Читать книгу Magic Shadows. The Story of the Origin of Motion Pictures онлайн

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Some authorities hold that as long ago as 6000 B.C. magnifying glasses were used by the Chaldeans in the ancient biblical lands. It is known that the Chaldeans, who developed an elaborate civilization, gave first attention to the study of light and all its problems. A few thousand years before the new era the Babylonians, famed too as gardeners, became great astronomers. The heavens, then and now, present the greatest natural light and shadow show, with a continuous run every night since the beginning of time. So it is not surprising that the first study of light and shadow should concern itself with the stars and planets. The Babylonians, with but the naked eye, picked out constellations and identified them. It was a desire to learn more about the stars that resulted in the development of a telescope, which was a marked advance in the science of light and shadow.

In the ruins of Nineveh, destroyed in 606 B.C., was found a convex lens of quartz and an inscription too fine to be read by the naked eye—proof that those people knew the uses of lenses and treasured fine artistic drawings and writings which could be inscribed only through the use of a magnifying glass.