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CONJURING
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CONJURING , the See also:art, sometimes called See also: Judging from the accounts which See also:history has handed down to us, the marvels performed by the thaumaturgists of antiquity were very skilfully produced, and must have required a considerable See also:practical knowledge of the art. The See also:Romans were in the See also:habit of giving conjuring exhibitions, the most favourite feat being that of, the " cups and balls," the performers of which were called acetabularii, and the cups themselves acetabula. The balls used, however, instead of being the convenient See also:light See also:cork ones employed by See also:modern conjurors, were simply See also:round white pebbles which must have added greatly to the difficulty of performing the See also:trick. The art survived the barbarism and See also:ignorance of the See also:middle ages; and the earliest professors of the modern school were Italians such as See also:Jonas, Androletti and See also:Antonio Carlotti. But towards the See also:close of See also: 1839), of See also:Cheltenham, invented a See also:wood See also:cabinet in which persons vanished and were made to reappear, although it was placed upon high feet, with no passage through which a See also:person could pass from the cabinet to the stage See also:floor, the scenes, or the ceiling; and this cabinet was examined and measured for concealed space, and watched round by persons from the audience during the whole of the transformations. The See also:general principle was this: if a looking-glass be set upright in the corner of a See also:room, bisecting the right See also:angle formed by the walls, the See also:side wall reflected will appear as if it were the back, and hence an See also:object may be hidden behind the glass, yet the space seem to remain unoccupied. This principle, however, was so carried out that no sign of the existence of any mirror was discernible under the closest inspection. Two years later the same See also:simple principle appeared in " The Cabinet of See also:Proteus," patented by See also:Tobin and See also:Pepper of the See also:Polytechnic Institution, in which two mirrors were employed, See also:meeting in the middle, where an upright See also:pillar concealed their edges. In the same See also:year Stodare exhibited the illusion in an extended form, by placing the pair of mirrors in the centre of the stage, supported between the legs of a three-legged table having the See also:apex towards the audience; and as the side walls of his stage were draped exactly like the back, reflection showed an apparently clear space below the table See also:top, where in reality a See also:man in a sitting position was hidden behind the glasses and exhibited his See also:head (" The See also:Sphinx ") above the table. The See also:plane mirror illusion is so effective that it has been reproduced with modifications by various performers. In one See also:case a living bust was shown through an See also:aperture in a looking-glass sloping upward from the front towards the back of a curtained cabinet; in another a person stood See also:half-hidden by a See also:vertical mirror, and See also:imitation limbs placed in front of it were sundered and removed; and in another case a large vertical mirror was pushed forward from a back corner of the stage at an angle of 45 degrees, to See also:cover the entrance of a living " phantom," and then withdrawn. Maskelyne improved upon his See also:original cabinet by taking out a shelf which, in See also:conjunction with a mirror, could enclose a space, and thus See also:left no apparent See also:place in which a person could possibly be hidden. He introduced a further mystification by secretly conveying a person behind a See also:curtain See also:screen, notwithstanding that, during the whole See also:time, the existence of a clear space under the See also:stool upon which the screen is placed is proved by performers continually walking round. The principle of reflecting by means of transparent See also:plate-glass the images of highly-illuminated objects placed in front, so that they appear as if among less brilliantly lighted objects behind the glass, was employed in the " See also:ghost " illusions of See also:Sylvester, of Dircks and Pepper, of See also:Robin, and of some other inventors,—the transparent plate-glass being, in some cases, inclined forwards so as to reflect a See also:lime-lighted object placed below the front of the stage, and in other arrangements set vertically at an angle so as to reflect the object, from a lateral position. Among the acoustic wonders of antiquity were the speaking head of See also:Orpheus, the See also:golden virgins, whose voices resounded through the See also:temple of See also:Delphi, and the like. Hippolytus (iv. 4) explains the trick of the speaking head as practised in his See also:day, the See also:voice being really that of a concealed assistant who spoke through the flexible gullet of a See also:crane. Towards the close of the loth century See also:Gerbert (See also:Pope See also:Silvester II.) constructed (says See also: It is probable that the See also:automaton trumpeters of See also:Friedrich See also:Kaufmann and of Johann See also:Nepomuk Malzel were See also:clever deceptions of the same kind. As described in the See also:Journal de Mode, 1809, Malzel's See also:life-See also:size figure had the musical instrument fixed in its mouth; the mechanism was See also:wound up, and a set See also:series of See also:marches, See also:army calls, and other compositions was performed, accompaniments being played by a real See also:band. Mechanical counterparts of the human lips, See also:tongue and breath, both in speech and in playing certain musical instruments, have, however, been constructed, as in Jacques de Vaucanson's celebrated automaton See also:flute-player, which was completed in 1736; the same mechanician's See also:tambourine and See also:flageolet player, which was still more ingenious, as, the flageolet having only three holes, some of the notes were produced by half-stopping; See also:Abbe Mical's heads which articulated syllables, and his automata playing upon instruments; Kempelen's and Kratzenstein's speaking-See also:machines, in the latter part of the 18th century; the speaking-See also:machine made by Fabermann of See also:Vienna, closely imitating the human voice, with a fairly good See also:pronunciation of various words; the automaton clarionet-player constructed by See also:Van Oeckelen, a Dutchman, and exhibited in New See also:York in 186o, which played airs from a See also:barrel like that of a See also:crank-See also:organ, and could take the clarion( from its mouth and replace it, and
Maskelyne's two automata, " Fanfare " (1878) playing a See also:cornet, and " Labial " (1879) playing a See also:euphonium, both operated by mechanism inside the figures and supplied with See also:wind from a See also:bellows placed separately upon the stage.
