252 LETTERS ON NATURAL MAGIC. 



Fig. 59. 



It would lead into details by no means popular 

 were I to give a minute explanation of the mecha- 

 nical principles upon which these feats depend. 

 A few general observations will perhaps be suffi- 

 cient for ordinary readers. The feats Nos. 1, 2, 

 and 6, depend entirely on the natural strength of 

 the bones of the pelvis, which form a double 

 arch, which it would require an immense force to 

 break, by any external pressure directed to the 

 centre of the arch ; and as the legs and thighs 

 are capable of sustaining four or five thousand 

 pounds when they stand quite upright, the per- 

 former has no difficulty in resisting the force of 

 two horses, or of sustaining the weight of a can- 

 non weighing two or three thousand pounds. 



The feat of the anvil is certainly a very surpris- 

 ing one. The difficulty, however, really consists 

 in sustaining the anvil, for when this is done, the 

 effect of the hammering is nothing. If the anvil 



