Conjuring By Electricity
BY
G. G. LAURENS, C. E.
Compeer of The Society of American Magicians. Member of L’Association
Syndicate des Artistes Prestidigitateurs, France, etc.
American Correspondent of Le Journal de la Prestidigitation. Paris, France
"II n'y pas d'effets sans causes," says a French proverb, which means: "There are no results without causes"; an axiom that summarizes the basic philosophy of magic. Applied to electrical effects, this truth becomes negative, for whether or not we know that electricity is the cause of an effect, we, of the second decade of the twentieth century, do not yet know what electricity is; thus, whenever we witness such effects we witness "magic."
Man has wrestled from nature the secret of producing electric phenomena, he has even succeeded in measuring their intensity; he has harnessed them and he has converted them into mechanical results by means of certain contrivances and devices; it is to the operation of such contrivances for the purpose of producing mystifying effects that the present essay is devoted.
Students of magical history know that all arts and sciences were born of magic and were first applied by the wonder workers of past ages. It is not strange, therefore, but rather a proof of this broad assertion that electricity, as well as the earlier discoveries, should, from its very birth, have been exploited as magic and by magicians. "Magnetism" is the basis of all electrical results, and magnetism was exploited for conjuring purposes as soon as its properties were observed. It is even noteworthy that when magnetic phenomena were first discovered, the devotees of magic ascribed to them in their patter and in their publications, many properties that were mere presumption. Even to-day we hear expressions such as "animal magnetism," "telepathetic magnetism," "soul magnetism," and the like, and those who use such expressions are either pretenders to "supernormal" powers, or their followers, who believe in that sort of magic.
The most elementary exploitation of real magnetic effects that the writer has witnessed, took place many years ago, at a village kirmess in Europe. To the great surprise of the simple country folk, a duck made of wax and floating in a tub of water, turned in any direction ordered by the conjurer. The tub was standing upon a large empty barrel which in turn was fenced in by a railing. Further detail would be superfluous. The devotees of our art know that Robert Houdin's "spirit drum" was the parent of the electric bell; to this we could add that the hidden electro-magnet to which he refers in his description of the "light and heavy chest" was a precursor of the field magnets in our dynamos and motors, despite the facts known by any electrical expert that the nineteenth century did not produce electromagnets, with a lifting power such as he describes, and that no electromotive force sufficient to control such a magnet had ever been compounded at the time Houdin described.
During the last half century, electrical devices have been the secret of many conjuring effects; some were exploited, yet some secrets were buried with their innovators; others have been explained in treatises on conjuring and even extensively copied; and most of the latter are well known by the students of our art. Yet few people realize that such inventions were the result of much patient and repeated effort, and that magic as well as any other branch of inventiveness has left behind it the traces of its latter day martyrs. Our Compeer—Right Illustrious Francis Martinka, boasts the possession of a settee equipped with telegraphic hammers as a relic from the celebrated Robert Heller, who used it in his second sight seances at a time when telegraphy was a mysterious novelty. The Svengalis are said to have exploited the telephone in their mystic "thought transference" when telephones were somewhat rare, and the same is reported of many others who have presented similar acts; at this very moment, the writer knows several devotees of our art who are experimenting with "wireless transmission" for similar purposes and strange to say each thinks himself original at such an adaptation. Very Illustrious T. Francis Fritz, our genial compeer, is in possession of an old time gun, whereof the stock contains a concealed electro magnet for a purpose that no one has been able to fathom.
During a recent visit to Europe, it was the writer's good fortune to procure the exquisite mechanism in good order, of a relic which was undoubtedly a part of the first magic as well as the first electric clock. It was constructed about 1848 by a watchmaker named Van de Vyvere in a small city of Flanders called Thourout. Originally it consisted of a miniature mechanism fastened to the pivot of a glass clock dial, of large proportions; it controlled second, minute and hour "hands" in perfect time, the whole being set in motion by an invisible wire connected at a distance to the swinging pendulum of a Dutch clock. Towards 1860, Van de Vyvere's son, also a skillful mechanician, installed an electro-magnet between the pendulum strokes and the wires. For generations this clock was the mystery of the town, and there it was that the writer had first seen it in 1876. At his urgent solicitation, Van de Vyvere consented to expose its mysteries and it is the writer's belief that to this very day he has never inspected a more compact and ingenious piece of mechanism.
