Fontana’s lantern was used, as F. M. Feldhaus informs us (Gartenlaube, 1905, Nov. 23, p. 848) by the _encignerius_ or _antwere maister_, i. e., the master of siege and fortress defenses, who from an appropriate hiding-place projected the image upon a convenient wall in the outside works of a fort so as to let assailants unexpectedly be confronted with the hideous form of a demon.]] {xviii} While magic as superstition and as fraud is doomed, magic as an art will not die. Science will take hold of it and permeate it with its own spirit, changing it into scientific magic which is destitute of all mysticism, occultism and superstition, and comes to us as a witty play for our recreation and diversion. It is an extraordinary help to a man to be acquainted with the tricks of prestidigitateurs, and we advise parents not to neglect this phase in the education of their children. The present age is laying the basis of a scientific world-conception, and it is, perhaps, not without good reasons that it has produced quite a literature on the subject of modern magic. It might seem that if the public became familiar with the methods of the magicians who give public entertainments, their business would be gone. But this is not the case. As a peep behind the scenes and a knowledge of the machinery of the stage only help us to appreciate scenic effects, so an insight into the tricks of the prestidigitateur will only serve to whet our appetite for seeing him perform his tricks. The prestidigitateur will be forced to improve his tricks before an intelligent audience; he will be obliged to invent new methods, but not to abandon his art. Moreover, it is not the trick alone that we admire, but the way in which it is performed. Even those who know how things can be made to disappear by sleight of hand, must confess that they always found delight in seeing the late Alexander Herrmann, whenever he began a soirée, take off his gloves, roll them up and make them vanish as if into nothingness. It is true that magic in the old sense is gone; but that need not be lamented. The coarseness of Cagliostro’s frauds has given way to the elegant display of scientific inventiveness and an adroit use of human wit. Traces of the religion of magic are still prevalent to-day, and it will take much patient work before the last remnants of it are swept away. The notions of magic still hold in bondage the minds of the uneducated and half-educated, and even the leaders of progress feel themselves now and then hampered by ghosts and superstitions.