MENTAL MAGIC.
BY HENRY RIDGELY EVANS.
The most sphinx-like problem ever presented to the public for solution
was the “second-sight” mystery. As has been stated in the Introduction,
the idea was an old one, having originated with the Chevalier Pinetti, a
conjurer of the eighteenth century. On this subject the “Encyclopædia
Britannica” says:
“In 1783 Pinetti had an automatic figure about eighteen inches in
height, named the Grand Sultan or Wise Little Turk, which answered
questions as to chosen cards and many other things by striking upon a
bell, intelligence being communicated to a confederate by an ingenious
ordering of the words, syllables, or vowels in the questions put. The
teaching of Mesmer and feats of alleged clairvoyance suggested to
Pinetti a more remarkable performance in 1785, when Signora Pinetti,
sitting blindfold in a front box of a theater, replied to questions and
displayed her knowledge of articles in the possession of the audience.”
Robert-Houdin invented a “second-sight” system under the following
circumstances:
“My two children,” he says, in his memoirs, “were playing one day in the
drawing-room at a game they had invented for their own amusement. The
younger had bandaged his elder brother’s eyes, and made him guess the
objects he touched, and when the latter happened to guess right, they
changed places. This simple game suggested to me the most complicated
idea that ever crossed my mind--‘second sight.’
“On the 12th of February, 1846, I printed in the center of my bill the
following singular announcement:
“_In this programme M. Robert-Houdin’s son, who is gifted with a
marvelous second sight, after his eyes have been covered with a thick
bandage, will designate every object presented to him by the audience._”
Houdin never revealed the secret of this remarkable trick, but plainly
indicated in his autobiography that it was the result of an ingenious
combination of questions that gave the clue to the supposed clairvoyant
on the stage. One of the first to come forward with an _exposé_ was F.
A. Gandon, who wrote a work entitled _La Seconde vue dévoilée_, Paris,
1849. Robert Heller saw Houdin give an exhibition of “second sight” in
London. It was the idea of people at the time that the experiment was
the result of animal magnetism, but the acute Heller thought otherwise,
and he went to work to perfect a system that far exceeded any of his
predecessors in the art, adding certain subtle improvements that made
the trick all but supernatural.
Briefly stated, the effect is as follows: A lady is introduced to the
audience as possessed of clairvoyant powers. She is blindfolded and
seated on the stage. The magician, going down among the spectators,
receives from them various articles which the supposed seeress
accurately describes; for example, in the case of a coin, not only
telling what the object is, but the country where it was coined, its
denomination and date. In the case of a watch, she gives the metal,
maker’s name, what kind and how many jewels in the works, and, lastly,
the time to a dot. And the same with other objects, no matter what they
may be. Nothing offered by a spectator seemed to baffle Houdin and
Heller. Half-obliterated Roman, Grecian, and Oriental coins were
described with wonderful ease and accuracy by the assistant on the
stage; also secret society emblems and inscriptions thereon, numbers on
bank-notes, surgical instruments, etc.
[Illustration: ROBERT HELLER.]
At a performance in Boston, described by Henry Hermon in his work,
“Hellerism,” a coin was handed to Heller. He glanced at it for a moment
and asked his assistant to name the object.
“A coin,” she quickly replied.
“Here, see if you can tell the name of the country, and all about it,”
he next inquired.
Without a second’s hesitation she answered, “It is a large copper
coin--a coin of Africa, I think. Yes, it is of Tripoli. The inscriptions
on it are in Arabic; one side reads, ‘Coined at Tripoli;’ the other
side, ‘Sultan of two lands, Sultan of two seas, Sultan by inheritance,
and the Son of a Sultan.’”
“Very well,” said Heller, “that is correct. But look, what is the date,
now?”
“The date is 1-2-2-0, one thousand two hundred and twenty of the Hegira,
or Mohammedan year, which corresponds to 1805 of the Christian era.”
Salvos of applause greeted the performers at the conclusion of the
scene.
Mr. Fred Hunt, Jr., who was Robert Heller’s assistant for many years,
wrote the following _exposé_ of the trick for the London _Times_, soon
after Heller’s death:
“In the years we were together, Heller was constantly enlarging and
perfecting his system. He is now gone and has solved a greater mystery
than that which puzzled so many thousands while he was on earth, and I
believe that his sister, Haidee Heller, and myself are the only living
persons in whom Robert Heller’s second sight is vested. Heller had so
simplified this system as to embrace every variety of article classified
in sets; one question, with a word or two added, sufficing to elicit a
correct answer for ten different articles.
“The student must be first posted in a new alphabetical arrangement,
with which he must familiarize himself as thoroughly as a boy in
learning his primer. This is the most difficult part of the business,
but when mastered thoroughly, it comes as easy as if the question were
plainly propounded.
“This alphabet is as follows:
A is H
B is T
C is S
D is G
E is F
F is E
G is A
H is I
I is B
J is L
K is Pray
L is C
M is O
N is D
O is V
P is J
Q is W
R is M
S is N
T is P
U is Look
V is Y
W is R
X is See this
Y is Q
Z is Hurry.
Hurry up--repeat last letter.
“For example, you want the initials or name in a ring. Say it is ‘Anna.’
By the alphabetical arrangement H stands for A, D for N. The explanation
‘Hurry up’ always means a repetition of the last letter, and again H
will give the answer when put as follows:
“‘Here is a name? Do you see it? Hurry up. Have you got it?’
“Attention is paid only to the first letter of every sentence, and it
will be perceived that the name of Anna is spelled.
“Again, take ‘Gazette,’ which is abbreviated in a phonographic manner in
order to simplify the question. G is A, A is H, Z is ‘Hurry’ (not ‘Hurry
up’), E is F, T is P. The question would be:
“‘Are you able to tell the name? Here it is. Hurry. Find the name.
Please be quick.’
“Here you have ‘Gazet’ in short meter. The letters K, U, X, and Z being
difficult wherewith to commence an interrogative sentence, the words
‘pray,’ ‘look,’ ‘see this,’ and ‘hurry,’ are used, as will be seen in
the table. Care must be taken not to begin a sentence with either of
these words unless applicable to the word to be spelled. For instance,
if ‘Xenia’ is required, X is ‘See this,’ E is F, N is D, I is B, and A
is H. Thus the question:
“‘See this? Find it quick. Do hurry. Be quick. How is it spelled?’
“Again, for the initials U. S. you will say:
“‘Look. Now, then.’
“U is ‘Look,’ and S is N.
“If you want Kentucky named, thus the question:
“‘Pray name the State. Quick.’
“Pray is K, and Q is Y.
“After the alphabet we have the numbers, which, it will be seen, are
easily understood after a little practice.
NUMBERS.
1 is Say or Speak.
2 is Be, Look, or Let.
3 is Can or Can’t.
4 is Do or Don’t.
5 is Will or Won’t.
6 is What.
7 is Please or Pray.
8 is Are or Ain’t.
9 is Now.
10 is Tell.
0 is Hurry or Come.
“‘Well’ is to repeat the last figure.
“Example: The number 1,234 is required; attention must only be paid to
the first word of a sentence, thus:
“‘Say the number. Look at it. Can you see it? Do you know?’
“Or say the number is 100:
“‘Tell me the number. Hurry!’
“A rather difficult number would be 1,111. The question would be put in
this wise:
“‘Say the number. Well? Speak out. Say what it is.’
“On a watch or greenback there are sometimes eight or nine numbers,
which can be followed as easily as the above.
“The table of colors is as follows:
COLORS.
1 is White.
2 is Black.
3 is Blue.
4 is Brown.
5 is Red.
6 is Green.
7 is Yellow.
8 is Gray.
“The solution of the numbers, as I have explained, will furnish the key.
For example, the article presented is green; the question will be:
“‘What is the color?’ green being the sixth color in the list.
“Blue is wanted, and, as it stands third in the list, the word would be:
“‘Can you tell the color?’
“White is wanted, and, as it stands first in the list, the question is:
“‘Say the color.’
“Understand that the words explaining the numbers, as given in the list,
are applied to the articles enumerated in each of the subjoined tables.
THE METALS.
1. Gold.
2. Silver.
3. Brass.
4. Copper.
5. Lead.
6. Iron.
7. Tin.
8. Platina.
9. Steel.
THE SETTING.
1. Diamond.
2. Ruby.
3. Pearl.
4. Amethyst.
5. Onyx.
6. Garnet.
7. Emerald.
8. Turquoise.
9. Carbuncle.
10. Topaz.
The stone--opal.
“Take the metals, for instance. The metal presented is copper, which is
fourth in the list. The question would be:
“‘Do you know the metal?’
“If steel, which is ninth in the list:
“‘Now, what is the metal?’
“Sex, countries, materials, fabrics, watches, are as follows:
OF WHAT.
[This set to describe the sex, etc., of the pictures.]
1. Lady.
2. Gentleman.
3. Boy.
4. Girl.
5. Child.
6. Group.
7. Animal.
8. Drawing.
9. Sketch.
COUNTRIES.
1. America.
2. England.
3. France.
4. Germany.
5. Russia.
6. Italy.
7. Spain.
8. Canada.
9. Foreign.
10. Mexico.
THE MATERIAL.
1. Wood.
2. Stone.
3. Marble.
4. Bronze.
5. Lava.
6. Rubber.
7. Glass.
8. Bone.
9. Ivory.
10. China.
THE FABRIC.
1. Silk.
2. Wool.
3. Cotton.
4. Linen.
5. Leather.
6. Kid.
7. Buckskin.
8. Lace.
WATCHES.
_The maker’s name?_
_Of what company’s make?_
[This is to tell the maker’s name of watches.]
1. American Watch Co.
2. Waltham Watch Co.
3. Elgin Watch Co.
4. Dueber Watch Co.
5. Tobias.
6. Johnson.
7. Swiss.
8.
9.
10.
“Miscellaneous articles are divided into nineteen sets, thus:
FIRST SET.
_What article is this?_
1. Handkerchief.
2. Neckerchief.
3. Bag.
4. Glove.
5. Purse.
6. Basket.
7. Beet.
8. Comforter.
9. Headdress.
10. Fan.
SECOND SET.
_What is this?_
1. Watch.
2. Bracelet.
3. Guard.
4. Chain.
5. Breastpin.
6. Necklace.
7. Ring.
8. Rosary.
9. Cross.
10. Charm.
THIRD SET.
_What may this be?_
1. Hat.
2. Cap.
3. Bonnet.
4. Cuff.
5. Collar.
6. Muff.
7. Cape.
8. Boa.
9. Inkstand.
10. Mucilage.
FOURTH SET.
_What is here?_
1. Pipe.
2. Cigar.
3. Cigar-holder.
4. Cigarette.
5. Tobacco.
6. Tobacco box.
7. Tobacco pouch.
8. Match.
9. Matchbox.
10. Cigar-lighter.
FIFTH SET.
_What have I here?_
1. Spectacles.
2. Spectacle case.
3. Eyeglass.
4. Eyeglass case.
5. Opera glass.
6. Opera-glass case.
7. Magnifying glass.
8. Telescope.
9. Compass.
10. Corkscrew.
SIXTH SET.
_Can you see this?_
1. Knife.
2. Scissors.
3. Pin.
4. Needle.
5. Cushion.
6. Toothpick.
7. Comb.
8. Brush.
9. Thimble.
10. Looking-glass.
SEVENTH SET.
