Aldini

The Main Street store was run by Aldini the Magician—real name Alex Weiner—a mustachioed, tart-tongued spiel-meister who taught me all the Yiddish words I know, including the invaluable tuchis meaning “ass”, which he used as a code word to indicate that a sexy girl had come into the shop.

Born Standing Up Steve Martin 2007

Perhaps the keynote to the charm of George Sand's art is given in her preface to her exquisite novel "La Derniere Aldini."

Cobwebs of Thought Arachne

Six men clad in the Aldini suit went in, one behind the other, between the blazing fences, and walked slowly backward and forward in the narrow passage, while the fire was being fed with fresh combustibles from the exterior.

Scientific American Supplement, No. 360, November 25, 1882 Various

The exercises generally took place in the following order: Aldini began by first wrapping his finger in asbestos and then with a double layer of wire gauze.

Scientific American Supplement, No. 360, November 25, 1882 Various

Aldini, convinced of the services that his apparatus might render to humanity, traveled over Europe and gave gratuitous representations with it.

Scientific American Supplement, No. 360, November 25, 1882 Various

It is infinitely more simple to suppose that between the two fences there was a ditch sufficiently deep in which a fire had also been lighted, and which was covered by a grating as in the Aldini experiments.

Scientific American Supplement, No. 360, November 25, 1882 Various

Then came the discoveries of Galvani and Volta, followed by the demonstrations of Galvani's nephew Aldini, whereby dead animals were made to display the movements of life, not only by the electricity of the Voltaic pile, but, as Aldini especially showed, by a transfer of this mysterious agency from one animal to another.

Scientific American Supplement, No. 344, August 5, 1882 Various

The Chevalier Aldini conceived the idea of applying the same material, in combination with other badly conducting substances, as a protection against fire.

Miracle Mongers and Their Methods 1920

Sir David Brewster, in his Letters on Natural Magic, page 305, gives a more detailed account of Aldini, from which the natural deduction is that the Chevalier was a showman with an intellect fully up to the demands of his art.

Miracle Mongers and Their Methods 1920

-- Principles of heat resistance put to practical uses: Aldini, 1829.

Miracle Mongers and Their Methods 1920