The Albany register. [volume] (Albany, Or.) 1868-18??, 1874-11-13
WONDERS OF MAGIC.

90 eminent q SCl0nG1SC as GTOIs AI1FoO
r. Wallace has written several elabor-
ate articles in an English periodical in
support of the claim that the physical
phenomenon called spiritualistic is pro-
duced by spirits which once inhabited
human bodies. Many marvellous things
are reported almost daily of this spirit
manifestation. A few years ago moth
ing more startling than raps and table
tipping was produced. but now we are
asked to believe, not only that mediums
like Home elongate their bodies from
6 to II feet. carry red-hot Goals in their
hands without injury, and float visibly
in the air, but that the spirits can
materialize themselves so as to be-
come the solid flesh and bone that they
were IN this life. Nay, more Col.
Olcott, clear-headed pratical lawyer
and a gentleman of unimpeachable
veracity, who is at Ohittenden, VT, in
vestigating the alleged phenomena pro-
duced by the Eddy mediums, tele-
graphs to New York in triumph that he
has succeeded in catching one of the
spirits-a female one, and weighing her
on Fairbanks scales.
PROFESSIONAL MAGICIANs.
Now, all this from Messrs Wallace,
Crooks and Varley, from Col. Olcott,
from Philadelphia. from Moravia, New
York. and other places haunted by ma
terialized spirits, and from persons who
have sat with Slade, Foster and Mans
field, is very wonderful; but is it con-
elusive proof that the claims of Spirit
ualism are right? What if it can be
shown that phenomena quite as extraor-
dinary have been produced by pro-
fessional yugglers, men who have made
no pretensc that they were assisted by
occult powers, and who have even eX-
planned the mechanism of their tricks
If this can be done, the inference must
necessarily follow either that the Spirit
ualistic mediums are cunning gimpostors,
or that the professional necromancers
are liars when they declare that their
phenomena are mere trickery, and that
they are really assisted by supermun-
dane agents. All history is full of the
deceptions pract1ced either by these
professional characters or others who
pretended to supernatural powers, and
were subsequently exposed as charla-
tans. Jugglery was allied to the an
cient religions of the Greeks, Romans,
Egyptians and Chaldeans Hellas had
its oracle, with its cunning priesthood /;
Rome its augurs and OWNERS, and
Chaldee its world-renowned magicians
In the dark ages of Europe there were
~enchanters, sorcerers and astrologers,
have their conjury burned and drowned
out of them. The Thaumaturgists and
Rosicrucians pretended to magical pow
ers. There is notanage in the world 'sre-
corded past, hardly a year even, that
some H1restidtQit0teur has not figured
on the scene, either as court, append
age, religious leader, or anJactor per
forming for the amusement of the popu-
lace. Let the Davenport Brothers or
DR.. Slade do more than is related here,
and then they will have a right to ask
us to consider if the phenomena they
show are the work of ''spirits.
One of the most remarkable exhibit
tions of clever jugglery is mentioned in
Salverte's Philosophy of Magic, -
(London, 1916, vol. l, page 1O5). It
was seen at Nancy, In France, in 1929.
A man from the audience was induced
to lie down on the stage, and the magi-
clan deliberately chopped off his head.
He displayed the severed head to the
audience SO that they could recognize
the features he permitted them to
touch it, to open the mouth, which shut
again Of its own accord, and to examine
the bleeding section of the neck at the
extremity of the trunk. He removed
the body and Withdrew a curtain, and
almost Immediately the supposed dead
man appeared in perfect health. Sal
verte says that the beheading trick was
performed by the Mohamedans, and
that Hlian is authority for the state
ment that Esculapius apparently re.
united the heart of woman to hen
corpse and restored her to life and
health.
According to Mr.. Goodwin, in his
f' History of the Necromancers, it was
a common practice at the time he wrote
(ffty years ago) for jugglers in the
market-places of the English towns tc
make the scales of a balance move al
command, alternately ascending anC
descending.
Much stress has been laid by the ad
vocates OF Spiritualism upon the ability
of the medium Home to handle live COAL
without injury or leaving q scar. Ht
has been seen to put red-hot Goals or
his head, and the hair was not sinRed
The "fire ordeal" is very old anG
familiar one to necromancers. One Of
the most ancient feats of magic was the
art of breathing flame. During the in
surrection of the slaves in Sicily in the
second century before Christ, Syriar
named Eunus acquired by his knowl
edge the rank of their leader. In order