Preface

IN WRITING this book, we have fulfilled a purpose that has long been held in view, viz:-the production of a work which would present our art in a truer light than is ordinarily shed upon it by textbooks and treatises. We have long been impressed by the fact that, unlike other technical subjects, magic has received scarcely any attention upon its theoretical side; but has been allowed to drift along the course of progress as best it might, unaided by the advantages that order and system could bestow. In any other calling, technical or artistic, the groundwork of the subject, invariably and as a matter of course, receives due attention on the part of those who follow that calling. Those who teach and those who study alike, are well aware that unless the fundamental principles-the theory of their subject are properly understood, there can be no chance of gaining any real knowledge such as an expert must possess. Then, since magic combines both art and science, the folly that it can be studied apart from its theory, its very constitution, is too obvious to require comment. Therefore, in this book, we have attempted the task of setting before the reader a plain and straightforward statement of the facts, principles, and reasoning essential to a proper understanding of our subject, so far as our ability will allow.

We do not for a moment suggest that what we have written herein represents the last word to be said concerning magic. On the contrary, we are well aware that our book is but the commencement of a new departure which, we hope, may lead to the full elucidation of our subject, in every particular. The ramifications and extensions of knowledge connected with magic are so vast in their scope that no single treatise can possibly include all that a skilled magician ought to know. Consequently, we can claim no more than the production of a book which, in our opinion, serves to indicate, rather than to exhaust, the manifold topics associated with the art, science, and practice of magic.

One notable feature of this work, which should, we believe, serve to prove the faith that is in us, consists in our unhesitating disclosure of original devices, and the modus operandi of original experiments in magic. So far from feeling any reluctance toward letting the general public into the secrets of our procedure, we are most anxious to educate the public in such matters, in order that a proper understanding of our art may be disseminated among its votaries and patrons. The point is this. Tricks and dodges are of comparatively small importance in the art of magic. At the utmost, they display inventive ability, but nothing more. The effect-and the effect alone-produced by the use of such inventions, is the consideration of real importance.

For proof of this, we need only point out one well known fact, viz:-that the very best audience a skilled magician can have is one composed entirely of magicians. The reason for this should be self-evident. An audience of magical experts is bound to see the performer's feats in a proper light. Such an audience will very seldom be perplexed by what is exhibited, and will never attach great importance to "how it is done." Every member of such an audience will have his mind engrossed almost exclusively in noting the art with which the performer uses devices, known or unknown, to produce an intended effect. If his art is meritorious, the expert spectators will appreciate the performance highly, no matter how old, how new, how ingenious, or how simple may be the technical devices employed.

It will be difficult, we fear, to bring the general public to that standpoint. The average man is so firmly impressed with the notion that magic consists merely in puzzles offered for solution, challenges to the spectator's acuteness, that many years must elapse before that erroneous idea can be dispelled. Some day, however, we hope that even the man in the street will have learned the fact that so-called "secrets" are to the magician little more than are, to the actor, the wigs, grease-paints and other "make-up" with which he prepares himself for appearance before the public. The art of the magician, like that of the actor, depends upon matters far higher than mere appliances and processes. just as the actor, in the exercise of his art, employs certain means for making himself resemble the character he represents, so the magician employs devices essential to the guise in which he appears. As it happens, the magician's aids in this respect are necessarily more recondite than those of the actor. Owing to this fact, there has arisen the mistaken impression that the magician's art begins and ends in the devices he employs-whereas, in fact, those devices are merely his working tools. His art does not consist in the things he uses, nor in the trade secrets and technical processes he has at command, but in the employment of those facilities with adequate efficiency. It consists in what he does with the things he uses, not in those things themselves. In the hands of a skilled magician, a magical experiment becomes something vastly different from what it would be if conducted by a novice. That needs no argument whatsoever. And it is just in that very difference that the art of magic is comprised. Those who hold the view that the tools of magic are synonymous with the art of magic do great injustice to the magician and to his art alike.

Undoubtedly, we must admit that great progress in the art has been made during recent years. Both in artistry and in social standing the modern magician stands upon a plane far higher than that occupied by his predecessors of two or three generations ago. The average magician of today has been educated at a public school, and is socially qualified to rank with members of any other profession. He knows some Latin, and perhaps a trifle of Greek; and on occasion can speak French without giving his audience the cold shivers. So far as they go, these facts are eminently satisfactory, but more is requisite for the equipment of an artist in magic. The young gentlemen who constitute the vast bulk of rising magicians have not yet shaken themselves free from the trammels with which their less favored predecessors were hampered. They have not, as a rule, learned to understand the art of magic as it really is, nor to recognize the nature of its constitution. In so far as they are true artists, they depend upon their instinctive leaning toward refinement and appropriate procedure. They go to work the right way because they feel it to be the right-not because they know it to be right. As for explaining why any particular course of action is right, that is beyond the powers of almost any among them. This is where the rising generation lacks understanding, the simple reason being a lack of proper training in the theory and constitution of the art they profess.

We hope this present book may serve, at least, to provide a clue, by which those who blindly grope in the ancient labyrinth which they falsely regard as "the art of magic," may be led to a standpoint from which clearer views can be gained.

N.M.
D.D.

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