CONJURING TRICKS.
Having described some of the illusions which are produced with the aid
of elaborate outfits, we now come to the more simple tricks which are
produced with smaller and less expensive apparatus, and, sometimes, with
no apparatus at all. In the old days the man of mystery appeared on the
stage clad in a robe embroidered with cabalistic figures, the ample
folds of which could well conceal a whole trunkful of paraphernalia. The
table in the center of the stage was covered with a velvet cloth
embroidered with silver, and its long folds, which reached the ground,
suggested endless possibilities for concealment. All of these things
have now passed away, and the modern magician appears clad in ordinary
evening dress, which is beyond the suspicion of concealment. The
furniture is all selected with special reference to the apparent
impossibility of using it as a storeroom for objects which the
prestidigitateur wishes to conceal. Some of the easiest and simplest of
modern tricks that anyone with little or no practice can perform are
very effective. The tricks in this chapter are far from being all which
have been published in the _Scientific American_ and the _Scientific
American Supplement_, but they are believed to be the best which have
been published in those journals.
TRICK WITH AN EGG AND A HANDKERCHIEF.
In this trick we have an egg in an egg-cup, which the prestidigitateur
covers with a hat, and then he rolls a small silk handkerchief between
his hands, as shown in Fig. 1. As soon as the handkerchief no longer
appears externally, he opens his hands and shows the egg, which has
invisibly left the place that it occupied under the hat, while the
handkerchief has passed into the egg-cup (Fig. 3). We shall now explain
how these invisible transfers are effected.
Two eggs, genuine and entire, were truly placed in plain view in a
basket, but it was not one of those that served for the experiment.
Behind the basket was placed a half shell, C, of wood (Fig. 2), painted
white on the convex side, so as to represent the half of an egg, and on
the concave side offering the same aspect as the interior of the
egg-cup, A, to which it can be perfectly fitted in one direction or the
other, as may be seen in the section in Fig. 2. It is this shell,
inclosing a small handkerchief exactly like the first, that the
prestidigitateur placed upon the egg-cup (Fig. 2). Then, while with the
left hand he covered the whole with a hat with which he concealed the
operation, he with the right hand quickly turned the shell upside down.
The shell, therefore, by this means disappeared in the egg-cup, and the
handkerchief, spreading out, assumed the appearance that it presents in
Fig. 3.
[Illustration: TRICK WITH AN EGG AND HANDKERCHIEF.]
The prestidigitateur, having afterward secretly seized with his right
hand a hollow egg of metal, containing an oval aperture (F, Fig. 2),
stuffed into it the handkerchief that he seemed simply to roll and
compress between his hands. It is almost useless to add that the
metallic egg may be easily concealed either with the palm of the hand
that holds it, or with the handkerchief.
THE CONE OF FLOWERS.
In prestidigitation flowers have in all times played an important part,
and they are usually employed in preference to other objects, since they
give the experiments a pleasing aspect. But, in most cases, natural
flowers, especially when it is necessary to conceal their presence, are
replaced by paper or feather ones, the bulk of which is more easily
reduced. Such is the case in the experiment which we are about to
present, and which, it must be confessed, requires to be seen from some
little distance in order that the spectators may, without too great an
effort of the imagination, be led into the delusion that they are
looking at genuine flowers. However, even seen close by, the trick
surprises one to the same degree as all those that consist in causing
the appearance of more or less bulky objects where nothing was perceived
a few moments previous.
The prestidigitateur takes a newspaper and forms it into a cone before
one’s eyes. It is impossible to suppose the existence here of a double
bottom, and yet the cone, gently shaken, becomes filled with flowers
that have come from no one knows where. The number of them even becomes
so great that they soon more than fill the cone and drop on and cover
the floor.
[Illustration: THE CONE OF FLOWERS.]
The two sides of the flowers employed are represented in Fig. 2, where
they are lettered A and B. Each flower consists of four petals of
various colors, cut with a punch out of very thin tissue paper. Upon
examining Fig. A, we see opposite us the petals 1, 2, 3, and 4 gummed
together by the extremities of their anterior sides, while Fig. B shows
us the petals 2 and 3 united in the same manner on the opposite side. A
small, very light and thin steel spring, D, formed of two strips
soldered together at the bottom, and pointing in opposite directions, is
fixed to the two exterior petals, 1 and 4, of the flower, and is
concealed by a band of paper of the same color, gummed above. It is this
spring that, when it is capable of expanding freely, opens the flower
and gives it its voluminous aspect.
Quite a large number of these flowers (a hundred or more), united and
held together by means of a thread or a rubber band (Fig. 2, C) makes a
package small enough to allow the operator to conceal it in the palm of
his hand, only the back of which he allows the spectators to see while
he is forming the paper cone.
THE MAGIC ROSEBUSH.
In lectures on chemistry, the professor, in speaking of aniline colors,
in order to give an idea of the coloring power of certain of these
substances, performs the following experiment:
Upon a sheet of paper he throws some aniline red, which, as well known,
comes in the form of iridescent crystals. He shakes the surplus off the
paper into the bottle, so that it would be thought that nothing remained
on the paper. If, however, alcohol, in which aniline colors are very
soluble, be poured over the paper, the latter immediately becomes red.
[Illustration: THE MAGIC ROSEBUSH.]
This experiment may be varied as follows: Instead of scattering the
aniline over paper, it is dusted over the flowers of a white rosebush,
and the flowers are shaken so as to render the dust invisible, and then
when a visit is received from an amateur of horticulture, we tell him
that we have a magic rosebush in our garden, the flowers of which become
red when alcohol or cologne is poured over them. The experiment is
performed with the aid of a perfumery vaporizer, and the phenomenon
causes great surprise to the spectators who are not in the secret.
“MAGIC FLOWERS.”
A trick that has contributed much toward making one of our leading
magicians such a favorite with the fair sex, is one in which a bush
filled with genuine rosebuds is caused to grow in a previously-examined
pot that contained nothing but a small quantity of white sand.
After the bush is produced, the flowers are cut and distributed to the
ladies, and by many recipients of the magician’s favors these buds are
looked upon as a production of fairy land. For many years this trick has
occupied a prominent position on the programme of the magician in
question, and mystifies the audience as much to-day as ever, thus
proving how well magicians keep their secrets from the public. The trick
is not a difficult one by any means, yet, regardless of its simplicity
and the ease with which it may be performed, the florist would find it
anything but an economical method of raising roses, as a perusal of the
following will show.
On the stage is seen two stands with metal feet, and with long rich
drapery trimmed with gold fringe. On each of the stands is a miniature
stand on which are flower-pots.
The magician passes the pots for inspection, then places them on the
stands, and plants a few flower seeds in each pot. A large cone, open at
both ends, is shown, and can be carefully examined. One of the pots is
covered for a moment with the cone, and on its removal a green sprig is
seen protruding from the sand, the seed having sprouted, so the magician
says. Now the second pot is covered for a moment with the cone, on the
removal of which a large rosebush is seen in the pot, a mass of
full-blown roses and buds. The first pot is again covered for a moment
with the cone, and when uncovered a second rosebush is seen, equally as
full of roses as the other. The cone is once again shown to be empty.
