26
GILBERT BOY
ENGINEERING
at
one side. Use much pantomime throughout the show.
Show 2.
The Doctor.
Doctor
seated with very large plug hat and very long beard, bell rings, boy
enters rubbing stomach and groaning. Doctor seats himself,
takes
pulse, examines tongue, listens to heart, all with much pantomime,
takes large coal tongs, shoves them down throat, (apparently of
course), and pulls up a long snake (Fig. 39). More
pantomime. Boy not yet well, doctor again shoves coal tongs
down
his throat and pulls up an alligator, and so on.
The
snake and the alligator are cut out of stiff paper or cardboard and are
handed up by a third boy as shown in Fig. 40.
GILBERT LIGHT EXPERIMENTS
27
Show 3.
A surgical case.
Scene
1. A boy is seated at a table with a large plate of potatoes.
He swallows them whole, then swallows knife, fork, spoon,
saltcellar, and so on. Much pantomime of enjoying a good meal.
Scene
2. Doctor seated at table, boy rushes in, rubbing stomach,
doctor
lays him on table, takes large knofe, jabs it into boy's stomach (Fig.
41), boy raises head to object, doctor hits him on head with hatchet
(Fig. 42) and proceeds to cut him open, throws back coat to imitate
opening stomach, and takes out all the potatoes, knife, fork and spoon,
and so on. Doctor sews boy up, hits him on head with hatchet,
boy
comes to, pantomime of feeling fine,shakes hand with doctor ant thanks
him.
The knife and axe are cut out of cardboard, the
plug hat is
a tube of stiff paper or ordinary hat. The whiskers are
another
tobe of paper. The boy swallowing potatoes really hands them
to
another boy hidden behind the chair.
Show 4.
A Boxing Match.
28 GILBERT BOY
ENGINEERING
Put
one boy near the screen and another nearer the light.The first is
natural size, the second is enormous (Fig. 43). If they now
pretend to fight it is very, very funny from the audience. In
one
of the fights, have the lamp on the stool, let the little fellow beat
the big fellow, and if the big fellow finally runs away and steps over
the lamp to the chair it looks as though he had jumped into the
ceiling. Little fellow, then struts around as winner.
Show 5.
Living Shadows.
Cover
a mirrow with two pieces of paper, out of each which you have cut
identical eyes, nose, and mouth with teeth, as shown in Fig. 44.
Paste the under paper against the mirror, but paste the outer
paper only at the top. Arrange the light and boy as shown and
sway the outer paper back and forth. Do you see goggling eyes
and
snapping mouth?
Now have the boy, whose shadow is
shown, make a
speech with proper gestures, while you sway the paper. The
effect
will be extremely amusing to the spectators.
Show 6.
Living Shadows Dialog.
Arrange
two mirrors as above and place one on each side of the screen.
Have the two shadows carry on a dialog while two other bows
sway
the papers.
You will have plenty of fun inventing
shows of your
own, and with a few beards, mustaches, and false noses made of paper or
other material you can have very, very funny times.
GILBERT LIGHT EXPERIMENTS
29
REFLECTION
OF LIGHT
The Law of Reflection: Angle of
reflection equals angle of incidence. If a beam
of sunlight is allowed to fall on a mirror and
the beam before and after reflection is made visible by dust in
the air, it is found that the beams make equal angles with a ruler
held perpendicular to the mirror, and that they
are in the same plane. The beam L Fig. 45,
which strikes the mirror is called the incident
beam, and the beam R which is reflected is
called the reflected beam. The angle i which
the incident beam makes with the
perpendicular PN is called the angle of incidence,
and the angle r which the reflected beam makes with the
perpendicular is called the angle of reflection. This experiment
illustrates the Law of Reflection, which is: The angle of reflection
equals the angle of incidence and the reflected and incident
beams are in the same plane.
FUN WITH SUNLIGHT
Experiment No. 22.
To prove the law of
reflection.
Allow
a small beam of sunlight to pass through the
slit of your shutter and fall on a mirror I
placed on the floor or table of your darkened
room. Make sufficient dust to
show the sunlight. Is the sunlight reflected
and does it make a bright spot on
the ceiling or opposite wall?
Now
hold a ruler
30
GILBERT BOY
ENGINEERING
perpendicular
to the mirror opposite the spot where the light strikes the mirror(Fig.
