The Optical Magic Lantern Journal (March 1895)

49 The Optical Magic Lantern Journal and Photographic Enlarger. and are not put forward in explanation of the mysteries described by spiritualists, although they were originally no doubt designed to to imitate those phenomena. I wish to be perfectly plain and explicit on this point, as my remarks might otherwise cause pain and offend many worthy persons. One of the commonest manifestations of the presence of a spirit is the appearance of spots of light either singly or in clusters, frequently floating round the room, and as this is the easiest motion to accomplish by mechanical means, it is the most used. Fig. XNII. The spirit light (8) Fig. X°XII., may be represented by a small glass bottle filled with oil in which phosphorus has been dissolved, and which is attached to a long stick or fishinz rod. This is brought out from behind the proscenium by an assistant after the hall lights have been put out, and is made to float slowly round about and up and down over the heads of the audience. The best method of working these lights is to bring them forward, not one by one, but in a bunch of ten or twelve, and the light emanating from them is so undefined in shape that they do not appear as a bunch of lights but as one single nebulous -looking mass. Each single light can then be carefully detached from the main body, and as they float away in all directions the effect is very striking. In these movements much depends upon the care and skill exercised by the assistants, as the luminous objects if moved too quickly would at once, by their line of motion, put the spectators on the track. Another object which is always effective is the spectre kand, which is usually manufactured from an old glove stuffed with cotton wool and tied to the end of a fishing rod after being liber ally anointed with the luminous oil. During the course of an entertainment at which the writer was present, one of the audience rose from his seat and made a dash in the dark at the spirit hand with one of those walking sticks with a large crook on the end, so much affected by ‘‘ Mashers”’ at times, with the result that he hooked the pole, and, his stick sliding down, pulled the glove off the end, exposing the trick. With regard to the luminous substances with which these objects may be coated, the two mostly in use are, lst, oil impregnated with phosphorus, 2nd, Balmain’s luminous paint. I have had considerable experience in the use of this paint for entertainment purposes, and have always found it act in a most satisfactory manner. The best method is to prepare the objects we wish to render luminous by painting them with this paint, and when required for use have them arranged along the wall in a room off the platform, and cause an assistant to travel backwards and forwards along the line with a magnesium lamp so that they absorb plenty of light, and are rendered thoroughly luminous. If exhibited shortly after this treatment they are very brilliant, shining with a light resembling the phosphorescence of the sea. Tambourines, (A) Fig. XXII., can be treated / in the same manner as the lights and hands and form a good accompaniment to them, as a slight shake produces that jingling sound with which we are all familiar. It will be noticed that these luminous objects would be apparent to the audience the moment they were brought into the hall or theatre, but in order to avoid this they should be kept closely covered with a cloth until required for exhibition. It occurred to the writer that the effect upon the minds of the spectators would be much more striking if by any means the luminous appearance could be caused suddenly when the objects were at a distance from the stage. This would be very easy of accomplishment with the modern incandescent electric lamps obscured to the proper pitch, but the travelling lecturer would not always find it convenient to carry batteries of sufficient power together with the necessary chemicals for working them, so I devised the following arrangement :—EKach object we wished to send round over the heads of the audience was fastened to a circular piece of card coated with dead black, and sufficiently large to extend beyond it for several inches all round, as in (A) Fig. XXII. When brought into the hall the black backs were religiously kept towards the spectators, and in that position were projected outwards into the auditorium when a