Having previously stuck a small piece of white wax on the nail of your
middle finger, lay a sixpence on the palm of your hand, and addressing
the company, state that it will vanish at the word of command. “Many
persons,” you observe, “perform this feat, by letting the sixpence fall
into their sleeve; but to convince you that I shall not have recourse
to any such deception, I will turn up my cuffs.” You then close your
hand, and bringing the waxed nail in contact with the sixpence, it
will firmly adhere to it. You then blow your hand, and cry “Begone!”
and suddenly opening it, and exhibiting the palm, you show that the
sixpence has vanished. If you borrow the sixpence of any of the
company, take care to rub off the wax, before you restore it to the
owner.
TO MAKE A SIXPENCE BALANCE AND SPIN ON ITS EDGE, ON THE POINT OF A
NEEDLE.
Procure a common wine-bottle, two forks, two corks, a needle, a
sixpence, and a penknife. Having corked the bottle, force the eye of
the needle into the cork perpendicularly, leaving more than half the
needle sticking up. You next cut a small slit with the penknife in
the centre of the bottom of the second cork, into which you insert
the sixpence edgewise; then stick the forks into the upper cork, and,
with a steady hand, place the edge of the sixpence on the point of the
needle, and it will immediately find its balance. You may now take the
upper cork between the finger and thumb, and spin it round as fast as
you please, as the sixpence will not fall off. When it goes slow, hit
one of the forks with your finger as it goes round, to increase its
velocity.