[281] Essais, i. 54.
[282] The juggler mentioned in Xenophon requested the gods to allow him
to remain only in places where there was much money and abundance of
simpletons.
[283] Le Siècle de Louis XIV. Berlin, 1751, 12mo, i. p. 44. This horse
was seen in the above-mentioned year by Casaubon, to whom the owner,
an Englishman, discovered the whole art by which he had been trained.
See Casauboniana, p. 56. We are assured by Jablonski, in his Lexicon
der Künste und Wissenschaften, p. 547, that he was condemned to the
flames at Lisbon. In the year 1739, a juggler in Poland was tortured
till he confessed that he was a sorcerer, and without further proof he
was hanged. The whole account of this circumstance may be found in the
Schlesischen gelehrten Neuigkeiten for the year 1739.
[284] See Luciani Opera, ed. Bipont. v. pp. 388, 407.
[285] Florus, iii. 19, 4.
[286] Directions for performing this trick may be found in various
works, such as Joh. Wallbergen’s Zauberkünste, Stuttgard, 1754, 8vo,
and Natürliches Zauberbuch, Nurnberg, 1740, 8vo.
[287] See Bayle’s Diction. i. p. 450, art. Barchochebas.
[288] Philostorgii Hist. Eccles. vii. 7, p. 93.
[289] Vita Alexandri, p. 687.
[290] Galen, _l. c._
[291] Ovid. Met. lib. ix. 160.
[292] Instances may be found collected in Huetii Alnetanæ Quæstion.
lib. ii. and in Bayle’s Dictionary, art. Egnatia.
[293] Journal des Sçavans, 1667, pp. 54, 222; and 1680, p. 292.
Deslandes, Mémoires de Physique, ii. and Bremenscher Magazin, i. p.
665. See also Busbequii Omnia, Basil, 1740, 8vo, p. 314.
[294] [Deception might have been easily practised in this case.
Fusible metal, as suggested by Sir David Brewster, Nat. Magic, p. 301,
which consists of mercury, tin and bismuth, and which melts at a low
temperature, might easily have been substituted in place of lead; and
fluids, the boiling-point of which is lower than water, might easily
have been substituted for that liquid.
A solution of spermaceti in sulphuric æther, tinged with alkanet root,
which solidifies at 50° F., and melts and boils with the heat of the
hand, is supposed to be the substance which is used at Naples, when the
dried blood of St. Januarius melts spontaneously and boils over the
vessel which contains it.
The experiments of M. Tillet, Dr. Fordyce and Sir Charles Blagden,
will show the great heat which may be endured by the human body. Some
of these gentlemen remained in a room where the heat was one or two
degrees above 260° F. for eight minutes; a beaf-steak was cooked in the
same atmosphere, and was overdone in thirty-three minutes; when the
steak was blown upon with a pair of bellows, it was found to be pretty
well done in thirteen minutes. But Sir F. Chantry exposed himself to
a still greater heat in the furnace used for drying his moulds. When
raised to its highest temperature, the thermometer indicated 350° F.,
and the iron floor was red-hot. The workmen often entered it at 340°.
On one occasion Sir F., accompanied by five or six of his friends,
entered the furnace, and after remaining two minutes, they brought out
a thermometer which indicated 320°. Some of the party experienced sharp
pains in the tips of their ears, and in the septum of the nose, whilst
others felt a pain in their eyes.--Brewster, _l. c._]
[295] [The peculiar property of minerals and various salts, as alum, in
forming and protecting articles of dress, &c. from the effects of fire,
has long been known. But the art of practically applying it, is due to
the ingenuity of the Chevalier Aldini of Milan. His dress consisted of
a strong cloth covering which had been steeped in a solution of alum,
for the body, arms and legs; whilst the head-dress was a large cap
enveloping the whole head down to the neck, with holes for the nose,
eyes and mouth; the covering for the feet was composed of asbestos,
or amianthus cloth. The stockings and cap were single, but the gloves
were double, to enable the fireman to take burning or red-hot bodies
into his hands. A metallic dress was added to this, consisting of a
cap, with a mask, leaving a space between it and the asbestos cap; a
cuirass; a piece of armour for the trunk and thighs; a pair of boots of
double wire-gauze; and an oval shield five feet long by two and a half
wide, made by stretching the wire-gauze over a slender frame of iron.