A small basket or tray is now brought forward, on which the roses and
buds are placed as the performer cuts them from the bushes, after which
they are distributed to the ladies.
The stands are not what they appear, as the drapery does not extend
entirely around them, but quite a space at the back of the stand is
open. There is a small shelf attached to the stand leg, near the bottom
of the drapery. Three cones are used, of which the audience see but one.
The rosebushes are merely stumps to which are attached a base of sheet
lead, cut of such a size as to fit nicely in the flower-pots, resting on
the sand. To the stumps the genuine roses are attached by tying with
thread. When the bushes are prepared they are suspended inside of cones,
by means of a stout cord that is fastened to the stump by one end and to
the other end of which is attached a small hook, which hook is slipped
over the edge of the upper opening of the cone. When the bushes are
placed in the cones, these cones are placed on the shelves at the back
of the stands. Reference to the second engraving will make the
arrangement of the shelf, back of stand, and position of concealed cone
plain to all. There is a variance in the size of the cones. The cone
shown to the audience is slightly larger than the cone that is behind
the first stand, and the cone behind the second stand is a fraction
smaller than either of the others. Thus the cones will fit snugly one in
the other, in the order named.
[Illustration: MAGIC FLOWERS.]
After the performer has shown the pots, planted the seed, and placed the
pots on the small stands, which are used to convince the spectators that
there is no connection between the pot and the large stand, he shows the
large cone, which is nicely decorated, and covers the top of the pot on
the first stand, as he says, to shut out the light, that the seed may
germinate. Between the fingers of the hand holding the cone, he has
concealed a small metal shape, painted green, which he drops through the
cone into the pot. In a moment he removes the cone from over the pot,
and in a most natural manner passes it down behind the stand and over
the concealed cone containing the rosebush, and carries this cone away
inside of the larger one. At the same moment he picks up the flower-pot
and carries it down and shows the green sprout in the sand.
[Illustration: THE MYSTERY EXPLAINED.]
The performer now steps to the second stand and covers the flower-pot on
it with the cone. As soon as the pot is covered, he slips off the small
hook supporting the rosebush, which drops into the pot; the weight of
the lead base keeps it in position while the cones are being removed.
When the performer removes the cone--or cones, we should now say, as we
have two now in place of one, although this fact is unknown to the
audience--he passes it down behind the stand, over the concealed third
cone, picking it up with the second rosebush inside. He now returns to
the first stand, covers the pot, and by slipping off the hook holding
the rosebush in position, and removing the cone, or cones, properly,
from the pot, shows the second rosebush. He now turns the large cone so
the audience can see through it, and as the upper and lower edge of each
cone is blackened, there is no danger of the inside cones being seen.
The rear of the stand tops are something of a crescent shape, to
facilitate the passing of the large cone down behind the stand in a
graceful manner.
THE “BIRTH OF FLOWERS.”
The trick that we are about to describe, although old, is very
interesting. The prestidigitateur comes forward, holding in his hand a
small cardboard box which he says contains various kinds of flower
seeds.
[Illustration: THE BIRTH OF THE FLOWERS.]
“Here there is no need of moisture, earth, or time to cause the seed to
germinate, the plant to spring up, and the flower to bloom. Everything
takes place instantaneously. Would not a rose in my buttonhole produce a
charming effect? A stroke of the wand upon the seed deposited in the
desired place, and see! the rose appears. A few seeds are in this little
box (Fig. 1, A) that we shall cover for an instant so that it cannot be
seen how flowers are born. It is done; let us take off the cover;
violets, forget-me-nots, and Easter daisies are here all freshly blown.
“You are suspicious, perhaps, and rightly, of the little tin box, and
more so of its cover. Well, then, here is a small goblet, the
transparency of which is perfect, and this borrowed hat with which I
cover it can have undergone no preparation. Let us remove it quickly,
for the flowers--What! no flowers? Ah! it is because I forgot to sow the
seeds. Let us begin the operation over again. What flowers do you
want--a mignonette, a violet, a marigold? Here is a seed of each kind,
which I shall put into the glass. Now let each one tell me the flower
that he prefers. Now I cover the glass and count three seconds. See the
magnificent bouquet!” (Fig. 3.)
Finally the trick is finished by taking from the hat a number of small
bouquets that are offered to the ladies. The following is an explanation
of the various tricks, beginning with that which involves the
_boutonnière_ of the magician himself.
I. THE BUTTONHOLE ROSE.
This is a stemless artificial rose of muslin, which is secured by a
strong black silk thread arrested by a knot. To this thread, which
should be five or six inches in length, is attached quite a strong
rubber cord capable of being doubled if need be. The free extremity of
the rubber traverses, in the first place, the left buttonhole of the
coat, and then a small eyelet formed beneath, and then passes over the
chest and behind the back, and is fixed by the extremity to one of the
right-hand buttons of the waistband of the trousers.
When the prestidigitateur comes upon the stage, the rose is carried
under his left armpit, where he holds it by a slight pressure of the
arm. At the proper moment he raises his wand toward the right, and looks
in the same direction in order to attract the eyes of the spectators to
that side; but at the same time he separates his arms slightly, and the
rose, held by the taut rubber, suddenly puts itself in place. The magic
effect produced by the instantaneous appearance of this flower, coming
whence no one knows where, could not be appreciated without having been
seen.
II. THE FLOWERS IN THE SMALL BOX.
In the second appearance of flowers, produced by means of the small
apparatus shown in Fig. 2, there is really nothing very mysterious. The
special object of it is to bring into relief the experiment that is to
follow, and in which, evidently, there can be no question of double
bottom. Moreover, the diversity of the means employed contributes
powerfully toward astounding the spectators.
Fig. 2 shows in section the three pieces of the apparatus, which are
placed separately upon the table in Fig. 1. A is the cylindrical tin box
in which the seeds are sown, and B another box of slightly larger
diameter, but in other respects just like the first, which it entirely
covers. To the bottom of B is fixed a small bouquet of artificial
flowers. By slightly squeezing the cover, C (which is of thin brass),
toward the bottom, the box, B, with the bouquet, is lifted. If, on the
contrary, the box is left upon the table, the spectators do not perceive
the substitution made, and think that they all the time see the first
box, whence they believe the flowers started.
III. THE BOUQUET IN THE GLASS.
This is the most interesting part of the experiment.
As we have said, the glass is first covered with a hat, and the
prestidigitateur feigns astonishment upon seeing that the flowers have
not appeared, but at the very instant at which the hat is lifted, when
all eyes are fixed upon the glass, looking for the bouquet announced,
the operator, who, with the right hand, holds the hat carelessly resting
upon the edge of the table, suddenly sticks his middle finger in the
cardboard tube fixed to the handle of the bouquet, which has been placed
in advance upon a bracket, as shown in Fig. 1, and, immediately raising
his finger, introduces the flowers into the hat, taking good care (and
this is an important point) not to turn his gaze away from the glass to
the bouquet or hat, as one might feel himself led to do in such a case.
