Star.
London, England, 1818-05-30 00:00:00

iiiitiiiosedit

' This amusing instrument it now in the hands off'
every person, and also the subject of general conver;
sation. In noticing it, our object Is not to give a
particular description of Its cdnstrtictioti; bUt fOf the
purpose of putting OM. Readers in liostassidn of Some
historical details, which may serve td enable them to
form a correct opinion on a question now very gene.:
rally discussed, respecting the originality of the in-
vention. We copy the Subjoined remarks front the
Philosophidal Magazine for May, 1818, published this
day, omitting only some references to a copperplate
in that Work:

" Dr: BREWSTER, the patehtee of this amusing in-
strument, is charged by many with being a plagiarist,
and claiming that, as a new invention of his own,
which is really old, and the discovery of another.
We shall lay the grounds of this charge before our
Readers; and we begin with some remarks which
have appeared in the French Journals:
" ' Scarcely,'" says one of them, " , had the Ka-
leidoscope been imported into Paris, when twenty
competitors started forward, and each, his glass in
his hand, contended for the attention of the Public.
To the Kaleidoscope one opposed the Polyoso ipe—
another the Metantorphosiscope ; and as the gi eat ma-
jority of spectators called out for something French,
we saw immediately this wish gratified by tl e Trans-
figura:cur, the French Lamp, &c.
" ' M. ROBERTSON," a mathematical-inttrument-
maker in Paris, of some eminence, " , r, claims for
France the priority of this invention. He twins in
proof an instrument, of great dimensior, it is true,
but which for many years has furnished in his ca'Anet
the same various pictures which an adroit speculator
has introduced into the Kaleidoscope. 1 hus the Pro-
fessor BREWSTER, of Edinburgh, to wlom the Eng-
lish have attributed the honour of this discovery, is
nothing more than an imitator. This is not the first
time that a French discovery has takt n the longest
way of arriving at Paris. M. CHEVALIER too enters
the lists; holding in one hand a Work, published store
than
_My years ago, in which the i. rinciple of this
agreeable illusion is described, while in the other he
presents us a Lamp, which, by adding much to the
magic of the effects, merits truly the name which he
gives it of the French Multiplicator:
" However mortifying it may, be to our ingenious
neighbours, the French, to have their claim to the
originality of this invention denied, the fact is, that,
should the optical principle on which the instrument
is founded, and earlier publication, be held to consti-
tute
the invention, the discovery will be found to be-
long
to England, notwithstanding the French work
I published more than fifty years ago, in which the
principle of this agreeable illusion is described e for
the principle was published in London more than
eighty years ago, in a work entitled , New Improve-'
ments of Planting and Gardening, both philosophical
and ractical, 6th Zdition. By RICHARD BRADLEY,'
Pro esior of Botany at the University of Cambridge,
an F.R.S. Printed for J. and J. Knapton, in St.
i
Pad's Church-yard, 1731.' The following is printed
from Bradley's first chapter :
'414 Description and Use of a new Lavietion for the more spee-
dily designing of Ganges Plats, whereby we may prodsee
more variety of Figures in an Hour's Time, than are to be
found in all the Books on Gardening now extant.
" ' Since the instrument I now design to treat of
has afforded some pleasure to many of my acquain-
tance, I have been easily persuaded to make it pub-
lic. It is of that nature, that the best designers or
draughtsmen may improve and help their fancies by
it, and may with more certainty hit the humour of
those gentlemen they are to work for, without being
at the trouble of making many vari ties of figures or
garden plats, which will lose time and call an unne-
cessary expense, which frequently discourages gen-
tlemen from making up their gardens. In short, the
charge of the instrument is so small, and its use so de-
lightful and profitable, that I doubt not its favour-
able reception in the world. But to proceed :
" ' We must choose two pieces of looking-glass of
equal bigness, of the figure of a long square, five
inches in length and four in breadth : they must be
covered on the back with paper or silk, to prevent
rubbing off the silver, which would else be apt to
crack off by frequent use. This covering for the back
of the glasses must be so put on that nothing of it
may appear about the edges of the bright side.
" , The glasses being thus prepared, they must be
laid face to face and hinged together, so that they
may be made to open and shut at pleasure, like the
leaves of a book.'

[Mr. BRADLEY then describes more particularly
the construction referring for illustration to diagrams,
which the nature of our publication precludes our
presenting in our columns.]
" In the foregoing description of BRADLEY'S in-
vention, the principle of reflection on which he con-
structs it, is precisely that which Dr. BREWSTER has
employed in his Kaleidoscope ; but the means by
which the latter presents to the reflecting surfaces the
objects that are tote reflected, are quite different.
Even with BRADLEY the kind of objects and the
means by which he presented these objects to the
mirrors were what constituted his instrument a new
invention; for the arrangement of the reflectors them-
/selves was not of BRADLEY'S discovering, as we shall
prove immediately.
" We copy the following from John Baptista
Porte's Natural Magic, the English Translation pub-
lished in 1658: