{"path": "practicalmagicia00harr.pdf", "page": 1, "folder": "", "text": "GV 1547\nP88\nCopy 1"}
{"path": "practicalmagicia00harr.pdf", "page": 2, "folder": "", "text": "LIBRARY OF CONGRESS.\nGV1547\nCumprinty\nShel P.88\nUNITED STATES OF AMERICA."}
{"path": "practicalmagicia00harr.pdf", "page": 3, "folder": "", "text": "A\nA\n.\nCOCASA'"}
{"path": "practicalmagicia00harr.pdf", "page": 9, "folder": "", "text": "-\n:\nNo.8. THE MAGNET NAND\nPrice Twenty-five Cents.\nSUTD\nNEW-YORK:\nHURST & CO., PUBLISHERS."}
{"path": "practicalmagicia00harr.pdf", "page": 11, "folder": "", "text": "THE\nPractical Magician\nAND\nVENTRILOQUIST'S GUIDE.\nA PRACTICAL MANUAL OF\nFIRESIDE MAGIC AND CONJURING ILLUSIONS.\nCONTAINING ALSO\nCOMPLETE INSTRUCTIONS FOR ACQUIRING & PRACTISING\nThe Art of\nthe\nthe\nNEW YORK\nHURST & CO., Publishers,\n75 NASSAU STREET.\n(Entered according to Act of Congress in the year 1876, by THOMAS D. HURST, in\nthe office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington, D. C.)"}
{"path": "practicalmagicia00harr.pdf", "page": 12, "folder": "", "text": "7 V / = ,\nP88\nBEST BOOK ON THE \"BLACK ART.\"\nPARLOR PASTIMES.\nA NEW BOOK ON\nMAGIC, CONJURING, LEGERDEMAIN,\nAND PRESTIDIGITATION.\nBY THE CELEBRATED\nPROFESSOR RAYMOND\nThis work is certainly the most exhaustive one on Magic that has ever\nbeen issued. It exposes all the secrets of tho Wizard's Art. No trick or\nillusion of importance is left unnoticed, and tho explanations are made in\nso simplo a manner that any one of ordinary comprehension can readily\nunderstand and perform them. The book thoroughly elucidates all tho\nmysteries connected with\nWhite Magic,\nGalvanism,\nNatural Magic,\nMagnetism,\nJugglery,\nLegerdemain,\nSleight-of-Hand,\nNecromancy,\nElectricity,\nFireworks,\nChemistry,\nMechanics,\nCards,\nThe Black Art,\n1\nCoins,\nPrestidigitation.\nIt also contains a grand assortment of\nRIDDLES, CONUNDRUMS, CHARADES, ENIGMAS, RE-\nBUSES, TRANSPOSITIONS, ANAGRAMS, PUZZLES,\nPARADOXES, ACROSTICS, AND PROBLEMS.\nA stndy of this extremely interesting work would make any one thor-\noughly expert in the art of Amusing, whether in private or public. Tho\nwork may be consulted with profit either by the Amateur or Professional\nMagician.\nPrice Twenty-Five Cents.\nSent to any address on receipt of price. Address\nHURST & CO., 75 NASSAU STREET, New YORK."}
{"path": "practicalmagicia00harr.pdf", "page": 13, "folder": "", "text": "PAGE\nIntroduction\n8\nOf palmistry and the passes\n9\nTo command a dime to pass into the centre of a ball of wool,\nso that it will not be discovered till the ball is unwound\nto the very last of its threads\n13\nTo change a bowl of ink into clear water with gold fish in it.\n14\nThe dancing egg\n15\nThe walking cent\n16\nTricks with and without collusion\n19\nTo make a quarter and a penny change places while held in\nthe hands of two spectators\n23\nTrick with the dime, handkerchief, and an orange or lemon\n23\nHow to double your pocket money.\n24\nThe injured handkerchief restored.\n25\nTo make a large die pass through the crown of a hat with-\nout injuring it.\n26\nTo produce from a silk handkerchief bonbons, candies,\nnuts, etc.\n27\nPractice\n29\nA sudden and unexpected supply of feathers from under a\nsilk handkerchief or cloth.\n31\nHeads or Tails ?\n33\nTo cook pancakes or plumcakes in a hat over some candles.\n34\nTo eat a dish of paper shavings and afterwards draw them\nfrom your mouth like an Atlantic cable.\n36\nHow to cut off a person's nose without injuring him\n37\nTricks by magnetism, chemistry, galvanism and electricity.\n39\nThe watch obedient to the word of command\n41"}
{"path": "practicalmagicia00harr.pdf", "page": 14, "folder": "", "text": "CONTENTS.\niii\nPAGE\nA chemical trick, to follow one where a young friend has as-\nsisted\n43\nTo draw three spools off two tapes without those spools\nhaving to come off the ends of those tapes, and while\nthe four ends of the tapes are held by four persons...\n44\nTo restore a tape whole after it has been cut in the middle\n46\nOn the continuity of tricks\n49\nThe invisible hen, a very useful trick for supplying eggs for\nbreakfast or dinner\n53\nTricks with a plain gold ring\n56\nFriendly suggestions.\n59\nThe conjuror's \"bonus genius\" or familiar messenger.\n61\nThe shower of money.\n63\nTo furnish the ladies with a magic supply of tea or coffee,\nat their selection, from one and the same jug\n64\nTo furnish a treat to the gentlemen\n66\nVentriloquism\n67\nVentriloquism among the ancients\n70\nModern professors of the art.\n71\nThe theory of ventriloquism\n76\nThe means by which it is effected\n79\nPractical illustrations.\n81\nPolyphonic imitations\n87\nA mountain echo\n88\nPoints to be remembered.\n88\nConcluding remarks\n90\nTo make the magic whistle\n91"}
{"path": "practicalmagicia00harr.pdf", "page": 15, "folder": "", "text": "THE PRACTICAL MAGICIAN\nAND\nVENTRILOQUIST'S GUIDE.\nCHAPTER I.\n\"\nINTRODUCTORY.\nM' object in writing these hints on CONJURING is for the bene-\nfit of amateurs to promote (lively and entertaining amuse-\nment for the home circle and social gatherings.\nMy large experience enables me to explain and simplify many\nof the best tricks and illusions of the art. I present the key to\nmany of the mystical mysteries which have puzzled and bewild-\nered our childhood days as well as confounded us in our matur-\ner years.\nThe young student can in a very short time, if he be in the\nleast of an ingenious turn, amuse and astonish his friends, neigh-\nbors and acquaintances.\nPreference has been given to those tricks which suggest\nothers, the more complete and difficult performances and\nillusions have been passed by as being out of place ; I"}
{"path": "practicalmagicia00harr.pdf", "page": 16, "folder": "", "text": "6\nTHE PRACTICAL MAGICIAN.\nshall not, therefore, in these elementary papers advert to those\nexperiments which require ample resources, or a prepared stage,\nfor exhibiting them-or which can only be displayed to advan-\ntage by consummate skill and the most adroit manipulation-\nbut confine my remarks at present to thos\u00e8 branches of the art\nto the performance of which a young amateur may aspire with\nprospect of success.\nA few hours' practice will enable the learner to execute the\nsimple tricks that I shall first treat of; and they will only re-\nquire for their display such articles as are readily available in\nevery household. Most of them will be supplied by any com-\npany of a few friends, and if not in the parlor, can be brought\nfrom no greater distance than the kitchen or housekeeper's\nroom ; such as handkerchiefs, coins, oranges, or eggs, a\nglass bowl, etc., etc. There may only remain a few inexpensivo\narticles to bo supplied from repositories for the sale of conjur-\ning apparatus, or they may be had direct from the publishers of\nthis work.\nIt may be well explicitly to avow that the time is quite gone\nby when people will really believe that conjuring is to be donc\nby supernatural agencies. No faith is now reposed in the\n\"black art of sorcery,\" or even in the art to which the less re-\npulsive name was given of \"white magic.' Many years havo\nelapsed sinco conjurors have seriously assumed to themselves\nany credit as possessing supernatural powers, or as enabled by\nspiritual agency to reveal that which is unknown to science and\nphilosophy, or mysteriously to work astonishing marvels.\nA well-marked contrast exists between the old school O. con-\njurors and those of modern times. The former, who used bold-\nly to profess that they employed mysterious rites and preter-\nnatural agency, designedly put the spectator upon false inter-\npretations, while they studiously avoided giving any elucidation\nof tho phenomena, nor would ever admit that tho wonders dis-\nplayed were to bo accounted for by the principles of science and\nnatural philosophy.\nModern conjurors advance no such pretensions. They use as\nscientifically as possible the natural properties of matter to aid"}
{"path": "practicalmagicia00harr.pdf", "page": 17, "folder": "", "text": "THE PRACTICAL MAGICIAN.\n7\nin their exhibition of wonderful results. They are content to\nlet the exhibition of their art appear marvelous They some-\ntimes mystify the matter, and so increase the puzzle, in order\nto heighten the interest and amusement of the spectators; but\nthey throw asido any solemn asseveration of possessing hidden\npowers, or of ability to fathom mysterious secrets.\nIt may be admitted that proficients and exhibitors still adopt\nlanguage that has become current with conjurors, and in com-\nmon parlance it may be asserted that the wonderful Mr. So-and-\nSo undertakes to pass some solid object through a wall or a ta-\nble ; to change black into white, and white into black; to place\nrings in.closely-fastened boxes, or draw money out of people's\nears; and conjurors may with ridiculous humor distract the at-\ntention of spectators, so that accurate observation is not fixed\nupon the object that is to undergo before their eyes some sin-\ngular transformation ; but no outrageous bombast or positive\nfalsehoods are commonly advanced. And the practical meaning\nof any exaggerated pretension is clearly understood to mean no\nmore than that Mr. So-and-So undertakes to present before you\nwhat, TO ALL APPEARANCE, is the conversion of black into white,\nor vice versa and the audience aro clearly aware that no more\nis assumed to bo presented to them than a very striking illu-\nsion, undistinguishable from a reality and how this is effected\nwill bo in many cases wholly untraceable, and therefore the\ntrick is inimitable.\nWe may be permitted to feel some pleasure in the conviction\nthat tho exhibition of our art in its more striking exploits is\nreally marvelous, and very attractive; for we certainly havo\ntho power of placing some astonishing phenomena before our\naudience: and we may surely prize the estimation with which\ntho uninitiated are disposed to honor us, but we erect no vain-\nglorious assumptions upon these data, as we are quite contented\nwith fair praise intelligently-accorde to us. And so far from\nclosely concealing tho principles and arcana of our science, we\nare ready plainly to avow that it all depends upon faculties that\nall may attain by patient culture, and exhibit by careful prac-\ntice. Undoubtedly thero are less and greater degrees of exoel-"}
{"path": "practicalmagicia00harr.pdf", "page": 18, "folder": "", "text": "8\nTHE PRACTICAL MAGICIAN.\nlence to be obtained by proportionate intelligence and dexterity.\nThere are attainments in the art, at which, by natural qualifica-\ntion and peculiar adaptation, special study, practice, and expe-\nrience enable somo few only to arrive. These qualifications\ncannot be easily communicated to every one who might wish to\npossess them; and therefore the highest adepts will ever havo\nan incommunicable distinction. But this is no moro than is\nthe case in the medical, the legal, and any learned profession,\nin all which the most eminent proficients reserve to themselves,\nor unavoidably retain, an unquestioned superiority. At tho\nsame time there is much in our art that may be communicated,\nand the present papers will show to our friends that we are will-\ning to impart to others such portions of our art as they are ca-\npable of acquiring; and we trust that what wo shall communi-\ncate to them will furnish them much rational recreation among\nthemselves, and enable them to supply innocent and interesting\namusement to their friends and companions."}
{"path": "practicalmagicia00harr.pdf", "page": 19, "folder": "", "text": "THE PRACTICAL MAGICIAN.\n9\nCHAPTER II.\nOF PALMISTRY AND PASSES\nnature and limit of the art of Conjuring has now\ndefined-what it is that we assume to do, and\nwherein we have discontinued the exaggerated preten-\nsions of the conjurors of the old school and I have hinted in\nwhat respects, and within what bounds, a young amateur may\ngim at exhibiting some amusing experiments in our art. But\nit remains for me to explain the grand pre-requisite for a novice\nto cultivate before he should attempt to exhibit before others\neven the simplest tricks of prestidigitation or legerdemain, to\nwhich we at present confine our attention.\nI have first to speak of PALMISTRY, not in the sense that the\nfortune-teller uses the word, but as expressing the art of the\nconjuror in secreting articles in the PALM of one hand while he\nappears to transfer those articles to his other hand. It is abso-\nlutely necessary that the young amateur should acquire the habit\nof doing this so adroitly as to escape the observation of others\nwhile doing it openly before their eyes.\nThe two principal passes are the following:\nFIRST PASS or, method of apparently carrying an\nobject from the right hand to the left, while actually re-\ntaining it in the right hand.\nThe reader will please to observe that the illustrative sketches\ndepict the hands of the performer as seen by himself.\nFIRST POSITION OF PASS 1.\nThe right hand, having the knucles and back of the fingers\nturned toward the spectators, and holding openly a cent, or\nsome similar object, between the thumb and fore-finger, must\nbe moved toward the left hand.\nThe left hand must be held out, with the back of the hand\ntoward the ground, as exhibited in the illustration. (Fig. 1.)"}
{"path": "practicalmagicia00harr.pdf", "page": 20, "folder": "", "text": "10\nTHE PRACTICAL MAGICIAN.\nFIG. 1.\nEllie\nFirst Position of Pass 1.\nSECOND POSITION OF PASS 1.\nThe left hand must appear to close over the object that is\nbrought toward it, at the same instant that the right hand se-\ncretes and withdraws that object.\nThe left hand that appeared to receive it must continue\nclosed. The right hand, though it actually retains the object,\nmust be allowed to hang loosely over it, so that it appears to\nhave nothing in it.\nFIG. 2.\nSecond Position of Pass 1.\nThe performer then may blow upon the closed left hand, and\nmay say, \"Fly,\" or \"Begone,\" or any similar expression, and\nthen open his left hand, holding it forward. Of course there is\nnothing in it, and the object seems to have flown from it, and\nthe spectators are much surprised.\nSECOND PASS.-Method of apparently transferring\nan object from the left hand to the right, while retaining\nit in the left hand.\nFIRST POSITION.\nLet the left hand hold up the object in its open palm. The"}
{"path": "practicalmagicia00harr.pdf", "page": 21, "folder": "", "text": "THE PRACTICAL MAGICIAN.\n11\nright hand is brought toward the left hand, but only appears to\ngrasp it.\nFig. 3.\nFirst Position of Pass 2.1\nSECOND POSITION.\nThe left hand secretes the object in its palm, while the fingers\nare allowed to fall loosely down, appearing to retain nothing\nunder them. At the very same moment the right hand must be\nclosed, and remain in shape as if containing the object, with the\nsecond joints of the fingers pointed toward the spectators, and\nthe back of the hand toward the ground. The performer then\nholding his right hand forward, may blow on it and say \"Change\nFIG. 4.\nSecond Position of Pass 2.\n-fly,\" and opening that hand, the spectator deems the object\nhas passed away from it, though in fact it has remained all along\nin the left hand.\nThe illusion in either of these passes is, that the spectator\nseeing both hands move as if the object were passing from one\nto the other, thinks it has done so ; whereas, in fact, the object"}
