248 



LETTEKS ON NATURAL MAGIC. 



iron B, with a sledge hammer; and sometimes 

 two smiths cut in two with chisels a great cold 



Fig. 54. 



bar of iron laid upon the anvil. At other times 

 a stone of huge dimensions, half of which is 

 shown at C, was laid upon his belly, and broken 

 with a blow of the great hammer. 



4. The performer then placed his shoulders 

 upon one chair and his heels upon another, as 

 in Fig. 55, forming, with his backbone, thighs, 

 and legs, an arch springing from its abutments 

 at A and B. One or two men then stood upon 

 his belly, rising up and down while the performer 

 breathed. A stone, one and a half feet long, one 

 foot broad, and half a foot thick, was then laid 

 upon his belly, and broken by a sledge-hammer ; 

 an operation which may be performed with much 

 less danger than when his back touched the 

 ground, as in Fig. 54. 



