THE
Practical Magician
AND
VENTRILOQUIST’S GUIDE.
A PRACTICAL MANUAL OF
FIRESIDE MAGIC AND CONJURING ILLUSIONS,
CONTAINING ALSO
COMPLETE INSTRUCTIONS FOR ACQUIRING & PRACTISING
The Art of Ventriloquism.
NEW YORK
HURST & CO., Publishers,
75 NASSAU STREET.
(Entered according to Act of Congress in the year 1876, by
THOMAS D. HURST,
in the office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington, D.C.)
BEST BOOK ON THE “BLACK ART.”
PARLOR PASTIMES.
_A NEW BOOK ON_
MAGIC, CONJURING, LEGERDEMAIN,
AND PRESTIDIGITATION.
BY THE CELEBRATED
PROFESSOR RAYMOND
This work is certainly the most exhaustive one on Magic that has ever
been issued. It exposes all the secrets of the Wizard’s Art. No trick
or illusion of importance is left unnoticed, and the explanations are
made in so simple a manner that any one of ordinary comprehension can
readily understand and perform them. The book thoroughly elucidates all
the mysteries connected with
White Magic,
Natural Magic,
Jugglery,
Sleight-of-Hand,
Electricity,
Chemistry,
Cards,
Coins,
Galvanism,
Magnetism,
Legerdemain,
Necromancy,
Fireworks,
Mechanics,
The Black Art,
Prestidigitation.
It also contains a grand assortment of
_RIDDLES_, _CONUNDRUMS_, _CHARADES_, _ENIGMAS_, _REBUSES_,
_TRANSPOSITIONS_, _ANAGRAMS_, _PUZZLES_,
_PARADOXES_, _ACROSTICS_, _AND PROBLEMS_.
A study of this extremely interesting work would make any one
thoroughly expert in the art of Amusing, whether in private or public.
The work may be consulted with profit either by the Amateur or
Professional Magician.
Price Twenty-Five Cents.
Sent to any address on receipt of price. Address
HURST & CO., 75 NASSAU STREET, NEW YORK.
CONTENTS.
PAGE
Introduction. 8
Of palmistry and the passes. 9
To command a dime to pass into the centre of a ball of wool,
so that it will not be discovered till the ball is unwound
to the very last of its threads. 13
To change a bowl of ink into clear water with gold fish in it. 14
The dancing egg. 15
The walking cent. 16
Tricks with and without collusion. 19
To make a quarter and a penny change places while held in
the hands of two spectators. 23
Trick with the dime, handkerchief, and an orange or lemon. 23
How to double your pocket money. 24
The injured handkerchief restored. 25
To make a large die pass through the crown of a hat without
injuring it. 26
To produce from a silk handkerchief bon-bons, candies,
nuts, etc. 27
Practice. 29
A sudden and unexpected supply of feathers from under a
silk handkerchief or cloth. 31
Heads or Tails? 33
To cook pancakes or plumcakes in a hat over some candles. 34
To eat a dish of paper shavings and afterwards draw them
from your mouth like an Atlantic cable. 36
How to cut off a person’s nose without injuring him. 37
Tricks by magnetism, chemistry, galvanism and electricity. 39
The watch obedient to the word of command. 41
A chemical trick, to follow one where a young friend has
assisted. 43
To draw three spools off two tapes without those spools
having to come off the ends of those tapes, and while
the four ends of the tapes are held by four persons. 44
To restore a tape whole after it has been cut in the middle. 46
On the continuity of tricks. 49
The invisible hen, a very useful trick for supplying eggs for
breakfast or dinner. 53
Tricks with a plain gold ring. 56
Friendly suggestions. 59
The conjuror’s “bonus genius” or familiar messenger. 61
The shower of money. 63
To furnish the ladies with a magic supply of tea or coffee,
at their selection, from one and the same jug. 64
To furnish a treat to the gentlemen. 66
Ventriloquism. 67
Ventriloquism among the ancients. 70
Modern professors of the art. 71
The theory of ventriloquism. 76
The means by which it is effected. 79
Practical illustrations. 81
Polyphonic imitations. 87
A mountain echo. 88
Points to be remembered. 88
Concluding remarks. 90
To make the magic whistle. 91
[Illustration: Decoration]
THE PRACTICAL MAGICIAN
AND
VENTRILOQUIST’S GUIDE.
CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTORY.
My object in writing these hints on CONJURING is for the benefit of
amateurs to promote lively and entertaining amusement for the home
circle and social gatherings.
My large experience enables me to explain and simplify many of the
best tricks and illusions of the art. I present the key to many of the
mystical mysteries which have puzzled and bewildered our childhood days
as well as confounded us in our maturer years.
