Note 13 — Chapter VIII · OFF TO MALAYSIA AND CATHAY

Part of the illusion described by Ibn Batûta, known as the Indian Rope Trick, was seen by the late Professor Middleton, of the South Kensington Museum, in Morocco, and is fully described by Wilfred Scawen Blount’s Diaries, 1888–1900, p. 86, sqq. The trick has been much discussed during the last few years, and conjurers confess that it perplexes them. (“Baffled magicians,” Times, Feb. 6th, 1919). Mr. C. R. Sanderson, Librarian to the National Liberal Club, kindly drew my attention to certain articles and correspondence in popular journals (Strand Magazine, April, 1919; Daily Mail, Jan. 7th, 1913, and a discussion in the same newspaper, beginning Jan. 8th, 1919, and ending Feb. 19th, 1919). It is a common belief among English residents in India that some of these illusions are due to hypnotism; but, as a rule, only people who are capable of great concentration of mind, or who are in the habit of obeying commands are readily hypnotized, and then only by direct suggestion, and not, so say the best authorities, by will-power. Cases of hypnosis at a distance have been recorded; but the subjects had already been hypnotized by the operator; and, if these accounts should be proved veridical, telepathy might possibly explain them. The instance photographed by Lieut. F. W. Holmes, V.C., is a degenerate form of the trick. If a cinematograph record of a really fine exhibition of this illusion could be taken, probably the problem would be solved conclusively.