LETTER IV.. Science Used As an Instrument of Imposture--Deceptions

Science used as an instrument of imposture--Deceptions with plane and concave mirrors practised by the ancients--The magician’s mirror--Effects of concave mirrors--Aërial images--Images on smoke--Combination of mirrors for producing pictures from living objects--The mysterious dagger--Ancient miracles with concave mirrors--Modern necromancy with them, as seen by Cellini--Description and effects of the magic lantern--Improvements upon it--Phantasmagoric exhibitions of Philipstall and others--Dr. Young’s arrangement of lenses, &c., for the Phantasmagoria--Improvements suggested--Catadioptrical phantasmagoria for producing the pictures from living objects--Method of cutting off parts of the figures--Kircher’s mysterious hand-writing on the wall--His hollow cylindrical mirror for aërial images--Cylindrical mirror for re-forming distorted pictures--Mirrors of variable curvature for producing caricatures 56