This introduction of the bouquet should be effected in less than a
second, after which the hat is held aloft, while with the left hand some
imaginary seeds, the kinds of which are designated in measure as they
are taken, are selected from the cardboard box and successively
deposited in the glass. So, this time, be certain of it, the flowers
will appear.
IV. THE SMALL BOUQUETS IN THE HAT.
There is not a second to be lost; the spectators are admiring the
bouquet and are astonished to see it make its appearance. The operator
very quickly profits by this moment of surprise to introduce, by the
same process as before, a package of small bouquets tied together with a
weak thread that will afterward be broken in the hat. We have not
figured these bouquets upon the bracket, in order to avoid complication.
Of course, a skillful operator will not hasten to produce the small
bouquets. He will advance toward the spectators as if the experiment
were ended, and as if he wished to return the hat to the person from
whom he borrowed it. Afterward making believe answer a request, he says:
“You wish some flowers, madam? And you too? And are there others who
wish some? I will, then, empty into the hat the rest of my wonderful
seeds, and we shall see the result.” It is at this moment that the
spectators are attentive and that all eyes are open to see the advent of
the flowers.
TRICKS WITH A HAT.
Prestidigitateurs frequently borrow from their spectators a hat that
serves them for the performance of very neat tricks which are not always
easily explained. We shall describe some of the most interesting of
these.
The operator will begin by proving to you that the felt of your hat is
of bad quality, and, to this effect, he will pierce it here and there
with his finger, his magic wand, an egg, and with a host of other
objects.
This is all an illusion, the mystery of which is explained by our first
engraving. (See the finger B.) It is either of wood or cardboard, and
terminates in a long slender needle. The prestidigitateur, who has
concealed the finger in his left hand, thrusts the point into the top of
the hat, whose interior is turned toward the spectators. Afterward
raising the right hand, the forefinger of which he points forward, he
seems to be about to pierce the top of the hat, but instead of finishing
the motion begun, he quickly seizes in the interior, between the thumb
and forefinger, the point of the needle, wiggles it around in all
directions, turns the hat over, and the cardboard finger, which moves,
seems to be the prestidigitateur’s own finger. The same operation is
performed with the wooden half egg, C, and the rod, A, which, like the
finger, appear to traverse the hat, in the interior of which are hidden
the true rod and egg. We may likewise solder a needle to a half of a
five-franc piece, and thus vary the objects employed for this recreation
to infinity.
[Illustration: PASSING A FINGER, ROD, AND EGG THROUGH A HAT.]
In order to take from a hat a large quantity of paper in ribbons, and
then doves, and even a duck or a rabbit, there is no need of special
apparatus nor of a great amount of dexterity, and still less of the
revolving bobbin or of the mysterious machine whose existence is
generally believed in by the spectators when they see the paper falling
regularly from the hat, and turning gracefully of itself as the water
from a new sort of fountain would do.
Nor is there here any need of a high hat; a simple straw hat (or a cap,
at a pinch) will suffice. The prestidigitateur holds close pressed to
his breast and hidden under his coat a roll of the blue paper prepared
for the printing apparatus of the Morse telegraph, and which is so
tightly wound that it has the aspect and consistence of a wooden disk
with a circular aperture in the center. In turning around after taking
the hat, the opening of which rests against his breast, the operator
deftly introduces into it the roll of paper, which has the proper
diameter to allow it to enter by hard friction as far as the top of the
hat, and stay where it is put even when the hat is turned over.
Were it needed, the paper might be held by a proper pressure of the left
hand exerted from the exterior. The introduction of the paper is
effected in a fraction of a second.
“Your hat, my dear sir, was doubtless a little too wide for your head,
for I notice within it a band of paper designed to diminish the internal
diameter,” says the prestidigitateur, while, at the same time, he draws
from the hat the end that terminates the paper in the centre of the
roll. Then he reverses the hat so that the interior cannot be seen by
the spectators. The paper immediately begins to unwind of itself and to
fall very regularly and without intermission to the right.
[Illustration: THE ENDLESS PAPER RIBBON.]
When the fall of the paper begins to slacken, that is, in general, when
no more than a third of the roll remains, the prestidigitateur turns the
hat upside down, and with the right hand pulls out and rapidly revolves
in the air the paper ribbon, whose capricious contours, succeeding one
another before the first have had time to fall to the floor, produce a
very pretty effect, as shown in our second engraving. The quantity of
paper extracted from the hat appears also in this way much greater than
it really is, and at length forms a pile of considerable bulk.
This experiment may be completed in the following manner: The operator,
approaching his table, which, upon a board suspended behind it, carries
a firmly bound pigeon, quickly seizes the poor bird in passing, and
conceals it under the pile of paper, while he puts the latter back into
the hat in order to see, says he, whether all that has been taken out
can be made to enter anew.
Having thus introduced the pigeon or any other object into the hat, the
paper is taken out, and it is at the moment that the hat is restored to
its owner that he pretends to discover that it still contains
something.
A CAKE BAKED IN A HAT.
[Illustration: FIGS. 1-3--A CAKE BAKED IN A HAT.]
This old trick always amuses the spectators. Some eggs are broken into a
porcelain vessel, some flour is added thereto, and there is even
incorporated with the paste the eggshells and a few drops of wax or
stearine from a near-by candle. The whole having been put into a hat
(Fig. 1), the latter is passed three times over a flame, and an
excellent cake, baked to a turn, is taken out of this new set of cooking
utensils. As for the owner of the hat, who has passed through a state of
great apprehension, he finds with evident satisfaction (at least in most
cases) that his head gear has preserved no traces of the mixture that
was poured into it.
Fig. 2 shows the apparatus employed by prestidigitateurs to bake a cake
in a hat. A is an earthen or porcelain vessel (it may also be of metal)
into which enters a metallic cylinder, B, which is provided with a
flange at one of its extremities and is divided by a horizontal
partition into two unequal compartments, _c_ and _d_. The interior of
the part _d_ is painted white so as to imitate porcelain. Finally, when
the cylinder, B, is wholly inserted in the vessel, A, in which it is
held by four springs, _r_, _r_, _r_, _r_, fixed to the sides, there is
nothing to denote at a short distance that the vessel, A, is not empty,
just as it was presented at the beginning of the experiment.
The prestidigitateur has secretly introduced into the hat the small cake
and the apparatus, B, by making them fall suddenly from a bracket
affixed to the back of a chair. That at least is the most practical
method of operating.
The vessel, A, about which there is nothing peculiar, is, of course,
submitted to the examination of the spectators. The object of adding the
flour is to render the paste less fluid, and to thus more certainly
avoid the production of stains.
The cake being arranged under the apparatus, B, in the space _d_, the
contents of the vessel, A, poured from a certain height, fall into the
part _c_ of the apparatus; then the vessel, gradually brought nearer, is
quickly inserted into the hat in order to seize therein, and at the same
time remove, the receptacle, B, with its contents, and leave only the
cake.
