The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1894-07-05

MORO Mouern hfstory on the supJect-
lief In Magic Cures.
1t has often been said that with sufi-
cient amount Of research or ingenuity the
germ OF Eli inventions could be traced to
our first parents I'm the garden Of Eden.
No one will he surprised therefore, in
learning from Milton that no sooner had
Eve first opened her eyes upon the world
than she wandered of TO a clear pool,
where she hung entranced over the refiec-
tion OF her own charms In one Of her
subsequent guileless confessions TO Adam
She declares that had not the voice Of God
called her away to find companion In
him and in love for him TO lose all sight
OF self she would doubtless have fingered
there, enamored with her own beauty,
and perchance have shared the tabled Mar
cissus' fate.
Natures mirror, over which Eve hung
enraptured, failed to satisfy the demands
of her daughters, and human ingenuity
was soon called upon to produce a more
convenient substitute. From the various
specimens Of antique mirrors preserved in
museums learned men have concluded
that the honor Of this invention can justly
be ascribed TO the Egyptians, who used
highly polished looking glasses of brass,
bronze or other metals. Those mentioned
In the Pcntateuch, where the Hebrew
women are reported to have carried mir
rors out Of Egypt and into the wilderness,
were small and round and furnished with
handles which were more varied In form
and device than the looking glasses them
selves
Although all the very ancient mirrors
now extant arc of metal, Pliny claims that
glass mirrors were found at Sidon, and
Praxiteles, the renowned Greek sculptor,
who lived four centuries before Christ, is
the supposed discQverer OF the utility Of sill
yer as a reflective medium in the manu-
facture of choice mirrors Previous to his
time and TO the intro suction of the metal
lie Egyptian looking glasses In mythic
ages, we find that Polyphemus, the one
eyed Cycops, could perform his toilet sat
isfactorily only when the surface of the sea
was perfectly smooth. The demigod or
hero Pcrseus, in his search for Medusa, the
Gorgon whose glance had the power Of
turning the beholder 20 stone carefully
held his shield In front of him and only
saw the reflection Of the CHASTITY snake
locked head which he successfully severed
and bore away In triumph.
From earliest times magic properties
have been ascribed TO certain mirrors, and
the Thessalian soothsayers and witches
have even been reported to have possessed
magic looking glasses, by whose subtle
agency they could compel the moon-that
great mirror--to leave her exalted position
in the sky and dcsccnd to earth.
Still farther east, i'm Japan, the Land
of the Rising SUM-" the mirror has been
used for many centuries and Is one Of the
requisite articles for divine worship. EN-
blematic Of the purity Of the worshipor
and OF the transparency Of his motives in
proffering his requests, the mirror was
formo,ly laid before the altar near which
the faithful votary stood to recite his
prayers.
AS the years rolled on, and eastern CIV
ilixAtion gradually made It's way into tho
harbarous west, the demand for mirrors
OF all shapes and sizes rapidly increased,
and an old chrunicler 60 the days of Char
lcmagne states that they were then used
by all classes, and that even the clergy had
adopted the prevailing fashion, some of
the holy men wearing small mirrors set I'm
their shoes, that they might necessarily
contemplate the beauty OF their vestments
Six hundred years later, In tho four
teenth century, the first glass mirrors
wcrc manufactured In Europe at the cele
bratcd glass works on the island of Mu- |
rano, near Venice, and this establishment |
long monopolizod the right of producing |
these articles of commerce. Compared to
the huge fiawless mirrors Of the present
age, these first glass productions were very
rude contrivanoes indeed, as Is proved by |
the specimen preserved In tho apartments
of Queen Mary in Holyrood castle.
Henry III Of France not only visited the
manufactures at Murano, but was so de-
Ife.l,t
that he issued patents Of nobility for tho
two directors of the glass works, and his
successor, Henry ", was quite overcome
by tho gift OF glass mirror from the re-
public of Venice at his accession to the
throne. Restricted at first, as we have
seen, to Murano, the manufacture Of mir
rors was eventually introduced I'm France,
where tho works Of ST. Goblin have attain
ed great rcnown for the beauty, size and
general excellence OF their mirrors, which
were sold ut almost fabulous prices. And
1t was a Frenchman, Tbebart who first
discovered the art OF casting hugo sheets
Of plate glass such as arc seen today.
During the middle ages the superstitions
of all former times were rife, and even In
the beginning Of the renaissance super
natural powers were still ascribcd to Ger
tain magical or astrological mirrors, which
were still fashioned Of metal and upon
which myterious oabalistio signs were
family traced. Whom properly used-that
Is 10 say, with exact observance of the
imaginary laws and signs
by which they were supposed to bc govern
ed--these mirrors were said to effect mag
ical cures.
In the far east afew Of these magic mir
rors arc still 10 bo found, and here Is de-
scription of the ceremonies observed to se-
cure the recovery OF patient stricken
with an otherwise incurable disease: After
inscribing sundry potent passages of the
Koran upon the magic mirror 10 was
perfumed and placed I'm the hand OF the
sick man, who was enjoined 10 gaze f1xed-
lx at hIs rofcction .uhila e1xsai. ,.-..,..- |