{"path": "practicalmagicia00harr.pdf", "page": 22, "folder": "", "text": "12\nTHE PRACTICAL MAGICIAN.\nalways remains in the hand where it was first visible to the spec-\ntators. The BACK of that hand where the object is first displayed\nmust afterwards be kept well toward the spectators.\nObserve, the eye of the performer must rest always on the\nhand or object at which he desires the spectators to look, and\nwhatever he wishes them not to notice, he himself must refrain\nfrom looking at.\nIf it is not required that the very object that has been held up\nin these passes be seen again by the spectators, the performer\nmust quietly pocket it, or drop it on a handkerchief on his ta-\nble, or inside a hat, or otherwise get rid of it as soon as he con-\nveniently can.\nOn the contrary, if that very object must be again produced\nor transferred to a person standing at some little distance, this\nmust be effected by one of the following methods :\nEither you must take care beforehand to place adroitly in that\nperson's cap or pocket a double or similar object.\nOR, you must walk up to him, and putting your hand on his\nhair, sleeve, or pocket, quickly place there the object you have\nall\nalong retained, and which you must pretend by this ma-\nnoeuvre to find in his possession.\nOr, lastly, you will see in the first trick subjoined, a method\nof substituting one object for another.\nFIRST TRICK.-To command a dime to pass into the\ncentre of a ball of Berlin wool, EO that it will not be dis-\ncovered till the ball is unwound to the very last of its\nthreads.\nREQUISITE PREPARATIONS, TO DE MADE PRIVATELY.\nYou will require a glass bowl or quart basin, and you must\nhave a flattened tube of tin about four inches long. It must be\njust large enough to let a dime slide easily through it by its own\nweight. Round the end on this tubo wind a ball of Berlin wool\nof bright color, covering about two inches of the tube, and pro-\njecting about an inch bevond the end of it. Place this ball with\nthe tube in it in your right-hand pocket of coat tail, (or in the\nleft breast-pocket, if that is largo enough to hold it completely\nleft hand.\ncovered.) Lastly, place a dime concealed in the palm of your\nCommence the exhibition of the trick by requesting one of the\nspectators to mark a dime (or cent) of his own, so that he will\nbe sure to know it again. Then ask him to lend you that coin."}
{"path": "practicalmagicia00harr.pdf", "page": 23, "folder": "", "text": "THE PRACTICAL MAGICIAN.\n13\nHolding it up in your right hand, you may say, 'Now. ladies\nand gentlemen, this is the marked dime which I shall experi-\nment with. The gentleman has accurately marked it, so that\nthere can be no mistako about its identity when reproduced.\"\nThen by Pass 1 pretend to transfer the marked coin to your left\nhand, but in reality retain it in your right hand. Next, hand\nwith your left hand your own dimo (which had been secreted in\n'hat hand) to some person. and request him to hold it. Chooso\nfor this person some one three or four yards distant from your-\nself, and also from the person who originally marked the coin.\nIt is unnecessary to explain that you do so, lest the two should\ncompare notes. Of course, the person who is asked to hold it\nwill believe that it is the very dime that was borrowed.\nYon may proceed to say : \"Now we waut a ball of worsted.'\nSo, placing your right hand in your pocket, pretend to fecl\nabout for something in your pocket, and while doing so you\nmust place the dime in the top of the tin tube, and shako it\ndown. Then carefully draw the tube ont of the ball of worsted;\nand leavo the tube in your pocket, bnt draw tho ball out of your\npocket, pressing it together whilo doing so.\nThen request some one to fecl the ball in order to ascertain\nthat it has no opening towards its centre.\nYon mayhero mako some humorons remark about your having\nsuch a ball in your pocket. As for instance: :\n\": Ladies may think it od:l that I havo such a ball of Berlin\nwool in my pocket. It was bought to please my consin Mary\nAnn, or my Aunt Tabitha. Well, it will do very fairly for our\nexperiment.\nThen request somo ono to hold tho glass basin containing the\nwoollen ball. Whilo you retain in your hand the end of tho\nwoollen thread, address the gentleman who has consented to\nhold the dime, asking him to hand it to you. Tako it in your\nright hand, pretend by Pass 1 to transfer it to your left hand,\nbut in reality keep it concealed in your right hand.\nHolding up your closed left hand, (which in fact has nothing\nin it.) yon may say :\n\"Now, dime, pass along this woollen thread into the very\ncentro of the woollen ball which is there held in tho glass bowl\nor basin.\"\nBlow upon your left hand, and show that the dime is gone.\nYou must adroitly get rid of the dime, which has remained\nsecreted in your right hand, by placing it in your pocket or\nsleeve while making somo humorous remark, or whilo asking\nsomo lady or gentleman to draw tho woollen thread till it is all\nunwound. It will bo dono tho quicker by letting the ball bo\nconfined loosely in the bowl with two fingers preventing its\nleaping out."}
{"path": "practicalmagicia00harr.pdf", "page": 24, "folder": "", "text": "14\nTHE PRACTICAL MAGICIAN.\nDraw attention to how completely the coin is wrapped up till\nyou arrive at the very last circles, when it will drop into the\nbowl.\nHand the dime to the owner who marked it, and let him de-\nclare whether he recognizes it as the very one he lent you.\nHis affirmativo will surprise the spectators.\nSECOND TRICK.-To change a bowl of ink into clear\nwater, with gold fish in it.\nREQUISITE PREPARATION, TO BE MADE PRIVATELY BEFOREHAND.\nThe same glass bowl as in previous trick. If your bowl has\nnot a foot to it, it must be placed on something that will hold it\nhigh above your table. Some small fish, a white plate or sau-\ncer, a piece of black silk just fitting the inside of your bowl, a\nspoon of peculiar construction, so that in a hollow handle it will\nretain about a teaspoonful of ink, which will not run out as long\nas a hole near the top of the handle is kept covered or stopped.\nA large tumbler and two or three minnows will do for a simpler\nexhibition, but will, of course, not be so pleasing to the eye.\nPlace the black silk so as to cover the part of the bowl that is\nshaded; when damp it will adhere to the glass. Pour in clear\nwater to fill the space covered by the black silk, and placo the\nfish in the water.\nFig. 5.\nCommence the trick in public thus: Holding the spoon-han-\ndle slanting up and uncovering the hole in the handle, the ink\nwhich you have placed in the handle will run into the bowl of\nthe spoon, and the spoon being held carefully to the surface of\nthe water, concealing the black silk, will give the spectators the\nimpression that you fill the spoon from the glass bowl.\nPour the spoonful of ink on a white saucer, and show it round\nto convince the spectators it is ink. They will see it is undeni-\nably ink, and they will conclude, if the spoon were properly"}
{"path": "practicalmagicia00harr.pdf", "page": 25, "folder": "", "text": "THE PRACTICAL MAGICIAN.\n15\ninted out of the bowl, that the glass bowl contains nothing but\nink.\nBorrowing a silk handkerchief, place it for a few seconds over\nthe bowl, and feigning to be inviting fish to come to the bowl.\nexclaim Change! Then, placing your hand on the edge of\nthe bowl near yourself, draw off the handkerchief, and with it\ntake care to catch hold also of the black silk. The bowl when\nuncovered will exhibit the fish swimming about in clear water.\nWhile the spectators are surprised at the fish, return the hand-\nkerchief, having first dropped out of it the black silk on your\nside of the table. Decline giving any explanation, as people\nwill not thank you for dispelling the illusion.\nTHIRD TRICK,-The Dancing Egg.\nREQUISITE PREPARATION TO BE MADE IN PRIVATE.\nAn egg-shell that has been blown (my young friends will know\nthat the way to blow an egg is to make a small hole at each end\nof the egg. Then, by blowing at one end, the yolk will be\ndriven out, and the egg-shell be left empty.)\nMake a hole also on the side of the egg, in which insert a\nchip of wood, or a small pin, held by a fine black silk thread,\nabout twelve or fourteen inches long, which must have a loop at\nthe far end, which loop fasten to a button on the coat or waist-\ncoat and have on a dark vest, otherwise the dark thread be-\ncoming visible, will reveal the moving power.\nFIG. 6.\na\nCommence by borrowing two black hats. If there is an in-\nstrument in the room, ask some one to play a lively tune, as\n\" eggs are fond ofglively music to dance to.\" Then, with the\nbrim of a hat in each hand, interpose the round of each hat\nsuccessively under the thread that holds the egg, moving them\nfrom your breast toward the egg. The egg will appear to move\nof itself over the hats, as you place them under it."}
{"path": "practicalmagicia00harr.pdf", "page": 26, "folder": "", "text": "16\nTHE PRACTICAL MAGICIAN.\nYou must not allow people to handle the egg on the thread af-\nterwards, for when they see the simplicity of the process they\nwill undervalue the trick, whereas it appears marvellous as long\nas they do not understand how the extraordinary movements\nare produced. And in these illusions, as Hudibras expresses it,\nDoubtless, the pleasure is as great\nIn being cheated as to cheat.\n-\nFOURTH TRICK-The Walking Cent.\nPRELIMINARY PREPARATION IN PRIVATE.\nAsk for a long dark hair from some lady's tresses. Have a\npin in shape of a hook, or a small loop affixed to the end of this\nhair, and fasten a little piece of beeswax (less than a pea) at the\nother end of the hair. Fasten the hair by the loop to a button\non your vest, taking care to wear a dark-colored vest. The\nhair may be allowed to hang from your vest, with the bees-\nwax visible. Have a glass of water or cup on the table.\nCommence the exhibition of the trick by borrowing a cent.\nWhile pretending to examine the cent to see if it is a good one,\npress the waxed end of the hair firmly to the under side cf tho\ncent, and place it about a foot from the edge of n table. Then\nbid the cent to move toward you, to the right or to the left, and\nby gently moving your body in whatever direction you name,\nthe hair will draw the cent in the same direction. You may\nsay, while your left hand is near the table, \"Now, cent, movo\nup my arm. Advancing your a.m gently, the cent will appear\nto move up to your elbow. It is your arm that moves, but it\nwill appear to the spectators as if the cent moved or you may\nhelp it up the outside of the sleeve by interposing your right\nhand under the hair, so as to draw up the cent, while appearing\nto beckon it.\n\"Now, cent, as you have performed so well, you shall have a\nbath.\" Placing the tumbler near the edge of the table, draw\nthe cent into it. After exhibiting it in the water, say, \": Oh,\ncent, you must not stay so long in the water.\" Then jerk it out\nupon the table. Detach the waxed end of the hair by your\nnail, after which return the cent to the person who loaned it\nto you.\nWhen performing this trick, in order to keep the spectators at\na little distance, you must inform them that the cent is very\nsusceptible to magnetic influences, and request ladies not to ap-\nproach too near it, as the loadstones of their eyes are the causo\nof the magnetic attraction.\""}
{"path": "practicalmagicia00harr.pdf", "page": 27, "folder": "", "text": "THE PRACTICAL MAGICIAN.\n17\nMy young friends must remember that it is absolutely neces-\nsary to keep up in spectators their belief in the niysterious, and\ntherefore must decline on the spot to give explanations before or\nafter the performance of this trick, however they may be dis-\nposed to reveal the secret privately to any friend. A singular\ninstance is recorded of a person who was grievously disappointed\nwhen by importunity he had received an explanation of this very\ntrick, which had appeared at first to him a most marvellous phe-\nnomenon; and he was quite annoyed when the gilt was stripped\noff his ginger-bread. It is said that a gentleman walked into a\nFIG. 7.\n00\ncoffee-room at Manchester, England, and was exhibiting to a\nfriend the above trick. A traveler at a table near them had his\nattention drawn by their laughing discourse, while one of them\nexhibited the trick to the other. The cold barrier of English\nreserve was broken down, and he addressed one of the strangers,\nrequesting to be informed how the trick was done. For his part\nhe imagined it must be connected with some perfectly new phil-\nosophical law of attraction involved in the experiment. \" Will\nyon be kind enough to tell me I shall be happy to offer n fee\nto learn it. I was about to proceed by the next train, but I will\ngladly defer my journey to understand this, which appears so\nunaccountable.\""}
{"path": "practicalmagicia00harr.pdf", "page": 28, "folder": "", "text": "18\nTHE PRACTICAL MAGICIAN.\nThe gentleman declined for a considerable time ; but at\nlength, being overcome by the importunity, in order to get rid\nof the matter, assented. The time of the departure of the train\nhad arrived and passed by, and the aspirant offered two guineas\nto learn the trick. The gentleman acceded to bis request on\ncondition that he should faithfully promise not to reveal it to\nothers, or to make public the mystery. \"Agreed,\" says tho\n'traveler. The mail train was gone-the money paid-tho trick\nexhibited and explained to him. \"Oh!\" cried the traveler,\n\" how easy and plain it is. What a simpleton I have been to\nlose my journey and spend my money only to learn how you-.\"\n\"\nStop!\" cried the gentleman, \"remember you have promised\nnot to divulge the secret.\" \" Yes, but how foolish to care for\nan experiment which only depends on-. Stop, sir, stop.\nAre you going to tell all the room ?\" and thus a good half-hour's\namusement was caused by the traveler fretting over his simpli-\ncity, and having relinquished an important journey for that\nwhich, though marvellous while a secret, became so simple and\nuninteresting to him after an explanation."}
{"path": "practicalmagicia00harr.pdf", "page": 29, "folder": "", "text": "THE PRACTICAL MAGICIAN.\n19\n-\nCHAPTER III.\nTRICKS WITH AND WITHOUT COLLUSION.\nI'\nresuming my hints to amateurs, I shall now offer some re-\nmarks upon two subjects.\nFrrst.--] will notico the class of tricks th at are performed by\nthe collusion of a confederate. Old books on conjuring record\nseveral of this description, and some conjurors still practise\nthem. But I do not advise the inexperienced frequently to ex-\nhibit tricks of this sort, for the co-operation of assistants used\nin them is liable to be traced by spectators, or to be divulged by\nthe person who has been employed to aid in the exhibition of\nthem. They may, indeed, be very well as a make-shift until\ndexterity of hand is acquired; but they will always rank as an\ninferior branch of the science of conjuring, and if the collusion\nis discovered, it will throw discredit even upon those tricks\nwhich the same performer may exhibit without such collusive\narrangement. An instance of the annoying failure of such de-\npendence upon confederates is recorded in \"Houdin's Memoirs.\"\nIt is thero related that Torrini, at the commencement of his ca-\nreer, was insidiously induced by an envious rival (Pinetti) to\nundertako a public exhibition of his art before a very grand as-\nsembly. Torrini was at the time diffident of his own attain-\nments, but he was persuaded to make the attempt by the assur-\nance of Pinetti that he would take care that several confeder-\nates should be present, and should help in carrying out sundry\nillusions which he would have to display. One of these was,\nthat the conjuror, after borrowing a ring, was to restoro it magi-"}