Fig. 3 shows this last operation. We have intentionally shown the part,
B, projecting from the vessel, A, but it will be understood that in
reality it must be inserted up to the base at the moment at which the
vessel, A, introduced into the hat, is concealed from the eyes of the
spectators. The prestidigitateur none the less continues to move his
finger all around the interior of the double vessel as if to gather up
the remainder of the paste, which he makes believe throw into the hat,
upon the rim of which he even affects to wipe his fingers, to the great
disquietude of the gentleman to whom it belongs.
The experiment may be complicated by first burning alcohol or fragments
of paper in the compartment _c_ of the apparatus. Some prestidigitateurs
even add a little Bengal fire. But let no one imitate that amateur
prestidigitateur who, wishing to render the experiment more brilliant,
put into the receptacle such a quantity of powder that a disaster
supervened, so that it became necessary to throw water into the burning
hat in order to extinguish the nascent fire.
The following method of baking a cake in a hat is a decided improvement
over the old trick with the porcelain vessel. It has the advantage of
being able to be employed anywhere and of producing a complete illusion.
Before beginning the experiment, take three eggs, and having blown two
of them, close the apertures with white wax. Place the three eggs upon a
plate.
Within the left-hand side of your waistcoat place a flat cake, and then
make your appearance before the spectators.
[Illustration: FIG. 4.]
Having borrowed a hat, place it upon the table, and, after secretly
introducing the cake into it (Fig. 4), take an empty egg, crack the
shell upon the edge of the plate, and, inserting your hands in the hat,
make believe empty the contents of the egg into the latter (Fig. 5).
[Illustration: FIG. 5.]
In order that the means employed may not occur to any one, take the
perfect egg and let it fall upon the plate so that it will break and
its contents flow out. Then take the remaining egg and operate as with
the first. All you have to do then is to pass the hat back and forth a
few times over the flame of a candle in order to cook the mass and then
to serve the cake.
THE EGG AND HAT TRICK.
An effect due to an invisible thread is the following:
[Illustration: THE EGG AND HAT TRICK.]
Some months ago, in a Parisian public establishment, a clown took a hat
and a handkerchief, and then, after showing, by spreading it out, that
the handkerchief was empty, drew an egg from the folds of the crumpled
fabric and allowed it to drop into the hat. Then he took up the
handkerchief, shook it out again, crumpled it up, found another egg, and
let it drop into the hat, and so on. When it might have been supposed
that the hat contained a certain number of eggs, he turned it upside
down, and, lo and behold, the hat was empty! All the eggs from the
handkerchief were reduced to a single one attached by a thread to one of
the sides of the handkerchief, and which the amusing operator
maliciously exhibited, after seeming to look for the vanished eggs.
While the handkerchief was stretched out, the egg was behind it, and,
although it was shaken, remained suspended by its thread. In crumpling
the handkerchief it was easy to seem to find the egg in it, and to put
it in the hat, where it did not remain, however, for, lifted by the
thread, it resumed its place behind the handkerchief. Our engraving
shows the handkerchief at the moment that the egg has been removed by
the thread on the side opposite that of the spectators.
On attaching a black thread, sixteen or twenty inches in length, to an
empty egg, and selecting the egg thus prepared from a lot of ordinary
eggs, as if by chance, we have a ready means of amusing and mystifying
spectators for a long time. Having hooked the free extremity of the
thread to a buttonhole of the waistcoat, let us lay the egg upon the
table. After apparently ordering it to approach us, it suffices to
recede from the table to make the docile egg obey the command. By the
same means it may be made to make its exit alone from a hat; or, again,
by bearing upon the invisible thread, it may be made to dance upon a
cane or upon the hand; in a word, to perform various operations that
eggs are not accustomed to perform.
MULTIPLICATION OF COINS.
Upon a small rectangular tray of japanned sheet iron, similar to those
in common use, are placed seven coins (Fig. 1). A spectator is asked to
receive these in his hand and to put the coins back upon the tray, one
by one, and to count them with a loud voice as he does so. It is then
found that the number has doubled, there being fourteen instead of
seven. The same operation repeated gives as a result twenty-one coins.
[Illustration: MULTIPLICATION OF COINS.]
As may be seen in the section in Fig. 3, the tray has a double bottom,
forming an interspace a little wider than the thickness of one of the
coins, and which is divided breadthwise into two equal compartments by a
partition, B. These two compartments are closed all around, save at the
ends of the tray, where there are two apertures, A and C, that in length
are double the diameter of the coins. In this interspace are concealed
fourteen coins, seven on each side. When the contents of the tray are
emptied into the hand of a spectator, the coins concealed in one of the
compartments drop at the same time (Fig. 2). The operator then takes the
tray in his other hand, and thus naturally seizes it at the end at which
the now empty compartment exists, and this allows the seven coins that
are contained in the other compartment to join the first ones, when the
latter are rapidly emptied into the hands of the spectator for the
second time.
A square tray, with a double bottom divided into four compartments by
divisions running diagonally from one corner to another, would permit of
increasing the number of coins four times.
Let us say, however, that skillful prestidigitateurs dispense with the
double bottom. They hold the coins sometimes under the tray with their
fingers extended, and sometimes on the tray, under their thumbs, and
renew their supply several times from secret pockets skillfully arranged
in various parts of their coats, where the spectators are far from
suspecting the existence of them.
MAGIC COINS.
The street venders of Paris have for some time past been selling to
pedestrians a coin that can be made to enter an ordinary wine bottle.
This coin is a genuine ten centime piece, but, when it is handled, it is
found that it bends exactly like the leaves of a dining-room table.
Amateur mechanics, clock-makers, and copper turners can easily
manufacture similar ones. The process is as follows:
[Illustration: FIG. 1.--MAGIC COINS.]
[Illustration: FIG. 2.--MODE OF INSERTING THE COIN IN A BOTTLE.]
By means of a very fine metal saw, cut the coin in three pieces, either
by parallel cuts, or, better, by following the contours shown in Fig. 1.
If the operation be skillfully performed, the marks of the cutting, too,
will be nearly invisible. Before the coin is sawed, a groove about a
line in depth should be formed in the rim by means of a saw or file. In
this channel or groove is inserted a very taut rubber ring, which,
before it is stretched, should be, at the most, one and a half or two
lines in diameter. If the rubber is well hidden in the groove, the cleft
coin will appear to be absolutely intact.
Owing to this process, the coin can be easily inserted in a bottle by
placing the hands as shown in Fig. 2. The hand that bends the coin
covers the mouth. The coin is inserted, and then, by a smart blow given
the bottle, it is made to pass through the neck. Owing to the tension of
the rubber, the piece at once regains its flat form, and the operator
makes it ring against the glass in order to show that it is really a
piece of metal. In order to extract it, it is necessary to get the saw
marks exactly in the direction of the bottle’s axis, then the bottle is
slightly inclined, neck downward, and through a few blows on the latter
the coin is made to drop into the hand, where it will at once assume its
original form.
We shall now have a few words to say about what is called the “double
sou.” The operator places the prepared coin in his hand, and calls
strict attention to the fact that there is no companion piece. Then he
covers it with his other hand for a moment, and finally shows two coins,
instead of one, in the first hand.
[Illustration: FIG. 3.--THE DOUBLE SOU.]
