<SPAN name="startofbook"></SPAN>
<h1> MIRACLE MONGERS AND THEIR METHODS </h1>
<br/>
<h4>
A COMPLETE EXPOSE' OF THE MODUS<br/>
OPERANDI OF FIRE EATERS, HEAT<br/>
RESISTERS, POISON EATERS, VENOMOUS<br/>
REPTILE DEFIERS, SWORD SWALLOWERS,<br/>
HUMAN OSTRICHES, STRONG MEN, ETC.<br/>
</h4>
<br/>
<h3> BY </h3>
<h2> HOUDINI </h2>
<br/>
<h4>
AUTHOR OF "THE UNMASKING OF ROBERT HOUDIN," ETC.
</h4>
<br/><br/>
<h3> AFFECTIONATELY DEDICATED<br/> TO MY LIFE'S HELPMATE,<br/> WHO STARVED AND STARRED WITH ME<br/> DURING THE YEARS WE SPENT<br/> AMONG "MIRACLE MONGERS"<br/> My Wife<br/> </h3>
<br/><br/><br/>
<h3> PREFACE </h3>
<p>"All wonder," said Samuel Johnson, "is the effect of novelty on
ignorance." Yet we are so created that without something to wonder at
we should find life scarcely worth living. That fact does not make
ignorance bliss, or make it "folly to be wise." For the wisest man
never gets beyond the reach of novelty, nor can ever make it his boast
that there is nothing he is ignorant of; on the contrary, the wiser he
becomes the more clearly he sees how much there is of which he remains
in ignorance. The more he knows, the more he will find to wonder at.</p>
<p>My professional life has been a constant record of disillusion, and
many things that seem wonderful to most men are the every-day
commonplaces of my business. But I have never been without some
seeming marvel to pique my curiosity and challenge my investigation. In
this book I have set down some of the stories of strange folk and
unusual performers that I have gathered in many years of such research.</p>
<p>Much has been written about the feats of miracle-mongers, and not a
little in the way of explaining them. Chaucer was by no means the
first to turn shrewd eyes upon wonder-workers and show the clay feet of
these popular idols. And since his time innumerable marvels, held to
be supernatural, have been exposed for the tricks they were. Yet
to-day, if a mystifier lack the ingenuity to invent a new and startling
stunt, he can safely fall back upon a trick that has been the favorite
of pressagents the world over in all ages. He can imitate the Hindoo
fakir who, having thrown a rope high into the air, has a boy climb it
until he is lost to view. He can even have the feat photographed. The
camera will click; nothing will appear on the developed film; and this,
the performer will glibly explain, "proves" that the whole company of
onlookers was hypnotized! And he can be certain of a very profitable
following to defend and advertise him.</p>
<p>So I do not feel that I need to apologize for adding another volume to
the shelves of works dealing with the marvels of the miracle-mongers.
My business has given me an intimate knowledge of stage illusions,
together with many years of experience among show people of all types.
My familiarity with the former, and what I have learned of the
psychology of the latter, has placed me at a certain advantage in
uncovering the natural explanation of feats that to the ignorant have
seemed supernatural. And even if my readers are too well informed to
be interested in my descriptions of the methods of the various
performers who have seemed to me worthy of attention in these pages, I
hope they will find some amusement in following the fortunes and
misfortunes of all manner of strange folk who once bewildered the wise
men of their day. If I have accomplished that much, I shall feel amply
repaid for my labor.</p>
<P CLASS="noindent">
HOUDINI.</p>
<br/><br/><br/>
<h2> CONTENTS </h2>
<h3> CHAPTER </h3>
<P CLASS="contents">
<SPAN HREF="#chap01">I.</SPAN> Fire worship.—Fire eating and heat resistance.—The Middle
Ages.—Among the Navajo Indians.—Fire-walkers of Japan.—The Fiery
Ordeal of Fiji</p>
<P CLASS="contents">
<SPAN HREF="#chap02">II.</SPAN> Watton's Ship-swabber from the Indies.-Richardson, 1667.—De
Heiterkeit, 1713.—Robert Powell, 1718-1780.—Dufour,
1783.—Quackensalber, 1794</p>
<P CLASS="contents">
<SPAN HREF="#chap00">III.</SPAN> The nineteenth century.—A "Wonderful Phenomenon."—"The
Incombustible Spaniard, Senor Lionetto," 1803.—Josephine Girardelli,
1814.—John Brooks, 1817.—W. C. Houghton, 1832.—J. A. B. Chylinski,
1841.—Chamouni, the Russian Salamander, 1869.—Professor Rel Maeub,
1876. Rivelli (died 1900)</p>
<P CLASS="contents">
<SPAN HREF="#chap04">IV.</SPAN> The Master—Chabert, 1792-1859</p>
<P CLASS="contents">
<SPAN HREF="#chap05">V.</SPAN> Fire-eating magicians. Ching Ling Foo and Chung Ling
Soo.—Fire-eaters employed by magicians: The Man-Salamander, 1816.-Mr.
