Chapter V: Introduction (2)

Later astronomers credit Maurolico with having described the application of the _camera obscura_ method to an observation of eclipses (but this was done for the first recorded time by Bacon or his contemporaries). Maurolico knew the works of Bacon and John Peckham, another English Franciscan monk of the 13th century, and studied both carefully. In 1535 he wrote _Cosmographia_ and in later life studied the rays of light that make the phenomenon of the images appearing in a _camera obscura_, or any camera, possible without mentioning the apparatus or device or describing it. Being a mathematician primarily he was interested in that side of the problem and was not a practical demonstrator or showman.

Cesare Cesariano, an architect, painter and writer on art, made a reference to a light and shadow device which curiously has never been adequately explained. Cesariano was born in Milan in 1483 and died there on March 30, 1543. In 1528 he became architect to Carlo V and in 1533 architect to the city of Milan. In 1521 he designed the beautiful cathedral of Como.

While at Como, Cesariano prepared a translation and commentary on the _Architectura_ of Vitruvius, architect to Emperor Augustus, whose classic on the subject was rediscovered in the 15th century. Vitruvius’ book included a chapter on “Acoustic Properties of a Theatre”--a good subject for study even today. Cesariano’s edition was published at Como in 1521 with a note saying that after the sudden departure of the translator and commentator from Como the work was finished by Bruono Mariro and Benedetto Giovio. It was considered a marvelous work, to be in the vernacular and not in Latin. At this period people wanted to have books in their own language and not in Latin.

While commenting on the word, _spectaculum_, translated as a “sighting tube”, Cesariano described how a Benedictine monk and architect, Don Papnutio or Panuce, made a little sighting tube and fitted it into a small hole made for the purpose in a door. It was so arranged that no light could enter the room except through the small tube. The result was that outside objects were seen, with their own colors, in what really was a natural camera system. Of course, the images were upside down, as in any camera, without a special lens arrangement, but this fact was not noted by Cesariano.

The whole matter is perplexing. What is described is a “dark room” camera which, as has been observed, was never actually invented or discovered and was known for centuries. This Benedictine monk and architect may have made some refinements by carefully fitting the small opening to admit the light but that is all. At about this time, or a little earlier, the principles of the camera were set down by Leonardo da Vinci. The writer and other researchers have not been able to discover any trace of Benedettano Don Papnutio or Panuce. He certainly did not write any books or his name would be known to history and it would be possible to find more information about him and his work. There is no record of him in the Benedictine bibliography. Guillaume Libri, Italian writer, who worked in Paris in the 19th century and, incidentally, was charged with stealing da Vinci’s manuscripts, said, “I have not so far been able to ascertain who Don Panuce was, or when he lived.” Libri asserted that at any rate Leonardo’s observation of the _camera obscura_ must have been made before Cesariano saw or heard about this monk. However, Cesariano seems to have the record for the first published account of how to make a workable _camera obscura_.

Girolamo or Hieronimo Cardano (1501–1576) was an Italian physician and mathematician who has been described by Cajori, the mathematical historian, as “a singular mixture of genius, folly, self-conceit and mysticism.” He lectured in medicine at the Universities of Milan, Paris and Bologna. In 1571, after having been, according to some, jailed for debt the year before, he was pensioned by the Pope and went to Rome to continue special work in medicine.

Cardano’s contribution to motion picture pre-history was made in his _De Subtilitate_, published at Nuremberg in 1550. He showed how a concave mirror could be used to produce quite a wonderful show:--“If you wish to see what is happening on the street, put a small round glass at the window when the sun is bright and after the window has been shut one can see dim images on the opposite wall.” He went on to explain how the images could be doubled, then quadrupled and how other strange appearances of things and one’s self could be devised with a concave mirror. He remarked that the images appeared upside down. This, of course, is another description of the _camera obscura_, with a few additional points for recreational and instructional purposes. It will be noted that Cardano’s description is very like those of Bacon, Leonardo and Cesariano.

Now da Vinci’s camera, the original “dark room” camera and progenitor of the modern pin-hole box camera, was ready for showmen to turn it to successful uses. Just after the middle of the 16th century, a young Neapolitan was prepared to spread the knowledge of the sporting use of the device throughout the world.

_IV_

PORTA, FIRST SCREEN SHOWMAN

_Porta, a Neapolitan, blends
fancy and showmanship for magic
shadow entertainments in the 16th
century--Barbaro and Benedetti put a
lens in the “pin-hole” camera or_ camera
obscura.

The first contact of the new dramatic art, then being developed in Europe and especially in England, with the magic shadow medium was made by a remarkable Neapolitan, Giovanni Battista della Porta.

Porta, a boy wonder, who would have felt at home in the modern Hollywood, put the room camera to theatrical uses. In a way Porta was both the last of the necromancers, who used lens and mirror devices to deceive, and the first legitimate screen writer and producer of light and shadow plays with true entertainment values.

Porta was born in Naples about the year 1538. He and his brother, Vincenzo, were educated by their uncle Adriano Spatafore, a learned man. The uncle had considerable wealth, which enabled young Porta to travel extensively and have the best available instructors. From boyhood Porta’s chief interests were the stage and magic.

At an early age he started writing for the theatre and his comedies are rated with the best produced in Italy in the 16th century. But even before he began his professional writing for the stage, he had developed an interest in magic and anything approaching the magical. This avocation was developed during the rest of his life.