{"path": "practicalmagicia00harr.pdf", "page": 30, "folder": "", "text": "20\nTHE PRACTICAL MAGICIAN.\ncally into the possession of its owner. The ring was borrowed,\nand some mysterious gesticulations practised; but instead of the\ncontemplated result being produced, the false confederate pro-\nclaimed aloud that he had lent a very valuable jewelled ring, and\nhad only received back a common copper ring. The audience\nwas of course disappointed at such words so derogatory to the\nconjuror This unpleasant feeling was deepened by the malic-\nious meddling of another false confederate. Torrini had to\npresent some cards to the King of Naples, who was honoring the\nassembly by witnessing the exhibition, and a card was selected\nby his Majesty. Instead, however, of being pleased with what\nhe saw on the card, the king manifested intense disapprobation.\nThe confederate had written on the card words of disrespect and\ninsult, and Torrini had to retire amid the loud censures of the\nenraged spectators. There may. be no danger of so disastrous\nresults to a young amateur; but dissatisfaction of a milder kind\nwill probably ensue whenever it is discovered that any trick has\ndepended upon the secret co-operation of an assistant among\nthe spectators.\nThe SECOND topic which I propose at present to discuss is the\nemployment of mechanism-such mechanical constructions as\nboxes with false sides, cabinets with secret drawers, or double\ncompartments, etc.\nIt makes a great difference whether such arrangements are\nused as subordinate aids, or as constituting the essence and sub-\nstance of the illusion. In the former respect it is quite legiti-\nmate to take advantage of any well-arranged mechanical aid su-\nbordinately. In fact, nearly all tricks must be performed with\nsome modified aid of artistic contrivance, or with mechanical\nimplements adroitly used. The conjuror, thereforc, unavoid-\nably requires, and may advantageously employ, mechanical ar-\nrangements to give greater effect to his illusions. I only wish\nto dissuade the learner from relying solely upon mere mechani-\ncal puzzles, or artistic contrivances, for furnishing an interesting\nexhibition of the conjuror's art.\nThe fewer the contrivances which he employs of this sort, and\nthe more entirely the performance rests upon sleight-of-hand\nthe more lively will be the surprise of the spectators."}
{"path": "practicalmagicia00harr.pdf", "page": 31, "folder": "", "text": "THE PRACTICAL MAGICIAN.\n21\nI myself prefer doing without the aid of any confederate und\nwithout mechanical aids ; but I must remember that I am writ-\ning for amateurs and novices in the art, and that, in proportion\nas they are unpractised in palmistry, and in what the French\nterm prestidigitation, (preste digite, signifying \"ready fingers,\")\nit will be desirable for them, at first, to have the assistanco\nwhich mechanism will supply towards the exhibition of their\ntricks.\nLet them, however, keep such aids as subordinate and as se-\ncret as possible. For instance, in the preparation for exhibiting\nthe first trick described on page 12, the small tin tube (which is\nrequisite for the performance of that trick) must not be seen by\nthe audience, either BEFORE or AFTER the trick is exhibited, but\nmust be kept secr\u00eated in the pocket. Again, in Trick No. 4,\nthe preparation of the hair and beeswax must be made PRI-\nVATELY beforehand; and these implements must vanish out of\nsight when the trick is over. And the reader must observe that\nin both the first and fourth tricks the mechanical aid employed\nis the minor and subordinate part of the tricks, and that a suc-\ncessful exhibition of either of thcm depends really on the dex-\nterity of the passes, and of manipulations by the performer.\nIt may be admitted, then, that, with regard to the first topic\nof our present paper, the young conjuror need not be restrained\nfrom employing the subordinate aid of an assistant, so far as\nthis may carry him over difficulties which he cannot otherwise\nsurmount in the present stage of his im perfect skill.\nAnd in regard to the second topic, the employment of me-\nchanical contrivances, (though it may be well to begin with\nthose departments of the art which are easier, because aided by\nmechanical apparatus,) it will be desirable for the amateur to\nstrive to get freo from dependence upon such aids. Mechanical\narrangements cannot be wholly discarded at any time, and the\nconjuror will always require a few implements; but the more\nhe advances in dexterity of hand, quickness of eye, control of\nhis hand and eye, instantaneous adaptation of his words and\nmovements to contingencies as they arise, the more able will he\nbecome to elude the observation of the most watchful specta-"}
{"path": "practicalmagicia00harr.pdf", "page": 32, "folder": "", "text": "22\nTHE PRACTICAL MAGICIAN.\ntors, and to mislead their imagination, so that they shall fancy\nthat they see him DO things which he only APPEARS to do, and\nshall blindly fail to observe actions and movements carried out\nbefore their very eyes.\nAnd here let me say, that I have, by long experience, come to\nthe conviction, that the simpler and more common the objects\nare on which, and with which. a trick is performed, and the less\nanything beyond dexterity of hand is openly used, the greater\nwill be the astonishment and the amusement of the spectators.\nThere are, it is true, some very striking and complicated illu-\nsions which it is impossible to present without resorting to art-\nistic contrivances of mechanical or scientific arrangement. On\nthese illusions, as being beyond the power of a young amateur,\nI need not dwell. Nor need the preceding remarks be consid-\nered as any disparagement of the combinations and extrinsic aid\nwhich are indispensable for developing such startling illusions.\nThe scope of my present remarks is simply to this effect, that\nto depend mainly upon the co-operation of a confederate, or\nupon mechanical contrivances, for what can be far better carried\nout by mere sleight-of-hand, will not pass for a satisfactory ex-\nhibition of conjuring now-a-days; and the amateur will find\nthat, as he advances in skill and dexterity, he will swim more\nfreely the less ho trusts to such unsubstantial bladders to uphold\nhim.\nHaving thus discussed my two topics I shall now add explana-\ntions of a few more tricks, which the learner may practise with\nthe hope of making progress in the art of conjuring. The only\nway to make such progress and gain high attainments in the art,\nis to practise diligently over and over again the passes I havo\ndescribed in my former paper, and to learn to do a few tricks\nneatly, and without hesitation or stumbling. I subjoin, there-\nfore, some simple but effective tricks, in which they will do well\nto perfect themselves."}
{"path": "practicalmagicia00harr.pdf", "page": 33, "folder": "", "text": "THE PRACTICAL MAGICIAN.\n23\nTRICK 5.-To make a quarter and a penny change\nplaces, while held in the hands of two spectators.\nPREPARATION.\nHave a quarter of your own secreted in your right hand.\nThen borrow two handkerchiefs, and a quarter and a penny,\nfrom any one in the audience. Tell the lender to mark or accu-\nrately observe them, so that he will know them again. In plac-\ning them on the table, substitute your own quarter for the bor-\nrowed one, and conceal the borrowed one in your palm.\nMEMORANDUM.\nIt is better to use things borrowed than coin of your own.\nStill, the conjuror should provide himself with articles requisite\nto display any trick, or otherwise much delay may occasionally\narise while borrowing them.\nCommence the trick by pointing out where the quarter and\nthe penny are lying on the table. Take up the penny and show\nit openly to all. Then take up one of the handkerchiefs, and\nwhile pretending to wrap up the penny in it, substitute in its\nplace the borrowed quarter which you had concealed in your\npalm, and ask one of your friends to feel that it is enfolded in\nthe handkerchief, and bid him hold the handkerchief enclosing\nit above his head. Ask him if he has got the penny there safely.\nHe will reply that he has.\nThen take up your own quarter which was laid upon the ta-\nble ; pretend to wrap it up in the second handkerchief, but\nadroitly substitute the penny, (which you concealed in your\npalm while wrapping up the first handkerchief.) Ask some\nfriend to hold it up above his head, indulging in some facetious\nremark. Slip your own quarter into your pocket. Clap your\nhands or wave your wand, saying, \"Change.\" Tell your friends\nto unfold their handkerchiefs. They will be astonished to find\nthat the quarter and penny have changed places.\nTRICK 6.-Another trick with the dime, handkerchief,\nand an orange or lemon\nPREPARATION.\nHave an orange or lemon ready, with a slit made in its side\nsufficiently large to admit the dime easily ; and have in your\npocket a good-sized silk handkerchief with a dime stitched inio\none of its corners."}
{"path": "practicalmagicia00harr.pdf", "page": 34, "folder": "", "text": "24\nTHE PRACTICAL MAGICIAN.\nBorrow a marked dime. Take out your handkerchief, and\nwhile pretending to wrap this dime in the handkerchief, conceal\nit in your palm, and take care that the one previously sewn into\nthe corner of the handkerchief can be felt easily through tho\nhandkerchief. Giving it to one of your friends, tell him to feel\nthat it has the dime in it, and to hold it up over his head firmly.\nWhile giving these directions to your friend, the dime that is in\nyour palm must be transferred to your pocket, and introduced\ninto the slit of the orange. Then bring the orange out of your\npocket, and place it on a table you will keep the slit on the side\naway from the audience.\nThen make a few mesmeric passes over the hand of the per-\nson that holds the handkerchief, saying, \"I will now destroy\nthe sense of feeling in your hands. Tell me, can you feel tho\ndime ?\" He will say, .6 Yes.\" You can reply, \"Oh, you must\nbe wrong, sir. See! I will shake out the handkerchief.\" Tak-\ning hold of one corner of it, shake it out, saying, \"Observe,\nnothing will fall to the ground. You see that you were mis-\ntaken about feeling it in the handkerchief.\"\nThe fact is, the dime being stitched in the corner' could not\nfall out, and you must take care not to let that corner of tho\nliandkerchief hit against the ground. Put the handkerchief in\nyour pocket, and say, \"But I must return the borrowed dime.\"\nExclaim : \"Fly, dime, into the orange on the table.\" Cut up\norange, and show the dime concealed in it, and then restore it\nto its owner, asking him to tell the audienco if he finds it to bo\nhis own marked dime.\nTRICK 7.-How to double your pocket money.\nThe only preparation 1S to have four cents concealed in your\nleft palm.\nCommence the trick by calling forward one of the spectators,\nand let him bring up his hat with him.\nThen borrow five cents, or have them ready to produce from\nyour own pocket should there be any delay.\nRequest your friend, while he places them one by one on a\nsmall plate or saucer, to count them audibly, so that the com-\npany may hear their number correctly. Inquire, \"How many\naro there ?\" He will. answer, \"Five.\" Take up the saucer and\npour them into your left hand, (where the other four are already\nconcealed.) Then say, \"Stay, I will place these in your hat,\nand you must raise it above your head, for all to see that noth-\ning is added subsequently to them.\" You will have placed\nthese nine cents in his hat unsuspected by him.\nBorrow five cents more. Make Pass 1, as described on page\n9, appearing to throw these five into your left hand, but really"}
{"path": "practicalmagicia00harr.pdf", "page": 35, "folder": "", "text": "THE PRACTICAL MAGICIAN.\n25\nretaining them in your right hand, which is to fall by your side\nas if empty.\nAfterwards get rid of four of the five cents into your pocket,\nretaining only one in your right palm.\nHold up your closed left hand, and say, while blowing on it:\nPass, cents, from my left hand into the hat. Now, sir, be\nkind enough to see if they have come into your possession.\nPlease to count them aloud while placing them in the saucer.\"\nHe will be surprised, as well as the spectators, to find that the\ncents in his hat have become nine.\nYou may then put on a rather offended look, and say: \"Ah,\nsir ! ah ! I did not think you would do so ! You have taken\none out, I fear.\" Approaching your right hand to his sleeve,\nshake the sleeve, and let the one cent, which you have in your\nown hand, drop audibly into the saucer. It will raise a laugh\nagainst the holder of the hat. You can say : 'Excuse me, I\nonly made it appear that you had taken one. However, you see\nthat the original money is now doubled.\"\nTRICK 8.-The injured handkerchief restored.\nPREPARATION.\nHave a dime of your own wrapped in the centre of a piece of\ncambric about five or six inches in diameter, the ends falling\ndown loose. Conceal these in the palm of your left hand.\nBorrow a marked dime from any of the spectators, and a\nwhite cambric handkerchief. Throw the handkerchief spread\nout over your left palm, (holding under the handkerchief your\nown dime wrapped in the small piece of cambric )\nOpenly place the borrowed dime on the centre of the spread-\nout handkerchief. Keeping hold of that dime, jerk the ends of\nthe\nhandkerchief over, so as to fall loose down from the lower\nside of your left hand. Draw out from between your thumb\nand fingers (that is from the upper side of your left hand) about\ntwo inches of the smaller piece of cambric, containing your own\ndime. The spectators will naturally conceive the two pieces of\ncambric you hold in that hand to be merely the cambric hand-\nkerchief.\n)\nCall any of the spectators forward, and request him to mark\noff with his knife the portion of the piece of calico which holds\nyour own dime, and whisper to him to cut it completely off, and\nto let the dime drop on the table. The spectators will believe\nthat he has cut a hole in the handkerchief itself, and that the\ndime falling out is the one you recently borrowed, whereas it is\nin fact the other piece of calico that has been cut, and the bor-\nrowed coin remains still wrapped up in the handkerchief."}
