#catoptrics

September saw Reading Tom Wolfe's The Painted Word

Catoptrics (n): The branch of optics that deals with reflection often investigating the phenomena ofreflected light andimage-forming optical systems usingmirrors.

Etiology (n): The study of causation, or origination; The cause, set of causes, or manner of causation of a disease or condition; An etiological myth is a myth intended to explain a name or create a mythic history for a place or family

Cenacle (n): A group of people, such as a discussion group or literary clique; The room in which the Last Supper was held.

Aperçu (n): a brief survey or sketch, an outline; an immediate impression,  especially an insight.

Fuliginous (adj): Pertaining to or resembling soot; sooty, dusky.

Oleaginous (adj): Rich in, covered with, or producing oil; oily or greasy; Exaggeratedly and distastefully complimentary; obsequious.

Sigmoid (n): Curved like the uncial sigma (C); crescent-shaped; S-shaped.

Appurtenance (n): An accessory or other item associated with a particular activity or style of living.

Davit (n): A small crane on board a ship, esp. one of a pair for suspending or lowering a lifeboat.

Heuristic (n): Enabling a person to discover or learn something for themselves.

The generative and transformative properties of the sun and stars magnified in their potentials through the use of lenses and mirrors concentrated upon a substance. The true precursor to photography. Catoptrics has philosophical roots in early Greek and Arabic optics, the Kabbala and more recently in figures including Robert Grosseteste, Paracelsus, John Dee, Giambattista Della Porta, Tycho Brahe, Heinrich Khunrath, and Robert Fludd.