Schott discussed the various details of the magic lantern projector in scientific terms. He was a pure scientist without the dash of showmanship which at once distinguished Kircher and probably helped to cause him difficulty with his “enemies.” Schott described how “to construct the Kircher Catoptric Machine.” This was the first coupling of Kircher’s own name with the magic lantern. But people preferred Kircher’s appellation of “magic lantern.” And so his own name did not grow into the language to stand for the device he invented. About fifteen years after Schott’s book appeared and nearly thirty years after the first description of the magic lantern by Kircher in his _Great Art of light and Shadow_, the first prominent Frenchman in the history of the magic shadows made a contribution by improving some details of the projector. In keeping with what has not been an infrequent practice amongst French historians in claiming inventions for Frenchmen, it has been held that Claude François Milliet de Chales, and not Athanasius Kircher, invented the magic lantern. Milliet de Chales was a talented man but, as he himself clearly wrote, he did not invent the magic lantern. What happened was that de Chales saw one exhibited in Lyons, where he was stationed, and then devised some improvements. De Chales was much too young to have invented the magic lantern, as he was born at Chambéry in 1621. He entered the Jesuits in 1636 and after his studies spent some time in missionary work in Turkey. While de Chales was on the missions, Kircher had already demonstrated the magic lantern at Rome. Father de Chales had an interesting career. Upon his return from missionary work he became a professor of humanities and rhetoric. Later his attention was turned to things scientific. Louis XIV made him professor of hydrography at Marseilles and there de Chales was able to devote much time to navigation and to other arts which would have a military application. De Chales later taught mathematics and theology, eventually becoming rector of Chambéry. He died in Turin in 1678. [Illustration: Oculus Artificialis Teledioptricus, 1685 _JOHANN ZAHN, Gaspar Schott, Claude Milliet de Chales and William Molyneux perfected Kircher’s magic lantern projector and spread knowledge of it throughout Europe. Illustrated are table models by Zahn. The mounting of the slides shows the quest for movement. No basic improvements in the projector were made for another century and a half._]