FOOTNOTES
[281] Essais, i. 54.
[282] The juggler mentioned in Xenophon requested the gods to allow him to remain only in places where there was much money and abundance of simpletons.
[283] Le Siècle de Louis XIV. Berlin, 1751, 12mo, i. p. 44. This horse was seen in the above-mentioned year by Casaubon, to whom the owner, an Englishman, discovered the whole art by which he had been trained. See Casauboniana, p. 56. We are assured by Jablonski, in his Lexicon der Künste und Wissenschaften, p. 547, that he was condemned to the flames at Lisbon. In the year 1739, a juggler in Poland was tortured till he confessed that he was a sorcerer, and without further proof he was hanged. The whole account of this circumstance may be found in the Schlesischen gelehrten Neuigkeiten for the year 1739.
[284] See Luciani Opera, ed. Bipont. v. pp. 388, 407.
[285] Florus, iii. 19, 4.
[286] Directions for performing this trick may be found in various works, such as Joh. Wallbergen’s Zauberkünste, Stuttgard, 1754, 8vo, and Natürliches Zauberbuch, Nurnberg, 1740, 8vo.
[287] See Bayle’s Diction. i. p. 450, art. Barchochebas.
[288] Philostorgii Hist. Eccles. vii. 7, p. 93.
[289] Vita Alexandri, p. 687.
[290] Galen, l. c.
[291] Ovid. Met. lib. ix. 160.
[292] Instances may be found collected in Huetii Alnetanæ Quæstion. lib. ii. and in Bayle’s Dictionary, art. Egnatia.
[293] Journal des Sçavans, 1667, pp. 54, 222; and 1680, p. 292. Deslandes, Mémoires de Physique, ii. and Bremenscher Magazin, i. p. 665. See also Busbequii Omnia, Basil, 1740, 8vo, p. 314.
[294] [Deception might have been easily practised in this case. Fusible metal, as suggested by Sir David Brewster, Nat. Magic, p. 301, which consists of mercury, tin and bismuth, and which melts at a low temperature, might easily have been substituted in place of lead; and fluids, the boiling-point of which is lower than water, might easily have been substituted for that liquid.
A solution of spermaceti in sulphuric æther, tinged with alkanet root, which solidifies at 50° F., and melts and boils with the heat of the hand, is supposed to be the substance which is used at Naples, when the dried blood of St. Januarius melts spontaneously and boils over the vessel which contains it.
The experiments of M. Tillet, Dr. Fordyce and Sir Charles Blagden, will show the great heat which may be endured by the human body. Some of these gentlemen remained in a room where the heat was one or two degrees above 260° F. for eight minutes; a beaf-steak was cooked in the same atmosphere, and was overdone in thirty-three minutes; when the steak was blown upon with a pair of bellows, it was found to be pretty well done in thirteen minutes. But Sir F. Chantry exposed himself to a still greater heat in the furnace used for drying his moulds. When raised to its highest temperature, the thermometer indicated 350° F., and the iron floor was red-hot. The workmen often entered it at 340°. On one occasion Sir F., accompanied by five or six of his friends, entered the furnace, and after remaining two minutes, they brought out a thermometer which indicated 320°. Some of the party experienced sharp pains in the tips of their ears, and in the septum of the nose, whilst others felt a pain in their eyes.—Brewster, l. c.]
[295] [The peculiar property of minerals and various salts, as alum, in forming and protecting articles of dress, &c. from the effects of fire, has long been known. But the art of practically applying it, is due to the ingenuity of the Chevalier Aldini of Milan. His dress consisted of a strong cloth covering which had been steeped in a solution of alum, for the body, arms and legs; whilst the head-dress was a large cap enveloping the whole head down to the neck, with holes for the nose, eyes and mouth; the covering for the feet was composed of asbestos, or amianthus cloth. The stockings and cap were single, but the gloves were double, to enable the fireman to take burning or red-hot bodies into his hands. A metallic dress was added to this, consisting of a cap, with a mask, leaving a space between it and the asbestos cap; a cuirass; a piece of armour for the trunk and thighs; a pair of boots of double wire-gauze; and an oval shield five feet long by two and a half wide, made by stretching the wire-gauze over a slender frame of iron. All these pieces were made of wire-gauze.
