CHAPTER XXII.
ON THE ADVANTAGES OF THE KALEIDOSCOPEAS AN INSTRUMENT OF AMUSEMENT.
The splendid discoveries which have been made with the telescope and microscope have invested them with a philosophical character which can never be attached to any other instrument. It is only, however, in the hands of the astronomer and naturalist that they are consecrated to the great objects of science; their ordinary possessors employ them solely as instruments of amusement, and it is singular to remark how soon they lose their novelty and interest when devoted to this inferior purpose. The solar microscope, the camera obscura, and the magic lantern, are equally shortlived in their powers of entertainment; and even the wonders of the electrical and galvanic apparatus are called forth, at long intervals, for the occasional purposes of instructing the young, or astonishing the ignorant. A serenity of sky very uncommon in our northern climate, is absolutely necessary for displaying the powers of some of the preceding instruments; and the effects of the rest can only be exhibited after much previous preparation. From these causes, but principally from a want of variety in their exhibitions, they have constantly failed to excite, in ordinary minds, that intense andcontinued interest which might have been expected from the ingenuity of their construction and the splendour of their effects.
The pleasure which is derived from the use of musical instruments is of a different kind, and far more intense in its effects, and more general in its influence than that which is obtained from any of the preceding instruments. There are, indeed, few minds that are not alive to the soothing and exhilarating influence of musical sounds, or that do not associate them with the dearest and most tender sympathies of our nature. But the ear is not the only avenue to the heart; and though sorrow and distress are represented by notes of a deep and solemn character, and happiness and gaiety by more light and playful tones, the same kind of feelings may also be excited by the exhibition of dark and gloomy colours, and by the display of bright and aërial tints. The association, indeed, is not so powerful in the one case as in the other, for we have been taught from our infancy, in consequence of the connexion of music and poetry, to associate particular sentiments with particular sounds; but there can be no doubt that the association of colour is naturally as powerful as that of sound, and that a person who has never listened to any other music but that of nature, nor seen any other colours but those of the material world, might have his feelings as powerfully excited through the medium of the eye as through that of the ear.
The first person who attempted to supply the organ of vision with the luxuries of light and colour, was Father Castel, a learned Jesuit, who had distinguished himself chiefly by his opposition to the splendid optical discoveries of Newton. About the year 1725 or 1726, hepublished in theMercure de Paris, his first ideas of an organ, or ocular harpsichord. A full account of this curious instrument was afterwards published at Hamburgh, in 1739, by M. Tellemann, a German musician, who had seen one of the harpsichords in the possession of the inventor, when he was on a visit to Paris. This account was afterwards translated into French, and printed at the end of Castel’sL’Optique des Couleurs,[18]which appeared at Paris in 1740. The ocular harpsichord is a common harpsichord, fitted up in such a manner, that when a certain sound is produced by striking the keys, a colour related to that sound is at the same instant exhibited to the eye in a box or frame connected with the harpsichord; so that when a piece of music is played for the gratification of the ear, the eye is simultaneously delighted by the display of corresponding colours.
In adjusting the colours and the sounds, Castel lays down the following six propositions:—
1st,—There is a fundamental and primitive sound in nature, which may be calledut, and there is also an original and primitive colour, which is the foundation of all other colours, namely,blue.
2d,—There are three chords, or essential sounds, which depend upon the primitive soundut, and which compose with it a primitive and original accord, and these areut,mi,sol. There are also three original colours depending on theblue, which, while they are not composed of any other colours,produce them all, namely,blue,yellow, andred. Theblueis here the note of the tone, theredis the fifth, and theyellowis the third.
3d,—There are five tonic chords,ut,re,mi,sol,la, and two semitonic chords,faandsi. There are also five tonic colours, to which all the rest are ordinarily related, namely,blue,green,yellow,red, andviolet, and two semitonic or equivocal colours, namely,auroraandviolant(related to theorangeandindigoof Newton).
4th,—Out of these five entire tones, and two semitones, is formed the diatonic scale,ut,re,mi,fa,sol,la, andsi; and, in like manner, out of the five entire or tonic colours, and the two demi-colours, are formed the gradation of colours,blue,green,yellow,aurora,red,violet, andviolant; for theblueleads togreen, which isdemi-blue; theyellowtoaurora, which isgilded yellow; theauroraleads tored, theredtoviolet, which is two-thirds ofred, and one-third ofblue; and theviolettoviolant, which has morebluethanred.
5th,— The entire tones divide themselves into semitones; and the five entire tones of the scale or gamut, comprehending in this the two natural semitones, make twelve semitones, viz.,utnatural,utdieze,re,redieze,mi,fa,fadieze,sol,soldieze,la,ladieze, andsi. In like manner there are twelve demi-colours, or demi-tints, and there can be neither more nor less, according to the opinion of painters themselves, and as may be demonstrated by other means. These colours areblue,sea-green,green,olive,yellow,aurora,orange,red,crimson,violet,agathe, andviolant.Blueleads tosea-green, which is agreenish blue;sea-greenleads togreen;greentoolive, which is ayellowish green;olivetoyellow;yellowtoaurora;auroratoorange;orangetored, the colour of fire;redtocrimson, which isredmixed with a littleblue;crimsontoviolet, which is still moreblue;violettoagathe, orbluish violet; andagathetoviolant.
