36 Professor Aijrton on the Magic Mirror of Japan. [Jan. 24, 



experiments had gone, to produce by means of chemical action on the 

 surface, a mirror fulfilling all the conditions of a magic mirror. He 

 couclucled by saying — " It appears, then, contrary to what is generally 

 believed, that the magic of the Eastern mirror results from no subtle 

 trick on the part of the maker, from no inlaying of other metals, or 

 hardening of portions by stamping, but merely arises from the natural 

 property possessed by certain thin bronze of buckling under a bend- 

 ing stress, so as to remain strained in the opposite direction after the 

 stress is removed. And this stress is applied partly by the ' dis- 

 torting rod,' and partly by the subsequent polishing, which, in an 

 exactly similar way, tends to make the thinner parts more convex than 

 the thicker." 



WEEKLY EVENING MEETING, 



Friday, January 31, 1879. 



William Spottiswoode, Esq. D.C.L. President E.S. Vice-President, 



in the Chair. 



H. Heathcote Statham, Esq. 



The Logic of Architectural Design, 



[Abstract deferred.] 



