454 History of the Kaleidoscope. 



than the sensation which it created in London and Paris. In the 

 memorv of man, no invention, and no work, whether addressed 

 to the imagination or to the understanding, ever produced such 

 an effect. A nniversal mania for the instrument seized all classes, 

 from the lowest to the highest, from the most ignorant to the 

 most learned ; and every person not only felt, but exj)ressed the 

 feeling, that a new pleasure had been added to their existence. 



If such an instrument had ever been known before, a similar 

 sensation must have been excited, and it would not have been 

 left to the ingenuity of the half learned and the half honest to 

 search for the skeleton of the invention among the rubbish of the 

 16th and IJth centuries. 



The individuals who have been most eager in this search, did 

 not, perhaps, calculate the degree of mischief which they have 

 done to those who have been led, upon their authority, to en- 

 croach upou the rights of others, and thus sul)ject themselves to 

 verv serious consequences. The delay which has taken place in 

 commencing le^^al proceedings, has not arisen from any doubt 

 of the complete originality of the kaleidoscope, and of the defen- 

 sibility of the patent. As soon as the patentee has made himself 

 acquainted with the circumstance of the individuals who have 

 invaded his patent, vvith the channels through which they have 

 exported their instruments, and with the amount of the damage 

 w^hich they have done, he will seek for that redress which the 

 law never fails to afford in cases of notorious and unprovoked 

 piracy. We are well assured, that it never was the intention 

 or the wish of Dr. Brewster to interfere with the operations of 

 those poor individuals who have gained a livelihood from the 

 manufacture of kaleidoscopes. We know that it will always be 

 a source of no inconsiderable gratification to him, that he has 

 given employment to thousands of persons, whom the pressure 

 of the times had driven into indigence ; and even if a decision 

 in favour of his patent were given, he would never think of en- 

 forcing it, excepting against that class of opulent pirates, who 

 have been actuated by no other motive but the exorbitant love 

 of gain, in wantonly encroaching upon the property of another. 



The patent kaleidoscopes are now made in London, under 

 Dr. Brewster's sanction, by Messrs. P. and G. DoUond, W. and 

 S. Jones, Mr. R. B. Bate, Messrs. Thomas Harris and Son, 

 Mr. Bancks, Mr. Berge, Mr. Thomas Jones, Mr. Blunt, Mr. 

 Schmalcalder, Messrs. Watkins and Hill, and Mr. Smith. An 

 account of the different forms in which these ingenious opticians 

 have fitted up the kaleidoscope, and of the new contrivances by 

 >vhich they have given it additional value, will be given in Dr. 

 Brewster's Treatise on the Kaleidoscope, now in the press. The 



public 



