The true history of the ghost : and all about metempsychosis / by Professor Pepper.

  • Pepper, John Henry, 1821-1900.
Date:
1890
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The true history of the ghost : and all about metempsychosis / by Professor Pepper. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Francis A. Countway Library of Medicine, through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the Francis A. Countway Library of Medicine, Harvard Medical School.

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    confined to too small stage limits, it was certainly as good, if not better, than the ghost illusion. The time had now arrived when the London world was ready for something new (as commercial men would say) in the ghost line, and although Mr. James Walker, with the modesty of a truly scientific man, disclaimed the merit due to his invention, he did at last, at my request, throw him- self, with the author, heart and soul into the production of the new illusion, which we called Metempsychosis. We now took out a patent for the new optical wonder, and having thus secured the invention from that piracy and robbery which too often dog the otherwise successful steps of inventors, causing nearly every patent to be called by the legal fraternity a damnosa hereditas^ we looked about for a good place—hall or theatre—where the illusion could be started. None better could be thought of than the old Royal Polytechnic, where we offered at a moderate sum per week to produce it, paying for every stick, decoration, or engraved looking-glass ourselves. But it appeared that the funds of the institution were so reduced—it was supposed, by the immense expenditure on armies, warlike material, and ladies' legs required to produce a work emulating friend Barnum's gigantic Nero, and called, with an alarming stretch of imagiiiatioii, the Siege of Troy, or Destruction of Troy —that the directors were unable to guarantee the weekly salary Mr. James Walker and myself demanded. Luckily for us, a percentage on the gross receipts was sug- gested, and brought in a great deal more money to our exchequer than the modest weekly salary would have given us. The public came in goodly numbers to see the new optical wonder, and all went well as long as the author remained in London and could devote his time and energies to the daily exhibition; but the time was now drawing rapidly near when, according to contract, he must leave for Australia.