All these pieces were made of wire-gauze.
It was found, that when armed with this apparatus, a man could walk
upon hot iron, in the midst of high flames, keep his head over a pan
of flaming fire, &c. for several minutes, and this in some cases where
the heat was so intense that bystanders were obliged to stand at the
distance of eight or ten yards. This was remarkably shown in 1829, in
the yard of the barracks of St. Jervais. Two towers were erected, two
stories high, and were surrounded with heaps of inflamed faggots and
straw. One of the firemen, with a child on his back, in a wicker basket
covered with metallic gauze, and having a cap of amiantheric cloth,
rushed into a narrow place, where the flames were raging eight yards
high. The violence of the fire was so great that he could not be seen,
while a thick black smoke spread around, throwing out a heat which was
insupportable to the spectators. The man remained so long invisible
that serious doubts were entertained of his safety. He at length,
however, issued from the fiery gulf uninjured.]
[296] The same thing was performed by Schreber in 1760.
[297] Plin. vii. 11.--Virg. Æn. xi.--Silius Ital. v.--Strabo, v.
[298] Strabo, xii.
[299] In his work De Mirabilibus Mundi, at the end of his book De
Secretis Mulierum, Amstelod. 1702, 12mo, p. 100.
[300] Antigone, 270.
[301] Animad. in Athen. lib. i. 15.
[302] De Theatro, lib. i. 40, in Grævii Thes. Ant. Rom. ix.
[303] Lib. iii. epist. 20.--Seneca, Epist. 45. Compare Suidas, Pollux,
and Athenæi Deipn. 4. It is probable that Quintilian alludes to this
art in his Institut. x. 7, 11.
[304] Plin. vii. 20, p. 385.--Martial. v. 12.--Suidas, speaking of
Theogenes Thasius.--Haller, Elem. Physiol. iv. p. 486.
[305] Vopiscus, Vita Firmi. See the figure in Desaguliers, tab. xix.
fig. 5. He describes the position thus:--The pretended Samson puts
his shoulders (not his head, as he used to give out) upon one chair,
and his heels upon another (the chairs being made fast), and supports
one or two men standing on his belly, raising them up and down as he
breathes, making with his backbone, thighs and legs, an arch whose
abutments are the chairs.
[306] A course of Experimental Philosophy. Lond. 1745, 4to, i. p. 266.
[A popular account of these extraordinary feats, with illustrations and
explanations of the principles on which they depend, is given by Sir
David Brewster in his interesting volume on Natural Magic, p. 246.]
[307] Versuche und Abhandl. der Naturforsch. Geselsch. in Danzig.
[308] A great many of these passages of the ancients have been
collected by Bulenger, in his work De Theatro, i. cap. 41. See also Des
Camps in a dissertation contained in Recherches Curieuses d’Antiquité,
par Spon. A Lyon 1683.--Mercurialis De Arte Gymnast. and Fabricii
Biblioth. Antiq. p. 995.
[309] An epigram, ascribed to Petronius, at page 542 of the edition of
Hadrianides, belongs to this subject.
[310] Muratori Antiquit. Ital. Med. Ævi, ii. p. 846.
[311] Von Stetten, Kunstgeschichte von Augsburg, ii. p. 177.
[312] Claudian. de Mallii Consul. 320. In Cilano’s Römischen
Alterthümer, ii. fig. 8, there is a representation like what I have
often seen exhibited. But the most dangerous and the most curious is
that of which an engraving is given in Splendor Urbis Venetiarum, to be
found in Grævii Thesaurus Antiquit. Italiæ, v. 3. p. 374.
[313] Sat. xiv. 265.
[314] Lib. v. 433.
