Christopher Columbus discovered America, and Americus Vespucius reaped the glory and usurped his dues. Theophrastus Paracelsus rediscovered the occult properties of the magnet—“the bone of Horus” which, twelve centuries before his time, had played such an important part in the theurgic mysteries—and he very naturally became the founder of the {72} school of magnetism and of mediæval magico-theurgy. But Mesmer, who lived nearly three hundred years after him, and as a disciple of his school brought the magnetic wonders before the public, reaped the glory that was due to the fire-philosopher, while the great master died in a hospital! So goes the world: new discoveries, evolving from old sciences; new men—the same old nature! CHAPTER III. {73} “The mirror of the soul cannot reflect both earth and heaven; and the one vanishes from its surface, as the other is glassed upon its deep.” ZANONI. “Qui, donc, t’a donné la mission d’annoncer au peuple que la Divinité n’existe pas—quel avantage trouves tu à persuader à l’homme qu’une force aveugle préside à ses destinées et frappe au hazard le crime et la vertu?” ROBESPIERRE (Discours), May 7, 1794. We believe that few of those physical phenomena which are genuine are caused by disembodied human spirits. Still, even those that are produced by occult forces of nature, such as happen through a few genuine mediums, and are consciously employed by the so-called “jugglers” of India and Egypt, deserve a careful and serious investigation by science; especially now that a number of respected authorities have testified that in many cases the hypothesis of fraud does not hold. No doubt, there are professed “conjurors” who can perform cleverer tricks than all the American and English “John Kings” together. Robert Houdin unquestionably could, but this did not prevent his laughing outright in the face of the academicians, when they desired him to assert in the newspapers, that he could make a table move, or rap answers to questions, _without contact of hands_, unless the table was a prepared one.[148] The fact alone, that a now notorious London juggler refused to accept a challenge for £1,000 offered him by Mr. Algernon Joy,[149] to produce such manifestations as are usually obtained through mediums, unless he was left _unbound_ and _free_ from the hands of a committee, negatives his _exposé_ of the occult phenomena. Clever as he may be, we defy and challenge him to reproduce, under the _same conditions_, the “tricks” exhibited even by a common Indian _juggler_. For instance, the spot to be chosen by the investigators at the moment of the performance, and the juggler to know nothing of the choice; the experiment to be made in broad daylight, without the least preparations for it; without any confederate but a boy absolutely naked, and the juggler to be in a condition of semi-nudity.