ON THE ADVANTAGES OF THE KALEIDOSCOPE AS AN INSTRUMENT OF AMUSEMENT.
The splendid discoveries which have been made with the telescope and
microscope have invested them with a philosophical character which can
never be attached to any other instrument. It is only, however, in the
hands of the astronomer and naturalist that they are consecrated to the
great objects of science; their ordinary possessors employ them solely
as instruments of amusement, and it is singular to remark how soon they
lose their novelty and interest when devoted to this inferior purpose.
The solar microscope, the camera obscura, and the magic lantern, are
equally shortlived in their powers of entertainment; and even the
wonders of the electrical and galvanic apparatus are called forth, at
long intervals, for the occasional purposes of instructing the young,
or astonishing the ignorant. A serenity of sky very uncommon in our
northern climate, is absolutely necessary for displaying the powers
of some of the preceding instruments; and the effects of the rest can
only be exhibited after much previous preparation. From these causes,
but principally from a want of variety in their exhibitions, they have
constantly failed to excite, in ordinary minds, that intense and
continued interest which might have been expected from the ingenuity of
their construction and the splendour of their effects.
The pleasure which is derived from the use of musical instruments is
of a different kind, and far more intense in its effects, and more
general in its influence than that which is obtained from any of the
preceding instruments. There are, indeed, few minds that are not alive
to the soothing and exhilarating influence of musical sounds, or that
do not associate them with the dearest and most tender sympathies of
our nature. But the ear is not the only avenue to the heart; and though
sorrow and distress are represented by notes of a deep and solemn
character, and happiness and gaiety by more light and playful tones,
the same kind of feelings may also be excited by the exhibition of dark
and gloomy colours, and by the display of bright and aërial tints.
The association, indeed, is not so powerful in the one case as in the
other, for we have been taught from our infancy, in consequence of the
connexion of music and poetry, to associate particular sentiments with
particular sounds; but there can be no doubt that the association of
colour is naturally as powerful as that of sound, and that a person who
has never listened to any other music but that of nature, nor seen any
other colours but those of the material world, might have his feelings
as powerfully excited through the medium of the eye as through that of
the ear.
The first person who attempted to supply the organ of vision with the
luxuries of light and colour, was Father Castel, a learned Jesuit, who
had distinguished himself chiefly by his opposition to the splendid
optical discoveries of Newton. About the year 1725 or 1726, he
published in the _Mercure de Paris_, his first ideas of an organ, or
ocular harpsichord. A full account of this curious instrument was
afterwards published at Hamburgh, in 1739, by M. Tellemann, a German
musician, who had seen one of the harpsichords in the possession of the
inventor, when he was on a visit to Paris. This account was afterwards
translated into French, and printed at the end of Castel’s _L’Optique
des Couleurs_,[18] which appeared at Paris in 1740. The ocular
harpsichord is a common harpsichord, fitted up in such a manner, that
when a certain sound is produced by striking the keys, a colour related
to that sound is at the same instant exhibited to the eye in a box or
frame connected with the harpsichord; so that when a piece of music
is played for the gratification of the ear, the eye is simultaneously
delighted by the display of corresponding colours.
[18] This work is entitled, _L’Optique des Couleurs, fondée sur les
simples observations et tourné surtout à la pratique de la peinture,
de la teinture, et des autres arts coloristes_. Par le R. P. Castel,
Jesuite. Paris, 1740.
In adjusting the colours and the sounds, Castel lays down the following
six propositions:—
_1st_,—There is a fundamental and primitive sound in nature, which may
be called _ut_, and there is also an original and primitive colour,
which is the foundation of all other colours, namely, _blue_.
_2d_,—There are three chords, or essential sounds, which depend upon
the primitive sound _ut_, and which compose with it a primitive and
original accord, and these are _ut_, _mi_, _sol_. There are also three
original colours depending on the _blue_, which, while they are not
composed of any other colours, produce them all, namely, _blue_,
_yellow_, and _red_. The _blue_ is here the note of the tone, the _red_
is the fifth, and the _yellow_ is the third.
_3d_,—There are five tonic chords, _ut_, _re_, _mi_, _sol_, _la_, and
two semitonic chords, _fa_ and _si_. There are also five tonic colours,
to which all the rest are ordinarily related, namely, _blue_, _green_,
_yellow_, _red_, and _violet_, and two semitonic or equivocal colours,
namely, _aurora_ and _violant_ (related to the _orange_ and _indigo_ of
Newton).
_4th_,—Out of these five entire tones, and two semitones, is formed the
diatonic scale, _ut_, _re_, _mi_, _fa_, _sol_, _la_, and _si_; and,
in like manner, out of the five entire or tonic colours, and the two
demi-colours, are formed the gradation of colours, _blue_, _green_,
_yellow_, _aurora_, _red_, _violet_, and _violant_; for the _blue_
leads to _green_, which is _demi-blue_; the _yellow_ to _aurora_, which
is _gilded yellow_; the _aurora_ leads to _red_, the _red_ to _violet_,
which is two-thirds of _red_, and one-third of _blue_; and the _violet_
to _violant_, which has more _blue_ than _red_.
