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Modern Magic: A Practical Treatise on the Art of Conjuring
·
Professor Hoffmann
710
CHAPTER
IV.
AUTOMATA:
PSYCHO.
We
now
come
to
our
own
time,
and
to
a
description
of
the
various
automatic
exhibitions
of
the
present
day.
The
most
notable
and
successful,
because
the
most
original,
exhibitors
and
inventors
of
automatic
figures
at
the
present
day
are
Messrs.
Maskelyne
and
Cooke,
now
located
at
that
old
“home
of
mystery,”
the
Egyptian
Hall,
London.
Their
first
and,
in
my
opinion,
their
best
piece
of
mechanism
was
Psycho,
the
celebrated
Whist
Player,
which
they
produced
in
1865.
A
description
of
this
interesting
figure
is
scarcely
needed.
For
years
they
contrived
to
keep
the
motive
power
and
mechanical
arrangements
of
this
automaton
an
entire
secret,
while
the
public,
the
press,
and
the
scientific
world,
saw,
wondered,
and
were
puzzled.
Many
and
various
were
the
solutions
offered
to
account
for
the
working
of
the
Whist
Player;
but
the
secret
of
the
sinews
and
muscles,
so
to
speak,
of
Psycho
mystified
every
one.
So
thoroughly
successful
was
the
figure
that,
as
a
natural
consequence,
mechanicians
set
about
producing
something
similar.
One
of
these
imitations
was
exhibited
under
the
name
of
Hankey.
This
was
but
a
poor
and
clumsy
representation
of
the
original.
It
consisted
of
a
rudely-constructed
figure
of
a
man
seated
on
an
octagonally
shaped
box,
in
which
a
boy
was
concealed,
who
worked
the
arms
and
head.
The
exhibitor
was
compelled
to
indicate
the
cards
to
be
played
by
certain
signs
and
motions,
which
often
led
to
complications
and
mistakes.
This
revival
of
Psycho
eventually
came
into
the
possession
of
Signor
Boz,
and
was
exhibited
in
Liverpool
and
various
other
towns
under
the
new
name
of
Yorick.
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