Page:Houdini - Miracle Mongers.djvu/92

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MIRACLE-MONGERS AND THEIR METHODS

out of his pocket, offered it to the poison-swallower.

Fire-king—"I ask you, on your honor as a gentleman, is this genuine unmixed poison?"

Mr. Smith—"It is, upon my honor."

Fire-king—"Is there any medical gentleman here who will examine it?"

A person in the room requested that Dr. Gordon Smith, one of the medical professors in the London University, would examine the vial, and decide whether it contained genuine phosphorus.

The professor went to the table, on which the formidable collection of poisons—such as red and white arsenic, hydrocyanic acid, morphine and phosphorus—was placed, and, examining the vial, declared, that, to the best of his judgment, it was genuine phosphorus.

M. Chabert asked Mr. Smith, how many grains he wished to commence his first draught with. Mr. Smith—"Twenty grains will do as a commencement."

A medical gentleman then came forward and cut off two parcels of phosphorus, containing twenty grains each. He was placing them in the water, when the fire-