Kircher included a description of the slide projector so that all who wished could imitate his work. “All these things have been shown so that the reader can make his own,” he said. “The work of art formerly described does not differ from the new lantern.” He pointed out that moving slides had been added so that the objects might appear with the aspect of living shadows. He again explained how a concave mirror and diaphragm should be used. Kircher informed his readers that he usually used four or five slides, each having eight pictures painted on glass. The illustrations, he noted, explain the system better than words. We echo that and refer the reader to the illustrations of the box and room moving-slide projectors of Kircher. Kircher in his 1671 edition described a form of revolving disc to tell a story. (He selected the most widely known story of all for the model--The Life of Christ.) The light available would not give a great effect but the pattern was set. Nearly two hundred years later the first projection of motion pictures was to be achieved with a somewhat similar disc and series of painted figures. Kircher’s revolving disc told the story with a series of still pictures rapidly succeeding each other. (Illustration facing page 48.) By explaining all details of the method and construction of the magic lantern to everyone interested, Kircher had hoped to expose some of the imposters who were using his invention to arouse fear and make the people believe that the operator had magic powers. Kircher, with his “hundred arts,” became _vir toto orbe celebratissimus_--a man well known throughout the world--according to Jerome Langenmantel who edited his autobiography in 1684. However, since his own era Kircher has been relatively unknown. There was hardly a branch of learning that did not attract Kircher’s attention. He assembled one of the best ethnological collections of his time. He attempted to develop a basic language and was one of the first to make a start towards deciphering hieroglyphics. In the field of magnetism he was a pioneer and in 1632 was one of the first to map compass variation and ocean currents. In medicine Kircher was a proponent of the new and generally disbelieved germ theory of disease, and an experimenter in the use of hypnotism for healing purposes. He contributed much to the early knowledge of volcanoes. As an inventor, Kircher perfected one of the first counting machines, speaking tubes, Aeolian harps and developed the microscope to an enlarging power of 1,000 diameters.