It was found, that when armed with this apparatus, a man could walk upon hot iron, in the midst of high flames, keep his head over a pan of flaming fire, &c. for several minutes, and this in some cases where the heat was so intense that bystanders were obliged to stand at the distance of eight or ten yards. This was remarkably shown in 1829, in the yard of the barracks of St. Jervais. Two towers were erected, two stories high, and were surrounded with heaps of inflamed faggots and straw. One of the firemen, with a child on his back, in a wicker basket covered with metallic gauze, and having a cap of amiantheric cloth, rushed into a narrow place, where the flames were raging eight yards high. The violence of the fire was so great that he could not be seen, while a thick black smoke spread around, throwing out a heat which was insupportable to the spectators. The man remained so long invisible that serious doubts were entertained of his safety. He at length, however, issued from the fiery gulf uninjured.]
[296] The same thing was performed by Schreber in 1760.
[297] Plin. vii. 11.—Virg. Æn. xi.—Silius Ital. v.—Strabo, v.
[298] Strabo, xii.
[299] In his work De Mirabilibus Mundi, at the end of his book De Secretis Mulierum, Amstelod. 1702, 12mo, p. 100.
[300] Antigone, 270.
[301] Animad. in Athen. lib. i. 15.
[302] De Theatro, lib. i. 40, in Grævii Thes. Ant. Rom. ix.
[303] Lib. iii. epist. 20.—Seneca, Epist. 45. Compare Suidas, Pollux, and Athenæi Deipn. 4. It is probable that Quintilian alludes to this art in his Institut. x. 7, 11.
[304] Plin. vii. 20, p. 385.—Martial. v. 12.—Suidas, speaking of Theogenes Thasius.—Haller, Elem. Physiol. iv. p. 486.
[305] Vopiscus, Vita Firmi. See the figure in Desaguliers, tab. xix. fig. 5. He describes the position thus:—The pretended Samson puts his shoulders (not his head, as he used to give out) upon one chair, and his heels upon another (the chairs being made fast), and supports one or two men standing on his belly, raising them up and down as he breathes, making with his backbone, thighs and legs, an arch whose abutments are the chairs.
[306] A course of Experimental Philosophy. Lond. 1745, 4to, i. p. 266. [A popular account of these extraordinary feats, with illustrations and explanations of the principles on which they depend, is given by Sir David Brewster in his interesting volume on Natural Magic, p. 246.]
[307] Versuche und Abhandl. der Naturforsch. Geselsch. in Danzig.
[308] A great many of these passages of the ancients have been collected by Bulenger, in his work De Theatro, i. cap. 41. See also Des Camps in a dissertation contained in Recherches Curieuses d’Antiquité, par Spon. A Lyon 1683.—Mercurialis De Arte Gymnast. and Fabricii Biblioth. Antiq. p. 995.
[309] An epigram, ascribed to Petronius, at page 542 of the edition of Hadrianides, belongs to this subject.
[310] Muratori Antiquit. Ital. Med. Ævi, ii. p. 846.
[311] Von Stetten, Kunstgeschichte von Augsburg, ii. p. 177.
[312] Claudian. de Mallii Consul. 320. In Cilano’s Römischen Alterthümer, ii. fig. 8, there is a representation like what I have often seen exhibited. But the most dangerous and the most curious is that of which an engraving is given in Splendor Urbis Venetiarum, to be found in Grævii Thesaurus Antiquit. Italiæ, v. 3. p. 374.
[313] Sat. xiv. 265.
[314] Lib. v. 433.