_Do you know what this is?_
1. Book.
2. Pocketbook.
3. Needlebook.
4. Paper.
5. Newspaper.
6. Pamphlet.
7. Programme.
8. Bill.
9. Letter.
10. Envelope.
EIGHTH SET.
_Look at this._
1. Bank bill.
2. Treasury note.
3. Currency.
4. Coin.
5. Gold piece.
6. Piece of money.
7. Bank check.
8. Bond.
9. Silver dollar.
10. Postage stamp.
NINTH SET.
_Now, what is this?_
1. Stick.
2. Whip.
3. Parasol.
4. Umbrella.
5. Umbrella cover.
6. Picture.
7. Shoe.
8. Boot.
9. Button.
10. Stud.
TENTH SET.
_Tell me this._
1. Earring.
2. Locket.
3. Sleeve button.
4. Hairpin.
5. Clothespin.
6. Fork.
7. Spoon.
8. Armlet.
9. Ornament.
10. Check.
ELEVENTH SET.
_I want to know this._
1. Apple.
2. Nut.
3. Cake.
4. Orange.
5. Lemon.
6. Candy.
7. Popcorn.
8. Lozenge.
9. Grain.
10. Wax.
TWELFTH SET.
_Pray, what is this?_
1. Screw.
2. Hinge.
3. Tool.
4. Nail.
5. Tack.
6. Knob.
7. Rule.
8. Lock.
9. Buckle.
10. Key.
THIRTEENTH SET.
_You know what this is?_
1. Shot.
2. Powder.
3. Bullet.
4. Gun.
5. Pistol.
6. Percussion cap.
7. Cartridge.
8. Surgical instrument.
9. Musical instrument.
10. Tuning fork.
FOURTEENTH SET.
_Quick! This article._
1. Bouquet.
2. Bouquet holder.
3. Flower.
4. Wreath.
5. Leaf.
6. Toy.
7. Flag.
8. Bottle.
9. Game.
10. Doll.
FIFTEENTH SET.
_Name this article._
1. Pen.
2. Penholder.
3. Pencil.
4. Eraser.
5. Rubber.
6. Case.
7. Spool.
8. Soap.
9. Perfumery.
10. Cup.
SIXTEENTH SET.
_Say, what is this?_
1. Card.
2. Cardcase.
3. Playing card.
4. Button-hook.
5. Key ring.
6. Bunch keys.
7. Tablet.
8. Cord.
9. Tweezers.
10. Cork.
SEVENTEENTH SET.
_This article?_
1. Bible.
2. Testament.
3. Tract.
4. Bookmark.
5. Prayer book.
6. Hymn-book.
7. Music.
8. Smelling bottle.
9. Vinaigrette.
10. Strap.
EIGHTEENTH SET.
_Playing cards._
1. Diamonds.
2. Hearts.
3. Clubs.
4. Spades.
“Right”--Ace.
“That’s right”--King.
“Good”--Queen.
“Very good”--Jack.
NINETEENTH SET.
_Devices._
1. Masonic.
2. Odd Fellows.
3. Knights of Pythias.
4. Druids.
5. Musical.
ARTICLES IN SETS.
“It will be seen that the different articles are arranged in sets,
numbering no more than ten. Each set has at the head a different
question, worded very nearly alike, so as to make the audience believe
that the same question is being constantly asked. The question at the
head of the set, which is always asked first, is the clue to the set
which contains the article to be described. Each set is numbered, as in
the cases of the colors and metals, and the word conveys each particular
article.
“For the first set the question is:
“‘What article is this?’
“This gives the clue to ten distinct articles. The next demand may be:
“‘Can you tell?’
“Which would be solution for ‘bag,’ it being the third in the list.
“‘Say the fabric.’
“The reply would be, ‘Silk,’ that being the first in the line of
fabrics, and, as I have before stated, ‘say’ representing No. 1. If a
leather bag, it would be: ‘Will you tell the fabric?’ ‘will’ standing
for No. 5.
“A handkerchief is presented, and the question is:
“‘What article is this? Say;’ which explains that it is a handkerchief,
as that is the first article in the list.
“‘Can you tell the fabric?’
“‘Cotton,’ cotton standing third in the list of fabrics.
“Then, again, if you want the color--say it is blue--
“‘Can’t you tell the color?’
“‘Blue,’ which stands third on the list of colors.
“A watch embodies a greater number of questions than almost any other
article. If you want to describe it fully, it is first in the second
set, the key of which is:
“‘What is this?’
“We will say that it is a lady’s watch, gold, double case, three hands,
made by Tobias, No. 9,725, the initials ‘From B. C. to C. H.’ engraved
on the case, the year ‘1860,’ and blue enameled, set with five diamonds.
This is a complex question, and must be put and answered as follows:
“_Question._ ‘What is this? Say.’
“_Answer._ ‘A watch.’
“_Q._ ‘Say the metal.’
“_A._ ‘Gold.’
“_Q._ ‘Say to whom it belongs.’
“_A._ ‘A lady.’
“_Q._ ‘Yes.’
“_A._ ‘A double case.’
“_Q._ ‘Can you tell the number of hands?’
“_A._ ‘Three.’
“_Q._ ‘Will you tell the maker.’
“_A._ ‘Tobias.’
“_Q._ ‘Now the number. Please tell me. Be quick. Won’t you?’
“_A._ ‘9,725.’
“_Q._ ‘Can you tell me the color of this enamel?’
“_A._ ‘Blue.’
“_Q._ ‘Tell the initials. Say.’
“_A._ ‘B. C.’
“_Q._ ‘Say to whom. I want to know.’
“_A._ ‘C. H.’
“_Q._ ‘Say these stones.’
“_A._ ‘Diamonds.’
“_Q._ ‘Will you tell how many?’
“_A._ ‘Five.’
“If it is a double case, the simple word ‘yes’ conveys the intelligence
after ‘to whom it belongs.’ If an open case, the word ‘well’ is used.
PLAYING CARDS.
“These will be found in the sixteenth set, and the order of suits in the
eighteenth. We will take the nine of spades as having been presented.
The question will be:
“‘Say, what is this? Can you tell?’
“‘A playing card.’
“‘Do you know the suit? Now, then.’
“‘Do’ is four, which means spades, and ‘now’ is nine. The cards are told
as follows: First, the ‘playing card;’ second, the suit; third, the
number or picture. If, after the preliminary question is put and
answered, it is an ace, the interlocutor says ‘Right;’ if a king,
‘That’s right;’ if a queen, ‘Good;’ if a jack, ‘Very good.’
MONEY.
“This will be found classed in the eighth set, the key to which is,
‘Look at this.’
“No. 6 of the set is described as ‘a piece of money,’ and is always of a
less value than a dollar. We will take a silver quarter of the date of
1820. The question is:
“‘Look at this. What is it?’
“_A._ ‘A piece of money.’
“_Q._ ‘Let me know the amount. Will you?’
“_A._ ‘Twenty-five cents;’ as we know that ‘let’ is 2 and ‘will’ 5.
“If the coin is of this century, only the last two figures are asked; if
of a prior date, the last three. The request therefore is:
“‘Look at the date. Hurry!’ which would bring the answer, ‘1820.’
“A foreign coin is furnished, say of Rome. The request would be:
“‘Look at this. Do you know what it is?’
“The answer is, ‘A coin.’
“‘What country?’
“‘Italy;’ as Italy stands sixth in the list of countries, as will be
seen by referring to the table.
“A Mexican dollar will elicit the remark:
“‘Look at this, now.’
“‘A silver dollar.’
“‘Tell me the country.’
“The reply will be, ‘Mexico,’ as that country stands tenth on the list.
“A treasury note is presented of the value of fifty dollars; the cue is:
“‘Look at this. Be quick.’
“_Answer._ ‘A treasury note.’
“‘Will you tell me the amount? Come;’ which means 5 and 0, or $50;
‘come’ being a substitute for ‘hurry.’
“Again, a $2.50 gold piece is presented, and the question is as before:
“‘Look at this. Will you?’
“_Answer._ ‘A gold piece.’
“‘Let me know the amount. Won’t you? Come.’ ‘Let,’ ‘won’t,’ and ‘come’
standing for ‘250.’
OTHER EXAMPLES.
“‘Pray, what is this? Tell me.’
“The answer is. ‘A key,’ ‘key’ being the tenth article of the set. Now,
in order to tell what kind of a key, these simple words will explain:
“‘Yes,’ a watch key; ‘well,’ a door key; ‘good,’ a safe key.
“‘What is here? Say.’
“The answer is ‘pipe.’
“Now, to ascertain what kind of a pipe, the same words as above:
“‘Yes,’ a meerschaum pipe; ‘well,’ a wooden pipe; ‘good,’ a clay pipe.
“‘Can you see this? Please say.’
“Answer is ‘comb.’
“‘Yes,’ a pocket comb; ‘well,’ a toilet comb; ‘good,’ a curry comb.
“‘Can you see this? Are you going to tell?’
“The answer is ‘brush.’
“‘Yes,’ hair brush; ‘well,’ clothes brush; ‘good,’ paint brush.
“If an article is presented which is not down in the sets, the alphabet
will have to be resorted to and the article spelled out.
“This concludes the ‘second-sight’ mystery which so perplexed the world,
and which I never would have exposed but for the death of my lamented
friend, Robert Heller.”
The perfect memorization of the preceding system will enable two
ambitious amateurs or professionals to perform the “second-sight”
mystery, but it will not enable them to produce _all_ of the effects
exhibited by Heller. Robert Heller had another system of conveying
information to his blindfolded assistant on the stage--a system that
permitted him to give a minute description of an object _without
speaking a word_. It was this artistic effect that so puzzled every one.
It was accomplished by means of electricity. A confederate sat among the
spectators, near the center aisle of the theater, and the wires of an
electric battery were connected with his chair, the electric push button
being under the front part of the seat. Heller gave the cue to the set
in which the article was, its number, etc., by some natural movement of
his body or arms; and the confederate, rapidly interpreting the secret
signals, telegraphed them to the clairvoyante on the stage. Mr. Hermon
thus describes the receiving instrument in his clever little book,
“Hellerism”:
“It will be remembered by all whoever witnessed Mr. and Miss Heller’s
‘second-sight’ act that when he came on the stage to begin this part of
his performance, he rolled forward to the center of the stage a sofa.
This sofa had no back to it, thus enabling Miss Heller to sit with her
back to the audience. As the sofa was rolled forward it was so placed
that one of the hind legs rested on a little brass plate screwed to the
floor of the stage. On the foot of the leg there were two more, thus
connecting and making a complete electric communication between his
secret partner and Miss Heller.
“In the sofa there was a little machine so arranged that when the button
was pressed a slight tap was the result. This tap could only be heard by
Miss Heller, for it struck against a thin piece of board covered by the
haircloth of the sofa, and sitting, as she was, directly on it, it could
be easily felt.”
The verbal system and the silent system were used interchangeably during
Heller’s performances, to the complete bewilderment of the spectators.
Even magicians were mystified. When the former system was employed,
Heller was enabled to go to any part of the theater; but in the latter,
he was compelled, for obvious reasons, to confine himself to the center
aisle, just below where the confederate was seated. The connecting wires
were concealed beneath the carpeting.