46). Do you find that the angle between the reflected beam and the
ruler is equal to the angle between the incident beam and the
ruler?
Hold a
sheet of cardboard edge-wise to the incident
and reflected beams in such a position that the incident beam is split
in two (Fig. 47). Is the reflected beam also split in two? That is, are
the reflected and incident beams in the same plane?
You
have here proved the law of reflection.
Experiment No. 23.
Irregular
reflection.
Let
the beam fall on a piece of white un glazed paper (Fig. 48). Is there
no reflected beam; is the light reflected in all directions and does it
make everything around it brighter? The light is reflected in all
directions because the surface is rough (see Fig, 49).
You
see all non-luminous objects by means of light which.they reflect
irregularly.
GILBERT
LIGHT EXPERIMENTS 31
Experiment No. 24.
Twice the angle.
Hold
the mirror perpendicular to the beam. Is the beam reflected back to the
slit? Now turn the mirror to an angle of 45° to the beam. Is the
reflected beam turned through an angle of 90°?
That is, is the reflected beam turned through twice the
angle
the mirror turns? Try other angles. The reflected beam turns through
twice the angle because the angles of incidence and reflection are
equal and each is equal to the angle through which the mirror turns,
therefore, together they are equal to twice this angle.
FUN BY DAY WITH ONE MIRROR
Experiment No. 26.
The heliograph.
Reflect
sunlight from your window (Fig. 50) to a distant building, and have
your friend reflect sunlight from near this building to your window.
Now
send a message to your friend by the Morse code. Uncover your mirror
for a short time for a dot and for a longer time for a dash He reads
the message on the wall of the building. He replies and you read the
message on the inside wall of your room. This is the principle of the
heliograph used for military signaling.
Experiment No. 26.
Height of any point
on a
building.
Drive
one end of a straight stick into the ground and make the stick exactly
vertical. Place the mirror B,
Fig. 51, beside it flat on the ground and
adjust until the stick and its image are in a straight line; the mirror
is then exactly horizontal.
32
GILBERT BOY
ENGINEERING
Now
if you want to find the height of the topmost window, for example,
stand back until you can just see the top of the window, then measure :
your distance BC
from the mirror ; the distance BE
from the mirror to
the building; and your height CA
from sole to eye.
The
triangle ABC
which you make with the mirror is similar to the
triangle DBE which the top of the window makes (Fig, 51), that is, they
have equal angles, therefore,
DE
AC
----
= ----
EB
CB
Examples.
If you are 12 feet from the mirror, your height to your eye is 5 feet,
and the mirror
is 120 feet from the building at the ground
level, then:
Height of window
5
----------------------
= ---
120
12
5 x 120
Height of window = --------- =
50 feet
12
FUN BY DAY OR NIGHT WITH ONE
MIRROR
Experiment No. 27.
An object and its image.
Look
at yourself in a vertical mirror and move back and forth. Does your
Image always appear to be as far behind the mirror as you are in front?
GILBERT
LIGHT EXPERIMENTS
33
Arrange
the window glass
vertically,place a candle in front and another behind (Fig. 52), and
make the rear candle coincide with the image of the front candle.
Measure the distance from each candle to the mirror. Are they exactly
equal?
Draw a line on a piece of paper and call it
the mirror
line (Fig. 53). Draw three lines across it, and perpendicular to it, at
2-inch intervals. Place the window' glass vertically on the mirror
line, place the front candle on each perpendicular in turn. Is its
image candle always at the same distance from the mirror?
You
have proved here that an image is always the same distance behind the
mirror that the object is in front; and that it Is on a pendicular
drawn from the object across the mirror line.
Experiment No. 28.
Slanting object.
Place
a pencil in front of the vertical window glass (Fig. 54), and
slanting toward the glass. Make a second pencil of equal
length
coincide with the image. Does the image also slant toward the mirror?
It does, because each part of
34
GILBERT BOY
ENGINEERING
the
image is as far behind as the corresponding part of the object is in
front, and both are on a line perpendicular to the mirror line.
Experiment No. 29.
To
copy a drawing.
Arrange
drawing, vertical window glass, book, paper, and light, as
shown
in Fig. 55. Do you find it easy to copy the drawings? Why is the
drawing reversed?