{"path": "practicalmagicia00harr.pdf", "page": 36, "folder": "", "text": "26\nTHE PRACTICAL MAGICIAN.\nPretend to blame the person who cut the two inches off, say-\ning: \"Dear me, sir, what have you done ? You have quite de-\nstroyed this nice handkerchief. Well, I hope, madam, you will\npardon the mistake, if I manage by magic to restore to you your\nhandkerchief in perfect order, and I request you to allow me to\ntry to do so. Carefully holding in the candle the edges of the\ncambric, (both of the part cut off and of the portion from which\nit was cut,) and letting the real handkerchief hang down from\nthe same hand, pretend with a conjuring wand to weld together\nthe edges of the cambric when they get hot, as a blacksmith\n\"welds metals together. You can prevent the flame from reach-\ning the real handkerchief by tightly pressing your fingers.\nThen exclaim : \"Oh, where is the dime ?\" and while picking it\nup from the table, get quietly rid of the pieces of cambric with\ntheir burnt edges into a hat or some corner unseen by the audi-\nence.\nHolding up the dime which you had just lifted from the table\nsay : \"But to complete my trick I must replace this dime in the\ncentre of the restored handkerchief, whence it was cut out.'\nMake the Pass 1, appearing to pass it into the centre of the\nhandkerchief, but retaining it in your hand, and afterwards se-\ncretly pocket it. The handkerchief has already the borrowed\ndime in it. Say to the handkerchief: \"Change-restore !\" and\nunfolding it, show the borrowed coin in it. Shake out the hand-\nkerchief and show it is all sound and right, and restore it with\nthanks, as well as the borrowed dime, to the owners.\nTRICK 9.-To make a large die pass through the crown\nof a hat without injuring it.\nI will now give my young friends a nice, easy trick, requiring\nvery little dexterity, as the articles for its exhibition can be pur-\nchased at any depot for the sale of conjuring apparatus there-\nfore the most diffident amateur will be able to display this trick.\nPREPARATION.\nHave a die exactly like the common dice, only it may be about\ntwo inches square. Have two covers for it, one of them exactly\nresembling the appearance of a die, only hollow, except that\none side of it is open, so that it can easily be placed over, or be\ntaken off, the solid die.\nThe other cover may be of decorated material, and it is in-\ntended to be placed over the first die-cover. Let this last cover\nbe made of some pliant material, so that by compressing gently\ntwo of its sides with your fingers, while lifting it up, you can\nlift up the first die-cover, which will be within it."}
{"path": "practicalmagicia00harr.pdf", "page": 37, "folder": "", "text": "THE PRACTICAL MAGICIAN.\n27\nCommence the trick by borrowing two hats place one with\nits rims upwards on the table, and show that you place in that\nhat the die with its first cover on it. But say, \"I forgot to ap-\npeal to the company whether they will like to see the trick dong\nvisibly or invisibly.\" They will most likely say, \"Visibly;' bnt\nit is of no consequence which answer they make, for the process\nof the trick is the same in either case.\nTake out from the lower hat the first cover, which is painted\nexactly like a die, and having placed the second hat (with its\nrims downwards) on the other hat, display the first cover, and\nopenly place it on the crown of the upper hat. All the specta-\ntors will believe it to be the solid die itself. Then take your\npenknife; you may just thrust it into the crown of the hat, and\npretend to cut all round the die-cover there lying ; say-\" I\nshall now bid it move into the lower hat, but it will not do so\nwhile uncovered, so I must place this ornamental cover over it.\"\nDo so; show that you have nothing in your hands or sleeves;\nthen wave your wand or your hand, and say, \"Change, pass,\ndie, into the lower hat.' Give it a little time. Then, compres-\nsing the outward cover gently, lift off also with it the painted\ndie-cover, which it has inside it. Lift up the lower hat, and\nshow the company the solid die lying in it. Show all that the\nupper hat has received no injury.\nThe illusion to the audience will be that the solid die has pas-\nsed through the crown of the upper hat without at all injuring\nit. Return the hats to the owners, and show them to be unin-\nured.\nTRICK 10.-To produce from a silk handkerchief bon-\nbons, candies, nuts, etc.\nPREPARATION.\nHave packages of various candies, wrapped up in bags of the\nthinnest tissne paper, and place them on your table rather shel-\ntered from observation. Have also a plate or two on your\ntable.\n-\nMEMORANDUM.\nIt will be always desirable to have the table removed two or\nthree yards at least from the spectators, and of a height that\nthey cannot see the surface of it while sitting down in front of\nit.\nGommence the trick by borrowing a silk handkerchief, or any\nlarge handkerchief. After turning it about, throw it out on the\ntable, so as to fall over one of these packages.\nHaving carefully observed where the bag lies, place your left"}
{"path": "practicalmagicia00harr.pdf", "page": 38, "folder": "", "text": "28\nTHE PRACTICAL MAGICIAN.\nhand so as to take up the bag while catching hold of the middle\nof the handkerchief.\nTaking the handkerchief up by nearly the centre, the edges\nof it will fall around and conceal the bag make some pretended\nwavings of your wand or right hand over the handkerchief, and\nsay, \"Tow, handkerchief, you must supply my friends with\nsome bon-bons.\" Squeeze with your right hand the lower part\nof the bag which is under the handkerchief; the bag will burst,\nand you can shake out into a plate its contents.\nAsking some one to distribute them among your young\nfriends, you can throw the handkerchief (as it were carelessly)\nover another bag, from which you can in the same way produce\na liberal supply of some other sweetmeats, or macaroon bis-\ncuits, etc., etc., all of which will be duly appreciated by the ju-\nveniles, and they will applaud as long as you choose to continue\nthis SWEET trick.\n'\n-"}
{"path": "practicalmagicia00harr.pdf", "page": 39, "folder": "", "text": "THE PRACTICAL MAGICIAN.\n29\nCHAPTER IV.I\nPRACTICE.\nIN\nconjuring, as in all other arts and sciences, perseverance is\nrequisite in order to become expert and successful. There\nis no royal road, or possibility of acquiring the end, without ex-\nercising the means to that end. Let my young friends, then,\ncarefully practise over and over again the passes and the tricks\nwhich I have already explained to them. It is the only way to\nattain dexterity and confidence, without which they will never\nbe able to make any creditable exhibition of the art of conjur-\ning. After they have attained considerable skill and sleight-of-\nhand in displaying a few tricks, they will easily extend the range\nof their performances, and gradually rise to greater ability. I\nmay, therefore, parody an old injunction for obtaining success,\nand say There are three rules for its attainment: The firstis\n\"Practice.\" The second is Practice.\" The third is \"Prac-\ntice.\" In a word, constant and careful practice is requisite, if\nany wish to be successful as amateur conjurors. They should\nnever attempt to exhibit before their friends any tricks that they\nhave not so frequently practised that no bungling or hitch is\nlikely to occur in their performance of it.\nLet no one be staggered by the simplicity of the processes\nrecommended in these tricks. The result will in fact be all the\nmore astonishing, the simpler the operations employed.\nThe great point is the address of the performer, and that will\ncarry through successfully the means employed. However sim-\nple and insignificant those means may appear to the learner\nwhen they have been explained to him, if there is good address"}
{"path": "practicalmagicia00harr.pdf", "page": 40, "folder": "", "text": "30\nTHE PRACTICAL MAGICIAN.\nand accurate manipulation, the astonishment at the result will\nbe infinitely greater than any one would imagine possible to be\nproduced by such simple means.\nThere is one help that I can suggest towards the better man-\nagement of the hands in concealing or removing objects; it is\nthe use of a conjuror's rod or short magic wand. This is, now-\na-days, commonly a stick of about fifteen inches long, resem-\nbling a common rule, or a partially-ornamented one. You may\noften have observed this simple emblem of the conjuror's power,\nand deemed it a mere idle or useless affectation. The conjuror\nwaves it mystically or majestically as he may be disposed. Of\ncourse you are right in your judgment that it can do no good\nmagically; but it does not follow that it is useless. The fact is,\nthat it is really of considerable service to him. If he wants to\nhold a coin or any object concealed in his hand, without others\nobserving the fact of his hand being closed, the wand in that\nhand is a blind for its concealment. He may require to pick up\nor lay down some object, and he can do so while openly fetching\nor laying down his wand. If he wants to gain time, for any il-\nlusion or process of change, he can obtain it while engaging the\nattention of the spectators by some fantastic movements of his\nwand. By the use of the wand, therefore, you will be able to\nprevent the observation of your audience too pointedly follow-\ning the movements which you wish to carry on secretly. You\nmay also, at the same time, dispel their attention by humorous\nremarks, preventing it from being concentrated on watching\nyour movements.\nAs a general rule, you must not apprise your audience of what\nyou are actually doing, but must often interpose some other\nthought or object to occupy their mind. For instance : Do you\ndesire that a person should not examine too closely any object\nwhich you place in his hand, tell him to hold it well above his\nhead. That takes it out of the range of his eyes. It would\nnever do to tell him not to look at it. He would then immedi-\nately suspect that you are afraid of something being observed.\nHave you perchance forgotten to bring on your table any ar-\nticle requisite for displaying any trick, a feint must be made"}
{"path": "practicalmagicia00harr.pdf", "page": 41, "folder": "", "text": "THE PRACTICAL MAGICIAN.\n31\nthat you must have more candles, or must remove some other\nobject, thus gaining the opportunity to fetch what you require\nwithout naming it.\nDo not even announce too fully or vauntingly beforehand\nwhat is to be the result or development of any trick; rather\nproceed with it, and let the audience come unexpectedly upon a\nresult which they had not contemplated. Their surprise will be\ngreater, and their amusement more lively, at such unexpected\nresult.\nIt is for this reason that it will be well to avoid the repetition\nof the same trick in the same evening, though requested to per-\nform it over again. The minds of the spectators have already\ntraced once the whole performance of it-the beginning, the\nmiddle, the end. The zest of it, therefore, is gone off; their\nminds are languid and disinterested about its second repetition ;\nand the conjuror's art proportionately sinks in their estimation.\nHaving offered these general remarks, I will now invite the\nattention of my young friends to another batch of interesting\ntricks, which, with a little effort, they may succeed in exhibit-\ning.\nTRICK 11.-A sudden and unexpected supply of feath-\ners from under a silk handkerchief or cloth.\nPREPARATION.\nHave ready a good supply of plumes of feathers. They may\nbe obtained from a fur or fancy store, or purchased there loose,\nand tied up so as to lie thin and flexible where you wish to place\nthem. You may have at least four batches of them. The com-\nmon hackle feather will do, stitched round a thin piece of whale-\nbone. Teathers that are a little injured for sale as ornaments\nmay be picked up at little cost.\nTake off your cont. You may then have one or more batches\nof feathers placed round each arm ; the lower point of the stem\non which the feathers are fixed being near your wrist, and the\ntop of each batch of feathers confined near your elbow by a\nslight worsted string. so that they do not stick out the coat\nsleave too much. or slip down together if two batches are con-\nce led in the same sleave. Yon can have one or more batcher;\n1 just within each side of your waistcoat, with the lower"}
{"path": "practicalmagicia00harr.pdf", "page": 42, "folder": "", "text": "3?\nTHE PRACTICAL MAGICIAN.\npoint of the stem within easy reach of your hand-about four\ninches below your chin. Then put your coat on.\nCommence the trick by borrowing a large silk handkerchief or\ncloth of the same size. Show it to be empty by holding out the\ntwo top corners in front of your breast, and shake the handker-\nchief while it falls loosely down over your vest. Then moving\nthe handkerchief toward your left, catch hold (with your right\nthumb and finger) of the end of the stem \"of the plume, No. 1,\nand draw it from under the left side of your vest. It will re-\nmain concealed behind the handkerchief while you move your\nFIG. 8.\nPosition 1.,\nPosition 2.\ntwo hands to the right, which will draw out the plume from un-\nder your vest, then over the centre of your chest. Then toss\nthe handkerchief about, enveloping the first batch of feathers:\nsay, \"Handkerchief, you must supply me with some feathers.\nIn a minute or so, take off the handkerchief, and display the\nplume to the spectators.\nShow the spectators again that the handkerchief is quite\nempty. Move your arms toward your right till your left hand\ncomes just over the edge of the right side of your vest. With\nyour left thumb and fore-finger catch hold of the stem of the\nfeathers there concealed, and by moving your arms back to-\nwards the left, you can draw out without its being observed the\nplume that had been concealed under the right side of your\nvest. Toss about and display as before this second batch of\nfeathers, and then place them aside.\nThen show to the company again that your handkerchief has\nnothing in it, and lay the handkerchief over both your hands,"}
{"path": "practicalmagicia00harr.pdf", "page": 43, "folder": "", "text": "THE PRACTICAL MAGICIAN.\n33\nWhile waving it mysteriously about, exclaim that the handker-\nchief must furnish you with some more feathers. Draw out of\nthe left sleeve one of the plumes, shake the feathers out while\ntaking off the handkerchief from this, which will be plume the\nthird.\nThen, throwing your handkerchief over the hand, and clap-\nping your hands together, (with the left over the right hand,)\nmanage to catch hold of another point of a plume, and pull it\nout from your right sleeve while waving about your two hands\nwith the handkerchief over them. You have now produced four,\nplumes.\nThe exhibition may be continued to an increased number of\nplumes, if you have more concealed in your sleeves, or else-\nwhere; but four will probably be sufficient to manage at the\ncommencement of your career as an amateur conjuror.\nTRICK 12.-Heads or Tails ?\nI shall now give directions for reproducing, before a jnvenile\naudience, a trick that will carry us back to the primitive style of\nconjuring in old times. I cannot say that there is anything\nvery scientific or elevated in it, but, if neatly and adroitly exe-\ncuted, it will tell very well with a youthful audience.\nPREPARATION.\nYou must take care that your table be so placed that none of\nthe spectators can see behind yourself or the table. You must\nprovide yourself with some young pet of the juveniles, such as\na puppy, a kitten, or any other small pet. The performer must\neither have some little bag hanging under his coat-tails, or some\nprovision for concealing the little animal behind him, or in a\ndrawer before him ; so that there will be no chance of any of\nthe audience seeing it before the proper time. He must have\nready also a penny, or any coin.\nTo begin the exhibition of the trick. Standing with all the\nnonchalance you can assume, and placing one or both your arms\nbehind your back, you may say, \"For a variety, I will challenge\none of my young friends to come and try which of us will suc-\nceed best in a few tosses of this penny.\"\nInduce some young person to come to the front of your ta-\nble, and tell him to bring forward his hat. Ask him to tos3 first\nwith the cent and put the hat over it, while you will guess\n\"heads\" or \"tails.\" Say it shall be seen who is most suceess-"}
