MODERN MAGIC.*

No more remarkable testimony to the singular but universal desire on the part of perfectly sane mortals to obtain pleasure through the deception of the senses could be afforded than the publication of a large and closely printed volume of nearly six hundred pages devoted entirely to stage illusions and "scientific diversions." Whether the victims of this deception will be grateful to Mr. Hopkins for taking them behind the scenes and showing them how the cake is baked in the hat, how the lady is decapitate d, how the sword-swallowing is managed, and all the rest of it, is another matter. And yet the reading of this book will tend to astonishment of another kind,—at the marvellous amount of scientific skill and pre- cision that forms a part of the equipment of even a third-rate modern conjurer. Present-day magic is a matter of money as well as of skill. " It is a mistake," writes the compiler of this book, "to suppose that all the outfit which the modern magician needs is a few paper roses, a pack of cards, some coins, and a wand. The fact of the matter is that usually the most entertaining tricks are those which are produced at considerable expense in the way of apparatus and stage- fittings. It is for this very reason that the secret of the illusion is always so closely guarded by the prestidigitateur." And yet it would seem that habit-and-repute conjurers are not above invoking the aid of " other-worldliness " in the least favourable sense. When one recalls the frankly declared "no deception" feats by which men like some of the more notorious mediums were vanquished, one rather regrets to read :—" The Theosophical craze of recent years has had its influence on prestidigitatism. A modern conjurer who does not claim some knowledge of the occult, or at least who has not travelled in the Orient, cuts but little figure in public estimation. Every now and then • Magic ; Stage Illusions and Scientific Diversions : including Trick Photography. Compiled and edited by Albert A. Hopkins. With an Introdnotibn by Henry AidgellY Evans. Loudon: litomds. Low, Marston, aul 0o.

some enterprising wizard rushes into print and exploits his weird adventures in Egypt and India, the birthplaces of magic and mystery. Every intelligent reader reads between the lines, but the extravagant stories of Oriental witchery leave their effect on certain impressionable minds."

Not the least interesting portion of Mr. Hopkins's book is the historical introduction from the pen of Mr. H. R. Evans.

In it is traced the history of illusion back to Egypt, the "cradle of magic." Referring to the miracle performed by Aaron with his rod when he contended against the magicians of Egypt, Mr. Evans asserts that Heller, the famous and quite sceptical prestidigitatenr, told him that he had seen this feat performed in Cairo many times by the Dervishes. " The rods actually were serpents, and hypnotised to such an extent as to become perfectly stiff and rigid. When thrown upon the earth and recalled to life by sundry mystic passes and strokes they crawled away alive and hideous as ever." What is differentiated from other kinds of trick-playing as " natural magic " was practised by the Egyptian, Chaldean, Jewish, Roman, and Greek priesthoods. Mr. Evans is certain that in the Middle Ages the now familiar device of the concave mirror was resorted to to produce goblin effects. He ruth-

lessly demolishes one of the eeriest stories in Benvennto Cellini's fascinating autobiography :- " Cellini, as guileless as a child in matters of science, desiring to study sorcery, applied to a Sicilian priest who was a professed dabbler in the occult art. One dark night they repaired to the ruins of the Coliseum at Rome ; the monk described a circle on the ground, and placed himself and the great goldsmith within its mystic outlines ; a fire was built, intoxicating perfumes were cast upon it, and soon an impenetrable smoke arose. The man of the cowl then waved his wand in the air, pronouncing sundry cabalistic words, and legions of demons were seen dancing in the air, to the great terror of Cellini. The story of this spirit seance reads like an Arabian tale, but it is easily explainable. The priest had a brother confederate concealed among the rains, who manipu- lated a concave mirror, by means of which painted images were thrown on the smoke. Later on Nostradamus conjured up the vision of the future King of France for the benefit of the lovely Marie de Medicis. This illusion was accomplished by the aid of mirrors adroitly secreted amid hanging draperies."

Naturally, Cagliostro occupies a considerable place in Mr. Evans's historical narrative ; with him "genuine magic'

died. Among the less known of the earlier European jugglers one of the most notable must have been a Belgian optician with the very English name of Robertson, who utilised the horrors of the French Revolution, while it was still at its height, in a ghost entertainment, which, with' the help of a phantasmagoric lantern, he gave in a deserted chapel attached to the Convent of the Capuchins. The visitors were conducted to the crypt, from the ceiling of which was suspended an antique lamp emitting a spectral blue flame :-

" Suddenly with the solemn sound of a far-off organ phantoms of the great arose at the incantations of the magician. Shades of Voltaire, Rousseau, Alarat, and Lavoisier appeared in rapid succession. Robertson, at the end of the entertainment, generally concluded by saying, I have shown you, citizens, every species of phantom, and there is but one more truly terrible spectre—the fate which is reserved for us all.' In a moment a grinning skeleton stood in the centre of the hall waving a scythe."

