Technologies of stage magic: Simulation and dissimulation

Author(s): Wally Smith

Source: Social Studies of Science , June 2015, Vol. 45, No. 3 (June 2015), pp. 319-343
Published by: Sage Publications, Ltd.

Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/43829028

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 Article V-F V-F sisis
| | ||
Social Studies of Science
20 1 5. Vol. 45(3) 319-343
T echnolog © The Author(s) 2015
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DOI: 1 0. 1 1 77/03063 1 27 1 557746 1
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(DSAGE

Wally Smith
Department of Computing and Information Systems, The University of Melbourne, Australia

Abstract
The craft of stage magic is presented in this article as a site to study the interplay of peopl
technology. The focus is on conjuring in the 1 9th and early 20th centuries, a time when m
eagerly appropriated new optical, mechanical and electrical technologies into their acts.
this time, a modern style of conjuring emerged, characterized by minimal apparatus and a n
manner of performance. Applying Lucy Suchman's perspective of human-machine reconfigur
conjuring in this modern style is interpreted as an early form of simulation, couple
techniques of dissimulation. Magicians simulated the presence of supernational agency for
audiences, while dissimulating the underlying methods and mechanisms. Dissimulation impli
the secret inner workings of apparatus were not simply concealed but were rendered ab
This, in turn, obscured the production of supernatural effects in the translation of agencies
an assembly of performers, assistants, apparatus, apparatus-builders, and so on. How th
achieved is investigated through an analysis of key instructional texts written by and for ma
working in the modern style. Techniques of dissimulation are identified in the design of ap
for three stage illusions, and in the new naturalness of the performer's manner. To expl
significance of this picture of stage magic, and its reliance on techniques of dissimulation, a
is drawn between conjuring and recent performances of computerized life forms, especially
of social robotics. The paper concludes by considering what is revealed about the produc
agency in stage magic's peculiar human-machine assemblies.

Keywords
computerized life forms, dissimulation, simulation, stage magic

Introduction

Magic consists in creating, by misdirection of the senses, the mental impression of supern
agency at work. (Nevil Maskelyne (Maskelyne and Devant, 1992 [1911]: 110))

Corresponding author:
Wally Smith, Department of Computing and Information Systems, The University of Melbourne, Parkv
VIC 3010, Australia.
Email: wsmith@unimelb.edu.au

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320 Social Studies of Science 45(3)

The art of conjuring bases its deceptions upon m

surprising results which are produced by the sc
chemistry, mathematics, and particularly mechanic
weapons for the use of the magician. (Jean Euge

The craft of stage magic has come under various

about the workings of human minds and cultu
studied its implications for mental processes, p
Hyman, 1989; Macknik et al., 2008). 1 At least o
the magician's stage persona and forms of inte
contextual accounts have made links to theatre
Solomon, 2010). Others have sought still broade
society and culture (e.g. Cook, 2001; Coppa et
(2002) epic and insightful book charts how, th
methods, 'secular magic' emerged as distinct fr
cupations with things such as cruelty, the exotic
1). Continuing an interest in stage magic, but tak
siders it as a site to learn about technology - pa
are performed and received, and the deeply ent
The historical focus for the present account is Eu
a time and place of great inventiveness and succ
in a 'Golden Age* from about 1890 to 1914 (Da
time were deeply technological accomplishment
of a magician, often with an assistant or two, m
magic audiences, like wands, bird cages, steel r
play were hidden gadgets, sometimes known a
reels, pulls, the servante and the gooseneck. And
in time, was an extended network of magician
builders, instructional texts and so on. In the c
alignment of all these actors and arrangements t
Nevil Maskelyne described as 'the mental impres
Take the following trick performed by the gr
Houdin in Paris in the 1840s. He brought a wo
could lift it freely. But when spectators were
heavy to raise off the ground. The Light and
tricks, rested on the impossibility of breaking
the conservation of mass. But equally essential,
simple material props expressed a strange age
events in which they participated. The wooden
the magician to lift it while preventing others
During the 18th and early 19th centuries, th
public displays of science had acquired a comm
and 'effects', presented with wand or pointer
taken on many of the techniques and materials
greatly in the second half of the 19th century, a
way into magic shows, such as electricity, elec

