If a person who is in the secret holds the cord by its two extremities, things change, since the ball, far from falling, descends very slowly along the string, or even remains stationary, and does not move again until the operator allows it to. This trick, which was formerly performed by Robert-Houdin with a ball of large size, very much surprised spectators.
How does the affair work? That is explained in the section of the magic ball shown in the figure. In addition to the central aperture, there is another and curved one, which ends near the extremities of the axial perforation, and a person in the secret, while making believe pass the cord through the straight aperture, actually passes it through the curved one. It will now be apparent that it is only necessary to tighten the cord more or less in order to retard or stop the descent of the ball. To the left of the engraving is seen the magic ball thus suspended between the operator’s hands.
CHAPTER V.
JUGGLERS AND ACROBATIC PERFORMANCES.
JUGGLERS.
The tricks performed by jugglers afford a most wonderful example of the perfection that our senses and organs are capable of attaining under the influence of exercise.
The juggler is obliged to give impetuses that vary infinitesimally. He must know the exact spot whither his ball will go, calculate the parabola that it will describe, and know the exact time that it will take to describe it. His eye must take in the position of three, four, or five balls that are sometimes several yards apart, and he must solve these different problems in optics, mechanics, and mathematics instantaneously, ten, fifteen, twenty times per minute, and that, too, in the least convenient position—upon the back of a running horse, upon a tight-rope, upon a ball, or upon a barrel that he causes to revolve. His dexterity is wonderful. Many jugglers are content to perform their feats of skill with their hands, and, in addition, do balancing worthy of remark.
We can obtain experimentally some idea of the dexterity shown by a juggler by trying for ourselves the simplest of his tricks. Whoever is capable of throwing two balls into the air at once, and catching them in succession while standing steadily in the same spot, and without being obliged to step to the right or left, or undergoing contortions, is endowed with an undoubted aptitude for juggling. On the other hand, whoever can stand upright upon a rickety chair without any feeling of fear, or cross a country brook, not upon a tight-rope or wire (which would be too much to ask for a début), but upon a plank of two hands’ width, and do this without a quick palpitation of the heart, has an aptitude for tight-rope walking.
To perform with a couple of balls, however, is quite simple, and many children succeed in it after a few days’ practice. They proceed as follows: Having a ball in each hand, they throw the one in the right vertically into the air, pass into the right the one that is in the left and throw this up too, receive the first ball in the left hand, and pass it into the right, throw it up again, and so on; so that the two balls are almost constantly in the air, save during the time it takes to receive the ball with one hand and pass it into the other. If, instead of using both hands, the child employs but one, receiving and throwing one ball while the other is in the air, the difficulty is greater, and the young man who can perform this operation twenty times without dropping one of the balls can treat the artist of the circus as a confrère. To perform with three balls it is necessary to have been taught by a professor. Moreover, it should be remarked that the art of juggling has sufficient advantages as regards the development of the touch, the quick calculation of distances, the nimbleness of the fingers, and the accuracy of the eye and of motion, to cause it to be added to those gymnastic exercises which children are taught at school. It is to this art that the celebrated prestidigitateur Robert-Houdin attributed the dexterity and accuracy that he displayed in his tricks. In his memoirs, he relates that, while taking some lessons from an old juggler, he applied himself so closely to the exercises that at the end of a month he could learn nothing further from his instructor. “I succeeded,” says he, “in performing with four balls, but that did not satisfy my ambition. I wished, if it were possible, to surpass that faculty of reading by appreciation, which I had so much admired in pianists; so I placed a book in front of me, and, while the four balls were flying in the air, accustomed myself to read without hesitation. It could not be believed how much delicacy and certainty of execution this exercise communicated to my fingers, and what quickness of perception it gave my eye. After in this way rendering my hands supple and obedient, I no longer hesitated to directly practice prestidigitation.”
In order to keep their hand in, professional jugglers have to exercise daily, since a few days of voluntary or forced rest would necessitate double work in order to give the hands their former suppleness and dexterity. As is well known, the same is the case with the agility of the danseuse, with whom one day of rest often means more than eight days of double work.
