of the second and third fingers of the right hand, having the palm
of the hand upwards, therefore the backs of the fingers presented to
the audience, as at _c_. Approach the left hand to the right, with
back of the hand upwards, and as soon as the left hand hides the tips
of the fingers of the right hand, loosen the thumb so as to drop the
coin on to the second and third fingers, as at _d_. Immediately close
the left hand as if taking the coin out of the right hand and raise
it up; meanwhile bend the fingers of the right hand so as to effect
palm No. 1, and lower it steadily to the side _or_ holding the coin
as in palm No. 1, and hidden by the bend of the little finger raise
the right hand to the mouth and cough slightly before lowering it,
this shows the audience (apparently) that the right hand is empty.
Meanwhile you play about with the left hand, in which the audience
thinks is the coin, and when you have diverted their attention and
disposed of the coin you can imitate the motion with the left hand
of throwing the (imaginary) coin into the air or rubbing it away to
nothing, or any other fanciful way of (apparently) disposing of it,
or if you have safely got rid of the coin, suddenly rub your hands
together and gradually display the two hands both empty. This is one
of the most effective and easy passes.
“2. Lay the coin on the left hand, approach the right to it, take the
coin between the fingers and thumb of the right, carry the right hand
smartly back, performing palm No. 3. Holding the left hand open jerk
the right hand close to it, really holding the penny in the right
palm, but apparently throwing it into the left; as you do it shut
the fingers of the left hand smartly over the palm so as to produce
a slap which people think is the slap of the coin falling into the
hand, hold up the left hand so that people look at it, and lower the
right with the coin palmed (No. 3); if any one is suspicious shift
the coin to palm No. 1, and apparently show the hand empty in some
artful manner. Then do what you like with the imaginary coin in the
left hand.
“3. To pass several coins, let them all be (if possible) of the same
size and hold them tight in the palm of the right hand, then perform
pass No. 2, in exactly the same manner as with a single coin, except
that instead of holding them in the palm they fall with a clink into
the bend of the fingers where they must at once be secured by the
thumb beyond fear of further rattle. The chink thus produced, the
audience thinks is produced by the coins falling into the other hand,
which being immediately closed apparently holds the coins. It is a
ticklish trick to perform well, owing to the necessarily constrained
position of the right hand, but when got well into control is very
effective indeed.
“There are many other palms and passes, but with these all
sleight-of-hand tricks may be done, and out of them the amateur can
invent a quantity of simple little impromptu experiments.
“Card Sleights.--These are far more extensive than coin tricks, for
the cards in themselves are in a way apparatus, the active principles
of which are, as with coin, the palm, the pass, and cheek, to which
are added last, but not least, the slip and the turnover. You must
constantly ‘Ruffle’ the cards, i.e. holding the pack in one hand draw
the fingers or thumb of the other across the edges at one end so as
to rattle them all together. It conceals any manipulation which may
have startled the audience, and should therefore be done in a quick
or _degagé_ manner after every sleight or whenever needed, and as the
audience do not understand it, they think that this movement is the
actual operation by which the wonders are performed.
“Palming.--This is done as follows: Hold the pack as at _d_, Fig. 99,
in the left hand, and covering the pack lengthways with the right,
so that the top joint of the fingers touches the top edge of the top
card, slide the top card forward, and press down the tips of the
fingers; the card will be thus pressed into the hand and lie curled
up in it as in _e_, if thin small cards are used, a card (or even two
or three) thus held will be completely hidden by the hand, and may be
curled up tight without injury to the card. In this sleight, it is
difficult to avoid a constrained position of the hand, but it is very
useful as hereinafter described for changing cards.