Carlton, Professor of Chemistry, 1818.—Miss Cassillis, aged nine,
1820. The African Wonder, 1843.—Ling Look and Yamadeva die in China
during Kellar's world tour, 1877.—Ling Look's double,
1879.—Electrical effects, The Salambos.—Bueno Core.—Del
Kano.—Barnello.—Edwin Forrest as a heat-resister—The Elder Sothern
as a fire-eater.—The Twilight of the Art</p>
<P CLASS="contents">
<SPAN HREF="#chap06">VI.</SPAN> The Arcana of the fire-eaters: The formula of Albertus
Magnus.—Of Hocus Pocus.—Richardson's method.—Philopyraphagus
Ashburniensis.—To breathe forth sparks, smoke and flames.—To spout
natural gas.—Professor Sementini's discoveries.—To bite off red-hot
iron.—To cook in a burning cage.—Chabert's oven.—To eat coals of
fire.—To drink burning oil.—To chew molten lead.—To chew burning
brimstone.—To wreathe the face in flames.—To ignite paper with the
breath.—To drink boiling liquor and eat flaming wax</p>
<P CLASS="contents">
<SPAN HREF="#chap07">VII.</SPAN> The spheroidal condition of liquids.—Why the hand may be dipped
in molten metals.—Principles of heat resistance put to practical uses:
Aldini, 1829.—In early fire-fighting.—Temperatures the body can endure</p>
<P CLASS="contents">
<SPAN HREF="#chap08">VIII.</SPAN> Sword-swallowers: Cliquot, Delno Fritz, Deodota, a
razor-swallower, an umbrella-swallower, William Dempster, John Cumming,
Edith Clifford, Victorina</p>
<P CLASS="contents">
<SPAN HREF="#chap09">IX.</SPAN> Stone-eaters: A Silesian in Prague, 1006; Francois Battalia, ca.
1641; Platerus' beggar boy; Father Paulian's lithophagus of Avignon,
1760; "The Only One in the World," London, 1788; Spaniards in London,
1790; a secret for two and six; Japanese training.—Frog-swallowers:
Norton; English Jack; Bosco; the snake-eater; Billington's prescription
for hangmen; Captain Veitro.—Water spouters; Blaise Manfrede, ca.
1650; Floram Marchand, 1650</p>
<P CLASS="contents">
<SPAN HREF="#chap10">X.</SPAN> Defiers of poisonous reptiles: Thardo; Mrs. Learn, dealer in
rattle-snakes.—Sir Arthur Thurlow Cunynghame on antidotes for
snake-bite.—Jack the Viper.—William Oliver, 1735.—The advice of
Cornelius Heinrich Agrippa, (1480-1535).—An Australian snake
story.—Antidotes for various poisons</p>
<P CLASS="contents">
<SPAN HREF="#chap11">XI.</SPAN> Strongmen of the eighteenth century: Thomas Topham (died, 1749);
Joyce, 1703; Van Eskeberg, 1718; Barsabas and his sister; The Italian
Female Sampson, 1724; The "little woman from Geneva," 1751; Belzoni,
1778-1823</p>
<P CLASS="contents">
<SPAN HREF="#chap12">XII.</SPAN> Contemporary strong people: Charles Jefferson; Louis Cyr; John
Grun Marx; William Le Roy.—The Nail King, The Human Claw-hammer;
Alexander Weyer; Mexican Billy Wells; A foolhardy Italian; Wilson;
Herman; Sampson; Sandow; Yucca; La Blanche; Lulu Hurst.—The Georgia
Magnet, The Electric Girl, etc.; Annie Abbott; Mattie Lee Price.—The
Twilight of the Freaks.—The dime museums</p>
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