Some jugglers perform with objects of the most diverse nature, throwing up, for example, at the same time, a large ball, an orange, and a piece of paper, and giving these articles of different size and weight such an impulsion that each falls and is thrown again at the moment desired. Some jugglers, as a support, use merely a simple wooden bar held vertically, and upon the top of which they perform their various feats of dexterity or contortion. It is the same apparatus formerly used by Greek acrobats, and, by reason of its form, called πεταυρον (perch for fowls). Some acrobats even balance themselves on the head at the top of this perch, with their legs extended in lieu of a balancing pole. Their arms are free, and they eat, drink, smoke, shoot off a pistol, perform with balls and daggers, and, in a word, perform the most diverse feats (Fig. 2).
Some jugglers are capable of performing extremely curious feats of dexterity with the most diverse objects; for example, with rings that they throw into the air, with hats that they revolve by striking the rim, or with a flag or napkin that they revolve. These hats and napkins no longer seem to obey the laws of gravity. Others, by means of a streamer, form helices and graceful curves; and others, again, by means of a simple bit of paper, succeed in reproducing the Japanese butterfly trick. Japanese maidens are noted for performing this with extraordinary grace and skill.
THE LEAMY REVOLVING TRAPEZE.
The application of mechanics to scenic and gymnastic displays has an interesting exponent in the revolving trapeze, an exhibition which, after attracting much attention in England, has come back to the United States.
In the smaller cut we illustrate the mechanism of the apparatus, while the performance executed upon the apparatus is shown in the larger cut. From the ceiling of the great auditorium is suspended a vertical three sided rectangular frame open at the bottom. In its lower extremity is journaled at the center a four-sided rectangular frame, from whose extremities two trapezes hang. To the upper side of the vertical frame is secured a bicycle, which, by gearing shown in the small cut, connects with the axle of the lower frame, so that when the cranks of the bicycle are worked the lower frame is turned round and round. It can be brought into accurate balance by means of shot. The whole apparatus, including the bicycle, is studded with incandescent electric lamps, and the performer who rides the bicycle wears a helmet carrying electric lights. The very striking performance is explained in great measure by the cut.
One of the performers sits on the bicycle and, turning the cranks, as if riding, keeps the lower frame in rotation, while two performers go through different evolutions on the trapezes thus carried around through the air. A switch board is placed at the head of the bicycle, and by manipulating switches the vari-colored electric lights are turned on and off so as to produce any desired effect. Independent of the high merit of the performance simply as gymnastics, the mechanical points are of value; for ease and safety of manipulation and security from any failure is an absolute essential. No one has anything to do with its operation except the three performers, so that it is constantly under their control. Where any attempt is made to operate such mechanism from behind the scenes, there is always a great liability of trouble or partial failure; but here the performer on the bicycle does all the work of actuating the mechanical portion and has every part under constant supervision and control, while the illuminated bicycle, located as it is at great height from the floor, is an added attraction. The length of the trapeze ropes, it will be observed, is so adjusted as to allow the performer to pass through the frame without touching it, and the absence of a center bar in the frame is necessary to the same end.
WALKING ON THE CEILING HEAD DOWN.
A performance of considerable scientific interest has been produced in this and other cities which is presented in the accompanying illustration.[1] In order to procure a perfectly smooth surface to walk on, a board twenty-four and one-half feet long is suspended from the ceiling, and near one end of this is a trapeze. The lower surface of the board is painted, and is smooth and polished. The performer, who is known as Aimée, the human fly, is equipped with pneumatic attachments to the soles of her shoes. Sitting in the trapeze with her face to the audience, she draws herself upward by the arms, and raises her feet until they press against the board. They adhere by atmospheric pressure. She leaves the trapeze, and hangs head downward, as shown. Taking very short steps, not over eight inches in length, she gradually walks the length of the board backward. She then slowly turns round, taking very short steps while turning, and eventually returns, still walking backward. This closes the performance.
[1] The performer ascends to the top of the audience hall and walks on the ceiling, head down. The ease with which it is apparently done is marvelous.
To provide against accident a net is stretched under the board. The performer has frequently fallen, but so far no serious accident has happened. There is a certain art in managing the fall, as, if the shock were received directly by the spinal column, it might be very severe.