Other magicians, notably Kellar, have worked up the “second-sight” trick
in an ingenious way, by the use of apparatus. The clairvoyante sits on a
chair placed upon a raised platform, and, after her eyes have been
carefully bandaged, she tells the names of playing cards, the numbers on
bank notes, and adds columns of figures written on a blackboard by
people in the audience. The explanation is as follows: A rubber tube
runs from behind the scenes, underneath the stage, and up through a
hollow foot of the platform and the leg of the chair, terminating at the
back of the chair. In the back of the lady’s dress is a small tube which
reaches her ear, being cleverly concealed by the curly wig which she
wears. When she has taken her seat, the magician pretends to mesmerize
her, and, under cover of the passes, connects the tubing in the chair
with the tubing in her dress. An assistant behind the scenes reads the
numbers on the bank notes with a strong spyglass, and conveys the
information to the lady through the speaking-tube. To facilitate the
assistant’s work, the magician holds the bank note against the
blackboard, which is turned slightly to one side. The clairvoyante calls
out the numbers in a loud voice, whereupon the magician proceeds to
chalk them upon the board. The squaring and the cubing of numbers are
performed by the assistant behind the scenes, with the aid of
logarithmic tables. When the “second-sight” séance is concluded, the
magician removes the bandage from the lady’s eyes, and pretends to
awaken her from the hypnotic state, taking advantage of the little
comedy to disconnect the speaking tube. She rises, bows herself off the
stage, taking particular care not to show her back to the audience.
A very clever exhibition of “second sight” is given by Professor and
Mrs. Baldwin. Professor Baldwin calls himself the “White Mahatma,” and
his entertainment is a curious hodge-podge of pretended mediumship,
clairvoyance, and vaudeville. Slips of paper and pencils, and small pads
of millboard to serve as writing desks, are distributed among the
audience by assistants; the recipients of the writing materials are
requested to write questions on the slips, fold them up, and secrete
them in their pockets. The “White Mahatma” disclaims any preparation
about the millboards, remarking that they are given to the spectators to
obviate the inconvenience of writing on the knee, and may be discarded
if desired. When the questions have been prepared, the assistants
collect the pads and place them on the stage, near the footlights, in
full view of the audience. After this there is some dancing and singing
by the vaudeville artists connected with the company, and then Mrs.
Baldwin, the clairvoyante, makes her appearance; she is carefully
blindfolded and “mesmerized” by the Professor. Her communications to the
audience are made after the following manner: “I see a lady in the
orchestra, to the right. She wants to know something about a ring that
was lost.” Professor Baldwin, who stands in the center aisle of the
theater, near the stage, exclaims: “Will the lady who wrote that
question kindly hold up the slip of paper and acknowledge the
correctness of Mrs. Baldwin’s statement?” The lady complies, and a
thrill of astonishment pervades the audience. An assistant goes to the
lady, takes the slip, and hands it to Professor Baldwin, who reads it,
exclaiming: “Mrs. Baldwin is correct; but let us see if she cannot give
us more detailed information concerning the ring which is lost.” He
mounts the stage, and, standing behind the clairvoyante, makes violent
mesmeric passes over her head, the piano in the orchestra accompanying
the operation with several loud chords and cadenzas. Then the “White
Mahatma” advances to the footlights and commands his wife to speak. “The
ring is of gold with a pearl setting,” she says, “and has the initials
‘M. B.’ engraved within. It was lost about January 1, 18--,” etc. The
lady in the audience had only written: “I have lost my ring; can you
describe it?” Consequently, when she hears this accurate description by
Mrs. Baldwin, she is very much impressed.
The trick is an ingenious one. It is worked up with great dramatic
effect by the Baldwins. The secret lies in the pads of millboard, some
of which contain carbon sheets under two layers of brown paper. The
writing of the spectators is thereby transferred by means of the carbon
paper to sheets of writing paper placed under the carbon sheets. The
genuine millboard pads which are distributed among the audience are laid
on the stage, while the prepared pads are carried off behind the scenes
to Mrs. Baldwin, who has ample time to post herself with the desired
information before coming on the stage.
Of course, the spectators who get the genuine pads do not receive any
clairvoyant communications, nor do those who discard the genuine pads.
The surprising part of the feat is the extraneous information imparted
by Mrs. Baldwin, which seems to preclude any possibility of trickery.
This information is obtained from the spectators by the assistants when
they go to collect the slips of paper, and is whispered by them to
Professor Baldwin. Under cover of the pretended magnetizing, Professor
Baldwin gives his wife this information, the chords from the piano
preventing any one from hearing what he says. It is all done very
rapidly, the spectators being completely deluded. The people who have
been pumped by the assistants seem to forget the fact in their interest
in the main part of the trick, viz., the reading of the slips by Mrs.
Baldwin. One reason of this self-deception is, perhaps, the fact that
they do not suspect the integrity of the innocent-looking ushers, or
regard them as a part of the experiment.
Where numbers are to be conveyed, the Baldwins use a verbal code of
signals. This obviates the necessity of Mr. Baldwin going upon the stage
to remagnetize his wife.
SILENT THOUGHT TRANSFERENCE, NO. 1.
In this ingenious trick the clairvoyante, while blindfolded, tells “the
suit and value of any number of selected cards, solves arithmetical
problems, gives numbers on borrowed bank notes, indicates time by any
watch, describes borrowed coins, and many other tests.” All this is
accomplished in silence, the medium being surrounded by a committee
from the audience, if desired. The trick can be given in a private
parlor, and requires no electrical apparatus, speaking tubes, etc. I am
indebted for an explanation of “silent thought transference” to Mr. H.
J. Burlingame. In his little _brochure_, “Tricks in Magic, Illusions,
and Mental Phenomena,” he writes as follows: “By means of the silent
code all the usual effects generally exhibited at thought-reading
séances can be reproduced. It consists in both medium and performer
counting mentally and together. It is a known fact that the beats for
‘common time’ are always the same in music; therefore, with little
practice, it is easy for two persons, starting on a given signal, to
count at the same time and rate, and when another signal is given, to
stop. Of course both will have arrived at the same number. This then is
the actual method employed in this code, and from it you will see that
any number from 0 to 9 can be transmitted by the performer to the
medium. It is best to experiment and find out what rate of counting best
suits the two persons employing this code, but the following suggestions
are offered: It may, perhaps, be best to begin counting at a slow rate,
gradually increasing until you find it advisable to go no faster. Say
you have in the room, when first practicing, a loud-ticking clock, with
a fairly slow beat. On the given beat or signal you both start counting
at the same rate as the clock. Of course the clock must be removed when
the rate has been well learned. If preferred, count at the rate of
‘common time,’ viz.: 1 and 2 and 3 and 4, and so on, or practice with a
‘metronome,’ such as is used during piano practice for the purpose of
setting time. A very good rate to finally adopt is about 70 to 75 per
minute. Whatever rate is found to suit best must be adhered to. You will
find at the rate mentioned that any number up to 9 can be transmitted
with absolute certainty, after an hour or so of practice.
“Now that the principle has been explained, the next items are the
signals to give the medium the cue when to start and when to stop
counting mentally.
“Say the performer has borrowed a coin, the date of which is 1862. The
first figure of the coin 1 and 8 are generally understood, as most coins
in use are 18 something or other; if of date 18, in the hundreds. The
performer must advise the medium of this by his manner of thanking the
person who lent the coin, which can easily be arranged to suit one’s
fancy. The 6 and 2 have therefore to be transmitted. The performer
stands away from the medium or among the audience. The medium being on
the stage, securely blindfolded, the performer takes his position, with
chalk in right hand, in front of a blackboard, holding coin in his left
hand. He does not speak a word, but simply looks at the coin. After a
pause the medium calls out: ‘The first figure I picture is a one,’ or
words to that effect. Immediately the lady stops speaking, they both
begin to count mentally at the rate agreed upon by practice. In this
case the number to be transmitted is 6. As the last word of the sentence
is spoken they commence mentally 1-2-3-4-5-6; during this short period
the performer glances down at the coin as if to verify what the lady has
called out. As soon as they reach the figure 6 the signal ‘stop’ has to
be transmitted. This is done by the performer putting down on the
blackboard sharply the figure called out by the lady, viz.: ‘One’ (1).
It will be seen by this method that the signal is quite easy to
transmit, and it is perfectly natural to put down the figure on the
board quickly and sharply. The third figure of the coin is now known to
the medium. The last figure, 2, is transmitted in the same manner as the
previous figure. The lady says, ‘The second figure I see is 8.’ As soon
as she ceases speaking, they begin the counting again, 1-2; on the
arrival at the figure 2 the performer puts down the 8, previously called
out, sharply on the board, which is the signal for ‘stop.’ The lady now
knows the full date of the coin. The metal of the coin must be indicated
to the medium previously by the wording of the reply to the owner of the
coin after it has been handed to the performer. This can easily be
arranged. The value of the coin or its equivalent number is indicated in
the same way as the previous figure; and between the 6 and the 2, that
is, after the lady has called out the 6, they commence to count for the
value. When an 0 occurs in the date, no pause is made. The performer
puts down the figure on the board for the ‘stop’ signal immediately the
lady stops speaking. This if followed carefully will be found quite easy
and natural in practice.
“Any other system that one may adopt for giving the starting and
stopping signals can, of course, be applied, but the method here
proposed will be found to answer the purpose, and cannot be detected.”
The bank-note, card, and other tests are arranged on similar lines.
SILENT THOUGHT TRANSFERENCE, NO. 2.
This clever trick was introduced to the theater-goers of marvel-loving
Paris by Professor Verbeck and Mademoiselle Mathilde. Guibal and Marie
Gréville performed it in England and America, creating a great
sensation. It is based on a very simple principle. Abbreviated somewhat
from Burlingame’s _brochure_, the effect is as follows: “The pretended
mesmerist announces to the spectators the marvelous intuitive powers of
his subject, Miss Venus, remarking: ‘Miss Venus shall be hypnotized by
me, and, when launched into the hypnotic sleep, can and will perform any
rational act that the spectators desire, despite the fact that I will
not speak one word during the séance. While in the trance state, she
will walk among you and comply with your requests. This, ladies and
gentlemen, is the _trance-it_ of Venus. When I have her under control
and in the hypnotic trance, I will move about among you, and you can
convey to me by whisper what you would desire the medium to do.’
“Miss Venus is now introduced by the professor. She bows and seats
herself on a chair, facing the spectators. The professor, by means of
any of the pantomimic gestures, pretends to hypnotize her, after which
dramatic scene, he goes among the audience, asking here and there what
the spectators would like the lady marvel to do. Having spoken to some
twelve or twenty persons, he solemnly enjoins the strictest silence.
With serious mien he advances toward the medium, without going on the
stage, and motions or waves his right hand in a downward movement in
front of her. She slowly rises and goes through each desired
performance, finally returning to her chair and allowing herself to be
dehypnotized. The professor recapitulates for the benefit of all what
each spectator desired, and how Miss Venus was successful in each and
every crucial test.
EXPLANATION.
“In this trick a code of signs and things to be done must be learned by
the alleged mesmerist. These he forces adroitly into the minds of the
people. The following is the forcing code:
“1. Pull a gentleman’s hair.
“2. Turn up his trousers.
“3. Tie a number of knots in his handkerchief.
“4. Take a watch out of a gentleman’s pocket and place it in another
pocket.
“5. Open a lady’s reticule; take out her purse, or anything she may
desire.
“6. From out of a number of coins placed in a hat, pick out the special
one which has been selected.
“7. Write any number selected on a card.
“8. Take a gentleman’s cane or umbrella and put it in the hands of
another gentleman.
“9. Take glasses off a person and place on own nose.