WHY
THE IMAGE IS AS FAR BEHIND
THE MIRROR
AS THE OBJECT IS IN FRONT
We
will explain this first by means of rays and then by means of waves,
but you must remember that what you actually receive in your eyes is
light waves and not rays. The rays are only imaginary lines which show
the direction the waves are moving.
In
Fig. 56 the eye sees
image B, but the light, of course, goes from A to the mirror and
is
reflected to the eye. The angles r and i are equal by the law of
reflection ; also, since CD
and AB are
parallel, angle A
is equal to i
and angle B
is equal to r.
Therefore angles A and B are equal ; also
the angles at F
are equal, since they are right angles. The triangles
CFA and CFB then have two
angles equal and a side CF
in common,
therefore they are equal
GILBERT
LIGHT EXPERIMENTS
35
and
FB is equal
to AF. This
shows that the image is as far behind the
mirror as the object is in front because by the law of reflection r is
equal to i.
We
will now explain by means of light waves why the image and objects are
at equal distances from the mirror, as follows:
The
waves of light from the candle
A strike the
mirror as in 1, Fig. 57, and are reflected as in 2. The
curvature of the waves is exactly reversed by reflection. The eye
estimates the distance of an object partly by the curvature of the
waves which enter it, and the image appears at B as far behind the
mirror as the object at A
is in front, because the reflected waves
which enter the eye have exactly the curvature they would have if the
mirror were absent and the object were at B.
We
see, then,
that the image of A is at an equal distance B because the waves from A
are reversed by the mirror but unaltered in any other way.
Experiment No.30.
To illustrate
reflected waves.
Fill
with water a cake tin with flat sides (Fig, 58), place it near a good
light, dip a pencil in, two inches from one side. Is the
reflected
wave
36
GILBERT BOY
ENGINEERING
curved
in the opposite
direction to the original wave? Is it larger and is it the size it
would be if it came from a point at an equal distance outside the pan?
This is what happens when a light wave strikes a mirror?
Experiment No.31.
Why your image is
reversed.
Hold
your two
bands in front of you (Fig. 59). Is one a reversed image of the other?
Hold
your left hand in front of a mirror (Fig. 60). Does it appear to be
your right hand? It does, because each point of the image is
the same distance behind the mirror that the corresponding part of the
left hand is in front
Experiment No. 32.
Reversed words.
Print
such words as STAR, STUN, and TOP on paper and look at their images
(Fig. 61). Are they reversed? Why?
Experiment No. 33.
Reading a blotting
paper.
Write
a sentence in ink, blot it on fresh blotting paper. Try to read it. It
is hard. Read it in the mirror (Fig. 62). Is it easy? Why?
Experiment No. 34.
To see behind you.
Hold
the mirror in
GILBERT
LIGHT EXPERIMENTS
37
front
of you as in Fig. 63. Can you see behind you with ease? Why?
Experiment No. 35.
To see around a corner.
Hold
a mirror as in Fig. 64. Can you see around a comer with ease? Why?
EXPERIMENTAL MAGIC
Experiment No. 36.
A candle burning in
a glass
of water.
Place
candle in front of window glass and glass of water behind it, as in
Fig, 65. Does the candle appear to burn in the water?
Experiment No. 37.
Phantom candle in boy's
head.
Arrange
apparatus as in Fig. 66. Does the candle appear to bum in the boy's
head?
Experiment No. 38.
Phantom
flame.
Arrange
the apparatus as in Fig. 67 and hold your hand behind in
the image of the flame. Can you do this quite safely?
Experiment No. 39.
To make magical
transformations.
Arrange
the apparatus as in Figs. 68 and 69. Place the lighted candle in
position 1 and adjust block A until it coincides with the image of
block B.
Now to prepare a transformation, fold a
sheet of paper once
38
GILBERT BOY
ENGINEERING
over
at the middle, and on the top half make a drawing of a man. Make it
with a lead pencil and bear down so as to crease the lower half. Now
draw on the lower half inside the creases the skeleton of a man. Tear
the halves apart, attach the man to B and the skeleton to A, and adjust
until the man seems to turn into a skeleton when you move the candle
from position 1 to position 2.
