FIRE EATERS AND SWORD TRICKS.
FIRE EATERS--TRICKS WITH FIRE.
[Illustration: A MOUNTEBANK LICKING A RED-HOT BAR OF IRON.]
Burning is undoubtedly that kind of pain against which the human being
most strongly revolts, and the fear of being burned is not confined to
man alone, but exists also as an instinct in the entire animal kingdom.
This fear, the horror of being burned, which is so powerful in men,
accounts for the fact that in all times the wonder and curiosity of the
public have been excited by those who are capable of handling burning
coals or red-hot iron with impunity, or of touching molten metal, and by
those who are proof against flames or burning water or oil. There are
many examples in history of individuals who are more or less fireproof,
and the trials by fire in ancient and mediæval times do not need to be
cited here. It was not until about 1677 that the question of the proof
of man against fire was looked at from a scientific standpoint. This was
done by the physician Dodart, a member of the Academy of Sciences. These
studies were provoked by the wonderful tricks which were being performed
at that time in Paris by an English chemist named Richardson. Dodart
explained that these experiments could be performed without the aid of
any chemical preparation, by taking a few precautions, and also that the
success of them depended upon the hardening that the epidermis may
acquire under the influence of an oft-repeated action.
This hardening of the skin among laborers results in their frequently
being able to handle red-hot iron and lighted coals with impunity. This,
however, does not suffice to explain the tricks of those individuals who
exhibit in public as fireproof. The experiments of the Italian physician
and chemist, Sementini, have shown that there are preparations which,
when put upon the skin, render the latter absolutely insensible to
contact with fire or incandescent materials. His first experiments had
no result; finally, after submitting himself to repeated friction with
sulphurous acid, he was enabled to apply a red-hot iron to his skin with
impunity. Continuing his experiments, he found that a solution of alum
had the same property. One day, having accidentally rubbed soap upon the
surface of a hand that had previously been impregnated with alum, he
found that the hand was still further proof against fire. He then
discovered that a layer of powdered sugar covered with soap sufficed to
render his tongue entirely insensible to heat. After all these
experiments Sementini succeeded in making himself much better proof
against fire than was the charlatan who first suggested the experiment
to him.
[Illustration: FIRE EATERS AT THE OLYMPIA THEATER, PARIS.]
Fire eaters have always been very popular on the vaudeville stage, and
we present an engraving showing two fire eaters at the Olympia Theater,
Paris. When the performers appear upon the stage, they are clad in a
tight-fitting costume of a red color which represents that of the devils
of fairy scenes. The stage upon which they appear is but dimly lighted
during their presence upon it. The devils, after making their bow, go to
the rear of the stage, and put some preparations upon their hands; they
come to the front of the stage and cause very thin but brilliant flames
to dart from their fingers; bringing these flames near to their mouths,
they seem to swallow them and then extinguish them between their teeth.
When the two devils touch each other’s hands a crackling sound is heard,
and long flames dart forth for a few seconds from the tips of their
fingers, which they continuously move. They subsequently experiment
without putting anything in their mouths; they blow with energy, and a
brilliant flame makes its exit from between their lips. They shoot forth
a bed of flame for a considerable length of time, which certainly
exceeds half a minute. The combustion is due to a very volatile essence.
Certain eaters of burning tow proceed as follows: They form a little
ball of material which they tightly compress and then light, and allow
to burn up almost entirely. Then rolling this in new tow in order to
guard the mucous membrane in the mouth against contact with the
incandescent ball, they breathe gently, taking care while doing so to
inhale only through the nose, and thus project smoke and sparks.
[Illustration: MOUNTEBANK SWALLOWING BURNING TOW.]
