ll be necessary for a proper understanding of the subject, that
we repeat here in a few words, the routine adopted by the exhibiter
in disclosing the interior of the box--a routine from which he _never
_deviates in any material particular. In the first place he opens the
door No. I. Leaving this open, he goes round to the rear of the box, and
opens a door precisely at the back of door No. I. To this back door he
holds a lighted candle. He then _closes the back door, _locks it, and,
coming round to the front, opens the drawer to its full extent. This
done, he opens the doors No. 2 and No. 3, (the folding doors) and
displays the interior of the main compartment. Leaving open the main
compartment, the drawer, and the front door of cupboard No. I, he
now goes to the rear again, and throws open the back door of the main
compartment. In shutting up the box no particular order is observed,
except that the folding doors are always closed before the drawer.

Now, let us suppose that when the machine is first rolled into the
presence of the spectators, a man is already within it. His body is
situated behind the dense machinery in cupboard No. T. (the rear portion
of which machinery is so contrived as to slip _en masse, _from the main
compartment to the cupboard No. I, as occasion may require,) and his
legs lie at full length in the main compartment. When Maelzel opens the
door No. I, the man within is not in any danger of discovery, for
the keenest eye cannot penetrate more than about two inches into the
darkness within. But the case is otherwise when the back door of the
cupboard No. I, is opened. A bright light then pervades the cupboard,
and the body of the man would be discovered if it were there. But it is
not. The putting the key in the lock of the back door was a signal on
hearing which the person concealed brought his body forward to an angle
as acute as possible--throwing it altogether, or nearly so, into the
main compartment. This, however, is a painful position, and cannot be
long maintained. Accordingly we find that Maelzel _closes the back door.
_This being done, there is no reason why the body of the man may not
resume its former situation--for the cupboard is again so dark as to
defy scrutiny. The drawer is now opened, and the legs of the person
within drop down behind it in the space it formerly occupied. {*4}
There is, consequently, now no longer any part of the man in the main
compartment--his body being behind t