REPRESENT IN A DARK SPACE OR SCENE THE HUMAN FIGURES, VARIOUS CHARACTERS, PROPORTIONS, AND SIZES, AND BY WHICH MEANS PAINTERS AND OTHER ARTISTS MAY ACCURATELY ENLARGE OR DIMINISH ANY PAINTING WITH MORE CERTAINTY AND FACILITY THAN HAS HITHERTO BEEN KNOWN OR DONE
Year: 1802

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, PAUL DE
PHILIPSTHAL, of the Lyceum, in the Strand, in the County of Middlesex,
Gentleman, send greeting.
WHEREAS His most Excellent Majesty King George the Third, by His
Royal Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date
the Twenty-sixth day of January, in the forty-second year of His reign, did
give and grant unto me, the said Paul de Philipsthal, my executors, adminis
trators, and assigns, and every of them, by myself and themselves, or by my
and their deputy and deputies, servants or agents, or such others as I, the said
Paul de Philipsthal, my executors, administrators, or assigns, should agree
with, and no others, from time to time and at all times thereafter during the
term of years therein expressed, that I, and they, should and lawfully might
"REPRESENT IN A DARK SPACE OR SCENE THE HUMAN FIGURES, VARIOUS CHARACTERS,
PROPORTIONS, AND SIZES, AND BY WHICH MEANS PAINTERS AND OTHER ARTISTS MAY
ACCURATELY ENLARGE OR DIMINISH ANY PAINTING WITH MORE CERTAINTY AND FACILITY
THAN HAS HITHERTO BEEN KNOWN OR DONE;" and that I may use, practice, and
exhibit the same within that part of His Kingdom of Great Britain called
England, His Dominion of Wales, and Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, my said
Invention, in such manner as to me, the said Paul de Philipsthal, my executors,
administrators, and assigns, or any of them, should in their discretion seem
meet; and that I, the said Paul de Philipsthal, my executors, administrators,
and assigns, should and lawfully might have and enjoy the whole profit, benefit,

page_text: and advantage from time to time coming, growing, and arising by reason of the
said Invention during the term of years therein mentioned; to have, hold,
exercise, and enjoy the licence, powers, privileges, and advantages therein-before
granted, or mentioned to be granted, to me, the said Paul de Philipsthal, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, for and during and unto the full end and
-term of fourteen-years-from-the-date of the said Letters Patent next and imme-
diately ensuing, and fully to be compleat and ended, according to the statute
in such case made and provided; in which said Letters Patent there is con-
tained a proviso, obliging me; the said Paul de Philipsthal, by an instrument
in writing under my hand and seal, to cause a particular description of the
nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed,
exhibited, used, or exercised, to be inrolled in His Majesty's High Court of
Chancery within one calendar month next and immediately after the date of
the said Letters Patent, as in and by the same, relation being thereunto had,
may more fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, 'that in compliance with the 'said proviso, I, the said
Paul de Philipsthal, do hereby declare that my said Invention is as follows,
viz.,―
As the apparition of deceased or returning 'spirits of men 'exists rather in the
imagination than in reality, therefore every one has a different conception of
the apparitions of ghosts according to the ideas formed in his understanding;
after a diligent search, inconceivable trouble and expence, I have discovered
a method by means of optical experiments to produce numerous representations
of ghostly apparitions approaching the idea of every spectator, whereby his
expectation may be amply satisfied. The apparatus of some of these exhibitions
consists of two concave glasses, or rather two concave metal reflectors, before
which an artificial light, proportionable to their focus, is applied. These
enlightened concave metal reflectors are secured in a closet or box propor-
tionable to their size and their requisite light, in such a manner that all 'the
rays of light are directed upon a transparent picture representing the appari-
tion, which picture reflects, by means of some lenses, upon a transparent body,
and giving the necessary direction to this apparatus, according to the nature of
it's circumstances, in such a manier that the apparitions represent themselves
to the eye of the spectator arbitrarily, either in a larger or smaller, 'in a near
or more distant perspective point of view. In the saule manner I can likewise
represent landscapes and buildings in 'a 'very striking 'and deceiving manner
in a voluntary size. Another sort of apparitions are produced by the refraction
of light, by means of transparent bodies of various shapes and sizes, which are
fixed in a dark closet, as aforesaid, and by means of the refraction of an artificial

page_text: light, are either inade visible or invisible. If those bodies are made to liken
deceased persons which are required to be seen, then the apparition is the more
striking, and answers fully the ideas commonly formed of a spectre. A third
sort of these optical deceptions I produce in the following manner, viz', by
opaque moveable figures of various sizes and shapes; these are moderately
enlightened by the refraction of a concave metal reflector fixed in a dark closet;
but the rays of light must be properly distributed by the refraction of a lens of
a proportionable focus, in order that the enlightened object may alone represent
itself to the eye. If, therefore, according to the description of the enlightened
figures imitate mechanically the motions of men, and appear in proper dress or
draperies, then this becomes the most striking illusion, as one may, by this
regulation, (by giving an easy motion to their drapery,) produce various groupes
and pantomine scenes out of the world of spirits. A fourth sort of optical
illusions is operated in the following manner, in order to produce a multiplicity.
of apparitions:-There is between the transparent body upon which the figures
reflect, another dark body slipped in, upon which a fixed number of figures are
applied, and are distributed in a symmetrical manner; upon these figures either
a greater or less light is directed, according to the disposition of the groups, and
gives to the apparatus the necessary direction, in order that those which reflect
upon the transparent bodies may move through one another and form all
manner of groups, the position of which are very comic and striking; and they
procure the most agreeable entertainment. Lastly, by means of this briefly
described apparatus and method of working, a thousand different divertisements
and surprises may be produced by preparing the necessary apparatus propor-
tionable to the space and place, and possessing judgment to moderate the rays
of light, which would be too extensive here to be described.
Having thus described and figuratively explained the nature of my Inven-
tion, I promise to myself, regarding the meritorious discovery of these things,
the most high and graceful protection of His Britannic Majesty by virtue of
His Royal Letters Patent, granted unto me, my executors, &c.
In witness whereof, I, the said Paul de Philipsthal, have hereunto set my
band and seal, the Twenty-third day of February, in the forty-second
year of the reign of His present Majesty King George the Third, and
in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and two.
PAUL DE (L.8.) PHILIPSTHAL.
Sealed and delivered (being first duly stampt)
PAUL DE (L.B.) PHILIPSTHAL.
Sealed and delivered (being first duly stampt)
in the presence of
Tuo MORTIMER.

page_text: AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the same Twenty-third day of
February, in the year above mentioned, the aforesaid Paul de Philipsthal came
before our Lord the King in His Chancery, and acknowledged the Specification
aforesaid, and all and every thing therein contained, in form above written.
And also the Specification aforesaid was stamped according to the tenor of
the Statute in that case made and provided.
Inrolled the same Twenty-third day of February, in the year above
written.