{"path": "practicalmagicia00harr.pdf", "page": 44, "folder": "", "text": "34\nTHE PRACTICAL MAGICIAN.\nful\nin\nfive\nguesses.\nAfter he has tossed up twice, you can take\nthe penny, and say, \"Now, I will vary the method of tossing.\nYou shall name now which you choose, 'heads' or \"tails.''\nToss up the penny, and while attention is occupied with this,\nand he is looking to see which is uppermost, heads or tails, you\nwithdraw your left hand from behind you, holding the little an-\nimal you have concealed, and slipping it into the hat, and turn-\ning the hat down over it, exclaim, 'Stay, I mean to pass the\npenny through the hat upon the table, and the whole affair shall\nbe settled by the result of the present toss. You shall see the\nheads or tails on the table.\"\nBy Pass 1, pretend to place the penny on the hat, but retain\nit in your right hand. Say, \"Fly, pass, and quickly.\" Lift the\nhat, and show both head and tail on the little animal or pet\nthere concealed.\nIf you should have had a Guinea pig, you must make the\nguesses go on till your adversary guesses \"tails,\" and then it\nwill make a good laugh to say, \"He has won, and he had bet-\nter now take it up by the tail.'\nTRICK 13 -To cook pancakes or a flat plum cake\nin a hat, over some candles.\nREQUISITE PREPARATION.\nHave two gallipots or earthen jars, of a size to go easily into\na hat, but of such dimensions that the one reversed will fit\nclosely over the other. Tie worsted or a strip of linen round\nthe smaller gallipot, so as to insure the larger one holding firmly\nround the smaller one. Have ready some thin, fluent dough,\nsome sugar, and a few currants, enough for two or three pan-\ncakes or a small plum cake; also a spoon to stir the ingredients\nup.\nHave at hand two or three warm pancakes that have just been\nprepared by the cook for you, with the same ingredients as men-\ntioned above. Let them be firm and free from grease. Have\nalso at hand two small plates, with knives and forks.\nCommence the exhibition by borrowing two hats, to give you\na choice with which to perform. You can remark that as you\nshould be sorry to injure your friend's hat, you will secure it\nfrom being soiled by placing some paper in it as a lining. Hold\nup the paper to show it is only paper, and then openly place it\nin the hat, and lay the hat down on its side on the table near\nyou, having the brim towards you.\nHave therready-prepared pancakes lying near you, and whilst"}
{"path": "practicalmagicia00harr.pdf", "page": 45, "folder": "", "text": "THE PRACTICAL MAGICIAN.\n35\ntaking off the attention of the spectators by pretending to ar-\nrang: the articles on your table, slip the prepared pa .cakes or\nplum-cake into the hat.\nUnobserved, also place the smaller gallipot in the hat, and\nwhile doing so, if requisite, add some remorli, such as: \"Please\nto shut, or op^n, that `oor.\" or any word: that will draw off the\nattention of the sp ctators from what you ero Coin, You\nmust\nnext, vith S me parade, mix the fluont loug? with the sugar\nand currants, in t'.o lar yer gallipot. It must be fluent enough to\npour out lovly, upare .tly into the hiso, but really into the\nsmaller gallipot, which has been already nonccaled inside the.\nhat. Shov 'ou have imptied the lar wor all but a little ;\nthen, placing it he sn .ller galliprit a in empty the very\nlast of it, und press the larger callipot firmly i wn over the\nsmaller onn. Then, inl it, lift th smalle gallipot also, with\nits contents, whil you ippear only to talio bacl: the larger galli-\npot. Remove the gollipots, us supposed t be empte, out of\nsight. \"Now, l.d.en und ;entlemen, I must request your pa-\ntience a few minutes for the brocess of cooking.' \" Put two or\nthree candles near one wother, and move the hat at a safe dis-\ntance above them for W or thr minutes, making in the mean-\ntime any langhabl. remarks that may occur to you, such as :\n\"\nMy young friends will find this ? capital way of supplying\nthemselves with a delicat dish when hoy havs lost their pud-\ndings from being in the black books of their teacher or parents,\"\n,FIG, 9.\nor any similar humorous remark; but take care not to burn the\nhat whilst the (supposed) cooking is going on. After a short"}
{"path": "practicalmagicia00harr.pdf", "page": 46, "folder": "", "text": "36\nTHE PRACTICAL MAGICIAN.\ninterval, place the-hat on the table, and with some little cere-\nmony take out the real pancakes or plum-cake. Let it be cut\nup and.handed round to the juveniles who may be present.\nREMARKS.\nA more finished or surer arrangement for holding the dough,\netc., can be made with a tin apparatus, which can be prepared\nby any tinman, upon the same principle as the gallipots, taking\ncare not to have it made larger than the inside of a youth's\nhat.\nAn amateur can render a common table more suitable for con-\nFig. 25.\ncealing any little object he wishes to have secreted, by placing\nthree or four tumblers under each end of a plank, about the\nlength to extend across the table, and throwing any common\ncloth over the board and table, or a kitchen table, covered with\na cloth, having a drawer pulled out about six inches, will furnish\na\nvery good conjuror's table. It is well to have the table rather\nbroad, so as to keep the spectators at a sufficient distance.\nTRICK 14.-TO EAT A DISH OF PAPER SHAVINGS,\nAND DRAW THEM OUT OF YOUR MOUTH LIKE AN\nATLANTIC CABLE.\nPREPARATION.\nProcure three or four yards of the thinnest tissue paper of va-\nrious colors. Cut these up in strips of half an inch or three-"}
{"path": "practicalmagicia00harr.pdf", "page": 47, "folder": "", "text": "THE PRACTICAL MAGICIAN.\n37\nquarters of an inch breadth, and join them. They will form a\ncontinuous strip of many feet in length. Roll this up carefully\nin a flat coil, as ribbons are rolled up. Let it make a coil about\nas large as the top of an egc-cup or an old-fas ioned hunting-\nwatch. Leavo out of ,he innermost coil about an inch or more\nof that end of the paper, so that you can easily commence un-\nwinding it from the centro of the coil.\nProcure a large dish or basketful of paper-shavings, which can\nbe obtained at little cost from any bookbinder's or stationer's.\nShaken out it will appear to be a large jaantity. As you wish it\nto appear that you have eaten a good portion of them, you can\nsqueeze the remainder close together, and then thero will appear\nto be few left, and that your appetite has reason to be r :tisfied.\nCommence the trick by proclaiming you have a voracious ap-\npetite, so that you can make a meal off paper-shavings. Bend\ndown over the plate, and take up handful after handful, pretend\nto munch them in your mouth, and make a faco 2S if swallowing\nthem, and as you take up another handful, put out those previ-\nously in your mouth, and put them aside. Having gone on with\nthis as long as the spectators seem amused by it, at last, with\nyour 1 ft hand, lip the prepare. ball of tissue aper into your\nmouth, managing to place towards your teeth the end you wish\nto catch hold of with your right hand, for pulling the strip out\nfrom your mouth. You will take care also not to open your\nteeth too widely, lest the whole coil or ball should come out all\nat once.\nHaving got hold of the end, draw it slowly and gently forward.\nIt will unroll to a length of twenty yards or moro in a continu-\nous strip, much t the amusement of the spectators.\nWhen it has come to the end, you may remark : \"I suppose\nwe have come to a fault, as there is a solution of continuity\nhere, just as the strongest cables break off,' so we must wait to\npick up the end again, and go on next year, when the Great\nEastern again goes out with its next Atlantic Cable.\"\nTRICK 15.-How to cut off a nose-of course without\nactual injury.\nPREPARATION.\nHave ready a piece of calico of light color, or a white apron,\na sponge saturated with a little liquid of the color of blood-\nport-wine, or the juice of beet-root, will do; also two knives,\nresembling each other, the one of them whole, the other with a\nlarge notch in its blade, so that when placed over the nose it will"}
{"path": "practicalmagicia00harr.pdf", "page": 48, "folder": "", "text": "38\nTHE PRACTICAL MAGICIAN.\nappear to have cut through the bridge of the nose. A cutler\nC. uld supply such knives, or they may be purchased at the de-\npots for conjuring apparatus.\nHaving placed out these articles on your table with serious-\nness and imposing formality, show to the audience the knife that\nis whole, and call upon them to observe that it is sufficiently\nstrong and sharp. The other knife must be placed somewhere\nnear you, but where it is sheltered from the observation of the\nspectators.\nAsk some young friend to step forward, assuring him that you\nwill not hurt him. Mako him sit down on a chair facing the au-\ndience. After having measured the real knife across his nose,\nsay \"But I may as well protect your clothes from being soiled,\nso I will put an apron round your neck.\" Goto the table to take\nup the apron, and, in doing so, placc down the real knife where\nit cannot be seen, and with your lef' and tako up the conjuror's\nknife, holding it by the blade, lest any one should cbserve the\nnotch in it. Conceal at the same time also, in your left hand,\nthe piece of sponge.\nAdvancing to the chair, tuck, with your right hand, the apron\nround the youth's neck. Then pr SS the conjuror's knife firmly\nover the nose and leave il there, 2S if you had cut into the bridgo\nof the nose. At the same time gently \u00bfqueeze the sponge, and\na little of the liquid will make an alarming appearance on the\nface and on the apron; go on for a short time, covering the face\nand apron with (apparent) blood. When the audience have seen\nit long enough, seize up the apron, wipe the face of the youth\nquite clean, throw away the conjuror's knife, and exhibit your\nyoung friend to the audience all right, and dismiss him with\nsome facetious remark on his courage in undergoing the alarm-\ning operation."}
{"path": "practicalmagicia00harr.pdf", "page": 49, "folder": "", "text": "THE PRACTICAL MAGICIAN.\n39\nCHAPTER V.\nTRICKS BY MAGNETISM, CHEMISTRY, GALVANISM, OR ELEC-\nTRICITY.\na class of tricks about which I must say a few\nviz., those that require to be exhibited by the help\nof magnetism, chemistry, galvanism, or electricity. I need not\ndwell long on them, for I do not consider them such as the\nyoung people, for whom these notes are written, can be recom-\nmended to devote their attention to, for the following reasons :\nin the first place, they are, with a few exceptions, attended with\nconsiderable expense. Secondly, the tricks connected with the\npowerful agencies of galvanism and electricity are dangerous to\nthe unskilful operator and, even in experienced hands, the\nmost effective of them are uncertain things to manage; there-\nfore their effect cannot be depended on.\nSome very interesting tricks have, doubtless, at times been\nexhibited by the help of galvanism and electricity. We havo\nread of a conjuror by such help confounding a powerful Arab, by\nfirst letting him lift with ease a box, and afterwards rendering it\nimpossible for him to raise it, when an,electric current had, to\nhis dismay, paralyzed all his strength. It is evident that an ex-\nperiment of this kind could not be safely attempted by any but\na very experienced person. We read also of conjurors who have\nsurprised their audience by receiving them in a dimly-lit thea-\ntre, and then firing off a pistol, (to startle the audience and cover\nthe real mode of operation,) they have by electricity lighted up"}
{"path": "practicalmagicia00harr.pdf", "page": 50, "folder": "", "text": "40\nTHE PRACTICAL MAGICIAN.\none hundred lamps at once. This has proved successful\nvery on\nsome occasions; but on others, notwithstanding the most care-\nful preparation and the greatest precaution, it has been found\nthat the apparatus would not act, and the impatient spectators\nhave visited the disappointing failure with their indignant mur-\nmurs. Other conjurors have become so attached to electric ex-\nperiments, that they have proposed to regulate all the clocks of\na large district by electricity, or have amused themselves by\nturning electric or galvanic currents to the door-handles of their\nhouses, so that unsuspecting strangers, on touching them, were\nstartled with electric shocks. There is also a trick for rendering\none portion of a portrait electric by a metal plate concealed un-\nderit, and the spectators being invited to touch some part of the\npieture, have, on touching the spots that were charged with\nelectricity, received a shock or powerful blow, as if the portrait\nresented their touching it.\nHaving briefly given the character of this class of tricks, and\nstated that they not only require expensive apparatus, but are\nattended with danger to the inexperienced, there still remains\nanother serious objection, viz., that, like the experiments per-\nformed by automaton figures or complicated machinery, they are\nliable to fail, through any trifling disarrangement, just at the mo-\nment when the performer is hoping that his audience will be de-\nlighted with his surprising exhibition.\nFor these reasons I shall not stay to describe the more elabo-\nrate of these tricks, as, however interesting they may be to the\nscientific, they would not, in a youthful amateur's hands, be sure\nto produco the amusement which it is my primary object to sup-\nply.\nThe simpler experiments of magnetism and chemistry may\nwell be regarded as recreations of science, interesting curiosi-\nties, suitable enough to be exhibited by a professor of chemistry\nfor amusement and instruction but even these can hardly be\nconsidered as belonging to \"conjuring proper.\" Young people\ndo not care, at festive parties, to watch red liquids turning into\ngreen, blue, and yellow or the mixture of different chemical\ningredients producing strange conversions into varied substances;"}
{"path": "practicalmagicia00harr.pdf", "page": 51, "folder": "", "text": "THE PRACTICAL MAGICIAN.\n41\nnor will experiments that are interesting as chemical curiosities\nproduce the same excitement and pleasing surprise that the\nwonders of sleight-of-hand do. In a word, such experiments in\na private circle of young friends fail to constitute the most amu-\nsing kind of parlor magic, while upon a public stage they are too\nminute for any large audience to trace and comprehend.\nLest, however, my young readers should think that I have any\ndesire to shut them out from any field of reasonable pleasure, I\nwill now carefully select one or two examples of tricks connected\nwith the sciences of magnetism and chemistry, and which may\neven in the hands of amateurs, produce a safe and pleasing ex.\nhibition.\nIn the following trick they will find an amusing instance of the\ncombination of science with rational recreation.\nTRICK 16.-The watch obedient to the word of com-\nmand.\nThe magnet is a well-known agent in producing several toys\nfor the entertainment of the young, and though its attraction is\nwonderful, there is no danger likely to arise from employing it,\nin the same way as might arise from unskilful dabbling with\nelectricity, galvanism, or chemical powers, and a strange and\nsingular effect nay be produced by placing a magnet of some\nlittle strength near a watch.\nSupposing the young conjuror to have provided himself with\na powerful but not very large magnet, let him conceal it in the\npalm, or under a thin glove in his left hand, or near the edge of\nthe cuff of his sleeve. Let him then borrow a lady's watch,\n(without chain,) and the thinner the watch-case is, and if it has\na glass, the better. Let him then call forward a youth, and pla-\ncing the watch in his own right hand, and near to the ear of the\nother, ask him if he hears it going he will answer \"Yes.\"\nLet him next bid the watch to stop; and on taking it in his\nleft hand, where the magnet is concealed, it will stop, if held\nsteadily ; and on inquiring of his young friend whether he can\nhear it, he will reply \"No.\"\nObserve: you must keep systematically to using your right\nhand when you wish to make the watch go on, and to your left\nwhen you wish it to stop. Appealing to others among the com-\npany, the performer may then tell the watch to go on, and hold-\ning it in his right hand, and giving it a slight shake, apply it to"}
