Daily Kennebec journal., 1894-10-02
MIRRORS AND MAGIC.
FROM THE CLEAR POOL DOWN TO
/ THE MODERN FRENCH PLATE.
Ancient Mirrors OF Metal, Which Piiny
4 Claims Were Preceded by Those Of Glass.
/ More Modern History on the subJect-Be-
/ lief In Magic Cures.

Claims We're Preceded by Those of Glass.
More Modern History ON the subject-Be-
lief In Magic Cures.
It has often been said that with suM-
Client amount Of research or ingenuity the
germ of all inventions 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 to clear pool,
where she hung entranced over the ref1ec-
tion of her own charms. In ono 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 fabled 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 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 tho Pentateuch, 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 tho 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, tho renowned Greek sculptor
who lived four centuries before Christ is
the supposed discoverer of the utility of sill
yer as O reflective medium in the manu-
facturo of choice mirrors. Previous to his
time and to the introduction of the metal
lie Egyptian looking glasses, in mythic
ages, we find that Polyphcmus, the one
eyed Cyclops, could perform his toilet sat
isfactorily only when the surface Of the sea
was perfectly smooth. The donigod or
hero Perseus, in his search for Medusa, the
Gorgon whose Glance had the power of
turning the beholdcr 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.
Frem earliest times magic properties
have been ascribcd 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-
blcmatic of the purity of the worshipcr
and of the transparency of his motives in
proffcring his requests, the mirror was
formerly laid before the altar near which
the faithful votary stood to rccite his
prayers.
AS tho years rolled on, and eastern CIV
ilization gradually made its way into the
barbarous west, tho demand for mirrors
of all shapes and sizes rapidly increased,
and an old chronicler Of the days of Char
lemagnc 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 incessantly
contemplate the beauty of their vcstments
teenth century, the first glass mirrors
wero manufactured in Europe, at the ccle-
bratcd 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 flawless mirrors of the present
age, these first glass productions were very
rude contrivances 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 ut 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 quito overcome
by the gift of u glass mirror from the re-
public of Venice Mt 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, sizo and
general excellence of their mirrors, which
were sold Mt almost fabulous prices. And
1t was a Frenchmau, Thcbart, 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 We're still ascribcd to Ger
tain magical or astrological mirrors, which
were still fashioned of metal and upon
which mytcrious cabalistic signs were
family traced. When properly used-that
is to say, with exact observance of the
multitutlinous imaginary laws and signs
by which thcy 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-
scription of the ceremonies observed to Sc
cure tho recovery Of n patient stricken
with an otherwise ineurable disease: After
inscribing sundry potent passages of the
Koran upon tho magic mirror it 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
snh cprI