TRICKS BY MAGNETISM, CHEMISTRY, GALVANISM, OR ELECTRICITY.
There is a class of tricks about which I must say a few words, viz.,
those that require to be exhibited by the help of magnetism, chemistry,
galvanism, or electricity. I need not dwell long on them, for I do
not consider them such as the young people, for whom these notes are
written, can be recommended to devote their attention to, for the
following reasons: in the first place, they are, with a few exceptions,
attended with considerable expense. Secondly, the tricks connected with
the powerful agencies of galvanism and electricity are dangerous to the
unskilful operator; and, even in experienced hands, the most effective
of them are uncertain things to manage; therefore their effect cannot
be depended on.
Some very interesting tricks have, doubtless, at times been exhibited
by the help of galvanism and electricity. We have read of a conjuror
by such help confounding a powerful Arab, by first letting him lift
with ease a box, and afterwards rendering it impossible for him to
raise it, when an electric current had, to his dismay, paralyzed all
his strength. It is evident that an experiment of this kind could not
be safely attempted by any but a very experienced person. We read
also of conjurors who have surprised their audience by receiving them
in a dimly-lit theatre, and then firing off a pistol, (to startle
the audience and cover the real mode of operation,) they have by
electricity lighted up one hundred lamps at once. This has proved
very successful on some occasions; but on others, notwithstanding the
most careful preparation and the greatest precaution, it has been
found that the apparatus would not act, and the impatient spectators
have visited the disappointing failure with their indignant murmurs.
Other conjurors have become so attached to electric experiments, that
they have proposed to regulate all the clocks of a large district by
electricity, or have amused themselves by turning electric or galvanic
currents to the door-handles of their houses, so that unsuspecting
strangers, on touching them, were startled with electric shocks. There
is also a trick for rendering one portion of a portrait electric by a
metal plate concealed under it, and the spectators being invited to
touch some part of the picture, have, on touching the spots that were
charged with electricity, received a shock or powerful blow, as if the
portrait resented their touching it.
Having briefly given the character of this class of tricks, and stated
that they not only require expensive apparatus, but are attended with
danger to the inexperienced, there still remains another serious
objection, viz., that, like the experiments performed by automaton
figures or complicated machinery, they are liable to fail, through
any trifling disarrangement, just at the moment when the performer
is hoping that his audience will be delighted with his surprising
exhibition.
For these reasons I shall not stay to describe the more elaborate of
these tricks, as, however interesting they may be to the scientific,
they would not, in a youthful amateur’s hands, be sure to produce the
amusement which it is my primary object to supply.
The simpler experiments of magnetism and chemistry may well be
regarded as recreations of science, interesting curiosities, suitable
enough to be exhibited by a professor of chemistry for amusement and
instruction; but even these can hardly be considered as belonging to
“conjuring proper.” Young people do not care, at festive parties, to
watch red liquids turning into green, blue, and yellow; or the mixture
of different chemical ingredients producing strange conversions into
varied substances; nor will experiments that are interesting as
chemical curiosities produce the same excitement and pleasing surprise
that the wonders of sleight-of-hand do. In a word, such experiments in
a private circle of young friends fail to constitute the most amusing
kind of parlor magic, while upon a public stage they are too minute for
any large audience to trace and comprehend.
Lest, however, my young readers should think that I have any desire
to shut them out from any field of reasonable pleasure, I will now
carefully select one or two examples of tricks connected with the
sciences of magnetism and chemistry, and which may, even in the hands
of amateurs, produce a safe and pleasing exhibition.
In the following trick they will find an amusing instance of the
combination of science with rational recreation.
TRICK 16.—The watch obedient to the word of command.
The magnet is a well-known agent in producing several toys for the
entertainment of the young, and though its attraction is wonderful,
there is no danger likely to arise from employing it, in the same way
as might arise from unskilful dabbling with electricity, galvanism, or
chemical powers, and a strange and singular effect may be produced by
placing a magnet of some little strength near a watch.