{"path": "practicalmagicia00harr.pdf", "page": 52, "folder": "", "text": "42\nTHE PRACTICAL MAGICIAN.\none of their ears ; it will be heard \"tic, tic; then holding it in\nhis left hand and telling it to stop, they will also find that it does\nstop. You can pretend to doubt whether they are all deaf of\none ear, but lastly may declare that this is caused by the obedi-\nent disposition of the watch, which so orderly obeys your com-\nmand. Remind your audience that savages upon first seeing a\nwatch believe it to be a living animal with power to think and\nact of itself 'At any rate,\" you may conclude, \"the present\nwatch seems to hear, to understand, and to obey my orders.\"\n: It will be an amusing addition to the above trick to say that\nyou will now order the watch to fly away and conceal itself.\nYou must for this purpose have provided yourself with an\nelectro-plated locket resembling a lady's watch, and have two\nloaves ready in some convenient corner.\nWhen the watch has finished its \"manual and platoon\" exer-\ncise on the platform, you may say, \"I will now place this watch\nvisibly to all upon the table.\" Turn round to go to your table,\nand in walking to it, substitute the locket for the watch, and\nplace the locket on some spot visible to all. It will not be dis-\ntinguishable from the watch by the spectators at six or eight\nyards' distance from them. Conceal the watch itself in the palm\nof your hand. You can now exclaim, \"I require two loaves,\"\nand walking towards them, slip the watch into the one you have\nprepared with a slit in its side. Advancing to the audience, ask\nin which loaf they will prefer that you shall bid the watch fly.\nIf they name the one in which you have concealed it, proceed to\nbreak open the loaf and find the watch. But suppose they name\nthe wrong one: you then, remembering that the left hand of the\nspectators is your right hand, proceed with the true loaf, which-\never they have named, or manage to cross the position of the\nloaves as yon place them on the table.\nThen taking up the locket with your right hand, make Pass 1,\nas if transferring it to your left hand, but really retaining it in\nyour right hond (as described in my first paper.) Blow upon\nyour closed left hand, and say, \"Watch, fly into that loaf.' Clap\nyour hands. It is gone.\nAdvancing to the loaf, get rid of the locket from your right\nhand: take up the loaf, break it open on the other side from that\nin which the locket was introduced, bring out the watch, and ap-\npeal to the lady to declare whether it is the same which she lent\nto you.\nTRICK 17.\nAn experiment with a very mild dash of electricity in it, which\nwill at any rate be a popular trick with most people that trv it.\nIt will do for a small entertainment, or at any joyous party of"}
{"path": "practicalmagicia00harr.pdf", "page": 53, "folder": "", "text": "THE PRACTICAL MAGICIAN.\n43\nyoung people. It does not, however, require a large number to\nbe present, but, contrary to the usual scientific tricks, its devel-\nopment comes off better with one companion than with a dozen\nPREPARATION.\nYou must induce your cousin Jemima, or some other young\nlady who is just of age to have cut her eye-teeth, to consent to\nhelp you by accompanying you to a room with closed shutters\nand no candles. A moderate-sized looking-glass must be on the\ntable, the smaller the better, for reasons below assigned. Have\nready at hand some ounces of hard candy.\nYou commence the trick by placing yourselves, land-in-hand,\nbefore the looking glass. If it is rather small, your heads will\nbe the closer-in order to see the reflection of both at once.\nThen, with mouths as open as may be, try which of you can\ncrush his or her share of sugar-candy with the teeth the quick-\nest. In the glass will appear the reflection of sparks of electri-\ncity, as the experiment proceeds. If your companion is ner-\nvous, you can of course support her with one arm-ladies are\nsometimes susceptible, whether from animal magnetism or what\nnot. The electric sparks coming between the lips may also be\nattractive, and you may be tempted to try whether the electricity\nevaporates the sweetness; but of course youmust not be tempted\nto forget the philosophical nature of the experiment; and, if you\nbehave with propriety, the lady will doubtless, on her return to\nthe company, tell them, in a staid manner, that the experiment\nwas all right; and perhaps when you see her, even a day or two\nafterwards, you will observe there is an arch dimple on her cheek\nand an electric sparkle lighting up her eye-and I should not\nwonder if you should feel a desire to try the experiment over\nagain.\nTRICK 18.-A chemical trick to follow one where a\nyoung friend has assisted.\nPREPARATION. I\nYou must have a wine-glass, a saucer, and a teaspoon. and\nthe chemical bottles No. 1 (silicate of potash) and No. 2 (alumi-\nnate of potash,) which can be obtained from any druggist.\nAt the close of some trick in which any young friend has as-\nsisted, you can say : \"Well, my young friend, you have assisted\nme so courteously and well that I must, in order to express my"}
{"path": "practicalmagicia00harr.pdf", "page": 54, "folder": "", "text": "44\nTHE PRACTICAL MAGICIAN.\nthanks, ask you to take a glass of wine. Do you like wine?\nAh, I see by your smile you do.\"\nPour out of bottle No. 1 half a glass, and, going towards him,\nstop short and say : \"Ah, but I am afraid your mamma would\nbo di:pleased with me if I gave you wine so strong without any\nwater, and I should be sorry to tempt you to drink what she\nwould disapprove. Stay, I will mix a little water with it.\"\nMix some of No. 2 bottle, so as to fill the wine-glass, and say :\n\" Oh, never mind losing the pure wine; I dare say you will like\nit very well as it is, and make a few chatty remarks, to give the\nliquids time to mingle their effects in the glass; and after a\nminute or two say \"Ah! I'll tell you what I am sure your\nmamma would like still better-if I could give you some calves'-\nfoot jelly. Now, I really believe, if I were to stir it with this\nteaspoon, and try my magic wand over it, I can turn it to jelly.\nLet us try.' Occupy a little time while it is becoming like jelly,\nand go on with a little more talk till you see that it has become\nsolid. Then say : \"Well, after all, I will not deprive you of\nyour wine so hereitis Please drink it.\" Putting it to his\nlips, he will find it has become so solid that he cannot drink it,\nbut it can be turned out quite solid into the saucer, and a gen-\neral laugh will greet him on the disrppointment of his wine.\nHaving submitted a few remarks upon the class of tricks that\nare to be performed by help of the sciences, magnetism, chem-\nistry, etc., and having stated my reasons for my not more fully\ndiscussing them, I will now proceed to give an explanation of\none or two more that are better suited for the practice of ama-\nteurs.\nTRICK 19.-To draw three spools off two tapes without\nthose spools having to come off the ends of the tapes,\nand while the four ends of the tapes are held by four\npersons.\nPREPARATION.\nYou must have two narrow tapes of about four feet long, bent\nas in Fig. 11. Red tape I prefer.\nYou must next insert about half an inch of A through the loop\nof B, and bring it back down on the other part of A.\nA spool such as cotton is wound on, or an ornamented ball\nwith a hole drilled through it, just large enough to hold the tapes\nlightly, will be required (Fig. 13.)"}
{"path": "practicalmagicia00harr.pdf", "page": 55, "folder": "", "text": "THE PRACTICAL MAGICIAN.\n45\nFIGS. 11, 12.\nA\nK\nB\nFIG. 13.\nFIG. 14.\nB\nA\nB\nThe spool or ball must be put on the tapes at the extreme ends\nof the tape B, and drawn to the left, till it just covers the noose\nat K. as in Fig. 14.\nN. B.-All the above should be prepared before the spectators\nare invited to witness the trick.\nCommence the exhibition by calling upon the spectators to\nobserve that you hold a reel, or ball, through which two tapes\nare passed.\nYou may then produce two more spools, or wooden balls, and\nplace one of them over the ends at A, and the other over the\nends at B.\nThe following will then be the appearance of the balls or spools\nand the tapes passed through them (Fig. 15):\nFig. 15.\n2\nI\n3\nB\nB1"}
{"path": "practicalmagicia00harr.pdf", "page": 56, "folder": "", "text": "46\nTHE PRACTICAL MAGICIAN.\nYou may move about the spools 2 and 3, to show how the tape\nruns through them, but you must not nove spool 1.\nYou may then say that the puzzle is to get the spools of the\ntapes while the four ends are held firmly in the hands of four\npersons. Appoint four persons to hold them, and you may then\nsay: \"To make doubly sure, I will tie one of the ends at A to\none of the ends at B with (the first half of) a knot.\" It does\nnot signify which ends you take to do this, FO that you take ono\nA and one B. I will now pull these two ends so tight that it\ndraw the three spools together, and also tighten all along one\nsido of them.'\nThen, while four persons hold firmly the extreme ends cf the\nFig. 16.\n2\n3\nB\n1\nA\n13\ntapes, you must take shorter hold of the two A's with your left\nhand, (where it is marked by a dottedline, Fig. 16,) and also take\nhold of the other tapes where a dotted line is marked on them\ntowards B. Then drawing your arms wider apart, so as to pull\nthe tapes steadily, the spools or balls will fall to the ground with-\nout passing over the ends of the tapes.\nTRICK 20.-To restore a tape whole after it has been\ncut in the middle.\nPREPARATION.\nHave five or six yards of tape about three-quarters of an inch\nbroad.\nTake half the length in each hand. You will be able to show\nthe audience that you are about to cut it in the middle, by hold-\ning it in two loops of equal length. Call their attention point-\nedly to the equal division of the full length.\nThe tape will thus appear to the performer in the position\nrepresented in Fig. 17.\nObserve the tape A crosses at Z the tape B on the side next to\nthe performer, whereas the tape D is to cross the tape y on the\nside farthest from him."}
{"path": "practicalmagicia00harr.pdf", "page": 57, "folder": "", "text": "THE PRACTICAL MAGICIAN.\n47\nFig. 18 represents the hands as they appear to the performer\nhimself, holding the tape with the thumb and forefinger at the\ncrossings of the tape at y and z, while the outward sides of each\nloop are to be held by the three other fingers of each hand.\nFIG. 17.\nFIG. 18.\nLeft Hand,\nRight Hand.\nD\nit\n11p\nA\nx\ny\nN\nIC\nB\nx\ny\n2\nC\nB\nTo proceed with the trick : Holding your hands in this posi-\ntion, (Fig. 18,) you must request one of the spectators to cut\nthrough the tape at x, but just as he is about to do so, you must\nquickly lower your hands two or three inches, and then raise\nthem again. This movement will conceal the following opera-\ntion. You drop the part (B) of the tape held in your right\nhand, and at the same moment pick up with that hand the other\ntape marked C.\nThis will bring the portion of tape from C to D, so that it now\nbecomes the transverse tape, substituted in place of the tape\nmarked x, and your young friend will then cut it-instead of the\noriginal tape marked x-without being aware tbat he is so\ndoing.\nWhen the tape has been cut through, you can put your hands\nnear together, allowing the two ends of the little piece of the"}
{"path": "practicalmagicia00harr.pdf", "page": 58, "folder": "", "text": "48\nTHE PRACTICAL MAGICIAN.\ntape-C D-to be seen, but concealing from the spectators\nthat you have hold of two pieces, one a very long one, and the\nother only about five inches long. You can then say: \"Now I\nhave to join these two ends, and to restore the tape\nFig. 19.\nwhole as at first.\" You then turn the little piece C\n1-\nc\nD round the piece y, which is in your left hand, and\nyou tie a knot with the ends of that little piece.\ny\nYou must not tie this knot very tight, and after you\nhave tied it, you drop the other end of the tape alto-\ngether out of your right hand.\nThe appearance which the tapes will then have is\nrepresented in Fig. 19. That is, you will seem to\nhold the equally divided pieces of the long tape\njoined in a knot at y, whereas in fact it is only tho\nsmall end piece C D, tied round the middle of the\nlong tape, which you hold between the thumb and\nforefinger of the left hand. Exhibit the knot to the\ncompany, and say : \"I admit that this knot hardly\nlooks liko a perfect restoration ; I must employ my\nbest art to get rid of its unsightly appearance.\"\nAsk some one to hold, at about three yards' dis-\ntanco, the end marked with small d, retaining hold of\nthe centre-at y-in your left hand, which quite COV-\nd\nA\ners the knot. Tell yourfriend to wind the tape round\nhis hand, and, while pretending to show him how to\ndo this, by winding the part which you hold round\nyour left hand, slide away towards your right the loose knot un-\nder your right hand. Then, holding out the end of the tape A\ntowards another friend, to hold at about three yards' distance to\nthe right, slip from off the long tape the little movable knot un-\nder your right hand, just before he takes hold of this end of the\ntape. Conceal in your right hand the little end-piece of tape,\nuntil you can get rid of it into your pocket, or into any\nunob-\nserved spot. Blow upon your left hand, which is supposed still\nto cover the knot, saying \"Knot, begone ! Tako\nup your left hand, and show the tape to be free from any knot,\nor join from one end of it to the other.\n-"}
{"path": "practicalmagicia00harr.pdf", "page": 59, "folder": "", "text": "THE PRACTICAL MAGICIAN.\n49\n-\n-\nCHAPTER VI.\nON THE CONTINUITY OF TRICKS.\nIT\nmay be useful now to invite attention to the theory of pre\nserving a continuity in the development of tricks, where\ncircumstances admit of this being done. Sundry displays of\nlegerdemain admit of being adroitly linked together; and I shall\nendeavor to explain why such an harmonious continuity is pref-\ncrable to an unconnected series of isolated tricks ; for when once\na novico gets a clear perception of this principle, he will be\nable, according to his own special taste, to produce a pleasing\nvaricty of combinations in his experiments. He will thus rise\nabove being a mero copyist of the methods used by others, and\nso will give a zest and frcshness to his performances.\nNow, thero aro many short and secondary dashes of legerde-\nmain, which a spirited performer will be able to introduce in ad-\ndition to the tricks which he is exhibiting. There are also sev-\neral ornamental or fanciful little tricks which would not rivet the\nattention of an audienco if exhibited by themselves. These,\nthough unqualified to shino as the main object of observation,\nmay nevertheless be worked into the evening's entertainment as\namusing by-play, and may thus prevent the interest of the spec-\ntators from flagging. They may come in as accessories-as\nstimulating side-dishes-causing the entertainment to bear a\ncontinuous character, instead cf merely consisting of sundry\nisolated experiments.\nLet me be allowed to substantiate what I have advanced by\nreferenco to somo of the tricks which I have already described."}