“10. Take off lady’s or gentleman’s gloves.
“11. Write autograph on programme gentleman holds.
“13. Take a handkerchief out of some person’s pocket and tie it on his
neck or arm.
“14. Tie a knot in a watch chain, and so on.
“This can be varied indefinitely.
“How to force these requests: The professor first pretends to hypnotize
the subject; then moving among the audience, he goes to number one, or
first person, and asks him what he would like the medium to do. ‘Let her
tell me what I have in my pocket,’ suggests the spectator. ‘Oh,’ says
the professor, ‘you forget that she is hypnotized and we cannot have her
speak. Get her to do so and so, or this, or that,’ and so the professor
rapidly shoots out a volley of suggestions from his learned code. As a
natural result, the person selects one of these suggestions.
“Going to the next, he forces the questions differently, saying, ‘What
shall she do for you--turn up your trousers? Pull your hair? Tie a knot
in your handkerchief?’ etc. In this case a volley of queries is fired
before the gentleman has time to make any suggestions not mentioned by
the professor. Seeing a lady sitting near with a bag, the ‘mesmerist’
remarks: ‘Madam, have you a purse in it? Yes? Shall the lady remove it,
or something from it?’ and so on. Again he beholds a gentleman with
glasses on, and suggests that the medium remove the spectacles, etc. If,
however, the gentleman does not wish this done, the professor suggests
some of the other tests. In going through the audience the professor
asks each individual his or her request in whispers only, and he
generally has each person whom he asks a couple of yards apart.
“Again it is better, when forcing questions, to force only three at a
time, and force them in rotation. To do this, suggest three questions,
but emphasize or force only one of the three. The professor has to keep
his wits about him. Having gone to a sufficient number in the audience,
he must keep mental track of the gentleman who selected No. 1 of code,
of him who selected No. 2, and so on. When he returns to the stage to
wave down Miss Venus, all she has to do is to follow him in front or at
his side. The first person he stops at (by signal), she merely does
first on code; the second he stops at, she does second on code; and so
on right through. The professor must remember where each chooser is
seated.
“He directs the medium to the spectator in question by the movements of
his hands. He first shows her the rows in which the persons are seated,
all the time waving his hands as if making mesmeric passes. As soon as
the medium reaches No. 1 the professor drops his left hand at his side,
whereupon she stops and pulls the gentleman’s hair.
“The professor then directs her to No. 2. She stops and turns up the
gentleman’s trousers. When she gets to No. 3 the man of mystery tells
her how many knots to tie in the handkerchief, by the number of downward
waves of left hand, at the same time making passes with the right. To
select any special coin out of a hat, or other receptacle, Miss Venus
pours the coins from the hat into her right hand, letting them drop one
by one into the left hand. When she reaches the proper article, the
professor turns to the audience, as if silencing them, and says ‘hist!’
“The lady, however, continues pouring the coins into her left hand, and
when all are in, picks out the one she knows is correct.
“These methods may be readily varied to suit the taste of the
performers.
“The medium’s eyes appear to be closed all the time, but in fact are
open sufficiently for her to see all the movements of the professor.
After becoming expert it will not be necessary to use the forcing code
often, because all requests can be whispered to the medium by the
so-called mesmerist, without the audience becoming aware of it. He can
do this when he escorts her from the stage to the audience, or as he
occasionally passes her in the aisles. The waving of his hands and arms
in his different ‘passes’ will partly tell her what she is expected to
do.
“This ‘hypnotic demonstration’ is one of the most puzzling effects in
the whole domain of mental magic.”
BOOK II.
_ANCIENT MAGIC._
CHAPTER I.
TEMPLE TRICKS OF THE GREEKS.
PUPPET SHOWS AMONG THE GREEKS.
The ancients, especially the Greeks, were very fond of theatrical
representations; but, as M. Magnin has remarked in his “_Origines du
Théâtre Moderne_,” public representations were very expensive, and for
that reason very rare. Moreover, those who were not in a condition of
freedom were excluded from them; and, finally, all cities could not have
a large theater and provide for the expenses that it carried with it. It
became necessary, then, for every-day needs, for all conditions and for
all places, that there should be comedians of an inferior order, charged
with the duty of offering continuously and inexpensively the emotions of
the drama to all classes of inhabitants.
Formerly, as to-day, there were seen, wandering from village to village,
menageries, puppet shows, fortune tellers, jugglers, and performers of
tricks of all kinds. These prestidigitateurs even obtained at times such
celebrity that history has preserved their names for us--at least of two
of them, Euclides and Theodosius, to whom statues were erected by their
contemporaries. One of these was put up at Athens, in the Theater of
Bacchus, alongside of that of the great writer of tragedy, Æschylus, and
the other at the Theater of the Istiaians, holding in the hand a small
ball. The grammarian Athenæus, who reports these facts in his “Banquet
of the Sages,” profits by the occasion to deplore the taste of the
Athenians, who preferred the inventions of mechanics to the culture of
mind, and histrions to philosophers. He adds with vexation that
Diophites of Locris passed down to posterity simply because he came one
day to Thebes, wearing around his body bladders filled with wine and
milk, and so arranged that he could spurt at will one of these liquids
in apparently drawing it from his mouth. What would Athenæus say if he
knew that it was through him alone that the name of this histrion had
come down to us?
Philo of Byzantium, and Heron of Alexandria, to whom we always have to
have recourse when we desire accurate information as to the mechanic
arts of antiquity, both composed treatises on puppet shows. That of
Philo is lost, but Heron’s treatise has been preserved to us, and has
recently been translated in part by M. Victor Prou.
[Illustration: FIG. 1.--THE SHRINE OF BACCHUS. FROM AN OLD PRINT.]
According to the Greek engineer, there were several kinds of puppet
shows. The oldest and simplest consisted of a small stationary case,
isolated on every side, in which the stage was closed by doors that
opened automatically several times to exhibit the different tableaux.
The programme of the representation was generally as follows: The first
tableau showed a head, painted on the back of the stage, which moved its
eyes, and lowered and raised them alternately. The door having been
closed, and then opened again, there was seen, instead of a head, a
group of persons. Finally, the stage opened a third time to show a new
group, and this finished the representation. There were, then, only
three movements to be made--that of the doors, that of the eyes, and
that of the change of background.
[Illustration: FIG. 2.--THE SHRINE OF BACCHUS. MECHANISM FOR DELIVERING
WINE AND MILK. FROM AN OLD PRINT.]
[Illustration: FIG. 3.--THE SHRINE OF BACCHUS. SECTION SHOWING THE
PROPELLING MECHANISM.]
As such representations were often given on the stages of large
theaters, a method was devised later on of causing the case to start
from the scenes behind which it was hidden from the spectators, and of
moving automatically to the front of the stage, where it exhibited in
succession the different tableaux, after which it returned automatically
behind the scenes. Here is one of the scenes indicated by Heron,
entitled the “Triumph of Bacchus”:
The movable case shows at its upper part a platform from which arises a
cylindrical temple, the roof of which, supported by six columns, is
conical, and surmounted by a figure of Victory with spread wings and
holding a crown in her right hand. In the center of the temple Bacchus
is seen standing, holding a thyrsus in his left hand and a cup in his
right. At his feet lies a panther. In front of and behind the god, on
the platform of the stage, are two altars provided with combustible
material. Very near the columns, but external to them, there are
Bacchantes placed in any posture that may be desired. All being thus
prepared, says Heron, the automatic apparatus is set in motion. The
theater then moves of itself to the spot selected, and there stops. Then
the altar in front of Jupiter becomes lighted, and, at the same time,
milk and water spurt from his thyrsus, while his cup pours wine over the
panther. The four faces of the base become encircled with crowns, and,
to the noise of drums and cymbals, the Bacchantes dance round about the
temple. Soon, the noise having ceased, Victory on the top of the temple,
and Bacchus within it, face about. The altar that was behind the god is
now in front of him, and becomes lighted in its turn. Then occurs
another outflow from the thyrsus and cup, and another round of the
Bacchantes to the sound of drums and cymbals. The dance being finished,
the theater returns to its former station. Thus ends the apotheosis.
[Illustration: FIG. 4.]
We shall try to briefly indicate the processes which permitted of these
different operations being performed, and which offer a much more
general interest than one might at first sight be led to believe; for
almost all of them had been employed in former times for producing the
illusions to which ancient religions owed their power.
There is a general belief among mechanicians that vehicles containing
within themselves the means of their own propulsion are of comparatively
recent origin; and the fact of the adhesion of the rims of their wheels
to the earth or a supporting rail being sufficient to enable adequate
power applied to the wheels to move the vehicle was a discovery of not
earlier than the middle of the last century; but in this instance the
writers on locomotive machines have not dived deep enough or stayed down
long enough among the records of antiquity to discover the bottom facts
in the history of such mechanisms.
The first locomotive, or self-moving vehicle, of which we have any
account was this invention of Heron of Alexandria. In his work just
cited descriptive of automatic or self-moving machines, there is
illustrated the mechanism by which the shrine of Bacchus, mounted upon
three wheels concealed within its base, is moved. Fig. 3 is a vertical
section of that part of the shrine below the canopy, and exhibits the
propelling apparatus of this ancient locomotive machine. Within the base
are seen two of the supporting wheels; the driving wheel nearest the eye
having been removed. On the axle of the driving wheels was the drum,
_b_, about which was wound the rope, _a_, which passed upward through
the space on one side of the shrine and over the pulleys, _r r_, and was
fastened to the ring, _c_, of the ponderous lead weight, _d_, which
rested upon a quantity of dry, fine sand. The escape of this sand
through a small hole in the middle of the floor of the compartment
containing it allowed the lead weight, _d_, to gradually descend, and by
pulling upon the cord, _a_, caused the shrine to move slowly forward in
a straight line.
[Illustration: FIG. 5.]
Heron describes the method of arranging and proportioning the wheels in
case it was desired that the shrine move in a circular path. He also
shows how the shrine can be constructed to move in straight lines at
right angles to each other.
Fig. 4 shows the arrangement of the wheels for this purpose, and Fig. 5
is a perspective view, showing the screws by which the bearings of
either set of wheels could be raised or lowered, so as to cause the
shrine to move in the way proposed.
Supposing the motive cords properly wound around vertical bobbins,
instead of a horizontal one, and we have the half revolution of Bacchus
and Victory, as well as the complete revolution of the Bacchantes. This
is clearly shown in the engraving (Fig. 2).
The successive lighting of the two altars, the flow of milk and wine,
and the noise of drums and cymbals were likewise obtained by the aid of
cords moved by counterpoises, and the lengths of which were graduated in
such a way as to open and close orifices at the proper moment, by acting
through traction on sliding valves which kept them closed.
Small pieces of combustible material were piled up beforehand on the two
altars, the bodies of which were of metal, and in the interior of which
were hidden small lamps that were separated from the combustible by a
metal plate which was drawn aside at the proper moment by a small chain.
The flame, on traversing the orifice, thus communicated with the
combustible.
[Illustration: FIG. 6.--THE MARVELOUS STATUE OF CYBELE].
The milk and wine which flowed out at two different times through the
thyrsus and cup of Bacchus came from a double reservoir hidden under the
roof of the temple, over the orifices. The latter communicated, each of
them, with one of the halves of the reservoir, through two tubes
inserted in the columns of the small edifice. These tubes were prolonged
under the floor of the stage, and extended upward to the hands of
Bacchus. A key, manœuvred by cords, alternately opened and closed the
orifices which gave passage to the two liquids.
