This illusion, which is presented under the name of “Amphitrite,” is as follows: When the representation is about to begin, the curtain of a small stage rises. There is observed a circular aperture, cut in a screen, over which is stretched transparent muslin.
AMPHITRITE.
About six feet behind the latter there is a scene representing the sky with clouds; below, in the foreground, there is a canvas representing the sea.
“Amphitrite, come forth!” exclaims the person in charge of the show. All at once, a woman in the costume of an opera nymph rises from the sea without anything being visible to support her in space, in which she turns round and round, gracefully moving her legs and arms, now in one direction, and then in another. When the exhibition is at an end, she straightens out in the position of a swimmer about to make a dive, and plunges behind the curtain representing the ocean.
DIAGRAM EXPLAINING THE AMPHITRITE ILLUSION.