Supposing the young conjuror to have provided himself with a powerful
but not very large magnet, let him conceal it in the palm, or under
a thin glove in his left hand, or near the edge of the cuff of his
sleeve. Let him then borrow a lady’s watch, (without chain,) and the
thinner the watch-case is, and if it has a glass, the better. Let him
then call forward a youth, and placing the watch in his own right hand,
and near to the ear of the other, ask him if he hears it going: he will
answer “Yes.”
Let him next bid the watch to stop; and on taking it in his left hand,
where the magnet is concealed, it will stop, if held steadily; and on
inquiring of his young friend whether he can hear it, he will reply
“No.”
Observe: you must keep systematically to using your right hand when
you wish to make the watch go on, and to your left when you wish it
to stop. Appealing to others among the company, the performer may
then tell the watch to go on, and holding it in his right hand, and
giving it a slight shake, apply it to one of their ears; it will be
heard “tic, tic;” then holding it in his left hand and telling it to
stop, they will also find that it does stop. You can pretend to doubt
whether they are all deaf of one ear, but lastly may declare that this
is caused by the obedient disposition of the watch, which so orderly
obeys your command. Remind your audience that savages upon first seeing
a watch believe it to be a living animal with power to think and act of
itself. “At any rate,” you may conclude, “the present watch seems to
hear, to understand, and to obey my orders.”
It will be an amusing addition to the above trick to say that you will
now order the watch to fly away and conceal itself.
You must for this purpose have provided yourself with an electro-plated
locket resembling a lady’s watch, and have two loaves ready in some
convenient corner.
When the watch has finished its “manual and platoon” exercise on the
platform, you may say, “I will now place this watch visibly to all
upon the table.” Turn round to go to your table, and in walking to it,
substitute the locket for the watch, and place the locket on some spot
visible to all. It will not be distinguishable from the watch by the
spectators at six or eight yards’ distance from them. Conceal the watch
itself in the palm of your hand. You can now exclaim, “I require two
loaves,” and walking towards them, slip the watch into the one you have
prepared with a slit in its side. Advancing to the audience, ask in
which loaf they will prefer that you shall bid the watch fly. If they
name the one in which you have concealed it, proceed to break open the
loaf and find the watch. But suppose they name the wrong one: you then,
remembering that the left hand of the spectators is your right hand,
proceed with the true loaf, whichever they have named, or manage to
cross the position of the loaves as you place them on the table.
Then taking up the locket with your right hand, make Pass 1, as if
transferring it to your left hand, but really retaining it in your
right hand (as described in my first paper.) Blow upon your closed left
hand, and say, “Watch, fly into that loaf.” Clap your hands. It is gone.
Advancing to the loaf, get rid of the locket from your right hand; take
up the loaf, break it open on the other side from that in which the
locket was introduced, bring out the watch, and appeal to the lady to
declare whether it is the same which she lent to you.
TRICK 17.
An experiment with a very mild dash of electricity in it, which will at
any rate be a popular trick with most people that try it. It will do
for a small entertainment, or at any joyous party of young people. It
does not, however, require a large number to be present, but, contrary
to the usual scientific tricks, its development comes off better with
one companion than with a dozen.
PREPARATION.
You must induce your cousin Jemima, or some other young lady who is
just of age to have cut her eye-teeth, to consent to help you by
accompanying you to a room with closed shutters and no candles. A
moderate-sized looking-glass must be on the table, the smaller the
better, for reasons below assigned. Have ready at hand some ounces of
hard candy.
