LEVITATION, the raising of a body in the air without mechanical means. The tradition of the levitation of the human body is ancient and wide-spread. In the Puranas of India there is an exact Sanskrit equivalent, laghiman (from laghu, light, Lat. levis), defined as "the preternatural power of making oneself light at will." The Buddhist Suttas describe a similar power. Salverte, in The Philosophy of Magic, says : "The enthusiastic disciples of Iamblichus (d. at Chalcis, c. A.D. 333) affirmed that when he prayed he was raised to the height of ten cubits from the ground." The most remarkable modern report of levitation is the story of Joseph of Cupertino (1603-1663), so named from a village in S. Italy between Brindisi and Otranto. After he was admitted to the Franciscan order it was said of him that "fre quently he would be raised from his feet and remain suspended in the air. Since such occurrences in public caused much admira tion and also disturbance in a community, Joseph for 35 years was not allowed to attend choir, but was ordered to remain in his room, where a private chapel was prepared for him." He practised extreme mortification and fasting. Of Daniel Dunglas
Home (1833-1886) Mr. (later Sir William) Crookes F.R.S. writes in the Quarterly Journal of Science (Jan. of -which he was editor: "On three separate occasions have I seen him raised completely from the floor of the room. , . . There are at least a hundred recorded instances of Home's rising from the ground, in the presence of as many separate persons, and I have heard from the lips of the three witnesses to the most striking occurrence of this kind (the Earl of Dunraven, Lord Lindsay and Captain C. Wynne) their own most minute accounts of what took place. . . . The accumulated testimony establishing Mr. Home's levitations is overwhelming." This striking occurrence took place at Ashley house, London, on Dec. 16, 1868. Home, believed to be in a trance, was carried out through one window and into another seven feet away, and 7o feet from the ground. Dr. R. Chambers and Dr. Lockhart Robinson were also convinced.
The appearance of levitation has been imitated by many stage magicians, Robert-Houdin among others, but obviously under wholly different conditions.