The Florence daily tribune., 1898-06-28
ANCIENT TRICKSTERS
QUEER cONJuRlNG FEATs OF THE
SEVENTEENTH CENTURY.

Little Experiments In Which Bo.iing the
Heads or Living Animals Was . Ncccs-
sary Adjunot-How They Killed Horse
and Cured Him Again.
Conjurers In ancient times were not
very respectable members of society
when successful, they enjoyed the rcpu-
tation of having sold their souls to tho
evil one, and when of inferior ability
they gained notoriety by being either :
drowned or burned. Tho medieval ma
gicians as well as the Egyptian magi
and the Chaldean sages were only a
strange mixture of chemist. coniurer
and charlatan, and Us these gentlemen
were in the habit Of using their sup
posed occult powers to their own advan-
tage they We're naturally unpopular.
The fcats of jugglery performed by
these craftsmen were intended for the
mystification and not the amusement of
the public, and for centuries conjuring
had to it only Il black side.
The amateur conjurer of today is not
always popular individual, save with
children and the unsophistocated yokel
To the general public he is merely "a
bore of greater or less magnitude, whose
performance is so obvious as 20 deceive
no one. 1t is hard to realize that this
person is no mere mushroom growth of
modern society, but in point of fact his
role is one of respectable antiquity,
for he is to be found heading close upon
the heels of the magiG.Gas and in the
days when wituhcraft was still rampant.
This is significant of his reputation
even in those early times, for had any
one taken his tricks seriously he would
doubtless have been run to earth and
done to death as wizard.
In the middle of the seventeenth CEN
tury, in the earliest years of the res
toration, number of tricks were pub
lished in one of those facotious books
which scem to have occupied tho pross
to great extent at this time, but
which, owing to their popularity, have
for the most part perished The chief
Recommendation to the greater number
Of these tricks is that no apparatus be-
yond the utensils of everyday lifo is
necessary. Also it is suggested to the
performer that he can make some
small profit out of his entertainment by
prevailing on his audience to bet with
him on the result of the trick
''To set horses or an asses head
upon n mal,'s head and shoulders
seems impossible out of tho land of
Faery, but we are informed that by
boiling the head cut off from u living
animal, 1.-THE flesh boyl'd mny runne
into oyle," and then by mingling the
hair beaten into powder with this oil
and amounting the heads of the standers
by, they shall seem to have horses or
asses heads"--a costly experiment and
fearsome if successful.
But. besides this, one can make peo-
pie seem headlesse. and this without
bloodshed and by the following simple
receipt: " Break arsenick very line, aud
boyle it with sulphur in a cover'd pot,
and kindle it with new candle, and
tho standers-by will seoin to be head
lesse." Dosbtless II strong imagination
is necessary for success.
Some of the tricks are such ms would
nowadays cause the performer to be
disliked, to put it mildly. For instance,
'have nut filled with ink, and give
this unto another and bid him crack it
and see what he can find in that"
which being done twill cause much
laughter. "
"To keep n Tapster from frothing his
Pots" must have been an amusement to
the wags of the period, and for this
provide in readinesse the skin of red
Herring. and when the Tapster is absent
do but rub a little ON the inside of his
pots, and he will not be able to froth
them, do what he can. in good whilo
after. +"
''To counterfeit diamond with
white saphii-" is most useful accom-
plishment, but the fraud is likely in
these days to be discovered and is moro
u chemical experiment than trick.
Several tricks are recommended which
have animals ms their subject and arc
for the most part brutal to our modern
ideas. Perhaps the least objectionable
is ito seem to kill Horse and cure him
again, which may be thus accom-
plished:
Take the seed of henbane and give
it the Horse i'll his Proyender, and it
will cast him into such u deep sleep
that he will seem dead. If you VIII re-
cover him again, rub his Nostrils with
Vinegar, and he will seem to be re-
vived. The "seem to be revived"
sounds rather ominous, aed it is to bo
noted that the correct quantity of hen
bane is not mentioned, so that it might
be best to try this experiment on some
one else's horse.
ITO make a shoal of Goslings draw "a
Timber logge" sounds interesting. but
unfortunately the directions are vague.
10 make shoal of Goslings or Gag
gle of Geese to seem to draw Timber
logge is done by the verie means that
is us'd when Cat draws a fool through
Pond. but handled somewhat further
/ OF from the Beholders. . = London
Standard