Chapter IV: The Light and Heavy Chest

Among the illusions which I have, from time to time, contrived, in order--if I may venture to say it--to cheat my friendly spectators, I do not think, modesty apart, that I ever invented anything so daringly ingenious as the experiment I am about to describe.

I do not here allude to the “light and heavy chest,” whose secret I have already revealed in my autobiography,[22] but of an addition I made to that trick in order to throw the inquiring minds of the public off the scent.

Even at the risk of repeating myself in the eyes of those who have read the book above mentioned, I think I ought, in the first place, to say a few words as to the manner in which I performed my original experiment of the light and heavy chest; after which we will proceed to describe the trick to which I now refer.

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The heavy chest was a small strong-box, which, placed in a particular spot among the audience, had the faculty of becoming light or heavy at my command. At one time a child could lift it without difficulty; at another, the most powerful man could not stir it from its place.

In order that the reader may fully comprehend the working of the trick, I must, in the first place, give a short explanation of certain electrical principles on which it is founded.

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By the aid of electricity, as is now generally known, we can render a piece of iron temporarily magnetic. This artificial magnet, which is known as an electro-magnet,[23] retains its power of attraction so long as the electric current circulates around it; but the moment that the electric circuit is broken, the iron completely loses its magnetic force. By this means magnets may be produced of such immense power, that when a piece of iron is brought in contact with them, no human power can tear it away.

It was upon this principle that I based the secret of the trick of the “light and heavy chest,” which I produced in the course of my performances.

In the middle of the pit, and upon a broad plank which served as a “run-down” to enable me to communicate with the spectators, I made an opening in which was fixed a powerful electro-magnet, concealed by a thin cloth which covered it. The conducting wires were carried behind the scenes, whence, at the proper moment, the current necessary to magnetise the iron was to be despatched. On the under side of the strong-box, which was to be subjected to the magnetic influence, there was a stout iron plate let into the wood, and disguised by a mahogany-coloured piece of paper, which apparently formed part of the substance of the box.

These arrangements being duly made beforehand, when I placed the strong-box upon the electro-magnet, a spectator would either lift it without difficulty, or exhaust himself in fruitless attempts to move it, according as my concealed assistant made or unmade the electric circuit.

When, in the year 1845, I performed this trick for the first time, the phenomena of electro-magnetism were wholly unknown to the general public. I took very good care not to enlighten my audience as to this marvel of science, and found it much more to the advantage of my performances to exhibit the “heavy chest” as an illustration of white magic, of which I alone possessed the secret. I also exhibited it as an imitation of a spiritualistic effect, the fiction with which I introduced it being as follows: “This chest,” I gravely announced, “serves me as a strong-box when I have any money to lock up; in such case, I don’t trouble myself in the least to put it out of reach of thieves. I simply make a mesmeric pass over it, and I am quite certain to find it again wherever I may have left it. I will give you a proof of my assertion. Let us suppose that this chest, the lightness of which you have proved for yourselves, contains a few thousands of francs in bank-notes, which would be very easily run away with. Well, I have only to pass my hand over it, like this, and you may now satisfy yourselves that the strongest man would waste his strength in vain in the endeavour to remove it from its place.”

After sundry attempts had been made to no purpose, I added:--

“And yet, at my command, the chest is no longer heavy, and you see that I can raise it with ease with my little finger.”

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At a later period, when electro-magnetism had become more generally known, I thought it advisable to make an addition to the “light and heavy chest,” in order to throw the public off the scent as to the principle on which the illusion was based. The following was my method of presenting this new trick, which to the eyes of the public, was merely a second phase of that which had preceded it:--

“Gentlemen,” I continued, “in order to prove to you that the additional weight which I impart to the chest is genuine, and does not depend on any external artifice, I will attach it to one end of this cord,” (a cord passing over a pulley attached to the ceiling), “and if you will hold the other, you will be able to form a fair estimate of the amount of its downward pressure.” So saying, I hooked the chest to the cord; after which, I requested one of the spectators to be good enough to keep it suspended by holding the other end of the cord, which he did with perfect ease. “Just at present,” I remarked, “the chest is extremely light; but as it is about to become, at my command, very heavy, I must ask five or six other persons to help this gentleman, for fear the chest should lift him off his feet, or even carry him away altogether.”

No sooner was this done than the chest came heavily to the ground, dragging along and sometimes actually lifting off their feet all the spectators who were holding the cord.

This marvellous effect is produced entirely by mechanical means; but their operation is so well disguised, that no one could possibly suspect the truth.

I shall now proceed to give a more detailed explanation, for the purpose of which I must refer the reader to the accompanying diagram:--

On a casual inspection of the pulley and block, everything appears to indicate that, as usual in such cases, the cord passes straight over the pulley, in on one side and out on the other; but such is not really the fact, as will be seen upon tracing the course of the dotted lines, which, passing through the block and through the ceiling, are attached on either side to a double pulley fixed in the room above.

One circumstance that favours the illusion is that, before the box is hung on the hook, by pulling the latter the cord wound upon the double pulley above unwinds itself, while the portion of the cord on the opposite side is wound up to the same extent. Now, to the eye of the spectator, this pulling of the cord to right or left produces precisely the same effect as if the cord simply passed over the visible pulley.

To any one who has the most elementary acquaintance with the laws of mechanics, it will be obvious that the strength of the person who holds the handle of the windlass above is multiplied tenfold, and that he can easily overcome even the combined resistance of five or six spectators.

This experiment cannot well be performed save in a place of exhibition whose ceiling is not very lofty.

FOOTNOTES:

[22] “_Confidences d’un Prestidigitateur_,” vol. ii., p. 265, and “Secrets of Conjuring and Magic,” p. 79.

[23] For the construction of electro-magnets, the reader is referred to works treating of physical science, particularly those which treat specially of electricity, _e.g._, those of Count Dumoncel and Edmond Becquerel.--R.-H.