See also:Lucian tells of the magician See also: Gandon, La seconde vue devoilee (See also:Paris, 1849).
See also:Fire tricks, such as walking on burning coals, breathing See also:flame and smoke from a See also:gall-See also:nut filled with an inflammable See also:composition and wrapped in See also:tow, or dipping the hands in boiling See also:pitch, were known in early times, and are explained by Hippolytus (iv. 33). At the close of the 17th century See also:Richard-son astonished the See also:English public by chewing ignited coals, pouring melted See also:lead (really quicksilver) upon his tongue and swallowing melted glass. See also:Strutt, in See also:Sports and Pastimes of the See also:People of England, relates how he saw Powel the fireeater, in 1762, broil a piece of beefsteak laid upon his tongue,—a piece of lighted See also:charcoal being placed under his tongue which a spectator blew upon with a bellows till the See also:meat was sufficiently done. This man also drank a melted mixture of pitch, See also:brimstone and lead out of an See also:iron See also:spoon, the stuff blazing furiously. These performers anointed their mouths and See also:tongues with a protective composition.
See also:Galen speaks of a person in the 2nd century who relighted a blown-out candle by holding it against a wall or a See also: A striking trick of this conjuror was to extinguish two See also:wax candles and simultaneously light two others at a distance of 3 ft., by firing a See also:pistol. The candles were placed in a See also:row, and the pistol fired from the end where the lighted candles were placed; the sudden blast of hot See also:gas from the pistol blew out the flames and lighted the more distant candles, because in the wick of each was placed a See also:millet-See also:grain of phosphorus. A more See also:recent conjuror showed a See also:pretty illusion by appearing to carry a flame invisibly between his hands from a lighted to an unlighted candle. What he did was to hold a piece of See also:wire for a second or two in the flame of the first candle, and then See also:touch with the heated wire a bit of phosphorus which had been inserted in the See also:turpentine-wetted wick of the other. But in 1842 See also:Ludwig Dobler, a See also:German conjuror of much originality, surprised his audience by lighting two See also:hundred candles instantaneously upon the firing of a pistol. This was the earliest application of See also:electricity to stage illusions. The candles were so arranged that each wick, See also:black from previous burning, stood a few inches in front of a See also:fine nozzle gas-burner projecting horizontally from a pipe of See also:hydrogen gas, and the two hundred jets of gas passed through the same number of gaps in a conducting-wire. An electric current leaping in a spark through each See also:jet of gas ignited all simultaneously, and the gas flames fired the candle wicks. J. E. Robert-Houdin (1805-1871), who opened his " Temple of Magic " at Paris in 1845, originated the application of See also:electromagnetism for secretly working or controlling mechanical apparatus in stage illusions. His Soirees fantastiques at Paris gave him such a reputation that the French See also:government actually sent him to See also:Algiers in order to show his superiority to the See also:local marabouts; and he ranks as the founder of modern conjuring. He first exhibited in 1845 his light and heavy See also:chest, which, when placed upon the broad See also:plank or " See also:rake " among the spectators, and exactly over a powerful electromagnet hidden under the See also:cloth covering of the plank, was held fast at See also:pleasure. In order to divert suspicion, Houdin showed a second experiment with the same box, suspending it by a rope which passed over a single small See also:pulley attached to the ceiling; but any person in the audience who took hold of the rope to feel the sudden increase in the See also:weight of the box was unaware that the rope, while appearing to pass simply over the pulley, really passed upward over a winding-barrel worked as required by an assistant. Remarkable ingenuity was displayed in concealing a small electromagnet in the handle of his glass bell, as well as in his See also:drum, the electric current passing through wires hidden within the See also:cord by which these articles were suspended. In one of Houdin's illusions—throwing eight half-crowns into a crystal See also:cash-box previously set swinging—electricity was employed in a different manner. Top, bottom, sides and ends of an oblong See also:casket were of transparent glass, held together at all the edges by a light metal frame. The coins were concealed under an opaque See also:design on the lid, and supported by a false lid of glass, which was tied by See also:cotton thread to a piece of See also:platinum wire. Upon connecting the electric See also:circuit, the platinum, becoming red-hot, severed the thread, letting fall the glass flap, and dropping the coins into the box. Down to the latter part of the 18th century no means of secretly communicating ad libitum motions to apparently isolated pieces of mechanism had superseded the clumsy See also:device of packing a confederate into a box on legs draped to look like an unsophisticated table. Pinetti placed three See also:horizontal levers close beside each other in the top of a thin table, covered by a cloth, these levers being actuated by wires passing through the legs and feet of the table and to the confederate behind a See also:scene or See also:partition. In the See also:pedestal of each piece of apparatus which was to be operated upon when set loosely upon the table were three corresponding levers hidden by cloth; and, after being examined by the audience, the piece of mechanism was placed upon a table in such a position that the two sets of levers exactly coincided, one being superimposed upon the other. In one " effect " the confederate worked a small bellows in the See also:base of a See also:lamp, to See also:blow out the flame; in another he let go a trigger, causing an arrow to See also:fly by a See also:spring from the See also:bow of a See also:doll sports-man; he actuated a See also:double-bellows inside a bottle, which caused See also:flowers and See also:fruit to protrude from among the foliage of an artificial See also:shrub, by distending with See also:air a number of small bladders shaped and painted to represent them; he opened or shut valves which allowed balls to issue out of various doors in a See also:model house as directed by the audience; and he moved the tiny bellows in the See also:body of a toy bird by which it blew out a candle. Other conjurors added more complicated pieces of apparatus,—one being a See also:clock with small hand moving upon a glass disk as required by the audience. The glass disk carrying the See