DEMONSTRATION VI. Like the last feat, this is a complex and difficult
one, but one that always arouses enthusiasm in an audience when well
performed. It will repay you for the private practice that you will have
to employ upon it, before you produce it in public. The feat consists of
the audience selecting a book from a pile, or a book-shelf, or
book-case, etc.--then a given page is chosen--then a line of printed
matter on that page--and then a _word_ in that line. It is well to have
the Transmitter draw a pencil circle around the chosen word, so that he
may be sure to remember it later. The book is then replaced on the
shelf. Then returning to the room, you first find the book, by the
methods already given in previous feats; then laying it flat on the
table you should begin to slowly and deliberately pick each leaf up
separately. This part of the feat is almost identical with the last one,
in which you picked up the cards from the pack. When you get the proper
impression, you should announce that you have found the leaf. If
satisfied that you are right, ascertain upon which side of the leaf, the
chosen page is. This can be done by pressing the leaf to the right, or
left, in succession, until you get the right impression as to which way
to press it down. Then, having thus found the page, pass your finger
slowly down and back over the page several times, until you get the
impression of a _centre_. This centre will be the chosen line. Then by
passing the finger slowly along the line, you will discover the Word
when you reach it. This is a "ticklish" feat, but it may be mastered by
practice--in fact some people have found it almost as simple as some of
the easier feats, while others require careful practice with it. Do not
be discouraged if you do not succeed at first trial, even in public, but
try again, and after a bit you will seem to "get the knack" all at once,
and thereafter will have but little trouble in making the demonstration.
If you find that you do not meet with the desired degree of success in
this feat, try it by the "Simpler Method" given at the last of this part
of the book. But do not give it up without the proper practice. If you
have carefully performed the previous feats, you should have so
developed yourself by this time that you should have no special
difficulty in this feat.