Milford chronicle., 1903-01-23
MAGIC MIRRORS.
How Instruments Used by Magicinns
and swindIers Are Made.

How Instruments Used by Magicinns
and swindIers Are Made.
The aphorism of Barnum that the
public loves to be humbugged finds il
lustration in the success of the Oculists
in this country who sell 'magic mir
rors" to credulOus individuals for So
and $40 which cost one-tenth those
figures.
Some of these charlatans with sub.
lime assurance have called the law tc
their aid to protect them from rivals
or, it may be, to add prestige to theI
merchandise, as several of tie mirrors
are, or claim to be, covered by letters
patent, copyright or trademarks.
The mirror makers can justify their
calling with precedents numberless.
The belief that a bit of bright metal OF
glass could be so charged by the black
art that it would reflect ia visible form
the invisible things or beings about us
is as old as civilization. Egypt and
Babylon, Persia and India, Japan and
China, have made and used these Oc-
cult instruments from early times.
uDsE W lltll dIG uluuG III LllE Lar EdbL
possess qualities which at one time
were puzzling, but which, when the
secret was discovered, were found in
genious utilizations of optical laws.
The simplest is the japanese lucky
mirror, a fair model of which the writ
er saw in a Broadway shop a couple
Of days ago. This is a fiat plate and
handle made of a metal resembling
steel. One side is so highly FURNISHED
that it reflects as well as the best sill
yer backed looking glass. The reverse
is chased in low relief with figures OF
vines, birds. clouds and ideOgraphs OF
talismans. When employed in the usu-
al fashion, it does not differ from an
ordinary mirror. but when a large
beam of light is thrown upon it and re
flected upon dark wall or ceiling in
the reflected circle appears a luminous
face, telegraph or other figure. The
result is secured in the original weld.
ing or casting Of the mirror. when a
piece of metal of different composition
shaped like the figure it is to produce
is fused into the .circumjacent mass.
a similar effect is produced in sill
vered mirrors by just laying on the re- |
fecting character in one kind of tinfoil
and filling in the rest of the surface
with a foil of the same appearance. but
different rejecting quality. Akin to
this style of work are the magic lac.
quers which at certain oblique angles |
disclose figures and lines which are in |
visible when looked upon at right an
giles TO the lacquer's surface. oldest |
Of the oriental mirrors are those set at 1
the bottom Of a cylinder or truncated |
cone whose surface is waved or undu |
Eating. The base reflects in ordinary
manner; the sides in such a fashion as
TO produce fOci or focal circles at vari |
Gus points. From one point of view
the locker sees a faint halo about his |
face at the bottom of the cylinder; |
from a second point a misty human |
face alongside of his own; from third |
a face looking at him through his re-
hected eyes.
The principle which underlies these |
odd images is the same as that used 4
by Cooke and Maskelyne in London in
producing their ghosts" and seems to |
have been employed with great skill /
by Cagliostro in the eighteenth cen
tury.-New York Post.