[315] Symposium, p. 655, edition of Basle, 1555. fol. Εἰσεφέρετο τῇ ὀρχηστρίδι τροχὸς τῶν κεραμεικῶν ἐφ’ οὗ ἔμελλε θαυμασιουργήσειν. In the old edition of J. Ribittus, this passage is thus translated: “Allata est saltatrici orbis saltatorius, in quo admiranda erat editura.” The first question that arises is, what was τροχὸς τῶν κεραμεικῶν. The last word alluded to a place at Athens where wrestling was exhibited every year; and on that account Aristophanes uses the expression πληγαὶ κεραμεικαί. This however affords no explanation. Bulenger, who quotes the same passage, translates it in the following manner: “Illata est saltatrici figularis rota, per quam se trajiceret, et miracula patraret.” He means here therefore a potter’s wheel, the invention of Anacharsis, but that was always called κεραμικὸς τροχὸς, and not τροχὸς τῶν κεραμεικῶν. But even allowing that a potter’s wheel is meant, it is wrong to add per quam se trajiceret; for the potter’s wheel is not like a hoop, but like a plate or dish; and when turned round revolves not vertically, but horizontally. Besides, how the performer could write or read on a wheel that she jumped through, he has not thought proper to explain. “Scribere et legere in rota dum versatur, mirabile quiddam est.” If a potter’s wheel be meant, I consider it as certainly possible for a person to stand upon it whilst it revolves with the greatest velocity, and even to read or write; but it would be necessary to lift up the legs, in turn, with the utmost quickness.
[316] Nicephorus Gregor. viii. 10. p. 215. This company of rope-dancers came from Egypt. They travelled through the greater part of Asia, and all Europe, as far as the extremity of Spain. At Constantinople they extended the ropes, on which they first exhibited their art, between the masts of ships. One is almost induced to believe that stupid superstition did not then prevail so much in Europe as at the beginning of the last century. The historian says that the company at first consisted of forty persons; but that the half of them were cast away on their passage to Constantinople. He does not, however, tell us that they or their horses were anywhere burnt as conjurors, or possessed with the devil.
[317] See the German translation of his Travels, ii. p. 238.
[318] Journal du Règne de Henri III. p. 57.—Recueil de Pièces servant à l’Hist. de Henri III. Cologne, 1666, 12mo.
[319] Epistolarum Selectarum Centuria. Antverpiæ, 1605, 4to, i. epist. 50. p. 59.—Plin. viii. 1 and 3.—Seneca, epist. 86.—Suetonii Vit. Galbæ.—Dio Cassius. A great many also may be found collected in Hartenfels Elephantographia, Erfordiæ, 1715, 4to. It appears that in the thirteenth century some ventured to ride a horse upon a rope. See the Chronicle Alberichi Monachi Trium-Fontium, inserted by Leibnitz in Accessiones Historicæ, vol. ii., where a description is given of the solemnities at the wedding of Robert, brother to the king of France, in the year 1237.
Several instances of the dexterity of the elephant may be found in Lipsii Laus Elephantis, inserted in Dissertat. Ludicrarum et Amœnitatum Scriptores varii, Lugd. Bat. 1638.—Trans.
[320] Æliani Hist. An. xvi. 23. vi. 10.—Athenæus, lib. xii.—Plinius.
[321] One instance may be found in Theophanis Chronographia, which was printed at Paris 1655, fol. It occurred in the seventeenth year of the reign of Justinian, or 543.
[322] Universal Magazine, 1766, October, p. 217.
[323] Der entlarvte Wildman, Betrüger grosser Höfe. Berlin, 1774, 8vo. See also Göttingische Gelehrte Anzeig. 1775, p. 816. The name of impostor given to Wildman was, however, too harsh; for I do not think that he who performs anything extraordinary, never done by any one before, becomes an impostor when another discovers his art.
[324] The voyage of Brue is in Labat’s Afrique Occidentale, iv.
