A WEEKLY ILLUSTRATED JOURNAL OF SCIENCE 



" To the solid ground 

 Of Nature trusts the mind which builds for aye." — Wordsworth 



No. 485, Vol. 19] 



THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 13, 1879 



[Price Sixpence 



Registered as a Newspaper at the General Pjst Office.] 



[All Rights are Reserved. 



JAPANESE MAQIO MIBROES. 



MR. JOHN BROWNING has a limited number of genuine rare 

 Japanese Bronze Mirrors. The polished reflecting surface of these 

 mirrors is coated with a quicksilver amalgam, and when looked at 

 shows no trace whatever of the desi^ in relief on the back, but 

 when a sunbeam, or other bright light, is reflected from the surface 

 on to a screen, there is seen on the screen an image of the raised 

 pattern consisting of natural objects, geometrical figures, or Chinese 

 symbols signifying "long-life," "happiness," &c. 



" The explanation cf the magic of this Eastern Mirror arises, not, 

 as has been supposed, from a subtle trick on the part of the maker, 

 nor from inlaying of other metals, nor from hardening of portions 

 by stamping, but from the natural property possessed by certain 

 thin bronze of buckling under a bending stress so as to remain 

 strained in the opposite direction after the stress is removed. And 

 this stress is applied partly by the megebo, or ' distorting rod,' and 

 partly by the subsequent polishing which in an exactly similar way 

 tends to make the thinner parts more convex than the thicker." — 

 " The Magic Mirror of Japan," Professors Ayrton and Perry, Froc. 

 Royal Societ)', December 12, 1878. 



" The Mirror ranks far higher in Japan than our notions of a 

 looking-glass would allow us to imagine, and takes the place of the 

 cross in Roman Cathohc countries. The ' two-great-divine-palaces ' 

 at Ise, containing the yata no kagami, the first made mirror, have in 

 the eyes of the Japanese the same importance as has the Holy 

 Sepulchre for the Greeks and Armenians, and Mecca for the 

 Mahommedans. The Mirror, therefore, constitutes the most im- 

 portant part of the regalia of the Japanese sovereigns." — "The 

 Mirror of Japan and its Magic Quality," Prof. Ayrton, the Friday 

 Evening Lecture, the Royal Institution, January 24, 1879. 



Prices Five, Four, and Three Guineas, depending on the Perfection 



of the Reflecttd Image. 



JOHN BROWNING, 



OPTICAL AND PHYSICAL INSTRUMENT MAKER TO H.M. GOVERNMENT, THE ROYAL SOCIETY, THE 



ROYAL. OBSERVATORY OF GREENWICH, AND THE OBSERVATORIES OF KEW, CAMBRIDGE. 



MELBOURNE, THE U.S. NAVAL OBSERVATORY, CAMBRIDGE AND HARVARD 



UNIVERSITIES, HOBOKEN COLLEGE, &c., &c. 



63, STRAND, 



FACTORY— SOUTHAMPTON STREET, LONDON, W.C. 



w.c. 



ESTABLISHED loo YEARS. 