As for the noise of the drums and cymbals, that resulted from the
falling of granules of lead, contained in an invisible box provided with
an automatic sliding valve, upon an inclined tambourine, whence they
rebounded against little cymbals in the interior of the base of the
car.
Finally, the crowns and garlands that suddenly made their appearance on
the four faces of the base of the stage were hidden there in advance
between the two walls surrounding the base. The space thus made for the
crowns was closed beneath, along each face, by a horizontal trap moving
on hinges that connected it with the inner wall of the base, but which
was held temporarily stationary by means of a catch. The crowns were
attached to the top of their compartment by cords that would have
allowed them to fall to the level of the pedestal, had they not been
supported by the traps.
[Illustration: FIG. 7. MARVELOUS ALTAR (ACCORDING TO HERON)]
At the desired moment the catch, which was controlled by a special cord,
ceased to hold the trap, and the latter, falling vertically, gave
passage to the festoons and crowns that small leaden weights then drew
along with all the quickness necessary.
Two points here are specially worthy of attracting our attention, and
these are the flow of wine or milk from the statue of Bacchus, and the
spontaneous lighting of the altar. These, in fact, were the two
illusions that were most admired in ancient times, and there were
several processes of performing them. Father Kircher possessed in his
museum an apparatus which he describes in “_Œdipus Ægyptiacus_” (t. ii.,
p. 333), and which probably came from some ancient Egyptian temple as
shown in Fig. 6.
It consisted of a hollow hemispherical dome, supported by four columns,
and placed over the statue of the goddess of many breasts. To two of
these columns were adapted movable brackets, at whose extremities there
were fixed lamps. The hemisphere was hermetically closed underneath by a
metal plate. The small altar which supported the statue, and which was
filled with milk, communicated with the interior of the statue by a tube
reaching nearly to the bottom. The altar likewise communicated with the
hollow dome by a tube having a double bend. At the moment of the
sacrifice the two lamps were lighted and the brackets turned so that the
flames should come in contact with and heat the bottom of the dome. The
air contained in the latter, being dilated, passed through the tube X M
and pressed on the milk contained in the altar, and caused it to rise
through the straight tube into the interior of the statue as high as the
breasts. A series of small conduits, into which the principal tube
divided, carried the liquid to the breasts, whence it spurted out, to
the great admiration of the spectators, who cried out at the miracle.
The sacrifice being ended, the lamps were put out, and the milk ceased
to flow.
Heron of Alexandria describes in his “Pneumatics” several analogous
apparatus. Here is one of them. (M. de Rochas translates the Greek text
literally.)
“To construct an altar in such a way that, when a fire is lighted
thereon, the statues at the side of it shall make libations (Fig. 7).
“Let there be a pedestal, Α Β Γ Δ, on which are placed statues, and an
altar, Ε Ζ Η, closed on every side. The pedestal should also be
hermetically closed, but is connected with the altar through a central
tube. It is traversed likewise by the tube, _e_ Λ (in the interior of
the statue to the right), not far from the bottom, which terminates in a
cup held by the statue, _e_. Water is poured into the pedestal through a
hole, Μ, which is afterward corked up.
[Illustration: FIG. 8.--MARVELOUS ALTAR (ACCORDING TO HERON).]
“If, then, a fire be lighted on the altar, the internal air will be
dilated, and will enter the pedestal and drive out the water contained
in it. But the latter, having no other exit than the tube, _e_ Λ, will
rise into the cup, and so the statue will make a libation. This will
last as long as the fire does. On extinguishing the fire the libation
ceases, and occurs anew as often as the fire is relighted.
“It is necessary that the tube through which the heat is to introduce
itself shall be wider in the middle; and it is necessary, in fact, that
the heat, or rather that the draught that it produces, shall accumulate
in an inflation, in order to have more effect.”
According to Father Kircher, an author whom he calls Bitho reports that
there was at Saïs a temple of Minerva in which there was an altar on
which, when a fire was lighted, Dionysius and Artemis (Bacchus and
Diana) poured milk and wine, while a dragon hissed.
It is easy to conceive of the modification to be introduced into the
apparatus above described by Heron, in order to cause the outflow of
milk from one side and of wine from the other.
After having indicated it, Father Kircher adds: “It is thus that Bacchus
and Diana appeared to pour, one of them wine, and the other milk, and
that the dragon seemed to applaud their action by hisses. As the people
who were present at the spectacle did not see what was going on within,
it is not astonishing that they believed it due to divine intervention.
We know, in fact, that Osiris or Bacchus was considered as the
discoverer of the vine and of milk; that Iris was the genius of the
waters of the Nile; and that the Serpent, or good genius, was the first
cause of all these things. Since, moreover, sacrifices had to be made to
the gods in order to obtain benefits, the flow of milk, wine, or water,
as well as the hissing of the serpent, when the sacrificial flame was
lighted, appeared to demonstrate clearly the existence of the gods.”
In another analogous apparatus of Heron’s, it is steam that performs the
_rôle_ that we have just seen played by dilated air. But the ancients do
not appear to have perceived the essential difference, as regards motive
power, that exists between these two agents; indeed, their preferences
were wholly for air, although the effects produced were not very great.
We might cite several small machines of this sort, but we shall confine
ourselves to one example that has some relation to our subject. This
also is borrowed from Heron’s “Pneumatics.” (Fig. 8.)
“Fire being lighted on an altar, figures will appear to execute a round
dance. The altars should be transparent, and of glass or horn. From the
fireplace there starts a tube which runs to the base of the altar, where
it revolves on a pivot, while its upper part revolves in a tube fixed to
the fireplace. To the tube there should be adjusted other tubes
(horizontal) in communication with it, which cross each other at right
angles, and which are bent in opposite directions at their extremities.
There is likewise fixed to it a disk upon which are attached figures
which form a round. When the fire of the altar is lighted, the air,
becoming heated, will pass into the tube; but being driven from the
latter, it will pass through the small bent tubes and ... cause the tube
as well as the figures to revolve.”
Father Kircher, who had at his disposal either many documents that we
are not acquainted with, or else a very lively imagination, alleges
(_Œdip. Æg._, t. ii., p. 338) that King Menes took much delight in
seeing such figures revolve. Nor are the examples of holy fireplaces
that kindled spontaneously wanting in antiquity.
Pliny (_Hist. Nat._, ii., 7) and Horace (_Serm. Sat._, v.) tell us that
this phenomenon occurred in the temple of Gnatia, and Solin (ch. v.)
says that it was observed likewise on an altar near Agrigentum. Athenæus
(_Deipn._, i., 15) says that the celebrated prestidigitateur,
Cratisthenes of Phlius, pupil of another celebrated prestidigitateur
named Xenophon, knew the art of preparing a fire which lighted
spontaneously.
Pausanias tells us that in a city of Lydia, whose inhabitants, having
fallen under the yoke of the Persians, had embraced the religion of the
Magi, “there exists an altar upon which there are ashes which, in color,
resemble no other. The priest puts wood on the altar, and invokes I know
not what god by harangues taken from a book written in a barbarous
tongue unknown to the Greeks, when the wood soon lights of itself
without fire, and the flame from it is very clear.”
The secret, or rather one of the secrets of the Magi, has been revealed
to us by one of the Fathers of the Church (St. Hippolytus, it is
thought), who has left, in a work entitled _Philosophumena_, which is
designed to refute the doctrines of the pagans, a chapter on the
illusions of their priests. According to him, the altars on which this
miracle took place contained, instead of ashes, calcined lime and a
large quantity of incense reduced to powder; and this would explain the
unusual color of the ashes observed by Pausanias. The process, moreover,
is excellent; for it is only necessary to throw a little water on the
lime, with certain precautions, to develop a heat capable of setting on
fire incense or any other material that is more readily combustible,
such as sulphur and phosphorus. The same author points out still another
means, and this consists in hiding fire-brands in small bells that were
afterward covered with shavings, the latter having previously been
covered with a composition made of naphtha and bitumen (Greek fire). As
may be seen, a very small movement sufficed to bring about combustion.
THE MACHINERY OF THE TEMPLES.
A. Rich, in his “Dictionary of Roman and Grecian Antiquities,” relates,
under the word _adytum_, that many ancient temples possessed chambers
that were known only to the priests, and that served for the production
of their mysteries. He was enabled to visit a perfectly preserved one of
these at Alba, on Lake Fucino, in the ruins of a temple in which it had
been formed under the _apsis_, that is to say, under the large
semicircular niche which usually held the image of the god at the
extreme end of the edifice. “One part of this chamber,” says he, “is
sunk beneath the pavement of the principal part of the temple (_cella_),
and the other rises above it. The latter, then, must have appeared to
the worshippers assembled in the temple merely like a base that occupied
the lower portion of the _apsis_, and that was designed to hold in an
elevated position the statue of the divinity whose name was borne by the
edifice. This sanctuary, moreover, had no door or visible communication
that opened into the body of the temple. Entrance therein was effected
through a hidden door in an inclosure of walls at the rear end of the
building. It was through this that the priests introduced themselves
and their machines without being seen or recognized. But there is one
remarkable fact, and one which proves without question the purpose of
the _adytum_, and that is, that we find therein a number of tubes or
hollow conduits which form a communication between this compartment and
the interior of the temple, which end at the different parts of the
walls of the _cella_, and which thus allowed a voice to make itself
heard at any place in the temple, while the person and the place whence
the sound emanated remained hidden.”
[Illustration: APPARATUS FOR SOUNDING A TRUMPET WHEN THE DOOR OF A
TEMPLE WAS OPENED.]
Sometimes the _adytum_ was simply a chamber situated behind the _apsis_,
as in a small edifice which was still in existence at Rome in the
sixteenth century, and a description of which has been left to us by
Labbacco, an architect of that epoch.
Colonel Fain tells us that he himself has visited an ancient temple in
Syria, in the interior of all the walls of which there had been formed
narrow passages through which a man could make a tour of the building
without being seen.
In the temple of Ceres, at Eleusis, the pavement of the _cella_ is rough
and much lower than the level of the adjacent portico; and, moreover,
the side walls exhibit apertures and vertical and horizontal grooves
whose purpose it is difficult to divine, but which served, perhaps, for
the establishing of a movable flooring like that spoken of by
Philostratus in the “Life of Apollonius” (lib. iii., ch. v.). “The sages
of India,” says he, “led Apollonius toward the temple of their god,
singing hymns on the way, and forming a sacred procession. The earth,
which they strike in cadence with their staves, moves like an agitated
sea, and raises them to a height of nearly two paces, and then settles
again and assumes its former level.”
The statues of the gods, when they were of large dimensions, possessed
cavities which the priests entered through hidden passages, in order to
deliver oracles (Theodoret, _Hist. Eccl._, vol. xxii.).
We read in Pausanias (_Arcadica_, lib. viii., ch. xvi.) that at
Jerusalem the tomb of a woman of the country, named Helen, had a door
made of marble like the rest of the monument, and that this door opened
of itself on a certain day of the year, and at a certain hour, by means
of a machine, and closed again some time afterward. “At any other time,”
adds he, “had you desired to open it, you had sooner broken it.”
According to Pliny (xxxvi. 14), the gates of the labyrinth of Thebes
were so constituted that when they were opened they emitted a noise like
that of thunder.
Heron, in his “Pneumatics,” gives us an explanation of some of these
prodigies.
