A guided survey of optical phenomena and devices that begins with human vision, the eye's anatomy, common visual errors, and the psychology of optical illusions and color perception. It then explains physical properties of light, the solar spectrum, reflection and refraction, and practical optics such as lenses, microscopes, and telescopes, with experiments and illustrations. The final section treats popular and theatrical applications, describing magic lanterns, phantasmagoria, stereoscopes, camera obscura and lucida, and the spectroscope, and concludes with demonstrations that produce ghostly apparitions and other illusionary effects.