Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1894-11-10
the performance with his eyes. The writer
never met one, but Mr.. Pollock has, and
here Is his account and explanation:
Climbing the Magic Rope.

the performance with his eyes. The writer
never met one, but Mr.. Pollock has, and
here Is his account and explanation:
Climbing the Magic Rope.
lone day. by the merest chance, was
fortunate enough to meet an Anglo-Indian
who had himself seen this marvel AS he
told the story to us 1t was simply stagger-
ing. He had seen the rope flung up, he had
seen the man climb up it, he had seen both
disappear; that is, as he told the story, 1t
seemed that in the bright sunlight the rope
had been flung up to the point of vanish
ment, a man had also climbed up to the
point Of vanishment, and the man and the
rope were not seen again. / confess that for
a moment such knowledge as / have of the
art of conjuring deserted me; but recover
ed myself and putting such questions as a
barrister's training teaches him, arrived
at these facts without alarming or hurting
the feelings Of my informant
THE result OF my question was this: The
performance did take place in the open air.
The open air was afforded by courtyard of
the kind described in 'Plckwick.' There
was dim twilight. the courtyard was light
ed by torches, from which arose Il thick
smoke; and my informant told me that Ii
was impossible for those reasons to fol-
low the movements of the man who climbed
the rope for more than two-thirds of the
way. and leave the inference-it was OBJ
vious enough-to people who are not hesot-
ted with the notion of an impossible magic.
Il
imagine that If they submit the facts to
Mr. Maskelyne, he will confirm me in my
opinion"
Where is the explanation? Mr.. Pollock
does not say or suggest that the rope was
caught and fastened, and if it was not the
miracle remains inexplicable as ever
A man can no more so UP two-thirds of a
rope flung into the air, or, for that matter
TWO feet OF 1t, than he could so up it's whole
length, or a mile into the heavens Mr.
Pollock forgets that the vanishment is not
the whole of the miracle. but a bit of it, the
first bit and biggest bit being the ascent of
a rope without an end-a sheer IMPOSSIBLE
ty. His friend, Of course, may have seen q
mere trick of acroba tism though the nar-a-
tive does not suggest 1t, but il is quite GER
tain that the Indian accounts indicat more
than this. and that. in particular, any one
who had played such trick on the ernne-
for would have lost his head in five min.
utes.
Perhaps an Optical DeiusiOn.
II the performance was ever witnessed at
all by anybody some explanation different
from that would seem to be impera tive For
our own parts, we do not believe that any
body ever saw it, and that the one or two,
including the emperor, who thought they
did were victims of suggestion transmit
tel 10 the brain by hypnotizer who had
uncCnsclously to themselves, mastered
them. 1t is, however, just conceivable that
there IS physical explanation 1t is lust
possible, though most improbable that one
of the juggling families has discovered the
secret o. projecting a picture on a fog--a
thing actually done here in London-and
projects picture of a man climbing on To a
column OF whitish smoke. which, with all
eyes staring upward, would conceal the fail
of a thin rope. 1t is difficult TO imagine
such discovery in native hands; but il
may have occurred, and If 1t did, it would
be handed down for generations without
spreading, and it would explain pretty COM
pleteiy what yet remains the least ex-
plicabe Of the ''marvels of the east"