J. H. Brown
Spectropia, or Surprising Spectral Illusions:
Showing Ghosts Everywhere, and of any Colour
New York: James G. Gregory, 1864
11 pp. 16 plates
Call number: Rare Books QP482.5 .S64 1864
This book of illusionary images must have delighted its young audience when it was first published in
1863, although the compiler had a more serious purpose in mind. Alarmed by the growing interest in spiritualism,
Brown maintained that this "mental epidemic" was caused by fraudulent mediums preying on a gullible
public. He stated that his goal was "the extinction of the superstitious belief that apparitions
are actual spirits,
by showing some of the ways our senses may be deceived." He pointed out that all of the senses are more or less
subject to deception, but "the eye is pre-eminently so." To prove his point, he instructed readers to focus their
attention on the various ghostly plates in the book and then look at a blank wall. The image (or "specter") will
reappear and vanish several times, and the colors of the plate will be reversed. He then concluded with a detailed
explanation of the phenomenon of complementary afterimages and the persistence of vision.
For those people who prefer magic tricks to be performed without explanation, these simple illusions are
perhaps more amusing in the absence of any further information.
Related page: Virginia Creepers: Thrills and chills from the collections of the VHS
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