Now
darken the room and ask a
friend to look into the glass, as in Fig, 69, while you move the candle
from 1 to 2. He will be much mystified.
Use photos
of the same
size, one of a boy and the other of a girl and make the
transformation. Make many other transformations.
You
may have seen similar magical transformations at the theater or in side
shows.
Experiment No. 40.
A
magic box.
Make
out of stiff cardboard a square box 24 inches
GILBERT
LIGHT EXPERIMENTS
39
long
and 3 3/4
inches wide and high. Cut the box into two equal parts at an angle of
45°(see
1, Fig. 70), turn the halves as in Z, cut a hole in one half, its
center being 2 inches from the end. Cut two trapdoors and attach to
each a loop of cord for opening it. Now insert the window glass at the
division, see 3.
Now to
have fun with your friends, hide the
box behind a large sheet of paper or cardboard and have your friends
look through a hole in the paper or cardboard into the hole in the box.
Have the box in a good light and have different
objects beeath
the trapdoors. If you now open one trapdoor, the object beneath is seen
by your friends. If now you close the first door and open the second,
the object will appear to be transformed into the other object.
Use an
empty glass and a glass half full of milk and you can make the tumbler
empty and fill at will.
You can make many other
very funny transformations.
40
GILBERT BOY
ENGINEERING
FUN AT NIGHT
Hypnotism
Boys,
you can put on imitation hypnotism shows which will mystify and amuse
your friends, as follows:
Get
a piece of window glass 2 feet by 3 feet, or larger. Put it in a box
(Figs. 71 and 78) at an angle of 45° to the length of the box and
exactly vertical. Paint the inside of the box black. The box is open
toward the audience, also at the opposite end, BI, B2, B3. and at
the
side, Al, A2, A3.
A strong light 1 is placed at the side and throws
light on a person sitting opposite Al,
A2, or A3,
but not on the glass.
A weaker light 2 is placed so that it will throw light on a person
seated opposite Bl, B2,
or B3, but
not on the glass. When light 1 is
up, a boy seated opposite Al,
A2, or A3
will be seen by the audience by
reflected light as seated at Bl,
B2. or B3.
When light 2 is up, a boy
seated at Bl, B2,
or B3 will
be seen at Bl, B2,
or B3 by
direct light.
The direct image is brighter than
the reflected, and to cut it down tack two or three layers of green or
black mosquito
GILBERT
LIGHT EXPERIMENTS
41
netting over the
B opening.
Use black backgrounds behind A
and B; this
is important.
You
should always try out your apparatus just before you use it. Look at
the window glass from the audience side, have both lamps
lighted,
and the boy A will appear to be seated beside boy B. If A appears too
low, tilt the glass toward A; if he appears too high, tilt the glass
toward B. If the glass is exactly vertical, A and B will be at exactly
the same height.
42
GILBERT BOY
ENGINEERING
Now
have an assistant turn down lamp 1 and A will disappear,
turn up lamp 1
and A
appears again. Also turn light 2 down and up and B disappears
and reappears.
These shows need five boys. One is
the
hypnotist, who stands out in front and gives the patter talk to the
audience. He can wear a dress suit, mustache, tall hat, and so on, if
he desires. Two boys are needed as the hypnotism subjects, who occupy
chairs A
and B, as
required. The remaining two boys are needed to
operate the lamps.
You will invent all kinds of'
shows for
yourselves and make up your own patter talk, but we suggest a few that
will make plenty of fun.
Show 1.
To hypnotize a boy at a distance of ten feet and to make him disappear
and reappear.
GILBERT
LIGHT EXPERIMENTS
43
Patter.
"Ladies and Gentlemen, I have much pleasure in announcing that I will
to-night give you an exhibition of hypnotic power more wonderful than
anything you have yet seen. It may surprise those of you who know me to
learn that I have been studying hypnotism for years, and it will
surprise you still more to learn that I have discovered a secret source
of hypnotic power of immensely greater strength than any such power
discovered up to this time. Former hypnotists have hypnotized their
subjects at a distance of one or two feet; but I dare not do this
because my power is so great that it might injure the subject. I will
do all my work at a distance of ten feet, which I have found to be a
perfectly safe distance. I do not care to explain my power any more
than to say that I have in the cabinet powerful bodies
44
GILBERT BOY
ENGINEERING
which
bathe my subjects in electro-magnetic forces and help me in my work."