You commence the trick by placing yourselves, hand-in-hand, before the
looking glass. If it is rather small, your heads will be the closer—in
order to see the reflection of both at once. Then, with mouths as open
as may be, try which of you can crush his or her share of sugar-candy
with the teeth the quickest. In the glass will appear the reflection of
sparks of electricity, as the experiment proceeds. If your companion
is nervous, you can of course support her with one arm—ladies are
sometimes susceptible, whether from animal magnetism or what not. The
electric sparks coming between the lips may also be attractive, and you
may be tempted to try whether the electricity evaporates the sweetness;
but of course you must not be tempted to forget the philosophical
nature of the experiment; and, if you behave with propriety, the lady
will doubtless, on her return to the company, tell them, in a staid
manner, that the experiment was all right; and perhaps when you see
her, even a day or two afterwards, you will observe there is an arch
dimple on her cheek and an electric sparkle lighting up her eye—and I
should not wonder if you should feel a desire to try the experiment
over again.
TRICK 18.—A chemical trick to follow one where a young friend has
assisted.
PREPARATION.
You must have a wine-glass, a saucer, and a teaspoon, and the chemical
bottles No. 1 (silicate of potash) and No. 2 (aluminate of potash,)
which can be obtained from any druggist.
At the close of some trick in which any young friend has assisted, you
can say: “Well, my young friend, you have assisted me so courteously
and well that I must, in order to express my thanks, ask you to take a
glass of wine. Do you like wine? Ah, I see by your smile you do.”
Pour out of bottle No. 1 half a glass, and, going towards him, stop
short and say: “Ah, but I am afraid your mamma would be displeased with
me if I gave you wine so strong without any water, and I should be
sorry to tempt you to drink what she would disapprove. Stay, I will mix
a little water with it.”
Mix some of No. 2 bottle, so as to fill the wine-glass, and say: “Oh,
never mind losing the pure wine; I dare say you will like it very well
as it is,” and make a few chatty remarks, to give the liquids time to
mingle their effects in the glass; and after a minute or two say: “Ah!
I’ll tell you what I am sure your mamma would like still better—if I
could give you some calves’-foot jelly. Now, I really believe, if I
were to stir it with this teaspoon, and try my magic wand over it,
I can turn it to jelly. Let us try.” Occupy a little time while it
is becoming like jelly, and go on with a little more talk till you
see that it has become solid. Then say: “Well, after all, I will not
deprive you of your wine; so here it is. Please drink it.” Putting it
to his lips, he will find it has become so solid that he cannot drink
it, but it can be turned out quite solid into the saucer, and a general
laugh will greet him on the disappointment of his wine.
Having submitted a few remarks upon the class of tricks that are to
be performed by help of the sciences, magnetism, chemistry, etc., and
having stated my reasons for my not more fully discussing them, I will
now proceed to give an explanation of one or two more that are better
suited for the practice of amateurs.
TRICK 19.—To draw three spools off two tapes without those spools
having to come off the ends of the tapes, and while the four ends of
the tapes are held by four persons.
PREPARATION.
You must have two narrow tapes of about four feet long, bent as in Fig.
11. Red tape I prefer.
You must next insert about half an inch of A through the loop of B, and
bring it back down on the other part of A.
A spool such as cotton is wound on, or an ornamented ball with a hole
drilled through it, just large enough to hold the tapes lightly, will
be required (Fig. 13.)
[Illustration: FIGS. 11, 12.]
[Illustration: FIG. 13.]
[Illustration: FIG. 14.]
The spool or ball must be put on the tapes at the extreme ends of the
tape B, and drawn to the left, till it just covers the noose at K. as
in Fig. 14.
N. B.—All the above should be prepared before the spectators are
invited to witness the trick.
Commence the exhibition by calling upon the spectators to observe that
you hold a reel, or ball, through which two tapes are passed.
You may then produce two more spools, or wooden balls, and place one of
them over the ends at A, and the other over the ends at B.
[Illustration: FIG. 15.]
The following will then be the appearance of the balls or spools and
the tapes passed through them (Fig. 15):
You may move about the spools 2 and 3, to show how the tape runs
through them, but you must not move spool 1.
You may then say that the puzzle is to get the spools off the tapes
while the four ends are held firmly in the hands of four persons.