It is rather satisfactory to learn that "Robertson, lucky fellow, managed to save his neck from 'La Guillotine,' and

returned to his native province with a snug fortune to die of old age in a comfortable feather-bed." A conspicuous place is, of course, given in this introduction to perhaps the greatest of all French conjurers, Jean Eugene Robert, popularly known as Robert Houdin, the son of a watchmaker, who was born at Blois in 1805, and died in 1871. He was an admirable " all-round" magician, bat he attained his chief successes by utilising the phenomena of electro-magnetism, which were almost unknown to the general public when, in 1845, he made

a great and sensational success by means of the spirit cash- box. Robert Houdin always considered that the chief event

of his life was the embassy he was asked to undertake to Algeria by the French Government—only a French Govern-

ment would have thought of such a thing—to checkmate the influence of the Marabouts or Mahommedan miracle-workers,

which was skilfully exercised to undermine the authority of their conquerors. By his digital dexterity and his marvels of optics, chemistry, electricity, and mechanics, he beat the fakirs on their own ground. After Houdin the chief con- jurers would seem to have been Robert Heller (or Palmer),

who was "a magician, a mimic, and a musician,—a corn-

bination of talents rarely seen in one individual, was, in- deed, the Admirable Crichton of fantastistes;" and the brothers Carl and Alexander Herrmann, who were great favourites in the United States.

The "practical," as distinguished from the " historical," portion of this book is in reality a dictionary with innumerable illustrations of the arts of magic. It is divided into five books. —which in turn are subdivided into very numerous chapters —bearing the titles " Conjurers' Tricks and Stage Illusions," "Ancient Magic," " Science in the Theatre," " Automata and Curious Toys," and "Photographic Diversions." Whoever wishes to know the realities that are behind "The Disappear- ing Lady," "The Talking Head," sword-swallowing, magic bottles, or the card tricks which are performed nowadays with considerable success even by amateurs, will find them all

unveiled here. The elucidation of certain tricks looks suffi- eiently simple when read. Take, for example, the ever-

popular and mysterious changing of water into wine and wine into water. The conjurer invariably asks one of his audience to keep him company while this tranformation is -effected. An assistant then brings in upon a tray two claret- glasses and two perfectly transparent decanters, one of which contains red wine and the other water. The performer asks his guest to select one of the two decanters and leave the other for himself :—

" No hesitation is possible. The guest happens to seize the wine, and each immediately fills his glass. How astonishing ! Upon its contact with the glass the wine changes into water, and the water becomes wine."

Yet the explanation clears up the mystery easily:— "The pretended wine was nothing but the following com- position: One gram potassium permanganate and two grams sulphuric acid dissolved in one quart of water. This liquid is instantaneously decolorised on entering the glass, at the bottom of which have been placed a few drops of water saturated with sodium hyposulphite. As for the water in the second decanter. that had had considerable alcohol added to it, and at the bottom of the glass that was to receive it had been placed a small pinch of aniline red, which, as is well known, possesses strong tinctorial properties. The glasses must be carried away immediately, since in a few moments the wine changed into water loses its limpidity and assumes a milky appearance."

Rather gruesome is the chapter which deals with such feats as sword-swallowing, glass-dancing, and fire-eating. The amateur conjurer had better leave these absolutely to the professional. Perhaps the most enjoyable, and certainly not the least amusing, chapters are those which tell us of the innumerable "tricks" the creation of which has been rendered possible by the art of photography. It is evident, however,

that the conjurer who would summon spirits from the vasty deep most make quite certain that they are there :—

" An elderly gentleman had come for a séance, and after some mysterious manoeuvres the gentleman was informed that the spirit of his mother was there. ' Indeed ! ' replied the gentleman,

somewhat astonished. What does she say She says she will see you soon,' informed the medium. You are getting old now, and must soon join her.'—' Quite right,' replied the old gentle- man. I'm going round to her house to tea to-night.'"

This is a book of the kind that can be adequately criticised only by giving specimens of its quality. It appeals most successfully, most exhaustively, and in a quite open and above-board fashion, to that hankering after the mysterious which is as much an original element in human nature as what Sydney Smith has termed " the simions schoolboy delight of giving pain to others."