Another trick of the fire eaters is when they pretend to drink burning
oil. A little kerosene oil is poured into an iron ladle. The oil is now
lighted, and while the ladle is held in the left hand, an iron spoon is
dipped into the oil as though to take a spoonful; but in reality the
spoon is only wet, and when it is brought blazing to the mouth the
operator throws back his head as though to swallow it, and at the same
time a slight puff is given by the breath, which blows it out. This
trick is very effective if well done, but the reader is especially
cautioned against trying any experiments in tricks of this kind, as the
results are apt to be dangerous except in the hands of experts. This
will be seen by what is called the sponge trick. Two or three small
sponges are placed in an iron ladle, gasolene is poured over them, only
a sufficient quantity being used to wet them; they must in no case drip.
The sponges are now set on fire, and the experimenter takes up one of
them with his tongs, and, throwing his head back, drops the blazing
sponge into his mouth. He expels his breath quickly all the time.
Suddenly he closes his mouth; this cuts off the oxygen necessary for
combustion, and the flame immediately goes out. Performers who present
fire tricks for the amusement of a company frequently try experiments
which give a ghastly appearance to the audience. This is done by pouring
a few ounces of alcohol into a basin containing a handful of salt. When
this is lighted the complexion of everyone is hideous. A slightly
different effect is used by infusing saffron in alcohol for a number of
hours, and then adding salt as before; it is usually poured upon tow
which is lighted. There are some liquids that have the property of
taking fire and burning without injuring the object upon which they are
poured and without producing any painful sensation upon the skin. As a
usual thing such liquids are very volatile and consist of essential
oils, ether, etc. The reason that some substances can be burned without
injuring them, or upon the skin without burning, are explained as
follows: These substances are very volatile, and their tension is
considerable, and, in reality, when they are burning, it is merely their
vapor which is on fire. This vapor then tends to borrow heat from the
liquid, whence the latter may remain at a relatively low temperature
while the surface is on fire. This is a reasonable explanation of the
curious phenomenon of the burning liquid.
SWORD TRICK--A STAB THROUGH THE ABDOMEN.
The sword employed is a simple, thin, flexible blade of steel, not at
all sharp, and the plan of which is seen at A in the accompanying cut.
The point is sufficiently blunt to prevent it from doing any harm.
As for the prestidigitateur, whose body the sword will simply pass
around, but not pierce, he carries concealed beneath his vest a sort of
sheath that consists of a tube of rectangular section, and semicircular
in shape, and the two extremities of which are bent in contrary
directions in such a way that they are situated in the same straight
line, the two orifices opening in front and behind at right angles with
the abdomen. This apparatus, B, is held in place by cords attached to
two small rings at the two extremities of the tube.
It is the prestidigitateur himself who, appearing instinctively to grasp
the point of the sword as if to protect himself, directs it into the
metallic tube. It makes its exit between the tails of the coat. It might
be made to come out at the center of the back, but in this case it would
be necessary to have an aperture formed in the seam of the coat. The
illusion produced is complete, seeing that the flexible blade
straightens out on making its exit from the tube, on account of the form
of the latter’s extremity. It is necessary to operate rapidly, so that
the spectators shall not have time to see that the length of the sword
has diminished at this moment, the curved line that it follows not being
the shortest passage from one point to another.
[Illustration: A SWORD TRICK.]
The figure represents a variant of the trick in which the sword is
provided with an eye through which a long red ribbon is passed, and
which follows the blade when the latter is pulled out at the opposite
side of the body.
THE HUMAN TARGET.
Japanese jugglers, as well known, are possessed of very extraordinary
skill. A few years ago two of them performed the following feat, which
required a wonderful dexterity. One of them stood, with arms extended,
in front of a thick board placed vertically; and the other, armed with a
number of wide-bladed knives, stationed himself at a distance of about
six yards from the board, and from thence threw the knives with a sure
hand and stuck one of them in the board just above the head of the
target, two of them very close to the right and left of the neck, and
others around the arms; in a word, he outlined the form of his companion
with the knives stuck very deeply into the board. This performance met
with extraordinary success, and an effort was at once made to reproduce
it; but as such dexterity is not possessed by everybody, and as, in
addition, the operation is dangerous, the following substitute was
devised by M. Voisin for the use of prestidigitateurs.
