JOHN'S EXPERIMENT. 21 



CHAPTER H 



WONDER AND MYSTERY. 



JOHN was quite surprised at one phenomenon which pre- 

 sented itself to his attention in performing his experiment. 

 While he was making his preparations, Lawrence remained 

 on the sofa, intending, as soon as he found that John had 

 succeeded in bringing the light to a focus and producing 

 an image of the candle, to go and see it. But John seemed 

 to encounter some difficulty, and presently he said that he 

 could not manage the spectacles, for he could not keep the 

 bow out of the way. 



" If I take them by one of the glasses," he said, " and 

 hold the other glass up for the light to shine through, the 

 upper bow falls down over it, the joints are so loose." 



" Never mind," replied Lawrence ; " let it fall." 



" Then that will make a blank bar across my picture," 

 said John. 



" No," replied Lawrence ; " try it and see." 



So John held one of the glasses up, with the bow belong- 

 ing on that side hanging down over it, and then, placing 

 his card against the wall, he moved the glass to and fro, 

 so as to find the right distance for producing a distinct 

 image. He expected, of course, that the shadow of the 

 bow would be seen extending from above down over the 

 picture, if he succeeded in producing any picture. 



But, quite to his surprise, he soon obtained a very excel- 

 lent image of the candle, and without any shadow, or dark 

 bar, or any other indication of the bow at all, to disfigure 

 it. The image was reversed, it is true that is, it was up- 

 side down but it was very distinct and very beautiful. 



