Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1903-03-06
MAGIC MIRRORS,
How instruments Used by Masicians and
Swindlers Are Made.

now instruments USED BY Mayicians an(
Swindlers Are Made.
New York Evening Post.
The aphorism OF Barnum that thu
public loves to be bumbugged find,
illustration in the success of the ocu
lists in this country who sell "magit
mirrors" to credulous individuals 70,
s. and $40, which cost one-tenth these
figures. Some of these charlatans
with sublime assurance. have called
the law to their aid to protect the m
from rivals, or it may be to add pres
tige to their merchandise, a. several
of the MIRRORS are, or claim to be,
covered by letters patent, copyright OF
trademarks.
The mirror makers can justify theil
calling with precedents numberless.
The belief that bit of bright metal
or glass could be so charged by the
black art that it would reflect in visi.
BILE form the invisible things or being.
about us is as old as civilization.
Egypt and Babylon, Persia and India
Japan and China, have made and used
these occult instruments from early
times. Those which are made in the
far east possess qualities which a,
one time were puzzling, but which
after the secret was discovered, were
found ingenious affiliations of optical
laws.
The simplest is the Japanese lucky
mirror, a.fair model OF which the writer
saw in Broadway shop a couple o
days ago. This fat plate and handle
made Of q metal resembling steel. One
side is so highly FURNISHED that it re-
fleets as we'll as the best silver-backed
looking glass. The reverse is chased
in low relief with figures Of vines. birds,
clouds and ideogrsphs or talismans
When employed in the usual fashion
it does not differ from an ordinary
mirror, but when large beam of light
is thrown upon it and reflected upon q
dark wall or ceiling. in the reflected
circle appears . luminous face, ideo.
graph, or other figure. The result i,
secured in the original welding OF
casting OF the mirror, when . piece oil
metal Of different composition, shaped
like the figure it is to produce, is fused
into the circumiscent mass.
A similar effect is produced in sill
vered mirrors by just laying on the
rejecting character in one kind of tin
foil and filling in the rest Of the sur
face with foil OF the same appear
snce, but different refleeting quality
Akin TO this style Of work are the
magic lanterns, which at certain OBJ
lique angles disclose figures and linel
which are invisible whom looked upor
At right angles to the lacquer's sur
face. oldest of the oriental mirrors
are those set at the bottom OF cylin
der or truncsted cone, whose surface
is waved or undulating. The base re
fleets in ordinary manner; the sides in
such fashion as to produce foci OF
focal circles at various points. From
one point Of view the locker sees .
faint halo about his face at the bottom
OF the cylinder; from q second point q
misty human face alongside Of bis
own; from q third, face looking q,
him through his reflected eyes.
The principle which underlies these
odd images is the same a. that used
by Cooke and Maskelyne in London in
producing their GHOSTS" and seems
to have been employed with great
skill by Cagliostro in the eighteenth
c0nturv