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Japanese Magic Mirrors

IN Japan a very peculiar kind of mirror is made which possesses some remarkable properties. It is composed of an alloy formed by the mixture of lead, tin, and copper in certain proportions, and its bright face exhibits all the qualities of an ordinary looking-glass. The back of it, however, is its most peculiar feature, being covered with designs of an artistic character in relief. When the mirror is caused to reflect the rays of the sun, or any bright source of artificial light, these figures (although not on the surface of the mirror--which presents a smooth unbroken film), are depicted plainly upon any wall or screen towards which the light is cast. It is not every Japanese mirror that will show this peculiarity, and some will do so much better than others. There is no doubt that the workmen themselves have no idea of the cause of the phenomenon. A great deal of veneration is felt for these mirrors, and they are looked upon as things of a sacred nature. The following account of their manufacture is quoted from a paper read before the Asiatic Society of Japan. "For preparing the mould, which consists of two halves put together with their concave surfaces, the workman first powders a kind of rough, plastic clay, and mixes this with a levigated powder of a blackish 'tuff-stone,' and a little charcoal powder and water, till the paste is plastic and capable of being moulded. It is then roughly formed, by the aid of a wooden frame, into squares or round cakes; the surface of the latter is covered with a levigated half-liquid mixture of powdered 'chamotte' (old crucibles which have served for melting bronze or copper) and water. Thus well prepared, the blackish paste in the frame receives the concave designs by the aid of wood-cuts, cut in relief. The two halves of the mould are put together in the frame and dried. Several of these flat moulds are then placed in a melting-box, made of clay and 'chamotte.' This box has on the top an opening into which the liquid bronze is poured, after it has been melted in small fireproof clay crucibles. The liquid metal naturally fills all openings inside the box, and consequently also the cavities of the moulds. After being cooled, the melting-box and moulds are crushed, and the mirrors taken away. These are then cut scoured, and filed, until the mirror is roughly finished. When the surface of the mirror has been well polished it is covered with a layer of mercury amalgam, consisting of quicksilver, tin, and a little lead. The amalgam is rubbed vigorously with a piece of soft leather, which manipulation must be continued for a long time, until the excess of mercury is expelled, and the mirror has got a fine, bright, reflecting surface."

A great many Europeans have endeavoured at different times to account for the strange phenomena connected with these mirrors, but their explanations have invariably been faulty, until quite lately, when the question has at last been set at rest by Professors Ayrton and Perry. These two gentlemen, in a paper recently brought before the Royal Society, thus account for the strange effect:- "The magic of the Eastern mirror arises, not as has been supposed, from a subtle trick on the part of the maker, nor from inlaying of other metals, nor from hardening of portions by stamping, but from the natural property possessed by certain thin bronze of buckling under a bending stress, so as to remain strained in the opposite direction after the stress is removed. And this stress is applied by the megebo or 'distorting rod,' and partly by the subsequent polishing, which, in an exactly similar way, tends to make the thinner parts more convex than the thicker."

Professor Ayrton further explained that this mirror ranks far higher in Japan than our notions of a looking-glass would lead us to imagine. It takes the place of the cross in Roman Catholic countries, and constitutes the most important part of the regalia of Japanese sovereigns. The sketch on the preceding page, kindly furnished by Mr. Browning--who imports these curiosities of science--will give the reader a fair idea of their appearance.