Periscope

"Some years ago a poor man was seen on the quay of the Louvre, who showed to the amazed spectators the facade of the Institute through an enormous paving stone. This magic glass which enabled people to see through opaque bodies, was composed of a tube broken in the middle, in which was placed a stone; but the two pieces were really united by tubes (in the supports) twice bent at a right angle, and containing four plane mirrors inclined at 45°." From Amédée Guillemen, The Forces of Nature (MacMillan, London, 1877), pg 257.

   The Periscope, sometimes called the Polemoscope, was used during sieges to see over the parapets of trenches. The apparatus at the left, below, is in the collection of the University of Mississippi, and was made by James Millington (1779-1868) who was the first Professor of Natural Philosophy at the University from 1848 to 1853. At the right is an example at Yale University that was made by Leybold's Nachfolger of Cologne, imported by James G. Biddle of Philadelphia, and listed in the 1921 Leybold catalogue at $5.00.  Return to Optics Home Page | Return to Home Page