The Red Cloud chief., 1896-06-12

W " hAiu w N"' GO
of science thrown upon il is the Ia
nous old trick Of conjuring, OF the
Iogis. the ascetic adopts" OF India. OF
planting a seed in a potful OF earth in
plain sight of a curious audience and
causing IL to grow within an hour into
a fiourishing plant, from which the dos
SONS could actually be plucked. scores
OF people of a veracity not TO be doubt
ed have seen this feat performed and
have been bafled at its wonders.
Some have tried to explain the mys-
terry by claiming extraordinary slelEht-
of-hand on the part OF the logis. ana
others have insisted that the trick
was the perfection of %hypnotism. NO
one who ever witnessed this seemingly
marvellous growth could be induced to
believe that the plant they finally saw
had actually grown within this short
time from the seed. 1t was either that
they had been ~hypnOti2ed, bound by
the viii of tho operator. and had imag-
ined that they had seen the plant grow
from momen to moment under the thin
cloth thrown over it. or else that by
some superb skill of legerdemain the
pot containing the seed had been spir-
tied away before their eyes and a i.ew
pot with a blCssoming plant set down
in its place at lightning speed.
A clear-hcaded. cold-blooded sclcn-
fist. however. demolished these theories
a short time ago, proving c~onclusively
that, whatever else il might be. the
plant-growing marvel was no fraud. At
a recent Yogi scanCe. to which he went
prepared. the aged magician planted
the seed and covered the spot with Il
cloth. and the man with a turn Tor
science snapped" his detective camera
at it.. \ moment or two later he took
another map shot and others at regu-
lar intervals of about three minutes
each. until the Yogi showed the flower
ing plant. The shutter Of the camera,
set by clock work, performed its ddty
faithfully.
With pains'ahinE care he then de-
veloped each plate. Ia each the cloth
covering the pot was clearly visible. In
only two. the first and the last. was
there a sign of any human figure. These
two plates showed the planting of the
seed and the throwing Of! of the cloth
exhibiting the already lowered plant
On ali the others there was simply the
image. without a blur. of the covered
pot. Only. showing amazingly that in
some strange way the plant had been
really forced to grow. the cloth. as il
was seen on each succeeding negative
was raised plainly a little higher. In
the series of plates there was a con
slant rise.
Thus il was made evident to all o.
British India that the plant trick" wa'
nc delusion, but some incompreh"nsi.
BILE marvel. SO far much was gained
but il remained for a clever french
savant, NJ. R%agsonoau, to dig out IN,
secret and to discover precisely the way
il was done.
The series Of photographs convinced
him that there was no fraud. AS a pre-
liminary to his study, he set about ex'
amining closely every detail of thi.
seeming miracle. There must be som,
science about IL If there Ia no trickery
he reasoned; some hidden principle OF
nature, or some chemical combination
mixed with the earth. not known tC
modern science as yet, and locked in The
breasts of these adopts for centuries
lie observed. first Of all, that tn,
YOgis never attempted the trick" IN,
less they had brought along CAREFUL,
guarded, some special earth or soil. Al
once ii struck him that the secret nigh
lay in this peculiar earth. But tn,
Yogis would not tel! him its nature
much as ne pleaded or divulge To hin
where II came from. More and NOR,
was he convinced that some strang,
quality of this earth was what made tn,
miracle possible. Finally by a system
Of bribery that loosened, at least, thu
tongues Of the corrupt Hindoo servant!
of the Ycgis, he learned that the mas
ter s'obtained the earth from ant hills
Puzzled more and more R%aggoneau per
s~istently experimental with ant-hii
earth that he collected with great trou
be. ignorant of what properties 4
might reveal. but sure that he was or
t,e right track.
A chance that was the result o.
carelessness, pure and simple, laid the
whole mystery bare TO him. While
experimenting, he got a small quantit.
OF tie earth, and several ants at thu
same time, into his mouth. 1t was ar
unpleasant moment, hut II gave him thu
solution of the problem. He detected
on the instant. the presence of an cIor
nous quantity Of formic acid in thi!
earth, worked into ii from the tiny
bodies of thousands of ants passing
over and through IT,, The soil wal
charged with formic acid, in fact, direc
from the ants.
A few experiments showed him .ha
this formic acid was the mysterious
subtle power, compelling the marvel
Gus growths. After a little he fount
himself perfectly able to do the Hindo'
trick. The entire secret proved to b.
that formic acid quickly eats away tn
integument surrounding a seed. TheI