[Illustration: JAPANESE KNIFE-THROWING EXECUTED BY MEANS OF A MECHANICAL
DEVICE. FIG. 2.--DETAILS OF THE MECHANISM THAT CAUSES THE KNIFE TO
APPEAR.]
The board that is employed in this case, instead of being, as in the
genuine performance, a simple one, is a piece of cabinet work containing
an ingenious mechanism. The place which the human target will occupy on
this board is carefully marked, and the knives that are to be stuck into
the board in succession around such place are contained in the cabinet
work, which, at first sight and at a short distance, seems to be
absolutely without preparation.
Each of these knives is fixed by its point upon a pivot. In addition, it
is controlled by a spring, and is concealed within the board by a very
finely adjusted double-valved window, which, at the proper moment, opens
and allows it to appear, and then closes. The spring causes the knife to
fall or rise according to the place that the latter is to occupy. No. 2
of the engraving shows the window opening to allow of the fall of the
knife, which will appear as if stuck into the board just above the
instep. In each of the valves the angles that meet each other are cut
slopingly either at the top or bottom, according as the knife is to fall
or rise, in order to make space for the blade when the valves are
closed. Before the exit of the knife, the incision is closed with
modeling wax the color of the wood. In our engraving the incision is at
the bottom.
Naturally the knives are concealed in the board in such a way that on
making their exit the field shall be free, and that they shall not come
into contact with the limbs of the target. Each of these knives, with
its window, forms a distinct apparatus, which is controlled by a rod
that ends at the edge of the board just at the place where the fingers
of the human target can reach them. It is he who, by pressing upon the
ends of the rods as if upon the keys of a piano, causes the blades to
come out of their place of concealment, one after another, and appear as
if they had just stuck into the board. The sound made by the spring in
expanding and the sudden appearance of the knife, combined with the
motion of the person throwing it, affords a complete illusion. Let us
add that each knife mounted on a pivot at its point, as we have
explained, may be easily disengaged from its axis when, after the
operation, the person who threw the knives makes believe to pull them
out by force from the wood in which they seem to be inserted.
The board having been invented, it became necessary to find a method of
throwing the knives in such a way as to cause them to disappear. To this
effect the board is placed on one side of the stage, near the side
scenes, and the person who throws the knives stations himself on the
other side of the stage, near the opposite side scenes, and he can
therefore act in two ways, viz., first, in poising his arms to take aim,
he can, at the last moment, throw the knife between the side scenes back
of him while he takes a step forward. The knife supposed to be thrown
thus disappears completely at the desired moment, but, since the
spectators do not see the flash of the blade, traversing the stage, it
is preferable to employ the second method. This consists in a genuine
throwing of the knife, but in such a way as to cause it to pass by the
board and fall between the side scenes, where the sound of its fall is
deadened by some such material as a piece of carpet. In both of these
two methods, it is for the human target to press the spring of the
knife that he wishes to make appear at just the precise moment, in order
that the click of the expanding spring may be taken by the spectators
for the sound of the knife sticking into the wood.
This trick, when well executed, has often deceived the shrewdest
spectators, and that, too, with so much the more facility in that many
had seen the Japanese perform in the middle of a circus, where it was
impossible to conceal the knife, since it could be followed by the eye
in its travel from the hand of the Japanese to the point where it
penetrated the board.
To be precise, and to omit no information, let us say in conclusion,
that there exist boards in which the freeing of the knives is effected
by the pulling of a thread held in the side scenes by a third party.
This process has the advantage that there is no danger of the spectators
seeing the manipulation of the rods; but, on the other hand, it has its
inconveniences, viz., in a place where a communication cannot be
established between the invisible confederate and the mechanical board,
the use of it is impossible, and it is necessary to employ the other
method.
SWORD SWALLOWERS.
When a physician introduces his finger, the handle of a spoon, or a
pencil into the throat of a patient, the latter experiences an extremely
disagreeable sensation. Any touching of the pharynx, however slight it
be, causes strangling, pain, and nausea, and the organ reacts with
violence against the obstacle that presents itself to free respiration.