Porta was very fond of secrets and secret societies, founding the Academy of Secrets at Naples. He was also a member of the Roman Academy of the Lynxes, scientific society founded in 1603--named for its trademark. Even magic inks for secret writing were an attraction to him.

For years it was generally believed that Porta invented the _camera obscura_ but, as we have seen, it was known long before he was born. At the time of the discovery of photography Porta’s title to the invention of the camera was discussed and it was definitely established that while he made some refinements and, of course, devised some special uses, he had nothing to do with its invention.

When about 15, Porta began the investigations which led to the writing of _Magia Naturalis, sive de Miraculis Rerum Naturalium_, “Natural Magic, or the wonders of natural things.” The material was published five years later, at Naples, in four “books”, or large chapters. Through the years he increased his notes on the subject and in 1589 the work was printed in twenty chapters.

Porta’s _Natural Magic_ was a popular book, a best-seller of the day. It was first translated into English and published in London in 1658. It was also translated into many other languages. _Natural Magic_ contains a wide variety of subjects, including developments in the light and shadow art-science. Porta published the first detailed explanation of the construction and use of the _camera obscura_ in the fourth “book”.

“A system by which you can see, in their own colors, in the darkness objects outdoors lighted by the sun,” was Porta’s title for the section. He continued:

If anyone wishes to see this effect, all the windows should be
closed, and it would be helpful if the cracks were sealed so that
no light may enter to ruin the show. Then in one window make a
small opening in the form of a cone with the sun at the base and
facing the room. Whiten the walls of the room or cover them with
white linen or paper. In this way you will see all things outside
lighted by the sun, as those walking in the streets, as if their
feet were upwards, the right and left of the objects will be
reversed and all things will seem interchanged. And the further
the screen is from the opening, proportionately the larger the
objects will appear; the closer the paper screen or tablet, is
drawn to the hole, the smaller the objects will appear.

Porta also had an explanation of the persistence of vision, so far as it was then understood. As an example, he mentioned that after walking in the bright sun it is difficult to discern objects in the darkness, until our eyes become accustomed to the change--and then we can see clearly in the dim light. To see the natural colors, Porta proposed the use of a concave mirror as the screen for the camera images. He then discussed phenomena resulting from the principal focus of the mirror. He tried to use the parallel to show how we see things rightside up instead of upside down. But his knowledge was not sufficient for that purpose, for he held that the seat of vision was at the center of the eye, as the focus of a concave mirror or lens system. In this he was not correct, according to modern experiments, but at least it was a plausible theory.

As a third point in his description of uses of the natural camera Porta said, “Anyone not knowing how to draw can outline the form of any object through the means of a stylus.” Here was Alberti’s _camera lucida_, or the camera adopted for the use of painters and designers. Porta instructed his readers to learn the colors of the object and then when it was thrown on the screen it would be easy to trace and paint in natural colors. He pointed out another interesting and important fact--a candle or lamp could be used as the light source instead of the sun.

Porta concluded his account of 1558 with an assertion that the system could be used to deceive and to do tricks through the aid of other devices. His last words on the subject were confusing: “Those who have attempted these experiments have produced nothing but trifles, and I do not think it has been invented by anyone else up to now.” Earlier in his account he mentioned that he was now revealing what he thought should be kept a secret.

Roger Bacon, Alberti and Leonardo da Vinci and others were figuratively watching Porta when he wrote those lines and made those experiments. Even the same words about seeing people on the streets outside go back to Bacon, at least; and the use of the camera for drawing to Alberti and Leonardo. It is not clear whether or not Porta actually wished his readers to believe that he had invented the _camera obscura_ which he described or that he had merely found some interesting applications. Perhaps he wanted the whole matter considered a secret.

But though Porta borrowed from the ancients without giving them credit, he deserves praise for publishing descriptions, following tests which he himself must have made. As in all sciences, the prehistory of the motion picture had experimenters and popularizes--and not infrequently the two functions were separated by a considerable period.

The developments claimed by Porta in the second edition of _Natural Magic_ published in 1589 had been described previously by others. Once again he was a copier and popularizer rather than an inventor and discoverer. And that seems proper for a man who was by profession a playwright with a hobby interest in secret things, especially those relating to natural phenomena.

During the three decades prior to 1589, important developments were made in the science of optics. Both Barbaro and Benedetti described _camera obscura_ systems fitted with lenses to improve the images, and E. Danti, an editor and translator, explained in 1573 how an upright, instead of an upside down, image could be shown through the use of a lens-mirror system.

Monsignor Daniello Barbaro published at Venice, in 1568, _La Pratica della Perspettiva_, “The Practice of Perspective”, a book on optics. He describes the instrument designed by Alberti, the _camera lucida_, and gives an illustration of it. As in the case of Benedetti, Barbaro’s chief title to memory is that he introduced the projection lens to the natural camera, thereby enlarging its scope. Without any lenses even a modern camera would give only inferior results and motion pictures would not be practical. It is also said Barbaro introduced the diaphragm, which is very important as a means of controlling the light in the camera.

Giovanni Battista Benedetti, a patrician of Venice, 1530–90, published at Turin a book called _Diversarum Speculationum Mathematicarum et Physicarum Liber_, “A Book of Various Mathematical and Physical Speculations”, in which was included the first complete and clear description of the _camera obscura_ equipped with a lens. The date of the volume was 1585, four years before Porta published his revised edition.

