A Brief History of Mirrors
As people the desire to understand our own reflection is one of fascination. We all have a bit of vanity, when it come to how others see us, we all want to put our best foot forward, women with their pedicures, or weekly trips to the hairdressers or men at the barbers for a short back and sides. Well all this would not be possible, or should I say not enhanced without the mirror, which though basic plays a very big part in all our lives.
Did you know before the 1700s, mirrors were hardly a thing and only the well to do could afford large pane's of glass.
Fast forward to the 1800s over here in good old blighty, factories were busy recycling old mirrors to avoid import costs and taxes. They came up with the idea of putting several pieces of broken glass to give the impression of a single mirror. Not to mention, mirrors back then were made of poisonous mercury, can you imagine that. So Fast forward to the 1900s, I think someone decided the mercury thing wasn't quite working out and began to use silver nitrates instead of mercury, a much safer option I would say.
With this new way to make mirrors, they were soon in mass production making it easier for regular folks to have one.
Today mirrors are made of aluminum, which is much cheaper, lighter and definitely not poisonous. Also, today I would say every household has a mirror in some way shape or form. As well as a household piece of astatic mirrors are used by creatives for things such as architecture and technology. Mirrors are also used, in the modern age for our smart phones, by NASA for their telescopes, and as a safety aspect in cars.
Written by Leslyn Smith