There is no one who has not more than once experienced this disagreeable
impression, and for this reason we are justly surprised when we meet
with people who seem to be proof against it, and who, for example,
introduce into their pharynx large, solid, and stiff objects like sword
blades, and cause these to penetrate to a depth that appears incredible.
It is experiments of this kind that constitute the tricks of sword
swallowers.
These experiments are nearly always the same. The individual comes out
dressed in a brilliant costume. At one side of him there are flags of
different nationalities surrounding a panoply of sabers, swords, and
yatagans, and at the other, a stack of guns provided with bayonets.
Taking a flat saber, whose blade and hilt have been cut out of the same
sheet of metal, the blade being from fifty-five to sixty centimeters in
length, he introduces its extremity into his throat, taps the hilt
gently, and the blade at length entirely disappears. He then repeats the
experiment in swallowing the blade at a single gulp. Subsequently, after
swallowing and disgorging two of these same swords, he causes one to
penetrate up to its guard, a second not quite so far, a third a little
less still, and a fourth up to about half its length, the hilts being
then arranged as shown in our third illustration (C).
[Illustration: A SWORD SWALLOWER.]
Pressing now on the hilts, he swallows the four blades at a gulp, and
then he takes them out leisurely one by one. The effect is quite
surprising. After swallowing several different swords and sabers, he
takes an old musket armed with a triangular bayonet, and swallows the
latter, the gun remaining vertical over his head. Finally he borrows a
large saber from a dragoon who is present for the purpose, and causes
two-thirds of it to disappear. As a trick, on being encored, the sword
swallower borrows a cane from a person in the audience, and swallows it
almost entirely.
[Illustration: POSITION OCCUPIED BY THE SWORD BLADE IN THE BODY.]
A certain number of spectators usually think that the performer produces
an illusion through the aid of some trick, and that it is impossible to
swallow a sword blade. But this is a mistake, for sword swallowers who
employ artifices are few in number and their experiments but slightly
varied, while the majority really do introduce into their mouths and
food passages the blades that they cause to disappear. They attain this
result as follows:
The back parts of the mouth, despite their sensitiveness and their
rebellion against contact with solid bodies, are capable of becoming so
changed through habit that they gradually get used to abnormal contacts.
This fact is taken advantage of in medicine. It daily happens that
persons afflicted with disorders of the throat or stomach can no longer
swallow or take nourishment, and would die of exhaustion were they not
fed artificially by means of the œsophageal tube. This latter is a
vulcanized rubber tube which the patient swallows, after the manner of
sword swallowers, and through the extremity of which milk or _bouillon_
is introduced. But the patient, before being able to make daily use of
this apparatus, must serve a genuine apprenticeship. The first
introduction of the end of the tube into the pharynx is extremely
painful, the second is a little less so, and it is only after a large
number of trials, more or less prolonged, that the patient succeeds in
swallowing ten or twelve inches of the tubing without a disagreeable
sensation.
The washing out of the stomach, performed by means of a long, flexible
tube which the patient partially swallows, and with which he injects
into and removes from his stomach a quantity of tepid water by raising
the tube or letting it hang down to form a siphon, likewise necessitates
an apprenticeship of some days; but the patient succeeds in accustoming
his organs to contact with the tube, and is finally able, after a short
time, to swallow the latter with indifference, at least.
With these sword swallowers it is absolutely the same; for with them it
is only as a consequence of repeated trials that the pharynx becomes
sufficiently accustomed to it to permit them to finally swallow objects
as large and rigid as swords, sabers, canes, and even billiard cues.
Swallowers of forks and spoons serve an analogous apprenticeship. As
known, the talent of these consists in their ability to introduce into
the throat a long spoon or fork while holding it suspended by its
extremity between two fingers. This trick is extremely dangerous, since
the œsophagus exerts a sort of suction on all bodies that are introduced
into it. The spoon or fork is, then, strongly attracted, and if the
individual cannot hold it, it will drop into his stomach, whence it can
only be extracted by a very dangerous surgical operation--gastrotomy. It
was accidents of this kind that made the “forkman” and the “knifeman”
celebrated, and, more recently, the “spoonman” who died from the effects
of the extraction from his stomach of a sirup spoon.
