"All wonder," said Samuel Johnson, "is the effect of novelty onignorance." Yet we are so created that without something to wonder atwe should find life scarcely worth living. That fact does not makeignorance bliss, or make it "folly to be wise." For the wisest mannever gets beyond the reach of novelty, nor can ever make it his boastthat there is nothing he is ignorant of; on the contrary, the wiser hebecomes the more clearly he sees how much there is of which he remainsin ignorance. The more he knows, the more he will find to wonder at.
My professional life has been a constant record of disillusion, andmany things that seem wonderful to most men are the every-daycommonplaces of my business. But I have never been without someseeming marvel to pique my curiosity and challenge my investigation. Inthis book I have set down some of the stories of strange folk andunusual performers that I have gathered in many years of such research.
Much has been written about the feats of miracle-mongers, and not alittle in the way of explaining them. Chaucer was by no means thefirst to turn shrewd eyes upon wonder-workers and show the clay feet ofthese popular idols. And since his time innumerable marvels, held tobe supernatural, have been exposed for the tricks they were. Yetto-day, if a mystifier lack the ingenuity to invent a new and startlingstunt, he can safely fall back upon a trick that has been the favoriteof pressagents the world over in all ages. He can imitate the Hindoofakir who, having thrown a rope high into the air, has a boy climb ituntil he is lost to view. He can even have the feat photographed. Thecamera will click; nothing will appear on the developed film; and this,the performer will glibly explain, "proves" that the whole company ofonlookers was hypnotized! And he can be certain of a very profitablefollowing to defend and advertise him.
So I do not feel that I need to apologize for adding another volume tothe 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 thepsychology of the latter, has placed me at a certain advantage inuncovering the natural explanation of feats that to the ignorant haveseemed supernatural. And even if my readers are too well informed tobe interested in my descriptions of the methods of the variousperformers who have seemed to me worthy of attention in these pages, Ihope they will find some amusement in following the fortunes andmisfortunes of all manner of strange folk who once bewildered the wisemen of their day. If I have accomplished that much, I shall feel amplyrepaid for my la