Lab
Library
Journal
Shop
Sign in
to keep
Share image
1
750
Modern Magic: A Practical Treatise on the Art of Conjuring
·
Professor Hoffmann
662
We
should
mention,
before
quitting
the
subject
of
these
tricks,
that
in
order
to
avoid
the
trouble
and
expense
of
fixing
the
necessary
conducting
wires
in
a
building
not
specially
appropriated
to
magical
performances,
an
upright
brass
rod
(which
may
be
detached
at
pleasure)
is
sometimes
fitted
on
each
side
of
the
performer’s
table
(see
Fig.
311),
and
the
apparatus
in
use
(drum,
bell,
cash-box,
etc.)
is
suspended
by
appropriate
cords
between
these
rods.
The
conducting
wires
are
connected
within
the
table
with
the
lower
ends
of
the
brass
uprights,
and
thence
pass
down
its
hinder
legs
to
the
battery
behind
the
scenes.
There
are
many
considerations
of
convenience
in
favour
of
this
arrangement,
but
the
tricks
performed
are
less
effective
than
where
the
apparatus
is
hung
fairly
from
the
ceiling,
and
apparently
out
of
all
possible
reach
of
mechanical
influence.
THE
AËRIAL
SUSPENSION.--This
is
a
very
old
trick,
performed
originally
by
the
Indian
jugglers,
who
kept
the
modus
operandi
a
profound
secret.
The
ingenuity,
however,
of
Robert-Houdin
penetrated
the
mystery,
and
in
1849
made
it
a
special
feature
of
his
séances
fantastiques.
At
that
time
the
public
mind
was
much
interested
in
the
anæsthetic
qualities
of
ether,
which
had
then
recently
been
discovered.
Robert-Houdin
manipulated
this
fact
into
a
valuable
advertisement.
He
gave
out
that
he
had
discovered
in
the
popular
anæsthetic
a
still
more
marvellous
property,
viz.,
that
when
inhaled
under
certain
conditions,
it
neutralized
the
attraction
of
gravitation
in
the
person
inhaling
it,
who
became,
for
the
time
being,
light
as
air.
In
proof
of
this,
he
brought
forward
his
youngest
son,
then
a
child
of
ten
or
thereabouts,
and
after
having
made
him
smell
at
a
small
phial,
really
empty,
but
supposed
to
contain
ether,
caused
him
to
recline
in
mid-air,
with
no
other
support
than
that
afforded
by,
to
all
appearance,
an
ordinary
walking-stick,
placed
in
a
vertical
position
under
his
right
elbow.
It
is
characteristic
of
Robert-Houdin’s
minute
attention
to
the
mise
en
scène
of
a
trick,
that
while
his
son
sniffed
at
the
empty
bottle,
his
assistant,
behind
the
scenes,
poured
genuine
ether
upon
a
hot
shovel,
so
that
the
fumes,
reaching
the
nostrils
of
the
audience,
might
prove,
indirectly
but
convincingly,
that
ether
was
really
employed.
Marker
Marker
Fine marker
White-out
Fine white-out
Circle
Paint
Unmarker
Hand
Scalpel
Dice
Sieve
Purify
Undo
Redo
Start over