“Passing.--This is the great stumbling-block of the amateur
miracle-monger, and will require most practice, for when you begin
it will seem impossible to do it _en cache_. Its object is to
reverse the two halves of the pack (in fact, a sort of automatic
_cut_; in fact the French term is ‘_sauter la coupe_,’ for by its
means the demoralising effect of a cut may be avoided), and when
properly practised and perfected it is done noiselessly, in a manner
incomprehensible to the conjuror himself. Often, practising the pass
before a looking-glass, I have wondered myself at my own performance,
so completely does the automatic and sympathetic movement of the
hands deceive the eye. The pack being divided into two halves, it is
held in the left hand as at _f_, i.e. as seen from the front there is
no division, but really whilst three fingers clasp it, it is divided
(above or below any given card, or, as the case may be) by the little
finger. Now cover the pack lengthways with the right hand, slip the
first finger in also as at _g_, so that the upper half of the pack is
held as it were in a hinge formed by the fingers of the left hand.
Now seize the lower half between the thumb and fingers and the right
hand, and press it sideways into the lower joint of the thumb as at
_h_. Now by means of the fingers of the left hand raise the upper
half hinge-wise, and with the fingers and thumb of the right, lift
the lower half till it is just clear of the top half as at _i_, when
on pressing down the thumb the lower half will be pressed over the
top half as at _j_. The fingers may then be removed, and your purpose
is accomplished; i.e. the top and bottom halves of the pack have
changed places. As you acquire practice it will only be necessary
to insert the little finger of the left hand, instead of two. It
is well to lower the hands sharply as you perform this sleight, to
cover the movement, which, however, by practice is reduced to a
minimum. It is also well, if you feel that some one is suspicious,
to ruffle the cards immediately afterwards to divert suspicion. This
sleight requires much private rehearsal, but is the mainspring of a
great many tricks, and its practice gives the hands a suppleness and
sympathy not to be acquired in any other way.
“The _turnover_ is a sleight, practised when it is desired to present
the backs of the cards whichever way the pack is presented. It is
performed as follows: Beginning exactly as with the pass, except
that when _i_ is reached instead of pressing the lower half over
the top, the movement is continued to _k_, so that the two halves
of the pack face one another, and now whether the top or bottom
half be uppermost, the backs of the cards will be visible. You can
now deal off cards from either half, and when you want to cease,
and begin from the other, hold the cards as in _d_, but the thumb
instead of being over the pack it is underneath as at _l_, so that
the attention of the audience being diverted (by counting the cards
already dealt, or otherwise) by an upward pressure of the thumb the
pack is completely reversed, and the heretofore undermost card is now
at the top. This is the principle of most tricks involving counting
off cards.
“Slips.--These are the most useful and frequently required sleights
practised by the amateur conjuror, and consist of the knack of
drawing a card from the top, middle, or bottom of the pack, and
placing it in any position in the pack which may be required by the
trick.
“1. The pack being held in the ordinary manner in the left hand, with
a chosen card on the top (either placed there by the chooser, or by
the pass, or one of the subjoined slips), lift off the top half,
raising it rather hingewise, so that the _top_ card being retained
by the fingers of the left hand it is left on the top of the half
retained in the left hand, as in _m_.
“2. The chosen card being on the top of the pack, being held as
at _d_, and covered lengthwise by the right hand, by a sudden
contraction of the fingers of the left hand, the top card is drawn
off (under the right hand) as at _n_, with a ‘flip,’ caused by the
bending of the card as it bends and straightens out at the bottom of
the pack. The cards are immediately ‘ruffled’ to disguise the flip.
In the same manner a card may be sprung from the bottom to the top,
or from the top to the centre, in the latter case the pack being
opened a little in the left hand, and the top half slightly raised by
the thumb and fingers of the right hand. The elasticity of the card
will cause it to spring, in the instant it finds an opening.
“3. A card having been chosen, the pack is presented, just raising
the top half to make a place for it, but not looking at the place,
or indeed at the hands at all. The card being inserted, before
replacing the top half the two middle fingers are inserted just over
it, and directly the two halves join, the card is flipped out by
the two fingers as in _n_, and brought to the bottom. The cards are
immediately ‘ruffled,’ and your point is gained, i.e. you know the
exact card chosen. If the chooser demurs to re-inserting the card at
the opening you make--
“4. Spread out the pack fanwise before him, spreading them _to your
right_, and letting the fingers of your two hands meet underneath the
fan. By this means wherever he pushes in his card, you can feel it,
and in collapsing the fan into pack form, the fingers are slipped in
over the top as in slip No. 3, and the card is flipped out as there
set down.