Benedetti used a double convex lens. His first knowledge of optics came from a study of Archimedes, whom he admired greatly. But his learning was not confined to optics. He influenced the great Descartes in geostatics, studying the laws of inertia and making the contribution of the path taken by a body going off from a revolving circle, i.e., tangent. In 1553 he reported that bodies in a vacuum fall with the same velocity.

Benedetti’s description of the _camera obscura_ included details on how to make the images appear upright. The material is contained in a printed letter to Pierro de Arzonis. First Benedetti discusses light and the fact that a greater light overshadows a smaller, “just as by day the stars cannot be seen.” He then pointed out that if the light were controlled in a camera the outside images could be seen, but if the rays of the sun were allowed to enter (as by making the opening hole too large) then the images would “more or less vanish according to the strength or weakness of the solar rays.”

Benedetti continued:

I do not wish to keep any remarkable effect of this system a
secret from you ... the round opening the size of one small
mirror may be filled in with one of those spectacles which are
made for old people (but not the kind for those of short sight),
but one whose both surfaces are convex, not concave. Then set
up a white sheet of paper (as the screen), so far back from the
opening that the objects on the outside may appear on it. And if
indeed these outside objects are illuminated by the sun they will
be seen so clearly and distinctly that nothing will seem to be
more beautiful or more delightful. The only objection is that the
objects will appear inverted. But if we wish to see those objects
upright, this can be done best by interposing another plane
mirror.

In the revised and expanded edition of his _Natural Magic_, Porta gave a more complete description of the uses of the camera. Part of the text was identical with the earlier accounts; part was new.

Ars Magna Lucis et Umbrae, 1646

_CAMERA OBSCURA, the natural room camera, was accidentally discovered in antiquity, probably in the Far East. Here is shown an improved version by Giovanni Battista della Porta, 16th Century Neopolitan writer, scientist and showman. A translucent sheet was the screen. The images were upside down and indistinct as no lenses were used. Artists and entertainers found the apparatus of value._]

Porta had learned how to make his opening in the single window better by this time--“make the opening a palm’s size in width and breadth and glue over this a sheet of lead or bronze which has in the middle an opening about the size of a finger.” He next pointed out that the outside objects can be seen clearer and sharper if a crystalline lens is put in the opening of the camera as suggested by Barbaro and Benedetti. Porta also mentioned that the insertion of another mirror in the system would make the images appear upright instead of upside down.

Wissenschaftliche Abhandlungen, 1878

_JOHANNES KEPLER developed the scientific principles of the camera and its use in astronomy._]

But Porta showed himself a real showman by his final word--describing how hunting, battles and other illusions may be made to appear in a room. Here artificial objects and painted scenes were substituted for the natural outdoors as the pictures for the room camera in a method originally suggested by Alberti. Porta said, “Nothing can be more pleasing for important people, dilettants and connoisseurs to behold.”--An early premiere audience of invited guests!

Porta recommended the use of miniature models of animals and natural scenes, the first stage sets for “motion pictures,” with puppet-like characters. He wrote, “Those present in the show-room will behold the trees, animals, hunters and other objects without knowing whether they are true or only illusions.” Porta revealed that he had put on shows of this kind many times for his friends and the illusions of reality were so good that the delighted audience could scarcely be told how the effects were achieved. He also told how the audience could be terrified.

Porta concluded this account with a description of how to use the camera in order to observe an eclipse, something which Bacon or one of his contemporaries had already worked out. Before good instruments were developed, the room camera was an excellent device to save the astronomer’s eyesight and still give him a good view of an eclipse. The giant 200-inch telescope at Palomar in California is closely related to the original use of the camera for astronomical work.

There does not seem to be any evidence that Porta developed a portable camera, the direct ancestor of the modern photographic camera. He also did not appear to have much success with his lenses, as he found the concave mirrors as good as or better than a _camera obscura_ with a lens.

The general subject of the chapter which included the camera was “Herein Are Propounded Burning Glasses” “and the Wonderful Sights to be Seen by Them.” (Recall Archimedes and his Burning Glasses.) Let Porta tell it: “What could be seen more wonderful, than that by reciprocal strokes of reflexion, images should appear outwardly hanging in the air and yet neither the visible object nor the glass seen? that they may seem not to be repercussions of the glasses, but spirits of vain phantasms.”

In a book on refraction, published in 1593, the eye and the _camera obscura_ were compared by Porta. He also covered refraction, vision, the rainbow, prismatic colors (all subjects treated by the early experimenters in optics).

Porta had a great, though mixed, influence. Even in his own mind he did not seem able to decide whether the magic shadows should be used to deceive the public as effects of secret powers or whether they should be used for genuine entertainment and instruction.

After Porta, the “dark chamber” was developed for the use of painters and artists in England and on the continent.

_V_

KEPLER AND THE STARS

_Kepler, German astronomer, develops the
scientific principles of the_ camera
obscura _and applies magic shadows to
the stars of the heavens--Scheiner and
D’Aguilon improve image devices_.