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Smith 32 1

sophisticated
Along with
instructiona
'orders': 'ma
'physical'. Th
contained si
lar' (Maskel
As these ba
was happeni
the 19th cen
mance. Wha
that its stra
Understandin
it holds mor
To investiga
draw on Lu
she develop
aspire to be
features of
involved in e
cially Latour
in a singular
enacted in su
stage magic
apparatus w
tions of var
builders, oth
attempt to s
deceptive te
involves the
means by w
mechanisms
ment; it imp
The use of t
appearance in
Fitzkee appe
usage of the
selves from
expressly fe
[sic] fall sign
prominent u
distinguished
what one has
The next th
magic, expla
simulation

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 322 Social Studies of Science 45(3)

naturalness and minimalism of the modern styl

in relation to both apparatus design and the per
then considers the broader significance of this
with public performances of science and techno
not been widely used in Science and Technology
the familiar 'erasure of human labors' around t
2007: 238). A specific comparison is made with
forms, especially those of social robotics (e.g
being the focal technologies of Suchman's acco
with the mechanical automata of the 18th and 1
with magicians (Riskin, 2007). Finally, the artic
revealed about stage magic's peculiar reconfigur

The modern style of conjuring: sim

dissimulation

A conjuror is not a juggler; he is an actor playing the part of a magician, an artist whose fin
have more need to move with deftness than with speed. (Jean Eugene Robert-Houdin, 2
[1868]: 39)

[T]he magician's audience is not called upon to sympathize with human emotions, but to take
an interest in things which are entirely out of the common, and in events which are only
interesting from the fact that they occur. (Nevil Maskelyne [Maskelyne and Devant, 1992
(1911): 55])

A conjurer's business is not to deceive, but to evoke wonder by artistically perfected magical
effects. (Samuel Sharpe, 2000 [1936]: 248)

A background for the present account is provided by magicians' own histories of their
craft, notably those of Sidney Clarke (1926-1928), Henry Ridgely Evans (1928), Geoffrey
Lamb (1976), Milbourne Christopher (1973), Edwin Dawes (1979) and Jim Steinmeyer
(2001, 2003). But the key sources are a small body of reflective instructional texts written
by and for magicians on the principles of good conjuring.4 The authors, who articulated
the tenets of the modern style, are described here as conjuring theorists to mark their spe-
cial status. Only a few figures in the history of conjuring have succeeded in publishing
purely theoretical treatments of the craft, as opposed to the numerous practical manuals on
how to perform specific tricks. Robert-Houdin, the performer of the Light and Heavy
Chest illusion, took early ownership of the modern style through his influential perfor-
mances and writings, in particular, his widely read autobiography Confidences d'un pres-
tidigitateur (Robert-Houdin, 2006 [1858]) and his two most famous instructional books,
Les secrets de la prestidigitation et de la magie (Robert-Houdin, 2006 [1868]) and Magie
et Physique Amusante (Robert-Houdin, 2006 [1877]).5 Two later works confirm the mod-
ern style's significance throughout and beyond the golden age and form two more anchors
of the current account. Our Magic (1992 [191 1]), by Nevil Maskelyne and David Devant,
expresses the thinking of Victorian England's most successful conjuring company and is
perhaps the clearest statement of modern magic's ideas. Neo-Magic: The Art of the
Conjurer (Sharpe, 2000 [ 1 932]), with related writings by the esteemed commentator Samuel

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 Smith 323

Sharpe, mar
while endor
and Devant,
are still wid
The modern
sharp declin
tre of marv
(Solomon, 2
ence and te
in scientifi
fice. By th
cannot now
audience to
thing has g
Curiously,
ern style w
form with
circumstan
the earlier
tus shaped
in the 1840
taining min
out drapery
an evening
showman. H
sleeve'), 'ped
accidents or
In their pla
It is unlike
of evening
Houdin (Cla
produce mo
Herrmann
performing
English con
transparen
[1911]) trea
emphasized
manner: 'Le
prising not
effect' (p. 2
Some cultural theorists have described the scientific manner of Robert-Houdin and
others as an affectation motivated by a yearning for bourgeois respectability (e.g. Cook,
2001 ; During, 2002). Cook (2001) puts it: 'First and foremost, they brought the magician
fully into the more respectable confines of the urban middle-class theater' (p. 167). For

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324 Social Studies of Science 45(3)

Figure I . Robert-HoudiiVs stage set, Paris 1 840s.