also:numbers or letters was in reality two, the back one being isolated by ratchet See also:teeth on its periphery hidden by the See also:ring frame which supported it, and, though the pillar-pedestal was separated into three pieces and shown to the spectators, movable rods, worked by the table levers, were in each See also:section duly covered by cloth faces. Another mechanical trick, popular with Torrini, Houdin, Philippe and Robin, and worked in a similar way, was a little See also:harlequin figure which See also:rose out of a box set upon the table, put his legs over the front of the box and sat on the edge, nodded his head, smoked a pipe, blew out a candle, and whistled a one-See also:note See also:obbligato See also:town See also:orchestra. Robert-Houdin employed, instead of the table levers, vertical rods each arranged to rise and fall in a tube, according as it was drawn down by a See also:spiral spring or pulled up by See also:whip-cord which passed over a pulley at the top of the tube and so down the table See also:leg to the hiding-place of the confederate. In his centre table he had ten of these " pistons," and the ten cords passing under the floor of the stage terminated at a See also:keyboard. Various ingenious automata were actuated by this means of transmitting See also:motion; but the most elaborate piece of mechanical apparatus constructed by Houdin was his See also:orange See also:tree. The oranges, with one exception, were real, See also:stuck upon small spikes, and concealed by hemispherical screens which were covered with foliage; and the screens, when released by the upward pressure of a See also:piston, made half a turn, and disclosed the fruit. The flowers were hidden behind foliage until raised above the leaves by the See also:action of another piston. Near the top of the tree an artificial orange opened into four portions; while two butterflies attached to two light arms of See also:brass rose up behind the tree, appeared on each side by the spreading of the arms, and See also:drew out of the opened orange a handkerchief which had been borrowed and vanished away. Many of the illusions regarded as the original inventions of eminent conjurors have been really improvements of older tricks. See also:Hocus Pocus Junior, The See also:Anatomy of Legerdemain (4th ed., 1654) gives an explanatory cut of a method of See also:drawing different liquors out of a single tap in a barrel, the barrel being divided into compartments, each having an air-hole at the top, by means of which the liquid in any of the compartments was withheld or permitted to flow. Robert-Houdin applied the principle to a See also:wine-bottle held in his hand from which he could pour four different liquids regulated by the unstopping of any of the four tiny air-holes which were covered by his fingers. A large number of very small liqueur glasses being provided on trays, and containing drops of certain flavouring essences, enabled him to See also:supply imitations of various wines and liquors, according to the glasses into which he poured See also:syrup from the bottle; while by a skilful substitution of a full bottle for an emptied one, or by secretly refilling in the See also:act of wiping the bottle with a cloth, he produced the impression that the bottle was " inexhaustible." In 1835 was first exhibited in England a trick which a See also:Brahman had been seen to perform at See also:Madras several years before. Ching Lau Lauro sat See also:cross-legged upon nothing,—one of his hands only just touching some beads hung upon a genuine hollow See also:bamboo which was set upright in a hole on the top of a wooden stool. The placing of the performer in position was done behind a screen; and the explanation of the mysterious suspension is that he passed through the bamboo a strong iron See also:bar, to which he connected a support which, concealed by the beads, his hand and his See also:dress, upheld his body. In 1849 Robert-Houdin reproduced the See also:idea under the See also:title of ethereal suspension,-professedly rendering his son's body devoid of weight by administering vapour of See also:ether to his See also:nose, and then, in sight of the audience, laying him in a horizontal position in the air with one See also:elbow resting upon a See also:staff resemblinga long walking-stick. The support was a jointed iron frame under the boy's dress, with cushions and belts passing round and under .he body. Subsequently the trick was improved upon by Sylvester—the suspended person being shown in several changes of position, while the See also:sole supporting upright was finally removed. For the latter deception the See also:steel upright was made with polished angular faces, apex towards the spectators, and acted in a dim light on the same principle as the mirrors of a Sphinx table. Before lowering the light, the reflector bar is covered by the wood staff set up before it. The mysterious vanishing or appearing of a person under a large extinguisher upon the top of a table, and without the use of mirrors, was first performed by Comus, a French conjuror very See also:expert in the cups-and-balls sleight-of-hand, who, appearing in See also:London in 1789, announced that he would convey his wife under a See also:cup in the same manner as he would balls. The feat was accomplished by means of a See also:trap in a box table. Early in the 19th century Chalons, a Swiss conjuror, transformed a bird into a See also:young See also:lady, on the same principle. In 1836 See also:Sutton varied the feat by causing the vanished body to reappear under the crust of a great See also:pie. Houdin " vanished " a person standing upon a table top which was shown to be only a few inches thick; but there was a false top which was let down like the side of a bellows, this distension being hidden by a table-cloth See also:hanging sufficiently See also:low for the purpose, and the person, when covered by the extinguisher, entered the table through a trap-See also:door opening upwards. Robin, in 1851, added to the wonder of the trick by vanishing two persons in See also:succession, without any possibility of either escaping from the table,—the two persons really packing themselves into a space which, without clever arrangement and practice, could not hold more than one. The See also:sword-and-See also:basket trick was common in See also:India many years ago. In one form it consisted in inverting an empty basket over a See also:child upon the ground; after the child had secreted himself between the basket-bottom and a See also:belt concealed by a curtain painted to look like the actual wicker bottom, a sword was thrust through both sides of the basket, the child screaming, and squeezing upon the sword and upon the ground a See also:blood-coloured liquid from a sponge. When the performer upset the basket, the child could not be seen; but