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Modern Magic: A Practical Treatise on the Art of Conjuring
·
Professor Hoffmann
661
[P]
This
is
the
principle
of
the
well-known
“second
sight”
trick,
a
detailed
explanation
of
which
we
are
compelled
from
considerations
of
space
to
omit,
the
system,
as
perfected
by
Robert-Houdin
and
others,
being
so
elaborate,
that
an
independent
treatise
would
be
needed
to
do
it
justice.
An
admirable
account
of
the
system,
as
applied
to
the
French
language,
will
be
found
in
a
work
by
F.
A.
Gandon,
“La
seconde
vue
dévoilée,”
published
in
Paris
in
1849.
There
are
some
few
other
tricks
performed
by
the
aid
of
electricity,
but
any
one
who
understands
the
principle
of
those
above
described
may
make
a
very
shrewd
guess
at
the
working
of
the
remainder.
All
tricks
of
this
class,
though
ingenious
and
effective,
are
open
to
one
or
two
serious
objections.
In
the
first
place,
the
apparatus
is
very
costly,
and,
secondly,
they
are
unpleasantly
liable,
from
the
nicety
of
their
mechanism
and
the
absolute
necessity
of
perfect
electrical
connection
in
all
their
parts,
to
hang
fire
at
the
critical
moment,
and
leave
the
operator
in
a
very
embarrassing
position.
Imagine
the
feelings
of
a
performer
who,
having
just
introduced
his
wonderful
drum,
which
is
to
display
unheard-of
oracular
powers,
finds
that
the
instrument
remains
as
mute
as
the
celebrated
harp
in
Tara’s
halls,
and
refuses
to
bear
out,
in
the
smallest
degree,
his
grandiloquent
assertions.
Yet
this
unpleasant
result
may
occur
at
any
time
from
the
simple
breaking
of
a
wire,
or
some
even
slighter
cause.
This,
it
appears
to
us,
is
a
serious
drawback
to
electrical
tricks,
though
where
they
are
exhibited
at
their
best
no
illusions
are
more
beautiful,
or
have
more
of
genuine
magic
about
them.
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