_5th_,— The entire tones divide themselves into semitones; and the
five entire tones of the scale or gamut, comprehending in this the
two natural semitones, make twelve semitones, viz., _ut_ natural,
_ut_ dieze, _re_, _re_ dieze, _mi_, _fa_, _fa_ dieze, _sol_, _sol_
dieze, _la_, _la_ dieze, and _si_. In like manner there are twelve
demi-colours, or demi-tints, and there can be neither more nor less,
according to the opinion of painters themselves, and as may be
demonstrated by other means. These colours are _blue_, _sea-green_,
_green_, _olive_, _yellow_, _aurora_, _orange_, _red_, _crimson_,
_violet_, _agathe_, and _violant_. _Blue_ leads to _sea-green_,
which is a _greenish blue_; _sea-green_ leads to _green_; _green_ to
_olive_, which is a _yellowish green_; _olive_ to _yellow_; _yellow_
to _aurora_; _aurora_ to _orange_; _orange_ to _red_, the colour
of fire; _red_ to _crimson_, which is _red_ mixed with a little
_blue_; _crimson_ to _violet_, which is still more _blue_; _violet_ to
_agathe_, or _bluish violet_; and _agathe_ to _violant_.
_6th_,—The progression of sounds is in a circle, setting out from _ut_,
and returning back: thus, _ut_, _mi_, _sol_, _ut_, or _ut_, _re_, _mi_,
_fa_, _sol_, _la_, _si_, _ut_. This is called an octave, when the last
_ut_ is one-half more acute than the first. The colours also have their
progression in a circle.
_7th_,—After an octave, _ut_, _re_, _mi_, _fa_, _sol_, _la_, _si_,
there recommences a new one, which is one-half more acute, and the
whole circle of music produces several octaves.
Such are the principles upon which the ocular harpsichord was founded;
but though the instrument, from its singularity, excited great
attention when it was first constructed, we have not been able to learn
that it was ever supposed to possess the power of affording pleasure to
the eye. It must be obvious, indeed, to any person who considers the
subject, that colour, independent of form, is incapable of yielding a
continued pleasure. Masses of rich and harmonious tints, following one
another in succession, or combined according to certain laws, would no
doubt give satisfaction to a person who had not been familiar with the
contemplation of colours; but this satisfaction would not be permanent,
and he would cease to admire them as soon as they ceased to be new.
Colour is a mere accident of light, which communicates richness and
variety to objects that are otherwise beautiful; but perfection of form
is a source of beauty, independent of all colours; and it is therefore
only from a combination of these two sources of beauty that a sensation
of pleasure can be excited.
Those who have been in the habit of using a correct Kaleidoscope,
furnished with proper objects, will have no hesitation in admitting
that this instrument realizes, in the fullest manner, the formerly
chimerical idea of an ocular harpsichord. The combination of fine
forms, and ever-varying tints, which it presents in succession to
the eye, have already been found, by experience, to communicate
to those who have a taste for this kind of beauty, a pleasure as
intense and as permanent as that which the finest ear derives from
musical sounds. An eye for admiring and appreciating the effect of
fine forms, seems, indeed, to be much more general than an ear for
music; and we have heard of many cases where the tedium of severe and
continued indisposition has been removed, and where many a dull and
solitary hour has been rendered cheerful, by the unceasing variety of
entertainment which the Kaleidoscope afforded. In one respect, indeed,
this instrument is superior to all others. When it is once properly
constructed, its effects are exhibited without either skill or labour;
and so numerous are its applications, and so inexhaustible its stores,
that the observer is constantly flattered with the belief that he has
obtained results which were never seen before, and that he has either
improved the instrument, or extended its power, by new applications.
Such are the advantages, as an instrument of amusement, which the
Kaleidoscope possesses, even in its present imperfect state. To what
degree of perfection it may yet arrive, it is not easy to anticipate;
but we may venture to predict, because we see the steps by which
the prediction is to be fulfilled, that combinations of forms and
colours may be made to succeed each other in such a manner as to
excite sentiments and ideas with as much vivacity as those which are
excited by musical composition. If it be true that there are harmonic
colours which inspire more pleasure by their combination than others;
that dull and gloomy masses, moving slowly before the eye, excite
feelings of sadness and distress; and that the aërial tracery of light
and evanescent forms, enriched with lively colours, are capable of
inspiring us with cheerfulness and gaiety; then it is unquestionable,
that, by a skilful combination of these passing visions, the mind may
derive a degree of pleasure far superior to that which arises from the
immediate impression which they make upon the organ of vision. A very
simple piece of machinery is alone necessary for introducing objects of
different forms and colours, for varying the direction of the motion
across the angular aperture, and for accommodating the velocity of
their motion to the effect which it is intended to produce.
These combinations of colours and forms may be adapted to a piece of
music, and their succession exhibited on a screen by means of the
electric, or lime-ball, or other lights to which we have already had
occasion to refer. The coloured objects might be fixed between long
stripes of glass, moved horizontally or obliquely across the ends of
the reflectors; and the effects thus obtained might be varied by the
occasional introduction of revolving object-boxes, containing objects
of various colours and forms, partly fixed and partly movable. Similar
forms in different colours, and in tints of varying intensity, losing
and resuming their peculiar character with different velocities, and in
different times, might exhibit a distinct relation between the optical
and the acoustic phenomena simultaneously presented to the senses.
Flashes of light, coloured and colourless, and clouds of different
depths of shadow, advancing into, or emerging from the centre of
symmetry, or passing across the radial lines of the figure at different
obliquities, would assist in marking more emphatically the gay or the
gloomy sounds with which they are accompanied.
A slight idea of the effects which might be expected from an ingenious
piece of mechanism for creating and combining the various optical
phenomena, and exhibiting them in connexion with musical sounds, may
be obtained by a single observer, who looks into a fine Kaleidoscope,
firmly fixed upon a stand, and produces with his two hands all the
variations in form and colour which he can effect by such inadequate
means, and which he considers appropriate to the musical piece that
accompanies them.