During (2002), 'Robert-Houdin negated the tr

bringing to the stage the prestige of the inve
style also marked a profound shift in the ex
modus operandi of deception that sought to er
trickery. The modern style removed any sens
performance as something real. The audience
not see an actor pretend to lift a heavy objec
wooden box that other real people were unable
enhanced by setting them not in a dramatic st
ited by spectators. This new format of realist t
rience for spectators, who now confronted s
Maskelyne and Devant, quoted above, pinpoin
impossible events of a magic trick are 'only in
And in Sharpe's line above, the contradiction
spective as the need to produce 'magical effec
experience is also expressed as the juxtapositi
Sharpe's (2000 [1932]) definition of conjuring:
It consists in producing supernatural effects b
obscure to the general public' (p. 15).
While the magicians of the modern style like
see them as working in what Andrew Pickeri
(p. 19). Like the cyberneticians studied by Pic
that probed audiences' understanding of arte
around the human-machine boundary.9 More

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Smith 325

earlyform
stage.For s
Fox Keller (
of imitativ
(WWII) and
definition
Deceiving
(1711)'. Cur
ances in th
example, ga
existence to
123).10 Whi
closer to a
magic, well
magic was
referred sp
hold an eg
resemblanc
imitated a s
Alongside i
seen as ena
the metho
Devant (199
tion' and 'd
secret mech
ture of app
ment: 'mag
concealed b
eral struct
Bacon on d
enough to h
keep an ind
for spectato
they had se
stage is the
and next to

Magical
It is easy en
ability. It is
trick. This i
of work is o
of a barrel-o
to obtain an

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326 Social Studies of Science 45(3)

When appliances are so designed as to show that they

a spectator's only source of interest is in wondering h
Maskelyne [Maskelyne and Devant, 1992 (1911): 120

To produce convincing magic there must be a total abs

is no more magic in the average conjuring performanc
results are obviously produced by trickery. (Samuel

How did modern conjuring work its format of tec

render methods and mechanisms absent, when aud
cial? A key site of dissimulation was the design of
theorists poured scorn on performers who used ove
and baggy costumes that declared themselves as hi
a form of apparatus that I will describe through the
the familiar black box. Being an empty box implies
ratus are not just forgotten about or obscured bu
implies, as with Robert-Houdin's transparent stag
clearly seen to be isolated and not components of la
To see how dissimulation was achieved through a
the form of the empty box, three tricks that illustr
In all three, apparent supernatural agency was man
agency of an assembly including a performer, visi
tants, and magical inventors and designers. First,
and Heavy Chest illusion, which he performed in t
from 1845 to 1853 (see Figure 2). He had a smaller
cigar-box at his home in Blois where he used it to e
In both places, the effect was brought about by th
could be secretly turned on or off. In the theatre
board that Robert-Houdin used to walk from the st
placed. An off-stage assistant, who could hear the
on and off at the right moments (Robert-Houdin
example of one of science's 'surprising results' bein
Electricity offered great possibilities for dis
Maskelyne and Devant (1992 [1911]) through a pri
through Supports' (p. 146). Electrical power could b
a floor and a stand, without any visible motion. Th
regard, stored safely out of sight, its magnetic fie
play. The result for the Light and Heavy Chest was
of the empty box form: a simple chest seen to be
lated from other possible mechanisms. However, it
in the audience of Robert-Houdin's shows would be
ing its invention by Sturgeon in 1825 and the ma
(Schiffer, 2008). So even with its perfect conce
demanded a deeper form of dissimulation. Most imp
carefully disassociated the method from the effect
simulate a gravitational force. The use of a woode

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Smith

Figure 2. T

magnetism
mid- 19th
force and
The form
Suchman'
assembly
apparatus
neutralizi
cies of th
free from
tion was t
mance an
item, whi
almost ac
pivotal co
tromagne
on this vi

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328 Social Studies of Science 45(3)

Figure 3. The Sphinx Head , Egyptian Hall, London, c

For our next trick, we move forward to 1865

Stodare, presented a much awaited and successfu
Hall in London, a venue for the public display
trick is well described in magicians' own histor
2003). Stodare entered the stage carrying a b
through notices appearing in The Times newsp
ancient Egyptian. The front of the box was op
came alive and answered questions from the m
made-up actor, and the method rested on the b
in a curtained alcove, in which the body of th
secret of this concealment, still used by magicia
objects arranged to produce a surprising optical
calculations drew on techniques from laborator
oped within the world of magicians and science

