CHAPTER IX.
MENTAL MAGIC.
By Henry Ridgely Evans.
The most sphinx-like problem ever presented to the public for solution was the “second-sight” mystery. As has been stated in the [Introduction], the idea was an old one, having originated with the Chevalier Pinetti, a conjurer of the eighteenth century. On this subject the “Encyclopædia Britannica” says:
“In 1783 Pinetti had an automatic figure about eighteen inches in height, named the Grand Sultan or Wise Little Turk, which answered questions as to chosen cards and many other things by striking upon a bell, intelligence being communicated to a confederate by an ingenious ordering of the words, syllables, or vowels in the questions put. The teaching of Mesmer and feats of alleged clairvoyance suggested to Pinetti a more remarkable performance in 1785, when Signora Pinetti, sitting blindfold in a front box of a theater, replied to questions and displayed her knowledge of articles in the possession of the audience.”
Robert-Houdin invented a “second-sight” system under the following circumstances:
“My two children,” he says, in his memoirs, “were playing one day in the drawing-room at a game they had invented for their own amusement. The younger had bandaged his elder brother’s eyes, and made him guess the objects he touched, and when the latter happened to guess right, they changed places. This simple game suggested to me the most complicated idea that ever crossed my mind—‘second sight.’
“On the 12th of February, 1846, I printed in the center of my bill the following singular announcement:
“In this programme M. Robert-Houdin’s son, who is gifted with a marvelous second sight, after his eyes have been covered with a thick bandage, will designate every object presented to him by the audience.”