another child similarly costumed suddenly appeared among the spectators, having been up to that time supported by a pair of stirrups under the cloak of a confederate among the bystanders. In another form an oblong basket is used large at the bottom and tapering to the top, with the lid occupying only the central portion of the top, and the child is so disposed round the basket that the sword plunged downward avoids him, and the performer can step inside and See also:stamp upon the bottom to prove that the basket is empty. In 1865 Stodare introduced the trick into England, but in a new manner. Upon light trestles he placed a large oblong basket; and after a lady attired in a profuse See also:muslin dress had composed herself and her abundance of skirt within, and the lid had been shut and the sword plunged through the sides, the basket was tilted towards, the audience to show that it was empty, and the lady reappeared in a See also:gallery of the See also: In 1769 See also:Baron Kempelen, of See also:Pressburg, in See also:Hungary, completed his See also:chess-player, which for a long time remained the See also:puzzle of See also:Europe. It was an illusion,—the merit consisting in the devices by which the confederate player was hidden in the cabinet and body of the figure, while the interior was opened in successive instalments to the ; See also:scrutiny of the spectators. The first player was a See also:Polish patriot, Worousky, who had lost both legs in a See also:campaign; as he was furnished with artificial limbs when in public, his See also:appearance, together with the fact that no See also:dwarf or child travelled in Kempelen's See also:company, dispelled the suspicion that any person could be employed inside the machine. This automaton, which made more than one tour to the capitals and courts of Europe, and was owned for a See also:short time by See also:Napoleon I., was exhibited by Malzel after the See also:death of Kempelen in 1819, and ultimately perished in a fire at See also:Philadelphia in 1854. A revival of the trick appeared soon afterwards in See also:Hooper's " Ajeeb," shown at the See also:Sydenham Crystal See also:Palace and elsewhere. A chess-playing figure, " Mephisto," designed by Gumpel, was also exhibited. No space existed for the See also:accommodation of a living player within; but, as there was no See also:attempt at isolating the apparatus from mechanical communication through the See also:carpet or the floor, there was nothing to preclude the moving See also:arm and gripping See also:finger and thumb of the figure from being worked by any convenient connexion of threads, wires, rods and levers. In 1875 Maskelyne and See also:Cooke produced at the Egyptian Hall, in London, an automaton See also:whist-player, " Psycho," which, from the manner in which it was placed upon the stage, appeared to be perfectly isolated from any mechanical communication from without; there was no room within for the concealment of a living player by aid of any optical or other illusion, and yet the See also:free motions of both arms, especially of the right arm and hand in finding any card, taking hold of it, and raising it or lowering it to any position and at any See also:speed as demanded by the audience, indicated that the actions were directed from without. The arm had all the complicated movements necessary for chess or See also:draught playing; ' and " Psycho " calculated any sum up to a See also:total of 99,000,000. A still more original automaton was Maskelyne's figure " Zoe," constructed in 1879, which wrote and drew pictures at dictation of the audience. " Zoe," a nearly life-size but very light doll, sat loose upon a cushioned See also:skeleton-stand, of which the solid feet of the See also:plinth rested upon a thick plate of clear glass laid upon the See also:floorcloth or carpet of the stage. " Psycho," a smaller See also:oriental figure, sitting cross-legged on a box, was supported by a single glass See also:cylinder of clear glass, which, as originally exhibited, stood upon the carpet of the stage, but was afterwards set loose upon a small stool, having solid wood feet. That a mysterious and apparently elaborate mechanical See also:movement may, after all, possess the utmost simplicity is illustrated by the familiar conjuring trick known as " rising cards." Four 'cards having been chosen by the audience and returned to the See also:pack, this is placed end upwards in a glass See also:goblet, or in a thin case not deep enough to hide the pack, upon the top of a decanter or upon a stick. At command, the cards rise, one at a time, out of the pack; one rises part of the way and sinks back again; one rises quickly or slowly as directed; one comes out feet first, and, on being put back, rises head upwards like the others; and one dances in time to See also:music, and finally jumps out of the pack. At the conclusion there remain only the goblet or the case and the cards, subject to the minutest examination of any one from the audience, without a trace of moving mechanism visible. This was one of the See also:chief jeux of Louis See also:Christian See also:Comte, the French conjuror and ventriloquist, at the end of the 18th century, and in varied forms has been popular to the See also:present day. Probably it was suggested by the earlier device of the golden head dancing in a glass See also:tumbler, which is described in The Conjuror Unmasked (1790). Several See also:crown pieces were put in the glass, a small gilded head above them, and a plate or other See also:flat cover laid upon the mouth of the glass; yet the head thus isolated jumped inside the glass so as to See also:count numbers and See also:answer questions. The See also:secret communicator of motion was a fine See also:silk thread attached to the head and passing through a tiny notch cut in the See also:lip of the glass, and so to a confederate who pulls it. In the case of the rising cards the whole of the movements are effected by arranging a single silk thread in the previously prepared pack, passing over some cards and under others, and led behind the decanter or othersupport to the stage and thence to the confederate. As this in-finitely simple mechanical See also:agent is drawn altogether out of the pack after the last card has risen, literally no trace remains of any means of communicating motion to the cards. Oriental ingenuity, which furnished the original idea of the ethereal suspension trick, contributed the See also:Chinese rings introduced into England in 1834; also the Chinese feat of producing a bowl of water with See also:gold-See also:fish out of a See also:shawl, first seen in England in 1845, and the See also:Indian rope-tying and See also:sack feats upon which the See also:American See also:brothers See also:Davenport founded a distinct order of performances in 1859. Their See also:quick See