Show INDIAN MAGIC Some Remarkable Feats of Oriental Conjurers London Standard One need not go to the realms of space or time or figures I fig-ures to meet with the incomprehensible incomprehensi-ble Despite modern science and ingenuity in-genuity this word still remains the I only applicable epithet for some of the achievements of Indian conjurers We can smile at the luminous appearance of the beautiful face before which as the revelation of Osiris the old Egyptians Egyp-tians prostrated themselves in awe for the marvels of the magic lantern are familiar to us the early existence of gunpowder gives an easy explanation explana-tion of the oracles lightning and thunder thun-der the weird harmony of Memnon was merely the result of an ingenious mechanical contrIvance But shrewd travelers of later date whose veracity is beyond dispute tell I YI f of much more inexplicable things i than these One well known writer on occultism occult-ism Jacolliot has left an account of certain things he saw during his official offi-cial sojourn in India which as they seem to defy explanation may fairly be classed among things incomprehensible incomprehen-sible The performer was a fakir whom he accidentally met and who required some persuasion before he would exhibit ex-hibit feats which he continually affirmed af-firmed were the work of other intelli gences On some sticks fixed upright in flower flow-er pots were placed some leaves from a tree with holes in each sufficiently large to make them fall to the level of the mold Standing at a considerable distance the fakirs made a gesture with his hands A slight breeze seemed to pervade the room then the leaves quivered quiv-ered and gradually worked upward on the sticks Jacolliot placed himself between be-tween the flower pots and the operator opera-tor placed the sticks in the flooring and adopted every means he could im agine to frustrate any trickery but nothing he did made any difference to the movement of the leaves The more familiar feat of the seemingly seem-ingly supernatural growth of flowers was utterly eclipsed by another instance in-stance vouched for by the same narrator narra-tor His own servant bought him a score or so of seeds from which he selected se-lected and marked one The fakir planted plant-ed It in a pot of earth muttered some words over it and fell into a sort of trance which lasted about 30 minutes He then awoke uncovered the pot and discovered a seeding two or three inches In-ches high Jacolliot examined it and found It had sprung from the seed which he had marked With a touch of a peacocks feather the fakir depressed a balance of a common weighing machine I ma-chine in daily use in the household though In the other was a weight of 12 stone and with a distance motion of his hand he made shavings of wood to sink or move in water Still more marvelous mar-velous is the description of the manner In which this veritable eastern wizard was able to set at defiance the law of gravity On this occasion when leaving leav-ing the room he paused on the threshold thres-hold folded his arms and by a simple act of volition raised himself from the floor and remained poised In the air for some minutes minutesfie |