| Chapter Six - Videre est credere - Seeing is believing |
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I became aware of a problem faced by some of our troops, quite often the enemy ships dived out of the sun towards our ground installations dazzling the men below as the bright light glinted off their polished metal crafts. Reading medical reports on eye problems I found not only references to damage caused by the suns rays but also by debris from the battlefield thus I set about work on my first pair of "safety glasses".
It occurred to me that something I had read in a book about a gentleman's journey in the far off land of China might be of some help. Apparently for hundreds of years judges in Chinese court cases had worn tinted glasses to obscure the expression in their eyes while listening to both sides of a case. I thought maybe this same technology could be put to use here and so in this way I started my next creation. I read accounts by various sources who were experimenting with glass tinting techniques working on the basis formed by a London scientist called James Ayscough who has in the past recommended the use of his blue or green tinted lenses for the correction of problems with peoples vision. I decided that I would attempt to follow his example when disaster struck I had just melted my first batch of glass when clumsily I knocked a case of metal filings into the mix cursing my luck I retired for the night leaving the glass to cool in a shallow pan for easy later disposal. The next morning I arrived in my laboratories to the most amazing sight the metal had in some way fused with the glass creating a much darkened glass plate. I swiftly repeated what had previously been a mistake and by the end of the day had crafted a series of lenses of variable tints. I worked into the early hours of the next morning crafting the frames for these glasses making sure they could withstand various impacts and before I knew it exhausted I sat with my first pair of Solar-obscura Glasses. |
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