The attachment to the shoe is, in general terms, an india-rubber sucker with cup-shaped adhering surface. It is a disk four and one-half inches in diameter and five-eighths of an inch thick. To its center a stud is attached, which is perforated near the end. This stud enters a socket fastened to the sole of the shoe. The socket is also perforated transversely. A pin is passed through the apertures, securing the hold between socket and disk. The socket is under the instep and is attached to the shank of the shoe sole.
A wire loop that extends forward under the toe of the shoe is pivoted on two studs which are secured on each end of the transverse central diameter of the disk. This loop is normally held away from the disk and pressing against the shoe sole by a spring. One end of the loop projects back toward and over the rear edge of the disk. A short piece of string is secured to the india rubber and passes through a hole in the extension, or rearwardly projecting arm, of the loop. The disk when pressed against a smooth surface is held fast by the pressure of the atmosphere. If now the loop is pressed toward the surface to which it adheres, the string will be drawn tight and will pull the edge of the india rubber away from the board. Air will rush in, and the adhesion will cease. As each new step is taken, one disk is made to adhere by pressure, and the other is detached by the action just described.
The power of the disk to sustain the weight of a performer may be easily calculated.
Each sucker is 41⁄2 inches in diameter, and contains therefore 16 square inches of surface. The full atmospheric pressure for the area would amount to 240 pounds. The stud and socket attachment provides a central bearing, so that the full advantage of this and the disk is obtained, and a fairly perfect vacuum procured. As the performer only weighs about 125 pounds, there is about 115 pounds to spare with a perfect vacuum.
THE MYSTERIOUS BALL.
At the circus of the Champs Elysées, at Paris, a performance was given a few years ago that would really put the sagacity of the spectators to the test, did not the performer explain it after his exhibition.
A ball, thirty inches in diameter, is brought into the ring and placed on top of a sloping bridge formed of two planks with an intervening platform (Fig. 1). All at once the ball begins to rock a little, and then moves to the edge of the platform, whence one might expect to see it roll immediately to the base of the inclined plane; but it does nothing of the sort. It stops at the edge and begins to descend with precaution. It seems to hesitate, passes over but a small space, then ascends a little, stops again, and then starts off again in fine style. When it has reached the base of the inclined plane, the lower extremity of which is about twenty inches from the ground, it stops, and then rapidly ascends to the top again. Here the mystery begins to be explained. All at once a flag is seen to make its exit through a small aperture, then a shot is fired from the interior; the ball is certainly inhabited. This we soon have proof of, for, after rolling rapidly to the base of the second inclined plane, it falls upon a cushion placed upon the ground, where a man steps forth from it. It is the clown Lepère. It is very surprising to see a man of such a stature (five feet) make his exit from so small a ball.
Although we have seen “india-rubber men” who could place themselves in so confined a space, we cannot compare their performance to that of M. Lepère, who not only places himself within his ball, but moves therein with a skill that is truly wonderful. It is necessary, in fact, to have a remarkable sense of equilibrium and remarkable suppleness to be able, in such a position, to continually displace the center of gravity of the ball and keep it always in the vertical plane passing through the axis of the bridge. Our second engraving shows how M. Lepère places himself. After the ball is closed, an equilibrium exists only when he is seated.
When he wishes to make his ball move forward, he must bend over and walk upon his hands and knees, after the manner of a squirrel in his wheel. But how many precautions have to be taken to make the axis of the body coincide with that of the bridge, so that the ball shall not fall from the inclined plane, which is but twelve inches wide! And what agility does it not require to react immediately against the velocity acquired after the ball, in consequence of a displacement, has begun to roll! Center of gravity, velocity, and inertia are principles of mechanics that exhibitions of strength and dexterity often put under contribution. Although clowns do not bother themselves much with learning the principles of mechanics upon which their performances are based, they apply them with wonderful dexterity and have a sort of instinct, a special aptitude, which permits them quickly to find the position of equilibrium. The performance that M. Lepère presents in so ingenious and new a fashion is an evident proof of this.
CHAPTER VI.
FIRE EATERS AND SWORD TRICKS.
FIRE EATERS—TRICKS WITH FIRE.
