ON THE SELECTION OF OBJECTS FOR THE KALEIDOSCOPE, AND
ON THE MODE OF CONSTRUCTING THE OBJECT-BOX.
Although the Kaleidoscope is capable of creating beautiful forms
from the most ugly and shapeless objects, yet the combinations which
it presents, when obtained from certain shapes and colours, are so
superior to those which it produces from others, that no idea can be
formed of the power and effects of the instrument, unless the objects
are judiciously selected.
When the inclination of the reflectors is great, the objects, or the
fragments of coloured glass, should be larger than when the inclination
is small; for when small fragments are presented before a large
aperture, the pattern which is created has a spotted appearance, and
derives no beauty from the inversion of the images, in consequence of
the outline of each separate fragment not joining with the inverted
image of it.
The objects which give the finest outlines by inversion, are those
which have a curvilineal form, such as circles, ellipses, looped
curves like the figure 8, curves like the figure 3 and the letter S;
spirals, and other forms, such as squares, rectangles, and triangles,
may be applied with advantage. Glass, both spun and twisted, and
of all colours, and shades of colours, should be formed into the
preceding shapes; and when these are mixed with pieces of flat coloured
glass, blue vitriol, native sulphur, yellow orpiment, differently
coloured fluids, enclosed and moving in small vessels of glass, etc.,
they will make the finest transparent objects for the Kaleidoscope.
When the objects are to be laid upon a mirror plate, fragments of
opaquely-coloured glass should be added to the transparent fragments,
along with pieces of brass wire, of coloured foils, and grains of
spelter. In selecting transparent objects, the greatest care must be
taken to reject fragments of opaque glass, and dark colours that do
not transmit much light; and all the pieces of spun glass, or coloured
plates, should be as thin as possible.
When the objects are thus prepared, the next step is to place them
in the object-box. The distance between the interior surfaces of the
two plane glasses, of which the object-plates are generally composed,
should be as small as possible, not exceeding ⅛th of an inch. The
outermost of these glasses has its external surface rough ground, or
is what is called a _grey glass_, the principal use of which is to
prevent the lines of external objects, such as the bars of the window,
or the outlines of the illuminating flame from being introduced into
the picture. When a strong light is used, a circular disk of fine thin
paper placed outside of the object-box may be advantageously employed
in place of the ground glass. The thickness of the transparent glass
plate next the reflectors should be just sufficient to keep the glass
from breaking; and the interior diameter of the brass rings into which
the transparent and the grey or ground plates of glass are burnished,
should be so great that no part of the brass rim may be opposite the
angular part of the reflectors during the rotatory motion of the
cell. If this precaution is not attended to, the central part of the
pattern, where the development of new forms is generally the most
beautiful, will be entirely obliterated by the interposition of the
brass rim. Instead of using transparent or grey glasses on the sides
of every object-box, some of the boxes should be made with disks of
flint glass, the interior surface of which have been stamped while in
a state of fusion with a sort of pattern, or with curved lines of a
pleasing form. In others, the outer surface alone of the plate next the
reflectors might be thus formed. An object-box might also be formed
of disks of glass, one side of which is colourless, and the other
coloured, some of the coloured portions being ground away irregularly,
as in certain Bohemian articles of glass; and the colour in one disk
may be complementary to that in the other. In object-boxes of this
kind, pieces of coloured glass may also be placed. When the two parts
of the object-boxes thus constructed are screwed or fixed together,
the box should be nearly two-thirds filled with the mixture of regular
and irregular objects, already mentioned. If they fall with difficulty
during the rotation of the cell, two or three turns of the screw
backward, when there is a screw, will relieve them; and if they fall
too easily, and accumulate, by slipping behind one another, the space
between the glasses may be diminished by placing within the box another
glass in contact with the grey glass.
When the object-box, now described, is placed in the cell, and examined
by the Kaleidoscope, the pictures which it forms are in a state
of perpetual change, and can never be fixed, and shown to another
person. To obviate this disadvantage, an object-box with fixed objects
generally accompanies the instrument; the pieces of spun and coloured
glass are fixed by a transparent cement to the inner side of the
glass of the object-plate, next the eye, so that the patterns are all
permanent, and may be exhibited to others. After the cell has performed
a complete rotation, the same patterns again recur, and may therefore
be at any time recalled at the pleasure of the observer. The same
patterns, it is true, will have a different appearance, if the light
falls in a different manner upon the objects, but its general character
and outline will, in most cases, remain the same.
The object-boxes which have now been described, are made to fit
the cell, but at the same time to slip easily into it, so that
they themselves have no motion separate from that of the cell. An
object-plate, however, of a less diameter, called the vibrating
object-plate, and containing loose objects, is an interesting addition
to the instrument. When the Kaleidoscope is held horizontally, this
small object-plate vibrates on its lower edge, either by a gentle
motion of the tube, or by striking it slightly with the finger; and the
effect of this vibration is singularly fine, particularly when it is
combined with the motion of the coloured fragments.
Another of the object-boxes, in several of the instruments, contains
either fragments of colourless glass, or an irregular surface of
transparent varnish or indurated Canada balsam. This object-box gives
very fine colourless figures when used alone; but its principal use
is to be placed in the cell between an object-box with bright colours
and the end of the instrument. When this is done, the outline of the
pieces of coloured glass are softened down by the refraction of the
transparent fragments, and the pattern displays the finest effects of
soft and brilliant colouring. The colourless object-box supplies the
outline of the pattern, and the mass of colour behind fills it up with
the softest tints.
