The Ottawa free trader., 1875-12-04

cd out Of them. The Thaumaturgis,s an
Roslcrucians pretended 10 magical power
There Is not an age IN the worlds recorde
lpast. hardly year even, that some prcttd'!
ikateur has not figured on the scene, either a
ia Court appendage, a religious leader, or a
actor performing for the amusement OF IN
;populace, Let the Davenport Brothers or ID
Slade do more than is related here, and the
they will have a right to ask us to consider
the phenomena they show are tae work
Spirits"
ZIITo,
In the olives of the Necromancers," b.
William Goodwin London, 1884, there is a
account of a conjGrer at the Court OF Wen
ceslaus, King of Bohemia and aflerwarG
Emperor of Germany On one occasion, thl
person, Ziito by name exhibited his eXtraor
dinary skill at the Court lie showed him
self first IN his proper shape, and then IN thos'
of different persons suggestively, with coun
tenances and stature totally different from hi
own. At one time he was splendidly attire(
IN robes of purple and silk, and then, in th'
twi1king of an eye, in coarse lined and
clownish coat of frieze.
A MAGICAL TREE.
In the same volume a sketch is gwen of ID
Lamb, noted necromancer in the time o.
Charles the FIRST. The celebrated Richard
Baxter is authority for the statement thai
Lamb, meeting two ofhis acquaintance in the
street, aud they having expressed desire tc
witness some examples OF his skill, invited
them home with him. He then conducted
them into an inner room, when, presently, to
their no small surprise, they saw tree spring
up in the middle the apartment They had
scarcely ceased wondering at this phemome-
,n,,t ra1 fhrlp
diminutive men, with little axes in their hands
for the purpose Of cutting down this tree.
The tree was fclcd, and the doctor dismissed
his guests, who were fully satisfied with the
soidity of his pretentions An account of
this feat will be found in BaXter'S works
RESTORING THE DEAD TO LIFE.
One of the most remarkable exhibitions Of
clever juggery is mentioned in Salverte's
PHILOSOPHY OF Magic" london, 1916, vol. /.
page 10j). 1t was seen in Nancy, France, in
1929. A man from the audience was induced
to lie down on the stage, and the magician
deliberately chopped off his head, He dis
played the severed head to the audience so
that they could recognize the features he rer-
mitted Them TO touch ii, 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 curtain and almost lm.
mediately the supposed dead man appeared in
perfect health. Salverte says that the bleed.
ing trick was performed by the Mahometans, i
and that AElian is authority for the state
ment that Esculapius apparently reunited the
he irt Of woman to her corpse and restored
ler 10 life and health.
THE MEDIUM HOME RIvALED.
I,,;,, -,
If fNecromaDcers," 1t was Comman practice
ylers in the marketplaces of the English
owns to make the scales of a balance move
It command, alternately ascending and de-
cending.
THE ORDEAL OF FIRE.
Much stress has been laid by the advocates
f Spritualsm upon the ability of the med.
m Home to handle live Goals with injury or
howing scar. He has been seen to put red
ot Goals on his head. and the hair was not
inged. The "fire ordeal'' Is very old and
lmiliar one TO necromancers. One of the
lost ancient feats of magic was the art Of
reathing flame During the lnsurrection of ,
ne slaves In Sicily in the second century be.
,re Christ, Syrian named Eunus acquired by
is knowledge the rank Of their leader In I
rider to establish his mfunce over their {
linds, he pretended to possess miraculous
over. When he wished to inspire his fol. &
,wers with courage, he breathed flames or I
parks among them from his mouth. At the 6
lme time he was rousing them by his elO. {
ueDce St Jerome informs us that the Rab. I
Burchochebas, who headed the Jews In c
leir last revolt against tho EHpreror Adrian, c
lade them believe that he was the Messiah c
Y vomiting flames from his mouth. And, at I
late period, the Emperor Constanlus was q
lrown into state Of alarm when Valentin- 1
m informed him that he had seen one of the {
Ddy. guards breathing out fire and flames. !
ir David Brewster, who quotes these instan. I
,s in his interesting Letters on Natural Mag {
=" was not able to explain the exact method Y
Y which these effects were prodeced; but he {
lid Florus informs us that Eunus filled a I
nutshell with sulphur and fire, and, {
aving concealed it in his mouth, he breath. ,
| gently through it while he was speaking.
his act is performed more simply by the {
iodern iugeler. Having rolled together some
AK or hemp so as to form n ball the size OF a t
'alnut, he sets il on fire and allows il to burn
ntl 1t is nearly consumed. He then rolls |
round 1t while burning some additional flax, {
nd by these means the fire may be retained |
,r a considerable time. At the commence. (
tent of his exhibition he introduces the ball |
ITO h,s mouth, and while he breathes through c
the fire is revived and number of burning q
parks are projected from his mouth. The
parks are too feeble to do any harm, provid |
he inhaes the air through his nostrils. The !
indred art OF a
WALKING ON BURNING GOALS i
red hot iron belongs TO the same antiquity. G
he preistcsses of Diana at Castabula, in Cap !
adocia, were accustomed, according to Stra. |
D. to walk over burning Goals; and, at the z
lnual festival which was held in the temple I
Apollo at Mount Seracte, in Etruria. the
Iirpi marched over burning Goals, and on !
lis account they were exempted from milli- a
Try service, and received other privileges q
om the Roman Senate. This power Of re I
sting tre was ascribed even by Varro to the
Sc of some linlmcnt with which they an
inted the soles of their feet. Of the same
haracter was the art of holding rcd.hot iron
a the hands or between the teeth, and Of
iunging the hands into boiling water or mel.
ed lead About the close Ct the seventeenth
entury, an Euglishman named Richardson