(Note. This is perfectly true because lamps give out light and light is
electro-magnetic in nature ; of course, do not tell the audience this.)
"Now without further talk I will give an exhibition of my hypnotic
power by hypnotizing Charles at a distance of ten feet." (Raises
curtain.)
Note.
Charles is seated at center position, B2 (see
Fig. 72). Light 2 is
turned up and 1
is turned down. Chair at side is
in position A2.
Hypnotist : "Charles, attention !" (Makes
passes with hands slowly and says, "Sleep I Sleep ! Sleep !" slowly.
Charles shivers, gets rigid, and slowly closes eyes.)
Hypnotist
: "Now, Ladies and Gentlemen, former hypnotists have made their
subjects do such simple things as rise in the air, remain floating in
the air, and so on. On another occasion I will show you some of these
simple things, but I will now give you a much more wonderful example of
hypnotic power. I will make Charles dissolve into thin air and
disappear entirely."
Hypnotist (to Charles) :
"Charles,
avaunt! Avaunt! Avaunt!" (slowly with passes). (Lamp 2 is slowly turned
down and at the same time 1 is slowly turned up. Charles gradually
fades into nothing, but the chair is apparently left.)
Hypnotist:
"Ladies and Gentlemen, Charles has now joined the spirit world ; but
for the sake of his family and friends, I will call him back. I must do
this quickly or he may get beyond my power, great as this is." (Looking
at ceiling) "Charles, appear!" (Looking at glass) "Appear! Appear!"
(slowly). (Light 1 is slowly turned down and 2 slowly turned up and
Charles slowly appears.)
Hypnotist snaps his
fingers. Charles
wakes up and smiles. Hypnotist drops curtain, bows to the audience, and
goes behind the curtain to help arrange for the next show.
Show 2.
To hypnotize a boy, turn him into another boy, and
GILBERT
LIGHT EXPERIMENTS
45
then
turn him back again.
(Charles
is seated
at position
B2, lamp
2 is
up; Henry is seated at position
A2,
lamp
1 is
turned down.)
Hypnotist:
^'Ladies and Gentlemen, I will now give you an even greater example of
my hypnotic power. Other hypnotists make their subjects believe that
they are some one else, but I will actually turn my subject into
another being and right before your eyes. Now watch carefully and
please do not talk, because I have to concentrate my will to make this
transformation, and if my attention is diverted my subject might be
left half changed, which would be very serious indeed."
(Raises
curtain, speaks to Charles) "Charles, attention!" (Makes short passes
and says) "Sleep! Sleep! Sleep!" (slowly).
(To
audience) "Now, Ladies and Gentlemen, if you will
keep perfectly quiet I will change Charles into another boy."
(To
Charles) "Charles, change! Change! Change!" (slowly).
(Light
2 is slowly
turned down and 1
slowly turned up. Charles turns into Henry slowly. Henry is also
asleep. Hypnotist snaps fingers - Henry wakes up and
smiles.)
Hypnotist
: "Now, Ladies and Gentlemen, it would never do to leave these boys
mixed up in this way because their mothers would never know which is
which, not to mention their best girls, so I will turn them back again.
Now quiet, please. Henry, attention!" (He mesmerizes Henry with
passes and saying, "Sleep! Sleep! Sleep!" Henry stiffens and
closes eyes. He
then says, "Change! Change! Change!" and Henry slowly changes to
Charles as light 2
is turned up and 1
down.)
Hypnotist wakes up Charles, drops curtain,
bows, and retires behind curtain again.
Show
3.
Transmigration of souls.
Hypnotist:
"Ladies and Gentlemen, my next exhibition of my hypnotic power will
deal with the transmigration of souls. You have all heard of this
strange Hindu theory, namely, that
46
GILBERT BOY
ENGINEERING
our
souls have passed down the ages and have migrated from one animal or
man to another. Now I have traced Charles's soul history, and it is
very interesting. I have not the time to show you all the forms it has
taken, but I will show you the animals his soul inhabited one thousand,
two thousand, and three thousand years ago."
(Raises
curtain,
mesmerizes Charles as before, then says) "O ancient soul form! Come!
Come! ComeT (Makes passes and bows three times toward Charles.)