also:escape from rope bonds in which they were tied by representatives of the audience, the instantaneous removal of their coats in a dark seance, leaving themselves still bound, and their various other so-called " phenomena " were exposed and imitated by Maskelyne, who, in 186o, greatly surpassed any feats which they had accomplished. He proceeded to exhibit himself floating in the air, to show "materialized spirit forms," and to present a succession of wonders of the spirit mediums in novel performances. One of Maskelyne's cleverest inventions was the box which he constructed in 186o; it closely fitted when he packed himself in a cramped position within; it was enclosed in a See also:canvas wrapper, corded with any length and complicated meshing of rope, and the See also:knot sealed, yet his escape was effected in seven seconds. Taking more time, he performed the converse of these operations except the sealing. Provided with the wrapper and the open box, himself standing outside,he drew a curtain before him to conceal the modus operandi, and in a few minutes was found in the box, which, though so small as to permit no See also:limb to be moved more than a few inches, he nevertheless wrapped and corded as exactly as if he had operated from the outside. Modern conjuring has given rise to many interesting developments, but none perhaps attracted a larger See also:share of public See also:attention than the legal See also:battle in the last years of the century over this box-trick. The case had a See also:special See also:interest in England, from the fact that it was the only one in which a trick had ever occupied the attention of the House of Lords. The litigation arose in this way. Mr Maskelyne had been in the habit of offering a considerable See also:reward to any one who could produce a correct imitation of his box-trick. The offer was a See also:direct See also:challenge to imitators, and was intended to show—as nothing else could have done—that the tricks sold and exhibited as " correct imitations " were not what they professed to be. Two See also:amateur mechanicians, having made or procured a box externally resembling Mr Maskelyne's, gave a private performance before a few See also:friends, and then claimed the reward. Mr Maskelyne refused to pay, his contention being that hundreds of people had already escaped from locked and corded boxes resembling his in appearance. Indeed, it was for that very See also:reason that he had been compelled to make the offer. The claimants then brought an action to recover 500—the amount offered. Mr Maskelyne produced his box in court, and challenged the plaintiffs to expose the secret, contending that they could not possibly imitate correctly a trick of which they did not know the secret. Their point, however, was that they had nothing to do with the secret, and that a box-trick was not a trick-box. The See also:jury, being unable to decide whether a mechanical trick is a piece of mechanism or the effect it produces, could not agree, and were discharged. In a second trial, the jury, after much deliberation, found for the plaintiffs. Mr Maskelyne appealed against the See also:verdict. His See also:appeal occupied the court for three days, and was dismissed. Finally he carried the case to the House of Lords, and lost it. The 'See also:majority of the See also:law lords, while fully admitting that the secret had never been discovered, were of See also:opinion that the trick had been correctly " imitated." To people dealing with mechanical devices this decision is bound to appear not a little curious. A mechanical trick is a mechanical invention, and when we have two absolutely different inventions, although they may produce more or less similar results, one is by no means an imitation of the other—to say nothing of a " correct imitation." Applied to inventions generally, such a ruling would produce disastrous results. To those. interested in magic, however, one effect of the litigation was to intensify the See also:mystery surrounding the original . box-trick. The whole See also:matter has been publicly thrashed out. It has been learned that the trick, generally, consists of a movable See also:panel fastened by a secret catch. Provided that the rope be not too severely knotted over that panel, the performer can escape; but otherwise failure is inevitable. Further, it is known that the original trick has never failed, even under the most severe tests, whereas the imitations have failed repeatedly. There can only be one reason for this—a great difference in the mechanical principles employed. Like most forms of refined entertainment the conjuror's magic appears to have kept well abreast of the times. Certainly, at no period of the See also:world's history has it ever been so popular as at present. As a natural consequence, so many skilled exponents of the art have never before existed. Yet there is one respect in which at the present day conjuring shows no advance upon the records of earlier times. The one great peculiarity in connexion with magic, at every period, has been the limited number of those who prove themselves capable of originating magical effects. This peculiarity has never been more thoroughly emphasized than at present. Since the days of Robert-Houdin, only two men have attained any remarkable degree of prominence—Mr Maskelyne and M. Buatier de Kolta. There are many who, as entertainers, are entitled to See also:rank with the highest, but to those two only can prominence be justly given as originators. The only logical conclusion to be drawn is that to invent original illusions is a matter of no See also:ordinary difficulty, and, indeed, all who have attempted See also:work of that kind will admit that such is the case. When, however, an original principle has been invented, it may be utilized in producing many and apparently quite distinct effects. As an example of this, Maskelyne's " See also:Cleopatra's See also:Needle," invented in 1879, may be mentioned. The trick consisted of a piece of mechanism representing an exceedingly. light model of the famous See also:obelisk. So light was it, in fact, that it could easily be lifted with one hand. Upon an isolated stand, previously examined by the audience, a sheet of ordinary See also: In this case de Kolta had the See also:advantage of Mr Maskelyne's assistance in perfecting the mechanical details. De Kolta's smaller tricks have for years supplied the whole army of ordinary conjurors with novelties. In 1886, at the See also:Eden Theatre, Paris, he introduced his famous illusion known as " The Vanishing Lady." This mystery, performed as he alone could perform it, was one of the most effective tricks ever exhibited. Hundreds of " imitations " were, of course, produced; but, like the imitations of Mr Maskelyne's box, they sink into insignificance when compared with the original; and in this