Chapter I: Introduction

BY DR. PAUL CARUS

CHICAGO THE OPEN COURT PUBLISHING CO. KEGAN PAUL, TRENCH, TRÜBNER & CO., LIMITED. LONDON 1906

COPYRIGHT 1906 BY THE OPEN COURT PUBLISHING CO. CHICAGO

SKETCH OF HENRY RIDGELY EVANS.

“Henry Ridgely Evans, journalist, author and librarian, was born in Baltimore, Md., November 7, 1861. He is the son of Henry Cotheal and Mary (Garrettson) Evans. Through his mother he is descended from the old colonial families of Ridgely, Dorsey, Worthington and Greenberry, which played such a prominent part in the annals of early Maryland. Mr. Evans was educated at the preparatory department of Georgetown (D. C.) College and at Columbian College, Washington, D. C. He studied law at the University of Maryland, and began its practice in Baltimore City; but abandoned the legal profession for the more congenial avocation of journalism. He served for a number of years as special reporter and dramatic critic on the ‘Baltimore News,’ and subsequently became connected with the U. S. Bureau of Education, as one of the assistant librarians. In 1891 he was married to Florence, daughter of Alexander Kirkpatrick, of Philadelphia.”—National Cyclopedia of American Biography.

Mr. Evans is an ardent student of folk-lore, masonic antiquities, psychical research, and occultism. Many of his writings have been contributed to the Monist and Open Court. He is the author of a work on psychical research, entitled “Hours with the Ghosts,” published in 1897, and many brochures on magic and mysticism, etc.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

PAGE

Introduction by Dr. Paul Carus ix

History of Natural Magic and Prestidigitation 1

The Chevalier Pinetti 23

Cagliostro: A Study in Charlatanism 42

Ghost-making Extraordinary 87

The Romance of Automata 107

Robert-Houdin: Conjurer, Author and Ambassador 123

Some Old-time Conjurers 160

The Secrets of Second Sight 188

The Confessions of an Amateur Conjurer 201

A Day with Alexander the Great 215

A Twentieth Century Thaumaturgist 237

A Gentleman of Thibet 254

Magicians I Have Met 271

The Riddle of the Sphinx 318

Treweyism 331

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THE OLD AND THE NEW MAGIC