Fig. 3 shows, not how the experiment is performed, but how the double
coin is prepared. It is simply an ordinary sou, over which is placed a
sort of hollow cover containing the impression of the coin, and which
fits on the latter so accurately that the piece looks like an ordinary
sou. This cover is lifted and made to slide alongside of the coin, thus
showing two pieces instead of one.
The cover is stamped from a thin sheet of copper placed upon a sou
serving as a mould. It might possibly be made by means of some
electro-metallurgical process. The mutilation of United States coins is
forbidden under penalty of the law.
THE DISSOLVING COIN.
Borrow a silver dollar, and have it marked, so that it can be
identified. Ask some one to hold the coin horizontally between the thumb
and forefinger of the right hand within the folds of a silk
handkerchief, and over a glass full of water held in the left hand, Fig.
1. Your assistant’s two hands being thus occupied, you will have no sort
of indiscretion to fear. Stepping back a few feet, direct your assistant
to let the coin drop; and the impact against the bottom of the glass
will be heard by the entire assemblage. When the handkerchief is raised
the coin is no longer in the glass, but has made its way to your hand or
to the pocket of a spectator. Let it be examined, and it will be found
to be really the coin that has been previously marked.
In order to perform this trick it is necessary to have a disk of glass
of the same diameter as a silver dollar (Fig. 2).
Hide this disk, A (Fig. 3), in the palm of your right hand, turned
toward you. This will not prevent you from holding the coin that has
been confided to you between the thumb and forefinger of the same hand.
While your hand is concealed by the handkerchief in which it is thought
that you placed the coin, you shift the latter and give the assistant
the glass disk to hold, by the edge, of course, and not by the flat
surface, so that the substitution that you have made cannot be perceived
by the touch.
[Illustration: DISAPPEARANCE OF A SILVER DOLLAR.]
After the trick has been performed, do not be afraid to let the person
who has held the coin, and who is thoroughly astonished, examine the
glass and its contents at his leisure. The glass disk is entirely
invisible in the water, and if, as it is well to do, you have taken care
to select a glass whose bottom is perfectly plane and of the same
diameter as the disk (Fig. 2), the latter will remain adherent to the
glass even when it is inverted to empty the water in order to prove once
more to the spectators that it contains nothing but clear water.
THE SPIRIT SLATES.
Two ordinary wooden-framed slates are presented to the spectators, and
examined in succession by them. A small piece of chalk is introduced
between the two slates, which are then united by a rubber band and held
aloft in the prestidigitateur’s right hand.
Then, in the general silence, is heard the scratching of the chalk,
which is writing between the two slates the answer to a question asked
by one of the spectators--the name of a card thought of or the number of
spots obtained by throwing two dice. The rubber band having been removed
and the slates separated, one of them is seen to be covered with
writing. This prodigy, which at first sight seems to be so mysterious,
is very easily performed.
[Illustration: SPIRIT SLATES.]
The writing was done in advance; but upon the written side of the slate,
A, there had been placed a thin sheet of black cardboard which hid the
characters written with chalk. The two sides of this slate thus appeared
absolutely clean.
The slate B is first given out for examination, and after it has been
returned to him, the operator says: “Do you want to examine the other
one also?” And then, without any haste, he makes a pass analogous to
that employed in shuffling cards. The slate A being held by the thumb
and forefinger of the left hand and the slate B between the fore and
middle finger of the right hand (Fig. 1), the two hands are brought
together. But at the moment at which the slates are superposed, the
thumb and forefinger of the right hand grasp the slate A, while at the
same time the fore and middle finger of the left hand take the slate B.
Then the two hands separate anew, and the slate that has already been
examined, instead of the second one, is put into the hands of the
spectator. This shifting, done with deliberation, is entirely invisible.
During the second examination the slate A is laid flat upon a table, the
written face turned upward and covered with black cardboard. The slate
having been sufficiently examined, and been returned to the operator,
the latter lays it upon the first, and both are then surrounded by the
rubber band.
It is then that the operator holds up the slates with the left hand, of
which one sees but the thumb, while upon the posterior face of the
second slate the nail of his middle finger makes a sound resembling that
produced by chalk when written with. When the operator judges that this
little comedy has lasted quite long enough, he lays the two slates
horizontally upon his table, taking care this time that the
non-prepared slate shall be beneath (Fig. 2). It is upon it that the
black cardboard rests; and the other slate, on being raised, shows the
characters that it bears, and that are stated to have been written by an
invisible spirit that slipped in between the two slates.
SECOND SIGHT.
“The trick is performed as follows,” says Judge James Bartlett in the
_Popular Science News_: “Each person in the audience is presented with a
slip of paper, upon which to write anything he or she may choose. The
paper written upon is immediately secreted by the writer, as much care
as possible being taken that no one else sees what is written upon it.
The performer, who has been absent from the room while this is being
done, is brought in and led, as if in a state of trance, to a chair
within full view of every one present. A light piece of drapery is
thrown over him so that he is completely covered by it, and yet it is
thin enough to be translucent, and it can be seen he has not gone down
through the floor or ascended up through the ceiling. The audience is
told the drapery prevents the sphere or influence or spell that
surrounds him from being dissipated. He now begins and repeats, word for
word, the sentences written upon any or all the slips of paper. Nothing
can be more astonishing; the paper has not left the possession of the
writers; it is equally certain that it is impossible that another person
could have seen what was thereon written, and yet the trick is as simple
as it is surprising, and that is certainly saying a great deal.
“The explanation is as follows: In order to write anything upon the slip
of paper given out, one must have something firm and flat upon which to
place it, and for this purpose bits of pasteboard of a convenient size
are handed about the audience. The pasteboard, however, is not solid, as
it seems to be; the uppermost layer of paper can be separated at one of
the edges from the layers beneath it, and into this slip white paper
introduced. The uppermost layer of paper is blacked with crayon or soft
pencil on its under side, and whatever is written upon the paper resting
upon it is faithfully stenciled or traced upon the white paper inserted.
The pasteboards, being collected, are taken out of the room and given to
the performer by his assistant, who may or may not be a confederate.
That is, if the performer is very skillful, he may dupe his assistant as
well as his audience. He may tell him, for instance, it is necessary for
him to have these pasteboard rests and pass his fingers over them so
that he can become _en rapport_ with the person with whom they were in
contact. It is better, however, at least at first, to have a
confederate. The rest is easy enough. The inserted slips of tell-tale
papers are collected and carried with him by the performer, who manages
to read them either through a hole in the drapery or by the light that
sifts through it as he sits covered up in his chair with his back to the
audience. It is well, sometimes, not to have enough pasteboard cards to
go round the audience, and give apparently at haphazard a book, an atlas
or portfolio, which, of course, has been neatly covered with paper or
cloth and supplied with blackened and with white paper as are the
pasteboard cards.
