phantascope
(ˈfæntəskəʊp)
[irreg. f. Gr. ϕαντ-ός visible + -scope: cf. phantoscope.]
A name independently given to different optical instruments.
1. A contrivance for exhibiting phenomena of binocular vision by an arrangement of slit cards, through which two figures seen at a certain distance converge into one combined image.
| 1866 Brande & Cox Dict. Sci., etc. II. 880/1 Phantascope, the name given by Professor Locke, of the United States, to an apparatus for enabling persons to converge the optical axis of the eyes, or to look cross-eyed, and thereby observe certain phenomena of binocular vision. 1875 Knight Dict. Mech. 1677/2 Phantascope..A pair of objects on the base-board is viewed through the perforations of both cards, and by viewing the index the optical axes of the eyes are converged and the objects are reduplicated, and eventually a merged image appears in the central position. |
2. = phenakistoscope.
| 1876 Bernstein Five Senses 117 The persistence of these incidental images is the basis of..the phantascope or magic disc, on which various figures are seen in motion. 1881 Oracle 12 Nov. 306 The optical toy, which has been variously called Phantascope, Phantasmascope, and Phenakistoscope. |