158 LETTERS ON NATURAL MAGIC. 



The power of the magic lantern has been greatly ex- 

 tended by placing it on one side of the transparent screen 

 of taffetas which receives the images while the spectators 

 are placed on the other side, and by making every part of 

 the glass sliders opaque, excepting the part which forms 

 the figures. Hence all the figures appear luminous on a 

 black ground, and produce a much greater effect with the 

 same degree of illumination. An exhibition depending 

 on these principles was brought out by M. Pliilipstal in 

 1802 under the name of the Phantasmagoria, and when it 

 was shown in London and Edinburgh it produced the 

 most impressive effects upon the spectators. The small 

 theatre of exhibition was lighted only by one hanging 

 lamp, the dame of which was drawn up into an opaque 

 chimney or shade when the performance began. In this 

 " darkness visible " the curtain rose, and displayed a cave 

 with skeletons and other terrific figures in relief upon its 

 walls. The flickering light was then drawn up beneath 

 its shroud, and the spectators, in total darkness, found 

 themselves in the middle of thunder and lightning. A 

 thin transparent screen had, unknown to the spectators, 

 been let down after the disappearance of the light, and 

 upon it the flashes of lightning and all the subsequent 

 appearances were represented. This screen being half- 

 way between the spectators and the cave which was first 

 shown, and being itself invisible, prevented the observers 

 from having any idea of the real distance of the figures, 

 and gave them the entire character of aerial pictures. 

 The thunder and lightning were followed by the figures 

 of ghosts, skeletons, and known individuals, whose eyes 

 and mouth were made to move by the shifting of combined 

 sliders. After the first figure had been exhibited for a 

 short time, it began to grow less and less, as if removed 

 to a great distance, and at last vanished in a small cloud 

 of light. Out of this same cloud the germ of another 