Burning is undoubtedly that kind of pain against which the human being most strongly revolts, and the fear of being burned is not confined to man alone, but exists also as an instinct in the entire animal kingdom. This fear, the horror of being burned, which is so powerful in men, accounts for the fact that in all times the wonder and curiosity of the public have been excited by those who are capable of handling burning coals or red-hot iron with impunity, or of touching molten metal, and by those who are proof against flames or burning water or oil. There are many examples in history of individuals who are more or less fireproof, and the trials by fire in ancient and mediæval times do not need to be cited here. It was not until about 1677 that the question of the proof of man against fire was looked at from a scientific standpoint. This was done by the physician Dodart, a member of the Academy of Sciences. These studies were provoked by the wonderful tricks which were being performed at that time in Paris by an English chemist named Richardson. Dodart explained that these experiments could be performed without the aid of any chemical preparation, by taking a few precautions, and also that the success of them depended upon the hardening that the epidermis may acquire under the influence of an oft-repeated action.
This hardening of the skin among laborers results in their frequently being able to handle red-hot iron and lighted coals with impunity. This, however, does not suffice to explain the tricks of those individuals who exhibit in public as fireproof. The experiments of the Italian physician and chemist, Sementini, have shown that there are preparations which, when put upon the skin, render the latter absolutely insensible to contact with fire or incandescent materials. His first experiments had no result; finally, after submitting himself to repeated friction with sulphurous acid, he was enabled to apply a red-hot iron to his skin with impunity. Continuing his experiments, he found that a solution of alum had the same property. One day, having accidentally rubbed soap upon the surface of a hand that had previously been impregnated with alum, he found that the hand was still further proof against fire. He then discovered that a layer of powdered sugar covered with soap sufficed to render his tongue entirely insensible to heat. After all these experiments Sementini succeeded in making himself much better proof against fire than was the charlatan who first suggested the experiment to him.
Fire eaters have always been very popular on the vaudeville stage, and we present an engraving showing two fire eaters at the Olympia Theater, Paris. When the performers appear upon the stage, they are clad in a tight-fitting costume of a red color which represents that of the devils of fairy scenes. The stage upon which they appear is but dimly lighted during their presence upon it. The devils, after making their bow, go to the rear of the stage, and put some preparations upon their hands; they come to the front of the stage and cause very thin but brilliant flames to dart from their fingers; bringing these flames near to their mouths, they seem to swallow them and then extinguish them between their teeth. When the two devils touch each other’s hands a crackling sound is heard, and long flames dart forth for a few seconds from the tips of their fingers, which they continuously move. They subsequently experiment without putting anything in their mouths; they blow with energy, and a brilliant flame makes its exit from between their lips. They shoot forth a bed of flame for a considerable length of time, which certainly exceeds half a minute. The combustion is due to a very volatile essence.
Certain eaters of burning tow proceed as follows: They form a little ball of material which they tightly compress and then light, and allow to burn up almost entirely. Then rolling this in new tow in order to guard the mucous membrane in the mouth against contact with the incandescent ball, they breathe gently, taking care while doing so to inhale only through the nose, and thus project smoke and sparks.
Another trick of the fire eaters is when they pretend to drink burning oil. A little kerosene oil is poured into an iron ladle. The oil is now lighted, and while the ladle is held in the left hand, an iron spoon is dipped into the oil as though to take a spoonful; but in reality the spoon is only wet, and when it is brought blazing to the mouth the operator throws back his head as though to swallow it, and at the same time a slight puff is given by the breath, which blows it out. This trick is very effective if well done, but the reader is especially cautioned against trying any experiments in tricks of this kind, as the results are apt to be dangerous except in the hands of experts. This will be seen by what is called the sponge trick. Two or three small sponges are placed in an iron ladle, gasolene is poured over them, only a sufficient quantity being used to wet them; they must in no case drip. The sponges are now set on fire, and the experimenter takes up one of them with his tongs, and, throwing his head back, drops the blazing sponge into his mouth. He expels his breath quickly all the time. Suddenly he closes his mouth; this cuts off the oxygen necessary for combustion, and the flame immediately goes out. Performers who present fire tricks for the amusement of a company frequently try experiments which give a ghastly appearance to the audience. This is done by pouring a few ounces of alcohol into a basin containing a handful of salt. When this is lighted the complexion of everyone is hideous. A slightly different effect is used by infusing saffron in alcohol for a number of hours, and then adding salt as before; it is usually poured upon tow which is lighted. There are some liquids that have the property of taking fire and burning without injuring the object upon which they are poured and without producing any painful sensation upon the skin. As a usual thing such liquids are very volatile and consist of essential oils, ether, etc. The reason that some substances can be burned without injuring them, or upon the skin without burning, are explained as follows: These substances are very volatile, and their tension is considerable, and, in reality, when they are burning, it is merely their vapor which is on fire. This vapor then tends to borrow heat from the liquid, whence the latter may remain at a relatively low temperature while the surface is on fire. This is a reasonable explanation of the curious phenomenon of the burning liquid.