Recent publications on conjuring describe effects to be attained by the use of concealed electric devices; notable among them are: The spirit drum by Houdin; Spirit rappings, the Magic bell, and others by Professor Hoffman; the Demon candlesticks, A magnetic clock, Spirit chirography, etc., by Nevil Monroe Hopkins; stage effects such as "The electric torch and jewels," Siegfried's sword, etc., by Albert A. Hopkins. Many more could be quoted did not space forbid.
To produce an effect by the intermediary of electricity one must be provided, first—with the electric contrivance from which the actual effect results; second—the electromotive generating force to control said device (be it a battery, a magneto, a dynamo, or local currert) ; third—the circuit: an insulated wire which leads from one to the other and back again; fourth—the contact points or push buttons to open or to close the circuit. Electric circuits are of two kinds: those called "open," in which case the completion of the circuit causes the device to magnetise, and those called "closed," in which case the "breaking" of the circuit causes the appliance to demagnatise. Little need be said here about the latter requirements, they being identical in all electrical installations and many good treatises on that subject are obtainable.
Of prime importance are the devices and appliances, for it is by their intermediary that the hidden energy is to be exploited by the conjurer. By the proper selection and application of such devices, any conjuring effect known to result from mechanical means can be duplicated, and many additional effects not easily obtained through mechanical intermediaries can be produced by using electrical ones.
Let us briefly review and analyze some fundamental devices.
An "electro-magnet" is a piece of cast or of soft forged iron, around which insulated wire is "coiled" that is—wound in numerous and continuous layers that are parallel and in constant direction; when an electric current is caused to flow through such wires, the iron core becomes magnetised, but it ceases to be, just as soon as the current is interrupted. Mechanical results can be produced by suspending another piece of soft iron near the end or "pole" of an electro magnet—this will be "attracted" and will "let go" as the current is caused to "flow" or "interrupt." Electro magnets "coiled" in pairs upon a horseshoe or U-shaped core, generate a stronger combined magnetic "pull" than those coiled on a straight bar, and additional strength can also be obtained by compounding the core of a series of non-insulated rods closely bunched together. Electro-magnets as such are used mainly in conjunction with "low tension" currents, and most other electro-mechanical devices such as solenoids, induction coils, motors, etc., are based upon the same magnetizing principle. It is a fact of great importance in the construction of electro-conjuring apparatus, yet little known, that electro-magnets may be designed in most any shape, long and narrow, short and thick, straight, curved, square, etc., and that the desired "pull" may be obtained by proportioning the parts. The mechanical motion resulting from electro-magnets is limited. It rarely measures one-half inch, yet they have been exploited and are suitable for innumerable effects such as: Spirit rappings, spirit drums, spirit bells clock controls, releases for spring mechanisms, trap openers and closers, secret telegraphic signals, in fact any and all effects where a sudden or instantaneous result is desired.
Of even more importance is the "Solenoid." This is an electro-magnet so wound that the wires are coiled around a brass or other non-magnetizable tube, while the iron core is left movable; when current is "switched on," this core is pulled within the tube, while impelled by gravity or by a spring it returns to its original position as soon as the flow is interrupted. The mechanical motion obtainable from a Solenoid is far greater than that obtainable from a magnet, and it is to be wondered at that these by far more reliable and effective appliances are so seldom resorted to for effects in conjuring. All the results enumerated for electro-magnets may be produced with Solenoids, besides effects similar to those heretofore produced by the use of pedals, pulls, strings, sand and hydraulic escapes, etc.
The "Rheostat" is but an application of the solenoid, used in conjunction with powerful currents and so designed as to automatically increase and decrease the intensity of the current which controls another device. This modulation of current is produced by the switching "on" and "off" of a series of elements that absorb the intensity or rather that offer resistance to it. For conjuring purposes, the principle of rheostats may be applied to produce a rapid succession of climaxes, or to slacken the motion generated by a powerful solenoid, or by a motor.
"Induction" or "Ruhmkorff" coils have already been mentioned above. If one were to introduce inside the hollow tube of a solenoid an electro-magnet, or even another such coil of smaller dimension and wound in the same direction, it would be found that when a current is passed through the wires of the outer coil, those of the inner coil become "charged," but by an electric current of different intensity and quality. The inside current is called "induced" and the outside "inducting" currents, while the entire combination is an "induction coil."