case, unfortunately for the originator, the reputation of the original was speedily ruined by clumsy exponents, who only succeeded in exposing the principle. The effect produced by de Kolta was as follows: Taking from his See also:pocket what appeared to be an ordinary newspaper, folded, he opened it out and laid it upon the stage. Then a See also:chair was shown, front and back, to the audience, and placed upon the paper. Madame de Kolta, in ordinary evening dress, then took her seat upon the chair, and a large piece of black silk was thrown over her, enveloping her from head to See also:foot. Then de Kolta would shout, " I'll throw you in the air! "—or words to that effect—and to all appearance he grasped her round the See also:waist, lifted her above his head, and she vanished, covering and all, at his finger-tips. Among the illusions depending for their effect upon suddendisappearance, perhaps the most inexplicable was that produced by Mr Maskelyne in 1891 under the appropriate title of " Oh! "—that being an expression frequently used by spectators upon witnessing the startling effect. In the illusion the performer whose disappearance was to be effected seated himself upon a raised See also:couch, above which a kind of See also:canopy was supported upon brass rods. From the canopy depended curtains capable of being raised or lowered. The right hand of the performer was strapped to one end of this couch, and the left hand was secured by means of a strap attached to one end of a stout cord. The other end of the cord, having been passed through a hole in the framework of the canopy, was securely held by a member of the audience. The curtains were then lowered to within 18 in. of the ground, and through an aperture in the front curtain the performer's right hand was passed. This hand, again, was held by a second member of the audience. Finally, a sheet of iron was placed beneath the couch, to prevent any possibility of the performer's escape being effected through a trap in the stage. Thus, with the performer's right hand in full view, his left drawn upwards by the cord attached to it, and a clear space below the couch, escape seemed impossible; yet, upon the word " Go! " the right hand disappeared, the cord became slack in the hands of the holder, the curtains were instantly raised, and the performer had vanished. In 1886 M. Buatier de Kolta, in conjunction with Mr Maskelyne, presented at the Egyptian Hall, London, a series of illusionary effects upon an entirely novel principle, to which they gave the name of " Black Magic." The See also:main idea was based upon the fact—obvious when once it is pointed out—that visible form cannot exist in the See also:absence of See also:shadow or varying tint. In other words, we can only distinguish forms when they exhibit either variations in See also:colour or shade. See also:Absolute uniformity must, necessarily, mean invisibility. To bring about this uniformity, the entire stage was draped in black See also:velvet, giving it the appearance of a dark and immensely deep cavern. There were no See also:lights within it, though from the front it was brilliantly illuminated. Upon the stage, thus prepared, the most startling appearances and disappearances took place, within a few feet of the footlights. The illusions were produced by the simple method of covering anything to be concealed by screens of black velvet. These could be brought almost to the front of the stage, and yet would remain invisible; thus, in an instant; persons or articles would appear, apparently from space, or would disappear into it. The principle involved in the See also:production of these illusions was adopted subsequently by many conjurors, and has served to produce an almost endless variety of effects. The production of innumerable blossoms from a sheet of paper was undoubtedly the prettiest of M. Buatier de Kolta's smaller tricks. A small sheet of See also:cartridge-paper is See also:twisted into a See also:cone, which is shown to be empty, but immediately artificial blossoms begin to pour out of it, until quite a See also:bushel of them are piled up. Unfortunately for the inventor, the first time he introduced the trick at the Eden Theatre, Paris, one or two of the " blossoms " were carried by a draught of air into the auditorium. These were at once sold to a manufacturer of conjuring appliances, and within a few days de Kolta's "Spring Blossoms" were upon the See also:market. Another startling trick, by the same inventor, is " The Flying Cage." A live bird is imprisoned within a small cage, held between the performer's hands, when suddenly, by a quick movement of the arms, both bird and cage vanish. The cage simply collapses, and is drawn by a See also:string up the coat-See also:sleeve, the unfortunate bird being sometimes maimed, if not killed outright. The Society for the Prevention of See also:Cruelty to Animals once took action in the matter, and sought to prevent the performance of the trick at one of the London music-halls; but the conjuror in this case invited the officials to See also:witness a private demonstration, and was clever enough to convince them that there was no cruelty. Conjuring with animals has a great See also:charm for young folk, and happily it is very seldom that a trick involves any cruelty whatever. The animals, as a See also:rule, quickly become accustomed to the business, and appear thoroughly to understand what is required of them. In recent years the mystery known as " Second Sight " has been vastly improved. The old system, invented by Pinetti in 1785, and brought to great perfection by Robert-Houdin, has almost disappeared. It consisted of an elaborate code of signals, given by means of subtle variations in the questions put to the supposed clairvoyant; the form in which the question was put conveying the appropriate answer. Now it is customary to avoid speech altogether. The See also:information is conveyed by means of gesture or slight sounds at varying intervals. This business requires an enormous amount of practice, and an abnormal memory on the part of those who become expert. But there are certain tricks of this class which require little or no skill and a very small amount of practice. These are generally introduced by impostors who claim or tacitly suggest the possession of supernatural See also:powers. The following is a very familiar example of the kind of trick employed by such persons. The performers are usually a man and a woman. The man first appears, and informs the audience that he will shortly introduce a lady possessing extraordinary powers. Not only can she read the thoughts of any person whose mind is en rapport with hers, but also she can foretell the future, trace missing friends, discover lost See also:property, &c. In order to display the lady's capabilities, he See also:requests that any members of the audience who