of Mathematics and Natural Philosophy and dressed in courtly attire. Phylidor usually presented himself as a physicist in his advertisements.Phylidor Phantasmorasi handbill. 1792-03 Many of the secrets of Pinetti's tricks had been revealed in publications by Henri Descremps, starting in 1784 with the novel La magie blanche dévoilée when Pinetti was still performing in Paris. Phylidor referenced Johann Georg Schröpfer and Cagliostro in several advertisements. In the early 1770s Johann Georg Schröpfer had performed Masonic necromantic rituals and experiments, raising ghosts that were probably created with many hidden techniques including magic lantern projections on smoke. Soon after Schröpfer's death there was a boom of publications either attacking or defending his supposed supernatural abilities, expanding Schrepfer's fame across Europe. Several publications included explanations of techniques he might have used to conjure apparitions, which inspired several people to try to recreate Schrepfer's séances. Cagliostro was thought to have performed similar séances. Performances In the beginning Phylidor's shows were presented as "black art" or "natural magic" and included conjuring tricks and automata. When these weren't received well in Berlin in 1789, he tried to make an impression with the evocation of ghosts. But Phylidor's first séance resulted in the accusation of being a fraud, he was ordered to stop his activities and was expelled from Berlin. A few months later he published a statement that he never had conjured up any spirits, but that he showed how people could be deceived by charlatans. He regarded his shows by no means as supernatural, but as an art which had already found praise at the Dresden court. He further developed his ghost-raising show, probably making use of the recently invented Argand lamp, into a show that could more easily be seen by large audiences. Over the years his performances were advertised to include "black arts" or "natural magic", pyrotechnics, physics experiments, hydraulics, hydrostatics magnetic-mechanical experiments, mechanical pieces of art (including life-size mechanical figures), optical illusions / optical art (including apparitions of ghosts and absent persons) and catoptrics. Dutch Republic (December 1785 to March 1786) Phylidor's first known performances were advertised by "Charles Phyllidoor, professor in de physique en Mathematique" to take place at six in the evenings of 27, 29, and 31 December 1785 and 2 January 1786 at De Schuttershof in Middelburg. He promised different tricks for each evening and presented his show as "Zwarte Konst" (Black Art) in one of his newspaper advertisements.