The writing by “spirits” on the ceiling is done in this way. The medium is bound, and when the room is lighted a written answer to a question asked is put upon the ceiling. The reader will have already guessed that this is performed by the medium by means of the telescopic tube, at the end of which he places a piece of chalk. He rubs the chalk on his head, to “show” that the spirits had raised him to the ceiling, as if he had performed the feat with his head. Another “crucial” test which these mediums offer is known as the invisible writing. One of the company is asked to write a sentence or a number of figures upon a piece of paper. This paper is carefully folded, the lights are extinguished. In a few seconds they are again relighted, when the medium declares that the spirits have told him the contents of the paper, and he reads the sentences or tells the figures.
Again, the medium asks a gentleman to put the hands of a watch to any hour he chooses, and, when again the lights are lowered, he calls out the exact time to the exact minute. This all seems very mysterious and unaccountable, but I shall again show that we do not require spirit aid to perform these marvels. The medium has in his pocket a small phial containing phosphorus and oil; and when this test is performed there is invariably a long cloth on the table. When the papers upon which the sentence or figures are written, or the watch, are placed on the table, the lights are lowered, and the performer stoops beneath the table, takes the paper or watch, opens the phial, from which a blue flame is emitted, and by this light he reads the sentence, or figures, or sees the time. He replaces the articles, and can, of course, readily tell what he has read or seen.
The floating table has often been performed, but I have never attempted to do this spiritual manifestation. The medium generally has with him an accomplice, and they bind to their arms a flat iron rod, which terminates toward the wrist in a kind of hook concealed from the company by the cuffs of the shirt. The medium contrives to slip this hook under the edge of the table, as does also his confederate who sits opposite, while the dupe is sitting between. The annexed illustration will show the iron rod, and the method of fitting it beneath the table.
The reader will readily perceive that with the aid of these hooks the two persons can play all kinds of tricks with the table, making it go from side to side and glide from one part of the room to another.
There are other methods of tying besides those which I have already mentioned. Some mediums permit themselves to be tied by one of the audience. In this case the medium inflates his body and sits in such a position that all his muscles and limbs are distended. When he resumes his normal position the ropes become loose and he releases himself.
If there be any of my readers who have hitherto been inclined to believe in the professions of the medium, I hope that what I have said will open their eyes, and show them that the so-called materialization of spirits is purely and simply a myth, and that the mediums are nothing more nor less than clever but unprincipled conjurors.
CHAPTER VIII.
Parlor Magic.
The art of magic, as it is now understood, is no longer a secret and mystic profession; it is a written art, and may be easily acquired by the clever mechanician, or any person having dexterous hands and a large amount of self-possession and impudence. I say “impudence,” because most of the best tricks are really so extremely simple that many persons of a timid or self-conscious disposition would feel ashamed to venture to perform them, in case of what they think must be inevitable detection and exposure. But so blind is poor human nature that the clever conjuror can always select his man for “forcing a card upon him,” even though he makes his dupe believe he has selected one at his own will and choice. At the request of a large number of friends, I will conclude this volume by giving a few tricks which may be performed after a very little practice by anybody who will take a little trouble, and for the execution of which no, or very little, apparatus will be required—at any rate, only such as can be obtained either in any ordinary house, or at a very trifling expense. The task which I have set myself is not, as the reader might imagine, an easy one, for in endeavoring to give some tricks which have not before been already fully explained in books published on the subject, I find that there is scarcely a parlor trick which has not already been explained. Therefore, to give some tricks that have never yet been exposed is really a very difficult and almost impossible task. However, I have done my best, and the following little deceptions which the amateur conjuror may safely perform, will enable him to give a capital evening’s entertainment to his friends or family circle. I would just add one word before quitting the subject of magic and conjuring. My object in the foregoing chapters was to show the reader, first, that the art of magic is merely the art of a very clever illusionist, who, by swiftness of execution and a thorough knowledge of the laws of mechanics and optics, can make his audience deceive themselves; secondly, to afford some entertainment to my readers; and, thirdly, to set the ingenious at work to solve the mysteries of the art upon the basis I have given in these chapters. I venture to think, from the observations I have heard, that all these objects have been attained. And now for a few parlor tricks.