![]() It was a tool so necessary in fact that in 1886, L.H. While questions were raised later regarding the level of possible objectivity of the projector, at a time when educators sought a method for applying visual instruction, it was a respected and, arguably, necessary tool. However, as Eisenhauer argues, “The magic lantern was not simply used by education, but of equal importance, discourses of scientific vision used references to education and instruction as a means through which to promote such projection technologies as ‘optical lanterns’ rather than ‘magic lanterns.’ As a result, an objective rather than supernatural relationship between viewer and object was defined” (202). As images grew more precise, the projector joined the ranks of the microscope as a tool for scientific discovery and education. According to Eisenhauer, developments in photography in the late 19th century “dramatically increased availability and consistency, but photography also released the image from its entanglements with the perceived imperfection of the rendering hand” (201). The “magic” lantern became the “optical” lantern and, in the 19th century, helped scientists and educators begin to see vision as a method for inquiry. Part of the shift toward a more objective or positivist understanding of vision came with technological developments in photography and the motion picture projector. This understanding of viewing technologies as magicians’ tools or objects of the supernatural persisted until the 19th century development of vision as a discipline, after which vision came to be seen as a scientific and objective pursuit. Robertson used the magic lantern in his Phantasmagoria theater, where he similarly used the projections to trick and frighten theater goers (Eisenhauer). ![]() ![]() Later, in Paris in the 18th century, E.G. The magic lantern was developed by German Jesuit Athanasius Kirscher, who published Ars Magna Lucis (1646), in which he described the machine and the mystical power it had for trickery (Saettler). The magic lantern, or Magin Cataoprica, was a machine lit by a candle and capable of projecting handpainted images of ghosts, devils, demons, and skeletons onto smoke obscured walls. While stereoscope provided an inexpesive mobile and highly valuable method of instruction, the lantern slide projector allowed teachers to lecture to entire schoolhouses of children at one time and improved the quality and content of the images.īefore the development of the popular 20th century-style lantern projector (as seen here) came the precursor: the magic lantern. Delineascope projector from American Optical Company ![]()
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