Montour American. (Danville, Pa.) 1866-1920, 1907-10-24
ANCIENT TR|CKSTERS.
Queer Coniuring Feats of the
Seventeenth Century.
SOME QUAINT OLD RECIPES
Little Experiments In Which Boiling
Heads OFF Living Animals Was an
ineident-How They Killed . Horse
and Cured Him Again.


ineident-How They Killed Horse
and Cured Him Again.
Conjurers in ancient times were not
very respectable members of society.
When successful they enjoyed the rep
utation of having sold their souls to the
evil one and when Of inferior ability
they gained notoriety by being either
drowned or burned. The medieval
magicians as well as the Egyptian
magi and the Chaldean sages were only
a strange mixture of chemist, conjurer
and charlatan, and as these gentlemen
were in the habit Of using their sup
posed occult powers to their own ad-
vantage they were naturally unpopu-
lar. The feats of jugglery performed
by these craftsmen were intended for
the mystification and not the amuse
ment of the public, and for centuries
conjuring had to it only black side.
The amateur conjurer Of today is not
always popular individual, save with
children and the unsophisticated yokels.
To the general public he is merely q
bore of greater or less magnitude,
whose performance is so obvious as to
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 tread
ing close upon the heels of the magi-
clans and in the days when witchcraft
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 q
wizard.
In the middle of the seventeenth
century, in the earliest years of the
restoration, a number of tricks were
published in one of those facetious
books which seem to have occupied
the press to a great extent at this time,
but which owing to their popularity
have for the most part perished. The
chief recommendation of the greater
number of these tricks Is that no ap-
paratus beyond the utensils of every
day life is necessary; also 1T is sug-
gested to the performer that he can
make some small profit out of his en-
tertainment by prevailing on his audi
ence to bet with him on the result of
the trick.
"To set a horses or an asses head
/ upon a mans head and shoulders"
seems impossible out of the land of
/ Faery, but we are informed that by
! boiling the head cut off n living
animal the flesh boyd may runne
/ into oyle," and then by mingling the
4 hair beaten into powder with this
/ oil and amounting the heads of the
standcrs-by they shall seem to have
/ horses or asses heads"-a costly eX.
/ pertinent and fearsome If successful.
/ But, besides this one can make peo
/ pie seem headlcssc," and this without
/ bloodshed and by the following simple
recipe: Break arsenick very fine and
/ boyle 1t with sulphur in a cover'd pot
and kindle it with new candle, and
the standers-by will seem to be head
lesse" Doubtless strong imagina
tion is necessary for success.
} Some of the tricks are such as would
nowadays cause the performer to be
disliked, to put it mildly. For instance
have nut filed with ink and give
this unto another and bid him crack Il
and see what he can find in that
which being done will cause much
laughter"
ITO keep 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 rec
/ Herring, and when the Tapster is alb
sent do but rub little on the inside
of his pots, and he will not be able tC
froth them, do what he can, in q
good while after"
"To counterfeit diamond with 8
! white saphlr" Is a most useful accom-
plishment but the fraud Is likely IN
these days to he discovered and is
more a chemical experiment than q
trick
Several tricks are recommended
which have animals as their subject
and are for the most part brutal to
our modern ideas. Perhaps the least
Objectionable is ito seem to kill q
Horse and cure him again." which
may be thus accomplished:
"Take the seed of henbane and give
| 1t the Horse In his Provender. and IL
| will cast him into such q deep sleep
that he will seem dead. If you will
recover him again, rub his Nostrils
with Vinegar, and he will seem to be
revived" The 'seem to be revived
sounds rather ominous, and 1t is to be
noted that the correct quantity of hen
bane is not mentioned. so that it might
be best to make this experiment on
| some one elses horse.
ITO make a shoal of Goslings draw
| a Timber logge" sounds interesting,
but unfortunately the directions are
vague ITO make a shoal of Goslings
or a Gaggle of Geese to seem to draw
a Timber logge is done by the verie
means that is us'd when Cat draws
a fool through a Pond, but handled
somewhat further off from the Be
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