the death of thousands, but it might have intuitively obeyed its old employer's mind, and discharged itself. This hypothesis being novel, we leave the solution to the cu

rious.

ALL THE WORLD A KALEIDOSCOPE.

SHAKESPEARE informs us that "all the world's a stage;" divines have remarked, that "all the world's a hospital of incura. bles;" and writers of other classes have given it such appellations as their judgment, their prejudice, or their fancy, suggested. For my own part, I think that the world, with all its freaks, its inconsistencies, and its crimes, is but a Kaleidoscope; a proposition which, as my readers may find some difficulty in conceiving, I shall proceed with all due exactness to illustrate and apply.

Now, I am aware that, as an answer at once to this proposition, it will be urged that the Kaleidoscope is quite a new invention; and that, consequently, I must have totally mistaken the colour and character of the world, before I could have found or fixed such a resemblance. To this I shall only reply, that, without at all disputing Dr. Brewster's patent, or claiming the invention for any of those philosophers, dead or living, whose names have been mentioned as the authors of the discovery, I think I can prove, by evidence the most satisfactory, that the world both is and ever has been a Kaleidoscope, from the very days of Adam to the present time.

For what, let me ask, is a Kaleidoscope? It is a machine in which, by means of an optical deception, a few pieces of tawdry glass and tinsel acquire apparent symmetry and beauty, adjusting themselves in a ceaseless variety of novel and amusing forms, and leading us to hope that each new change may be still more attractive than the last. Such is also the world. Divines, and moralists, sacred and profane, have all concurred to tell us that it is a scene of "vanity and vexation of spirit;"-but who, let me ask, believes them? Seen through the kaleidoscope of youth and inexperience, this same world is all beauty and fascination. Its vagaries and incongruities are forgotten, or perhaps even appear perfectly symmetrical and regular. It is impossible to convince men, till time or a Higher Power convinces them, that all this scene of apparent delight and brilliancy is but an optical illusion, which the next moment may destroy. Yet this fact is equally certain, notwithstanding the incredulity of mankind: nay, we often perceive it in the case of another, when we cannot in our own. When, for example, we see a child surveying with eager eye its first chilling, and summoning

up all the powers of its invention to know in what manner to expend the apparently exhaustless treasure, all the world, except the child itself, must be perfectly convinced that he views his solitary coin through a kaleidoscope, which has multiplied it in his imagination to an extent which the result cannot possibly justify. The same remark may be applied to the though ess spendthrift and the sanguine heir. And when, a young lawyer, just eating his way to the bar, sees maces and woolsacks floating before him; or a young divine, mitres and lawn-sleeves; or an apprentice, civic chains and titles; or a youthful beauty, splendid equipages and establishments-all which every spectator is well convinced there is not the most remote prospect of their ever enjoying-must we not say that such characters employ a kaleidoscope, which though it may amuse their imaginations by its phantoms, has no power to regulate their judgment to a due perception of the illusions with which they are surrounded?

In short, imagine that every man keeps his own kaleidoscope, fitted up and adapt ed for his own peculiar powers of vision, and which will therefore seldom suit any other eye. One person, for instance, views every thing through the kaleidoscope of party; and it is astonishing with what powers of optical deception this particular kaleidoscope is often furnished. I have seen instances of this in the late election. An individual, for example, of flagrantly immoral habits; or another of revolutionary and destructive political principles; or another of hopelessly wayward and inconsistent character; or another of blind, indiscriminate unmeaning attachment to what is called "the high" or "the low" party, instantly becomes, when viewed through this kaleidoscope, all that is consistent and worthy of approbation. The very darkest shades in his character assume an apparent symmetry and beauty. Indeed, so powerful an instru ment is a party kaleidoscope, that I never knew a bad man, or a bad measure, either in church or state, that might not be made to appear for a moment tolerably respectable by its aid.