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 Smith 329

The Sphinx
Light and H
cies express
table and it
the box, th
box form w
unsuspected
illustrates h
dental elem
pened to be
of the box
Also impor
significant
of concealm
Polytechnic
the Institut
disappear o
zling but d
presenting
(Steinmeye
gated by th
tors had ma
was lost alt
approach w
a live disme
tism into g
shifting th
For our th
century an
(1992 [191 1
time it inv
fourgoldfi
dropped 26
they sank t
paper, whic
to the surfa
of tablets m
which refle
held down
nected to th
of the bowl
hidden assistant held them in readiness.
Devanťs Educated Fish further illustrates the peculiar human-machine reconfigura-
tion of stage magic. The agency manifest in the goldfish was produced by reconfiguring
an assembly involving the performer, the hidden assistant, the special goldfish bowl of

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330 Social Studies of Science 45(3)

Figure 4. The Educated Fish , London, St George's

visible and concealed letter tablets and its system

form was created in the shape of a fully transp
devoid of mechanism and effectively detached fr
other two tricks, the illusion rested on certain
incidental ordinariness. The fish, bowl and tab
the metal stand, where the fish happened to be
gency. Without spectator awareness of all the c
whole was again rendered absent, leaving the f

Magical performance: dissimulati

naturalness

Some conjurors use an excessive amount of gesture in order to conceal their manipulati
This is wrong. Genuine conjuring demands perfect simplicity of execution. The more si
and natural the movements of the performer, the less likely is the spectator to detect the t
(Jean Eugene Robert-Houdin, 2006 [1868]: 32-33)

A young performer often imagines that the ease of manner and ready flow of language poss
by his seniors are more or less spontaneous in origin . . . But the fact is that practically e
word and action has been mostly carefully rehearsed, before the presentation was ever
before the public. (Nevil Maskelyne [Maskelyne and Devant, 1992 (1911): 78])

The actions which appear to be the most natural on stage are, in reality, the least natural
i.e., those which have been most rehearsed. (Samuel Sharpe, 2000 [1932]: 138) in my opin
too many magicians present their effects in a commonplace way on stage . . . They 4 do their s
without a vestige of dramatic presentation and do not try to create an atmosphere of suspense
mystery; in fact, they are too off-hand. (Samuel Sharpe, 2000 [1938]: 293))

In tandem with the design of minimal and apparently transparent apparatus and s
sets, there was something else going on in the modern style of conjuring that was pe
even more deceptive. But now the target was the performer who, as operator of the
ratus, was also part of the arrangement that worked the trick. Just as agencies captured
apparatus had to be carefully erased, so too the instrumental role of the magician w

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Smith 33 1

need of diss
Sachs (1885)
that he "kno
results to h
This second
ness. The per
rediscoverin
century as d
please' wrot
'conjuring s
More signif
machine rec
disentangled
of apparatus
ordinariness
Devant (1992
thing done i
public, anyt
By being the
ordinary. Thi
ing tricks. H
appears as 'ar
that are outsi
'climax' of t
(Sharpe, 2000
be inspected,
ness of these
a sense of see
ensure that t

While the ma
seen, he is eq
shall be seen

Sharpe contin
no chance of
To manufac
behaviour of
tional play.
reographed
secret actio
included sim
must. On th
it is necessar
the moment
required opp

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332 Social Studies of Science 45(3)

