In a former work (_The Secret Out_) the secret spring literally to make
a knife leap out of a cup at the conjuror’s call, was revealed. We give
here several other modes of compassing the same end, that the performer
may have several strings to his bow.
1. “You have objected,” says Panki-pan-ki, the Fakir of Hanki, “that I
have executed this trick by hidden mechanism. Very well. At present I
lay these three knives on the edge of the mouth of the cup, and yet at
the instant named, that one which is chosen shall leap off in
obedience,” and it does so.
It is answered, truly, that a magnet under the table is made to attract
the knife, which is delicately poised on the rim, thanks to an unseen
confederate.
2. “As you please,” proceeds the magician, taking the table up and
setting it down in the centre of the room, to make it manifest that
there was no wire of complicity attached. I now repeat the experiment
with the same result. This being done, only the readers of our
works—being the most intelligent body of _perusers_ existent—could have
seen that in lifting the table a thread of communication was snapped
asunder, and that this second obedience of the knife was owing to the
magnet again, set in motion by a wire acted on by a treadle.
3. Mr. Panky hastens then to show how ludicrous is the supposition that
a magnet has anything to do with the feat, by doing the same on a chair.
Few or none remark that the chair being shaky, a wedge of wood had to be
put under the cup to steady it. A large watch movement, with a bit of
magnetized iron at the end of the second-hand, which coming round under
the knife in a minute, produced the desired effect.
4. Mr. Panky shrugs his shoulders in deprecation of such absurd
solutions of the problem, and employs a glass table, mounted on glass
legs. But the apparently unprepared transparent board is made of two
sheets of glass, set a little apart so that the air, blown in between by
one of the legs being hollow, shall go out by a minute hole in the upper
plate, just under the cup, which is also perforated at the bottom. The
magician in walking about, treads on one plank of the flooring, where a
bellows is concealed. The wind goes up into the cup, and as the selected
knife is delicately poised on the edge while the others rest on little
interior cleats, it falls off at the first puff.
_Observation._—The knife must be marked so that it can be placed exactly
on its balance without delay. Also, the rim of the cup should be
flattened a little so as to be the twenty-fourth of an inch broad.
5. _With borrowed knives._—As these cannot be prepared, there must be a
drop or two of mouth glue or other sticky substance, at a couple of
places on the cup rim, on which the knives not to be moved are laid.
6. _With pretendedly borrowed knives._—Let the audience furnish the
knives, but to a great number, amongst which you mix three of your own,
prepared for the performance. On taking up these, each owner of the
knives will imagine that his remains on the table and his neighbours’
are being used. Even if he suspected a substitution, that would not
account for the trick.
_Ingenious Variation._—One knife is laid on the cup with its handle
outside to maintain the balance; a long knitting-needle, fastened to the
knife-handle with a lump of sealing wax, while a leaden bullet at the
other end and knife point serves as counterpoise. The glass table is
used, and the Magician withdraws to a distance. All of a sudden though,
the knife leaps off from the cup.
_Explanation._—The column of air is again employed, for which the cup is
set a little way from the hole in the glass plate, and the knife-handle
bearing the sealing wax is adjusted over it. The air is heated this
time, and on melting the wax the released needle is dragged into the cup
by the bullet, and the knife falls.
7. Instead of the glass table, have a sheet iron case in the shape of a
book, and painted and gilt to resemble one. This is put on top of two or
more real books, on which the cup is placed, to be the better seen by
the audience. One end of the mock book contains a lamp, which heats the
iron above it, and the rays of caloric act on the wax as before.
8. _With a Silver Cup._—The knife is poised, as before, on the rim of a
silver cup, and leaps out at command. Mr. Panky had stuck the point in a
lump of tallow, and a lamp in the base of the cup had no sooner melted
it, than the loss of its weight made the knife-handle bear itself down.
9. _Mechanically._—The knife is again laid on the cup, to show that
there is no machinery attached to it; a candle is placed each side of
the cup, fully illuminating it. Nevertheless the same result follows.
[Illustration: Fig. 37.]
[Illustration: Fig. 38.]
_Explanation._—One of the candlesticks is hollow, and contains in the
upper part, A, some fine sand, which escapes by the hole, B, to run down
into the receiver, C. When the latter is full up to D, it runs out by
that hole, and falls on the blade of the knife to destroy its
equilibrium. As the time of the sand reaching the level of the outlet is
regulated by the dimensions of the receptacle, C, its bottom, E, is made
movable, and consequently by fixing it at certain points the moment of
action can be timed to one, two, or three minutes.
10. _The Loaded Knife._—The handle is hollow, and divided into three
compartments.
In the section A, is quicksilver, running by a hole, B, into the
division, C. So far the knife remains balanced, but when the mercury
rises as far as D, it overflows into the part G, when the end being
overweighted, the knife must fall.
[Illustration: Fig. 39.]
[Illustration]