{"path": "practicalmagicia00harr.pdf", "page": 60, "folder": "", "text": "50\nTHE PRACTICAL MAGICIAN.\nThe reader will have seen that, in some of the tricks explained\nin previous papers, there is simply some one definite object to\nbe carried out. For instance, in the two tricks which concluded\nthe last paper, the performer simply undertakes to throw the\nspools off the tape, or to restore a tape which has been cut. Ho\nsets about this, accomplishes it, and the trick is over. This is\nall very well as far as it goes. If the trick is really a good one,\nit is like a host furnishing his guests with a solid joint to satisfy\ntheir appetite; ; and it may do so. But still it comes short of a\nlively entertainment. It is confessedly dull for an audience to /\ncome to pauses O1 gaps between isolated tricks. Their attention\nis unoccupied while the performer, having finished off one trick,\nis making mute preparations to introduce some other trick\nwholly unconnected with what has gone before. Such a method\nwill not keep awake the lively interest that the skilful combina-\ntion of the conjuror's art will sustain. I maintain that varied\nby-play and supplementary sets-off will greatly heighten the in-\nterest of the performance.\nIt will also serve to disarm the suspicious and incredulous,\npreparing them to believe what they might otherwise stand on\ntheir guard against. Bare tricks brought forward as isolated ex-\nperiments give time for the mind to take its estimate of their\npossibility ; and, of course, in attempting to exhibit wonders,\nthe improbability of them is apt to stare people strongly in the\nface. They are perfectly convinced that a dime cannot fly into\nan orange at the other end of the room, that ink cannot become\nwater, nor a hat be safely used as a frying-pan ; but if you inter-\npose appearances and movements that are consistent with such\nprocesses going on, they are gradually prepared to recognize as\na legitimate result what you have previously indicated as the\ncontemplated end of those processes.\nThe amplification or fuller development which I speak of can\nbe effected at any of the following stages:\n1. In the introductory matter leading on to the main trick or\ntransformation\n2. In the subsequent stages of its development; or,\n3. In the winding-up smartly or variedly the conclusion of a\ntrick."}
{"path": "practicalmagicia00harr.pdf", "page": 61, "folder": "", "text": "THE PRACTICAL MAGICIAN.\n51\nI do not say that every trick is to be amplified or loaded with\nextraneous matter in all these different stages, (that would be to\nrun into the contrary extremo of over-cumbrous amplification;\nbut I will endeavor to point out the effect of such development\nin the above three stages of a trick, and if I can show that am-\nplification in each several one may be an improvement, I may\nbe considered to have made good my proposition that any trick\nmay be improved and rendered more interesting by one or other\nof those amplifications.\nLet us see if we cannot lay down a bill of fare for our guests\nwhich, going beyond a solid joint, (good as that may be in its\nway,) will furnish them with some relishing accessory in the\nfirst course of a trick, some stimulant side-dishes with its second\ncourse, or may please with some bon-bons before the entertain-\nment is quite concluded.\n1. INTRODCCTORY.\nNow, first as to introductory matter. Suppose a conjuror is\nable to perform Trick 3-tho \"Dancing Egg\"--it will waken up\nhis audience if, instead of proceeding at once with the trick, ho\ncan by sleight-of-hand find out an egg in the whiskers or neck-\ntie of some unwatchful spectator, and afterwards substituto\nfor it the egg prepared with a hair and wax.\nThe chief aim of introductory matter should be to enlist the\nthoughts and expectations of your audience under your com-\nmand, so as to preclude their watching what you are driving at.\nShow all you can safely show openly; enlarge upon the things\nbeing submitted to their own eyes and touch; engage their eyes\nand ears with certain appearances leading their thoughts to\nadopt your suggestions, so that, when you approach the devel-\nopment intended, they have had no leason to suspect your mo-\ntives; thus having their confidence, you can jump at once to\ntheir credulity, though there may, in fact, exist some gap, or il-\nlogical process, which they omit to notice.\n2. DURING THE SUCCESSIVE STAGES OF A TRICK.\nI often vary and render more interesting the development of\na trick by some little by-piay."}
{"path": "practicalmagicia00harr.pdf", "page": 62, "folder": "", "text": "52\nTHE PRACTICAL MAGICIAN.\nFor instance, in the trick which I often use as my first trick I\nmake a candle an amusing helper, by snatching it from the can-\ndle-stick, and asking some one to hold it wrapt up in paper.\nAnd this unexpected service of the candle is wrought into tho\nbody of the trick which I have in hand.\nI change also a crystal ball into an orange by skilful manipu-\nlation.\nBy such brief diversion of the attention of the spectators,\ntheir eyes are withdrawn from watching too narrowly some ma-\nn\u0153uvre that is requisite to carry out the more important trick\nwhich you have in hand.\nOr you may actually make an act, which is a mere accessory,\ncover some important portion of the trick; as in tho tape trick\n(No. 20.) While PRETENDING TO SHOW YOUR ASSISTANT HOW TO\nnold the tape in HIS hand, you slip the knot away unperceived\nunder YOUR OWN hand.\n3. IN CONCLUDING A TRICK.\nIt greatly adds to tho \u00e9ficiency of a trick to let it finish off\nwith a sparkle, or some playful addition which gilds its exit.\nFor instance, in the trick of doubling the pocket-money, (7th\nTrick,) the little by-play of finding, or rather pretending to\nfind, some coins secreted in tho sleeve cf the young friend who\ni:as helped you, is sure to bring out a good-humored laugh at\ntie termination of the trick. Again, in Trick 16, the additional\nfact of finding the watch in the loaf makes a lively termination\nof ine performance of the obedient watch. In the 1Sth Trick,\nthe glass of wine becoming solid might be used as a good finish\nto any trick where some friend has assisted in its exhibition.\nYou may often raise a good-humored laugh by appearing to\nswallow any object which you have used in a trick-as an or-\nange, ball, egg, or dime-and afterwards bringing it out from\nyour sleeve ; or, by tho use of Pass 1, to drive a coin up one\nsleeve, round the back of your neck, and down the other sleeve,\ninto your right hand.\nI not only consider such amplifications of a trick lively and\ninteresting, bnt I maintain this to be the best way of employing"}
{"path": "practicalmagicia00harr.pdf", "page": 63, "folder": "", "text": "THE PRACTICAL MAGICIAN.\n53\nmary secondary and short tricks wherever they can be brought\nin appropriately as offshoots of longer and more important\nones.\nTRICK 21.-The invisible hen : a very useful trick for\nsupplying eggs for breakfast or dinner.\nPREPARATION.\nIn order to save the invisible hen trouble and delay, it will be\nadvisable to have eight or ten egg-shells, (as described in Trick\n3;) or some light imitation eggs, painted white, may be bought\nFig. 20.\nx\n2\n=\nA\nB\nA\nB\nC\nD\nPosition 1.\nPosition 2.\n1\nat any depot of conjuring apparatus. A linen or camlet bag\nmay also be procured from the same depot, though I think a bag"}
{"path": "practicalmagicia00harr.pdf", "page": 64, "folder": "", "text": "54\nTHE PRACTICAL MAGICIAN.\nmade at home, according to the following directions, to be pref-\nerable.\nIt must be about the size of a small pillow, two feet three\ninches across, and one foot nine inches deep. It has one of its\nsides of double cloth, (x,) the other single, (z,) in the same way\nas leather writing-cases have a pocket on one side, and a single\ncover on the other. The double side is stitched together all\nround, with the exception of an opening at A, which must be\nabout five inches long, or large enough to admit easily a hand to\nput in or take out the eggs. This double side of the bag must\nalways be kept towards the performer, whereas the single side\nmust be always kept towards the spectators; and the only open-\ning between these two sides is between C and D. On the inte-\nrior of the side of the double cloth bag, a strip or kind of frill\nof the same cloth must be sewn, with an elastic binding round\nthe pockets or cups for eggs. The elastic binding will keep them\nin these pockets, unless they are pressed by the thumb or fin-\nger, so as to release them and let them fall into the centre of the\ndouble bag. The strip has the appearanco of a string of in-\nverted egg-cups, thus :\nFig. 21.\nThe position of it in the bag is indicated in Fig. 21 by the\ndots running across the bag ; but the strip itself is never seen\nby the spectators, for it is placed on the inner side of the double,\nbag, which is always towards the performer.\nHaving carefully prepared the abovo apparatus, commence the\nexhibition of the trick by holding up the bag by the corners\na\nand D, as represented in Fig. 21. Shake tho bag well while so\n-\nholding it, showing it to be (apparently) empty.\nAfter having thus exhibited the bag, thrust both your hands\ndown inside it to the corners A and B. Holding those corners,\npull the bag inside out, and again show it to be empty, in this\nreversed position, represented in Fig. 21.\nAs the spectators have now seen it thoroughly, inside and out-1\nside, you may put the question to them, \"whether they admit\nit to be empty, as they ought to know.'\nWhile holding tho bag by tho samo corners A and B, you\nmust now gather tho bag a little closer together, and holding it\nwell up-see Fig. 1-press with your thumb ono of the eggs out\nof its elastic cup. This can be easily donc without any one ob-\nserving the movement. This egg, with a little gentle shaking,"}
{"path": "practicalmagicia00harr.pdf", "page": 65, "folder": "", "text": "THE PRACTICAL MAGICIAN.\n55\nwill fall into the large bag made by the double side; but it can-\nnot fall to the ground, however much you shake it, for there is\nno opening but at A, and that is upwards towards your right\nhand, so you may shake the bag boldly.\nYou next lower the bag a little, and spread it on your chest,\nletting it rest there while you move your hands from A and B\nto take hold of the corners C and D; and you must give an\nFig. 22.\nPosition 3.\nPosition 4.\nopening for what had hitherto been the higher part of the bag,\nto drop throngh between the opening that there is between C\nand D. This will keep the double side of the bag (x) still to-\nwards yourself, and the bag will now be returned to its original\nposition (Fig. 21.) With your left hand retaining hold of the\ncorner D, and lowering the bag towards your right hand, shako\nwell the bosened egs down towards the corner A. Search with\nyour right hand abont that corner, and the opening of the double\nbag, and you will be able to bring out the egg that had been\nloosened while the bag was in position 3."}
{"path": "practicalmagicia00harr.pdf", "page": 66, "folder": "", "text": "56\nTHE PRACTICAL MAGICIAN.\nTake out that egg ; shake the bag well, as if it were quits\nempty : and then, thrusting both your hands into tho interior\ncorners at A and B, turn the bag inside out; bring it to position\n2, ready to re-commence bringing out the other eggs one by one,\nas long as the spectators are interested. While you hold tho bag\nin position 2, you can safely let any young person feel to the\nbottom of the bag, as he will not be likely to suspect the eggs\nare towards the top of the bag on tho side near to yourself.\nThe same bag may be used also much to the amusement of\nchildren, by your loading it with walnuts, chesnuts, small ap-\nples, or pears, or any bon-bon of about the size of an eggi and\nthen allowing the children, one by one, to feel in your lucky bag\nfor what you take care they shall find in their successive\nsearches.\nA SERIES OF TRICKS, 22, 23, 24.-The chief agent\nbeing a plain gold ring.\nPREPARATION.\nYou must be provided with a small thin wire pointed at both\nends, which, being bent round, will resemble an ordinary plain\ngold ring.\nYou must also have on your table an orange or a lemon, a box\nor bowl, a tumbler, and a dessert-knife.\nAnd you must have four or five needlefuls of thick cotton,\nwhich have becn previously steeped for about an hour in a wine-\nglass of water, with a teaspoonful of salt in it; and have been\nafterwards completely dried, so as to burn easily.\nTRICK 22.\nHaving the fictitious ring in the palm of your hand, com-\nmence by requesting any lady present to oblige you by lending\nyou a plain gold ring, and borrow also from some gentleman a\ncolored silk handkerchief. Appear to place the borrowed ring in\nthat handkerchief, but in reality place in it the rounded ficti-\ntious ring. Doubling tho centre of the handkerchief round it,\nrequest some gentleman to hold it, so as to be sure he has got\nthe ring in the handkerchief-while you fetch a slight cord to\nfasten it. While going to your table to fetch this cord, you slip\nthe real ring into a slit in the orange which you had prepared,\nand which closes readily over it. You then tie the cord round\nthe handkerchief, about two inches from the ring, and. calling"}
{"path": "practicalmagicia00harr.pdf", "page": 67, "folder": "", "text": "THE PRACTICAL MAGICIAN.\n57\nthe spectators to notice how it is secured, take hold of that part\nof the handkerchief which incloses the fictitious ring in your\nown hand, and tell the gentleman to place one by one the four\ncorners of the handkerchief over your hand. Directly he has\nbegun to do this, your fingers must proceed to unbend and open\nthe fictitious ring, and to press it by its pointed end through the\nsilk, and conceal it in your own palm. You tell your assistant\nto blow upon the handkerchief and open it-the ring is gone,\nand you return the handkerchief to the owner. Fetch the or-\nange from your table, and ask some one to cut it open, and he\nwill find the lady's ring in the centre of the orange.\nTRICK 23.\nYou are now to proceed immediately to the next development\nof the mysterious powers of the plain ring, which ladies so much\nadmire. You may commence by remarking that \"you have lit-\ntle doubt that this symbol of love and obedience will at your\ncommand pass through the table, solid as it is. Let us try.\"\nPlace the tumbler on the table-produce your own silk hand-\nkerchief, to the centre of which a plain ring is already fastened\nby a doubled silk thread of about 4 inches length.\nUse Pass 1 with the real ring, as if passing it into the hand-\nkerchief: conceal that ring, and substitute for it the fictitious\nring.\nThen addressing the spectators, say :\n1\nNow, ladies and gentlemen, I will drop this ring into the\nglass, so as you shall hear it fall.' Do so. Let the handker-\nchief rest over the glass for a minuto or two. \"Now I must\nplace this bowl under the table to receive the ring.\" In so plac-\ning the bowl, you must silently place the real ring in it. Then\nsay alond, \"Change, ring; pass from the glass through the ta-\nble into the bowl below.) Lift up the handkerchief, and while\ninviting one or two to come and examine the glass and the bowl,\nsmooth your forehead with the handkerchief as if heated, and\npass it into your pocket. Your young friends will be astonished\nto find the ring not in the glass, where they heard it tinkle, but\nin the bowl underneath the table.\nTRICK 24.\nNow, ring, you have amused us so well, that you shall, like\nMahomet, be sustained in the air without visible support.\nPlace over a common walking-stick some of your prepared"}