casual and seemingly incidental movement of th

carefully pre-arranged path that avoided enteri
effect. In emphasizing the need to script the un
Maskelyne and Devant ( 1 992 [1911]) wrote, The
to be, the less likely it is to arouse suspicion as
the great emphasis on practice and rehearsal in
and business' (Maskelyne and Devant, 1992 [1
Something that was known to blow the cover
repetition of a trick still fresh in spectators' m
first viewing was seen as machinic second time r
the magicians' rule never to repeat a trick twice
the rule never to say in advance what will hap
being advocated, with various qualifications, by
and Sharpe. This need to avoid repetition captur
modern style: exactingly designed and construct
reliability show after show, but each time appear
The acted naturalness of the performer was care
of apparatus to appear transparent. Together t
methods and machinery, and gave rise to the new
style. This drew large audiences and many follo
to emulate the widely acclaimed performances o
But by the 1910s, the golden age of conjuring
into decline as film emerged and became popul
magic, a point made by Solomon (2010), beca
other theatre productions (Steinmeyer, 2003). Ra
in a similar way perhaps that public displays o
Samuel Sharpe, the most prolific writer on conju
ern style but saw how its minimalism was no lon
of the dry iecture-room atmosphere' created by
(2000 [1932]: 86) and he endorsed a negative rev
Zanzigs performing at the Alhambra in London
cian at a power station than an accredited follower
light of the arc lamp, rather than the spectre-hau
2000 [1932]: 58-60). Sharpe called for stage mag
to reverse what he saw as the 'off-hand' style of
easily accommodated within the modern style's
dilemma that marked the end of the golden age.

Stage magic and other performan

comparison with computerized life
An experiment is transparent when the apparatus a
to what the experiment shows. Like the preparation
unobtrusive, though not necessarily invisible. Thi
perceive the great lecture theatre at the Royal Ins
(David Gooding, 1985: 107)

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Smith 333

Cog had a fa
be a machine

Although st
the remaind
cabinet from
like to a cei
bring Cog t

These early-
when Phil se
that gave hi
through, he
2012: 184)

A picture h
machine re
resulted fr
visible and
spectators.
kinds of te
with recen
Suchman's a
cific case, a
be sketched.
It has been
manipulatio
stage by er
tion and as
ence echoes
Steven Shap
(1988) on P
public lectu
extended ne
tion of per
parallel can
(2003) study
of physicis
Not only d
how care w
minimizing
tants who w
of nature w
scientist pr
disentangle,
scientists' e
of the mod

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334 Social Studies of Science 45(3)

such connections to stage magic do not figure

not gone entirely unnoticed, as in the passing
Studies of public technology demonstrations,
similar 'erasure of human labors' (Suchman, 2
juring further, they also sometimes point to th
For example, Harry Collins (1988) described a
Kingdom of nuclear waste containers withstan
that this was a kind of 'trick' inasmuch as it w
in fact it was carefully designed by the British
produce a particular outcome (Collins, 198
depended on favourable conditions of which t
the sense of an open experiment, the screening
of events as they happened, a technique that r
away from drama to events experienced in th
have examined demonstrations of computer-b
ment of medical imaging prototypes (Coopm
frequency identification (RFID) devices (Simak
systems (Smith, 2009). These studies further
such performances and some of their potentia
observations of carefully choreographed revel
Fundamental differences remain, of course, b
display. In another rare reference to conjurin
while authorized displays of science and engine
public does not take conjuring to be real and th
to produce identical effects ... are not licensed
claim here is that similarities exist across this d
and conducted. The origins of these similaritie
magic has been viewed here through the lens
which is grounded in recent technology produ
likely to be the result of an extended mutual i
science, from the enlightenment onwards at l
influenced by, a common 'theatre of marvels'
other forms.
To explore the parallel in more detail, recent d
as robots and simple 'intelligent' functions like
of comparison. Of all technologies, they migh
to conjuring. Not only do they express the sam
in matter, but more significantly they hold de
the 18th and 19th centuries, including the sho
family, had a close association with the constru
of lifelike figures that are now considered by ma
ized life forms (e.g. Riskin, 2007). 14 Automata
for the present comparison with significant cr
ods with stage magic. Some conjuring tricks, li
as quasi-simulations of intelligence in a surpri

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Smith 335

involved tr
celebrated
wings and
pre-loading
famous che
opponents,
faked mech
Through th
ment in th
argues, in r
from the m
or inevitabl
discontinui
of both for
part of this
stage magic
of dissimul
stage magic
forms, both
First, then
simulation
shift towar
that change
goldfish bo
ery in thes
their 'affil
component
Suchman (
connective
are not visi
in David Du
the cult sci
through co
Robert-Hou
presented a
room of a C
stage sets w
furniture an
Similarly, t
by acting o
human effo
work of te
formed alo
spectators,
mental mac

