96 LETTERS ON NATURAL MAGIC. 

 A Fig. 13. 



its different parts from the mirror, the most 

 singular caricatures may be exhibited. If the 

 figure, for example, bends forwards his head and 

 the upper part of his body, they will swell in size, 

 leaving his lower extremities short and slender. 

 If it draws back the upper part of the body and 

 advances the limbs, the opposite effect will take 

 place. In like manner different sides of the head, 

 the right or the left side of it, the brow or the 

 chin, may be swelled and contracted at pleasure. 

 By stretching out the arms before the body they 

 become like those of an ourang-outang, and by 

 drawing them back they dwindle into half their 

 regular size. All these effects, which depend 

 chiefly on the agility and skill of the performer, 

 may be greatly increased by suitable distortions 

 in his own features and figure. The family like- 

 ness, which is of course never lost in all the 

 variety of figures which are thus produced, adds 

 greatly to the interest of the exhibition ; and we 

 have seen individuals so annoyed at recognising 