All sword swallowers do not proceed in the same way. Some swallow the
blade directly, without any intermediate apparatus; but in this case,
their sabers are provided at the extremity, near the point, with a small
bayonet-shaped appendage over which they slip a gutta-percha tip without
the spectators perceiving it (F and G). Others do not even take such a
precaution, but swallow the saber or sword just as it is.
This is the mode of procedure of an old zouave, especially, who has
become a poor juggler, and who, in his experiments, allows the
spectators to touch, below his sternum, the projection that the point of
the saber in his stomach makes on his skin.
But the majority of sword swallowers who exhibit upon the stage employ a
guiding tube which they have previously swallowed, so that the
experiments they are enabled to perform become less dangerous and can be
varied more. This tube, which is from forty-five to fifty centimeters
long, is made of very thin metal. Its width is twenty-five millimeters,
and its thickness fifteen (B). These dimensions permit of the easy
introduction of flat-bladed sabers, among other things, and of the
performance of the four-sabers experiment, and of the introduction of
sabers and swords of all kinds.
To explain the latter from a physiological standpoint, the saber
swallowed by the performer enters the mouth and pharynx first, then the
œsophagus, traverses the cardiac opening of the stomach, and enters the
latter as far as the antrum of the pylorus--the small cul-de-sac of the
stomach. In their normal state these organs are not in a straight line,
but are placed so by the passage of the sword. In the first place, the
head is thrown back so that the mouth is in the direction of the
œsophagus, the curves of which disappear or become less; the angle that
the œsophagus makes with the stomach becomes null; and, finally, the
last-named organ distends in a vertical direction and its internal curve
disappears, thus permitting the blade to traverse the stomach through
its greater diameter; that is to say, to reach the small cul-de-sac. It
should be understood that before such a result can be attained the
stomach must have been emptied through fasting on the part of the
operator.
The depth of fifty-five to sixty centimeters to which these men cause
their instruments to penetrate, and which seems extraordinary to
spectators, is explained by the dimensions of the organs traversed. Such
lengths may be divided thus:
Mouth and pharynx, 10 to 12; œsophagus, 25 to 28; distended stomach, 20
to 22--55 to 62 centimeters.
[Illustration: VARIOUS APPARATUS FOR SWORD SWALLOWERS.]
According to the stature of the individual, a length of organs of from
55 to 62 centimeters may give passage to swallowed swords without
inconvenience.
Sword swallowing exhibitors have rendered important services to
medicine. It was due to one of them--a swallower of both swords and
pebbles--that, in 1777, a Scotch physician, Stevens, was enabled to make
the first studies upon the gastric juice of human beings. In order to do
this, he caused this individual to swallow small metallic tubes pierced
with holes and filled with meat according to Reaumur’s method, and got
him to disgorge them again after a certain length of time. It was also
sword swallowers who showed physicians to what extent the pharynx could
become habituated to contact; and from this resulted the invention of
the Foucher tube, the œsophageal tube, the washing out of the stomach,
and the illumination of the latter organ by the electric light.
It sometimes happens that sword swallowers who exhibit in public squares
and at street corners are, at the same time, swallowers of pebbles, like
him whose talents were utilized by Stevens; that is to say, they have
the faculty of swallowing pebbles of various sizes, sometimes even
stones larger than a hen’s egg, and that, too, to the number of four,
five, or six, sometimes more, and of afterward disgorging them one by
one through a simple contraction of the stomach. Here we have a new
example of the modification of sensitiveness and function that an
individual may secure in his organs by determination and constant
practice.