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336 Social Studies of Science 45(3)

study of social robots and preschool children, po

presenters but also the physical setting in the p
A further aspect of the common pattern acros
is the translation of elements that are a necessary
ently incidental or even accidental circumstanc
been seen in the subtle framing of apparatus, as
porary walking board to reach the stage as an inci
Chest , when it was actually the vital platform c
also evident in the assumed naturalness of the
on rote patter and choreography. These techni
mances of intelligent machines sometimes blur
incidental, as suggested for Philip K. Dick in th
in Suchman's (2007) classic study of people using
copier, a simulated being of more modest and
machine interaction often occurred where use
instructions were tailored to the particularities o
it was scripted to serve more generic situations
The common pattern between these two worl
of audience engagement, in the form of an inv
of computerized life forms, this stems from A
counts as an intelligent machine: one that can f
human. It is often said of the various talk-bots
they use tricks to produce their effects of being
stretches of lively conversation. While most ro
are not set up as formal Turing tests, they sti
decide how real the encounter feels and, implici
be deceived. This connection has also been not
tracing Charles Babbage's fascination with aut
Turk, Simon Schaffer (1996) pointed to the 'tem
Turing test and its shared reliance on 'conceal
Related to this format of playful deception, t
ence experience. The modern style evoked a dee
tors who, while knowing that the magic was
ordinary clothes using simple props and speaki
and of the moment. This mirrors some reports
as Sherry Turkle's encounter with the precoci
alive while knowing it to be only a machine. Th
can be seen to be a product of the combination
an effect known by all to be contrived, while s
ance in machinery and method. Again, automa
contradiction for watchers 'because they dram
that living creatures were essentially machines
esis of machines' (Riskin, 2003: 612).
The productions of stage magic and recent co
share at least superficial similarities in the way

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 Smith 337

are dissimul
social robot
question is w
computerize
important t
dissimulativ
openly decla
fashionable
the case wit
held in com
ing example
supporting
transparent
Computeriz
display and
their affilia
clear that th
presence of
design and
might be se
possibilities
Equally, how
articulation
including th
cal achievem
tute only an
The second
might enha
Reflecting t
the human
graphed and
technique in
1 53). And i
glimpse thr

Some artists
aside their an
smiling mac
[1868]: 31)

The problem was not that they had performed exactingly to script but that they had given
themselves away.
In resembling programmed automata, modern magicians might further be seen as
having entered themselves and their audiences into a strange variant of the Turing test.
To succeed, the magician-automaton sought to pass off its behaviour as natural and
occurring in the moment and to conceal its origins in a carefully pre-programmed script.

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 338 Social Studies of Science 45(3)

Any sense of machinie repetition was the deat

never to repeat tricks on the same occasion and n
to take place. This mirrors conventional Turing
an experience of encountering an intelligent b
and exactly repeats an extended sequence of be
The terms set by the Turing test are for the
privileged human judges. In conjuring shows of
machine took to the stage, one comprising an ar
nents and scripted operators. For the audience, t
inert props seemed to lack any inner workings,
a presenter behaving naturally in the moment.
Woolgar's (1991) term, 'configured' into this
minimalism creating a false sense of them being
of events. Unlike contenders in a conventional T
magic swiftly confronted the audience with in
watchers were no longer arbiters of what coun
capacity for sense-making was brought into que

What conjuring reveals about agen

nowhere

What has been revealed about translations of agency by peering inside stage magic
peculiar human-machine reconfigurations? To consider this, a particular card trick
'Everywhere and Nowhere', provides a useful metaphor. It was invented around the
dle of the 19th century by Johann Hofzinser, an Austrian magician who through a m
malism and elegance can also be considered to be part of the modern style. In this tr
a chosen card is seen to be at many different locations, but each time it disappear
analogy, if we try to follow agency through the performance of a magic performanc
each moment it shifts between presence and absence, between being real and b
imagined.16
First consider the trick's magical ending, the apparent production of a supernatural
effect. It is known by all to be a fiction. Yet strangely, as emphasized by the modern
style, it depends on being grounded in a material reality of witnessed events - events
that are 'only interesting from the fact that they occur'. So begins a pattern of agency
being somehow both real and unreal. Modern spectators, accepting that there can be
no supernatural forces at work, wonder where the agency comes from that secretly
works the trick. Look next at the magician. The agency of the performer also pales
under closer inspection. During performance, it is obliterated by a fabricated stage
persona designed to appear as spontaneous but in reality reproducing a rote script of
action and patter. Similarly, the agency of assistants, which lies directly behind the
magical effects like the Light and Heavy Chest , the Sphinx Head and the Educated
Fish , is also enlisted in the machine of production, following strict instructions to act
on cues from the magician.
Look next at the apparatus. It has been seen how it was designed to appear in the form
of an empty box : inert props that neither housed a mechanism nor existed as a component

