The History and Creation of Mirrors

The history of mirrors is a lengthy one stretching as far back as ancient Turkey. For generations they have been used both as household objects and decorative items. In earlier times they were even considered status symbols as they were quite expensive to make.

Mirrors

Put simply, a mirror is an object with a surface smooth enough to form an image. The most common type of mirror is the plane mirror, which has a flat surface. Curved mirrors are also often used, because they can create magnified or diminished images, focus light, or even distort the reflected image, as seen in the fun house mirrors found in amusement parks.

The primary use for mirrors is for personal grooming, decoration, and architecture. But they also play a vital part in use in scientific apparatus such as telescopes and lasers, cameras, and industrial machinery. Most mirrors are designed for visible light; however, some mirrors are specifically designed to capture other types of waves or other wavelengths of electromagnetic radiation. This comes in handy especially for the use of optical instruments which have some very precise requirements.

History

The earliest mirrors were fashioned from pieces of polished stone such as obsidian, a naturally occurring volcanic glass, which could reflect a surprisingly clear image. Examples of obsidian mirrors found in Turkey have been dated to around 6000 BC. Polished stone mirrors from Central and South America date from around 2000 BC onward. Mirrors of polished copper were crafted in Mesopotamia from 4000 BC, and in ancient Egypt from around 3000 BC. In China, bronze mirrors were manufactured from around 2000 BC.

Metal coated glass mirrors are said to have been invented in Sidon (modern-day Lebanon) in the first century AD, and glass mirrors backed with gold leaf are mentioned by the Roman author Pliny in his Natural History, written in about 77 AD. The Romans also developed a technique for creating crude mirrors by coating blown glass with molten lead.

German chemist Justus von Leibig worked out the chemical process of coating a glass surface with metallic silver in 1835, thus inventing the silvered-glass mirror. This led to less costly mirrors which were more readily available. As a result, their use was greatly expanded. They were placed into pieces of furniture, such as wardrobes and sideboards, and used to decorate public places.

Modern Mirrors

The mirrors of today are made by applying a thin layer of molten aluminum or silver onto the back of a plate of glass in a vacuum. For mirrors used in telescopes and other optical instruments, the aluminum is evaporated onto the front surface of the glass rather than the back, in order to eliminate faint reflections from the glass itself.

Mirrors and Superstition

Over the centuries many superstitions have arisen surrounding mirrors. Mirrors are said to be a reflection of the soul, and they were used in witchcraft as tools for casting spells. It is also said that mirrors cannot lie; they can only show the truth. So to see something disturbing in a mirror bodes misfortune and one should be prepared and act accordingly.

It is a common superstition even in this modern age that breaking a mirror will result in seven years bad luck. Among the many reasons for this belief is one in which the mirror is believed to reflect part of the soul, therefore, breaking the mirror will break part of the soul. Fortunately, this is not permanent, as the soul is said to regenerate every seven years, thus becoming whole again. In the meantime, there are certain rituals which can be performed to avoid this unpleasant fate. One of these is to prevent the mirror from reflecting the broken soul by grinding it to dust.

Along the same line of thinking, in days of old it was customary in the southern United States to cover the mirrors in a house where the wake of a deceased person was being held. If this was not done, it was feared that the person’s soul would become trapped in a mirror left uncovered. Mirrors that fell off walls or broke mysteriously were thought to be haunted.

Legend has it that a vampire has no reflection in mirrors because it is an undead creature and has lost its soul.