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Modern Magic: A Practical Treatise on the Art of Conjuring
·
Professor Hoffmann
728
Have
these
spiritualists
never
witnessed
the
performance
of
a
clever
conjuror
who
confesses
that
all
his
tricks
are
worked
by
mechanical
means
and
sleight
of
hand?
or
have
they
never
seen
apparent
wonders
performed,
the
mystery
of
which
they
could
not
unravel?
They
must
have
done
so,
and
yet
we
have
never
once
heard
such
men
as
Heller,
Houdin,
Professor
Anderson,
Maskelyne
and
Cooke,
assert
that
their
performances
or
manifestations
were
the
works
of
materialized
spirits.
One
of
the
tests
offered
by
the
mediums
is
the
rope-tying
trick,
made
so
famous
by
the
Davenport
Brothers.
It
has
been
clearly
demonstrated
that
it
was
merely
a
trick.
The
medium
has
in
his
hand
a
coil
of
rope
about
twelve
yards
long.
The
lights
are
extinguished,
and
a
few
seconds
afterward,
when
the
gas
is
lighted,
he
is
seen
securely
fastened
to
a
chair,
his
hands
tied,
and
the
rope
made
fast
between
his
wrists.
One
of
the
company
is
requested
to
examine
the
rope
and
seal
the
ends
of
the
knot.
The
gas
is
again
extinguished,
and
a
tambourine
is
heard
bounding
about
the
room.
A
hand--and
a
very
material
hand--claps
the
faces
of
the
nearest
persons,
hats
are
knocked
off,
a
bell
is
rung,
arms
are
pinched,
and
various
other
manifestations
occur
which
fully
convince
the
astonished
devotees
that
some
one--spirit
or
otherwise--is
evidently
giving
free
vent
to
a
playful
and
mischievous
disposition.
The
medium,
of
course,
claims
that
these
manifestations
are
performed
by
spirits
summoned
by
him;
and
he
is
believed,
not
because
the
spectators
suppose
that
spirits
could
be
so
summoned
and
be
made
to
manifest
their
presence,
but
that,
because
the
medium
is
tied
with
a
rope,
the
ends
of
which
are
so
sealed
as
to
prevent
his
getting
free
from
the
bondage
into
which
the
spirits
have
placed
him,
he
cannot
possibly
be
the
one
that
played
the
tambourine,
rung
the
bell,
gave
the
blows,
etc.--ergo,
it
must
have
been
the
spirits.
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