The controversial kaleidoscope has much the same effect. I have known, for example, many a man, after taking up a system of religion which appeared, and justly so, to every other person, harsh, confused, and disjointed, expatiate upon the unity and

in

congruity of his scheme, and point out, with no ordinary self-complacency, how perfectly the tints were blended and the parts adjusted to each other. A good Calvinistic or Arminian kaleidoscope can perform wonders in this way; though, unluckily, as but one person can look through the same aperture at the same time, an exactly the same disposition of the objects, it seldom happens that the kaleidoscopist can impart to others the exact views which have made so great an impression on his own mind. Two forms or colours which appear perfectly to suit each other in one position, become displeasing the moment that aspect is changed; and it is often quite impossible, even for the individual himself, to recover the original position which so much delighted his imagination. Indeed, having found, by repeated experience, innumerable inconveniences in managing Calvinistic and Arminian kaleidoscopes; and, particularly, having discovered that although in some positions each will do very well, in others it will present objects in very disgusting forms, and with very unnatural distortions; I have been induced in my own practice to blend the two instruments, or rather to select from each the best and fairest gems, and to combine them as well as I was able in order to form a third, which, though not altogether perfect, seems to answer my purpose tolerably well. I have found the same plan useful also in many similar cases.

Having thus endeavoured cursorily to prove that "all the world's a kaleidoscope," I trust your readers will not objeet to my stating the moral advantages which I think they ought to derive from the discovery. The chief benefit that occurs to my own mind, is the importance of being aware of the illusions to which we are subject, and the necessity of adjusting our kaleidoscopes as well as we possibly can for the purpose of our true happiness and welfare. For this end I would recommend every man frequently to open his kaleidoscope, and examine its contents. An apparently small alteration will often produce a most important and beneficial change in the character of the images which lie before him.

Does he, for instance, view the world as one bright and glaring scene; thus both neglecting a better world, and preparing himself for innumerable disappointments in

this? Let him convince himself of the il

lusion: let him view, in their simple form, and colour, and magnitude, those objects which have so greatly enraptured his eye, but which, upon minuter inspection, will prove to be but beads and baubles, shreds of finery, and fragments of variegated glass; of which the only wonder is, how they could appear for a moment, or under any possible illusion, so interesting and splendid to a rational and immortal being. The young and gay and sanguine observer, will VOL. 1.-No. vi.

60

often derive much practical advantage from discovering how much he has been deceived by mere impression, and how little real worth and reality there often is in many of the most gay and glittering scenes which pass before his enraptured eye. On the other hand, the gloomy and unhappy will find not less advantage in adopting the same process. It was, perhaps, but one sombre object that gave the melancholy tinge to the whole kaleidoscope, and which being taken away, or a few more cheerful objects thrown in, the general appearance would be materially improved. Why, then, constantly select the most distressing appearances, and place before the eye the most dark and lowering hues, when, notwithstanding all the miseries ever existing in the world, there is an infinity of brighter shades, and more cheerful objects, with which we may lawfully enliven our sphere of vision. Indeed, the mixture and succession of dark and light, of grave and cheerful, is always so uncertain, and oftentimes so rapid, in the kaleidoscope of life, that it would be worse than folly, in any thing human, to rejoice without sorrow, or to sorrow without rejoicing. The very next turn may change the whole scene: the liveliest images may succeed to the most melancholy, or the most melancholy to the liveliest; disorder and deformity may give way to symmetry and beauty, or beauty and syminetry to deformity and disarrangement. To hope, therefore, in adversity, and to be humble in prosperity, to correct our views of life, and to be prepared for the approach of death, is not less the advice of Reason than of Scripture. [Christian Observer.

NEW DISCOVERY IN OPTICS.

A very interesting and important discoand projection of light, by Mr. Lester, envery has lately been made on the increase gineer. As this discovery will form a new era in optics, a record of its history must prove interesting to the scientific world, and, as such, we shall briefly lay before our readers the following account of it by a correspondent.

India Docks for the purpose of applying Mr. Lester being engaged at the Westhis new mechanical power, The Convertor, to cranes, by which the labour of winches is performed by rowing, &c. on taking a view of the immense spirit vaults, he was forcibly struck by the inefficient mode adopted to light those very extensive and wonderful depôts,* which is by a cast-iron cylinder of about two feet in diameter, and two feet deep, placed in lieu of a key-stone in the centre of each arch;-these cylin nished with five plano-convex lenses (bull's ders are closed at their tops, and each fur

* One of which is nearly an acre and an half in area, and is supported by 207 groined arches and 207 stone pillars.

eyes) of Messrs. Pellatt and Green's patent, which are admirably adapted to the couveying of light in all situations, except down a deep tube or cylinder, where the refrac tion they produce, (in consequence of their convex forms) betwixt the angles of incidence and reflection, prevents the rays from being projected into the place intended to be lighted. This refraction throws the light upon the concave sides of the cylinder, where it is principally absorbed, instead of keeping the angles of incidence and reflection equal.

