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