SWORD TRICK—A STAB THROUGH THE ABDOMEN.
The sword employed is a simple, thin, flexible blade of steel, not at all sharp, and the plan of which is seen at A in the accompanying cut. The point is sufficiently blunt to prevent it from doing any harm.
As for the prestidigitateur, whose body the sword will simply pass around, but not pierce, he carries concealed beneath his vest a sort of sheath that consists of a tube of rectangular section, and semicircular in shape, and the two extremities of which are bent in contrary directions in such a way that they are situated in the same straight line, the two orifices opening in front and behind at right angles with the abdomen. This apparatus, B, is held in place by cords attached to two small rings at the two extremities of the tube.
It is the prestidigitateur himself who, appearing instinctively to grasp the point of the sword as if to protect himself, directs it into the metallic tube. It makes its exit between the tails of the coat. It might be made to come out at the center of the back, but in this case it would be necessary to have an aperture formed in the seam of the coat. The illusion produced is complete, seeing that the flexible blade straightens out on making its exit from the tube, on account of the form of the latter’s extremity. It is necessary to operate rapidly, so that the spectators shall not have time to see that the length of the sword has diminished at this moment, the curved line that it follows not being the shortest passage from one point to another.
The figure represents a variant of the trick in which the sword is provided with an eye through which a long red ribbon is passed, and which follows the blade when the latter is pulled out at the opposite side of the body.
THE HUMAN TARGET.
Japanese jugglers, as well known, are possessed of very extraordinary skill. A few years ago two of them performed the following feat, which required a wonderful dexterity. One of them stood, with arms extended, in front of a thick board placed vertically; and the other, armed with a number of wide-bladed knives, stationed himself at a distance of about six yards from the board, and from thence threw the knives with a sure hand and stuck one of them in the board just above the head of the target, two of them very close to the right and left of the neck, and others around the arms; in a word, he outlined the form of his companion with the knives stuck very deeply into the board. This performance met with extraordinary success, and an effort was at once made to reproduce it; but as such dexterity is not possessed by everybody, and as, in addition, the operation is dangerous, the following substitute was devised by M. Voisin for the use of prestidigitateurs.
JAPANESE KNIFE-THROWING EXECUTED BY MEANS OF A MECHANICAL DEVICE.
FIG. 2.—DETAILS OF THE MECHANISM THAT CAUSES THE KNIFE TO APPEAR.
The board that is employed in this case, instead of being, as in the genuine performance, a simple one, is a piece of cabinet work containing an ingenious mechanism. The place which the human target will occupy on this board is carefully marked, and the knives that are to be stuck into the board in succession around such place are contained in the cabinet work, which, at first sight and at a short distance, seems to be absolutely without preparation.
Each of these knives is fixed by its point upon a pivot. In addition, it is controlled by a spring, and is concealed within the board by a very finely adjusted double-valved window, which, at the proper moment, opens and allows it to appear, and then closes. The spring causes the knife to fall or rise according to the place that the latter is to occupy. No. 2 of the engraving shows the window opening to allow of the fall of the knife, which will appear as if stuck into the board just above the instep. In each of the valves the angles that meet each other are cut slopingly either at the top or bottom, according as the knife is to fall or rise, in order to make space for the blade when the valves are closed. Before the exit of the knife, the incision is closed with modeling wax the color of the wood. In our engraving the incision is at the bottom.
