Arch. [f. Gr. λύχνο-ς lamp + -σκόπος -SCOPE.] A name given to the LOW SIDE WINDOW on the supposition that its purpose was to allow lepers to see the altar lights.

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1843.  Ecclesiologist, II. 71. A paper on the windows called ‘Lychnoscopes,’ in the fourth edition of the [Cambridge Camden] Society’s ‘Hints on the Practical Study of Ecclesiastical Antiquities.’ Ibid. (1846), V. 165. Lychnoscopes are nothing else than the symbolical representation of the Wound in the Saviour’s Side.

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1848.  B. Webb, Continental Ecclesiol., 57. The dwarf-wall is pierced by a broad fenestrella with a trefoliated head opening through into the aisle. This in England would be called a ‘lychnoscope.’

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1866.  Parker, Gloss. Terms Goth. Archit.

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  Hence Lychnoscopic a.

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1849.  Ecclesiologist, IX. 314. Behind it is a small chamber with a kind of ‘lychnoscopic’ window. Ibid. (1852), XIII. 216.

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