The Wonders of Optics

Chapter 2: PREFACE.

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About This Book

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.

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.