(Charles
slowly changes to a dog. Charles is at B2, dog is on a box
at A2. At
first light 2
is up and light 1
is down. The dog appears as 2
is
lowered and 1
is turned up.)
Hypnotist: "Charles is a very
nice boy, and you see that one thousand years ago his soul inhabited
the body of a very nice dog. I will now show you the body his soul
inhabited two thousand years ago."
(Turns toward
dog, makes passes, bows three times, and says) "O more ancient soul
form! Come! Come! Come!"
(While
hypnotist is talking Charles has left his seat and a cat on a box is
put in his place. The dog now changes to a cat as light 2 is turned up
and light 1
down.)
Hypnotist : "You see that Charles's soul
two thousand years ago occupied the body of a very beautiful cat. I
will now show you the body his soul occupied three thousand years ago."
(Makes passes toward cat, bows three times, and
says) "O most ancient soul form I Come ! Come ! Come !"
(The
dog has been replaced by a bird in a cage and the cat changes to a bird
as light 1
is turned up and light 2
down.)
Hypnotist:
"Ladies and Gentlemen, Charles's soul occupied the body of a beautiful
bird three thousand years ago. I will now turn the bird back to
Charles. Otherwise the cat might eat Charles up, and I am afraid
Charles's mother would not forgive the cat or me."
GILBERT
LIGHT EXPERIMENTS
47
(Makes
passes at
bird and says) "Charles, appear! Appear! Appear!"
(Charles
has taken his place again at B2
and appears as light 2
is turned up and 1
down.)
Hypnotist snaps fingers and awakens
Charles, drops curtain, bows, and retires.
Show
4.
The transmutation of metals.
Hypnotist
: "Ladies and Gentlemen, those of you who know the history of the
sciences know that all through the ages and down to the present time,
scientists have been trying to change the base metals into the noble
metals, - lead into silver, iron into gold, and so on. All
such
attempts have previously failed, but I wish to announce modestly
to-night that I have succeeded, with the help of my marvelous hypnotic
power. I will now prove this to you by changing iron into other
metals."
(Raises curtain showing a flatiron - or
any iron
object - on a box. He makes passes at the iron and says) "O
spirit
of iron, depart! O spirit of silver, come! Come! Come!" (The iron
slowly changes to a silver cake basket, or any object of silver.) (The
iron object is on a box at B2,
the silver object is on an exactly
similar box at At. At first light 2
is up, the iron disappears and the
silver appears as 2
is turned down and 1
up.)
Put a gold object in place of the iron, and
change silver to gold, and so on.
Show
5. To hatch an egg.
Have
an egg on one box and a chicken on the other,
and slowly change the egg to a chicken. It is even funnier if you have
a full-grown hen. Pretend that your power is not strong enough, great
as it is, to change the hen back to the egg.
Show
6.
Astral bodies.
Hypnotist:
"Ladies and Gentlemen, I will next give you an exhibition of occultism,
and I will show you the results of a marvelous discovery I
have made. I have discovered a liquid
48
GILBERT BOY
ENGINEERING
with
remarkable powers. If a person drinks this liquid he is immediately
changed to his astral body. This body appears to the eye to be the same
as ever, but it is composed of bound ether only and has no substance. I
may say that this has nothing whatever to do with hypnotism; the
effects are produced entirely by the liquid."
(Raises
curtain,
disclosing Charles and Henry apparently seated side by side with a
glass of liquid - water or milk - in front of each. Charles is at Al
and Henry is at B3.
Both lights are up.)
Hypnotist : "You now
see Charles and Henry. Boys ! Drink some of the powerful liquid." (The
boys do so.) "Now, Ladies and Gentlemen, the boys appear to you the
same as before, but they are not.
"Charles ! Put
your hand
gently through Henry." (Charles does so.) "Henry! Do you feel
anything?" (Henry shakes his head to indicate, no.)
"Henry
!
Put your hand gently through Charles." (Henry does so.) "Charles! Do
you feel anything?" (Charles moves lips.) "You say you don't
feel
anything, but you wish he would wash his hands."
Hypnotist
:
"You see, Ladies and Gentlemen, their bodies have no substance. They
are simply astral bodies made up of bound ether. I will prove this
further.
