Brewster himself was deeply interested in light and vision phenomena. Despite its original scientific purposes, his Kaleidoscope also was a popular toy. Brewster patented the toy in 1816 but it was pirated. Some 200,000 were sold in three months. In his _Treatise on the Kaleidoscope_, 1819, Brewster told it was discovered while he was testing the successive reflections of gold and silver plates. He also noted the application of the Kaleidoscope to Kircher’s magic lantern in order to bring the effects before a large audience at one time. The invention of the Thaumatrope has been attributed to others besides Paris, despite the weighty authority of Brewster and Paris’ own book. Charles Babbage (1792–1871), English scientist and mathematician noted for his calculating machine and his campaign against noise (which he said robbed us of one-quarter of our working life), attributed the discovery of the Thaumatrope to his friend and classmate, John Herschel, the astronomer, (1792–1871). Babbage wrote in his autobiography that one evening Herschel spun a shilling before a mirror so that both sides of it could be visible--the Thaumatrope effect. Dr. William Fitton, Captain Kaster and Dr. William Hyde Wollaston (1766–1828) were told about the method and various Thaumatropes were made, according to Babbage, about 1818 or 1819. “After a lapse of some time the device was forgotten. Then in 1826,” Babbage wrote “during a dinner at the Royal Society Club, Sir Joseph Banks being in the chair, I heard Mr. Barrow, then Secretary to the Admiralty, talking very loudly about a wonderful invention of Dr. Paris, the object of which I could not quite understand.” Babbage then claimed it was his invention. At any rate, Paris and not Herschel, Fitton, Wollaston or Babbage, was the one to popularize the Thaumatrope. In passing, it may be noted that at the time Paris was making the Thaumatrope well known Babbage was thinking about submarine craft: “Such a vessel” (a four-man submarine equipped for a 48-hour stay under water) “could be propelled by a screw and might enter, without being suspected, any harbour, and place any amount of explosive matter under the bottoms of ships.” _XI_ PLATEAU CREATES MOTION PICTURES _Plateau, blind half of his life, develops devices to show motion from hand-drawn images, opening the road to the modern motion picture--Stampfer independently invents similar apparatus--Persistence of vision studied._