Houdini

whom he received the training: that was to fit
him for the field in which he became widely
known in later life—plastic surgery of the eye.
In the fall of 1865 he received his state license to
practise medicine, but he remained in Heidel-
berg as first assistant in the surgical clinic. After
serving as surgeon during the Austro-Prussian
War, he went to Berlin in 1867 to study ophthal-
mology under Albrecht von Graefe and in 1868
he went to Vienna for further work in ophthal-
mology and otology under Professors Arlt, Po-
litzer, and Jaeger. In August 1868 he accepted
the position of first assistant to Professor Knapp
in the eye clinic in Heidelberg. The following
year he went to London, where he did further
work in the eye clinics, and from London he
went to Edinburgh to acquaint himself with the
work of Joseph Lister who was then just intro-
ducing his antiseptic agents into surgery. Re-
turning to London, he met a friend who per-
suaded him to settle in America and later in the
same year, 1869, he arrived in Chicago, where he
opened an office on Clark Street and established
himself as a general surgeon. In 1871 he de-
cided to specialize in ophthalmology and otology
and was appointed oculist and aurist to the Cook
County Hospital, Chicago. He resigned as sur-
geon to the Cook County Hospital in 1876 and
accepted a similar position at the Illinois Char-
itable Eye and Ear Infirmary. Two years later
he performed for the first time the plastic opera-
tion for the entropion (described in the Archives
of Ophthalmology, vol. VIII, no. 2, 1879). He
also performed the first recorded mastoid opera-
tion in Chicago. In 1898 he was appointed to
the chair of ophthalmology and otology at Rush
Medical College and of ophthalmology at the
Presbyterian Hospital, Chicago, which position
he held until his death. He had married, in 1873,
Emma Rosenmerkel, the daughter of a pioneer
druggist and chemist of Chicago. His broad
training in the different fields of medicine and
surgery was evidenced in his teachings, his
writing, and in his practice. He made many val-
uable contributions to the literature of ophthal-
mology and his work in the field of plastic sur-
gery of the eyelids gave him an international
reputation.

Who's Who in America, 1908-09; Jour, of Oph-
thalmol.^OtoLj and LaryngoL, May 1909; ///. Medic.
Jour., May 1909; Ophthalmic Record, May 1898; Jour,
of the Am. Medic. Asso.f Mar. 27,1909; Chicago News,
Chicago Tribune, Mar. 22, 1909.] W G.R

HOUDINI, HARRY (Apr. 6, i874~0ct. 31,
1926), magician, author, was the fifth child of
Rabbi Mayer Samuel Weiss and Cecelia Steiner
of Budapest He was bom not long: after his

Houdini

parents had emigrated to Appleton, Wis., and
was named Ehrich. Early in his career as a ma-
gician he took the name of Harry Houdini. As
the opportunities for a Jewish scholar were few
in Wisconsin, the boy had to contribute to the
family income at an early age. At twelve he ran
away, in time reaching New York, and later the
family moved there. Upon the death of Rabbi
Weiss in 1892 Ehrich contributed largely to the
family income. He worked at a variety of odd
jobs, but from his earliest years his great inter-
est was in magic and feats of dexterity. He
gleaned the rudiments of his profession in side-
shows, circuses, and from books, and was al-
ready giving public entertainments in magic be-
fore his father's death. He had a brief partner-
ship with his brother Theodore, known as Har-
deen, but that terminated in June 1894 upon his
sudden marriage to Wilhelmina Rahner, who
took the name of Beatrice Houdini and became
his assistant. Until 1900 the Houdinis led a pre-
carious existence, although they were engaged
at Tony Pastor's theatre in 1895 and later
through Martin Beck secured an engagement on
the Orpheum circuit. For the most part they ap-
peared in circuses and small shows, doing a va-
riety of minor tricks. Even with his skill, Hou-
dini was unable to draw large contracts and in
1900 he determined to go abroad. By a sensa-
tional escape from Scotland Yard he became a
headliner at the Alhambra Theatre in London
and then set out on a tour which lasted four years
and which took him about the Continent.

Upon his return to the United States he soon
gained wide publicity. In all types of theatrical
magic he was a master, but it was as an escape
artist that he built up his reputation. By his ex-
pert knowledge of mechanics and his ability to
invent the most intricate devices, he was able
to extricate himself from handcuffs, safes, and
locked and sealed containers of all kinds. When
his escapes depended upon sheer strength and
dexterity, or when they depended upon the use
of instruments which he could employ without
being detected, he executed them in full view of
the audience. For more difficult escapes he made
use of a cabinet and occasionally a confederate,
out of sight of the audience. He was a superb
trickster, not above using any means for deceiv-
ing the public, but he always emphasized the
fact that he never resorted to supernatural phe-
nomena for the accomplishment of his acts. A
large part of his success was the result of mere
showmanship.

Having named himself for Robert-Houdin,
self-acclaimed as the greatest magician of all
time, Houdini decided to write a book on his

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