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 Smith

of a large
ratus wer
at the inv
off-stage
back-stag
the histor
listic var
Maskelyn
(Maskelyn
the great
his invent
Drawing a
view of c
effects w
intentions
accumulat
builders o
and trick

Acknow
The author would like to thank Hannah Lewi and Paul Jackson for their ideas and comments. The
development of this article was helped by the audiences of two earlier presentations: one at a ses-
sion chaired by Marli Huijer at the Annual Meeting of the Society for Social Studies of Science in
Cleveland, 201 1 and another hosted by Connor Graham and Catelijne Coopmans at the National
University of Singapore in 2013. Considerable thanks are due to Stephen Turner and three anony-
mous reviewers who gave helpful advice and suggestions.

Funding
This research received no specific grant from any funding agency in the public, commercial or
not-for-profit sectors.

Notes

1 . Many academic writers on stage magic also have practical skills in conjuring. Mackn
(2008) take this further as a collaboration between neuroscientists and leading contemp
magicians. Similarly, Coppa et al. (2008) bring together academics and magicians.
2. Bensaude- Vincent and Blondel (2008) have commented on the link between public
and entertainment in the 1 7th century. The stylistic cross-over is apparent throughou
rors' own histories, especially those by Ridgely Evans (1928) and Clarke (1926-1928
3. Steinmeyer (2003) provides a popular but authoritative and insightful account of the
niques of 19th-century stage magic.
4. These sources have ongoing influence and recognition among stage magicians, obse
the author as a member of the British conjuring society, The Magic Circle.
5. There are precedents for identifying a modern style of conjuring in the 19th-
Magicians' own histories often refer to Robert-Houdin as the 'father of modern ma
Ridgley Evans, 1928: 100), and cultural accounts have referred to 'modern enchant
(During, 2002: title) and 'magical modernism' (Cook, 2001: 166).

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 340 Social Studies of Science 45(3)

6. Samuel Sharpe was a prolific writer on magic wh

century. Here, I draw on three of his books (Sh
which have recently been republished together unde
7. Matthew Solomon (2010) sees conjuring and fil
'theatre of marvels', a term taken from Hannah W
based on spectacles that are distinct from the deve
8. Clarke (1926-1928: 86) describes the earlier sty
and famous example is the Scottish magician John
North', who performed with extensive arrangem
invented the trick of pulling a rabbit from a hat
9. It is perhaps no coincidence that according to Picker
inventors, particularly Norbert Wiener and Grey
similar shift of emphasis away from inner working
10. Other writers on magic have made more incide
example, one of the most widely read instruction
headed 'To simulate the action of placing a ba
(2000 [1936]) applied it to the magician's form of
it is only necessary to simulate the style of chara
which suggests an even closer link to our present
rian Henry Ridgley Evans (1928) used the term to
which simulated the actions of humans and anim
11. This scorn continues in magicians' instruction
(2003). See also Peter Lamont and Richard Wise
cian's craft for non-magicians.
12. Inspired by his career as a magician, Robert-Ho
retirement home in Blois, which can be seen as a
(Smith and Lewi, 2008).
13. The Educated Fish is described in Part III of M
thought to have been written by David Devant an
examples of specific tricks. Parts I and II, though
the more theoretical treatments of 'The Art in M
14. A few prominent examples will illustrate the d
Isaac Fawkes, who performed in a booth in Bart
1720s, presented automata built by members of t
boyant Italian conjuror, Guiseppe Pinetti, who cap
century, also showed mechanical wonders includ
most prominent figures of 1 9th-century magic, R
Nevil), were both trained clockmakers and automa
15. Mark Sussman (1999) draws an interesting par
the Turk and the techniques of conjuring, but uses
ent from those of the present account.
16. The idea of the agency of an actor being 'every
actor-network theory (Mialet, 2012: 459).

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Author biography
Wally Smith is a Senior Lecturer in The Department of Computing and Information Systems at The
University of Melbourne. His interests are in the theory, use and design of digital technologies with
current projects studying applications to health and citizen-produced heritage. He is an amateur
magician and member of The Magic Circle, London.

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