“If anything should happen that would prevent reading any particular
strip of paper, the performer may at once say that he does not pretend
to be able to read all, but only such sentences as appear to his mental
vision. This will add to the effect and make the trick appear all the
more mysterious. In supplying pencils to your audience be sure to give
them good, hard ones, that will require some pressure to make the
writing legible; be careful, too, that the paper with which you furnish
them is rather thin, so that you will get a good tracing on that you
have inserted in the pasteboard rest. As each slip is read by the
performer the assistant should ask if any one in the audience wrote that
sentence and if it is correctly repeated, and then, stepping to the
writer and taking the slip from him or her, he should himself read it
aloud and show it to any one desirous of seeing it; this enhances the
wonder and interest of the performance, and also gives the performer
time to decipher the next slip. It is well to have the sentences take
the form of questions which the performer can read, comment upon, and
answer in an oracular way, especially as this takes up time, and
consequently gives fewer selected slips to read during the period
allotted to the trick; for to read a few is quite as wonderful as to
read many.
“Now let the master of occult art cap the climax. Let him again be led
from the room, ostensibly to have his magic sphere renewed, and let some
one among the audience write the name of a deceased person, together
with their own, on a slip of paper. Lay a good deal of stress on the
requirement that one name shall be that of a person deceased; this, of
course, being only to mystify the audience. When the names have been
written the performer is to enter the room. He does so with the sleeve
of his coat rolled up, and his arm bared to the elbow. After showing
there is nothing upon his arm, he turns down his sleeve, readjusts his
cuff, and proceeds with his trick. He first names the person whom the
audience has chosen, in his absence, to write the name; he requests that
person to crumple up the slip of paper upon which the name is written
and rub it well over his arm just above his cuff, ‘so that the writing
will penetrate through his sleeve,’ he says; now turning up his sleeve
he shows the writing that was upon the paper in blood-red letters upon
his bared arm. The manner of performing this part of the trick is,
having ascertained, as before, the writing upon the slip of paper by
means of the tracing, to write or print it with red ink mixed with a
little glycerine, or red printer’s ink, or oil color and turpentine,
upon paper which is to be fastened upon the inside of that part of the
performer’s coat sleeve which he instructs the person who has written
the name upon the paper to rub with the paper. The paper may be neatly
pinned to the lining of the sleeve, care being taken that the pins do
not scratch when the sleeve is turned down.”
MAGIC CABINETS.
The apparatus by means of which objects of various sizes--a card, a
bird, a child, a woman, etc.--may be made to apparently disappear play a
large part in the exhibitions of magicians, and also in pantomimes and
fairy scenes. Among such apparatus there are some that are based upon
ingenious mechanical combinations, while others bring in the aid of
optics. We shall examine a few of them.
THE MAGIC PORTFOLIO.
This is an apparatus which an itinerant physicist might have been seen a
few years ago exhibiting in the squares and at street corners. His
method was to have a spectator draw a card, which he then placed between
the four sheets of paper which, folded crossways, formed the flaps of
his portfolio. When he opened the latter again a few instants afterward
the card had disappeared, or rather had become transformed. Profiting
then by the surprise of his spectators, the showman began to offer them
his magic portfolio at the price of five cents for the small size and
ten for the large.
[Illustration: MAGIC PORTFOLIOS, ENVELOPES, AND BOXES.]
The portfolio was made of two square pieces of cardboard connected by
four strings, these latter being fixed in such a way that when the two
pieces of cardboard were open and juxtaposed the external edge of each
of them was connected with the inner edge of the other.
This constituted, after a manner, a double hinge that permitted of the
portfolio being opened from both sides. To one pair of strings there
were glued, back to back, two sheets of paper, which, when folded over,
formed the flaps of the portfolio. It was only necessary, then, to open
the latter in one direction or the other to render it impossible to
open more than one of the two sets of flaps.
This device is one that permits of a large number of tricks being
performed, since every object put under one of the sets of flaps will
apparently disappear or be converted into something else, at the will of
the prestidigitateur.
MAGIC ENVELOPES.
This trick is a simplification of the foregoing. The affair consists of
several sheets of paper of different colors folded over, one upon the
other. A card inclosed within the middle envelope, over which have been
folded all the others, is found to have disappeared when the flaps are
opened again. The secret of the trick is very simple. One of the inner
sheets of paper--the second one, usually--is double, and, when folded,
forms two envelopes that are back to back. It is only necessary, then,
to open one or the other of these latter to cause the appearance or
disappearance or transformation of such objects as have been inclosed
within it.
MAGIC BOXES.
Magic boxes are of several styles, according to the size of the objects
that one desires to make disappear.
There is no one who has not seen a magician put one or more pigeons into
the drawer of one of these boxes, and, after closing it, open it to find
that the birds have disappeared. Such boxes contain two drawers, which,
when pulled out, seem to be but one; and it is only necessary, then, to
pull out the inner one or leave it closed in order to render the
inclosed birds visible or invisible.
In order to cause the disappearance of smaller objects, trick performers
often employ a jewel box, and after putting the object (a ring, for
example) into this, they hand it to some person and ask him to hold it,
requesting him at the same time to wrap it up in several sheets of
paper. But this simple motion has permitted the performer to cause the
ring to drop into his hand through a small trap opening beneath the box.
Yet, while he is doing this the spectators think that they hear the
noise made by the ring striking against the sides of the box. But that
is only an illusion; for the noise that is heard proceeds from a small
hammer which is hidden within the cover under the escutcheon, and which
is rendered movable when the latter is pressed upon by the performer.
The box can thus be shaken without any noise being heard within it, and
the spectators are led to believe that the object has disappeared.
Double-bottomed boxes are so well known that it is useless to describe
them. Sometimes the double bottom is hidden in the cover, and at others
it rests against one of the sides. Such boxes permit of the
disappearance or substitution of objects that are not very thick, such
as a note, an image, or a card.
THE TRAVELING BOTTLE AND GLASS.
Upon a table, at the rising of the curtain, are observed a bottle and a
glass, the latter full of wine up to the brim. The prestidigitateur
pours into the bottle half of the liquid, “which otherwise,” he remarks,
“might slop over during the voyage.” Then two cylinders of the same
diameter as the bottle are made before the eyes of the spectators out of
two sheets of paper and four pins.
[Illustration: TRICK WITH A BOTTLE AND A GLASS OF WINE.]
These are designed to cover the bottle and the glass, which have been
separated from each other by a short interval (Fig. 1). Instantaneously,
and in an invisible manner, the two objects change places twice, and yet
there is never anything in the paper cylinders, which are, ostensibly,
torn into a hundred bits.
Fig. 3 unravels the mystery. The bottle is of varnished tin, and
bottomless. It covers a second bottle that is similar, but a little
smaller, and in the center there is concealed a glass similar to the one
that has been shown, but empty. It receives the half of the wine that
was poured from the first glass. This operation necessarily contributes
toward convincing the spectators that they have before them an ordinary
bottle provided with a bottom and capable of containing a liquid.
The operator first covers the bottle with one of the paper cylinders as
if to ascertain whether it has the proper diameter, but immediately
removes it and places it upright upon the table.
What no one can suspect, however, he has at the same time lifted the
first bottle by slightly compressing the paper. It is then the second
bottle that is seen, and which is precisely like the other, the labels
of both being turned toward the same side and exhibiting a slight tear
or a few identical spots designed to aid in the deception.