Our first engraving is sufficiently clear to permit of dispensing with a
reproduction of the Greek engineer’s text in this place. It will be seen
that when the door is opened, a system of cords, guide-pulleys, and rods
pushes into a vessel of water a hemisphere, to the upper part of which a
trumpet is fixed. The air compressed by the water escapes through the
instrument and causes it to make a sound.
[Illustration: MECHANISM FOR OPENING AND CLOSING THE DOORS WHEN A FIRE
WAS LIGHTED UPON THE ALTAR.]
Our second and third engravings are likewise borrowed from Heron.
The altar is hollow, as shown at E, in second engraving. When fire is
lighted thereon, the air contained in the interior dilates and presses
against the water with which the globe situated beneath is filled. This
water then runs through a bent tube into a sort of pail suspended from a
cord that passes over a pulley, and afterward separates into two parts,
and winds around two cylinders movable upon pivots, and forming a
prolongation of the axes around which the doors revolve. Around the same
cylinders are wound in opposite directions two other cords, which
likewise unite into a single one before passing over a pulley, and then
hang vertically in order to hold a counterpoise.
[Illustration: TEMPLE WHOSE DOORS OPENED WHEN A FIRE WAS LIGHTED UPON
THE ALTAR.]
It is clear that, when the water from the globe enters the pail, the
weight of the latter will be thereby increased, and that it will descend
and draw on the cord, which has been wound around the cylinders in such
a way as to cause the doors to open when it is drawn in this direction.
The doors are afterward closed again as follows: The bent tube that puts
the globe and pail in communication forms a siphon whose longer arm
enters the globe. When the fire is extinguished upon the altar, the air
contained in the latter and in the globe becomes cooled and diminished
in volume. The water in the pail is then drawn into the globe, and the
siphon, being thus naturally primed, operates until all the water in the
pail has passed over into the globe. In measure as the pail lightens, it
rises under the influence of the counterpoise; and the latter, in its
descent, closes the doors through the intermedium of the cords wound
around the cylinder. Heron says that mercury was sometimes used instead
of water on account of its being heavier.
INVENTION IN 1889 A.D. _VS._ INVENTION B.C.
At the railway stations, ferry houses, and even upon the street corners,
there may be found in almost every city and village in the United States
automatic vending machines, which, for a nickel, or more or less, will
deliver the various goods which they are adapted to sell. The purchaser
may procure a newspaper and a cigar to smoke, or, if averse to the use
of the weed, he may secure a tablet of chewing-gum or a package of
sweets. If entertainment is desired, it may be found in the
“nickel-in-the-slot” phonograph.
In Europe and America machines of this class are provided for dealing
out portable liquors; bouquets are also furnished in a similar way; and
if you desire to know how much you have increased in weight since
yesterday, all that need be done is to mount the platform of the
nickel-in-the-slot scales, and drop in your coin, and the thing is done.
One of the latest achievements in this line is the automatic
photographic apparatus, which takes your picture for a nickel, while you
wait.
The craze has even gone so far as to apply the principle to the
distribution of perfumery. In the railway stations and ferry houses may
be found machines which, for a penny, will dole out a drop or two of
liquid which passes for perfumery, and which, in many cases, serves as a
thin mask for bodily uncleanliness.
These various devices, and many others which we might mention, are
regarded as very clever inventions, and have certainly proved successful
in many cases in a pecuniary sense.
The last automatic vending machine alluded to is shown in our second
engraving. The perfume reservoir is located in the upper portion of the
vase; the tube communicating with the lower part of the reservoir
extends through the side of the vase, and is closed at its upper end by
a valve attached to one end of the lever, O. The other end of the
lever, O, is connected by a rod with the lever, E, the longer arm of
this lever being provided with a pan, R, for receiving coin, while the
shorter arm of the lever is furnished with a weight for counterbalancing
the pan and closing the valve. A curved piece of metal is arranged
concentric with the path of the pan, R, and serves to retain the coin
dropped into it through the slot in the top of the vase until the pan,
R, is carried down beyond the end of the curved plate, when the coin is
discharged into the lower part of the vase; the counterweight on the
short arm of the lever then returns the lever to the point of starting
and closes the valve, thus stopping the flow of the perfume.
[Illustration: LUSTRAL WATER VESSEL DESCRIBED BY HERON ABOUT 100 B.C.]
[Illustration: NOBLE’S AUTOMATIC PERFUME DISTRIBUTOR. PATENTED IN 1889.]
This very clever device was patented by Mr. Lewis C. Noble, of Boston,
Mass., on November 19, 1889. Our illustration is prepared directly from
the patent drawings. This and other machines for analogous purposes are
regarded as the peculiar product of our inventive age, but in turning
back the pages of history, we find that in Egypt, something more than
two thousand years ago, when a worshiper was about to enter the temple,
he sprinkled himself with lustral water, taken from a vase near the
entrance. The priests made the distribution of holy water a source of
revenue by the employment of the automatic vending machine which is
shown in our first engraving. This apparatus would not release a single
drop of the purifying liquid until coin to the amount required had been
deposited in the vase.
A comparison of the ancient lustral water vase and the modern perfumery
vending machine will show that they are substantially alike. The ancient
machine has a lever, O, fulcrumed in the standard, N, and connected with
the valve in the reservoir, H. The lever is furnished with the pan, R,
for receiving the coins dropped through the slot, A, at the top of the
vase. An enlarged view of the valve belonging to the vase is shown at
the left of the engraving.
The mechanism is almost identical with that shown in the modern device;
in fact, this ancient vase, described by Heron more than two thousand
years ago, is the prototype of all modern automatic vending machines,
and simply serves as another proof of the truth of the saying, “There is
nothing new under the sun.”
It is a curious fact that this ancient invention escaped the notice of
the Patent Office until long after patents were granted for the earlier
automatic vending machines. It was only a comparatively short time ago
that the Patent Office began to cite the vase of Heron as a reference.
It was discovered in an ancient work on natural philosophy, and it is a
matter of considerable interest to us now to know that this device was
well-known to the Patent Office during the middle of this century. The
vase of Heron is illustrated and described in a work on hydraulics and
mechanics published in 1850 by Thomas Ewbank, who was at that time
Commissioner of Patents.
AN EGYPTIAN LUSTRAL WATER VESSEL.
Two thousand years ago the Egyptian priests sold holy water to the
faithful by a similar process to that which we have just described,
although the apparatus did not partake of the nickel-in-the-slot
character. Heron says of them, that there are placed in Egyptian
sanctuaries, near the portico, movable bronze wheels which those who are
entering cause to revolve “because brass passes for a purifier.” He says
that it is expedient to arrange them in such a way that the rotation of
the wheel will cause the flow of the lustral water. He describes the
apparatus as follows:
[Illustration: EGYPTIAN LUSTRAL WATER VESSEL.]
“Let Α Β Γ Δ be a water vessel hidden behind the posts of the entrance
doors. This vessel is pierced at the bottom with a hole, Ε, and under it
there is fixed a tube, Ζ Η Θ Κ, having an aperture opposite the one in
the bottom of the vessel. In this tube there is placed another one, Λ Μ,
which is fixed to the former at Λ. This tube, Λ Μ, likewise contains an
aperture, Π, in a line with the two preceding. Between these two tubes
there is adapted a third, Ν Ξ Ο Ρ, movable by friction on each of them,
and having an aperture, Σ, opposite Ε.
“If these three holes be in a straight line, the water, when poured into
the vessel, Α Β Γ Δ, will flow out through the tube, Λ Μ; but if the
tube, Ν Ξ Ο Ρ, be turned in such a way as to displace the aperture, Σ,
the flow will cease. It is only necessary, then, to so fix the wheel, Ν
Ξ Ο Ρ, that, when made to revolve, the water shall flow.”
This ingenious system of cocks having several ways was reproduced in the
sixteenth century by Jacques Besson, in his “_Theatrum Instrumentorum et
Machinarum_.” Besson applied it to a cask provided with compartments,
which gave at will different liquors through the same orifice. Some
years later, Denis Papin proposed it for high-pressure steam engines.
Further improved, it has become the modern long D valve.
CHAPTER II.
MIRACULOUS VESSELS OF THE GREEKS.
THE DICAIOMETER.
Heron, in his “Pneumatics,” describes a large number of wonderful
vessels that were used by the ancients, and, among them, one called the
“dicaiometer” (a correct measure), which allowed of the escape of but a
definite quantity of the liquid that it contained.
[Illustration: THE DICAIOMETER.]
This was constructed as follows: Let us suppose a vessel (see the
illustration) whose neck is closed by a diaphragm. Near the bottom there
is placed a small sphere, Τ, of a capacity equal to the quantity that it
is desired to pour out. Through the diaphragm there passes a small tube,
Δ Ε, which communicates with the small sphere. This tube contains a very
small aperture, Δ, near and beneath the diaphragm. The sphere contains
at its lower part a small aperture, Ζ, whence starts a tube, Ζ Η, that
communicates with the hollow handle of the ewer. Alongside of this
aperture the globe contains another one, Λ, through which it
communicates with the interior of the ewer. The handle is provided with
a vent, Θ. After closing the latter, the ewer is filled with liquid
through an aperture that is afterwards stopped up. The tube, Δ Ε, may
likewise be made use of, but in this case it is necessary to form a
small aperture in the body of the ewer in order to allow the air to make
its exit. The globe, Τ, fills at the same time that the ewer does. Now,
if we turn the ewer over, leaving the vent Θ open, the liquid in the
globe, Τ, and in the small tube, Δ Ε, will flow out. If we close the
vent and bring the ewer to its former position, the globe and the tube
will fill up anew, since the air that they contain will be expelled by
the liquid that enters thereinto. The ewer being again turned over, an
equal quantity of liquid will flow anew, save a difference due to the
small tube, Δ Ε, since this latter will not always be full, and will
empty in measure as the ewer does; but such difference is very
insignificant.
MIRACULOUS VESSELS.
Ctesias, the Greek, who was physician to the Court of Persia at the
beginning of the fourth century of our era, and who has written a
history of that country, narrates the following fact: Xerxes, having
caused the tomb of Belus to be opened, found the body of the Assyrian
monarch in a glass coffin which was nearly full of oil. “Woe to him,”
said an inscription at the side, “who, having violated this tomb, does
not at once finish the filling of the coffin.”
Xerxes, therefore, at once gave orders to have oil poured into it; but
whatever the quantity was that was put in, the coffin could not be
filled. This miracle must have been effected by means of a siphon,
analogous to the one found in the Tantalus cup, and which becomes primed
as soon as the level rises in the vessel above the horizontal; that is,
on a line with the upper part of the tube’s curve. In fact, proof has
been found of the use of the siphon among the Egyptians as far back as
the eighteenth dynasty, and Heron, in his “Pneumatics” (book xii., chap.
iii.), describes a very large number of vessels that are founded upon
its use.
The ancients, likewise, solved a problem contrary to that of the tomb of
Belus, and that was one connected with the construction of a vessel that
should always remain full, whatever was the quantity of water that was
removed from it, or, at least, which should remain full even when a
large quantity of water was taken from it.
The annexed engraving (Fig. 1) shows one of the arrangements employed.
[Illustration: FIG. 1.--A MIRACULOUS VESSEL OF HERON.]