From these observations, Mr. Lester concluded, that a lens might be so constructed as to prevent this refraction, and commenced a course of experiments for that purpose. He succeeded by obtaining the proper angle of the incidental rays with a mirror, and finding the scope of the cylinder sufficiently copious to admit the reflected rays into the vault, provided the refraction of the lens did not intervene. The same angle produced by the mirror he endeavoured to retain upon the sides of the lens, by giving it a different form, a peculiar part of which he intended to foliate. But having met with insurmountable difficulties in this process, he concluded, from the striking appearance of silvery light upon the interior surface of that part he intended to silver, that metal would represent the light by retaining that form, and, brought down below the edges of the lens, might produce the desired effect. In his attempt to accomplish this purpose, by holding the body in a vertical position between the eye and a candle, a flash of light was instantly produced, by representing the flame of the candle magnified to the size of the whole of the inner surface of this piece of metal, and gave an increased light upon the wall opposite to him. After this discovery, he had several pieces of metal formed, retaining the same angle, but of various diameters, and found to his great surprise, that, although their area were greatly increased, the representation of the flame still filled them without the least diminution in the quality of the light, but with an increased light against the wall, in proportion to the increased area of the surface of the metal.* How far this power and effect may extend, is not at present ascertained; but it is believed that a zone of light of the same quality and effect may be produced to an inconceivable extent. Some idea may be formed of the powerful and important results that may be derived from this discovery, by reasoning philosophically on its

*This invention is not confined solely to light, but the increase of heat keeps pace with the increase of light, and both in the ratio of the area of the surface.

The apparatus is so constructed as to be placed upon a candle, and sinks down with the flame, without either flooding or waste.

principles:-Let a candle or any other light be represented in a mirror at a given distance from the flame, and the eye of the spectator be placed so as to view its reflection nearly in the cathetus of incidence. Let him mark the quantity of light represented in the mirror, and such will be its true quality when forming a zone of represented flaine of double the diameter of the distance betwixt the real flame and the mirror.

If a candle be placed before a mirror, its flame will be represented; and if a thousand mirrors are placed in a given circle round a candle, the candle will be represented a shousand times, and each representation equal in brilliancy, if the mirrors are at equal distances from the flame. Suppose that the thousand mirrors were united in such a form as to bring all the represented flames into one fiame, of equal bril liancy with the real flame of the candle. For the same law of nature by which the flame is represented a thousand times in as many mirrors so united, it would be represented in one flame if the mirror be made of a proper form, and placed in a proper position to receive the rays of light that emanate from the candle in the direction of the angle of this peculiar formed mirror.

As the light of a small candle is visible at the distance of four miles in a dark night, what must be the diameter or circumference of that zone of flame be that is produced by this discovery from one of the gas lights in the streets of London? Thus two lamps or stations would be sufficient to light the longest street, when its position approaches to a right line, as the diameter of the zone may be made of the same diameter as the street; and as the rays of light that are increased by this invention diverge from the luminous body, all parts of the street would be filled with light. Many are the minor advantages that will be derived from its application to domestic purposes, for writ ing, reading, and working by candle or lamp light. This, like Dr. Brewster's kaleidoscope, is another instance of the effects to be produced by mirrors.

It appears that the great impediment to improvement and discovery in this branch of the science of optics, has arisen from the difficulty of foiling glass to the various forms necessary, in lieu of which we have been compelled to use metallic substances. These difficulties once removed, a vast field of important discovery will be opened on the nature and effect of light. May not many of the phenomena that are observed in the air, such as halos round the sun, be produced by this principle, the rays falling upon a denser medium than air, and thus producing a zone of light? &c.

The further particulars of this important discovery we hope to lay before our readers in a future number.

[Philosophical Magazine

THE INCOMBUSTIBLE MAN.

There is so much of philosophy mixed up with common show, in the exhibition of Ivan Ivanitz Chabert, that we presume on some account of the phenomena he exibits being acceptable. This person, and a Signora Girardelli, have recently revived the public attention to certain curious powers, either naturally possessed or artificially communicated to the human frame. We have not seen the performances of the lady, but from the report of friends, and a very clever and accurate account of them in Constable's Edinburgh Magazine, and from our own remarks upon those of the male "Fireproof," we shall endeavour to bring the matter sufficiently under the eye of our readers.

