Modern Magic: A Practical Treatise on the Art of Conjuring

A man is brought upon the stage, and is told that his limbs are going to be amputated. The victim makes a rush behind the curtains, no doubt frightened that the threat would be duly executed, but is brought out and made to stand still while the exhibitor coolly cuts off an arm and then a leg. The frightened, trembling subject of the professor’s carving operations is an assistant, who takes good care to be the first on the stage when a person among the audience is requested to step up and be carved. When he rushes off behind the curtains, it is to affix to one shoulder and thigh a dummy arm and leg, while his real limbs remain behind the curtains reclining upon rests. So quickly is this done that the audience cannot but believe that the arm and leg are the real flesh and blood contingents to the human frame. The professor carefully amputates the false arm and leg. Of course he can as readily replace the limbs by simply gliding the false limbs through the curtains, and releasing the bona fide leg and arm from their constrained and awkward position.