“Let Α Β be a vessel containing a quantity of water equal to that which
may be demanded, and Γ Δ a tube that puts it in communication with a
reservoir, Η Θ, lower down. Near this tube there is fixed a lever, Ε Ζ,
from whose extremity, Ε, is suspended a cork float, Κ, and to whose
other extremity, Ζ, there is hooked a chain that carries a leaden
weight, Ξ.
“The whole should be so arranged that the cork, Κ, which floats on the
water, shall close the tube’s orifice; that when the water flows out,
the cork, in falling, shall leave such aperture free; and, finally, that
when a new supply of water enters, the cork shall rise with it and close
the orifice anew. To effect this the cork must be heavier than the
leaden weight suspended at Ξ. Now, let Λ Μ be a vessel whose edges
should be at the same height as the level of the water in the reservoir
when there is no flow through the tube because of the cork float. Again,
let Θ Ν be a tube that connects the reservoir with the base of the
vessel, Λ Μ.
[Illustration: FIG. 2.--MIRACULOUS VESSEL OF HERON.]
“So, then, when we remove water from the vessel, Λ Μ, after it has once
been filled, we shall at the same time lower the level of the water in
the reservoir, and the cork, in falling, will open the tube. The water
thereupon running into the lower reservoir, and from thence into the
external vessel, will cause the cork to rise and the flow to cease, and
this will occur every time that we remove water from the tazza.”
There were, also, vessels which discharged but a certain definite
quantity of the liquid that they contained. We have already described
one of these, but here is another that is more complicated, wherein the
quantity of liquid that it measures out may be caused to vary in the
same vessel.
A vessel containing wine, and provided with a spout, being placed upon a
pedestal, to cause the spout, by the simple moving of a weight, to allow
a given quantity of wine to flow; now, for example, half a cotyle (0.13
liter), and now a whole cotyle; or, briefly, any quantity that may be
desired.
“Let Α Β be the vessel into which the wine is to be put (Fig. 2). Near
its bottom there is a spout, Δ. Its neck is closed by a partition, Ε Ζ,
through which passes a tube that runs to the bottom, but leaving,
however, sufficient space for the passage of the water. Let Κ Λ Μ Ν be
the pedestal upon which the vessel stands, and Ξ Ο another tube that
reaches as far as the partition and enters the pedestal. In the latter
there is sufficient water to stop up the orifice of the tube, Ξ Ο.
Finally, let Π Ρ be a lever, half of which is in the interior of the
pedestal and the other half external to it, and which pivots on the
point Σ, and carries suspended from its extremity, Π, a clepsydra having
an aperture, Τ, in the bottom.
“The spout being closed, the vessel is filled through the tube, Η Θ,
before putting water into the pedestal, so that the air may escape
through the tube, Ξ Ο. Then, through any aperture whatever, water is
poured into the pedestal in such a way as to close the orifice, Ο; and,
after this, the spout, Δ, is opened. It is clear that the wine will not
flow, since the air cannot enter anywhere. But, if we depress the
extremity, Ρ, of the lever, a part of the clepsydra will rise from the
water, and the orifice, Ο, being freed, the spout will flow until the
water lifted up in the clepsydra has, on running out, closed this same
orifice again. If, when the clepsydra has become full again, we still
further depress the extremity, Ρ, the liquid in the clepsydra will take
longer to flow out, and more wine will consequently be discharged from
the spout. If the clepsydra rises entirely from out the water, the flow
will last still longer yet. Instead of depressing the extremity, Ρ, by
hand, we may use a weight, Φ, which is movable on the external part of
the lever and capable of lifting the whole of the clepsydra out of the
water when it is placed near Ρ. This weight, then, will lift a portion
only when it is farther away from such point. We must proceed,
therefore, with a certain number of experiments upon the flow through
the spout, and make notches on the lever arm, Ρ Ξ, and register the
quantities of wine that correspond thereto, so that, when we desire to
cause a definite quantity to flow, we shall only have to put the weight
on the corresponding notch, and leave it.”
The miracle of changing water into wine is one of those upon which the
ancients exercised their imaginations most. Heron and Philo describe
fifteen apparatus designed for effecting this, and more generally for
causing different liquors to flow at will from the same vessel.
Here is one of the simplest of them (Fig. 3): “There are,” says Heron,
“certain drinking-horns which, after wine has been put into them, allow
of the flow, when water is introduced into them, now of pure wine, and
now of pure water.
“They are constructed as follows: Let Α Β Γ Δ be a drinking-horn
provided with two diaphragms, Δ Ε and Ζ Η, through which passes a tube,
Θ Κ, this being soldered to them and containing an aperture, Λ, slightly
above the diaphragm, Ζ Η. Beneath the diaphragm, Δ Ε, there is a vent,
Μ, in the side of the vessel.
“Such arrangements having been made, if any one, on stopping the
orifice, Γ, pours wine into the horn, the liquor will flow through the
aperture, Δ, into the compartment, Δ Ε Ζ Η, since the air contained
therein can escape through the vent, M. If, now, we close the vent, the
wine in the compartment, Δ Ε Ζ Η, will be held there. Consequently, if,
on closing the vent, Μ, we pour water into the part, Α Β Δ Ε, of the
vessel, pure water will flow out through the orifice, Γ; and if,
afterward, we open the vent, Μ, while there is yet water above the upper
diaphragm, a mixture of wine and water will flow out. Then, when all the
water has been discharged, pure wine will flow.
“On opening and closing the vent, Μ, oftener, the nature of the flow may
be made to vary; or, what is better still, we may begin by filling the
compartment, Δ Ε Ζ Η, with water, and then, closing Μ, pour out the wine
from above. Then we shall see a successive flow of pure wine and of wine
and water mixed, when we open the vent, Μ, and then, again, of pure wine
when the vent is closed anew; and this will occur as many times as we
desire it.”
[Illustration: FIG. 3.--HERON’S DRINKING-HORN.]
The apparatus represented in Fig. 4 is very curious, and might be put to
some useful application, without mentioning that which wine merchants
might make of it by changing the order of the liquids and leaving in
view only the vessel, Α Β, and the cock.
“Being given,” says Heron again, “two vessels, one of them containing
wine, it is required that whatever be the quantity of water poured into
the empty one, the same quantity of a mixture of wine and water, in any
proportion whatever (two parts of water to one of wine, for example),
shall flow out through a pipe.
“Let Α Β be a vessel in the form of a cylinder, or of a rectangular
parallelopipedon. At the side of it, and upon the same base, we place
another vessel, Γ Δ, which is hermetically closed, and of cylindrical or
parallelopipedal form, like Α Β. But the base of Α Β must be double that
of Γ Δ if we desire that the quantity of water shall be double that of
the wine in the mixture. Near Γ Δ we place another vessel, Ε Ζ, which is
likewise closed, and into which we have poured wine. The vessels, Γ Δ
and Ε Ζ, are connected by a tube, Η Θ Κ which traverses the diaphragms
that close them at their upper part, and which is soldered to these. In
the vessel, Ε Ζ, we place a bent siphon, Δ Μ Ν, whose inner leg should
come so near to the bottom of the vessel as to leave just enough space
for the liquid to pass, while the other leg runs into a neighboring
vessel, Ξ Ο. From this latter there starts a tube, Π Ρ, which passes
through all the vessels, or the pedestal that supports them, in such a
way that it can be easily carried under and very near the bottom of the
vessel, Α Β. Another tube, Σ Τ, traverses the partitions in the vessels,
Α Β and Γ Δ. Finally, near the bottom of Α Β we adjust a small tube, Υ,
which we inclose, with the tube Η Λ, in a pipe, Φ Ξ, that is provided
with a key for opening or closing it at will. Into the vessel, Ε Ζ, we
pour wine through an aperture, Ω, which we close after the liquor has
been introduced.
[Illustration: FIG. 4.--AN APPARATUS OF HERON PERMITTING OF MIXING WINE
AND WATER IN DEFINITE PROPORTIONS.]
“These arrangements having been made, we close the pipe, Ξ Φ and pour
water into the vessel, Α Β. A portion, that is to say, one-half, will
pass into the vessel, Γ Δ, through the tube, Σ Τ, and the water that
enters Γ Δ will drive therefrom a quantity of air equal to itself into Ε
Ζ, through the tube, Η Θ Κ. In the same way this air will drive an equal
quantity of wine into the vessel, Ο Ξ, through the siphon, Λ Μ Ν. Now,
upon opening the pipe, Φ Ξ, the water poured into the vessel, Α Β, and
the wine issuing from the vessel, Ο Ξ, through the tube, Π Ρ, will flow
together, and this is just what it was proposed to effect.”
[Illustration: FIG. 5.--MAGICAL VESSELS OF THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY.]
[Illustration: FIG. 6.--SECTION OF A MAGICAL PITCHER.]
The accompanying figures, borrowed from a work on “Scientific
Recreations,” by the late editor of _La Nature_, M. Gaston Tissandier,
represents a magic vase and pitcher such as the ancients were accustomed
to employ for the purpose of practicing a harmless and amusing deception
on those who were not acquainted with the structure of the apparatus.
For instance, if any one should attempt to pour wine or water from the
pitcher shown in the cut, the liquid would run out through the
apertures in the sides. But the person who knew how to use the vessel
would simply place his finger over the aperture in the hollow handle
(Fig. 6) and then suck through the spout, A, when the liquid would flow
up through the handle and through a channel running around the rim of
the vessel and so reach the spout. These magic vases, cups, pitchers,
etc., were not only in use among the ancients, but were quite common in
the eighteenth century, and numerous specimens are to be seen in
European collections. The ones shown in the accompanying cuts are
preserved in the Museum at Sèvres. These apparatus are all based on the
use of concealed siphons, or, rather, their construction is based on the
principle of that instrument. Devices of this kind admit of very
numerous modifications. Thus tankards have been so contrived that the
act of applying them to the lips charged the siphon, and the liquid,
instead of entering the mouth, then passed through a false passage into
a cavity formed for its reception below. By making the cavity of the
siphon sufficiently large, a person ignorant of the device would find it
a difficult matter even to _taste_ the contents, however thirsty he
might be. Dishonest publicans, whose signboards announced “entertainment
for man and beast,” are said to have thus despoiled travelers in old
times of a portion of their ale or mead, as well as their horses of
feed. Oats were put into a perforated manger, and a large part forced
through the openings into a receptacle below by the movements of the
hungry animal’s mouth. Heron, in the eighth problem of his
“_Spiritalia_,” figures and describes a magical pitcher in which a
horizontal, minutely perforated partition divides the vessel into two
parts. The handle is hollow and air-tight, and at its upper part a small
hole is drilled where the thumb or finger can readily cover it. If the
lower part of the pitcher be filled with water and the upper with wine,
the liquids will not mix as long as the small hole in the handle is
closed; the wine can then be either drunk or poured out. If the hole be
left open for some time, a mixture of both liquids will be discharged.
“With a vessel of this kind,” says an old writer, “you may welcome
unbidden guests. Having the lower part already filled with water, call
to your servant to fill your pot with wine; then you may drink unto your
guest, drinking up all the wine; when he takes the pitcher, thinking to
pledge you in the same, and finding the contrary, will happily stay away
until he be invited, fearing that his next presumption might more
sharply be rewarded.” Another old way of getting rid of an unwelcome
visitor was by offering him wine in a cup having double sides and an
air-tight cavity formed between them. When the vessel was filled, some
of the liquid entered the cavity and compressed the air within, so that
when the cup was inclined to the lips and partly emptied, the pressure
being diminished, the air expanded and drove part of the contents in the
face of the drinker. Another goblet was so contrived that no one could
drink out of it unless he understood the art. The liquid was suspended
in cavities, and discharged by admitting or excluding air through
several secret openings.