The power of resisting the action of heat has been claimed, and to a certain wonderful degree enjoyed, by persons in all ages. Much of imposture has been founded upon it, and much of injustice perpretrated under its operation. By the ancients, and by the comparatively moderns, by Hindus and by Christians, it has been made the test of truth or the trial of faith. Sophocles mentions it in the Antigone, and Virgil and Varro tell us, that the priests of Apollo on Mount Soracte would walk over burning coals with naked feet. The priests of the temple of Feronia were, according to Strabo, equally incombustible. The Saludadores or Santiguadores, of Spain, pretended to prove their descent from St. Catharine by this ordeal, and one of them carried the jest of imposition so far, that he went into an oven and was literally baked to a cinder. The earliest instance of fire ordeal in Christendom occurred in the fourth century, when Simplicius, Bishop of Autun, and his wife (married before his promotion, and living with him after it,) demonstrated the Platonic purity of their intercourse, by putting burning coals upon their flesh without injury. This miracle was repeated by St. Brice about a century after; and it is generally known to what a monstrous pitch the trial by fire was carried through many succeeding ages, when craft was canonized and innocence martyred upon frauds like these. Pope Etienne 5th condemned all trials of this kind as false and superstitious, and Frederick the 2d prohibited them as absurd and ridiculous.

From being the object of religious belief, and of judicial importance, the fetes of human salamanders descended into itinerant wonders. About 1677, an Englishman, named Richardson, exbibited in Paris; and M. Dodart, an Academician, published in the Journal des Savans, an explanation of his performances on rational principles. They seem to have been of the same nature with those of Madame Girardelli and M. Chabert; chewing and swallowing burning coals, licking a hot iron with his tongue, &c. In 1754, the famous Mr. Powell, the fire-eater, distinguished himself in England,

an account of whose exploits is contained in the Gentleman's Magazine for February 1755: and so late as 1803, the incombustible Spaniard, Senor Lionetto, performed in Paris, where he attracted the particular attention of Dr. Sementini, Professor of Chemistry, and other scientific gentlemen of that city. It appears that a considerable vapour and smell rose from the parts of his body to which the fire and heated substances were applied, and in this he differs from both the persons now in this country.

In M. Chabert's bill the following are announced as the "extraordinary proofs of his supernatural power of resisting the most intense heat of every kind; and he pledges himself that no slight of hand, as is usual in these things, will be practised:

1. He will forge with his feet a bar of red hot iron.

2. He will undergo the torture by fire, as used in the Spanish Inquisition.

5. He will drink, positively, boiling oil. 4. He will drop on his tongue a large quantity of burning sealing wax, from which any of the company may take impressions of their reals.

5. He will eat burning charcoal.

6. He will inspirate the flame of a torch. 7. Will bathe his feet in boiling lead, and pour it into his mouth with his hand.

8. Will pour the strongest aqua-fortis on steel filings, and trample on it with his bare feet.

9. Will rub a red-hot shovel on his arms and legs, and hold it on his head until the hair shall be too warm for any by-stander to hold his hand on it.

10. He will pour vitriol, oil, and arsenic into the fire, and hold his head in the flames and inhale the vapours.

11. He will eat of a lighted torch with a fork, as if it were salad.

12. Will pour aqua-fortis on a piece of copper in the hollow of his hand.

Of these undertakings, what he actually did was as follows:

1. He took a red hot iron, like a spade, and repeatedly struck it or stamped briskly upon it, with the sole of his bare foot The foot was quite cool after the experiment.

2. He held his naked foot long over the flame of a candle, which did not seem to affect it in the slightest degree, though in contact with the skin.

3. Oil appeared to boil in a small brazier, and he took nearly two table spoonfuls into his mouth and swallowed it. In the former experiments there could not, by possibility, be any trick; and, in the latter, if there was any deception, it must have been by having some preparation at the bottom of the brazier, which a slight heat caused to bubble up through the oil, and give it the semblance without the reality of boiling. The spoon was, however hot; but we think not so much so as if the oil it had lifted had been really at a boiling temperature.

4. The writer of this notice took two impressions of his seal in black sealing wax dropped on Chabert's tongue. It was very thin, but undoubtedly dropt melting from a lighted candle.

