Sometimes a misunderstanding entangles a magician with Spiritualism. The following instance comes to my mind. It is a popular belief among Spiritualists that certain letters and statements bearing the signature of Robert Houdin are acknowledgments of his belief in Spiritualism. On the contrary they refer simply to certain acts of clairvoyance purported to have taken place at the instance of one Alexis Didier. The first statement has been translated as an interview of considerable length which is concluded as follows:
“Ah, Monsieur (Alexis Didier, as addressed by Houdin), that may seem so to a man of no experience in these matters, to the ordinary person,—though even then such a mistake is hardly admissible,—but to the expert! Just consider, Monsieur, that all my cards are faked, marked, often of unequal sizes, or at least artistically arranged. Again I have my signals and telegraphs. But in this case a fresh pack was used which I had just taken out of its wrapper, and which the somnambulist cannot have studied. There is another point, where deception is impossible, namely, in the handling of the cards: in the one case, the entire artlessness of the performance, in the other, that tell-tale air of effort which nothing can entirely disguise. Add to this his total blindness, for need I insist on the impossibility—the absolute impossibility—of his having seen. Besides, even supposing he could see, how can we account for the other phenomena? With regard to my own ‘second-sight’ performances, without being able to divulge my secret to you now, bear in mind that I am careful to tell you every evening, that I only promise a second sight! Consequently in my case a first sight is indispensable.
“The following day Robert Houdin gave me (Alexis Didier) the following signed statement:
“‘While I am by no means inclined to accept the compliments which M—— is kind enough to pay me, and while I am particularly anxious that my signature should not be held to prejudice in any way my opinion, either for or against magnetism, still I cannot refrain from affirming that the incidents recorded above are ABSOLUTELY CORRECT, and that the more I think about them the more impossible I find it to class them with those which form the subject of my profession and of my performances.
“‘Robert Houdin.
“‘May 4th, 1847.’”
It will be seen at a glance that the signature in this case refers to a mystification by card handling, clairvoyance, forecasting, etc. His second letter was written a fortnight later and is as follows:
“Monsieur, (Alexis Didier) as I informed you, I was anxious to have a second sitting. This sitting which was held at Marcillet’s house yesterday proved even more extraordinary than the first, and has left me without a shadow of a doubt as to the clairvoyance of Alexis. I went to this seance, fully determined to keep a careful watch on the game of écarté, which had astounded me so much before. This time I took much greater precautions than at the first seance, for distrusting myself I took a friend, whose natural imperturbability enabled him to form a cool judgment and helped me to steady mine. I append an account of what took place, and you will see that trickery could never have produced such results as those which I am about to recount.
“I undo a pack of cards, which I had brought with me in a marked wrapper to guard against another pack being substituted for it. I shuffle and it is my deal. I deal with every precaution known to a man well up in all the dodges of his profession. It is all of no use, Alexis stops me, and pointing to one of the cards that I had just placed in front of him on the table, says:
“‘I’ve got the King.’