class="center blankabove">CHAPTER I.

Mysterious Disappearances. “Vanity Fair”—“After the Flood”—“The Magic Palanquin”—“Cassadaga Propaganda”—“The Appearing Lady”—“The Disappearing Lady”—“The Mysterious Trunk”—“The Indian Basket Trick”—“Decapitation”—“Spiritualistic Ties,” 27 CHAPTER II. Optical Tricks. The “Cabaret du Neant”—The Three-Headed Woman—“Amphitrite”—“The Mystery of Dr. Lynn”—“Black Art”—The Talking Head—The Living Half-Woman—“She”—“The Queen of Flowers”—The “Decapitated Princess”—“Stella”—Houdin’s Magic Cabinet—A Mystic Maze—Platinized Glass—Statue giving a Double Image, 55 CHAPTER III. Miscellaneous Stage Tricks. “Trilby”—The “Haunted Swing”—The “Scurimobile”—The Neoöccultism—“The Mask of Balsamo”—The Invisible Woman—Magic Harps, 89 CHAPTER IV. Conjuring Tricks. Trick with an Egg and a Handkerchief—The Cone of Flowers—The Magic Rosebush—“Magic Flowers”—The “Birth of Flowers”—Tricks with a Hat—A Cake Baked in a Hat—The Egg and Hat Trick—Multiplication of Coins—Magic Coins—The Dissolving Coin—The Spirit Slates—Second Sight—Magic Cabinets—The Traveling Bottle and Glass—Disappearance of an Apple and a Ninepin—A Goblet of Ink Converted into an Aquarium—The Invisible Journey of a Glass of Wine—The Wine Changed to Water—The Animated Mouse—The Sand Frame Trick—Houdin’s Magic Ball, 105 CHAPTER V. Jugglers and Acrobatic Performances. Jugglers—The Leamy Revolving Trapeze—Walking on the Ceiling Head Down—The Mysterious Ball, 139 CHAPTER VI. Fire Eaters and Sword Tricks. Fire Eaters, Tricks with Fire—A Stab through the Abdomen—The Human Target—Sword Swallowers—Sword Walker—Dancers on Glass, 149 CHAPTER VII. Ventriloquism and Animated Puppets, 164 CHAPTER VIII. Shadowgraphy. Shadowgraphy—French Shadows, 173 CHAPTER IX. Mental Magic. Robert Heller—Second Sight—The Baldwins and Second Sight—Silent Thought Transference, 184 BOOK II. ANCIENT MAGIC. CHAPTER I. Temple Tricks of the Greeks. Puppet Shows among the Greeks—The Shrine of Bacchus—The First Automobile Vehicle—The Statue of Cybele—Marvelous Altars—The Machinery of the Temples—Sounding of Trumpets when a Door was Opened—Opening and Closing Doors when a Fire was Lighted on the Altar—Invention in 1889 A.D. vs. Invention B.C.—An Egyptian Lustral Water Vessel, 203 CHAPTER II. Miraculous Vessels of the Greeks. The Dicaiometer—Miraculous Vessels—Magical Pitchers—Apparatus for Permitting the Mixing of Wine and Water in Definite Proportions—The Magical Bottle—Ancient Organs, 221 CHAPTER III. The Origin of the Steam Engine. The Eolipile of Heron—Heron’s Marvelous Altar—Heron’s Tubular Boiler, 234 CHAPTER IV. Greek Lamps, Toys, etc. Perpetual Lamps—An Ancient Automaton—A Greek Toy—The Decapitated Drinking Horse—Odometers, 239 BOOK III. SCIENCE IN THE THEATER. CHAPTER I. Behind the Scenes of an Opera House—The Ordinary Stage—The English