This is not the place to describe this very ingenious lock in detail, but I may state that it has never been picked. Even Mr. Hobbs, who tried it for twenty-four hours, gave it up, and, when he saw the interior mechanism, said that if he had tried for a month he should have made no progress. This is an unconscious testimony to the wisdom of following Nature in Art. THE MAGIC LANTERN. We are all familiar with the Magic Lantern, whether it may take the form of the mere child’s toy, be developed into Dissolving Views, or throw black shadows on a curtain, in which case it is called by the name of Chinese Shadows. In all these cases the principle is the same. First we have a light behind the object whose reflection is to be seen. Next we have the object itself, and lastly the surface upon which it is reflected. As to the variety of mirrors, lamps, and lenses which are used to produce different effects, we may put them aside as foreign to our present purpose. [Illustration: MAGIC LANTERN.] Generally the object is reflected upon a white curtain or sheet, but sometimes, when a specially weird-like effect is needed, a cloud of thick smoke takes the place of the sheet, and upon it the reflection is shown, as seen in the accompanying illustration. * * * * * NATURE has her Magic Lanterns as well as Art, and wonderful things they are sometimes, the well-known Brocken Spectre being an excellent example. It is not, however, necessary to visit the Brocken in order to see this apparition, for I have seen it in perfection in England. Many years ago, when living in Wiltshire, I went before daybreak to the top of a very high conical hill. The morning mist was so thick that I could scarcely see my way up the hill. When I reached the summit, I stood there for some time, trying to see the landscape, but the mist was so thick that I could barely tell the points of the horizon by the brighter look cast by the coming Day in the east. I was looking westward, when suddenly the sun rose behind me, and I saw the Brocken Spectre as I have sketched it in the accompanying illustration. It was a gigantic shadow of myself, projected on the mist, just as a Magic Lantern projects the image on a sheet or a smoke-cloud. Of course my gestures were repeated, and it really looked almost awful to see this gigantic spectral figure set in the mist. Perhaps the most extraordinary part of it was the enormous halo of rainbow colours round the head. No matter where I moved, the halo surrounded the head of the image, its colours being comparatively bright near the centre, and becoming gradually paler towards the circumference. Another point about this natural Magic Lantern ought to be mentioned. [Illustration: BROCKEN SPECTRE.]