187*J.| Professor Ai/rton on the Mtnjir Mirror of Jop 



WEEKLY EVENING MEETING, 



Friday, January 24, 1879. 



Siu W. FiiEDERiCK Pollock, Bart. M.A. Vice-President, in the Chair. 



Professor W. E. Ayrton. 

 The Mirror of Japan and its Magic Quality. 



The lecturer commenced by referring to the vast differences between 

 the Chinese and Japanese nations, of which the English peoj^le as a 

 rule do not seem to be aware. He instanced various points of con- 

 trast ; one of the most important being the intensely oriental secluded 

 character of the private life of the Chinese on the one hand, and the 

 Japanese dwelling in houses unfurnished and left wide open to public 

 gaze on the other. But why, he asked, in this comparative absence 

 of nearly all that we should call furniture, does one article pertaining 

 to the ladies' toilette — the bronze mirror with its stand — hold so 

 prominent a position ? 



This mirror of the Far East is usually circular, from three to 

 twelve inches in diameter, made of bronze, and wdth a bronze handle 

 covered with bamboo. The reflecting face is generally more or less 

 convex, polished with a mercury amalgam ; the back is gracefully 

 ornamented with a well-executed raised design, representing birds, 

 flowers, dragons, a geometrical pattern, or some scene in Japanese 

 mythical history. Occasionally there are also one or more Chinese 

 characters (signifying long life, happiness, or some similar idea) of 

 polished metal in bold relief. The general appearance of the back 

 of the mirror, therefore, is something like that seen in the figure in 

 the next page. 



It might at first sight be surmised that the elaborate head-dresses 

 of the ladies in Japan, combined with the painting of their faces, 

 furnished an explanation of the prominence given to the metal mirror. 

 But that this is not the case is easily seen from the fact that it is in 

 the Imperial Palace, where the court ladies, still preserving the simj^le 

 fashion of ancient days, merely comb back their long black tresses, 

 and so have least need of a looking-glass, that the Japanese mirror 

 receives the highest respect. A foreigner meets the mirror in the 

 temples, in the hands of the street conjuror, in pictures of the infernal 

 regions, and in the regalia of the Japanese sovereigns, and for some 

 time after his arrival in Japan feels as an Oriental, ignorant of Biblical 

 history, might when unable to understand the constant repetition of 

 the cross in Koman Catholic countries. But at length he hears that 



