RECREATIVE SCIENCE. 



objects ; consequently, as this kind of image is upright, it mutt 

 convey to the mind the idea of an inverted object." The j.lnlo- 

 nophiu reader would rather say it munt convey to the min'1 a 



reductio ad abturdmn. 



The fact in, that the rays from the 

 candle which pass through the hole v are 

 highly divergent, and, croaaing at the aper- 

 turo K, are inverted, and any opaque ob- 

 j.'.-t held in such rays would also bo 

 inverted. The increased site of the pin- 

 head is caused by its proximity to the eye, 

 and the greater angle subtended from that 

 encounter. 



The illusions produced by the reflection 

 of light may bo brought to a close by a 

 'description of a most amusing and very 

 startling effect, which the inventors, Mr. 

 Thomas Tobin and the writer, called " Blue 

 Beard's Closet ; or, the Effigy of the Dear 

 Defunct ;" provoking the question is it a 

 mask or a face P A slender white and gold 

 column, with a vase of flowers standing on 

 it, is apparent in the centre of a chamber 

 painted in the Alhambra style, and having 

 the lower port or skirting hung with crimson 

 cloth to the same height as the pillar, which is, say, three feet high, 

 and five inches in diameter. Into the back part of the pillar two 

 mirrors, cut in the shape shown in Fig. 5, with the edges ground 

 and polished, 

 are inserted 

 at an angle of 

 45 degrees, as 

 delineated in 

 the ground- 

 plan (Fig. 6). 

 By throw- 

 ing the light 

 skilfully from 

 the top, from 

 a point fac- 

 ing the mir- 

 rors arranged 

 in the pil- 

 lar standing 

 in the middle 

 of the cham- 

 ber, the fluted 

 pillar only is 

 visible with 

 the gene- 

 ral interior, 

 but the mir- 

 rors ore quite 

 invisible, be- 

 cause they re- 

 flect the sides 

 of the apart- 

 ment, and as 

 all objects ap- 

 pear to come 

 in a straight 

 lino from the 

 point where 

 they are 

 seen the spec- 

 tators think 

 they see the 

 back of the 

 aperture. 



The amuse- 

 ment then 

 begins by 

 Blue Beard 

 walking in 



and pretending to shed tears on the loss of his beloved Jumna, 

 hose effigy or bust he is supposed to keep locked up in a box, 

 which he proceeds to open, and, looking at the bust, displays it 

 to the andience, whilst making many hypocritical professions of 



his great attachment to the deceased lad/. Ho then remove* 

 the vase of flower*, and arrange* the boat in iU place on the 

 pedestal, and, being quite overcome with bin feeling*, spread* 



Fi K . 5. 



his handkerchief over it. He now exclaim*, 

 whilst lifting the handkerchief for a mo- 

 ment, " But just one parting look, and 

 then " and here, to his utter surprise, 

 the bast speaks, " Oh, Blue Beard, why 

 did yon kill me ? why did yon kill me t" 

 Blue Beard answers, " It does speak! Ah! 

 why did I kill you P because I loved yon." 

 But the bust replies, " You did not kill 

 me with kindness, yon brute ! " Blue 

 Beard replies, "Don't get excited," etc. 

 etc., and the bust having sung a song, and 

 made many insulting remarks about Blue 

 Beard, the latter rushes upon it, smothers 

 the bust again in his handkerchief, 

 and locks it up in the box, the bust 

 being heard in the box apparently to say, 

 " Let me out 1 let me out ! cruel, cruel 

 man !" 



This laughable, illusory scene (Fig. 7), 



p t D t s TA L . J B produced by a combination of effects. In 



the first place, the lighting of the chamber 

 is most important, and, if properly regulated, the spectators have 

 no conception that there are gloss silvered mirrors on each side 

 of the pedestal, behind which a real woman is concealed, whose 



face and style 

 of hair and 

 head-dress 

 has been 

 accurately 

 copied in 

 the wax bust. 

 When the 

 wax bust is 

 placed on the 

 pedestal and 

 covered with 

 the handker- 

 chief, Blue 

 Beard stands 

 in front, and 

 conceals from 

 the andience 

 the change 

 which is in- 

 stantly made, 

 by the living 

 woman plac- 

 ing her own 

 head on the 

 top of the pil- 

 lar, her body 

 being con- 

 cealed by the 

 glasses. She 

 therefrom 

 talks and 

 sings to the 

 astonishment 

 of the au- 

 dience ; and 

 when, at last, 

 Blue Beard 

 rushes upon 

 the bust, to 

 hide it with 

 his handker- 

 chief, the real 

 head is with- 

 drawn and 

 the wax one 



put on the pedestal, which is removed in the sight of the audience 

 and locked up in the box, the concealed woman crying out all 

 the time, " Let me out ! let me out i" and causing her voice to 

 become gradually weaker. 