These coils constitute the basic principle used for the production of "high frequency currents" and of Light effects such as the "X-ray," "the Geissler tube," etc.—some of which are referred to below. An electric circuit which is "opened" and "reclosed" in rapid succession while an otherwise continuous current flows through it, is rendered more intense by such intermittances. Various devices have been invented to put this property to use, the most elementary being called a "vibrator." This is merely a flat spring placed in such a position that its recoil makes and breaks "contacts." Outfits sold in the market under the name of "medical batteries" and fed by an ordinary portable "cell," are commonly constructed on this principle. A person who places himself or any part of himself within the circuit of such an outfit can feel the pulsations of the "vibrated" current, while in the more complete outfits the operator can increase or diminish the intensity by means of an induction coil. The writer refers to these because they can be and have been used with success for the purpose of creating a laugh at the expense of a startled victim. Some years ago the same principle was resorted to in side shows to exhibit a so-called "magnetic woman" "electric mermaid" and the like.
It has been found that the interruption of such a circuit causes visible and crackling sparks; when generated by a fairly intense outfit these are strong enough to light explosive or highly combustible substances such as illuminating gas, candles whose tips have been prepared with phosphorus, gun powder, handkerchiefs that have been dipped in alcohol, etc.
"Magnetos" are small dynamos; they consist mainly of a set of electro-magnets which are caused to rotate in juxtaposition to strong horseshoe magnets. This causes the poles to reverse from the positive leg of a magnet to the negative pole of the coil and vice versa, with the result that an electric current is produced in the wires of the main circuit. The intensity of a current thus generated depends on the speed in rotating and upon the proportioning of the parts. Currents generated by magnetos have properties similar to those generated by batteries in combination with coils and vibrators, and they may be substituted for them to produce identical results. So-called "medical batteries" are thus sometimes electrogenerating machines without batteries.
It is not within the scope of this paper to describe the construction of dynamos and motors; suffice it that the former are huge electro-magnets called "fields" under the induction of whose poles, coils, called "armatures" are made to rotate, thus producing "pulsating" currents in a way similar to those produced by magnetos, while electric motors are contrivances converse thereto, in which the "fields" receive current from an outside source and cause the "armatures" to revolve in inverse direction.
"Electric motors" constitute excellent substitutes for clock mechanisms. They are superior thereto because there is no winding of springs, and power or motion are obtainable as long as the current is supplied.
It is a fact little known by those who exploit magical apparatus that motors can be designed in most any shape; the writer has succeeded in constructing flat motors equivalent to 1/8 H. P. which can be concealed within a board measuring six inches square and one inch thick; again he has successfully built one of equal strength, which can be contained within a tube 1 3/4 inches in diameter and but four inches long.
The reader may ask to what use such motors may be put. In answer I shall slightly digress from the main subject. It should be the aim of progressive conjurers to produce new effects just as soon as the secrets of previous ones become common property. To achieve this all the modern inventions of man, and all the wonders and resources of Nature are available. It being the mission of the conjurer to mystify, who shall say that he has a right to complain if some one seeks to fathom his mystifications, for to unravel his modus operandi, or, having succeeded in doing either, to expose them? It is "up to the conjurer" himself, to produce new effects that are based upon novel principles more difficult to detect. Again, it is the writer's opinion that the magician himself should control the operation of his apparatus, instead of depending upon assistants at the very psychological instant of his seances. This can often be done, for that very purpose the electric motor is suitable, and our present day audiences will rarely suspect such an intermediary.
On such principles the writer has designed a sealed jar in which an endless sequence of coins may seemingly be thrown one at a time and from a distance; the entire outfit can be operated by a motor and controlled by himself. Thus again he can cause gyroscopes to spin in plain view or he can spin the boxes that contain them, interchanging them, vanishing them and with the addition of "sleight of hand" executing novel effects that have never been obtained from non-mechanical devices. No clock mechanisms could last long enough or be powerful enough to duplicate these effects. Single-handed, the writer has worked a card houlette by means of a motor, and he knows of many other effects that can be executed in that way.
An objection has been urged against the use of electrical devices, that they cannot be worked unless the performer be equipped with a cumbersome outfit of electric batteries. Years ago this would have been the case; modern inventiveness, however, has overcome this defect. Any modern stage or hall is equipped with electric light circuits, and these are adaptable for most any purpose. Of course, small apparatus such as one is more apt to use cannot be controlled directly by the strong currents ordinarily installed; the current may, however, be reduced by means of "resistance," or better still, it can be "converted." This can be conveniently accomplished by the use of a "motor-generator," an appliance which consists of a current generating dynamo set in motion by an electric motor; as a matter of fact the armatures of motor and dynamo can be wound within each other, placed between identical "fields," and so proportioned as to use the main current to generate a separate one of less intensity.
For his own use the writer has constructed such a "converter," which runs from 120 volts and generates 40 volts or less plus two amperes when at full speed. It may be carried in a box only 5 1/2 inches wide, 8 inches long and 7 inches high.
It is worth noting that an inventor did recently produce an electric motor that can be set " a moting" from intermittent as well as continuous currents. Of course this principle should be borne in mind while constructing a "converter" for conjurers' use. Another fact worth noting is that a New York electrical supply house has recently placed upon the market a non-mechanical device based upon induction and resistance, whereby strong currents can be reduced and graduated.
In his book entitled "Magic," Albert A. Hopkins describes an effect under the title of "The Neo-occultism;" he presupposes the application of X-rays in a gigantic area, for the purpose of producing a real live skeleton ghost. Aside from the fact that the radio active properties of X-rays become visible only through a prepared film stretched in a tube and called the "sciascope," at a distance measurable in inches only, and upon concentrated foci, there are still greater obstacles to the practicability of this conception; one is that X-rays have been found deleterious to the health and constitution of those who place themselves repeatedly within their range, and another is the fact that wires leading from a high tension induction coil such as used for this purpose and distant as described, can not conduct through obstacles without sparking away that is, grounding the current).
"High frequency currents" are electric currents of enormously rapid "pulsation." They can be generated from ordinary currents by the intermediary of vibrators and elaborate induction coils, such currents more so than those used for X-rays are of enormous voltage and devoid of amperage, hence not dangerous; they are very startling; one can see them escaping from the main pole in crackling sulfurous long sparks that decompose the atmosphere and generate ozone.
It was the writer's privilege, a few years ago, to witness the first of these, built in this country. He failed to grasp its value for purposes of stage exploitation, yet an English actor perceived its weird possibilities and less than two weeks later was first to exploit it, introducing himself to the American stage as "Volta," the electric wonder. While Volta's performance proved that he was familiar with the subterfuges and stratagems of conjurers, it is to be regretted that he introduced its effects with the apparatus in full view. His feats have since been duplicated by others, among whom one so-called Doctor Herman, who was billed as "The man who defies the death chair." The effects of high frequency currents are spectacular; thus if one approach the "cathode"' or another person who has "connected" himself to "the cathode," long sparks will emanate from that part of the intruder's body, which is nearest, and these sparks will be accompanied by sudden and startling "shocks." A vacuum tube brought within range will glow, and explosive elements will take fire. It is sincerely to be hoped that these possibilities will soon be better realized by conjurers. One cannot fail to see, for instance, what amusing and realistic effects our Illustrious Compeer, Howard Thurston, could produce in his "time killer" entitled "A bit of fun," by substituting the actualities of high frequency current for the too apparent thread gag that amuses all but deceives no one. Again, let us conceive the levitation performed in such a way that giant sparks are heard crackling and seen emanating from the hypnotic fingers of the "all powerful one," while he waves them over the levitated subject. What weird music for a masterpiece!
It is not within the realms of this brief resume to enumerate the various other electrical inventions and to point out how and why one is more magical than another. The writer contends that all are adaptable, if only we could "hit the idea." As a conclusive proof of this contention, he now quotes the most recent application.
The "telautograph" is an electro-mechanical invention used for mercantile purposes; it enables writing that is jotted down at one place, called the transmitting station, to reproduce itself at another point, called the receiving station. In spite of the well known purposes of this invention and its ten years of successful operation, an enterprising illusionist recently introduced upon the stage, such a receiving station, modified to suit, and built in magnified proportions. The illusioned ones who have witnessed "Menetekel" without remembering the telautograph are legion.
Despite the above remarks, the writer is of the opinion that our present day magicians are somewhat lax to take advantage of new discoveries; apparently they are so absorbed in their efforts to master the "little wrinkles" that they neglect to observe the marvelous effects, that are made possible by "scientific wizardry." A few illustrations will suffice to demonstrate this assertion:
In 1889, Edw. P. Thompson, author of "Inventing as a Science and an Art," and one of America's foremost electrical wizards, exhibited at the Paris Exposition a brass sphere measuring nearly six inches in diameter, that was kept suspended three feet above a wooden counter by the negative "repulsion" of a concealed "high tension" installation, which unfortunately the writer is not in position to describe. Spectators were permitted to feel the air around it or to insert non-metallic objects below it, but the effect continued uninterrupted. To see this ball bob up and maintain itself at the command of a disinterested spectator, was a sight worthy of comparison with the best effects exhibited by our foremost illusionists. Thousands if not millions of people witnessed this; yet, in spite of two decades elapsed, it is doubtful whether a modern magician could be found who knows about it!
As another illustration, the writer will mention a typewriter which was constructed by a real genius to serve as a window display in a typewriter salesroom on Broadway, New York. For three consecutive years this writing machine hung suspended in mid-air while producing messages that an illusionist would call "spiritualistic" were he to present that magnificent effect. Of course electricity was the magic of this display.
Thus again the reproach could be added that the telephone and the phonograph in their infancy could have been adopted for automata, for producing ghostly voices, and for many such striking effects, which unfortunately are not recorded in our annals. Would not the spirits of our alert predecessors turn from us in disappointment could they witness how we "pass by" such opportunities and thus permit the history of our art to fall into default?
It is needless to remind the reader that one of the essential principles of conjuring is to detract the audience from the true cause of an effect produced. Thus when electricity constitutes the means, the artists should make the most careful preparations to conceal and disguise not only the appliances but also the wires and the methods of "making contact." The first should be built within his apparatus. To conceal the wires leading thereto, these could be sewn in permanent position under portable rugs ; tables or other accessories if of metal may be a part of the circuits and may be provided with contact points at the lower extremities of the supports; thus the objects can be lifted at will, removed, examined and even substituted by other ones, should it be desired to work different effects from the same circuits. Batteries, if used, can be concealed behind the scenes or in some other piece appertaining or seeming to appertain to the "props." Of course contacts can be made by means of push buttons controlled by an assistant, yet, from the point of view of the writer, this is the very thing that should not be done. While it is true that the uninitiated spectator does not know the difference, the consciousness of a performer that he can (''de facto" control the wonders he presents, is certainly a greater triumph, while those spectators who "see through it" cannot fail to appreciate such realism.
To accomplish this, the contacts can be made by means of metallic springs adjusted for that purpose under the rugs, and at a point where they may be stepped upon at the psychological moment and without attracting notice. An artiste presenting more than one electrical effect or who desires to repeat an effect in different positions, should provide his "setting" with at least an equal number of points of contact, and further he should so wire it that the circuits not in immediate use can be "switched off" in order to avoid mishaps.
Electricity is in its infancy, yet the devices and contrivances one can design or procure are innumerable. What can be more mystifying than illusions operated by this mystic fluid and mysteriously controlled by the illusionist himself? How wonderful the possibilities; hence also how bright the future! The wildest dreams are but foreordained realities; one can easily foresee the thaumaturgist of the future, standing like a genuine Mephisto in the centre of his stage, and waving a glowing wand, out of which visible sulfurous sparks emanate, and which will be truly endowed by magnetic power to lift, to attract, to repulse, and to set in action, effects far superior to those that we moderns can but awkwardly pretend. Yes, one can conceive him as as the reincarnated alchemist pictured by our predecessors, exorcising and entrancing his audience with a succession of enchanted scenes, unfathomable mysteries, and appearances and vanishes that will in reality be controlled by an all-pervading fluid power wirelessly permeating all parts of his stage and of his auditorium.
Enthused by these dreams of future glories, fascinations and enchantments, and confident that the succeeding generations shall at last recognize the magician's vocation as "the art of mastered arts," and "the science of applied sciences" one can but wish for the speedy advent of such progress and exclaim:
"Adveniat Electra!" Our star of Hope!
Originally published in the M-U-M Supplement in New York, November 1911.
