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KALEIDOSCOPE (from Gr. KaXos, beautif...

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Originally appearing in Volume V15, Page 640 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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KALEIDOSCOPE (from Gr. KaXos, beautiful, See also:dam, See also:form, and QKoir€iv, to view) . The See also:article REFLECTION explains the symmetrical arrangement of images formed by two mirrors inclined at an See also:angle which is a sub-multiple of four right angles. This is the principle of the kaleidoscope, an See also:optical See also:toy which received its See also:present form at the hands of See also:Sir See also:David See also:Brewster about the See also:year 1815, and which at once became exceedingly popular owing to the beauty and variety of the images and the sudden and unexpected changes from one graceful form to another. A See also:hundred years earlier R. See also:Bradley had employed a similar arrangement which seems to have passed into oblivion (New Improvements of Planting and Gardening, 171o). The See also:instrument has been extensively used by designers. In its simplest form it consists of a See also:tube about twelve inches See also:long containing two See also:glass plates, extending along its whole length and inclined at an angle of 6o°. The See also:eye-end of the tube is closed by a See also:metal See also:plate having a small hole at its centre near the intersection of the glass plates. The other end is closed by a plate of muffed glass at the distance of distinct See also:vision, and parallel to this is fixed a plate of clear glass. In the intervening space (the See also:object-See also:box) are contained a number of fragments of brilliantly coloured glass, and as the tube is turned See also:round its See also:axis these fragments alter their positions and give rise to the various patterns. A third reflecting plate is sometimes employed, the See also:cross-See also:section of the three forming an equilateral triangle.

Sir David Brewster modified his apparatus by moving the object-box and closing the end of the tube by a See also:

lens of See also:short See also:focus which forms images of distant See also:objects at the distance of distinct vision. These images take the See also:place of the coloured fragments of glass, and they are symmetrically multi-plied by the mirrors. In the polyangular kaleidoscope the angle between the mirrors can be altered at See also:pleasure. Such See also:instruments are occasionally found in old collections of philosophical apparatus and they have been used in See also:order to explain to students the formation of multiple images. (C. J.

End of Article: KALEIDOSCOPE (from Gr. KaXos, beautiful, dam, form, and QKoir€iv, to view)

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