to the elements of the Latin language.” At that time Latin was still the universal language of scholarship. It is likely that Kircher spoke Latin much more than any other language. All his writing was in Latin, though in time he became a talented linguist.

Kircher’s father sent him to the Jesuit college at Fulda, because he wanted his youngest son to learn Greek in addition to Latin and in time to become a universal scholar. Kircher’s teacher at Fulda was John Altink, S.J. The course followed the famous Jesuit Ratio Studiorum, which is still the basis of studies in the many hundreds of schools conducted by that order throughout the world. Then, as now, emphasis was on the classics. Somewhat later his father took him to a Rabbi “who taught me Hebrew,” as Kircher wrote, “with the result that I was skilled in that language for the rest of my life.”

At the same age as a high school graduate in the United States, Kircher could read, write and speak Latin, Greek and Hebrew, in addition to German, and probably he also had a good foundation in French and Italian.

At the old town of Paderborn on October 2, 1618, Kircher entered the Society of Jesus, militant religious order founded by the Spaniard-soldier-churchman, Ignatius of Loyola, in 1540, and already a powerful influence in education in Europe and in missionary work even as far as India and Japan. Kircher did not enter the Jesuits as early as he had wished because he had fallen while ice-skating and had suffered an injury.

From 1618 to 1620, Kircher occupied himself with religious duties, spending the time largely in prayer. After 1620 he continued with the usual studies for the priesthood—philosophy and theology. He studied philosophy at Cologne and briefly taught at the Jesuit Colleges at Coblenz and Heiligenstadt. Along with these pursuits, Kircher took a special interest in languages and in mathematics, the foundation for all scientific work. He completed his studies in theology at Mainz and was ordained a priest in 1628.

Kircher was given ample opportunity to take courses, despite the troubled times resulting from the wars. In the year 1629, he was at Speyer where he expressed to his religious superior a preference for missionary work in China. Next he took an interest in Egyptian writing, hieroglyphics, which were not to be translated until many years later. Chaldean, Arabic and Samaritan were added to Kircher’s language studies. Then for a short period he was professor of ethics and mathematics at the University of Würzburg.

In 1618, when Kircher had entered the Jesuits, the Thirty Years’ War had broken out. Then, as in our own time, Germany was no place for serious studies. Kircher, after he became a priest, spent considerable time in France where the organization of a powerful central government was being undertaken by Richelieu. The Cardinal was a patron of the arts, founding the French Academy. It is likely that word of Kircher’s learning reached Richelieu, for Kircher visited several of the colleges and universities in the south of France, stopping at Lyons and later at Avignon. Kircher continued all the while his remarkable studies, and began to write, publishing his first book in 1630.

Soon the fame of Kircher attracted the attention of the highest ecclesiastical and educational authorities. Pope Urban VIII, who had struggled in vain to prevent the Thirty Years’ War, and Francesco Cardinal Barberini (nephew of Pope Urban), summoned Kircher to Rome late in 1633. Just before the word to come to Rome reached him, he was invited to Vienna by the Emperor Ferdinand. Kircher started for Austria by boat from a French port but was shipwrecked and the order to report to Rome reached him after his rescue.

The invitation to come to Rome could not be refused. But there is every reason to believe that Kircher was delighted to have the opportunity of working in Rome under such high auspices. The civil situation was somewhat more stable in Rome than in Germany. Furthermore Rome was the intellectual center as well as focal point of much political maneuvering. Ambassadors and special agents representing Richelieu of France, the King of Spain, the Emperor of Germany and many of the other European powers, great and small, were constantly coming and going, seeking to increase the power of the state they represented and their own prestige as well. The heads of all the religious orders lived in Rome and hence it was the headquarters for knowledge of new developments in science and of news from the lands being explored in America and in the Far East.

Kircher stood apart from these struggles for political, religious and educational power. As a Jesuit he had put aside prospects of ecclesiastical advancement. He was content with his studies, his teaching and his inventions. But others were not content to leave him in peace.

At the request of Cardinal Barberini, Kircher was made professor of mathematics at the Roman College which was then popular with the young Roman nobility and the learned from all over the world. While teaching, Kircher continued his work in the Oriental languages and mathematics and also branched out into the natural sciences.

Kircher was a little man of boundless energy and once interested in a problem was never content till he knew all the facts, from personal investigation if possible, and had written an exhaustive tome on the subject. He made many field trips to test theories and ideas by practical experience. An active exponent of experimental science, Kircher made important contributions to human knowledge, though some of his books contained not a little error, and even some nonsense.

Kircher’s work with magic lanterns and his observations on the magic shadow art-science were released to the educated world in his Ars Magna Lucis et Umbrae—“The Great Art of Light and Shadow”—published at Rome in 1646. Kircher defined his “Great Art” as “the faculty by which we make and exhibit with light and shadow the wonders of things in nature.” That applies to living pictures today as it did in the 17th Century. Even the sound of the modern motion pictures is recorded and reproduced through light and shadow action.

