Professor Nicholas Wade - 21 January 2009
Professor of Psychology, University of Dundee

The Outlook Tower in Edinburgh, which Patrick Geddes purchased in 1892, housed a camera obscura. The camera provided a panoramic view of the city and after viewing it Geddes planned to guide the visitors though a metaphorical odyssey as they descended from the upper to the lower levels of the Tower. The uppermost level, on which the camera obscura was housed, was intended to open the eyes of observers - to introduce them to the art of seeing. I will examine the history of the camera obscura, as well as other instruments that extended the scope of seeing in the nineteenth century, such as the kaleidoscope, stereoscope, stroboscope and tachistoscope.