…Kaleidoscope

Isn’t that a fabulous word? Fun to say, hard to spell, but fabulous? It sounds just like what it is:

a way to see beautiful patterns thanks to reflections off mirrors.

More on that in a bit… first, why I’m two days late writing this (and the next two) post(s).

In my D post, I talked about my health issues. Over the weekend, I stupidly did “normal” stuff (grocery shopping, unpacking some boxes)… and I shouldn’t have. Currently, any sort of “extra” physical activity, no matter how good I’m feeling at the moment, ends up causing me extreme pain. This extreme pain – which is *all over* my body – leads to horrible insomnia, which leads to sleep deprivation… and if you’ve never experienced sleep deprivation, lemme just tell you: it is horrid. I’m pretty sure it could be used as a form of torture.

After no sleep Saturday, Sunday, or Monday, I finally got to sleep yesterday (Tuesday) morning and have slept off and on until now. I don’t feel great, and I’m still tired, but I feel slightly less… insane.

So anywho, kaleidoscopes.

Per Wikipedia, the kaleidoscope was invented by a dude named Sir David Brewster in 1815. Brewster was “a Scottish physicist, mathematician, astronomer, inventor, writer, historian of science and university principal. But he was most noted for his contributions to the field of optics”, aka the principles of light.

He found a lens developer to manufacture his creation, and in 1817, 200,000 kaleidoscopes were sold in Paris and London. That’s a heck of a lot, wouldn’t you say? (And oooh, to be able to see and touch one of those originals…)

Many of you (including me) probably had a plastic kaleidoscope as a kid… and for a long while they were considered mainly kids’ toys, even tho the inventor created them as a way to study light polarization. Some artists have created them as objects de art with stained glass and mirrors. (I am not one of those artists, tho I appreciate the work that went into the creation.)

My Collier’s New Encyclopedia, Volume 5 (copyright 1921), defines a kaleidoscope as:

an instrument which, by means of reflection, enables us to behold an endless variety of beautiful forms of perfect symmetry.

“Kaleidoscope” by photo taken by H. Pellikka – Own work. Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons –
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Kaleidoscope.jpg#/media/File:Kaleidoscope.jpg

So, how many of you had a kaleidoscope? How many of you still have one? I don’t know about you, but now I want one (again!)