Kaleidoscope

“ The property of the Kaleidoscope, which has excited more wonder, and therefore more controversy than any other, is the number of combinations or changes which it is capable of producing from a small number of objects. Many persons, entirely ignorant of the nature of the instrument, have calculated the number of forms which may be created from a certain number of pieces of glass, upon the ordinary principles of combination. ”

“ The lime-ball light may also be employed, but the Bude light, which is a coal gas flame, rendered more intensely luminous by a stream of oxygen, is preferable to any other artificial flame. In using it, or any other of the lights already mentioned, for obtaining Kaleidoscope figures, it must either be placed very near the object-box, or condensed upon it by a large lens, on account of the small size of the aperture at the eye-end of the Kaleidoscope. ”

“ Satisfactory effects can, however, be produced with almost anything bright and shining. The first kaleidoscope we, in the thirst for knowledge, took apart was found to have for its objects about forty pieces of red, green, blue, and brown stained glass, smashed up into irregular fragments of about a quarter of an inch in width and length, and as the shapes were varied and the colours crude, the patterns at every shake were almost as startling as those produced by a sixpenny catharine-wheel on the 5th of November. ”

“ When the object is very distant, the defect of symmetry is so enormous, that though the object is seen by direct vision, and in some of the sectors, it is entirely invisible in the rest.
The principle which we have now explained is of primary importance in the construction of the Kaleidoscope, and it is only by a careful attention to it that the instrument can be constructed so as to give to an experienced and fastidious eye that high delight which it never fails to derive from the exhibition of forms perfectly symmetrical. ”

“ When we look through a Kaleidoscope in which the mirrors are placed at an angle of 18° or 221⁄2°, the eye will perceive a very obvious difference in the intensity of the light in different parts of the field. If the inclination of the mirrors be about 30°, and the eye properly placed near the angular point, the intensity of the light is tolerably uniform; and a person who is unaccustomed to the comparison of different lights, will find it extremely difficult to distinguish the direct sector from the reflected ones. ”

“ When the simple Kaleidoscope is applied to opaque objects, such as a seal, a watch-chain, the seconds hands of a watch, coins, pictures, gems, shells, flowers, leaves, and petals of plants, impressions from seals, etc., the object, instead of being held between the eye and the light, must be viewed in the same manner as we view objects through a microscope, being always placed as near the instrument as possible, and so as to allow the light to fall freely upon the object. ”

“ He will see heaps of windows and of walls, some of the heaps being much larger than others; and some being farther from, and others nearer to, the centre; and some being dark, and others luminous; while all of them are disunited. Let him now take a Telescopic Kaleidoscope, and direct it to the same object; he will instantly perceive the most perfect order arise out of confusion, and he will not scruple to acknowledge, that no two things in nature can be more different than the effects which are produced by these two combinations of mirrors. ”

“ If we take the simple Kaleidoscope, and holding an object-box in contact with the reflectors, gradually withdraw it to a distance, the picture, which is at first perfect in every part, will, at the distance of one-tenth of an inch, begin to be distorted at the centre, from the disunion of the reflected images; the distortion will gradually extend itself to the circumference, and at the distance of eighteen inches, or less, from the reflectors, all the symmetry and beauty of the pattern will disappear. ”

“ From these causes, the candidates for the merit of inventing the Kaleidoscope have been so numerous, that they have started up in every part of the world; and many individuals, who are scarcely acquainted with the equality of the angles of incidence and reflexion, have not [Pg 164] scrupled to favour the world with an account of the improvements which they fancy they have made upon the instrument. ”

“ A symmetrical figure is constantly obtained, forming in one case a cross composed of four similar portions; in the other a triple star, the halves of each ray being similar. It is the symmetry of the figure that gives the pleasing effect. In the ordinary kaleidoscope the angle made by the reflecting surfaces is thirty degrees, and a star of six rays is formed, the halves of each ray being alike. The figures formed in the kaleidoscope are simply endless ”

“ A slight idea of the effects which might be expected from an ingenious piece of mechanism for creating and combining the various optical phenomena, and exhibiting them in connexion with musical sounds, may be obtained by a single observer, who looks into a fine Kaleidoscope, firmly fixed upon a stand, and produces with his two hands all the variations in form and colour which he can effect by such inadequate means, and which he considers appropriate to the musical piece that accompanies them. ”

“ In order to have the most perfect symmetry with this Kaleidoscope, the eye should be placed at E, between the nearest ends of the reflectors, as it will there be nearer the plane of both reflectors than in any other position. If the two mirrors are brought nearer each other, so that their surfaces always pass through the point O, the deviation from perfect symmetry will diminish as the eye becomes more and more in the plane of both; and for the same reason the light of the field will be more brilliant. ”

“ THE FIRST KALEIDOSCOPE. When, by a happy accident, Sir David Brewster had discovered the leading principles of the kaleidoscope while repeating Biot's experiments on the action of fluids upon light, he constructed an instrument in which he fixed permanently, across the ends of the reflectors, pieces of coloured glass, and other irregular objects. ”

“ The show-box of which Porta speaks with such admiration, has so many mirrors, and these are placed at such angles, that not one of the effects of the Kaleidoscope can be produced from them. Its beauty is entirely derived from the accumulation of individual images.
The next competitor for the invention of the Kaleidoscope is the celebrated Kircher, who describes, as an invention of his own, the [Pg 168] construction of two mirrors which can be opened and shut like the leaves of a book. This instrument is represented in Fig. ”

