The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1894-07-04
Mirrors and Magic.

| germ OF al invenuoDa could be traced to
our first parents In 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 off 70 Q clear pool,
where she hung entranoed over the rehec-
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, ensmored with her own beauty,
| and perohance 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 PeDtateuch, 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
|
and device than the looking glasses them
| selves
Although all the very ancient mirrors
now extant are 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 discoverer of the utility of sill
| yer as reflective medium In the manu-
| facture of choice mirrors. Previous to his
| time and to the introduction of the metal
| lie Egyptian looking glasses, In mythio
ages, we find that Polyphemus, the one
eyed Cyclops, could perform his toilet sat
| isfactorily only when the surface of the sea
was perfectly smooth. The demigod or
hero Perseus, In his search for Medusa, the
| Gorgon whose glance had the power of
turning the beholder TO 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 descend to earth.
Still farther east, in 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 worshiper
and of the transparency of his motives in
| protfering his requests, the mirror was
| formerly laid before the altar near which
the faithful votary stood to recite his
prayers.
AS the years rolled on, and eastern CIV
nization gradually made its way into the
barbarous west, the demand for mirrors
of all shapes and sizes rapidly increased
| and an old chronicler of the days of Char
lemagne 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 in
their shoes, that they might necessarily
contemplate the beauty of their vestments
Six hundred years later, In the four
tenth century, the first glass mirrors
were manufactured in Europe, at the cele-
brated glass works on the island of Mu-
| rano, near Venice and this establishment
long monopolized the right of producing
| these articles of commerce. Compared to
the huge dawless mirrors of the present
age, these first glass productions were very
| rude cnntrivances indeed, as is proved by
the specimen preserved in the apartments
of Queen Mary in Hollywood castle
Henry III of France not only visited the
manufactures at Murano, but was so de-
lighted with all the wonders he saw there
that he issued patents of nobility for the
two directors OF the glass works. and his
successor Henry ", was quite overcome
by the 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 in France,
where the works of St. Goblin have attain
ed great renown for the beauty, size and
general excellence of their mirrors, which
! were sold at almost fabulous prices And
1t was a FrenchInan, Thehart, who first
discovered the art of casting huge sheets
of plate glass such as are 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 ascribed to GER
tain magical or astrological mirrors, which
were still fashioned of metal and upon
which myteriOus cabalistic signs were
family traced. When properly used-that
Is to say, with exact observance of the
multitudinous imaginary laws and signs
by which they were supposed to be govern
ed-these mirrors were said to effect mag
ical cures
In the far east few of these magic mir
rors are still to be found, and here is a de-
soriptton of the ceremonies observed TO Sc
cure the recovery of patient stricken
with an otherwise incurable disease; After
inscribing sundry potent passages of the
Koran upon the magic mirror 1t was
perfumed and placed in the hand of the
sick man, who was enjoined to gaze fixed
ly at his reflection while certain prayers
were recited around his bed These pray
ers were ended by special invocation to
the spirits of the earth and sky, and when
the ceremony was over, if all the partici
pants had faithfully performed the parts
assigned them, the patient was sure TO be
entirely freed from the disease There are
other magic mirrors which are supposed
to be gifted with the power of predicting
the future, of effacing wrinkles, exorcis-
ing evil spirits, procuring intercourse with
the heavenly host, preserving health and
even of assuring perpetual youth to all
those fortunate enough to bask In their
reflected rays.-H Z. GreSber, in Nep York
Post.