Johannes Kepler, the great astronomer, advanced the art-science of magic shadows by developing the theory of the projection of images as well as the scientific use of multiple lenses and the _camera obscura_ or “dark chamber”. Da Vinci told how the camera could be used; Porta tried it out for entertainment on a considerable scale but there still was need for penetrating attention from a scientist. That Kepler supplied.

Kepler was a precocious child though he suffered from poor health. He had no special interest or inclination towards astronomy until in 1594, at the age of 23, he found himself required to teach a class in that subject. Soon he became an expert and before his death announced the Kepler laws explaining the planetary system. In 1600 Kepler became assistant to Tycho Brahe (1546–1601), the greatest practical astronomer to that date but one who rejected the Copernican theory that the earth and planets revolve around the sun, a theory which was firmly proved by Kepler. Brahe lost the tip of his nose in a duel, so he wore a gold one, carrying with him cement with which to stick on the tip whenever it fell off.

A few years after becoming astronomer to the Emperor, Kepler published, in 1604, _Ad Vitellionem Paralipomena_--“Supplement to Witelo”; Witelo, a Pole called Thuringopolonus, wrote a treatise on optics about 1270. He was a contemporary of Roger Bacon. Kepler used da Vinci’s parallel of the eye and the room camera and set the latter’s principles on a firm scientific basis.

Kepler wrote, “This art, according to my knowledge, was first handed down by Giovanni Battista Porta and was one of the chief parts of his _Natural Magic_.” (But, as the reader recalls, Porta was not the first to know about the _camera obscura_ and was not its inventor but only a popularizer.) “But content with a practical experience,” Kepler continued, “Porta did not add a scientific demonstration. Yet only by the use of this device can astronomers study the image of the solar eclipse.”

Kepler then described the _camera obscura_ or “dark chamber,” adding an interesting observation. He proposed that the spectator should keep out of the daylight for fifteen minutes or a half hour before he planned to use the camera so that he could get his eyes accustomed to the darkness in order to observe the images more clearly. Kepler then instructed that the objects to be represented should be placed in bright light, either of the sun or lamps. He also noted that the objects were reversed, and remarked that the images appeared in the colors of the objects. Kepler also explained that a diaphragm was needed to control the amount of light admitted to the camera, and that best results were obtained when the sun was near the horizon.

A detailed and rather technical explanation of how the camera system works was given by Kepler. Towards the end of the description he wrote an important instruction: “All the walls of the camera except the one used as the screen for the images should be black.” This was necessary to prevent reflection and dulling of the brilliance of the images on the white wall or screen. Everyone knows how the insides of a modern camera are black for the very same purpose. Kepler also noted that the “camera” must be tightly sealed. He was the first to refer to the device under the simple name of “camera” which in time was adopted universally.

Kepler also was the first to give a sound theory of vision. (Recall the shot-from-eye or shot-from-object schools of the ancients.) Kepler stated, “Seeing amounts to feeling the stimulus of the retina which is painted with colored rays of the visible world. The picture must then be transmitted to the brain by a mental current and delivered at the seat of the visual faculty.” That is a rather good definition even by modern standards. Kepler, however, was not 100 per cent correct. He held that light had an infinite velocity. To Kepler goes the credit for being the first correctly to explain after-images, a knowledge of which is so vital to understanding how the illusion of motion is created.

Kepler started to use a telescope about 1609 and through its use he was able to develop improved ideas for the room camera by the time he published his _Dioptrice_, “Concerning Lenses,” a foundation of modern optics, in 1611. In that work the basis was first established for what was later to be long-range or “telescope” photography which makes possible many important effects in the modern motion picture.

The telescope, the most highly developed lens system and the reverse of a projection arrangement, was invented in Holland in the early part of the 17th century. Galileo, who with Kepler did much to popularize the telescope, admitted that he had seen one made by a Dutchman before he fashioned his own.

The name “telescope” was coined by Damiscian of the Italian scientific “Academy of the Lynxes,” to which Porta also had belonged. The invention of the telescope is commonly credited to “the spectacle maker of Middleburgh,” usually identified as Hans Lippershey. The compound microscope, effects of which had been indicated by Roger Bacon, evidently also was invented a few years prior to the telescope--by Zachary Janssen, in Holland. But it was first described in Italy. Early telescopes generally followed the model developed by Galileo, while by the middle of the 17th century the superiority of Kepler’s method was recognized and larger and more powerful telescopes were possible. In recent times the telescope has reverted to a mirror--or Burning Glass--reflecting system instead of the standard style refracting telescope.

To a contemporary of Kepler goes the acclaim for being the first to use the _camera obscura_ apart from a room; in other words, in a portable form. Thus was the first portable camera developed more than two hundred years before photography was invented. The man was Scheiner, another astronomer.

Christopher Scheiner, a German Jesuit, born about 1575 in Swabia, did much work in astronomy and perfected various ingenious optical instruments. Some say he was the first to use the camera projection device for throwing the sun’s image on a screen in order to study its details. This replaced a system which used colored glasses. Kepler, prior to this, suggested the method but it is generally acknowledged that Scheiner made the first application. In 1610 Scheiner invented his Pantograph or optical copying instrument. In March, 1611, he observed sun spots. His superiors were afraid that he and they would be exposed to ridicule if he were to publish such a discovery under his own name--it was so opposed to the contemporary scientific as well as traditional scientific belief. And so his findings were published in 1612 by a friend, under an assumed name.

