THE BROCKEN SPECTRE. 



295 



Generally the object is reflected upon a white curtain or 

 sheet, but sometimes, when a specially weird-like effect is 

 needed, a cloud of thick smoke takes the place of the sheet, and 



MAGIC LANTERN. 



upon it the reflection is shown, as seen m the accompanying 

 illustration. 



Nature has her Magic Lanterns as well as Art, and won- 

 derful things they are sometimes, the well-known Brocken 

 Spectre being an excellent example. It is not, however, neces- 

 sary to visit the Brocken in order to see this apparition, for I 

 have seen it in perfection in England. 



Many years ago, when living in Wiltshire, I went before 

 daybreak to the top of a very high conical hill. The morning 

 mist was so thick that I could scarcely see my way up the hill. 

 When I reached the summit, I stood there for some time, try- 

 ing to see the landscape, but the mist was so thick that I could 

 barely tell the points of the horizon by the brighter look cast 

 by the coming Day in the east. 



I was looking westward, when suddenly the sun rose behind 

 me, and I saw the Brocken Spectre as I have sketched it in 

 the accompanying illustration. It was a gigantic shadow of 

 myself, projected on the mist, just as a Magic Lantern projects 

 the image on a sheet or a smoke-cloud. Of course my gestures 

 were repeated, and it really looked almost awful to see this 

 gigantic spectral figure set in the mist. 



