Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1907-10-07
ANCIENT TRlCKSTERS.
Queer, Conjuring Feats of the Seven
teenth Century,


Conjurers in ancient times We're not
very respectable members of society
When successful they enjoyed the rep
utation Of having sold their souls to the
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 adj
vantage they were naturally unpOpu-
lar. The feats Of jugglery performed
by these craftsmen We're 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 a popular individual, save with
children and the unsophisticated yokels
To the general public he Is merely a
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 a
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 great extent at this time,
but which owing to their popularity
have for the most part persisted. The
chief recommendation of the greater
number of these tricks is that no APP
paratuS beyond the utensils of every
day life is necessary; also it 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.
ITO set 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 living
| animal "the flesh boyd may runne
| into Oyle," and then by mingling the
hair beaten into powder with this
oil and amounting the heads of the
I standers-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 headlesSe," and this without
bloodshed and by the following simple
recipe: Break arsenick very fine and
boyle II with sulphur in cOver'd pot
and kindle it with a new candle, and
the standers-by will seem to be head
Lessee" Doubtless a strong magma
ton 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,
shave a nut filled with ink and give
this unto another and bid him crack 1t
and see what he can find in that"
which being done Twill cause much
laughter
ITO keep a 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 alb.
sent do but rub little on the inside
of his pots, and he will not be able to
froth them, do what he can, In a
good while after"
"To counterfeit diamond with q
white saphir" is a most useful accom-
plishment. but the fraud is likely in
these days to be discovered and Is
more a chemical experiment than q
trick.
I Several tricks are recommended
which have animals as their subject
and are for the most part brutal tC
our modern ideas. Perhaps the least
Objectionable is 'to seem to kill 9
Horse and cure him again." which
may be thus accomplished:
''Take, the seed of henbane and give
1t the Horse in his Provender, and II
will cast him into such a deep SLEEP
that he will seem dead. If you will
recover him again, rub his Nostrils
with Vinegar, and he will seem to bt
revived" The "seem to be revived
sounds rather ominous, and it is to bt
noted that the correct quantity of hen
bane is not mentioned, SO that it nigh
be best to make this experiment OF
some one else's horse.
"To make a shoal of Goslings draw
Timber logge" sounds interesting
but unfortunately the directions ar,
vague. ITO make shoal of Costing.
or a Gaggle of Geese to seem to draw
Timber logge is done by the verb
means that is us'd when Cat draws
fool through Pond. but handled
somewhat further off from the Be
holders. "-London Standard.