The operator, having finished his palaver, places the empty cylinder
upon the second bottle and covers the glass with the one in which the
first bottle is concealed (Fig 2). The magic wand is then brought into
play, and after this the paper cylinder alone is lifted at the side
where the glass was in the first place seen, while at the opposite side,
the bottle, on being removed, exposes the glass that it concealed. The
operation is begun over again in the opposite direction; and, finally,
under pretense of once again showing that either paper cylinder can be
used indifferently, the operator replaces upon the second bottle the
cylinder that still contains the first one, unbeknown to the spectators.
This is done so rapidly that the action is apparently a gesture, but
nothing more is needed to free the cylinder of its contents and
reëstablish things in their former state.
DISAPPEARANCE OF AN APPLE AND A NINEPIN.
To an apple and a ninepin, the principal objects with which this trick
is performed, are added as accessories a napkin, a large vessel of dark
blue glass, and a cone of coarse paper, which is made on the spot by
molding it over the ninepin.
First Disappearance (Fig. 1).--The apple, “in order that it maybe more
in sight,” is placed upon the inverted glass, V, under the paper cone,
while the inverted ninepin is covered with the napkin, S, through which
it is held. All at once the napkin, quickly seized by the two corners,
is vigorously shaken, and the ninepin has disappeared, or, rather, it is
found upon the glass in place of the apple, which has passed into the
prestidigitateur’s pocket.
[Illustration: TRICK WITH AN APPLE AND A NINEPIN.]
Second Disappearance (Fig. 2).--The apple, first placed upon the table,
is thrown invisibly toward the paper cone, under which, in fact, it is
found. And the ninepin? The prestidigitateur “had forgotten” to tell it
where it was to go when he sent the apple in its place. As he gives up
trying to find it and seizes the blue vessel in order to put it in
place, it is seen that the ninepin, driven by the apple, has passed
underneath.
Fig. 3 renders an explanation scarcely necessary. At the moment that the
paper cone was made, the ninepin, A, was covered with a dummy, B, of
thin metal, which remained in the cone when the latter was removed. In
the napkin, formed of two napkins sewed together by their edges, was
concealed, between the two fabrics, a small disk of cardboard of the
same diameter as the base of the ninepin. The latter was allowed to fall
secretly behind the table into a box lined with silk waste, only the
cardboard disk being held, thanks to which the napkin preserved the same
form that it possessed when the ninepin was beneath it, as shown in Fig.
1. There is no need of explanation in regard to the apple that comes out
of the prestidigitateur’s pocket and which is similar to the one that
remained on the glass and was hidden by the false ninepin that covered
it when the paper cone alone was removed.
For the second disappearance the apple, placed upon the table, is
surrounded by the two hands of the prestidigitateur, who, while it is
thus concealed, by a blow given with the little finger of the right
hand, sends it rolling on to a shelf behind the table. His hands,
nevertheless, preserve the same position as if they held the apple. It
is the first one that is seen upon the foot of the glass, the false
ninepin being removed this time with the paper cover. Under the glass
there is a second false ninepin, C, of metal, painted dark blue in the
interior and which has a narrow flange through which it rests upon the
edge of the glass, of which it seems to form a part. Fig. 3 shows it in
section with the glass, and also the different pieces as they are
arranged at the beginning of the experiment.
A GOBLET OF INK CONVERTED INTO AN AQUARIUM.
[Illustration: FIG. 1.]
Exhibit a goblet which is apparently nearly full of ink, and place it
upon a table. In order to prove that the goblet really contains ink,
partially immerse a visiting card in the liquid, and, on taking it out,
show that it has been blackened. With an ordinary spoon dip out some of
the ink and pour it into a saucer. Then, having borrowed a ring, pretend
to dip it into the ink, but really allow it to drop into the saucer.
Announce that you are going to make amends for your awkwardness, not by
plunging your hand into the liquid, which would have the inconvenience
of blackening it, but by rendering the ink colorless instantaneously.
Take a white napkin or a large sized silk handkerchief and cover the
glass with it. Upon removing the napkin or handkerchief, the glass will
be found to contain clear water in which living fish are swimming. The
hand may then be dipped into the liquid and the ring be taken out
without fear.
[Illustration: FIG. 2.]
The trick is performed as follows: Take a goblet containing water and
some fish, and place against the inner surface a piece of black rubber
cloth, to which attach a black thread that is allowed to hang down a few
inches outside of the glass, and to the extremity of which is attached a
small cork. Of course, the thread and cork must be placed at the side of
the glass opposite the spectator.
Cover the glass with the napkin, and on removing the latter, grasp the
cork, so as to raise it as well as the rubber cloth in the interior.
As for the card, that should have been previously blackened on one side
for about three-quarters of its length, and, after being immersed in the
liquid, with the white side toward the spectator, should be quickly
turned around so as to show the blackened side. As for the liquid taken
out with the spoon, care should have been taken to previously fix in the
interior of the bowl a few particles of aniline black soluble in water,
by breathing on the spoon before introducing the powder, this serving to
fix it. Then the water taken out with the spoon will be converted into
ink, which may be poured into a plate or saucer.
THE INVISIBLE JOURNEY OF A GLASS OF WINE.
Being given an ordinary glass half full of wine, which everybody can
examine closely, and a hat situated at a distance, the question is to
cover the glass with a piece of paper, and thence to send it invisibly
into the hat.
A small piece of wood or paper that a spectator has put in the wine, or
any mark whatever that has been made upon the glass, will permit of
verifying the fact that it is really the same glass that was first
exhibited, and that is afterwards found in the hat.
In order to perform this trick, it is necessary to have one of those
double glasses (Fig. 4) that can be easily obtained in variety stores,
and which contain between their double sides a red liquid that has been
introduced through the foot of the glass, which is hollow. A small
cork, _b_, which is absolutely invisible if it is not examined very
closely, is inserted and withdrawn at will in order to change the
liquid; but, for our trick, there is no occasion to occupy ourselves
with these details. This double glass is kept concealed until the moment
arrives for using it.
A second glass--this is a simple one (Fig. 4, B) and of the same
appearance as the other--is filled with wine, in the presence of the
spectators, to a level equal to that reached by the red liquid in the
double glass.
[Illustration: TRICK PERFORMED WITH A GLASS OF WINE.]
The prestidigitateur, after exhibiting the interior of the hat so as to
allow it to be seen that the latter is empty, introduces into it, while
he turns his back to the spectators, the double glass which he had
concealed under his arm, and which can be handled without any fear of
spilling the liquid that it contains. The hat is then placed upon the
table.
Afterward, taking the simple glass in his hands, the prestidigitateur
asks the spectators whether he shall make it pass visibly or invisibly
into the hat. As a usual thing suggestions are divided, and so, in order
to please everybody, the glass is first put ostensibly into the hat and
then immediately taken out; that, at least, is what is thought by the
spectators, who are very ready to laugh at the little hoax played upon
those who perhaps expected to see the glass carried through the air upon
the wings of the wind. But the prestidigitateur has taken care to leave
the simple glass in the hat, and to take out, in place of it, the double
glass, which he presently spirits away with ease by the following
process. The glass having been placed upon the table, he covers it with
a square piece of strong paper, which he folds around it in such a way
as to make it follow its contours and completely conceal it (Fig. 1).