“These demonstrate the active principles of slips, which your own
ingenuity will multiply _ad infinitum_. It will be seen that by their
means any card chosen and returned to the pack may be at once secured
and ascertained, which is the prime object of the card trickster, in
whatsoever experiment he may be engaged. Simply a ‘slip,’ combined
with any of the following ‘exposures,’ will constitute a trick in
itself, far above the comprehension of any one not himself a master
of the art.
“Exposures.--These are the methods of ‘exposing’ a card chosen, and
returned to the pack. Your own fancy will suggest any quantity of
methods, but the following are a few for a start. In fact, almost all
card-tricks consist of one sleight, and a more or less complicated
exposure.
“1. Slip the chosen card to the top. Let the pack be held by any one
(say the chooser of the card) with the face upwards, i.e. so that
his card is at the bottom. See that the pack is held well into the
hand of the holder, secured by the thumb set rather near the edge of
the pack. Now, with your own hand, or let any one else, strike the
pack smartly downwards, and all the cards will be knocked out of his
hand except the bottom one (his own) which remains staring him in the
face, retained by adhesion to his own fingers. Result, natural, but
extraordinary.
“2. Slip the chosen card to the top. Take the pack in the right hand,
and cover it with the left, as you do so sliding the top (chosen)
card sideways till it projects nearly half over the side of the pack.
This state of things will be hidden by the left hand, holding the
pack endways. On dropping the pack bodily from the left hand at an
elevation of about 1½ feet from floor or table, the top (chosen) card
will turn as it falls, and lie face upwards on the top of the pack.
Result, simple, but startling.
“3. Slip the chosen card to the top. Give the chooser a paper knife,
and, holding the pack as at _d_, tell him to cut the pack with it
where he likes. Where he cuts, divide the pack, and lift off the top
half, doing at the same time slip No. 1, which will bring his card
to the top of the lower half. Put down the top half, and observing
that you in no way influenced his cut, tell him to take the (now)
top card. He will be surprised to find it his own. Result, easy but
supernatural.
“Space forbids me to suggest any others, which you can easily work
out for yourself. If time and space would allow, it would be easy to
fill a volume with card tricks requiring no preparation, apparatus,
or accomplices; but as they are all based upon the above sleights,
mere repetition would be useless.
“The following selection are very telling and are easily performed.
“1. To tell any card by looking at its back. This is founded on a
manipulation, which I have not described above, and which is called
the ‘drawback.’ The pack is held in the left hand as at _p_, with
the faces downwards. Look at the bottom card, and as you turn the
pack down draw down the bottom card with the little finger as at
_q_. Asking some one to tell you when to stop, commence drawing back
the cards on the top as at _o_. When told to stop, name the bottom
card (looked at and drawn back) and drawing out all the intermediate
cards, inform the teller that that is the card he stopped at, and
in effect on turning up the remaining cards, the card drawn back
and named will be at the bottom, and apparently the one at which he
stopped. I have done this trick twenty times running without being
detected.
“2. Let any one choose a card and get it to the bottom of the pack
by slips Nos. 3 or 4. Put down the cards haphazard in three packs,
noting at the bottom of which the chosen card is. Ask the chooser in
which pack he would imagine his card to be; if he chooses the right
one (which is lucky) throw away the other two; if not, place the
one he chooses _on_ the right one and throw away the _other_ wrong
one. Redivide the cards left into three packs and proceed as before,
always retaining the pack _at the bottom of which_ his card is, until
only three cards are left, including the right one. If he now chooses
the right one it is exceptional luck, though it often so happens: if
not, appear to hesitate a moment, and then retaining his own and the
one he chooses, throw away the third, and mixing the two left but
remembering his own yourself, throw them down, and the chances are
even he will choose his own card. If he doesn’t, boldly throw down
the one he chooses and turn up the other, which is his own. Casually
observe that you in no way influenced his choice, and leave him
astonished.
