I have also seen a letter raised from a table and float in the air into the medium’s hand. This was done also with a thread, one end fastened in the wall above the table the letter rested on, the other near the medium. The letter is not sealed. This allows the thread to go between the flap and letter, or envelope, and when the medium pulled the thread taut, it made an incline for the envelope to travel on, right up to the outstretched hand. [Illustration: Fig. 30.--The Loop and Hook for Table Raising.] Years ago Robert-Houdin, the celebrated French conjurer, produced, at his pretty little theater in Paris, an illusion which, for startling effects, has not since that time been excelled; and the means which he employed for operating the stage machinery have been employed in many stage tricks of more recent date. The stage is set to represent a drawing-room, and, in stage parlance, would be called a “box set.” There are side scenes, as well as a “drop” or back piece. In the center of the room is a large door, and a grand piano rests against one of the side scenes, a small table being placed near the door. When the illusion is to be performed, a lady enters carrying a bouquet, which she leaves on the table and advances to the piano. (See Frontispiece.) She seats herself, opens the cover of the piano and plays a short piece; then, closing down the cover, remarks that she does not feel in the humor to play. She extends her hand toward the bouquet on the table, which mysteriously rises and falls through the air into her hand; and, at the same time, she is seen to rise upward in the air still seated upon the piano stool. When she reaches a point midway between the ceiling and the floor she glides toward the opposite sides of the room, and the piano, which seems as if it will not be outdone, rises also and follows her through the air. This is usually received with great applause by the audience, and the curtain falls. The explanation of the phenomena is the following (Fig. 31): In the first place, the piano case is cleverly made out of _papier maché_, and is really a mere shell containing no keyboard or action. The back of the piano is open; immediately behind it, in the side scene, is a trap, and at the back of this scene is a real piano mounted on a truck, so that it can be easily moved backward and forward. Our engraving shows both the piano and the trap. When the real piano is run into the _papier maché_ case the keyboard is in its normal position, so that the lady can play upon it. When the lady finishes playing she closes the lid of the false piano. As soon as this is done an assistant behind the scene moves the piano back, thus leaving the empty shell, and the trap in the scene is closed. The false piano is, of course, very light, and to it are fastened fine wires, which are invisible at a short distance; one is secured to each corner. These wires run up over pulleys on a truck overhead, which can be run backward and forward immediately