[315] Symposium, p. 655, edition of Basle, 1555. fol. Εἰσεφέρετο τῇ
ὀρχηστρίδι τροχὸς τῶν κεραμεικῶν ἐφ’ οὗ ἔμελλε θαυμασιουργήσειν. In the
old edition of J. Ribittus, this passage is thus translated: “Allata
est saltatrici orbis saltatorius, in quo admiranda erat editura.” The
first question that arises is, what was τροχὸς τῶν κεραμεικῶν. The
last word alluded to a place at Athens where wrestling was exhibited
every year; and on that account Aristophanes uses the expression
πληγαὶ κεραμεικαί. This however affords no explanation. Bulenger,
who quotes the same passage, translates it in the following manner:
“Illata est saltatrici figularis rota, per quam se trajiceret, et
miracula patraret.” He means here therefore a potter’s wheel, the
invention of Anacharsis, but that was always called κεραμικὸς τροχὸς,
and not τροχὸς τῶν κεραμεικῶν. But even allowing that a potter’s
wheel is meant, it is wrong to add _per quam se trajiceret_; for the
potter’s wheel is not like a hoop, but like a plate or dish; and when
turned round revolves not vertically, but horizontally. Besides, how
the performer could write or read on a wheel that she jumped through,
he has not thought proper to explain. “Scribere et legere in rota
dum versatur, mirabile quiddam est.” If a potter’s wheel be meant, I
consider it as certainly possible for a person to stand upon it whilst
it revolves with the greatest velocity, and even to read or write; but
it would be necessary to lift up the legs, in turn, with the utmost
quickness.
[316] Nicephorus Gregor. viii. 10. p. 215. This company of rope-dancers
came from Egypt. They travelled through the greater part of Asia, and
all Europe, as far as the extremity of Spain. At Constantinople they
extended the ropes, on which they first exhibited their art, between
the masts of ships. One is almost induced to believe that stupid
superstition did not then prevail so much in Europe as at the beginning
of the last century. The historian says that the company at first
consisted of forty persons; but that the half of them were cast away
on their passage to Constantinople. He does not, however, tell us that
they or their horses were anywhere burnt as conjurors, or possessed
with the devil.
[317] See the German translation of his Travels, ii. p. 238.
[318] Journal du Règne de Henri III. p. 57.--Recueil de Pièces servant
à l’Hist. de Henri III. Cologne, 1666, 12mo.
[319] Epistolarum Selectarum Centuria. Antverpiæ, 1605, 4to, i. epist.
50. p. 59.--Plin. viii. 1 and 3.--Seneca, epist. 86.--Suetonii Vit.
Galbæ.--Dio Cassius. A great many also may be found collected in
Hartenfels Elephantographia, Erfordiæ, 1715, 4to. It appears that in
the thirteenth century some ventured to ride a horse upon a rope. See
the Chronicle Alberichi Monachi Trium-Fontium, inserted by Leibnitz in
Accessiones Historicæ, vol. ii., where a description is given of the
solemnities at the wedding of Robert, brother to the king of France, in
the year 1237.
Several instances of the dexterity of the elephant may be found in
Lipsii Laus Elephantis, inserted in Dissertat. Ludicrarum et Amœnitatum
Scriptores varii, Lugd. Bat. 1638.--TRANS.
[320] Æliani Hist. An. xvi. 23. vi. 10.--Athenæus, lib. xii.--Plinius.
[321] One instance may be found in Theophanis Chronographia, which was
printed at Paris 1655, fol. It occurred in the seventeenth year of the
reign of Justinian, or 543.
[322] Universal Magazine, 1766, October, p. 217.
[323] Der entlarvte Wildman, Betrüger grosser Höfe. Berlin, 1774,
8vo. See also Göttingische Gelehrte Anzeig. 1775, p. 816. The name of
_impostor_ given to Wildman was, however, too harsh; for I do not think
that he who performs anything extraordinary, never done by any one
before, becomes an impostor when another discovers his art.
[324] The voyage of Brue is in Labat’s Afrique Occidentale, iv.