have questions they would like answered will write them secretly. For convenience in writing, slips of paper, pencils and squares of thick millboard are passed round, the millboard squares being for use as writing-desks. The writers are particularly cautioned to allow no one to see what is written, but to See also:fold up the papers and retain them in their own possession. Further, the writers are instructed that, when the clairvoyant appears, the thoughts of each must be kept intently fixed upon what he has written. The pencils and millboards are then collected, and the preparations being so far See also:complete, other portions of the entertainment are proceeded with. Finally, as the last See also:item in the See also:programme, the clairvoyant is introduced. A handkerchief, upon which some liquid has been poured, is held over the lady's nose and mouth, and apparently she falls into a See also:trance. Then she proceeds to describe the appearance of certain of the writers, the position they occupy in the room, and the nature of the questions they have written, giving to those questions more or less plausible answers. The trick never fails to produce the most profound astonishment, and by its means several persons have made rapid strides to See also:fortune. But the whole business is an impudent imposture. Therefore it cannot be too often or too thoroughly exposed. It is accomplished as follows. Some of the millboards passed round for convenience in writing are built up of a number of thicknesses, fastened together at the edges only. Beneath the outer layer a sheet of See also:carbon paper is concealed, so that the pressure of the See also:pencil causes a See also:reproduction in duplicate to be impressed upon an inner layer of cardboard. These pre-pared pads are handed round by attendants, who note the dress and appearance of the persons by whom the questions are written. That information, together with the prepared pads, is subsequently conveyed to the clairvoyant. She requires a certain amount of time in order to memorize the questions and the description of the writers; consequently she is not introduced to the audience until, say, an See also:hour has elapsed. Of course, it would not be discreet to have all the millboards prepared. Many of them, perhaps the majority, are really what they appear to be; but, needless to say, the questions written upon these are never answered. It is carefully pointed out beforehand that the clairvoyant can only read the questions of those whose minds are in sympathy with hers. That statement, naturally, serves to See also:account for her inability to read or answer questions written by those who have used the See also:plain millboards. In connexion with this trick a further imposture is carried out by inviting strangers to send, by See also:post, any questions they wish to have answered. Such an invitation appears to be quite straightforward and genuine, but those who are sufficiently credulous or sufficiently curious to See also:respond to it lend themselvesto the perpetration of an ingenious See also:fraud. In reply to any such communication, the writer is informed that it is necessary for him to attend one of the public performances, and endeavour to bring his mind into See also:harmony with that of the clairvoyant. Enclosed is a complimentary See also:ticket entitling him to attend any performance he pleases. The See also:procedure, then, is simply this. Each ticket bears a private See also:mark, and a corresponding mark is put upon the See also:letter written by the person to whom it is sent. When any marked ticket is presented, the attendant notes the dress and appearance of the visitor and the seat he occupies. That information is given to the clairvoyant, together with the ticket. She refers to the letter bearing the mark corresponding to the ticket, and ascertains what that particular visitor wishes to know. Thus to the public she appears to read and answer a question which has not been written down, but merely thought of by a total stranger. There are numerous methods of obtaining information by means similar to those already described. Sufficient, however, has been said to show that such devices are of the simplest, and require nothing more than a callous effrontery to carry them into effect. Of course, all kinds of mischances are bound to occur. But, when one is supposed to be dealing with undiscovered See also:laws of nature, it does not require much ingenuity to wriggle out of any situation, however difficult. Modern magic calls to its aid all the appliances of modern See also:science-electricity, See also:magnetism, See also:optics and See also:mechanics; but the most successful adepts in the art look down upon all such See also:aids and rely upon address and sleight of hand alone. The prestidigitator's See also:motto is " The quickness of the hand deceives the See also:eye "; but this very phrase, which is always in a performer's mouth, is in itself one of the See also:innocent frauds which the conjuror employs as part and See also:parcel of his exhibition. The truth is that it is not so much upon the quickness with which a feat is performed as upon the adroitness with which the time and means of performing it are concealed that its success depends. The right opportunity for executing the required movement is technically called a temps. This is defined to be any act or movement which distracts the attention of the audience while something is being " vanished " or " produced." Experiment will readily convince any one that it is absolutely impossible to move the hand so quickly as to abstract or replace any object without being perceived, so long as the eyes of the audience are upon the performer. But it is very easy to do so unnoticed, provided the audience are looking another way at the time; and the See also:faculty of thus diverting their attention is at once the most difficult and the most necessary accomplishment for a conjuror to acquire. It does not suffice to point, or ask them to look in another direction, because they will obviously suspect the truth and look with all the more persistence. The great requisite is to " have a good eye "—in French conjuring parlance avoir de l'eeil; an See also:earnest, convinced look of the performer in a particular direction will carry every one's glances with it, while a furtive glance at the hand which is performing some See also:function that should be kept secret will ruin all. The motto prefixed by RobertHoudin to his See also:chapter on the " Art of Conjuring " is— to succeed as a conjuror, three things are essential: first, dexterity; second, dexterity; and third, dexterity "; and this is not a See also:mere trick of See also:language, for triple dexterity is required, not only to See also:train the hand to the needful adroitness, but to acquire the requisite command of eye and