“ We are, as it were, gazing at a constantly revolving kaleidoscope in which every slightest turn produces a new pattern, somewhat resembling that which immediately preceded it—so that, if the kaleidoscope were conscious we should say that each picture had been suggested by the preceding pattern—but yet definitely novel. ”

“ The constellations are formed by chance combinations of conspicuous stars, like figures in a kaleidoscope, and if our lives were commensurate with the æons of cosmic existence we should perceive that the kaleidoscope of the heavens was ceaselessly turning and throwing the stars into new symmetries. Even if the stars stood fast, the motion of the solar system would gradually alter the configurations, as the elements of a landscape dissolve and recombine in fresh groupings with the traveler’s progress amid them. ”

“ The extension of the instrument to distant objects is not the only advantage which is derived from the use of the lens. As the position for giving perfect symmetry is rather within the extremities of the [Pg 87] reflectors than without them; and as it is impossible to place movable objects within the reflectors, we are compelled to admit a small error, arising principally from the thickness of the objects, and from the thickness of the plate of glass which is necessarily interposed between the objects and the reflectors. The compound Kaleidoscope, however, is entirely free from this defect. ”

“ In this respect the Kaleidoscope appears to be quite singular among optical instruments. Neither the instrument of Bradley, nor the experiment or theorem in Wood’s book, have any resemblance to this; they go no further than the multiplication of the figure.
“Next, as to the principle of construction, Dr. Brewster’s instrument requires a particular position of the eye of the observer, and of the object looked at, in order to produce its effect. If either of these is wanting, the symmetry vanishes, and the figures are irregular and disunited. ”

“ Colour is a mere accident of light, which communicates richness and variety to objects that are otherwise beautiful; but perfection of form is a source of beauty, independent of all colours; and it is therefore only from a combination of these two sources of beauty that a sensation of pleasure can be excited. [Pg 159]
Those who have been in the habit of using a correct Kaleidoscope, furnished with proper objects, will have no hesitation in admitting that this instrument realizes, in the fullest manner, the formerly chimerical idea of an ocular harpsichord. ”

“ In 1827, Wheatstone introduced his 'kaleidoscope,' a device for rendering the vibrations of a sounding body apparent to the eye. It consists of a metal rod, carrying at its end a silvered bead, which reflects a 'spot' of light. As the rod vibrates the spot is seen to describe complicated figures in the air, like a spark whirled about in the darkness. ”

“ But it was not till some time afterwards that the great step towards the completion of the instrument was made, in the idea of giving motion to these objects, which were placed loosely in a cell at the end of the instrument. When this idea was carried into execution, the kaleidoscope in its simple form was completed. The next and by far the most [pg 92] important step of the invention was, to employ a draw tube and lens, by means of which beautiful forms could be created from objects of all sizes, and at all distances from the observer. ”

“ In this state a very perfect pattern will be created by the instrument, and the blue, green, and yellow colour will predominate according as a greater or a lesser portion of these colours happens to be opposite to the angular aperture. By shifting the position of the Kaleidoscope, any one of the colours may be made to predominate at pleasure; and the artist has it thus in his power, not only to produce any kind of outline that he chooses, but regulate the masses of colour by which it is to be filled up ”

“ The colourless object-box supplies the outline of the pattern, and the mass of colour behind fills it up with the softest tints.
Some of the object-boxes are filled with iron or brass wires, twisted into various forms, and rendered broader and flatter in some places by hammering. These wires, when intermixed with a few small fragments of coloured glass, produce a very fine effect. Other object-plates have been made with pitch, balsam of tolu, gum lac, and thick transparent paints; and when these substances are laid on with judgment, they form excellent objects for the Kaleidoscope. ”

“ In order to construct the instrument independently of the stereoscope, we have only to combine two equal Kaleidoscopes, with their reflecting mirrors equally inclined to each other, and place at the eye-end of them two semi-lenses or quarter lenses, at the distance of two and a half inches, and having their focal lengths equal to the length of the stereoscope. ”

“ All that seems to be original in a dream is due to the kaleidoscopic effect of throwing the materials of which the scene is constituted into new and startling combinations. We know how much of novelty may be produced in the accidental combinations effected by shaking together some dozen particles of colored glass, or other small objects, in a kaleidoscope. ”

“ In order to group these single figures with perfect accuracy, the Kaleidoscopes constructed by Mr. Bate should be employed, as both his instruments have a contrivance which allows the light to fall freely upon the surface of the picture. ”

“ David Brewster (1781–1868) , Scottish scientist whose work on the polarization of light led him to invent, around 1815, the Kaleidoscope—an optical instrument which creates and exhibits by reflection a variety of beautiful symmetrical designs in varied colors—was the first to comment in print on the Thaumatrope of Paris, the year before the latter’s book appeared. In the fourth volume of his Edinburgh Journal Brewster wrote, under the description of the Thaumatrope, “a very ingenious philosophical toy, invented, we believe, by Dr. Paris.” ”

“ It is claimed to have an active power of producing a physical effect upon the rays of light, so as to produce different shades and colors according to the direction in which the various corrugated lines are viewed,-a sort of kaleidoscope effect. ”

“ CHAPTER XXIII. HISTORY OF THE COMBINATIONS OF PLANE MIRRORS
WHICH HAVE BEEN SUPPOSED TO RESEMBLE
THE KALEIDOSCOPE.
It has always been the fate of new inventions to have their origin referred to some remote period; and those who labour to enlarge the boundaries of science, or to multiply the means of improvement, are destined to learn, at a very early period of their career, that the desire of doing justice to the living is a much less powerful principle than that of being generous to the dead. ”