Naturally the knives are concealed in the board in such a way that on making their exit the field shall be free, and that they shall not come into contact with the limbs of the target. Each of these knives, with its window, forms a distinct apparatus, which is controlled by a rod that ends at the edge of the board just at the place where the fingers of the human target can reach them. It is he who, by pressing upon the ends of the rods as if upon the keys of a piano, causes the blades to come out of their place of concealment, one after another, and appear as if they had just stuck into the board. The sound made by the spring in expanding and the sudden appearance of the knife, combined with the motion of the person throwing it, affords a complete illusion. Let us add that each knife mounted on a pivot at its point, as we have explained, may be easily disengaged from its axis when, after the operation, the person who threw the knives makes believe to pull them out by force from the wood in which they seem to be inserted.
The board having been invented, it became necessary to find a method of throwing the knives in such a way as to cause them to disappear. To this effect the board is placed on one side of the stage, near the side scenes, and the person who throws the knives stations himself on the other side of the stage, near the opposite side scenes, and he can therefore act in two ways, viz., first, in poising his arms to take aim, he can, at the last moment, throw the knife between the side scenes back of him while he takes a step forward. The knife supposed to be thrown thus disappears completely at the desired moment, but, since the spectators do not see the flash of the blade, traversing the stage, it is preferable to employ the second method. This consists in a genuine throwing of the knife, but in such a way as to cause it to pass by the board and fall between the side scenes, where the sound of its fall is deadened by some such material as a piece of carpet. In both of these two methods, it is for the human target to press the spring of the knife that he wishes to make appear at just the precise moment, in order that the click of the expanding spring may be taken by the spectators for the sound of the knife sticking into the wood.
This trick, when well executed, has often deceived the shrewdest spectators, and that, too, with so much the more facility in that many had seen the Japanese perform in the middle of a circus, where it was impossible to conceal the knife, since it could be followed by the eye in its travel from the hand of the Japanese to the point where it penetrated the board.
To be precise, and to omit no information, let us say in conclusion, that there exist boards in which the freeing of the knives is effected by the pulling of a thread held in the side scenes by a third party. This process has the advantage that there is no danger of the spectators seeing the manipulation of the rods; but, on the other hand, it has its inconveniences, viz., in a place where a communication cannot be established between the invisible confederate and the mechanical board, the use of it is impossible, and it is necessary to employ the other method.
SWORD SWALLOWERS.
When a physician introduces his finger, the handle of a spoon, or a pencil into the throat of a patient, the latter experiences an extremely disagreeable sensation. Any touching of the pharynx, however slight it be, causes strangling, pain, and nausea, and the organ reacts with violence against the obstacle that presents itself to free respiration. There is no one who has not more than once experienced this disagreeable impression, and for this reason we are justly surprised when we meet with people who seem to be proof against it, and who, for example, introduce into their pharynx large, solid, and stiff objects like sword blades, and cause these to penetrate to a depth that appears incredible. It is experiments of this kind that constitute the tricks of sword swallowers.
These experiments are nearly always the same. The individual comes out dressed in a brilliant costume. At one side of him there are flags of different nationalities surrounding a panoply of sabers, swords, and yatagans, and at the other, a stack of guns provided with bayonets. Taking a flat saber, whose blade and hilt have been cut out of the same sheet of metal, the blade being from fifty-five to sixty centimeters in length, he introduces its extremity into his throat, taps the hilt gently, and the blade at length entirely disappears. He then repeats the experiment in swallowing the blade at a single gulp. Subsequently, after swallowing and disgorging two of these same swords, he causes one to penetrate up to its guard, a second not quite so far, a third a little less still, and a fourth up to about half its length, the hilts being then arranged as shown in our third illustration (C).
Pressing now on the hilts, he swallows the four blades at a gulp, and then he takes them out leisurely one by one. The effect is quite surprising. After swallowing several different swords and sabers, he takes an old musket armed with a triangular bayonet, and swallows the latter, the gun remaining vertical over his head. Finally he borrows a large saber from a dragoon who is present for the purpose, and causes two-thirds of it to disappear. As a trick, on being encored, the sword swallower borrows a cane from a person in the audience, and swallows it almost entirely.