tongue. Unfortunately this dexterity may be applied not only to conjuring but to See also:cheating, particularly in the case of card-sharpers. It takes various forms: (1) marking the cards; (2) abstracting certain cards during the See also:game for clandestine use; (3) previously concealing cards about the person; (4) packing the cards; (5) substituting marked or prepared packs; (6) confederacy; (7) false shuffles. All these methods are thoroughly exposed in Robert-Houdin's work See also:Les Trickeries See also:des Grecs. The successful card-sharper must have qualities which, if applied in a legitimate direction, would ensure distinction in almost any profession. In the case of purely dexterical tricks, little advance has been made. Recently some new sleights were introduced from See also:America. These consist in an amplification of the method of concealing coins and cards at the back of the fingers. The principle has received the incongruous title of " back-palming." By means of this method both back and front of the hand alternately can be shown empty, while, notwithstanding its apparent emptiness, the hand nevertheless conceals a See also:coin or card. The first and See also:fourth fingers are caused to act as pivots, upon which the concealed articles are turned from front to back, and See also:vice versa, the turning being performed by the second and third fingers. The movement is very rapid, and is accomplished in the act of turning over the hand to show the two sides alternately. The sleight requires an enormous amount of practice. It has been brought to the highest See also:state of perfection by Herr Valadon. In all ages a very popular magical effect has been the apparent floating of a person in empty space. An endless variety of ingenious apparatus has been invented for the purpose of producing such effects, and the present See also:article would be incomplete without some reference to one or two of the more modern examples. A very pretty illusion of this kind is that originally produced under the title of " See also:Astarte." A lady is brought forward, and after making her bow to the audience she retires to the back of the stage, the whole of which is draped with black velvet and kept in deep shadow. There she is caused to rise in the air, to move from side to side, to advance and retire, and to revolve in all directions. The secret consists in an iron See also:lever, covered with velvet to match the background, and therefore invisible to the audience. This lever is passed through an opening in the back curtain and attached to a socket upon the metal See also:girdle worn by the performer. The girdle consists of two rings, one inside the other, the inner one being capable of turning about its See also:axis. By means of this main lever and a spindle passing through it and gearing into the inner ring of the girdle, the various movements are produced. A hoop is passed over the performer with a view to demonstrate her complete See also:isolation, but the audience is not allowed to examine it. It has a spring See also:joint which allows it to pass the supporting lever. Among illusions of this class there is probably none that will See also:bear comparison with the " levitation " mystery produced by Mr Maskelyne. A performer, in a recumbent position, is caused to rise several feet from the stage, and to remain suspended in space while an intensely brilliant light is thrown upon him, See also:illuminating the entire surroundings. Persons walk completely round him, and a solid steel hoop, examined by the audience, is passed over him, backwards and forwards, to prove the absence of any tangible connexion. The secrets of conjuring were for a long time jealously guarded by its professors, but in 1793 a work appeared in Paris, by M. Decremps, entitled Testament de See also:Jerome See also:Sharpe, professeur de physique amusante, which gives a very See also:fair account of the methods then in See also:vogue. In 1858 a still more important and accurate book was published—Sorcellerie ancienne et moderne expliquee, by J. N. Pousin; and in 1868 J. E. Robert-Houdin issued his Secrets de la prestidigation et de la magie, which is a masterly exposition of the entire art and mystery of conjuring. The last-mentioned book was translated into English by Professor Louis Hoffman, the author of Modern Magic. See also Hoffman, More Magic, and Later Magic; See also:Edwin See also:Sachs, Sleight of Hand; and J. N. Maskelyne, Sharps and Flats. (J. A. CL.; G. FA.; J. N. M.)
See also:Frederick See also:Augustus See also:Conkling (1816-1891),' at that time also a Republican member of See also:Congress. In 1863 'he resumed the practice of law, and in See also:April 1865 was appointed a special See also:judge See also:advocate by the secretary of See also:war to investigate alleged frauds in the recruiting service in western New York. He was again a representative in Congress from See also:December 1865 until 1867, when he entered the See also:Senate. After the war he allied himself with the See also:radical wing of his party, was a member of the joint See also:committee that outlined the congressional See also:plan of reconstructing the See also:late Confederate States, and laboured for the See also:impeachment of See also:President See also: With Grant's successors, See also:Hayes and See also:Garfield, his relations were not cordial; an opponent of See also:civil service reform, he came into conflict with President Hayes over the removal of See also:Chester A. See also:Arthur and other federal See also:office-holders in New York; and when in 1881 President Garfield, without consulting him, appointed William H. See also:Robertson, a See also:political opponent of Conkling, as See also:collector of the See also:port of New York, and when this appointment was confirmed by the Senate in spite of Conkling's opposition, Conkling and his See also:associate senator from New York, Thomas C. See also:Platt, resigned their seats in the Senate and sought re-election as a See also:personal vindication. Being unsuccessful, Conkling took up the practice of law in New York See also:city, again declining, in 1882, a place on the See also:bench of the Supreme Court, and appeared in a number of important cases. While in public life Conkling always attracted attention by his abilities, his keenness and eloquence in debate, his aggressive leadership and his striking See also:personality. Though always a strenuous worker in Congress, he was not the originator of any great legislative See also:measures, and his efficiency as a law-maker is thought to have been much impaired by his personal animosities. His hostility to See also: Conkling (ed.), The Life and Letters of See also:Roscoe Conkling (New York, 1889). Additional information and CommentsThere are no comments yet for this article.
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