The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Wonders of Optics, by Fulgence Marion This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this eBook. Title: The Wonders of Optics Author: Fulgence Marion Translator: Charles W. Quin Release Date: April 19, 2021 [eBook #65114] Language: English Character set encoding: UTF-8 Produced by: deaurider, Barry Abrahamsen, and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive) *** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE WONDERS OF OPTICS *** The cover image was created by the transcriber and is placed in the public domain. THE WONDERS OF OPTICS. Spectrum showing the absorptive power of Sodium vapour (Fig. 6). Solar Spectrum (Fig. 5). Action of a prism on a ray of light (Fig. 7). Eng.d by A. Robin N.Y. I THE WONDERS OF OPTICS. BY F. MARION. TRANSLATED FROM THE FRENCH, AND EDITED BY CHARLES W. QUIN, F.C.S. ILLUSTRATED WITH SEVENTY ENGRAVINGS ON WOOD, AND A COLOURED FRONTISPIECE. NEW YORK: CHARLES SCRIBNER’S SONS, SUCCESSORS TO SCRIBNER, ARMSTRONG, & CO. II PREFACE. The present work needs but little introduction to the English public. The author, M. F. Marion, who holds a high official scientific position in Paris, is well known, especially in Europe, as a popular writer on the “Wonders of Optics,” and kindred subjects. As a rule, the original text has been strictly adhered to by the Translator, but in a few instances certain anecdotes of a local character have been altered so as to be more generally applicable, or condensed to make room for the chapter on the Spectroscope, which is entirely original. ix CONTENTS. PART I. THE PHENOMENA OF VISION. CHAPTER I. PAGE THE EYE 15 CHAPTER II. THE STRUCTURE OF THE EYE 22 CHAPTER III. THE ERRORS OF THE EYE 30 CHAPTER IV. OPTICAL ILLUSIONS 36 CHAPTER V. THE APPRECIATION OF COLOUR 44 CHAPTER VI. ILLUSIONS CAUSED BY LIGHT ITSELF 53 CHAPTER VII. THE INFLUENCE OF THE IMAGINATION 60 PART II. THE LAWS OF LIGHT. CHAPTER I. WHAT IS LIGHT? 73 CHAPTER II. xi xii THE SOLAR SPECTRUM 84 CHAPTER III. OTHER CAUSES OF COLOUR 94 CHAPTER IV. LUMINOUS, CALORIFIC, CHEMICAL, AND MAGNETIC PROPERTIES OF THE SPECTRUM 100 CHAPTER V. THE LAWS OF REFLECTION.—MIRRORS 106 CHAPTER VI. METALLIC BURNING MIRRORS 117 CHAPTER VII. LENSES 127 CHAPTER VIII. OPTICAL INSTRUMENTS.—THE SIMPLE AND COMPOUND MICROSCOPE. THE SOLAR AND PHOTO-ELECTRIC MICROSCOPE 141 CHAPTER IX. THE TELESCOPES OF GALILEO, GREGORY, NEWTON, HERSCHEL, LORD ROSSE, AND FOUCAULT 150 PART III. NATURAL MAGIC. CHAPTER I. THE MAGIC LANTERN 173 CHAPTER II. THE PHANTASMAGORIA 183 xiii CHAPTER III. OTHER OPTICAL ILLUSIONS 196 CHAPTER IV. THE PROPERTIES OF MIRRORS 216 CHAPTER V. CHINESE SHADOWS 223 CHAPTER VI. POLYORAMA—DISSOLVING VIEWS—DIORAMA 231 CHAPTER VII. THE STEREOSCOPE 236 CHAPTER VIII. THE CAMERA OBSCURA AND CAMERA LUCIDA 242 CHAPTER IX. THE SPECTROSCOPE 249 CHAPTER X. SPECTRES—THE GHOST ILLUSION 264 xiv LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. FIG. PAGE 1. Section of the Eye 24 2. A Camera Obscura 27 3. The Phenakistiscope 54 4. Disc of the Phenakistiscope 55 5. Solar Spectrum Frontispiece 6. Absorption of Light by Sodium Vapour ib. 7. Action of a Prism on the Solar Rays ib. 8. The Recomposition of Light 86 9. Recomposition of Light by means of a Concave Mirror 87 10. Recomposition of Light by means of a number of Mirrors 88 11. Newton’s Disc 89 12. Newton’s Rings 95 13. Reflection from Plane Surfaces 107 14. Refraction 108 15. Experimental Proof of Refraction ib. 16. The Effects of Plane Mirrors 109 17. Reflection from the Surface of Water 110 18. Concave Mirror 111 19. Conjugate Foci 113 20. Virtual Focus 114 21. Concave Mirror ib. 22. Magnifying Effect of Concave Mirrors 115 23. The Reversal of real Images ib. 24. Diminishing Power of Convex Mirrors 116 25. Burning Mirror 124 26. Double Convex Lens 127 27. Forms of Lenses 128 28. Path of a Ray through a Convex Lens 129 29. Path of Divergent Rays through a Convex Lens ib. 30. Conjugate Foci 130 31. Images formed by Convex Lenses 131 32. Magnifying Property of Convex Lenses 132 33. Diminishing Effect of Concave Lenses ib. 34. Cannon of the Palais Royal 134 35. Fresnel’s Lighthouse Apparatus 136 36. Lantern of a First-Class Lighthouse 140 37. The Compound Microscope 143 38. The Theory of the Compound Microscope 144 39. Photo-Electric Microscope 147 40. Solar Microscope 148 41. The Galilean Telescope 155 42. The Astronomical Telescope 156 43. Section of an Astronomical Telescope 157 44. Section of the Gregorian Telescope 160 xv xvi 45. Gregorian Telescope 161 46. Section of a Newtonian Telescope 162 47. Herschellian Telescope 164 48. Foucault’s Large Telescope 169 49. Foucault’s Small Telescope 171 50. Section of the Magic Lantern 179 51. Magic Lantern 182 52. The Phantasmagoria 184 53. The Phantascope 185 54. Phantasmagoria (Robertson) 194 55. Wizard Dance 198 56. Nostradamus and Marie de Médicis 201 57. The Arrangement of the Reversing Prism 203 58. The Goat Trick 205 59. How to see through a Brick 207 60. The Polemoscope 210 61. Protection against ill-natured People 213 62. 218 63. Anamorphosis 220 64. Effect of Cut Paper-work 225 65. Seditious Toys 229 66. Diorama 234 67. 237 68. Stereoscope 238 69. The Principle of the Refracting Stereoscope 239 70. The Camera Obscura 243 71. Section of Camera Lucida 247 72. The Spectre—an Optical Illusion 269 73. How to produce Spectres 271 THE WONDERS OF OPTICS. PART I. THE PHENOMENA OF VISION. 15