A certain number of spectators usually think that the performer produces an illusion through the aid of some trick, and that it is impossible to swallow a sword blade. But this is a mistake, for sword swallowers who employ artifices are few in number and their experiments but slightly varied, while the majority really do introduce into their mouths and food passages the blades that they cause to disappear. They attain this result as follows:
The back parts of the mouth, despite their sensitiveness and their rebellion against contact with solid bodies, are capable of becoming so changed through habit that they gradually get used to abnormal contacts. This fact is taken advantage of in medicine. It daily happens that persons afflicted with disorders of the throat or stomach can no longer swallow or take nourishment, and would die of exhaustion were they not fed artificially by means of the œsophageal tube. This latter is a vulcanized rubber tube which the patient swallows, after the manner of sword swallowers, and through the extremity of which milk or bouillon is introduced. But the patient, before being able to make daily use of this apparatus, must serve a genuine apprenticeship. The first introduction of the end of the tube into the pharynx is extremely painful, the second is a little less so, and it is only after a large number of trials, more or less prolonged, that the patient succeeds in swallowing ten or twelve inches of the tubing without a disagreeable sensation.
The washing out of the stomach, performed by means of a long, flexible tube which the patient partially swallows, and with which he injects into and removes from his stomach a quantity of tepid water by raising the tube or letting it hang down to form a siphon, likewise necessitates an apprenticeship of some days; but the patient succeeds in accustoming his organs to contact with the tube, and is finally able, after a short time, to swallow the latter with indifference, at least.
With these sword swallowers it is absolutely the same; for with them it is only as a consequence of repeated trials that the pharynx becomes sufficiently accustomed to it to permit them to finally swallow objects as large and rigid as swords, sabers, canes, and even billiard cues.
Swallowers of forks and spoons serve an analogous apprenticeship. As known, the talent of these consists in their ability to introduce into the throat a long spoon or fork while holding it suspended by its extremity between two fingers. This trick is extremely dangerous, since the œsophagus exerts a sort of suction on all bodies that are introduced into it. The spoon or fork is, then, strongly attracted, and if the individual cannot hold it, it will drop into his stomach, whence it can only be extracted by a very dangerous surgical operation—gastrotomy. It was accidents of this kind that made the “forkman” and the “knifeman” celebrated, and, more recently, the “spoonman” who died from the effects of the extraction from his stomach of a sirup spoon.
All sword swallowers do not proceed in the same way. Some swallow the blade directly, without any intermediate apparatus; but in this case, their sabers are provided at the extremity, near the point, with a small bayonet-shaped appendage over which they slip a gutta-percha tip without the spectators perceiving it (F and G). Others do not even take such a precaution, but swallow the saber or sword just as it is.
This is the mode of procedure of an old zouave, especially, who has become a poor juggler, and who, in his experiments, allows the spectators to touch, below his sternum, the projection that the point of the saber in his stomach makes on his skin.
But the majority of sword swallowers who exhibit upon the stage employ a guiding tube which they have previously swallowed, so that the experiments they are enabled to perform become less dangerous and can be varied more. This tube, which is from forty-five to fifty centimeters long, is made of very thin metal. Its width is twenty-five millimeters, and its thickness fifteen (B). These dimensions permit of the easy introduction of flat-bladed sabers, among other things, and of the performance of the four-sabers experiment, and of the introduction of sabers and swords of all kinds.
To explain the latter from a physiological standpoint, the saber swallowed by the performer enters the mouth and pharynx first, then the œsophagus, traverses the cardiac opening of the stomach, and enters the latter as far as the antrum of the pylorus—the small cul-de-sac of the stomach. In their normal state these organs are not in a straight line, but are placed so by the passage of the sword. In the first place, the head is thrown back so that the mouth is in the direction of the œsophagus, the curves of which disappear or become less; the angle that the œsophagus makes with the stomach becomes null; and, finally, the last-named organ distends in a vertical direction and its internal curve disappears, thus permitting the blade to traverse the stomach through its greater diameter; that is to say, to reach the small cul-de-sac. It should be understood that before such a result can be attained the stomach must have been emptied through fasting on the part of the operator.