The young student can in a very short time, if he be in the least
of an ingenious turn, amuse and astonish his friends, neighbors and
acquaintances.
Preference has been given to those tricks which suggest others, the
more complete and difficult performances and illusions have been passed
by as being out of place; I shall not, therefore, in these elementary
papers advert to those experiments which require ample resources, or
a prepared stage, for exhibiting them—or which can only be displayed
to advantage by consummate skill and the most adroit manipulation—but
confine my remarks at present to those branches of the art to the
performance of which a young amateur may aspire with prospect of
success.
A few hours’ practice will enable the learner to execute the simple
tricks that I shall first treat of; and they will only require
for their display such articles as are readily available in every
household. Most of them will be supplied by any company of a few
friends, and if not in the parlor, can be brought from no greater
distance than the kitchen or housekeeper’s room; such as handkerchiefs,
coins, oranges, or eggs, a glass bowl, etc., etc. There may only
remain a few inexpensive articles to be supplied from repositories for
the sale of conjuring apparatus, or they may be had direct from the
publishers of this work.
It may be well explicitly to avow that the time is quite gone by when
people will really believe that conjuring is to be done by supernatural
agencies. No faith is now reposed in the “black art of sorcery,” or
even in the art to which the less repulsive name was given of “white
magic.” Many years have elapsed since conjurors have seriously assumed
to themselves any credit as possessing supernatural powers, or as
enabled by spiritual agency to reveal that which is unknown to science
and philosophy, or mysteriously to work astonishing marvels.
A well-marked contrast exists between the old school of conjurors and
those of modern times. The former, who used boldly to profess that they
employed mysterious rites and preternatural agency, designedly put the
spectator upon false interpretations, while they studiously avoided
giving any elucidation of the phenomena, nor would ever admit that the
wonders displayed were to be accounted for by the principles of science
and natural philosophy.
Modern conjurors advance no such pretensions. They use as
scientifically as possible the natural properties of matter to aid
in their exhibition of wonderful results. They are content to let the
exhibition of their art appear marvelous. They sometimes mystify the
matter, and so increase the puzzle, in order to heighten the interest
and amusement of the spectators; but they throw aside any solemn
asseveration of possessing hidden powers, or of ability to fathom
mysterious secrets.
It may be admitted that proficients and exhibitors still adopt language
that has become current with conjurors, and in common parlance it may
be asserted that the wonderful Mr. So-and-So undertakes to pass some
solid object through a wall or a table; to change black into white, and
white into black; to place rings in closely-fastened boxes, or draw
money out of people’s ears; and conjurors may with ridiculous humor
distract the attention of spectators, so that accurate observation
is not fixed upon the object that is to undergo before their eyes
some singular transformation; but no outrageous bombast or positive
falsehoods are commonly advanced. And the practical meaning of any
exaggerated pretension is clearly understood to mean no more than that
Mr. So-and-So undertakes to present before you what, TO ALL APPEARANCE,
is the conversion of black into white, or vice versa; and the audience
are clearly aware that no more is assumed to be presented to them
than a very striking illusion, undistinguishable from a reality; and
how this is effected will be in many cases wholly untraceable, and
therefore the trick is inimitable.
We may be permitted to feel some pleasure in the conviction that
the exhibition of our art in its more striking exploits is really
marvelous, and very attractive; for we certainly have the power of
placing some astonishing phenomena before our audience; and we may
surely prize the estimation with which the uninitiated are disposed to
honor us, but we erect no vain-glorious assumptions upon these data,
as we are quite contented with fair praise intelligently accorded to
us. And so far from closely concealing the principles and arcana of
our science, we are ready plainly to avow that it all depends upon
faculties that all may attain by patient culture, and exhibit by
careful practice. Undoubtedly there are less and greater degrees of
excellence to be obtained by proportionate intelligence and dexterity.
There are attainments in the art, at which, by natural qualification
and peculiar adaptation, special study, practice, and experience
enable some few only to arrive. These qualifications cannot be easily
communicated to every one who might wish to possess them; and therefore
the highest adepts will ever have an incommunicable distinction. But
this is no more than is the case in the medical, the legal, and any
learned profession, in all which the most eminent proficients reserve
to themselves, or unavoidably retain, an unquestioned superiority.
At the same time there is much in our art that may be communicated,
and the present papers will show to our friends that we are willing
to impart to others such portions of our art as they are capable of
acquiring; and we trust that what we shall communicate to them will
furnish them much rational recreation among themselves, and enable
them to supply innocent and interesting amusement to their friends and
companions.