2-913-913 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

The Luminous Fountain, at the Panopticon, Leicester-Square, 1854. 'Thousands of sight-seers have already seen the magnificent Fountain at the Royal Panopticon, with its central jet leaping from an enamelled base to a height of ninety-nine feet. The sight of this extraordinary column of water subjected to a powerful light, so as to exhibit a variety of the most brilliant hues, will surprise the spectator...A strongly concentrated and reflected light at each end of the Jet illuminates the whole length, effectually colouring, as well as making brilliant the up-springing shaft, with the detached particles which descend like a shower of many-tinted gems, into the inlaid basin. The indescribably beautiful effect of this illumination is most perfectly realised by the spectator, who takes his stand on the basement-floor of the building...within a foot or two of the projection formed by the galleries'. From "Illustrated London News", 1854.