Scheiner was a believer in the need for accuracy in experiments to form a firm basis for future development of theory. He studied the eye and believed that the retina was the seat of vision. By the year 1616 he had so attracted attention of scientists that the Archduke Maximilian invited him to Innsbruck. Scheiner taught mathematics and Hebrew and continued his work in optics. He was the author of _Rosa Ursina_,--1626–30, the standard work on the sun for generations. In 1623 he was a professor of mathematics at the Roman College, where Kircher fell under his personal influence. The last years of Scheiner’s life were spent at Neisse in Silesia, where he died in 1650.

Scheiner was influenced by François d’Aguilon, the first of several Jesuits who made an important contribution to what was to be the modern motion picture. D’Aguilon advanced the knowledge of optics throughout Europe.

D’Aguilon was born in Brussels in 1566 and after entering the Jesuits in 1586 and being educated he became a professor of philosophy at the famous college in Douai, France. Later he was head of the College of Antwerp. D’Aguilon did not confine his interests to philosophy and speculative knowledge alone but was very much interested in certain sciences, notably optics. Moreover, he was a practicing architect and probably designed the Jesuit church at Antwerp.

His work on optics, published at Antwerp in 1613, was famous. In it is found for the first time the expression “stereographic projection,” which has survived to the present. This was known from the time of Hipparchus but had not received a permanent name until it was given by d’Aguilon, to whom must go part of the credit for the name of all devices with “stereo” somewhere in the title. D’Aguilon explored at length the subject of after-images. He correctly pointed out that the image physically disappears when the cause is removed (as a camera no longer “sees” after the shutter is closed) but there remains something impressed on the organ of sight, a certain effect on the sense of vision.

D’Aguilon was revising his book on optics when he died, in 1617. One edition was published in Antwerp in 1685 with the title _Opticorum Libri Sex_. Perhaps he was on the eve of the great discovery which was to be made in a few years by one of his successors. However, to him goes the credit for the name which was attached for centuries to all kinds of shadow-plays, and is still known today--Stereoscopic.

By the first quarter of the 17th century the camera was widely used for the observation of the greatest light and shadow show--the universe with sun, moon and stars. Experiments also had been made, by Porta and others, in the entertainment possibilities of the “dark chamber.” The stage was ready for the man who would bring about projection, as we know it, with the magic lantern. A long step would then be taken towards realizing man’s instinctive ambition to capture and recreate life for entertainment and instructive purposes.

_VI_

KIRCHER’S 100th ART

_Kircher’s magic lantern projects
pictures and the art of screen
presentation is born--First screen
picture show in Rome, 1646--Kircher’s
book_, Ars Magna Lucis et Umbrae, _tells
the world how_.

In the second quarter of the 17th Century the stage was set for the birth of the magic lantern, progenitor of all cinematographic projectors. The chief actor was a German, a fellow countryman of Kepler and of many other serious scientists in the light and shadow field, but it was in Italy, native land of many arts and showmen, of Leonardo da Vinci and of Porta, that he worked. The man was Athanasius Kircher.

The age in which Kircher worked was a difficult period. The Thirty Years War ravaged Europe from 1618 to 1648 and the people suffered more than at any period down to our own. Europe politically was in chaos as after World Wars I and II. Only in literature and science were there signs of hope and promise. The eyes of many thoughtful Europeans turned away from the Old World to the new lands across the sea.

Ars Magna Lucis et Umbrae, 1646–1671

_PICTURE WHEELS invented by Kircher. Above, rotating giant wheel caused one picture to succeed another. Below, story telling disk._]

Kircher was born five years before the first permanent English settlement in the New World. But let him tell us in the words of his Latin autobiography, parts of which, it is believed, are here translated into English for the first time: “At the third hour after midnight on the second of May in the year 1602, I was brought into the common air of disaster at Geysa, a town which is a three hours’ journey from Fulda.” (Not far from the modern Frankfurt-on-Main, Germany.) “When I was six days old I was dedicated to Athanasius by my parents, John Kircher and Anna Gansekin, Catholics and servants of God and workers of good deeds, because I was born on that Saint’s Feast Day.”

Ars Magna Lucis et Umbrae, 1671

_MAGIC LANTERN, Kircher’s projector, the original stereopticon. The screen images were crude silhouettes but the projector included the essential elements._]

Kircher thus described his father, mother and the family: “John Kircher was a very great scholar and a doctor of philosophy. When the report of his learning and wisdom came to the Prince,” (probably Rudolph), “he was summoned and made a member of the council at Fulda. Later he was put in charge of the fortress of Haselstein because he had been diligent in destroying the printing machines of the heretics. He married a maiden of Fulda, Anna, daughter of an honest citizen named Gansekin. Nine children, six boys and three girls, were born to them. All the boys entered one of the several religious orders. Of all these I was the youngest and smallest.”

Kircher’s father was a man of influence and learning, though evidently not of noble birth. He had studied philosophy and theology but was not a religious, though he did teach for a time in a Benedictine monastery. Very likely he was a stern parent. The mother, it would appear, was the daughter of a merchant or store-keeper and certainly was not learned like her husband. But no doubt she was more liberal and understanding.

Kircher’s course of studies is interesting: “After the age of childhood, around the tenth year, I was placed in the elementary studies, at first at Music; then I was introduced to the elements of the Latin language.” At that time Latin was still the universal language of scholarship. It is likely that Kircher spoke Latin much more than any other language. All his writing was in Latin, though in time he became a talented linguist.

