I had a very confused trail leading from the Turk to Melies and the first motion pictures, via an American stage magician, Maskelyne's Egyptian Hall, and Pepper's Ghost, but I had to junk it because it didn't make any sense even to me.

But the Maskelynes have not escaped me -- I'll get them, with their astronomy and their invisible battleships and their whist-playing, poetry-writing robots.