In conclusion, let us say a word in regard to the tricks that produce
the illusion of swallowed swords or sabers. One of these, which deceives
only at a certain distance, consists in plunging the saber into a tube
that descends along the neck and chest, under the garments, and the
opening of which, placed near the mouth, is hidden by means of a false
beard. Another and much more ingenious one, which has been employed in
several enchantment scenes, is that of the sword whose blade enters its
hilt, and which is due to M. Voisin, the skillful manufacturer of
physical apparatus. In its ordinary state this sword has a stiff blade,
eighty centimeters in length, which, when looked at from a distance of a
few meters, presents no peculiarity (see D in our engraving); but when
the exhibitor plunges it into his mouth, the spectator sees it descend
by degrees, and finally so nearly disappear that but a few centimeters
of the blade protrude. In reality, the blade has entered into the hilt,
for it possesses a solid tip that enters the middle part, which is
hollow, and these two parts enter into the one that forms the base of
the sword. The blade is thus reduced to about twenty-five centimeters, a
half of which length enters the hilt. There then remain but a few
centimeters outside the exhibitor’s mouth, so that he seems to have
swallowed the sword (see G and E). This is a very neat trick.
THE SWORD WALKER.
Of all the daring tricks that have been introduced in the circus, none
have caused more comment than the one in which a person, generally a
lady, walks with bare feet up a ladder of sharp swords, treading
directly on the sharp edges without any injury to the feet.
It is amusing to a person who is acquainted with the secret to hear the
many explanations of “how it is done” offered by the spectators, yet
none of them ever come near guessing the truth. This secret has been so
jealously and successfully guarded that very few, even among the best
informed experts, know how it is performed.
From the illustration it will be seen how the swords are arranged in a
rack with the cutting edges on top. The rack is usually about seven feet
high, and eight swords are used. One of the most necessary points in the
preparation for the trick is that the rack should stand firm, and the
swords fit snug and tight in the slots made to receive them.
Usually the inspectors are invited to examine the rack as well as the
swords, and paper is cut with the swords to show that they are really
sharp. The secret is not in the swords or rack, but in the preparation
of the performer’s feet. In a pint of water as much alum is dissolved as
the water will readily take up. To the alum water is added as much zinc
sulphate, thoroughly dissolved, as will lie on a silver dime.
A few minutes before doing the act the performer bathes the feet in this
solution and allows them to dry without wiping. Just before leaving the
dressing-room the feet are dipped for a moment in as cold water as can
be secured, and at once wiped dry without rubbing.
By placing the feet squarely on the swords there is no danger, but great
care must be used not to allow the foot to slide or slip on the sword,
or the result would be a very bad accident.
[Illustration: SWORD WALKER.]
On leaving the circus in which one has seen the above act, visitors are
almost sure to see before the ever-present side show a large painting on
which is the representation of a Mexican dancing with bare feet in a
shallow box filled with broken glass.
If you are of an inquisitive nature, and have seen a lady walk with bare
feet up a ladder of sharp swords, you enter the side show to see this
new wonder.
[Illustration: GLASS DANCER.]
On a raised platform is found a box about four feet long, three feet
wide, and six inches deep, the bottom of which is covered with broken
glass. In a few moments a man dressed in the Mexican costume appears on
the platform and proceeds to break a few old bottles and throw the
broken glass in the box, then removes his shoes, shows his feet to be
free from any covering, steps in the box, and dances among the glass.
After he has finished dancing he shows his feet to be uninjured, and
retires. The trick is performed in the following manner:
Secure a number of thick glass bottles, break them in rather small
pieces and file or grind all the sharp edges round. This stock of glass
you place in the center of a box made according to above measurement.
Now soak your feet in strong alum water and wipe dry, and give them a
thorough rubbing with pulverized rosin. Dust the inside of your shoes
with rosin, put them on, and go upon the platform. Take some old lamp
chimneys and bottles, break them in bits, and throw this fresh broken
glass in the box, around the edges and in the corners, not in the
center. Remove your shoes, step in the center of the box, among the
prepared glass, and do your dancing. Avoid the sides or corners of the
box, where you have thrown the glass, and you run no risk of cutting
your feet, especially if you use plenty of rosin. The amateur hardly
needs to be informed that such tricks should be left entirely to
professionals.