In its June, 1818 issue the British monthly Blackwood’s Magazine noted that, “a universal mania for the instrument seized all classes, from the lowest to the highest, from the most ignorant to the most learned, and every person not only felt, but expressed the feeling that a new pleasure had been added to their existence.” Brewster, ever the absent- minded professor, did not make any money off the craze. What Brewster had not counted on was the public adoption of his device as a form of entertainment. Brewster thought his invention would be particularly helpful to architects designing rose windows in Gothic style cathedrals. By looking through the peephole at one end turning the object case, which housed the colored glass, the observer could see multiple designs. The kaleidoscope, he wrote in his patent request, is “constructed in such a manner as either to please the eye by ever-varying succession of splendid tints and symmetrical forms or to enable the observer to render permanent such as may appear most appropriate for any of the numerous branches of the ornamental arts.” Consisting of colored glass and mirrors that reflected on each other, the kaleidoscope created patterns that seemed otherworldly. It was in that year that he applied to, “his present most Excellent Majesty King George the Third” for a patent on a device Brewster called a kaleidoscope from the Greek meaning beautiful form. By 1816, the 35-year-old Brewster was already considered one of the world’s leading scientists. His work carried both theory and practice in the field to rarefied heights. Today he might have been called a physicist. The aspect of science that interested Brewster the most was light and optics. As a friend was to write years later, “it was a pity for the Kirk (the National Church of Scotland). He gave up on the church and turned his great talents elsewhere. The first day he mounted the pulpit and opened his mouth theyoung minister grew nervous and fainted. But fate had decreed that David Brewster was never to be successful as a man of the cloth. At age 19 he received his Master of Arts degree. Brewster’s professors, especially those of philosophy and mathematics, pronounced him the most brilliant student they had ever seen. He began his career studying for a place as a minister in the Church of Scotland. The wave of the future is electronic kaleidoscopes with light-emiting diodes whose images can be made to pulsate to the rhythms of music. Hand-blown glass ampoules filled with multicolored liquids, antique watch gears and cathedral glass create images of uncommon beauty. Modern kaleidoscope artists use a mixture of clear glass mirrors that are clarity itself. They are a combination of the simple and complex that intrigues more and more people every year. Anyone who has not looked through a kaleidoscope since they were 10 will find quite a change. This revival has taken the kaleidoscope out of the toy closet and ontothe museum shelf.Īt least part of the interest comes from the sheer beauty of the design patterns themselves. Since the mid 1970s a new breed of ‘scope maker has revived the 170-year-old art form and these limited edition items are hot. The price reflects a rising interest in kaleidoscopes among a growing but discriminating group of collectors. Talking about some of his fellow kaleidoscope makers, Straub notes, “I have heard of some collectors paying as much as $5,000.” The products of hours of labor and skill, they are sold in art galleries and high-toned curio shops. But Glenn Straub’s elegant handcrafted instruments are light years away from cheap toys. Used as Christmas stocking stuffers or birthday party favors, they are played with and examined in childish curiosity. Most people remember kaleidoscopes as one of the more empyreal toys of childhood. For Glenn Straub is a dealer in beautiful images, a craftsmen of reflected light. It enables him to show his handcrafted wares to best advantage. Late fall colors of brown, orange and red tint the rolling hills, but its overflow of natural light is more important to Glenn Straub than the view. From his kitchen window in rural Lancaster County he can scan a pastoral horizon. Life is peaceful on Glenn Straub’s mountaintop.
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