Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1859-05-19
A LESSON IN WONDERS.
Ic0NrINUED.I |


"In my young days was in the habit of
amusing myself by performing two feats which
may be Of service to the AissaOuas If they
shOuld ever hear Of them. Twill explain them
- The chiropodist Maous, who taught me
juggling included in his Instruction very
clever trick, which consisted in putting a little
nail into the right eye and then making II an
pear to travel through the flesh and reannear
in the left eye, then in the mouth, and then in
the right eye again. .... .... = :.
= Imagine to what extent the fire of soreerv
was kindIed within me. had the courage to
aeeustom myself to this trick, which thought
fine one.
= AT last, a very disagreeable circumstance
Destroyed my illusions as to the effect produced
by it. -
. / used to go sometimes to spend the even
Ing Mt the house of n lady who had two inter
esuhg danSnters, Tor whose amusement she
often gave small parties. / thought could
IND no better opportunity to give my first rem
resentation Of this than at one of these parties
and asked permission to present diversion
ot an entirely novel character. The company
were curious to see it, and formed around me
in a circle. :
. Ladies', said I, with mysterious omnbasis.
am lnynlnerable, and to prove this to you.
might stab myself with a poignsrd a knife or
any other cutting instrument but / fear that
the sight OF blood would make too painful an
impression upon you. will give different
formed my famous trick of the HaiI az the
eye.
The effect Of it upon the company was not
what had anticipated IL was scarcely over
when one of the young ladies tainted and fell.
The pleasure of the evening was ruined. and
hearing blame, / left without saving a word,
vowlng that L would not be caught again in
such performance. ~-.-- .
But this is the e1plsnation of the trick:
Amy one can easily put lead or silver nail.
haif an inch long by line in thickness, into
the corner OF the eye, near the lachrymal res
ervOir. between the eyelid and the eyebsll.
and when once this bit Of metal is there, the
eve does not seem to be aware of its presence
1t Is easy to push it out with the finger.
''One ot these nails is put secretly into the
left eve, aud another in the mouth. With this
preparation the performer presents himself
He then, before the company putt a nail
Into has rtght eye; by pressing on the flesh he
pretends to push it through the bridge of the
nose into the left eye; he really concaals the
nall In his right eve, and pushes out that which
lac has heretofore concealed in his left eve
Then be hides away this nail under the eyeiid
and makes the motions of pushing il through
the flesh into the mouth, from which the con
ceAied nail Is taken. The same process restores
the nalI To the right eye. from which the nail
il taken which was hidden away in il,
When that is done, at any good opportnni.
ty, the nails are taken out of the left eye and
the mouth.
But to return to the final performance Of
the Aissaoaas walking on red-hot iron, and
licking iron heated to whIeness
The AiSsaOua who walks on red-hot iron
does nothing very surprising. when we remem-
ber be barely touches it, and that always go
ing barefoot, the sole Of his foot is rs hard US
horses hOof; the horny portion may be broiled
without oceasiOning the least pain --
BESIDES, may not chance have taught the
AIssaouas precautions which were known 10
more than one European juggler, before Dr. Sc
mentlnl stated that they were used, and dis
covered them to the public? And which will
explain to US in the simplest way the most in
terestIng feat of the Arab soreerers that which
l. regarded as the most astonishing, the most
wonderful, the touching Of the tongue to white
hot iron.
- Let IA first refer to some well-known fests
OF our wizards, whence we can Judge how far
even i'm the marvellous, the followers of AIssa
are behind the age in their pretended mira
cles.
- In February, I777, an Englishman, named
Richardson, came to Paris, and gave some re-
mArkable representations, which proved they
raId. his lncOmbustibility.
lie was seen to roast piece Of beef on his
tongue, to kindle piece of charcoal in his
mouth by his breath, and to grasp bar of red
hot iron in his hand, or to hold il in his teeth
The valet Of this Englishman published
ms master secret, and il may be found in the
Journal des Savans, ll677 premiere edition,
page Al, ct deuxieme edition, 1850, pages "a,
I42 ct 252.l
In lsU9, Spaniard, named Leonetto. gave
an exhibition in Paris he also handled with
imPunity bar Of red-hot iron, passed it over
his hair, put his heels on il. drank boiling oil
dipped his fingers into melted lead, put a little
Of 1t on his tongue, after which, he carried a
Ted-hOt iron about on his tongue
This extraordinary man attracted the at
tention Of Mr.. Sementini, who set himself about
finding out the secret -... ~. i
The sayant noticed that the tongue of the
lncombustible man was covered with a grayish
coating; and this led him to try some expert
ments upon himself. he discovered that by
cooperating solution of alum until it became
sPongy, and rubbing it over the skin, he could
render IL iBsensible to the heat of red hot iron
and that by rubbing a coating of SOAP i'm ad-
dItlon, the SKIN was thoroughly protected
against burning. -
- Satisfied with his researches, the Doctor
coated his tongue with soap and n solution of
ALUM and found that red hot iron produced no
impression upon it.
Prepared in this way, the tongue could re-
eeiTe o"ilIng oil, which, after cooling, could be
swallowed
" DIR. Sementini found out. also. that the
melted lead which Lronetto used was that me-
tAllle e1inpOsitIOn which Inelts AT the tempera-
lure Ot bCihng water. II the fingers be pre-
Nlousiy dipped IN ether, they may be plunged
nut" the real welted lead without injury
- In these maniPulatiOns q satisfactory ex-
PLANTATION may be found Of the pretended in
"ombustibility Of the AsSouas; however, L will
cute here fact, Of my personal knowledge,
from which the inference may be drawn that il
IS not necessary to be inspired by Allah or Ais-
ga m order to play with incHndescent metals
Reading one day scientific review / saw an
account of a work entitled Etnde sItr les cors
q Z sfft sJ'ASro'dai, by NJ. Boutigny Id 'Evreux
The editor Of the Review the Able Moie,no
quoted some Of the most interesting passages of
the work, among which was the following:
u. COwlet having led the way, we M
Soutigny IS spcaking) ourselves broke the
iiquld Jets with our fingers. We plunged our
hands into the mOulds and into the trouvhs
filed with the melted metal which was fow-
ing out Of Wilkinson furnace the radiation
frOm which was unendurable even at eonsid-
cradle distance. We varied our experiments
f'r more than two hours. Mime. Cowlet per-
Ini,ted her laughter, child OF eight years, to
Put her hand into q trough full of the incan-
descent metal. and she did il without injury
The character Of the Able and the ply sie an
dId not permit me To doubt; however L must