No clue is given by Kircher to the exact date he invented the magic projection lantern. But it was probably not long before he finished the book in 1644 or 1645. Kircher dedicated his thick quarto volume, which was handsomely published by Herman Scheus at the press of Ludovici Grignani in Rome, to Archduke Ferdinand III, the Holy Roman Emperor, King of Hungary, King of Bohemia and King of the Romans. Hence, knowledge of the screen first appeared in print under very distinguished patronage.

The title page explained that the great art of light and shadow had been “digested” into ten books “in which the wonderful powers of light and shadow in the world and even in the natural universe are shown and new forms for exhibiting the various earthly uses are explained.”

The Emperor wrote a foreword and this was followed by an introduction of Kircher “to the reader.” Kircher spoke of the earlier use of light and shadow by the necromancers to deceive, but pointed out that his developments were for “public use, or a means of private recreation.” Introductory material also included several odes about the subject and the author, as well as the necessary ecclesiastical approvals.

The first nine books, or long sections, of Ars Magna Lucis et Umbrae include such diverse topics as the following: Light, reflection, images, the speaking tube, the structure of the eye, sketching devices, the art of painting, geometrical patterns, clocks, the nature of reflected light, refraction and means of measuring the earth.

The section which is of special interest in the story of magic shadows is the tenth—it gives the title to the whole work. The sub-title of the chapter is, “Wonders of light and shadow, in which is considered the more hidden effects of light and shadow and various applications.” In the preface to the section Kircher wrote “in this, as in our other research, we have believed that the results of our important experiments should be made public.” “That risk is taken,” he continued, “for the purpose of preventing the curious readers from being defrauded of time and money by those who sell imitation devices, for many have provided wondrous, rare, marvelous and unknown things and others have sold so much bunk.”

The first section of the all-important tenth chapter discussed magic clocks and sun-dials; the second, the camera obscura or “dark chamber,” lenses, telescopes, other optical devices. In the third section there appears the magic lantern. The section is called, “Magia Catoptrica, or concerning the wondrous exhibition of things by the use of a mirror.” Catoptron in Greek means “mirror.” Kircher wrote, “Magia catoptrica is nothing else but the method of exhibiting through the means of mirrors hidden things which seem to be outside the scope of the human mind.” Ancient authorities who had made contributions to this art-science were mentioned by Kircher.

First Kircher explained how steel mirrors were made and polished—mirrors or reflectors are still of importance in gathering light in the motion picture projector. He commented on the various types of convex, concave, spherical and other types of mirrors.

In Kircher’s day even the learned were quite uneducated according to modern standards, especially on all matters of physical science. Images that appeared from nowhere were most mysterious and few knew how they were produced. The telescope and microscope were still very new and many doubted what their eyes saw through these inventions.

Kircher, as a showman, described a Catoptric Theatre—a large cabinet in which many mirrors were concealed. One of the “Theatres” was placed in the Villa Borghese Palace in Rome and doubtless delighted the nobles of that day as much as the people in the United States were pleased with the first Edison peep-show machines in 1894. For Kircher’s Catoptric Theatre was an early peep-show device. It also has a relation to the Kaleidoscope of the early 19th century.

The first form of the magic lantern described by Kircher was merely a lantern suitable for showing letters at a remote distance. It is very simple and appears entirely elementary. But the first step was taken. The third problem of the third section of the tenth book of the Ars Magna Lucis et Umbrae was how to construct such an artificial lantern with which written characters may be shown at a remote distance.

The parts are easily distinguished—a concave mirror at the rear; a candle for a light source; a handle and a place for inserting silhouette letter slides. Kircher noted that in the device the flame will burn with an unaccustomed brilliance. “Through the aid of this device very small letters may be exhibited without any trouble.” He noted that some will think there is an enormous fire, so bright will the lantern shine. He added that the strength of the light will be increased if the interior of the cylinder is covered with an alloy of silver and lead to increase its reflecting qualities.

The second Kircher device of direct relation to the motion picture is his machine for creating metamorphoses or rapid changes. All kinds of transformations could be shown. Here was first introduced the revolving wheel on which pictures were painted. It bears an analogous relation to the motion picture devices of the early 19th century—also using a revolving vertical wheel. The modern projector likewise has its film pictures on a small wheel or reel.

Kircher explained that in this catoptric machine a man looking at the mirror (equivalent to the screen in a theatre) sees images of a fire, a cow and other animals all blending one into another. It is unlikely that the giant wheel could be revolved swiftly enough to give anything like the proper illusion of motion but certainly there was a transformation which must have appeared wondrous and entertaining. (Illustration facing [page 48].)

Kircher also described how images of objects could be projected by means of the light of a candle. Through this system various images were exhibited in a darkened chamber. But Kircher evidently was not satisfied with this method, for no illustration of it appeared in the first edition of his book. The reason is obvious. A candle could provide only enough illumination for the faintest shadows. Kircher wrote that those objects which need only a fraction of the sun’s light can be shown by a candle in a small room. Two methods for this were indicated: (1) with a concave mirror reflecting the images and (2) projecting the image through a lens. It was noted that the better single method was through the lens. A combination of the two provided the most light. Kircher remarked that he had read in a history of the Arabs that a certain king of Bagdad used a mirror to work wonders in order to deceive the people. He also pointed out that some men had used mirrors to project into dark places what the ignorant thought were devils.