“3. Pass or slip the chosen card to the top and make a great show of
a false shuffle, i.e. shuffle all the cards, but retain or manipulate
the top card so that it is shuffled to the bottom and thence back
to the top. Then have the cards cut, and taking them up yourself,
slip out the card by slip Nos. 3 or 4, and re-slip it to the top,
or avoid the entire cut by means of the pass. Having _convinced_
him that his card is lost _in gurgite vasto_ of the pack, let him
count off 8 cards from the top and spread them in any order in a
row, face downwards, _but_ keep your eye on and note the position of
the first or top card, which is his own. Put away the rest of the
pack, and tell him to touch four out of the eight. If he touches his
own amongst them, take up and throw away the four untouched, or if
he does not touch his own, take up those he touches. Then let him
touch two of the four left, and throw away as before, leaving his own
one of the two left. Then let him touch one of the two left, and as
before leave his own solus. Turn it up, and his astonishment will be
unbounded. Your victim will often enable you _always_ to throw away
the ones touched, and of course this improves the trick, otherwise it
is twenty to one against his noticing that you do not always throw
away the same set. If he does, you must trust to providence and let
the best liar win.
“4. Choose out the four kings (or any other four similar cards) and
divide the pack into two halves, place the cards, a black on the top
and a red on the bottom of one half, and a red on the top and a black
on the bottom of the other half, so that when the halves are united
the two blacks will be in the middle and the two reds on the top, as
you reunite them slip in the little finger as at _f_. Make the victim
recite aloud the position of the reds and that of the blacks, and
repeat it after him so that there is _no_ doubt. Freely expose the
faces fanwise (keeping the place) to let him be certain. When this is
accomplished make the ‘pass’ so as to reverse the order of things.
Expose the pack as reversed, and begging him to be more careful in
future repeat the experiment to his utter mystification. If you are
really good at ‘passing,’ this trick may be repeated over and over
again with great effect.
“5. To change a card without the help of the pack proceed thus: Slip
the chosen card to the top, and make a false shuffle. Then take off,
apparently only the top one, but really the top two, and hold them
up by the edges, so that the top (right) one is completely hidden
by the second (wrong) one. Putting the pack quite away behind at
some distance from you, bring forward your (double) card in the left
hand and show it to the chooser, asking if it is his own. As he will
say no, appear confused and let him be quite positive and assertive
that it is not his own. Take the (double) card lengthwise and face
downwards in the right hand, walk back towards the pack, as you do so
draw off the (right) card, leaving the wrong one palmed in the right
hand as at _d_. Bring it forward again in the right hand (which in
holding, the right will conceal the wrong card), as if to make quite
sure, when the chooser will find it to be changed into his own card.
“6. This trick is somewhat similar to the last. Take out the
four kings, and spread them out fanwise, _but_ let the second
have concealed behind it as in the last trick, two other court
cards (court cards are best as being not so noticeable in case of
accident). Hold them up, saying, ‘You see I have here the four
kings,’ close them up smartly and lay them face downwards on the
top of the pack, so that the order is now, 1 king, 2 false ditto, 3
false ditto, 4, 5 and 6 kings. Take off the first (which is real) and
apparently unintentionally show its face and place it at the bottom
of the pack. Take off the next (false one) _without_ showing it,
and place it _into_ the pack near the bottom. Place the next (false
one) similarly _into_ the pack near the top. Take off the fourth
(real) and apparently unintentionally exposing its face, _commence_
to put it into the middle; when half way, however, change your mind
and place it on the top of the pack. Say, ‘Well, these kings are
all well separated now, to mix them still further will you kindly
cut the pack;’ this operation will of course join all four again in
the middle. ‘Ruffle’ the pack and spreading it out fanwise expose
them _en masse_ in the centre. If neatly done this is an excellent
illusion.”
_Physical Experiments._--There are many illustrations of physical
laws which admit of exhibition without the aid of any special
apparatus, and which may be made highly instructive. Most of the
following examples are borrowed from Max Adeler’s _Curious Company_.
[Illustration: 100. Equilibrium Trick.]