284 LETTERS ON NATURAL MAGTC. 



which he wishes an answer, and having placed it 

 in a drawer ready to receive it, the drawer shuts 

 with a spring till the answer is returned. The 

 magician then rises from his seat, bows his head, 

 describes circles with his wand, and, consulting 

 the book as if in deep thought, he lifts it 

 towards his face. Having thus appeared to 

 ponder over the proposed question, he raises his 

 wand, and striking with it the wall above his 

 head, two folding-doors fly open, and display an 

 appropriate answer to the question. The doors 

 again close, the magician resumes his original 

 position, and the drawer opens to return the me- 

 dallion. There are twenty of these medallions, 

 all containing different questions, to which the 

 magician returns the most suitable and striking 

 answers. The medallions are thin plates of brass 

 of an elliptical form, exactly resembling each 

 other. Some of the medallions have a question 

 inscribed on each side, both of which the magi- 

 cian answers in succession. If the drawer is shut 

 without a medallion being put into it, or if a 

 blank medallion, viz., one which contains no 

 question, is put into the drawer, the magician 

 rises, consults his book, shakes his head, and 

 resumes his seat. The folding-doors remain 

 shut, and the drawer is returned empty. If two 

 medallions are put into the drawer together, an 

 answer is returned only to the lower one. When 

 the machinery is wound up, the movements 

 continue about an hour, during which time about 

 fifty questions may be answered. The method 

 by which the different medallions acted upon the 

 machinery, so as to produce the proper answers 

 to the questions which they bore, was of course 

 kept a secret by the inventor, but it was dis- 