"Charles ! Slice Henry gently with the
butcher's
knife." (Charles does so.) "Henry! Does it hurt?" (Henry moves lips.)
"What! You like it?" (Henry nods yes and moves lips.) "You like it
because it makes you feel like a sliced orange?" (Henry nods, yes.)
"Henry!
Chop Charles gently with a hatchet." (Henry does so.) "Charles ! Does
it hurt you ?" (Charles shakes head and moves lips.) "It doesn't hurt
you and you like it because it makes you feel like minced meat?"
(Charles nods, yes.)
Hypnotist : "Now, Ladies and
Gentlemen, I will show you
GILBERT
LIGHT EXPERIMENTS
49
another
evidence of the marvelous power of this liquid. I will have Charles
pour some of the liquid on an apple and thereby turn it into an astral
apple. He will then g^ve it to Henry to eat.
"Charles
! Change
the apple and give it to Henry." (Charles changes apple by pouring a
little liquid on it out of the glass, but instead of giving it to Henry
he starts eating it himself. Henry objects and apparently knocks the
apple out of Charles's hand. They sit in their chairs and each punches
many times to the right. Their fists go right through each other.)
Hypnotist
drops curtain and apologizes solemnly to the audience, saying that he
is sorry the astral bodies got beyond his control. He bows and retires.
Show 7.
Power of the will over supernatural beings.
Hypnotist
: "Ladies and Gentlemen, I will now conclude the entertainment of the
evening by giving an exhibition of the power of the human will over
supernatural beings. Charles has just had a terrifying experience and I
am going to help him out."
(Raises curtain and
shows Charles seated at Bl.
Charles is frightened and keeps looking over first one shoulder then
the
other.)
Hypnotist
: "Now, Charles, calm yourself and tell us exactly what happened."
(Charles moves lips.) "You say you just saw a ghost up the dark road
near Fred's house." (Charles nods and moves lips.) "Did you run?"
(Charles nods, yes.) "Were you afraid?" (Charles shakes head, no.) "Why
did you run then?" (Charles moves lips.) "Oh, you just wanted to see
whether you could beat him running?" (Charles nods, yes.) "Did you beat
him?" (Charles nods, yes.) "Where did you leave the ghost?" (Charles
moves lips and waves hand toward door.) "You left it at the front door
?" (Charles nods, yes.) "Can it get in ?" (Charles shakes head and
moves lips.) "Oh, you locked the door. Well, it doesn't matter because
you aren't afraid of ghosts, anyway." (Ghost gradually appears beside
Charles. Henry, covered with
50
GILBERT BOY
ENGINEERING
sheet,
is seated
at A3 and
appears at B3
as light 1
is turned up.)
(Charles
is much startled, strikes at ghost with fists, then with knife, drops
knife with a clatter, takes up hatchet and strikes at ghost; Charles is
much agitated. Ghost is calm all through this; it just looks at
Charles, but now it moves over into Charles. (Henry moves from chair A3
to Al.)
Charles claws at his own neck, trying to tear out ghost.)
Hypnotist
now calls out, "Charles, calm yourself! I will help you. You cannot get
rid of the ghost because it is your own ghost, but now just sit steady
and I will pin the ghost to the chair by my will power and when I say,
'Come !' get up quietly and come out here in front."
(Hypnotist
looks intently at ghost, makes passes, and says quietly) "Come !"
(Charles comes out in front.)
Hypnotist : "Now,
Charles, look at your own ghost Do you want to get rid of him
entirely?"
Charles: "Yes."
Hypnotist
: "All right. Now watch quietly and I will send him away." (Looking at
ghost and pointing finger at him) "O ghost of Charles, disappear and
never come back! Disappear! Disappear!" (slowly). (Ghost disappears as
light 1 is
turned down.)
Hypnotist : "Ladies and Gentlemen,
this concludes our entertainment for this evening. Thanking you all for
your kind attention, I bid you good-night." (Bows and retires.)
ELEVATIONS
The
illusion show (Fig. 73) has a sheet of plate glass GG at an angle of
46°. You can put on a similar show by turning your box on its
side. You can make a boy appear to rise in air and stay there. The boy
is lying on his back on a rug in place of T and has his legs
folded as
though he were sitting with crossed legs. The hypnotist then makes
proper passes and
The
Science Notebook