The depth of fifty-five to sixty centimeters to which these men cause their instruments to penetrate, and which seems extraordinary to spectators, is explained by the dimensions of the organs traversed. Such lengths may be divided thus:
Mouth and pharynx, 10 to 12; œsophagus, 25 to 28; distended stomach, 20 to 22—55 to 62 centimeters.
According to the stature of the individual, a length of organs of from 55 to 62 centimeters may give passage to swallowed swords without inconvenience.
Sword swallowing exhibitors have rendered important services to medicine. It was due to one of them—a swallower of both swords and pebbles—that, in 1777, a Scotch physician, Stevens, was enabled to make the first studies upon the gastric juice of human beings. In order to do this, he caused this individual to swallow small metallic tubes pierced with holes and filled with meat according to Reaumur’s method, and got him to disgorge them again after a certain length of time. It was also sword swallowers who showed physicians to what extent the pharynx could become habituated to contact; and from this resulted the invention of the Foucher tube, the œsophageal tube, the washing out of the stomach, and the illumination of the latter organ by the electric light.
It sometimes happens that sword swallowers who exhibit in public squares and at street corners are, at the same time, swallowers of pebbles, like him whose talents were utilized by Stevens; that is to say, they have the faculty of swallowing pebbles of various sizes, sometimes even stones larger than a hen’s egg, and that, too, to the number of four, five, or six, sometimes more, and of afterward disgorging them one by one through a simple contraction of the stomach. Here we have a new example of the modification of sensitiveness and function that an individual may secure in his organs by determination and constant practice.
In conclusion, let us say a word in regard to the tricks that produce the illusion of swallowed swords or sabers. One of these, which deceives only at a certain distance, consists in plunging the saber into a tube that descends along the neck and chest, under the garments, and the opening of which, placed near the mouth, is hidden by means of a false beard. Another and much more ingenious one, which has been employed in several enchantment scenes, is that of the sword whose blade enters its hilt, and which is due to M. Voisin, the skillful manufacturer of physical apparatus. In its ordinary state this sword has a stiff blade, eighty centimeters in length, which, when looked at from a distance of a few meters, presents no peculiarity (see D in our engraving); but when the exhibitor plunges it into his mouth, the spectator sees it descend by degrees, and finally so nearly disappear that but a few centimeters of the blade protrude. In reality, the blade has entered into the hilt, for it possesses a solid tip that enters the middle part, which is hollow, and these two parts enter into the one that forms the base of the sword. The blade is thus reduced to about twenty-five centimeters, a half of which length enters the hilt. There then remain but a few centimeters outside the exhibitor’s mouth, so that he seems to have swallowed the sword (see G and E). This is a very neat trick.
THE SWORD WALKER.
Of all the daring tricks that have been introduced in the circus, none have caused more comment than the one in which a person, generally a lady, walks with bare feet up a ladder of sharp swords, treading directly on the sharp edges without any injury to the feet.
It is amusing to a person who is acquainted with the secret to hear the many explanations of “how it is done” offered by the spectators, yet none of them ever come near guessing the truth. This secret has been so jealously and successfully guarded that very few, even among the best informed experts, know how it is performed.
From the illustration it will be seen how the swords are arranged in a rack with the cutting edges on top. The rack is usually about seven feet high, and eight swords are used. One of the most necessary points in the preparation for the trick is that the rack should stand firm, and the swords fit snug and tight in the slots made to receive them.
Usually the inspectors are invited to examine the rack as well as the swords, and paper is cut with the swords to show that they are really sharp. The secret is not in the swords or rack, but in the preparation of the performer’s feet. In a pint of water as much alum is dissolved as the water will readily take up. To the alum water is added as much zinc sulphate, thoroughly dissolved, as will lie on a silver dime.
A few minutes before doing the act the performer bathes the feet in this solution and allows them to dry without wiping. Just before leaving the dressing-room the feet are dipped for a moment in as cold water as can be secured, and at once wiped dry without rubbing.
By placing the feet squarely on the swords there is no danger, but great care must be used not to allow the foot to slide or slip on the sword, or the result would be a very bad accident.