422 



CONJURING 



The art of producing apparently supernatural 

 phenomena has been cultivated from remote an- 

 tiquity. The earlier professors of the art claimed 

 bond-jide supernatural powers ; and in ages when 

 the most elementary principles of physical science 

 were unknown beyond a very limited circle, it was 

 not difficult to gain credence for such a pretension. 

 The modern conjurer makes no such claim, but 

 tells the public frankly that his marvels are illusory,, 

 and rest either on personal dexterity or on some 

 ingenious application of natural principles. Of the 

 conjurers of remote antiquity we have few reliable 

 records ; though it is a tolerably safe conjecture 

 that the prestige of the ancient mysteries rested in 

 no small degree upon effects of natural magic. It 

 may also be gathered that the conjurers of old were 

 familiar with certain forms of optical illusion, in 

 which the use of plane and concave mirrors, and a 



Eartial anticipation of the principle of the magic- 

 intern, played prominent parts. Chaucer men- 

 tions illusions of his own day of which the above 

 seems the most probable solution. In the accounts 

 of very early writers, however, large deductions 

 must be made for the comparative ignorance of the 

 observer, and the desire, common to all narrators 

 of extraordinary occurrences, to make the marvel 

 as marvellous as possible. Perhaps the earliest 

 really trustworthy authority is Reginald Scot, 

 who in his Discoverie of Witchcraft (1584) has 

 enumerated the stock feats of the conjurers of his 

 day. The list includes swallowing a Knife ; burn- 

 ing a card and reproducing it from the pocket 

 of a spectator ; passing a coin from one pocket 

 to another ; converting money into counters, or 

 counters into money ; conveying money into the 

 hand of another person ; making a coin pass 

 through a table, or vanish from a handkerchief ; 

 tying a knot, and undoing it ' by the power of 

 words ; ' taking beads from a string, the ends of 

 which are held fast by another person ; making 

 corn to pass from one box to another ; turning 

 wheat into flour ' by the power of words ; ' burning a 

 thread and making it whole again ; pulling ribbons 

 from the mouth ; thrusting a knife into the head 

 or arm; putting a ring through the cheek; and 

 cutting on a person's head and restoring it to its 

 former position. Strange to say, many of these 

 feats, which were doubtless already old in the time 

 of Scot, are still performed, with more or less varia- 

 tion of detail, by conjurers at the present day. 



The conjurers of Scot's time, and even of much 

 later date, were accustomed, in order to facilitate 

 the substitutions on which a great part of their 

 tricks depended, to wear an apron with pockets, 

 known ( from its resemblance to a game-bag ) as the 

 gibeciere. A later school suppressed this tell-tale 

 article of costume, and used instead a table, with 

 cover reaching nearly or quite to the ground. This 

 table concealed an assistant, who Avorked most of 

 the required transformations, &c., either handing 

 the needful articles to the conjurer as he passed 

 behind the table, or pushing them up through traps 

 in the table-top. Conus the elder, a French con- 

 jurer who flourished at the close of the 18th cen- 

 tury, made a further improvement by discarding the 

 concealed assistant, and using an undraped table 

 with a secret shelf (now known as the servante) 

 behind it, on which his substitutions were made. 

 His immediate competitors did not follow his 

 example, a whole generation of later conjurers, 

 including Comte, Bosco, and Philippe, retaining 

 the suggestive draped table. Its death-blow, how- 

 ever, was struck by Robert Houdin (1805-71), with 

 whom about 1844 a new era began. His miniature 

 theatre in the Palais Royal was remarkable for the 

 elegant simplicity of its stage arrangements, and in 

 particular for the complete suppression of the boite 

 a compere ( ' wooden confederate ' ), as Robert Houdin 



sarcastically terms it. The new style took with 

 the public, and by degrees Robert Houdin's con- 

 temporaries found themselves compelled to follow 

 his example. 



To Robert Houdin belongs the credit of devising 

 some of the best-known and most ingenious pieces 

 of magical apparatus, as also that of the applica- 

 tion of electro-magnetism, then little understood, 

 to the production of magical effects. The well- 

 known magic drum, that beats without visible 

 drumsticks, the magic clock and bell, and the 

 chest, light or heavy at command, are all fruits of 

 his inventive genius. 



The most modern school of conjurers, following 

 the lead of Wiljalba Frikell, and at present repre- 

 sented by Hartz, Hermann, sBuatier de Kolta, Ver- 

 beck, Lynn, Bertram, &c., generally aim at pro- 

 ducing their magical results with the minimum of 

 visible apparatus. There are, however, signs of a 

 reaction in favour of more spectacular illusions, 

 such as those of Messrs Maskelyne and Cooke, in 

 which the resources of optical and acoustic, as well 

 as mechanical science, are laid under contribution 

 in aid of conjuring proper. See the articles MAGIC 

 and JUGGLERS. 



For practical information as to the methods of conjurers, 

 see Hoffmann's Modern Magic (6th ed. 1886) and More 

 Magic (1889); Sleii/ht of Hand, by Edwin Sachs (2d 

 ed. 1885 ) ; Kobert Houdin's Secrets de la Prestidigita- 

 tion et de la Magie ( 1868 ; reprinted in 1878 under the 

 title of Comment on dement Sorcier) and Maijie et 

 Physique Amusante (1877); and an anonymous work, 

 Recueil de Tours de Physique Amusante ( published by De 

 La Rue of Paris ). The three last-named works have been 

 translated into English by Hoffmann, under the titles of 

 The Secrets of Conjuring and Magic, The Secrets of Stage 

 Conjuring, and Drawini-room Conjuring respectively. 



Conkling, ROSCOE, American politician, born 

 in Albany, New York, 30th October 1829, was 

 admitted to the bar in 1850, sat in congress as a 

 Republican in 1858-62 and 1864-66, and was elected 

 to the United States senate in 1867, 1873, and 1879. 

 He was now an influential member of his party ; in 

 1876 he received ninety-three votes for the presiden- 

 tial nomination, and, in 1880, by his support of 

 Grant, and his personal opposition to Blaine, divided 

 the Republicans into two sections. In 1881 he and 

 his colleague suddenly resigned from the senate, 

 owing to a dispute with President Garfield on a 

 question of patronage, and sought re-election ; but 

 after a warm canvass, both were rejected, though 

 vigorously supported by Vice-president Arthur. 

 Conkling afterwards practised law in New York 

 city. He died 18th April 1888. 



Conil, LOUGH, a picturesque Irish lake in the 

 north of County Mayo, together with Lough Cullin 

 (from which it is separated by a narrow neck of 

 land), 13 miles long, and 1 to 3 broad. It lies in a 

 wild romantic region of hills, glens, rocky slopes, 

 precipices, broken ground, and bogs, contains many 

 islets, and has bold shores. 



CoilIiara'ceSB, a sub-order of Terebinthaceae, 

 including about 25 species, all tropical, of which 

 the most important is Omphalobium Lamberti of 

 Guiana, the source of the zebra-wood of cabinet- 

 makers. 



Oonnailght, the most westerly and the Smallest, 

 both in extent and population, of the four provinces 

 of Ireland. It is bounded N. and W. by the 

 Atlantic ; E. by Ulster and Leinster, from the 

 latter of which it is separated by the Shannon ; 

 and S. by Munster. It contains the counties of 

 Galway, Leitrim, Mayo, Roscommon, and Sligo. 

 Greatest length from north to south, 105 miles ; 

 greatest breadth, not including Achil Island, 92 

 miles. Area, 6863 sq. m. The west coast has 

 many fine bays and harbours, and the surface, 

 especially in the western half, is mountainous and 



