[3] By Norman Triplett, "The Psychology of Conjuring Deceptions,"
_American Journal of Psychology_, xi. 4, July, 1900. This most recent
and extensive treatment of this topic furnishes a well-selected
storehouse of fact, together with suggestive and able interpretations
of the material of conjuring deceptions. I shall draw from this
material in several portions of this essay, without further detailed
acknowledgment.
[4] Mr. Triplett went through a similar performance with a ball in
the presence of school children; and of 165 children, 78 described
how they saw the ball go up and disappear; of those who were thus
hallucinated 40 per cent. were boys and 60 per cent. were girls.
Hallucinations of perfumes in children were obtained by another
experimenter when water was sprayed from bottles labeled as perfumes;
76 per cent. of 381 pupils saw a toy camel move when a crank attached
to the camel by a string was turned, although the camel remained
quite motionless. The experimental tests, though rather cold and
lifeless when compared with the dramatic stage deceptions, illustrate
the same process, and make possible a comparative study of the
degree of deception in different individuals and under different
circumstances.
[5] "Again, a mere tap with the wand on any spot, at the same time
looking at it attentively, will infallibly draw the eyes of a whole
company in the same direction."--_Houdin._
Robert Houdin, often termed "the king of the conjurers," was a man
of remarkable ingenuity and insight. His autobiography is throughout
interesting and psychologically valuable, and his conjuring precepts
abound in points of importance to the psychologist.