This paper, which must be very stiff, as well as strong, afterward
preserves the form upon which, so to speak, it has been molded, although
it is no longer supported by the glass, which has been allowed to fall
behind the table into a sort of pocket of canvas, or into a box lined
with silk waste, arranged to this effect (Fig. 2).
The prestidigitateur, having thus got rid of the glass, walks toward the
spectators, delicately pressing the top of the paper between the thumb
and forefinger of the left hand, as if he still held the glass in the
paper, and the foot of which seems to be supported by the right hand. A
spectator is then invited to take the glass with the paper, and care is
taken to advise him not to allow the wine to run up his sleeves. He then
stretches out his hands, but at the same instant the paper, suddenly
crumpled into a ball, is thrown into the air, and the glass of wine has
passed invisibly into the hat.
THE WINE CHANGED TO WATER.
After having done considerable talking, as required by his profession, a
prestidigitateur is excusable for asking permission of his spectators to
refresh himself in their presence, especially if he invites one of them
to come to keep him company.
[Illustration: WATER CHANGED INTO WINE AND WINE INTO WATER.]
An assistant then brings in upon a tray two claret glasses and two
perfectly transparent decanters, one of which contains red wine and the
other water. The prestidigitateur asks his guest to select one of the
two decanters and leave the other for himself. No hesitation is
possible. The guest hastens to seize the wine and each immediately fills
his glass. How astonishing! Upon its contact with the glass the wine
changes into water and the water becomes wine. Judge of the hilarity of
the spectators and the amazement of the victim! The pretended wine was
nothing but the following composition: one gram potassium permanganate
and two grams sulphuric acid dissolved in one quart of water. This
liquid is instantaneously decolorized on entering the glass, at the
bottom of which has been placed a few drops of water saturated with
sodium hyposulphite. As for the water in the second decanter, that had
had considerable alcohol added to it, and at the bottom of the glass
that was to receive it had been placed a small pinch of aniline red,
which, as well known, possesses strong tinctorial properties. The
glasses must be carried away immediately, since in a few moments the
wine changed into water loses its limpidity and assumes a milky
appearance. The mixtures are, of course, poisonous.
THE ANIMATED MOUSE.
Street venders are often seen selling, at night, a little mouse which
they place upon the back of their hand, and which keeps running as if,
having been tamed, it wished to take refuge upon them. In order to
prevent it from attaining its object, they interpose the other hand, and
then the first one, which is now free, and so on. The mouse keeps on
running until the vender has found a purchaser for it at the moderate
price of two cents, including the instructions for manipulating it, for,
as may have been divined, it is not a question here of a live mouse, but
of a toy. This little toy is based upon two effects--first, an effect of
optics; and second, the effect due to an invisible thread.
[Illustration: THE ANIMATED MOUSE.]
The mouse, which is flat beneath, is provided near the head with a small
hook, and the operator has fixed to a buttonhole a thread ten inches in
length, terminating in a loop. He fixes this loop in the hook above
mentioned, and, tautening the thread, places the mouse upon the back of
his left hand (near the little finger, for example).
On moving the hand away from the body, the mouse, which does not stir,
seems to slide over the back of the hand, and, at the moment that it is
about to fall on reaching the thumb, the right hand, passed beneath,
arrives just in time to catch it near the little finger, whence, by the
same movement as before, it seems to go toward the thumb.
In order to perform the experiment off-hand, it suffices to take a cork
and carve it into the form of a mouse, then cut away the under part of
the animal thus rough-shaped, so that it may lie perfectly flat, then
make two ears out of cardboard, and a tail out of a piece of twine, and
finally blacken the whole in the flame of a candle. After this, the
black thread, terminating in a ball of soft wax or a pin hook, having
been fixed to a button-hole, allow the spectators to examine the mouse,
and, after it is returned to you, fix the thread, either by its ball of
wax or its hook, to the front of the flat part of the rodent, which you
may then cause to run as above described.
THE SAND FRAME TRICK.
The sand frame is a very ingeniously constructed little apparatus which
is employed in different tricks of prestidigitation for causing the
disappearance of a card, a photograph, a sealed letter, an answer
written upon a sheet of paper, etc.
In appearance it is a simple, plush-covered frame, the back of which
opens with a hinge behind a glass, which, at first sight, presents
nothing peculiar.
[Illustration: THE SAND FRAME.]
In reality, there are two glasses separated from each other by an
interval of three millimeters. The lower side of the frame is hollow and
forms a reservoir filled with very fine blue sand. In the interior the
door is covered with blue paper of the same shade as the sand. The card,
portrait, or letter that is subsequently to appear is placed in the
frame in advance, but, in order to render it invisible, the latter is
held vertically, the reservoir at the top. The sand then falls, and
fills the space that separates the two glasses, and the blue surface
thus formed behind the first glass seems to be the back of the frame. In
order to cause the appearance of the concealed object, the frame is
placed vertically, with the reservoir at the bottom, and covered with a
silk handkerchief. In a few seconds the sand will have disappeared. The
door that closes the back may be opened by a spectator and the frame
shown close by, provided that it be held vertically in order to prevent
the sand from appearing between the two glasses.
Fig. 2 shows the frame as seen from behind. The door, P, is seen open,
and at S is seen the sand falling between the two glasses. In the
section at the side, V and V are the two glasses, P, the door, and R,
the reservoir.
Another experiment may be made by means of a small standard on a foot,
A, upon which a spectator has placed the seven of hearts. The card
passes into the frame. To tell the truth, it is removed by the cover, C,
along with the thin disk, D, that covered the foot, A, and upon which it
was placed. It will be said that we have here to do with a double
bottom. Allow the cover, C, before covering the card, and the foot, A,
after the experiment is finished, to be examined. Is the cover asked for
again? One will hasten to show it without saying that the back edge of
the table has just been struck with it in order to cause the disk, D,
and the card to fall on to the shelf.
HOUDIN’S MAGIC BALL.
This ball, which was recently seen in a toy shop, has the aspect,
externally, of the one used in the familiar toy known as the “cup and
ball.” Extending through its center there is a straight cylindrical
aperture, and when a cord is passed through the latter, the ball easily
slides along it.
[Illustration: HOUDIN’S MAGIC BALL.]
If a person who is in the secret holds the cord by its two extremities,
things change, since the ball, far from falling, descends very slowly
along the string, or even remains stationary, and does not move again
until the operator allows it to. This trick, which was formerly
performed by Robert-Houdin with a ball of large size, very much
surprised spectators.
How does the affair work? That is explained in the section of the magic
ball shown in the figure. In addition to the central aperture, there is
another and curved one, which ends near the extremities of the axial
perforation, and a person in the secret, while making believe pass the
cord through the straight aperture, actually passes it through the
curved one. It will now be apparent that it is only necessary to tighten
the cord more or less in order to retard or stop the descent of the
ball. To the left of the engraving is seen the magic ball thus suspended
between the operator’s hands.