(_Le Vase aux Grains._)
Mr. Panky borrows a half-crown, which he politely requests some one in
the party to mark, and having had a fruit examined, such as a shaddock,
melon, marrow, &c., he puts it in a box.
Then holding a large cup or vase full of seed or corn, as he proves by
taking a pinch out of it, and casting the grain amongst the audience, he
sets it on a table.
At a word, the coin vanishes to enter the fruit. Next, the fruit is
commanded to cross and bury itself in the vase filled with seed, without
displacing its contents, which is assuredly remarkable. Indeed, on
plunging the hand into the vessel, the fruit is produced, and in its
centre is found the marked coin. The seed has disappeared.
[Illustration: Fig. 13.]
_Explanation._—The vase is of metal with a secret bottom or with a trap
in the stand, by which the contents, in this case seed, will run down
out of it and down through the hollow leg of the table on which it is
placed. The box in which the fruit is put is that called the Box of
Disappearances.
[Illustration: Fig. 14.—The Box of Disappearances.]
It is a case with a double drawer, into the inner of which an object is
placed and both shut up; only the outer or false drawer is pulled out,
and the disappearance is performed.
As for the fruit, the coin is placed in it beforehand, or introduced by
means of the coin knife.
_Performance._—The marked coin is passed to your agent, who pushes it
into a fruit by a cut made in it while you are letting a duplicate fruit
be examined. The prepared one is buried in seed in the vase which is
brought in upon the stage. The second fruit is put into the disappearing
box and made away with. A touch to the spring releasing the trap of the
vase makes all the seed run off, and the fruit containing the coin is
triumphantly opened.