Kircher’s father sent him to the Jesuit college at Fulda, because he wanted his youngest son to learn Greek in addition to Latin and in time to become a universal scholar. Kircher’s teacher at Fulda was John Altink, S.J. The course followed the famous Jesuit _Ratio Studiorum_, which is still the basis of studies in the many hundreds of schools conducted by that order throughout the world. Then, as now, emphasis was on the classics. Somewhat later his father took him to a Rabbi “who taught me Hebrew,” as Kircher wrote, “with the result that I was skilled in that language for the rest of my life.”

At the same age as a high school graduate in the United States, Kircher could read, write and speak Latin, Greek and Hebrew, in addition to German, and probably he also had a good foundation in French and Italian.

At the old town of Paderborn on October 2, 1618, Kircher entered the Society of Jesus, militant religious order founded by the Spaniard-soldier-churchman, Ignatius of Loyola, in 1540, and already a powerful influence in education in Europe and in missionary work even as far as India and Japan. Kircher did not enter the Jesuits as early as he had wished because he had fallen while ice-skating and had suffered an injury.

From 1618 to 1620, Kircher occupied himself with religious duties, spending the time largely in prayer. After 1620 he continued with the usual studies for the priesthood--philosophy and theology. He studied philosophy at Cologne and briefly taught at the Jesuit Colleges at Coblenz and Heiligenstadt. Along with these pursuits, Kircher took a special interest in languages and in mathematics, the foundation for all scientific work. He completed his studies in theology at Mainz and was ordained a priest in 1628.

Kircher was given ample opportunity to take courses, despite the troubled times resulting from the wars. In the year 1629, he was at Speyer where he expressed to his religious superior a preference for missionary work in China. Next he took an interest in Egyptian writing, hieroglyphics, which were not to be translated until many years later. Chaldean, Arabic and Samaritan were added to Kircher’s language studies. Then for a short period he was professor of ethics and mathematics at the University of Würzburg.

In 1618, when Kircher had entered the Jesuits, the Thirty Years’ War had broken out. Then, as in our own time, Germany was no place for serious studies. Kircher, after he became a priest, spent considerable time in France where the organization of a powerful central government was being undertaken by Richelieu. The Cardinal was a patron of the arts, founding the French Academy. It is likely that word of Kircher’s learning reached Richelieu, for Kircher visited several of the colleges and universities in the south of France, stopping at Lyons and later at Avignon. Kircher continued all the while his remarkable studies, and began to write, publishing his first book in 1630.

Soon the fame of Kircher attracted the attention of the highest ecclesiastical and educational authorities. Pope Urban VIII, who had struggled in vain to prevent the Thirty Years’ War, and Francesco Cardinal Barberini (nephew of Pope Urban), summoned Kircher to Rome late in 1633. Just before the word to come to Rome reached him, he was invited to Vienna by the Emperor Ferdinand. Kircher started for Austria by boat from a French port but was shipwrecked and the order to report to Rome reached him after his rescue.

The invitation to come to Rome could not be refused. But there is every reason to believe that Kircher was delighted to have the opportunity of working in Rome under such high auspices. The civil situation was somewhat more stable in Rome than in Germany. Furthermore Rome was the intellectual center as well as focal point of much political maneuvering. Ambassadors and special agents representing Richelieu of France, the King of Spain, the Emperor of Germany and many of the other European powers, great and small, were constantly coming and going, seeking to increase the power of the state they represented and their own prestige as well. The heads of all the religious orders lived in Rome and hence it was the headquarters for knowledge of new developments in science and of news from the lands being explored in America and in the Far East.

Kircher stood apart from these struggles for political, religious and educational power. As a Jesuit he had put aside prospects of ecclesiastical advancement. He was content with his studies, his teaching and his inventions. But others were not content to leave him in peace.

At the request of Cardinal Barberini, Kircher was made professor of mathematics at the Roman College which was then popular with the young Roman nobility and the learned from all over the world. While teaching, Kircher continued his work in the Oriental languages and mathematics and also branched out into the natural sciences.

Kircher was a little man of boundless energy and once interested in a problem was never content till he knew all the facts, from personal investigation if possible, and had written an exhaustive tome on the subject. He made many field trips to test theories and ideas by practical experience. An active exponent of experimental science, Kircher made important contributions to human knowledge, though some of his books contained not a little error, and even some nonsense.

Kircher’s work with magic lanterns and his observations on the magic shadow art-science were released to the educated world in his _Ars Magna Lucis et Umbrae_--“The Great Art of Light and Shadow”--published at Rome in 1646. Kircher defined his “Great Art” as “the faculty by which we make and exhibit with light and shadow the wonders of things in nature.” That applies to living pictures today as it did in the 17th Century. Even the sound of the modern motion pictures is recorded and reproduced through light and shadow action.

No clue is given by Kircher to the exact date he invented the magic projection lantern. But it was probably not long before he finished the book in 1644 or 1645. Kircher dedicated his thick quarto volume, which was handsomely published by Herman Scheus at the press of Ludovici Grignani in Rome, to Archduke Ferdinand III, the Holy Roman Emperor, King of Hungary, King of Bohemia and King of the Romans. Hence, knowledge of the screen first appeared in print under very distinguished patronage.