The apparatus represented in the illustration (Fig. 7) represents an
arrangement similar to that of the inexhaustible bottle of
Robert-Houdin, but it is more ingenious. The problem proposed, as
enunciated by Heron, the Greek engineer, who describes the apparatus, is
as follows: “Being given a vessel, to pour into it, through the orifice,
wines of several kinds, and to cause any kind that may be designated to
flow out through the same orifice, so that, if different persons have
poured in different wines, each person may take out in his turn all the
wine that belongs to him.
“Let Α Β be a hermetically closed vessel whose neck is provided with a
diaphragm, Ε Ζ, and which is divided into as many compartments as the
kinds of wine that it is proposed to pour into it. Let us suppose, for
example, Η Θ and Κ Α are diaphragms forming the three compartments, Μ,
Ν, and Ξ, into which wine is to be poured. In the diaphragm, Ε Ζ, there
are formed small apertures that correspond respectively to each of the
compartments. Let Ο, Π, and Ρ be such apertures, into which are soldered
small tubes, Π Σ, Ο Τ, and Ρ Υ, which project into the neck of the
vessel. Around each of these tubes there are formed in the diaphragm
small apertures like those of a sieve, through which the liquids may
flow into the different compartments. When, therefore, it is desired to
introduce one of the wines into the vessel, the vents, Σ, Τ, and Υ are
stopped with the fingers, and the wine is poured into the neck, Φ, where
it will remain without flowing into any of the compartments, because the
air contained in the latter has no means of egress. But, if one of the
said vents be opened, the air in the compartment corresponding thereto
will flow out, and the wine will flow into such compartment through the
apertures of the sieve. Then, closing this vent in order to open
another, another quantity of wine will be introduced, and so on,
whatever be the number of wines and that of the corresponding
compartments of the vessel, Α Β.
[Illustration: FIG. 7.--THE MAGIC BOTTLE.]
“Let us now see how each person in turn can draw his own wine out
through the same neck. At the bottom of the vessel, Α Β, there are
arranged tubes which start from each of the compartments, to wit: The
tube χ ψ from the compartment, Μ; the tube ω σ, from Ν, and the tube λ
μ, from Ξ. The extremities, ψ, σ, and μ, of these tubes should
communicate with another tube, α, in which is accurately adjusted
another, β Γ, closed at Γ at its lower extremity and having apertures to
the right of the orifices, ψ, σ, and μ, so that such apertures may, in
measure, as the tube revolves, receive respectively the wine contained
in each of the compartments and allow it to flow to the exterior through
the orifice, β, of the said tube, β Γ. To this tube is fixed an iron
rod, δ ε, whose extremity, ε, carries a lead weight, η. To the
extremity, δ, is fixed an iron pin supporting a small conical cup whose
concavity points upward. Let us therefore suppose this truncated cone
established, its wide base at ξ, and its narrow one (through which the
pin passes) at θ.[2] Again, one must have small leaden balls of
different weights, and in number equal to that of the compartments, Μ,
Ν, and Ξ. If the smallest be placed in the cup, ξ θ, it will descend on
account of its weight until it applies itself against the internal
surface of the cup, and it will be necessary to so arrange things that
it may thus cause the tube, β Γ, to turn so as to bring beneath ψ that
one of the apertures that corresponds to it, and that will thus receive
the wine of the compartment, Μ. This wine will then flow as long as the
ball remains in the cup. If, now, the ball be removed, the weight, η, in
returning to its first position, will close the orifice, ψ, and stop the
flow. If another ball be placed in the cup, a further inclination of the
rod, ε δ, will be produced, and the tube, β Γ, will revolve further, so
as to bring its corresponding aperture beneath σ. Then the wine
contained in the compartment, Ν, will flow. If the ball be removed, the
weight, η, will redescend to its primitive place, the aperture, σ, will
be closed, and the wine will cease to flow. Finally, upon placing the
last ball (which is the heaviest), the tube, β Γ, will turn still more,
so as to cause the flow of the wine contained in the compartment, Ξ.
[2] The text does not agree with the figure given by the MSS.
Moreover, there is an arrangement here that it is difficult to
understand from Heron’s description.
“It must be remarked that the smallest of the balls should be so heavy
that when placed in the cup it shall outweigh the weight, η, and
consequently bring about the revolution of the tube, β Γ. The other
balls will then be sufficient to cause the revolution of the said tube.”
ANCIENT ORGANS.
The hydraulic organ filled with its powerful voice the vast arenas in
which the gladiators fought, and Petronius relates that Nero one day
made a vow to play one of them himself in public if he escaped a danger
that threatened him. The invention of them is attributed to Ctesibius.
Fig. 1 gives a reproduction of one of these instruments as described by
Heron in his “Pneumatics.”
[Illustration: FIG. 1.--HYDRAULIC ORGAN.]
Let Β Δ be an altar[3] of bronze containing water. Let there be in the
latter an inverted hollow hemisphere, Ε Ζ Η (called a damper), that
allows the water to pass all around its bottom, and from the top of
which rise two tubes that communicate with the interior. One of these
tubes, Η Κ, is bent in the interior and communicates with a small
inverted box,[4] Ν Η, the aperture of which is at the bottom, and the
interior of which is bored out so that it may receive a piston, Ρ Ι,
which should fit very accurately so as to allow no air to pass. To this
piston is fixed a very strong rod, Τ γ, with which is connected another
rod, γ Φ, movable around a pin at γ.[5] This lever moves upon a fixed
vertical rod, Ψ Χ. Upon the bottom of the box, Ν Π, is placed another
box, Ω, which communicates with the first, and which is closed at the
upper part by a cover that contains an aperture to allow of the passage
of the air into the box, Ν Π. Under the aperture of this cover, and in
order to close it, there is arranged a thin disk, held by means of four
pins which pass through apertures in the disk, and are provided with
heads in order to hold it in place. This disk is called a platysmatim
(Fig. 2). The other tube, Ζ Ζ′, is carried by the hemisphere, Ε Ζ Η, and
ends in a transverse tube, Α Α′,[6] upon which rest pipes communicating
with it and having at their extremities glossocomiums[7] that
communicate with these pipes, and the orifices, Β′, of which are open.
Across these orifices, covers provided with holes[8] slide in such a way
that when they are pushed toward the interior of the organ their holes
correspond to the orifices of the pipes (and to those of the tube Α Α′),
and that when they are pulled back, the pipes are closed, since there is
no longer any correspondence.
[3] Altars were cylindrical or square pedestals, characterized by a
cavity in the upper platform, in which a fire was lighted.
[4] This box performs here the office of a pump chamber.
[5] The figure shows another arrangement.
[6] Called a wind-chest in modern organs.
[7] Flute mouths.
[8] Registers.
If, now, the transverse rod, γ Φ, be lowered at Φ the piston, Ρ Σ, will
rise and compress the air in the box, Ν Σ Ο Π, and such air will close
the aperture of the small box through the intermedium of the platysmatim
described above. It will then pass into Ε Ζ Η by means of the tube, Κ Η,
then into the transverse tube Α Α′, through the tube Ζ Ζ′, and finally
from the transverse tube into the pipes, if the orifices correspond to
those of the covers, and this will occur when all the covers (or only a
few of them) have been pushed toward the interior.
[Illustration: FIGS. 2 AND 3.--DETAILS OF THE HYDRAULIC ORGAN SHOWN IN
FIG. 1.]
In order that their orifices may be open when it is desired to make
certain pipes resound, and that they may be closed when it is desired to
cause the sound to cease, the following arrangement is employed: Let us
consider isolately one of the mouths placed at the extremity (Fig. 3).
Let γ δ be this mouth, δ its orifice, Α Α′ the transverse tube, and σ
the cover that is adapted and the aperture of which does not coincide
with the apertures of the pipes at this moment. Let us now suppose a
jointed arrangement composed of three rods, δ, μ, and ν, the rod, ε δ,
being attached to the cover, σ, and the system as a whole moving around
a pin, μ. It will be seen that if we lower with the hand the extremity,
ν, of the system toward the orifice of the glossocomiums, we shall cause
the cover to move toward the interior, and that, when it arrives there,
its orifice will coincide with the orifices of the pipes. In order that,
upon removing the hand, the cover may be carried back toward the
exterior and close all communication, an arrangement such as the
following may be employed. Beneath a number of glossocomiums, there is
established a bar equal in length to and parallel with the tube, Α Α′,
and to which are fixed strong curved plates of horn, such as γ, placed
opposite γ δ. A cord is fixed to the end of this plate and winds around
the extremity, δ, in such a way that when the cover is moved toward the
exterior the cord shall be taut. If the extremity, ν, then be lowered,
and the register be thus pushed into the interior, the cord will draw
upon the horn plate, and by its force, right it. But as soon as the
pressure ceases, the plate will resume its former position and draw the
cover back in such a way as to prevent its orifice from establishing a
communication. This arrangement being adopted for all the glossocomiums,
it will be seen that in order to cause any one of the pipes to resound,
it will suffice to depress the corresponding key with the finger. When,
on the contrary, it is desired to cause the sound to cease, we shall
merely have to lift the finger, and the effect will be produced by the
motion of the cover.
Water is poured into the small altar in order that the compressed air
that is driven from the box, Ν Π, may, owing to the pressure of the
liquid, be retained in the damper, Ε Ζ Η, and thus supply the pipes.
When the piston, Ρ Σ, is raised, it therefore expels the air from the
box into the damper, as has been explained. Then, when it is lowered, it
opens the platysmatim of the small box. By this means, the box, Ν Π,
becomes filled with air from the exterior, which the piston, raised
anew, drives again into the damper.
It would be better to render the rod, Τ γ, immovable at Τ, around a pin,
and fix at the bottom, Ρ, of the piston a ring through which this pin
would pass, so that the piston would have no lateral motion, but would
rise and descend with exact perpendicularity.
Porta, at the beginning of the seventeenth century, constructed at
Naples a hydraulic organ according to the arrangement just described. A
few years afterward, in 1645, Father Kircher constructed another at Rome
for Pope Innocent X. These organs had the defect of not preserving the
note, but of giving a series of harmonies. On the other hand, they
produced an exceedingly agreeable tremolo. It was probably these unusual
variations in sound that charmed the ears of the Greeks and Romans.
Heron afterwards describes a bellows organ, motion to which is
communicated not by manual power, but by a windmill. Fig. 4 shows the
arrangement with sufficient clearness to permit us to dispense with a
description. It is interesting to reproduce, in that it carries the
origin of windmills (which it is claimed were unknown to antiquity,
because Vitruvius and Varro do not speak of them) back at least to the
second century before our era.
[Illustration: FIG. 4.--WINDMILL ACTUATING THE BELLOWS OF AN ORGAN.]
CHAPTER III.
THE ORIGIN OF THE STEAM ENGINE.
All works that treat of the history of the steam engine speak of the
eolipile of Heron as the most ancient manifestation known of that power
which to-day fills the world. But very few persons know that we also
find in the “Pneumatics” of the Greek engineer the germs of the tubular
boiler and of the Papin cock which has been replaced in modern engines
by the long D-valve. Here, in the first place, is a literal translation
of the two passages that have reference to the apparatus, so often
cited, of Heron:
“_Balls may be held in the air by the following method_: