``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.
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.
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.
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.
