Produced by deaurider, RichardW, and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive) [Illustration: MIEUSEMENT, phot. à Blois LECESNE, éditeur ROBERT-HOUDIN] THE OLD AND THE NEW MAGIC BY HENRY RIDGELY EVANS ILLUSTRATED D’rum hab’ ich mich der Magie ergeben! INTRODUCTION BY DR. PAUL CARUS CHICAGO THE OPEN COURT PUBLISHING CO. KEGAN PAUL, TRENCH, TRÜBNER & CO., LIMITED. LONDON 1906 COPYRIGHT 1906 BY THE OPEN COURT PUBLISHING CO. CHICAGO [Illustration] SKETCH OF HENRY RIDGELY EVANS. “Henry Ridgely Evans, journalist, author and librarian, was born in Baltimore, Md., November 7, 1861. He is the son of Henry Cotheal and Mary (Garrettson) Evans. Through his mother he is descended from the old colonial families of Ridgely, Dorsey, Worthington and Greenberry, which played such a prominent part in the annals of early Maryland. Mr. Evans was educated at the preparatory department of Georgetown (D. C.) College and at Columbian College, Washington, D. C. He studied law at the University of Maryland, and began its practice in Baltimore City; but abandoned the legal profession for the more congenial avocation of journalism. He served for a number of years as special reporter and dramatic critic on the ‘Baltimore News,’ and subsequently became connected with the U. S. Bureau of Education, as one of the assistant librarians. In 1891 he was married to Florence, daughter of Alexander Kirkpatrick, of Philadelphia.”—National Cyclopedia of American Biography. Mr. Evans is an ardent student of folk-lore, masonic antiquities, psychical research, and occultism. Many of his writings have been contributed to the Monist and Open Court. He is the author of a work on psychical research, entitled “Hours with the Ghosts,” published in 1897, and many brochures on magic and mysticism, etc. TABLE OF CONTENTS PAGE Introduction by Dr. Paul Carus ix History of Natural Magic and Prestidigitation 1 The Chevalier Pinetti 23 Cagliostro: A Study in Charlatanism 42 Ghost-making Extraordinary 87 The Romance of Automata 107 Robert-Houdin: Conjurer, Author and Ambassador 123 Some Old-time Conjurers 160 The Secrets of Second Sight 188 The Confessions of an Amateur Conjurer 201 A Day with Alexander the Great 215 A Twentieth Century Thaumaturgist 237 A Gentleman of Thibet 254