7 APRIL 1894, Page 15

INDIAN AND OTHER MAGIC.

[To THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR."]

-Sin,—Mr. Pollock's explanation of the rope-trick, though «elliptical, is surely obvious. The trick was, practically, -done in the dark, where dusk and smoke can conceal a man, -much more can they conceal the support of a rope. The real -difficulty is to find a spectator capable of being deluded by a trick so babyish ; and, in fact, he is very rarely found. I once met, at a Highland inn, a gentleman who had seen the rope- trick. Not having "the training of a barrister," I asked, perhaps abruptly, for place and date, when the witness was so -manifestly annoyed that the topic was hastily changed. No -doubt he thought that I distrusted his word, whereas pure -scientific curiosity was my motive. With Colonel Henry Yule I once went over his collection of evidence for the rope- 'trick; none was better, or more remote, than that of Ibn Batuta.

In other traditional magic, one or two points may be noted. According to Mr. Grinnell, in his "Pawnee Tales" (Nutt), 'the Pawnees do the mango-tree trick, with a seed of maize. Here there are no " four processes," "no shaking of a chudder." 'The conjurer sits apart and sings "a mystic chain of verse." 'The corn-cobs were carried away by white lookers-on, and, at -all events, were not of "wax, or other carefully made imita- tions." Witnesses' names are given. The interesting fact is the recurrence of the trick so far from India. Other tricks ;reported by Mr. Grinnell existed in the time of the early -Jesuit missionaries (see "Relations de la Nouvelle France "). There is a seventeenth-century account of the mango-tree -trick in England, as done, if I am not mistaken, by Dr. Lamb, but I have lost the reference. The "suspended woman" was -examined by an English officer well known to me, and by the surgeon of his regiment, who could find no wire. She had been "mesmerised," and was rigid. On the other hand, a -suspended man was exhibited before the Governor of an Indian Presidency, whose aide-de-camp made a rush and -found a wire.

In European traditional magic, Dr. Gibottea.0 lately de- .scribed the feats of a hospital-nurse, Berthe. The stories are in Annales Psychiques, and also in Proceedings of the Society for Psychical Research. Writing far from my books, I can only give reference to these serials for the two last years. Berthe, according to Dr. Gibotteau, could project hallucina- tions on the brains of distant people. She also described her method of making a person stumble and fall as he walks. Now, in the curious case of alleged libellous accusation of witchcraft, at Cideville, in 1851, the plaintiff, a shepherd, was said to produce both effects, hallucination and stumbling. The case is very imperfectly reported by Mr. Dale Owen, who did not perceive its real interest as a modern trial for witch- craft. Dr. Gibotteau does not seem to be aware of the details in a case so parallel (in folk-lore) to that which he describes. The shepherd at Cideville lost his ease because he was, in fact, his own accuser. The main phenomena, copiously attested by Marquises, doctors, lawyers, a Mayor, and priests, were the animated movements of inanimate objects : desks, tables, knives, and so forth. Now, in Graham Dalzell's "Darker Superstitions of Scotland," we find, about 1590-1630, witches burned for causing sieves and " firlotes " and other ' objects to dance about, in the manner attributed by the Pseudo-Clemens to Simon Magus. For a modern English example the curious may consult in Miss O'Neil's pleasant book, "Devonshire Idylls," "The Story of a Something." The tale is far too well told for me to spoil it. Briefly, in Miss O'Neil's youth she was told how a girl, " Avice," was " wished " by a witch, and how all the furniture, sieves, pots, and pans, in her neighbourhood took to skipping about. Finally, an armchair was met walking downstairs like a Christian. Littre records similar phenomena in a convent, but without giving his authority. This Devonshire tale was actually told, and an eye-witness, still surviving, remembers the occurrence. The reader will be reminded of the "electric girl," investigated by Arago, and of the diverting Stockwell mystery, about 1772. That case, as Scott points out, is :discredited by Hone, on the evidence of a facetious old Mr. Braidley, who said that Anne Robinson, the "medium," told him how she managed the business. My only object is to point out the permanence of the tricks in folk-magic, as illustrated by witch-trials, and in modern France and Devon- shire. There is no doubt, however, that " Avice," in Miss O'Neil's tale, was not guilty in the manner of Anne Robin- son ; she was "wished," she was not the " wisher."—I am, Sir, &c., ANDREW LANG. 15 Buckingham Terrace, Edinburgh, April 2nd.

P.S.—Reginald Scott, in his "Discovery of Witchcraft" (1582), gives a recipe for making a pot jump. It is simple. Tie a string to the pot, throw the string out of the window, and have a confederate outside to pull it. This might take in an Anglo-Indian.