[325] [A curious exhibition of this kind has been made public for
several years in the Strand, viz. the “industrious fleas.” These
noxious animals are here seen to draw and drive a coach and four; fire
off a small cannon; and various other performances of a similar kind.]
[326] Several instances of the like kind may be found also in
Monstrorum Historia Memorabilis a J. G. Schenkio a Grafenberg filio,
Francof. 1609, 4to, p. 28 _et seq._ One of the most curious is that
of Thomas Schweicker, born at Halle in Prussian Saxony, in the year
1586. Camerarius saw him not only write, but even make a pen with his
feet.--TRANS.
[327] Strabo, lib. xv. p. 1048. ed. Almel.--Dio Cassius, lib. liv. p.
739. Suetonius, Eutropius, Eusebius and Orosius, speak of this embassy,
but make no mention of the presents.
[328] [In modern times the idle portion of the public has been
gratified by the exhibition of the Siamese twins; the diminutive
monster Tom Thumb; and quite recently a child with three legs. The
birth of such monsters is equivalent to a legacy or fortune to the
parents, who by their exhibitions realise large sums: the morbid taste
of the public, especially the weaker portion, for such sights is truly
deplorable.]
[329] Man. Astron. lib. v. 165.
[330] Frisch derives this word from _morio_, a fool or buffoon.
[331] This piece of kitchen furniture was known in the middle of the
sixteenth century. Montagne saw one at Brixen, in Tyrol, in the year
1580, and wrote a description of it in his Journal, as a new invention.
He says it consisted entirely of wheels; that it was kept in motion
by a heavy piece of iron, as clocks are by a weight, and that when
wound up in the like manner, it turned the meat for a whole hour. He
had before seen, in some other place, another driven by smoke.--Reise,
i. pp. 155, 249. The latter kind seem to be somewhat older. Scappi,
cook to pope Pius V., gave a figure of one in his book Opera di M.
Bartolomeo Scappi, printed at Venice 1570, which is exceedingly scarce.
I lately saw a copy, which, instead of eighteen, had twenty-four
engravings. It was printed twice afterwards at the same place, viz. in
1571 and 1605, in quarto. The third edition says, “con due aggiunte,
cio é il Trinciante et il Maestro di casa.” Bayle seems to confound
this book with that of Platina De Honesta Voluptate, or to think that
the latter was the real author of it. This however cannot be, as there
were more than a hundred years between the periods when Scappi and
Platina lived. Platina died in 1481, and not in 1581, as we read in
Bayle.
[332] De Mundo. cap. vi.
[333] Herodot. ii. 48. p. 127.--Lucian. de Syria Dea, 16, ed. Bipont.
ix. p. 99.
[334] Recueil des Antiquit. iv. p. 259.
[335] Doppelmayer, p. 285.
[336] Iliad, xviii. 373. It deserves to be remarked, that there
were also such τρίποδες αὐτόματοι at the banquet of Iarchas. See
Philostrat. Opera, ed. Olearii, pp. 117, 240.
[337] Polit. i. 3.
[338] In his Menon, p. 426.--Euthyphron, pp. 8, 11.
[339] Introd. in Philos. Nat. i. p. 143.
[340] Physiologia Kircheriana, fol. p. 69.
[341] In Philostrati Opera, ed. Olearii, p. 899.
[342] In Mém. de l’Acad. des Inscr. xiii. p. 274.
[343] Ode xxvii.
[344] Aulus Gellius, x. 12.
[345] See Naudé’s Apology, Bayle’s Dictionary, &c. Thomas Aquinas is
said to have been so frightened when he saw this head, that he broke
it to pieces, and Albertus thereupon exclaimed, “Periit opus triginta
annorum!”
[346] Schol. Mathemat. lib. ii. p. 65.
[347] Dissertat. de Regiomontani Aquila et Musca Ferrea. Altorfi,
1709.--See Mémoires de Trevoux, 1710, Juillet, p. 1283.--Doppelmayer,
p. 23.--Fabricii Bibl. Med. Ætat. iv. p. 355.--Heilbronner Hist. Math.
p. 504.
