The conjuror obtains a card drawn, and requests the person who has
chosen it to tear off one of its corners, and to observe it well to know
it again; he takes the card thus torn and tears it all to pieces, burns
it, and reduces it to ashes; he then gets a pistol loaded with powder,
mixed and confounded with the said ashes, and, instead of a leaden ball,
a nail, marked by one of the company, is put into the barrel; then the
pack of cards is thrown up into the air, the pistol is fired, and the
burnt card is found nailed against the wall; the piece torn from it is
then produced, and found to fit exactly the place from whence it was
torn, and the nail is acknowledged to be the same by the person who
marked it.
_Explanation._—A corner of the chosen card being torn, the conjuror
steps from the stage, takes a similar card and tears a corner of it
exactly in the same manner; returning, he asks for the chosen card,
places it secretly under the pack, and expertly substitutes that which
he has prepared, in order to burn it in its stead; he then lays hold of
the pistol for the first time, under pretence of showing how it should
be cocked, fired, and handled; one of the company is then desired to
load the pistol with some powder and paper; he seizes this interval to
convey the card to his invisible agent, who speedily nails it upon a
square piece of board, which serves to shut up hermetically a hole made
in the partition and the hangings, but which is invisible, being covered
with a piece of the same; by this means the card nailed to the wall or
partition does not yet appear; the piece of tapestry with which it is
covered is slightly fastened on one side with two pins, and on the other
to a thread, the loose end of which the accomplice holds in his hand. As
soon as the latter hears the pistol fired, he draws the thread, and
rapidly pulls the piece of tapestry behind the glass; the card
consequently appears, and as it is the same that had been marked with
the nail just put into the pistol, it is no wonder that this trick, so
difficult to account for, obtains applause. It depends entirely on first
loading the pistol with powder, after which a tin tube is covered on the
charge of powder, the card and nail being rammed down in the tin tube;
the pistol being inverted, the tube and its contents fall into the
conjurer’s hand to convey to his invisible agent.