: Letters on Natural Magic; Addressed to Sir Walter Scott Bart. by Brewster David - Scientific recreations

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Extent and interest of the subject--Science employed by ancient governments to deceive and enslave their subjects--Influence of the supernatural upon ignorant minds--Means employed by the ancient magicians to establish their authority--Derived from a knowledge of the phenomena of Nature--From the influence of narcotic drugs upon the victims of their delusion--From every branch of science--Acoustics--Hydrostatics--Mechanics--Optics--M. Salverte's work on the occult sciences--Object of the following letters Page 1

The eye the most important of our organs--Popular description of it--The eye is the most fertile source of mental illusions--Disappearance of objects when their images fall upon the base of the optic nerve--Disappearance of objects when seen obliquely--Deceptions arising from viewing objects in a faint light--Luminous figures created by pressure on the eye, either from external causes or from the fulness of the blood-vessels--Ocular spectra or accidental colours--Remarkable effects produced by intense light--Influence of the imagination in viewing these spectra--Remarkable illusion produced by this affection of the eye--Duration of impressions of light on the eye--Thaumatrope--Improvements upon it suggested--Disappearance of halves of objects or of one of two persons--Insensibility of the eye to particular colours--Remarkable optical illusion described 8

Subject of spectral illusions--Recent and interesting case of Mrs. A.--Her first illusion affecting the ear--Spectral apparition of her husband--Spectral apparition of a cat--Apparition of a near and living relation in grave-clothes, seen in a looking-glass--Other illusions, affecting the ear--Spectre of a deceased friend sitting in an easy-chair--Spectre of a coach-and-four filled with skeletons--Accuracy and value of the preceding cases--State of health under which they arose--Spectral apparitions are pictures on the retina--The ideas of memory and imagination are also pictures on the retina--General views of the subject--Approximate explanation of spectral apparitions 37

Science used as an instrument of imposture--Deceptions with plane and concave mirrors practised by the ancients--The magician's mirror--Effects of concave mirrors--A?rial images--Images on smoke--Combination of mirrors for producing pictures from living objects--The mysterious dagger--Ancient miracles with concave mirrors--Modern necromancy with them, as seen by Cellini--Description and effects of the magic lantern--Improvements upon it--Phantasmagoric exhibitions of Philipstall and others--Dr. Young's arrangement of lenses, &c., for the Phantasmagoria--Improvements suggested--Catadioptrical phantasmagoria for producing the pictures from living objects--Method of cutting off parts of the figures--Kircher's mysterious hand-writing on the wall--His hollow cylindrical mirror for a?rial images--Cylindrical mirror for re-forming distorted pictures--Mirrors of variable curvature for producing caricatures 56

Miscellaneous optical illusions--Conversions of cameos into intaglios, or elevations into depressions, and the reverse--Explanation of this class of deceptions--Singular effects of illumination with light of one simple colour--Lamps for producing homogeneous yellow light--Methods of increasing the effects of this exhibition--Method of reading the inscription of coins in the dark--Art of deciphering the effaced inscription of coins--Explanation of these singular effects--Apparent motion of the eyes in portraits--Remarkable examples of this--Apparent motion of the features of a portrait, when the eyes are made to move--Remarkable experiment of breathing light and darkness 98

Natural phenomena marked with the marvellous--Spectre of the Brocken described--Analogous phenomena--A?rial spectres seen in Cumberland--Fata Morgana in the Straits of Messina--Objects below the horizon raised and magnified by refraction--Singular example seen at Hastings--Dover Castle seen through the hill on which it stands--Erect and inverted images of distant ships seen in the air--Similar phenomena seen in the Arctic regions--Enchanted coast--Mr. Scoresby recognizes his father's ship by its a?rial image--Images of cows seen in the air--Inverted images of horses seen in South America--Lateral images produced by refraction--A?rial spectres by reflexion--Explanation of the preceding phenomena 127

Musical and harmonic sounds explained--Power of breaking glasses with the voice--Musical sounds from the vibration of a column of air--and of solid bodies--Kaleidophone--Singular acoustic figures produced on sand laid on vibrating plates of glass--and on stretched membranes--Vibration of flat rulers and cylinders of glass--Production of silence from two sounds--Production of darkness from two lights--Explanation of these singular effects--Acoustic automaton--Droz's bleating sheep--Maillardet's singing-bird--Vaucanson's flute-player--His pipe and tabor-player--Baron Kempelen's talking-engine--Kratzenstein's speaking-machine--Mr. Willis's researches 179

Singular effects in nature depending on sound--Permanent character of speech--Influence of great elevations on the character of sounds, and on the powers of speech--Power of sound in throwing down buildings--Dog killed by sound--Sounds greatly changed under particular circumstances--Great audibility of sounds during the night explained--Sounds deadened in media of different densities--Illustrated in the case of a glass of champagne--and in that of new-fallen snow--Remarkable echoes--Reverberations of thunder--Subterranean noises--Remarkable one at the Solfaterra--Echo at the Menai suspension bridge--Temporary deafness produced in diving-bells--Inaudibility of particular sounds to particular ears--Vocal powers of the statue of Memnon--Sounds in granite rocks--Musical mountain of El-Nakous 212

Mechanical inventions of the ancients few in number--Ancient and modern feats of strength--Feats of Eckeberg particularly described--General explanation of them--Real feats of strength performed by Thomas Topham--Remarkable power of lifting heavy persons when the lungs are inflated--Belzoni's feat of sustaining pyramids of men--Deception of walking along the ceiling in an inverted position--Pneumatic apparatus in the foot of the house-fly for enabling it to walk in opposition to gravity--Description of the analogous apparatus employed by the gecko lizard for the same purpose--Apparatus used by the Echineis remora, or sucking-fish 244

Wonders of chemistry--Origin, progress, and objects of alchemy--Art of breathing fire--Employed by Barchochebas, Eunus, &c.--Modern method--Art of walking upon burning coals and red-hot iron, and of plunging the hands in melted lead and boiling water--Singular property of boiling tar--Workmen plunge their hands in melted copper--Trial of ordeal by fire--Aldini's incombustible dresses--Examples of their wonderful power in resisting flame--Power of breathing and enduring air of high temperatures--Experiments made by Sir Joseph Banks, Sir Charles Blagden, and Mr. Chantrey 227

Spontaneous combustion--In the absorption of air by powdered charcoal--and of hydrogen by spongy platinum--Dobereiner's lamp--Spontaneous combustion in the bowels of the earth--Burning cliffs--Burning soil--Combustion without flame--Spontaneous combustion of human beings--Countess Zangari--Grace Pett--Natural fire-temples of the Guebres--Spontaneous fires in the Caspian Sea--Springs of inflammable gas near Glasgow--Natural light-house of Maracaybo--New elastic fluids in the cavities--of gems--Chemical operations going on in their cavities--Explosions produced in them by heat--Remarkable changes of colour from chemical causes--Effects of the nitrous oxide or Paradise gas when breathed--Remarkable cases described--Conclusion 313

LETTERS

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