ADDITIONAL PHENOMENA 



OF 



NATURAL MAGIC. 



CHAPTEE I. 



Optical illusions The Mirage of the desert Belzoni's description 

 Quintus Curtius's account Probable cause Apathy of the Arabs 

 and neglect of the example of the patriarchs Prospect of a 

 remedy Optical illusion of Mr. W. G. S. Association of ideas 

 Cause of vividness of such phenomena And of dreams over 

 ordinary events Magic lantern improved by photography 

 and the improvements in artificial light, &c. Professor Pepper's 

 ghost The decapitated head speaking Floating cherubs The 

 automatic Leotard The high merits of these Polytechnic in- 

 ventions Herr Frikel's " Masks and Faces " Aurora Borealis 

 Sensitive flames Shadow pantomime. 



ON the subject of optical illusions little falls to be added 

 to the preceding Letters, beyond what Sir David Brewster 

 has already so fully written. The mirage in the Arctic 

 regions has been considerably dilated on in more recent 

 voyages than those Sir David has referred to, but 

 nothing has been added to the interest of this phenomenon 

 which would be regarded as more than mere amplification 

 of details in the present volume. The following, on 

 what is called the mirage in the desert, however, possesses 

 sufficiently distinctive features to justify notice. M. 

 Belzoni, writing of the desert in Upper Egypt, on the 

 western side of the Eed Sea, which he crossed, and which 



2 D 