Some of the object-boxes are filled with iron or brass wires, twisted
into various forms, and rendered broader and flatter in some places by
hammering. These wires, when intermixed with a few small fragments of
coloured glass, produce a very fine effect. Other object-plates have
been made with pitch, balsam of tolu, gum lac, and thick transparent
paints; and when these substances are laid on with judgment, they
form excellent objects for the Kaleidoscope. Lace has been introduced
with considerable effect, and also festoons of beads strung upon wire
or thread; but pieces of glass, with cut and polished faces, are ill
fitted for objects. When the object-box is wide, certain insects may
be introduced temporarily, without killing or injuring them, and
the crystallization of certain salts from their solution, and other
chemical changes, may be curiously exhibited.
Hitherto we have supposed all colours to be indiscriminately adopted in
the selection of objects; but it will be found from experience, that
though the eye is pleased with the combination of various objects,
yet it derives this pleasure from the beauty and symmetry of the
outline, and not from the union of many different tints. Those who are
accustomed to this kind of observation, and who are acquainted with the
principles of the harmony of colours, will soon perceive the harshness
of the effect which is produced by the predominance of one colour, by
the juxtaposition of others, and by the accidental union of a number;
and even those who are ignorant of these principles, will acknowledge
the superior effect which is obtained by the exclusion of all other
colours except those which harmonize with each other.
In order to enable any person to find what colours harmonize with each
other, I have drawn up the following table, which contains the harmonic
colours.
Deepest Red, Blue and Green equally mixed.
Red, Blue and Green, with most Blue, mixed.
Orange Red, Blue mixed with much Indigo.
Orange, Blue and Indigo, the Indigo predominating.
Orange-Yellow, Indigo unmixed.
Yellow, Violet and Indigo nearly in equal portions.
Greenish Yellow, Pale Violet.
Green, Violet.
Greenish Blue, Violet and Red in equal portions.
Blue, Orange Red, Red.
Indigo, Orange-Yellow.
Violet, Green.
It appears from the preceding table that _Bluish Green_ harmonizes with
_Red_, or, in other words, _Red_ is said to be the _accidental colour_
of _Bluish Green_, and _vice versa_. These colours are also called
_complementary colours_, because the one is the complement of the
other, or what the other wants of white light; that is, when the two
colours are mixed, they will always form white by their combination.[4]
[4] See the article _Accidental Colours_, in the EDINBURGH
ENCYCLOPÆDIA, vol. i. p. 88.
The following general method of finding the harmonic colours will
enable the reader to determine them for tints not contained in the
preceding table. Let =A B=, Fig. 23, be the prismatic spectrum,
containing all the seven colours, namely, _Red_, _Orange_, _Yellow_,
_Green_, _Blue_, _Indigo_, and _Violet_, in the proportion assigned to
them by Sir Isaac Newton, and marked by the dotted lines. Bisect the =A
B= at _m_, so that =A _m_= is equal to =B _m_=, and let it be required
to ascertain the colour which harmonizes with the colour in the Indigo
space at the point _p_. Take =A _m_=, and set it from _p_ to _o_,
and the colour opposite _o_, or an orange-yellow, will be that which
harmonizes with the indigo at _p_. If _p_ is between _m_ and =A=, then
the distance =A _m_= must be set off from _m_ towards _n_.
[Illustration: FIG. 23]
In order to show the method of constructing object-boxes on the
preceding principles, we shall suppose that the harmonic colours of
orange-yellow and indigo are to be employed. Four or five regular
figures, such as those already described, must be made out of
indigo-coloured glass, some of them being plain, and others twisted.
The same number of figures must also be made out of an orange-yellow
glass; and some of these may be drawn of less diameter than others,
in order that tints of various intensities, but of the same colour,
may be obtained. Some of these pieces of spun glass, of an indigo
colour, may be intertwisted with fibres of the orange-yellow glass. A
few pieces of white flint-glass, or crystal spun in a similar manner,
and intertwisted, some with fibres of orange-yellow, and others with
fibres of indigo glass, should be added; and when all these are joined
to some flat fragments of orange-yellow glass, and indigo-coloured
glass, and placed in the object-plate, they will exhibit, when applied
to the Kaleidoscope, the most chaste combinations of forms and colours,
which will not only delight the eye by the beauty of their outline,
but also by the perfect harmony of their tints. By using the thin and
highly-coloured films or flakes of decomposed glass, very brilliant and
beautiful patterns are produced. These films may be placed either upon
a mirror plate or upon black wax, and they may be placed among other
objects, or fixed in movable cells. By applying the Kaleidoscope to
crystals in the act of formation, shooting out in different directions,
symmetrical patterns are instantaneously created.
The effect produced by objects of only one colour is perhaps even
superior to the combination of two harmonic colours. In constructing
object-plates of this kind, various shades of the same colour may be
adopted; and when such objects are mixed with pieces of colourless
glass, twisted and spun, the most chaste and delicate patterns are
produced; and those eyes which suffer pain from the contemplation of
various colours, are able to look without uneasiness upon a pattern in
which there is only one.
In order to show the power of the instrument, and the extent to which
these combinations may be carried, I have sometimes constructed a
long object-plate, like the slider of the magic lantern, in which
combinations of all the principal harmonic colours followed one another
in succession, and presented to the eye a series of brilliant visions
no less gratifying to some persons, and to some others even more
gratifying, than those successions of musical sounds from which the ear
derives such intense delight.
We cannot conclude this chapter without noticing the fine effects which
are produced by the introduction of carved gems, and figures of all
kinds, whether they are drawn or engraved on opaque, or transparent
grounds. The particular mode of combining these figures will be pointed
out in a subsequent chapter.