[325] [A curious exhibition of this kind has been made public for several years in the Strand, viz. the “industrious fleas.” These noxious animals are here seen to draw and drive a coach and four; fire off a small cannon; and various other performances of a similar kind.]
[326] Several instances of the like kind may be found also in Monstrorum Historia Memorabilis a J. G. Schenkio a Grafenberg filio, Francof. 1609, 4to, p. 28 et seq. One of the most curious is that of Thomas Schweicker, born at Halle in Prussian Saxony, in the year 1586. Camerarius saw him not only write, but even make a pen with his feet.—Trans.
[327] Strabo, lib. xv. p. 1048. ed. Almel.—Dio Cassius, lib. liv. p. 739. Suetonius, Eutropius, Eusebius and Orosius, speak of this embassy, but make no mention of the presents.
[328] [In modern times the idle portion of the public has been gratified by the exhibition of the Siamese twins; the diminutive monster Tom Thumb; and quite recently a child with three legs. The birth of such monsters is equivalent to a legacy or fortune to the parents, who by their exhibitions realise large sums: the morbid taste of the public, especially the weaker portion, for such sights is truly deplorable.]
[329] Man. Astron. lib. v. 165.
[330] Frisch derives this word from morio, a fool or buffoon.
[331] This piece of kitchen furniture was known in the middle of the sixteenth century. Montagne saw one at Brixen, in Tyrol, in the year 1580, and wrote a description of it in his Journal, as a new invention. He says it consisted entirely of wheels; that it was kept in motion by a heavy piece of iron, as clocks are by a weight, and that when wound up in the like manner, it turned the meat for a whole hour. He had before seen, in some other place, another driven by smoke.—Reise, i. pp. 155, 249. The latter kind seem to be somewhat older. Scappi, cook to pope Pius V., gave a figure of one in his book Opera di M. Bartolomeo Scappi, printed at Venice 1570, which is exceedingly scarce. I lately saw a copy, which, instead of eighteen, had twenty-four engravings. It was printed twice afterwards at the same place, viz. in 1571 and 1605, in quarto. The third edition says, “con due aggiunte, cio é il Trinciante et il Maestro di casa.” Bayle seems to confound this book with that of Platina De Honesta Voluptate, or to think that the latter was the real author of it. This however cannot be, as there were more than a hundred years between the periods when Scappi and Platina lived. Platina died in 1481, and not in 1581, as we read in Bayle.
[332] De Mundo. cap. vi.
[333] Herodot. ii. 48. p. 127.—Lucian. de Syria Dea, 16, ed. Bipont. ix. p. 99.
[334] Recueil des Antiquit. iv. p. 259.
[335] Doppelmayer, p. 285.
[336] Iliad, xviii. 373. It deserves to be remarked, that there were also such τρίποδες αὐτόματοι at the banquet of Iarchas. See Philostrat. Opera, ed. Olearii, pp. 117, 240.
[337] Polit. i. 3.
[338] In his Menon, p. 426.—Euthyphron, pp. 8, 11.
[339] Introd. in Philos. Nat. i. p. 143.
[340] Physiologia Kircheriana, fol. p. 69.
[341] In Philostrati Opera, ed. Olearii, p. 899.
[342] In Mém. de l’Acad. des Inscr. xiii. p. 274.
[343] Ode xxvii.
[344] Aulus Gellius, x. 12.
[345] See Naudé’s Apology, Bayle’s Dictionary, &c. Thomas Aquinas is said to have been so frightened when he saw this head, that he broke it to pieces, and Albertus thereupon exclaimed, “Periit opus triginta annorum!”
[346] Schol. Mathemat. lib. ii. p. 65.
[347] Dissertat. de Regiomontani Aquila et Musca Ferrea. Altorfi, 1709.—See Mémoires de Trevoux, 1710, Juillet, p. 1283.—Doppelmayer, p. 23.—Fabricii Bibl. Med. Ætat. iv. p. 355.—Heilbronner Hist. Math. p. 504.
