The Book of Magic; Being a Simple Description of Some Good Tricks and How to Do Them, with Patter

by Archie Frederick Collins

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1916 ...PART II "I can call spirits from the vasty deep." Shakspere. DON CARVER'S Up-to-datb Seance Of Spiritualism And Theobopht Introducing 1. Blade's Spirit Slates. 2. Hume's Table Lifting. 3. Fay's Cabinet Seance and 4. The Materialization of Etherea. During this act modern science is in mortal combat with spookism and the chicaneries of fraudulent mediums are exposed. PART III DON CARVER IN His Famous Silhouettes Substance And Shadow in which his fingers turn into a menagerie. PART IV The Classic Manipulator DON CARVER A Cataract or Mystical Surprises Wherein the ghost of Cagliostro will play a prominent part. CHAPTER VI SECOND SIGHT EXPEEIMENTS Second sight, telepathy and thought transference are about the same thing in that all of them have to do with the impressions that one mind is supposed to be able to transmit to another mind at a distance and without the use of any of the physical senses. To the Chevalier Pinetti, a magician of renown in the latter part of the eighteenth century, is due the credit of having invented the act that is now known as second sight. In the middle of the nineteenth century the famous French conjuror, Eobert-Houdin, devised a very perfect system in which he introduced his young son as being "gifted with a marvelous second sight and who will, after his eyes have been blindfolded, designate every object presented to him by the audience." Eobert-Houdin led his audience to believe that the bond between himself and his son was due to animal magnetism. Eobert Heller and his sister improved on Eobert-Houdiu and his son's second sight act, but instead of attributing her remarkable powers to animal magnetism he explained to his audiences that she was a gifted clairvoyant. Many second-sight systems have been invented s...

40 pages, Paperback

First published August 25, 2010

About the author

Archie Frederick Collins, who generally went by A. Frederick Collins, was a prominent early American experimenter in wireless telephony and prolific author of books and articles covering a wide range of scientific and technical subjects.