[348] Strada De Bello Belgico. Mogunt. 1651, 4to, p. 8. He calls the
artist Jannellus Turrianus Cremonensis.
[349] In the year 1738, Le Méchanisme du Fluteur Automate, par
Vaucanson, was printed at Paris, in a thin 4to. It contains only
a short description of the flute-player, which is copied into the
Encyclopédie, i. p. 448, under the article Androide. The duck, as far
as I know, has been nowhere described.
[350] Vaucanson died at Paris in 1782.
[351] [The publisher is in possession of an elegantly formed mechanical
bird-cage, in which two artificial bullfinches wheel about on a perch,
flutter their wings, and move their beaks, while emitting musical
sounds in imitation of their natural note. A fountain constructed of
spiral glass plays in the centre. Beneath the cage is a clock which
sets the whole in motion hourly, for three or four minutes; but it may
be set going independently, like a musical snuff-box. It is presumed to
have been made by Vaucanson about a hundred years ago, and was at one
time a principal attraction at Weeks’s celebrated Museum, where that
singular piece of mechanism the Tarantula spider was first exhibited.]
[352] Nicolai, Reise, i. p. 287.
[353] Nouveau Voyage aux Iles de l’Amerique. A la Haye 1724, 2 vols.
4to, ii. pp. 298, 384. From his county he was called Count de Gennes.
[354] Zodiacus Vitæ, xi. 846.
[355] See a small treatise Ueber H. D. Muller’s Redende Maschine,
und über redende Maschinen überhaupt. Nurnberg, 1788, 8vo.--Algem.
Teutsches Biblioth. vol. lxxxvii. p. 473. The Speaking Figure and the
Automaton Chess-player exposed and detected. London, 1784, 8vo.--[This
celebrated chess-playing automaton, invented by M. Vankempelin, was
repaired and exhibited in London in 1820, by the ingenious mechanician
Maelzel, with considerable success. The figure and machinery were
always submitted to the inspection of the visitors, and shifted along
the floor in various directions before the game commenced, and the
deception was so adroitly managed as to escape the detection of the
most scrutinizing. The proprietor always took care to secure the best
chess-player in the town before he commenced operations, the wonder
therefore was greatly increased by the superiority of the automaton’s
play. Mr. Lewis directed it in London. It is now generally admitted
that a boy was concealed inside.]
[356] Van Dale De Oraculis. Amstelod. 1700, 4to, i. 10, p. 222.
[357] Réponse à l’Histoire des Oracles de M. de Fontenelle.
[358] A few instances are related by Livy, Valerius Maximus, and
Plutarch. Among the fables of the Christian church they are more
numerous.
[359] Vol. v. p. 90. editio Bipont.
[360] Theodoreti Hist. Eccles. v. 22.
[361] Cassiodori Variar. i. ep. 45.
[362] [_Speaking Automaton._--There is a piece of mechanism now
exhibiting to the public at the Egyptian Hall--the work of Professor
Faber, of Vienna, and the result, as he states, of twenty-five years
of labour and preparation. The name which he has given to this product
of his ingenuity is the Euphonia; and the work, as that name implies,
is another of those many combinations which have attempted, by the
anatomical and physiological study of the structures that contribute
to the human voice, to attain to an imitation of that organ as regards
both sound and articulation. As an example of inductive and mechanical
skill this exhibition is well deserving of attention. The professor
himself, by an arrangement of bellows-pipes, pedal and keys, which
he plays somewhat like the keys of a piano, prompts the discourse of
his automaton; which certainly does enunciate both sounds and words.
When we entered the room we found it singing to a select society. It
requires all our sense of the ingenuity and perseverance which have
been bestowed on the work to induce our assent to the proposition which
calls the voice human; but undoubtedly it is a remarkable result of
contriving skill and scientific patience.--_Athæneum._]
[363] Historia Ægypti Natural. Lugd. Bat. 1735, 4to, p. 60.