6th,—The progression of sounds is in a circle, setting out fromut, and returning back: thus,ut,mi,sol,ut, orut,re,mi,fa,sol,la,si,ut. This is called an octave, when the lastutis one-half more acute than the first. The colours also have their progression in a circle.
7th,—After an octave,ut,re,mi,fa,sol,la,si, there recommences a new one, which is one-half more acute, and the whole circle of music produces several octaves.
Such are the principles upon which the ocular harpsichord was founded; but though the instrument, from its singularity, excited great attention when it was first constructed, we have not been able to learn that it was ever supposed to possess the power of affording pleasure to the eye. It must be obvious, indeed, to any person who considers the subject, that colour, independent of form, is incapable of yielding a continued pleasure. Masses of rich and harmonious tints, following one another in succession, or combined according to certain laws, would no doubt give satisfaction to a person who had not been familiar with the contemplation of colours; but this satisfaction would not be permanent, and he would cease to admire them as soon as they ceased to be new. Colour is a mere accident of light, which communicates richness and variety to objects that are otherwise beautiful; but perfection of form is a source of beauty, independent of all colours; and it is therefore only from a combination of these two sources of beauty that a sensation of pleasure can be excited.
Those who have been in the habit of using a correct Kaleidoscope, furnished with proper objects, will have no hesitation in admitting that this instrument realizes, in the fullest manner, the formerly chimerical idea of an ocular harpsichord. The combination of fine forms, and ever-varying tints, which it presents in succession to the eye, have already been found, by experience, to communicate to those who have a taste for this kind of beauty, a pleasure as intense and as permanent as that which the finest ear derives from musical sounds. An eye for admiring and appreciating the effect of fine forms, seems, indeed, to be much more general than an ear for music; and we have heard of many cases where the tedium of severe and continued indisposition has been removed, and where many a dull and solitary hour has been rendered cheerful, by the unceasing variety of entertainment which the Kaleidoscope afforded. In one respect, indeed, this instrument is superior to all others. When it is once properly constructed, its effects are exhibited without either skill or labour; and so numerous are its applications, and so inexhaustible its stores, that the observer is constantly flattered with the belief that he has obtained results which were never seen before, and that he has either improved the instrument, or extended its power, by new applications.
Such are the advantages, as an instrument of amusement, which the Kaleidoscope possesses, even in its present imperfect state. To what degree of perfection it may yet arrive, it is not easy to anticipate; but we may venture to predict, because we see the steps by which the prediction is to be fulfilled, that combinations of forms and colours may be made to succeed each other in such a manner as to excite sentiments and ideas with as much vivacity as those which are excited bymusical composition. If it be true that there are harmonic colours which inspire more pleasure by their combination than others; that dull and gloomy masses, moving slowly before the eye, excite feelings of sadness and distress; and that the aërial tracery of light and evanescent forms, enriched with lively colours, are capable of inspiring us with cheerfulness and gaiety; then it is unquestionable, that, by a skilful combination of these passing visions, the mind may derive a degree of pleasure far superior to that which arises from the immediate impression which they make upon the organ of vision. A very simple piece of machinery is alone necessary for introducing objects of different forms and colours, for varying the direction of the motion across the angular aperture, and for accommodating the velocity of their motion to the effect which it is intended to produce.
These combinations of colours and forms may be adapted to a piece of music, and their succession exhibited on a screen by means of the electric, or lime-ball, or other lights to which we have already had occasion to refer. The coloured objects might be fixed between long stripes of glass, moved horizontally or obliquely across the ends of the reflectors; and the effects thus obtained might be varied by the occasional introduction of revolving object-boxes, containing objects of various colours and forms, partly fixed and partly movable. Similar forms in different colours, and in tints of varying intensity, losing and resuming their peculiar character with different velocities, and in different times, might exhibit a distinct relation between the optical and the acoustic phenomena simultaneously presented to the senses.Flashes of light, coloured and colourless, and clouds of different depths of shadow, advancing into, or emerging from the centre of symmetry, or passing across the radial lines of the figure at different obliquities, would assist in marking more emphatically the gay or the gloomy sounds with which they are accompanied.
A slight idea of the effects which might be expected from an ingenious piece of mechanism for creating and combining the various optical phenomena, and exhibiting them in connexion with musical sounds, may be obtained by a single observer, who looks into a fine Kaleidoscope, firmly fixed upon a stand, and produces with his two hands all the variations in form and colour which he can effect by such inadequate means, and which he considers appropriate to the musical piece that accompanies them.