5. He put several small pieces of burning charcoal into his mouth.

6. Not done.

7. A quantity of melted lead was poured into a utensil like a washing copper, into which Chabert leapt barefooted. It did appear to us, however, that he stood upon his heels in a part of the vessel, over which the metal did not flow. With regard to pouring the boiling lead into his mouth, he seemed to lift a small quantity of what either was or resembled boiling lead, from the crucible to his mouth, and thence spit it into a plate in a sort of granular state. We could not minutely examine this experiment, but it is possible that mercury might be introduced to give a fluid the resemblance of boiling lead. Nor is it likely that lead could be lifted in this way with the fingers.

8. Done according to the programme, but it cannot be ascertained that the aqua-fortis was “the strongest,” and if not, there is little marvellous in the exploit.

9. Nearly correct. He waited some time with a shovel in his hand while explaining what he was about to do; he then scraped up his arm with the edge of it, and subsequently licked it with his tongue, and smoothed his hair with its flat side. The hair felt hot in consequence, but there was no smell, no vapour, nor any appearance of singeing. The tongue looked white and furry-the moisture on it hissed.

10. Not done.

11 and 12 performed as stated. The blazing salad was visible in his open mouth, near the throat, for several seconds, and had an extraordinary effect in lighting this human vault in so unusual a manner.

It is thus evident, that whatever there may be of deception in these performances, there is still enough of the curious to merit attention. M. Chabert asserts, that he is the only naturally incombustible being exhibiting; the others using preparations which he dis claims. He is a dark, stout, not unpleasant looking man, and, as he says, a Russian by birth. His story is, that he fell into the fire when a year old without suffering any injury; and a similar accident when he wss twelve, from which he also escaped unburnt, demonstrated that he possessed the quality of resisting fire.

Of course we cannot determine what may be depended upon in this statement. How much of the power clearly possessed to resist greater degrees of heat than other men may be a natural gift, how much the result of chemical applications, and how much from having the parts indurated by long practice-probably all three are combined in this phenomena. Of the recipes for rendering the skin and flesh fire-proof, Albertus Magnus, in his work De Mirabilus

Mundi, writes, "Take juice of marshmal low, and white of egg, and flea-bane seeds, and lime; powder them, and mix juice of radish with the white of egg; mix all thoroughly, and with this composition anoint your body or hand, and allow it to dry, and afterwards anoint again, and after this you may boldly take up hot iron without hurt." Such a paste would be very visible." Pare spirit of sulphur," rubbed on the parts, is said to have been the secret practised by Richardson. "Spirit of sulphur, sal ammoniac, essence of rosemary, and onion juice," is another of the recipes. The book of Hocus Pocus prescribes "1-2 oz. camphire dissolved in 2 oz. aqua-vitæ ; add 1 oz. quicksilver, 1 oz. liquid storax, which is the droppings of myrrh, and hinders the camphire from firing,-take also 2 oz. hematatis, which is a red stone, to be had at the druggists, which being put to the above composition, anoint well your feet with it, and you may walk over a red hot iron bar, without the least inconvenience."

No doubt but diluted sulphuric, nitric, or muriatic acid, or a saturated solution of burnt alum, being repeatedly rubbed on the skin, will render it less sensible to the action of caloric. Hard soap, or a soap paste rubbed over the tongue, will preserve it from being burnt by a hot iron rapidly passed over it.

After all, however, habit must be a principal agent in the attainment of the very considerable insensibility to heat, which, making every allowance for dexterity and deception, this person evidently possesses. His contact with the hottest instruments was but momentary; and it is well known that blacksmiths, plumbers, glass makers, confectioners, and other tradesmen, whose occupations lead them to the endurance of great fires, are capable of sustaining heat far beyond the powers of other men. Moisture too, skilfully employed, will do much in preserving the flesh from danger. A wet finger may be safely dipt into a pan of boiling sugar, and even without being wet, if instantly withdrawn and plunged in water; a thin crust of sugar may be thus without danger, obtained.

We have thought this subject deserving of the notice we have taken of it. As for the offer to go into an oven with a leg of mutton, &c. we look upon it as one of those quack bravadoes thrown out to attract the multitude; and of a similar cast is M. Chaubert's very humane and whimsical in vitation, "in cases of sudden fire, if called on, he will be most happy to help any fellow-creature," &c. We should be sorry to remain in the fire till even an incombusti ble gentleman was sent for, express, to come to our relief; and, indeed, would rather go to visit him, as we advise those to do who agree with us in considering these extraordinary performances as very different from mere slight of hand and show.

[London Literary Gaselle.