The chief problem in Kircher’s day and for centuries afterwards was to provide sufficient light. The final solution did not come until electric light was introduced. Probably Kircher’s most efficient projection was one in which the sun was used as the source of light. Even in the early part of the 20th century arrangements were used which hooked up the sun with the magic lantern because it was thought that the results were even better and cheaper than those obtained with electric light.

Kircher’s sun magic projector used a real optical system which is fundamental even to this day. There was first the source of light, then a reflector and the object, and the projected image. The effects, of course, would be most startling in a darkened room. Kircher also showed how shadows of any type of figure could be thrown onto a wall or screen through the same method.

In those days when there was much secret correspondence and keen interest in various forms of cipher, many of Kircher’s readers were glad to note how the magic lantern could be used for such a purpose. At that time people would not, it was believed, detect that the letters in such a system were simply backwards and upside down. The message could be read easily by projecting images of the letters. The same result could be had by turning the paper upside down and holding it before a mirror.

After listing these many diverse uses of the magic lantern system Kircher thought it well to conclude his book lest he be charged with “meandering” endlessly on a subject which some would consider trivial. Kircher said, “We leave all these to the talented reader for further refinement. A word to the wise is sufficient. Innumerable things could be said concerning the application of this device but we leave to others new material of invention and lest this work grow too long we cut off the thread of discussion about these devices.”

Kircher ended his entire book by saying that it was published “not for income or glory but for the common good.”

In his Latin autobiography Kircher made only one passing reference to his Ars Magna Lucis et Umbrae, “The Great Art of Light and Shadow.”

Let Kircher speak:

At this time (around 1645) three more books were published, the first on the magnetic art, On Magnetism; another On the Great Art of Light and Shadow and a third written in the name of Musurgia, “Music.” These are not insignificant works, praise be God. They occasioned applause but this applause soon brought me another form of tribulation; new accusations piled up and for this reason my critics said I should devote my whole life to developing mathematics. So with desperate hope on account of this impenetrable difficulty I gave up my work on hieroglyphics and my heart and mind were discouraged.

At one point in the discussion of the magic lantern in Ars Magna Lucis et Umbrae Kircher interrupted the thread of the story long enough to point out that charges of the use of the black arts had been made against him and others who knew the use of mirrors and lenses by some who had no knowledge of philosophy and science. He told how Roger Bacon was charged with necromancy because he could show a recognizable shadow of himself in a dark room where his friends were assembled. Kircher noted that certainly a talented philosopher and scientist could accomplish all these effects through skill in the use of mirrors and lenses and without any trace of the suspect black art.

The charge of necromantic art was the source of much of Kircher’s unhappiness. Some considered him in league with the devil because he could make images and shadows and objects appear where none had been before. It was the age-old story that some in the audience or among the readers did not understand how an effect was produced so its validity and legitimacy were denied.

Praise and blame always have been the lot of discoverers and inventors.

Kircher had, however, better fortune than many others. He was able to write in his autobiography, “Divine Providence, which never fails us, took care of my trouble in this wonderful way—my appointed work was restored to me and by the occasion of this good fortune I escaped the traps of my adversaries.”

Adversaries on even scientific matters in those days battled to the death. What happened was this: A commission established by Innocent X, who had been elected Pope in 1644, ordered that Kircher be allowed to continue his beloved antiquarian studies. It seemed that the Obelisk of Caracalla had been partially destroyed and Kircher was given the task of directing the restoration. Kircher’s original patron, Cardinal Barberini, continued to have influence, being Pope Innocent’s legate or ambassador to the Emperor.

And so the man who had done so much to advance the art-science of living pictures for the knowledge and enjoyment of vast millions in the centuries to come spent the happiest days of his life looking towards the dead and buried past.

A quarter of a century later, Kircher was able to revise and enlarge his book on The Great Art of Light and Shadow and have it printed in a great folio edition in 1671 by John Jansson of Waesberge at Amsterdam. Conditions had changed greatly—Kircher was no longer a newcomer at Rome, suspected of being in league with the devil on account of his powers with mirrors and lenses and his amazing projected images. His fame as a universal scholar, “The Doctor of a Hundred Arts,” had spread throughout the European world. Men now had begun to realize there was much of great value in his Magia Catoptrica or Magic Projection with mirrors.

Jacob Alban Ghibbesim, M.D., professor at the Roman College, in the caption for Kircher’s portrait, used these words: “This man and his name are known to the ends of the earth.”

In 1670 Kircher had a new patron, John Frederic, to whom he dedicated his work. The Emperor Ferdinand, who sponsored the first edition, had died in 1657. Europe was gradually recovering from the effects of the Thirty Years’ War. Louis XIV was establishing an all-powerful personal rule in France. Holland and Switzerland were jealously guarding their newly won independence. Sweden was an important European power. Great Britain had a short-lived republic under Cromwell. In the New World the English had consolidated their position by driving the Dutch out of New Amsterdam, occupying New York in 1664. Much of the New World had yet to be explored.