The title page explained that the great art of light and shadow had been “digested” into ten books “in which the wonderful powers of light and shadow in the world and even in the natural universe are shown and new forms for exhibiting the various earthly uses are explained.”

The Emperor wrote a foreword and this was followed by an introduction of Kircher “to the reader.” Kircher spoke of the earlier use of light and shadow by the necromancers to deceive, but pointed out that his developments were for “public use, or a means of private recreation.” Introductory material also included several odes about the subject and the author, as well as the necessary ecclesiastical approvals.

The first nine books, or long sections, of _Ars Magna Lucis et Umbrae_ include such diverse topics as the following: Light, reflection, images, the speaking tube, the structure of the eye, sketching devices, the art of painting, geometrical patterns, clocks, the nature of reflected light, refraction and means of measuring the earth.

The section which is of special interest in the story of magic shadows is the tenth--it gives the title to the whole work. The sub-title of the chapter is, “Wonders of light and shadow, in which is considered the more hidden effects of light and shadow and various applications.” In the preface to the section Kircher wrote “in this, as in our other research, we have believed that the results of our important experiments should be made public.” “That risk is taken,” he continued, “for the purpose of preventing the curious readers from being defrauded of time and money by those who sell imitation devices, for many have provided wondrous, rare, marvelous and unknown things and others have sold so much bunk.”

The first section of the all-important tenth chapter discussed magic clocks and sun-dials; the second, the _camera obscura_ or “dark chamber,” lenses, telescopes, other optical devices. In the third section there appears the magic lantern. The section is called, “Magia Catoptrica, or concerning the wondrous exhibition of things by the use of a mirror.” _Catoptron_ in Greek means “mirror.” Kircher wrote, “Magia catoptrica is nothing else but the method of exhibiting through the means of mirrors hidden things which seem to be outside the scope of the human mind.” Ancient authorities who had made contributions to this art-science were mentioned by Kircher.

First Kircher explained how steel mirrors were made and polished--mirrors or reflectors are still of importance in gathering light in the motion picture projector. He commented on the various types of convex, concave, spherical and other types of mirrors.

In Kircher’s day even the learned were quite uneducated according to modern standards, especially on all matters of physical science. Images that appeared from nowhere were most mysterious and few knew how they were produced. The telescope and microscope were still very new and many doubted what their eyes saw through these inventions.

Kircher, as a showman, described a Catoptric Theatre--a large cabinet in which many mirrors were concealed. One of the “Theatres” was placed in the Villa Borghese Palace in Rome and doubtless delighted the nobles of that day as much as the people in the United States were pleased with the first Edison peep-show machines in 1894. For Kircher’s Catoptric Theatre was an early peep-show device. It also has a relation to the Kaleidoscope of the early 19th century.

The first form of the magic lantern described by Kircher was merely a lantern suitable for showing letters at a remote distance. It is very simple and appears entirely elementary. But the first step was taken. The third problem of the third section of the tenth book of the _Ars Magna Lucis et Umbrae_ was how to construct such an artificial lantern with which written characters may be shown at a remote distance.

The parts are easily distinguished--a concave mirror at the rear; a candle for a light source; a handle and a place for inserting silhouette letter slides. Kircher noted that in the device the flame will burn with an unaccustomed brilliance. “Through the aid of this device very small letters may be exhibited without any trouble.” He noted that some will think there is an enormous fire, so bright will the lantern shine. He added that the strength of the light will be increased if the interior of the cylinder is covered with an alloy of silver and lead to increase its reflecting qualities.

The second Kircher device of direct relation to the motion picture is his machine for creating metamorphoses or rapid changes. All kinds of transformations could be shown. Here was first introduced the revolving wheel on which pictures were painted. It bears an analogous relation to the motion picture devices of the early 19th century--also using a revolving vertical wheel. The modern projector likewise has its film pictures on a small wheel or reel.

Kircher explained that in this catoptric machine a man looking at the mirror (equivalent to the screen in a theatre) sees images of a fire, a cow and other animals all blending one into another. It is unlikely that the giant wheel could be revolved swiftly enough to give anything like the proper illusion of motion but certainly there was a transformation which must have appeared wondrous and entertaining. (Illustration facing page 48.)

Kircher also described how images of objects could be projected by means of the light of a candle. Through this system various images were exhibited in a darkened chamber. But Kircher evidently was not satisfied with this method, for no illustration of it appeared in the first edition of his book. The reason is obvious. A candle could provide only enough illumination for the faintest shadows. Kircher wrote that those objects which need only a fraction of the sun’s light can be shown by a candle in a small room. Two methods for this were indicated: (1) with a concave mirror reflecting the images and (2) projecting the image through a lens. It was noted that the better single method was through the lens. A combination of the two provided the most light. Kircher remarked that he had read in a history of the Arabs that a certain king of Bagdad used a mirror to work wonders in order to deceive the people. He also pointed out that some men had used mirrors to project into dark places what the ignorant thought were devils.

The chief problem in Kircher’s day and for centuries afterwards was to provide sufficient light. The final solution did not come until electric light was introduced. Probably Kircher’s most efficient projection was one in which the sun was used as the source of light. Even in the early part of the 20th century arrangements were used which hooked up the sun with the magic lantern because it was thought that the results were even better and cheaper than those obtained with electric light.

