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Modern Magic: A Practical Treatise on the Art of Conjuring
·
Professor Hoffmann
694
The
most
noted
person
who
succeeded
Kempelen
in
the
art
of
magical
automata
was
Robert
Houdin.
He
not
only
improved
upon
the
production
of
his
predecessors,
but
applied
the
basis
of
their
materials
to
works
comparatively
original
and
unique.
His
automata
certainly
place
him
in
the
highest
rank
of
modern
illusionists,
and
in
giving
in
detail
the
principal
of
his
inventions,
I
shall
at
the
same
time
be
affording
a
solution
of
the
working
of
many
surprising
and
ingenious
automatic
tricks,
which
have
been
exhibited
in
recent
days.
One
of
his
best
productions
was
a
Talking
Figure,
similar,
but
in
many
respects
far
superior,
to
that
of
Kempelen,
the
mechanism
of
which
I
have
described
above.
It
has
been
asserted
that
Houdin
first
turned
his
attention
to
the
construction
of
automata
through
the
following
trivial
circumstance:
Being
in
company
one
day
with
a
travelling
showman,
his
assistance
was
asked
to
repair
one
of
the
figures
the
showman
had
accidentally
broken.
Having
seen
the
performance
of
the
figure,
which
was
none
other
than
the
well-known
Dancing
Harlequin,
he
was
struck
with
the
marvellous
and
apparently
magical
effects
which
could
be
produced
by
the
simplest
laws
of
mechanism.
He
became
so
infatuated
with
the
discovery
the
showman
permitted
him
to
make
in
the
construction
of
the
box
and
figure,
that
he,
from
that
time,
devoted
all
his
thoughts
and
energies
to
the
construction
of
automata.
The
magic
harlequin
is
worth
description,
not
only
because
it
takes
so
prominent
a
place
among
mechanical
figures,
but
more
because,
in
disclosing
its
mechanism,
I
shall
be
explaining
the
construction
of
a
whole
class
of
automata,
which
have
been
constructed
on
the
same
principle.
As
will
be
seen
by
the
illustration
given
above,
a
box
was
placed
upon
a
table,
and
at
word
of
command
the
box
opened
and
a
harlequin
was
discovered
therein.
At
a
sign
from
the
conjurer
the
figure
leaped
from
the
box,
and
then,
apparently
without
being
attached
in
any
way
to
the
box,
it
performed
a
variety
of
movements,
imitating
the
action
of
the
human
pantomimist.
It
further
smoked
a
pipe
or
cigar,
and
blew
a
whistle.
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