Modern Magic: A Practical Treatise on the Art of Conjuring

A is the iron bar, and B the hip plate. D is a spring stop fitting into the teeth of the joint F. F is the arm bar, and G is the pin fitting into the hollow tube H, which is fixed into a socket in the platform. The frame is fastened to the body by means of the leather straps K. When the body is raised to the position of L, the spring stop D slips into the middle indentation, and thus keeps the frame and the lady borne upon the frame in that position. When the body is raised to a horizontal position, M, the spring stop catches in the first indentation, and keeps the body perfectly straight. In commencing the trick the performer rests the figure upon two poles and then knocks one away. This is done to make the audience believe that the two poles are similar. I need scarcely say that the putting of the lady into a mesmeric trance is only a piece of acting; it, however, adds very much to the effect of the trick, as the reader no doubt has thought up till now. It will be remembered, notably in the case of the Fakir of Oolu, that sometimes when the trick was performed both poles were taken away. What, then, you will ask, becomes of all my machinery? The two poles were seemingly taken away. The poles used consisted of brass bars. The limelight beamed upon the figure of the sleeping lady, while the rest of the stage was comparatively dark. Thus, when the conjuror apparently took away the only support the figure had, the audience did not and could not perceive that he really took away the brass case of the second pole, leaving another, the actual pole on which the framework was fixed, and which was of the same color as the drapery of the stage. It was for the purpose of deceiving the eyes of the audience that the pole was encased in a brass shell in the first instance. He refixed the case before the stage was relit, and the lady woke up from her sham mesmeric trance.