The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1892-08-29
OLD AND NEW MYSTERIES
no INDIAN JUGGLERs HYPNOTIC
THEIR AUpIENOEs2

cinations" Described.
From the Neto YORK. Ledger.
Those who have read in the Ledger, the
accounts Of the feats performed by Indian
iugglers and fakirs may be interested in
Inowing that the records of similar phe.
romena extend back for several centuries.
An early description of the mango trick,
tor instance, is given the travels of Jean
BsDtiste Tavernier, q French nobleman Of
the seventeenth century, translation Of
whose very curious and interesting book
has quite recently been published. Taver-
rier saw the iugglers at Breach, and this is
his account of them:
"The first thing they did was to kindle a
large fire and heat iron chains to redness /;
these they wound round their bodies,
making believe that they experienced some
main. but not really receiving any injury,
Next having taken a small piece OF stick.
and having planted 1t in the ground, they
asked one of the company what fruit he
wished to have. He replied that he desired
mangoes, and then one of the oonjurers,
covering himself with sheet, stopped
10 the ground five or six times.
had the curiosity to ascend to a room
In order to see from above, through an open
ing Of the sheet, what this man did, and l
sa y that he cut himself under bis armpits
with a razor and anointed the pieoe of wood
with his blood. AT each time that he raised
himself the stick increased under the eye,
and at the third time it put forth branches
and buds. At the forth time the tree was
covered with leaves aud at the fifth we saw
the flowers themselves"
The experiment was carried no farther at
the time, owing to the objections OF an
English clergyman who was present, and
who insisted that the performance was
sorcery, and proclaimed loudly that he
would never administer the communion to
any one OF those who remained longer to
witness such things" So the jugglers were
dismissed, after having been suitably re-
warded. 1t will be observed that the de-
tails OF the trick in this case are somewhat
different from those of the modern per-
formances described in these papers
AS we go farther back in time, the "trav-
eer's tales" about these Asiatic jugglers be-
come more wonderful, and the modern
mind, with its strong, skeptioal bias, is apt
TO reject them as mere inventions, after the
fashion OF those marvels related by Sir John
Vaudeville. But there is one old traveller
whose stories time and criticism have In no
respect disproved or weakened. The ia
nous Venetian, Marco Polo is now known
to have been one Of the most careful, scrup-
uous and trustworthy reporters. He
set down what he saw and
heard simply and truly, and
whom, therefore. he bells a tale which to
many may appear autecedently incredible,
one may at least feel confident that he be.
leved he saw precisely what he describes,
and that whatever the explanation may be,
"Messrs. Mtllione" has not expanded or en-
bellished the facts consciously. Il may
frankly be admitted that the account about
TO be given Of one Of Marco PoIo's expert
ences is, on the face of it, what Mr.. Richard
Swiveller would have called, IAN uumiti-
gated staggerer." but an explanation will
be suggested which may render its ac-
ceptance somewhat less difficult,
On the occasion in question, Marco Polo
relates, the exhibition was given In the
open air in the court yard Of a great per-
sonage's residence. The audience were
seated all round an open space in which were
the JugRiers. One of the latter began by
producing long cord, to one spd of which
a wooden ball was fastened. CoiIing the
cord over his left arm he tosk the ball in his
right hand, and after swinging it several
times, leaned back and flung it Straight M
ward into the cir. rhe ball seemed to
ascend without any check 10 its
motion until 1t was 80 hiah
that it could scarcely be seen. Still it
mounted and finally passed out of sight
completely. Then the singular spectacle
was presented Of a cord hanging down from
the sky apparently, without any support
The principal juRgler next brought forward
dog, which he placed at the foot of the
hanging cord. The dog Immediately ran
up the cord and at the upper end vanished
as the ball had done. After waiting a few
minutes the jugglsr produced q goat,
which climbed the cord In its turn, and
then disappeared like the dog. Next, one
OF the jugglers was ordered to mount and
ne also passed out Of sight. The chief
Juggler waited some time and then began
TO show signs Of impatience. He shouted
up into the air, but there was no response.
AT length he appeared to lose his temper
altogether, and, seiZing a long knife, he
placed it beneath his teeth. swarmed up the
cord, looking very fierce, and vanished like
tne rest. The spectators then had nothing
before them but the cord hanging in the air,
and an interval passed during which MOTH
Ing happened. At last something was seen
TO fall from the sky, as IL were, into the
open space under the cord, and it proved to
De a freshly severed human hand While
tne audience were wondering what this
nllght mean. another hand fell to
the ground; then human foot |;
then second foot; then the legs /;
next the trunk, and last vhe head. When
all the parts of the body had been flung
uown, the chief juggler came into view,
Sholng down the cord, with the knife, now
covered with blood, between his teeth.
Teaching the end of the cord, be sprang to
the ground, picked up the dismembered frag-
ments OF the human body, arranged them
IN their proper order, gave the body q
smart kick-and up jumped the second Jug
ger, alive and hearty, and bowed smiliugly
70 the spectators. Now, it is obvious
that to ask any modern to receive this
story as 1t stands is what persons ad-
uicted to slang might term "a strong
order" But Marco Polo, quite uncon-
solously, gives a clew to the matter in re-
cOrdlng the remark of an Asiatic who sat
Oy MIN at the performance and who OBJ
served afterward that, in his opinion, all
tney mad seen was mere glamor-that there
uau really been no cord sticking in the air :,
no animals or men climbing up it, no dis
Imenoerment or putting together again Of a
human body-but that by some means the
!ugglers had made them all think that they
saw these wonders.
now, this suggestion Of the thirteenth
.veutury oriental serves as q link to connect
ue wonderful narrative Of Marco Polo
WIN SO modern a subject as hypnotism,
auu IL may further serve as a key to some
Ivy not ally OF the phenomena exhibited in
augla at the present day by the jugglers
e auu taklrs or course, il Is evident that the
sueor OF Marco Polo's interlocutor involves
"uat is called collective halluoinatiou, :"
p Pr II must not be overlooked that many
- .ur pean Psychologists aud philosophers
sstoutly deny the possibility OF collective
uallucination. Against that denial how
ever. ha aaf ha fnAu fkak -