Kircher’s sun magic projector used a real optical system which is fundamental even to this day. There was first the source of light, then a reflector and the object, and the projected image. The effects, of course, would be most startling in a darkened room. Kircher also showed how shadows of any type of figure could be thrown onto a wall or screen through the same method.

In those days when there was much secret correspondence and keen interest in various forms of cipher, many of Kircher’s readers were glad to note how the magic lantern could be used for such a purpose. At that time people would not, it was believed, detect that the letters in such a system were simply backwards and upside down. The message could be read easily by projecting images of the letters. The same result could be had by turning the paper upside down and holding it before a mirror.

After listing these many diverse uses of the magic lantern system Kircher thought it well to conclude his book lest he be charged with “meandering” endlessly on a subject which some would consider trivial. Kircher said, “We leave all these to the talented reader for further refinement. A word to the wise is sufficient. Innumerable things could be said concerning the application of this device but we leave to others new material of invention and lest this work grow too long we cut off the thread of discussion about these devices.”

Kircher ended his entire book by saying that it was published “not for income or glory but for the common good.”

In his Latin autobiography Kircher made only one passing reference to his _Ars Magna Lucis et Umbrae_, “The Great Art of Light and Shadow.”

Let Kircher speak:

At this time (around 1645) three more books were published,
the first on the magnetic art, _On Magnetism_; another _On the
Great Art of Light and Shadow_ and a third written in the name of
_Musurgia_, “Music.” These are not insignificant works, praise
be God. They occasioned applause but this applause soon brought
me another form of tribulation; new accusations piled up and for
this reason my critics said I should devote my whole life to
developing mathematics. So with desperate hope on account of this
impenetrable difficulty I gave up my work on hieroglyphics and my
heart and mind were discouraged.

At one point in the discussion of the magic lantern in _Ars Magna Lucis et Umbrae_ Kircher interrupted the thread of the story long enough to point out that charges of the use of the black arts had been made against him and others who knew the use of mirrors and lenses by some who had no knowledge of philosophy and science. He told how Roger Bacon was charged with necromancy because he could show a recognizable shadow of himself in a dark room where his friends were assembled. Kircher noted that certainly a talented philosopher and scientist could accomplish all these effects through skill in the use of mirrors and lenses and without any trace of the suspect black art.

The charge of necromantic art was the source of much of Kircher’s unhappiness. Some considered him in league with the devil because he could make images and shadows and objects appear where none had been before. It was the age-old story that some in the audience or among the readers did not understand how an effect was produced so its validity and legitimacy were denied.

Praise and blame always have been the lot of discoverers and inventors.

Kircher had, however, better fortune than many others. He was able to write in his autobiography, “Divine Providence, which never fails us, took care of my trouble in this wonderful way--my appointed work was restored to me and by the occasion of this good fortune I escaped the traps of my adversaries.”

Adversaries on even scientific matters in those days battled to the death. What happened was this: A commission established by Innocent X, who had been elected Pope in 1644, ordered that Kircher be allowed to continue his beloved antiquarian studies. It seemed that the Obelisk of Caracalla had been partially destroyed and Kircher was given the task of directing the restoration. Kircher’s original patron, Cardinal Barberini, continued to have influence, being Pope Innocent’s legate or ambassador to the Emperor.

And so the man who had done so much to advance the art-science of living pictures for the knowledge and enjoyment of vast millions in the centuries to come spent the happiest days of his life looking towards the dead and buried past.

A quarter of a century later, Kircher was able to revise and enlarge his book on _The Great Art of Light and Shadow_ and have it printed in a great folio edition in 1671 by John Jansson of Waesberge at Amsterdam. Conditions had changed greatly--Kircher was no longer a newcomer at Rome, suspected of being in league with the devil on account of his powers with mirrors and lenses and his amazing projected images. His fame as a universal scholar, “The Doctor of a Hundred Arts,” had spread throughout the European world. Men now had begun to realize there was much of great value in his _Magia Catoptrica_ or Magic Projection with mirrors.

Jacob Alban Ghibbesim, M.D., professor at the Roman College, in the caption for Kircher’s portrait, used these words: “This man and his name are known to the ends of the earth.”

In 1670 Kircher had a new patron, John Frederic, to whom he dedicated his work. The Emperor Ferdinand, who sponsored the first edition, had died in 1657. Europe was gradually recovering from the effects of the Thirty Years’ War. Louis XIV was establishing an all-powerful personal rule in France. Holland and Switzerland were jealously guarding their newly won independence. Sweden was an important European power. Great Britain had a short-lived republic under Cromwell. In the New World the English had consolidated their position by driving the Dutch out of New Amsterdam, occupying New York in 1664. Much of the New World had yet to be explored.

“Vagabonds and imposters” had carried the magic lantern everywhere during the quarter century following its announcement, usually claiming it as their own invention. Kircher thought the time had come for him to set down in more detail various additional applications of his magic lantern, invented 30 years before. The only additions Kircher made to the entire tome were in the section on the magic lanterns. Two new plates were made, showing room and box-type projectors and also added was another special plate on a particular application demonstrating that Kircher used the lantern idea to tell a story. (Illustration facing page 49.)

Let Kircher now explain about Walgenstein, a Dane, one of his first and most successful imitators in the practice of the magic lantern: