1-154-911 - Oxford Science Archive/Heritage Images

An astrological chart, 1646. A man with his internal organs revealed standing in front of a circular chart. One hand has been replaced by a sun, the other hand is chained to a hand emerging from the sky. The months of the year and the zodiac signs are listed either side of the man. Plate taken from 'Ars Magna Lucis Et Umbrae' by Athanasius Kircher. Kircher demonstrated that by placing a lens between a screen and a mirror which had been written on, a sharp but inverted image of the text would appear on the screen. By using a spherical water-filled flask as a condenser to concentrate the light, Kircher found that texts painted on the mirror's surface could be projected by light from a candle after dark. These demonstrations eventually resulted in the birth of the magic lantern.