276 



LETTERS ON NATURAL MAGIC. 



cupboards, the trunk N, and the space O behind 

 the drawer, are all connected together. 



The construction of the interior being thus un- 

 derstood, the chess-player may be introduced into 

 the chest through the sliding panel U, Fig. 74. 

 He will then raise the false back of the large 

 cupboard, and assume the position represented 

 by the shaded figure in Figs. 68 and 69. Things 

 being in this state, the exhibitor is ready to begin 

 his process of deception. He first opens the door 

 A of the small cupboard, and from the crowded 

 and very ingenious disposition of the machinery 

 within it, the eye is unable to penerate far beyond 



No. 68. 



No. 69. 



the opening, and the spectator concludes, without 

 any hesitation, that the whole of the cupboard is 

 filled, as it appears to be, with similar machinery. 

 This false conclusion is greatly corroborated by 

 observing the glimmering light which plays 

 among the wheelwork when the door B is opened, 

 and a candle held at the opening. This mode of 

 exhibiting the interior of the cupboard satisfies 

 the spectator also, that no opaque body, capable 

 of holding or concealing any of the parts of a 

 hidden agent, is interposed between the light and 