Appoint four persons to hold them, and you may then say: “To make
doubly sure, I will tie one of the ends at A to one of the ends at B
with (the first half of) a knot.” It does not signify which ends you
take to do this, so that you take one A and one B. “I will now pull
these two ends so tight that it will draw the three spools together,
and also tighten all along one side of them.”
[Illustration: FIG. 16.]
Then, while four persons hold firmly the extreme ends of the tapes, you
must take shorter hold of the two A’s with your left hand, (where it
is marked by a dotted line, Fig. 16,) and also take hold of the other
tapes where a dotted line is marked on them towards B. Then drawing
your arms wider apart, so as to pull the tapes steadily, the spools
or balls will fall to the ground without passing over the ends of the
tapes.
TRICK 20.—To restore a tape whole after it has been cut in the middle.
PREPARATION.
Have five or six yards of tape about three-quarters of an inch broad.
Take half the length in each hand. You will be able to show the
audience that you are about to cut it in the middle, by holding it in
two loops of equal length. Call their attention pointedly to the equal
division of the full length.
The tape will thus appear to the performer in the position represented
in Fig. 17.
Observe the tape A crosses at z the tape B on the side next to the
performer, whereas the tape D is to cross the tape y on the side
farthest from him.
Fig. 18 represents the hands as they appear to the performer himself,
holding the tape with the thumb and forefinger at the crossings of the
tape at y and z, while the outward sides of each loop are to be held by
the three other fingers of each hand.
[Illustration: FIG. 17.]
[Illustration: FIG. 18.]
To proceed with the trick: Holding your hands in this position, (Fig.
18,) you must request one of the spectators to cut through the tape at
x, but just as he is about to do so, you must quickly lower your hands
two or three inches, and then raise them again. This movement will
conceal the following operation. You drop the part (B) of the tape held
in your right hand, and at the same moment pick up with that hand the
other tape marked C.
This will bring the portion of tape from C to D, so that it now becomes
the transverse tape, substituted in place of the tape marked x, and
your young friend will then cut it—instead of the original tape marked
x—without being aware that he is so doing.
When the tape has been cut through, you can put your hands near
together, allowing the two ends of the little piece of the tape—C D—to
be seen, but concealing from the spectators that you have hold of two
pieces, one a very long one, and the other only about five inches long.
You can then say: “Now I have to join these two ends, and to restore
the tape whole as at first.” You then turn the little piece C D round
the piece y, which is in your left hand, and you tie a knot with the
ends of that little piece. You must not tie this knot very tight, and
after you have tied it, you drop the other end of the tape altogether
out of your right hand.
[Illustration: FIG. 19.]
The appearance which the tapes will then have is represented in Fig.
19. That is, you will seem to hold the equally divided pieces of the
long tape joined in a knot at y, whereas in fact it is only the small
end piece C D, tied round the middle of the long tape, which you hold
between the thumb and forefinger of the left hand. Exhibit the knot
to the company, and say: “I admit that this knot hardly looks like
a perfect restoration; I must employ my best art to get rid of its
unsightly appearance.”
Ask some one to hold, at about three yards’ distance, the end marked
with small d, retaining hold of the centre—at y—in your left hand,
which quite covers the knot. Tell your friend to wind the tape round
his hand, and, while pretending to show him how to do this, by winding
the part which you hold round your left hand, slide away towards your
right the loose knot under your right hand. Then, holding out the end
of the tape A towards another friend, to hold at about three yards’
distance to the right, slip from off the long tape the little movable
knot under your right hand, just before he takes hold of this end of
the tape. Conceal in your right hand the little end-piece of tape,
until you can get rid of it into your pocket, or into any unobserved
spot. Blow upon your left hand, which is supposed still to cover the
knot, saying: “Knot, begone!—Restore!” Take up your left hand, and show
the tape to be free from any knot, or join from one end of it to the
other.