[348] Strada De Bello Belgico. Mogunt. 1651, 4to, p. 8. He calls the artist Jannellus Turrianus Cremonensis.
[349] In the year 1738, Le Méchanisme du Fluteur Automate, par Vaucanson, was printed at Paris, in a thin 4to. It contains only a short description of the flute-player, which is copied into the Encyclopédie, i. p. 448, under the article Androide. The duck, as far as I know, has been nowhere described.
[350] Vaucanson died at Paris in 1782.
[351] [The publisher is in possession of an elegantly formed mechanical bird-cage, in which two artificial bullfinches wheel about on a perch, flutter their wings, and move their beaks, while emitting musical sounds in imitation of their natural note. A fountain constructed of spiral glass plays in the centre. Beneath the cage is a clock which sets the whole in motion hourly, for three or four minutes; but it may be set going independently, like a musical snuff-box. It is presumed to have been made by Vaucanson about a hundred years ago, and was at one time a principal attraction at Weeks’s celebrated Museum, where that singular piece of mechanism the Tarantula spider was first exhibited.]
[352] Nicolai, Reise, i. p. 287.
[353] Nouveau Voyage aux Iles de l’Amerique. A la Haye 1724, 2 vols. 4to, ii. pp. 298, 384. From his county he was called Count de Gennes.
[354] Zodiacus Vitæ, xi. 846.
[355] See a small treatise Ueber H. D. Muller’s Redende Maschine, und über redende Maschinen überhaupt. Nurnberg, 1788, 8vo.—Algem. Teutsches Biblioth. vol. lxxxvii. p. 473. The Speaking Figure and the Automaton Chess-player exposed and detected. London, 1784, 8vo.—[This celebrated chess-playing automaton, invented by M. Vankempelin, was repaired and exhibited in London in 1820, by the ingenious mechanician Maelzel, with considerable success. The figure and machinery were always submitted to the inspection of the visitors, and shifted along the floor in various directions before the game commenced, and the deception was so adroitly managed as to escape the detection of the most scrutinizing. The proprietor always took care to secure the best chess-player in the town before he commenced operations, the wonder therefore was greatly increased by the superiority of the automaton’s play. Mr. Lewis directed it in London. It is now generally admitted that a boy was concealed inside.]
[356] Van Dale De Oraculis. Amstelod. 1700, 4to, i. 10, p. 222.
[357] Réponse à l’Histoire des Oracles de M. de Fontenelle.
[358] A few instances are related by Livy, Valerius Maximus, and Plutarch. Among the fables of the Christian church they are more numerous.
[359] Vol. v. p. 90. editio Bipont.
[360] Theodoreti Hist. Eccles. v. 22.
[361] Cassiodori Variar. i. ep. 45.
[362] [Speaking Automaton.—There is a piece of mechanism now exhibiting to the public at the Egyptian Hall—the work of Professor Faber, of Vienna, and the result, as he states, of twenty-five years of labour and preparation. The name which he has given to this product of his ingenuity is the Euphonia; and the work, as that name implies, is another of those many combinations which have attempted, by the anatomical and physiological study of the structures that contribute to the human voice, to attain to an imitation of that organ as regards both sound and articulation. As an example of inductive and mechanical skill this exhibition is well deserving of attention. The professor himself, by an arrangement of bellows-pipes, pedal and keys, which he plays somewhat like the keys of a piano, prompts the discourse of his automaton; which certainly does enunciate both sounds and words. When we entered the room we found it singing to a select society. It requires all our sense of the ingenuity and perseverance which have been bestowed on the work to induce our assent to the proposition which calls the voice human; but undoubtedly it is a remarkable result of contriving skill and scientific patience.—Athæneum.]
[363] Historia Ægypti Natural. Lugd. Bat. 1735, 4to, p. 60.