{"path": "practicalmagicia00harr.pdf", "page": 68, "folder": "", "text": "58\nTHE PRACTICAL MAGICIAN.\ncotton threads, having twisted two or three of them together,\nand united them in a loop, which you draw through the ring, and\nthen slip the ring through the end of the loop. The ring will\nthen hang suspended about a foot below the stick. The stick\nitself may be steadily fixed, resting on the back of two chairs at\nan elevation, so as to be easily seen by the company.\nWhen the ring has been thus suspended, set fire to the cotton\nabout two inches above the ring; the flame will run upwards to-\nwards the stick; blow it out when about two inches from the\nstick, and the ring will remain pendulous in the air for some lit-\ntle time after the cotton has been burnt.\nThe suspension is said to be caused by a filament, or fine thread\nof glass-which has been formed by the ashes of the cotton uni-\nting with the heated salt, with which the cotton had been pre-\npared.\nNow this trick would be too simple an experiment to be exhib-\nited by itself; but coming as a finish to two other tricks, which\nhave been performed with the same ring, the spectators\nWill give it honor due.\nI trust that I have satisfactorily established the assertion that\na combination of congenial tricks will often tell more effectively\nthan the same tricks would if exhibited without such combi-\nnation,\n-"}
{"path": "practicalmagicia00harr.pdf", "page": 69, "folder": "", "text": "THE PRACTICAL MAGICIAN.\n59\nCHAPTER VII.\nFRIENDLY SUGGESTIONS.\nAs\nthe amateur will aspire to come before his parlor audience\nsome cat or other, it may be some little service and hclp\nto him to give ufew suggestions as to the best way of conducting\nsuch an exhicition, and to specify the kind of tricks to which he\nwill do well to rimit himself. It will be desirable to open with\nan off-hand exression of his wish to place before them a few\namusing tricks to wile away an hour ; and let him assume a\nlively air, for his own liveliness will sustain that of the specta-\ntors.\nThere are some conjurors who, though they can perform good\ntricks, exhibit them in such a heavy, uninteresting way that they\ncreate no enthusiasm. An over-anxious look, coupled with a\ncreeping, fearful movement, and a dull, monotonous voice, will\nsuggest distrust and dissatisfaction, even where the sudience has\ncome together prepossessed with the expectation of mirth and\nglee. Let none assume, then, to wave the conjuror's wand till\nho has himself some confidence in his powers, knows what he\npurposes to do, and means to carry it out. I would say that a\nmoderate degree of assumption, a gay vivacity, ready to break\nout into a smile, a cheerful spirit, and a joyous voice, will go a\ngreat way to bespeak favor, which the performer can quickly re-\npay by dashing off his tricks with enthusiasm. The language\nused by the conjuror should be studiously guarded. Let there\nbe no vain-glorious assertions, no self-praise, but respectful def-\nerence to the judgment of the spectators ; rather inclining to\ngive them the credit of understanding more than they do, than\ntwitting them with understanding less. Be neither overbearing\nwith conceited \"chaff\" upon any of the company ; nor, on the"}
{"path": "practicalmagicia00harr.pdf", "page": 70, "folder": "", "text": "60\nTHE PRACTICAL MAGICIAN.\nother hand, venture upon extreme and disconcerting compli-\nments to any person present. Rather, as a courteous master of\nthe ceremonies, conduct the experiments with a simple effort to\nplease and to amuse all. With the exhibition of an amateur,\nthe performance of some lively airs upon the piano by any friend\n-\nwill form an agreeable accompaniment, especially if the spirited\nand humorous melodies are introduced, which the public tasto\nrecognizes as the tunes of the day. You will do well to have\nyour table neatly and carefully arranged. Let it not lie too near\nto the spectators, nor within reach of too minute inspection.\nIt should be of sufficient height to show the main objects placed\non it; but the surface of it may be just high enongh to be shel-\ntered from the spectators clearly viewing every article upon it.\nThe ornaments should be few, yet, at the same time, be service-\nable to shade a few articles which it may be policy to conceal.\n1. The centre table may be a moderate-sized kitchen table,\nwith a drawer to stand open ; so that the performer can take any\narticle out of the drawer with one hand, while engaging the eyes\nof the spectators with his other hand. A colored cloth should\nbe over the tables, on the side towards the spectators.\n2. Two small tables, at the s\u00eddes of the centre table, may also\nbe useful, as in Fig. 22.\nrG. 22.,\n3. With tables arranged somewhat in this manner, the ama-\nteur will be able to take up articles, from either the surface or\nback of the tables, without attracting notice to his doing so.\nHe must practise taking up things with one hand, while his other\nhand and his eyes are ostensibly occupied with some other ob-\nject; for if the spectators see him looking behind his table, their\neyes will immediately follow in the same direction,\n4"}
{"path": "practicalmagicia00harr.pdf", "page": 71, "folder": "", "text": "THE PRACTICAL MAGICIAN.\n61\nThe amateur will do well to select the simpler tricks for his\nfirst attempts, and never pretend to exhibit even those withont\nhaving frequently and diligently practised them. He must mako\nup his resolution to train his hands to the passes, and to the\nseveral man\u0153uvres in the tricks, as diligently as young ladies\ntrain their fingers to the keys of the piano.\nAnd let them not be discouraged if they feel awkward and\nnervous at first. Some of the best conjurors have candidly con-\nfessed their early failings and misgivings With practice and\nperseverance this will, in most cases, wear off. I would angur\nthat, if they feel an interest in the art, and a desire to excel in\nit, they will most probably secure a measure of success that will\namply repay their efforts.\nTRICK 25.-Thc Conjuror's \"Bonus Genius,\" or Familiar\nMessenger.\nThis is an old trick that has delighted thousands, and may\namuse thousands more, if adroitly performed. There are only\nthe simplest mechanical arrangements connected with it ; its\nsuccessful exhibition depends upon the dexterity and vivacity of\nthe performer.\nPREPARATION.\nYou must have a strong wooden doll, about eight or ten inches\nhigh the head must fix on or off by a peg at the bottom of the\nthroat, being placed in a hole made at the too of the bust. Bo-\nsides a close-fitting dress to its body, a large, loose, fantastic\ncloak must be placed round the whole figure, but must be so ar-\nranged as to allow the head to be pushed down throngh the part\nof the cloak that covers the bust, and an elastic pocket must be\nneatly made inside the cloak to receive and retain the head.\nHaving the above apparatus ready, you may commence by\nsaying:\n\" Allow me, ladies and gentlemen, to introduce my learned\nfriend and assistant-indefatigable in traveling to the most dis-\ntant parts on any message I may wish to send him. He used to\nbe recognized by early conjurors as their Bonus Genius-their\ngood familiar spirit. But, whatever his special title, he is gifted\nwith the art of rendering himself visible or invisible, as he feels\ndisposed, while he travels to distant countries.\nAllow me to call your attention to the solid frame and un-\nflinching nerves, at any.rate to the vell-seasoned constitution of\nmy friend. [Rap him loudly, rap, lap, rap, on the table. The\nraps he received during his education doubtless accustomed him\nto bear much without flinching. Though his travels have ranged"}
{"path": "practicalmagicia00harr.pdf", "page": 72, "folder": "", "text": "62\nTHE PRACTICAL MAGICIAN.\nfrom China to Peru, from the Equator to the Poles, you per-\nceive he still sounds like a hardy Pole himself. (Rap, rap,\nrap.)\n\"I perceive, however, by the glaring of his eye, that, after\nmy too rough handling, he is desirous of starting on his travels.\nI suppose we must provide him with the needful for his ex-\npenses.\nLarge sums are given now-a-days to special corre-\nspondents in foreign countries; who will kindly give him suffi-\ncient? He will want a golden or silver key to open some curi-\nosities he may wish to inspect in foreign cities. (Pause.) Oh.\nwell, as there is a delay about it, I must myself supply him. I\nthink I have a few disposable coins in my pocket : he shall havo\nthem.\"\nSuiting the action to the word, while your left hand holds the\nupper part of the cloak near the neck, EO as to cover what you\nare doing, you withdraw the wooden body with your right hand,\nwhile you move your right hand down to your+pocket for the\ncoins. You then leave the body of the doll in your pocket, and\ntaking out the coins, present them to the head and cloak of the\nfigure, which is held in your left hand, saying: \"There, my\ngood friend, you can now, if you wish, proceed on your tour to\nAlgiers, or Dahomey, or Timbuctoo, or wherever the universal\nYankee travelers fancy at the present to resort.\n\" Ah, I see he is pleased and in good spirits again. He\nwishes apparently to bid you good-bye. You will excuse his\nlooking also round about him, to judge whether the weather is\nfair to set ont; after which I will lay my hand on his head to ex-\npress my good wishes for his journey. I dare say he will not\nstay much longer after that than a schoolboy does after his mas-\nter has bid him good-bye.\"\nPlace with formal ceremony your hand on his head, press it\ndown through the opening below it, receive it in your left hand\nunderneath the cloak, and bestow it safely in the pocket.\nAffect astonishment at finding the gown alone left in your\nhands, and fold it up with a lamentation at his departure. You\nmay say : \"It is clear that he has chosen to go to a hot climate,\nas ho has left his cloak behind him.'\nDiscourse for a few minutes about sending a telegram to over-\ntake him at London or San Francisco-talk about the sea-pas-\nsage, railways, tunnels, and what not.\n\"Ah, but I need none of these if I wish him back. I can\nsummon him again by a few mystic wavings of my wand and by\nsecret art. Hey, my friend, I need thy presence ; quick, re-\nturn, I pray you. I wish to see you again in your familiar\ngarb-\nBy the pricking of my thumbs,\nSomething ghostly hither comes.'"}
{"path": "practicalmagicia00harr.pdf", "page": 73, "folder": "", "text": "THE PRACTICAL MAGICIAN.\n63\nSwell out the cloak with your left hand, and at tho same timo\nthrust up the head from the pocket. It will appear as if the\nwhole figure stood before them.\nThen say : \"I fear, dear friend, I have trespassed by abridging\nyour tour. You can hardly have traversed Algeria, crossed the\nmountains of the moon, or found the birthplace of the Nile; and\nno one returns now-a-days without some such marvel to relate.\nI will let you depart again. As some people say to troublesomo\nvisitors 'You may depart now ; please to call again to-mor-\nrow.''\nRepeat the manoeuvre, as before, of secreting the head. Then\nexclaim : \"Alas! he is gone in earnest, like the sojourner of a\nday (with mock pathos.) When we havo lost him, we feel our\nloneliness.\"\nFold up sorrowfully the cloak of the departed, and so conclude\nthe trick.\nTRICK 26.-The Shower of Money.\nA dozen silver coins, or pennies, will be equally useful in ex-\nhibiting this trick ; but some fictitious coin, in color rosembling\ngold, will perhaps more effectively delight those who are charmed\nby the yellow glitter of the precious metal. The performer must\nhave provided himself with so many of these in his left hand as\nhe purposes to produce at the end of the trick, and two of the\nsame coin also must be concealed in his right palm. He must\nfurther borrow a hat from one of the company.\nThe imagination of the spectators having been excited by tho\nexpectation of beholding a shower of money, the adept in sleight-\nof-hand, keeping one of the two coins in his right hand con-\ncealed, must advance the other c\u00f2in to the end of his forefinger\nand thumb, while he pretends to pick a coin out of the candle,\nor of the rim of a hat, or from a lady's fan or shoulder, or may\npretend to clutch a coin floating in the air. As he brings away\nhis prize, ho may rattle it against the other coin concealed in his\nright hand. Then, making Pass 1, he may pretend to pass it\ninto the hat, being careful precisely at the same moment to drop,\naudibly, a coin from his left hand into the hat which he holds in\nthat hand. Let him tell the audience to keep count how many\nhe collects: it will rather distract their attention.\nIIo can continuo this pleasant appearance of acquiring wealth\nfor ten minutes, or aslong as ho can deviso various methods of\nappearing to clutch it, till tho number with which he stored his\nleft hand is exhausted.\nHo may then request some one to count out, audibly, into a"}
{"path": "practicalmagicia00harr.pdf", "page": 74, "folder": "", "text": "64\nTHE PRACTICAL MAGICIAN.\nplate the coins collected in the hat, which will coincide with the\nnumber he has appeared to collect so magically from various\nsources. When adroitly done, this trick is very pleasing and ef-\nfective.\nTRICK 27.-To Furnish Ladies With a Magic Supply of\nTea or Coffee, at their selection, From One and the\nSame Jug.\nPREPARATION.\nHavc a metal jug to hold not less than three pints. It must\nbe constructed with two compartments in the lower part of it,\nholding about a pint and a quarter each, and these must each\nhave a pipe connected with the spout of the jug and another\npipe connecting with its handle, and in the handle a small hole\nabout the size of a letter-o-ir this print. These lower com-\npartments must be filled with good tea and coffee before the jug\nis produced.\nThe upper chamber or compartment, like the upper portion of\na patent coffee-pot, must have no communication with the lower\ndivisions, and must be well closed also at the top with a tin cov-\ner, closely fitting. Have half a dozen small tea-cups and half a\ndozen small coffee-cups ready on a tray.\nBegin the trick by placing openly in the upper compartment\ncoffee-berries and tea, mixing them together. Take up, as a\nsudden thought, an old blacking bottle, and pretend to pour\nfrom it into the jug, to furnish highly-colored liquid to improvo\nthe coffee; and a little gunpowder, about a teaspoonful, may bo\nfired off over the mixture to make the tea strong. Wavo your\nwand over the jug.\nThen you may address the ladies : inform them that the ingre-\ndients are well mixed, and invite them to name which they will\nprefer, \"tea or coffee,\" as you can produce either at their com-\nmand from the same jng.\nGet some friend to hand the cups, while you follow him, and,\nby unstopping the holes in the handle for admitting air upon the\ncoffec or tea, the one of them that each lady names will flow out\nfrom the spout of this magic jug.\nTRICK 28.-A Pleasing Exhibition for both the Per-\nformer and the Audience) to view when they feel a\nlittle. Exhausted.\nPREPARATION.\nHave two pint bottles and one quart bottle; the pint bottles"}
{"path": "practicalmagicia00harr.pdf", "page": 75, "folder": "", "text": "THE PRACTICAL MAGICIAN.\n65\nto be filled, one with a liquid resembling port, the other with\none resembling sherry ; the large bottle to be at first empty.\nThree opaque metal stands-the centre one to stand under the\nquart bottle, to have a large cavity to hold a quart, and the up-\nper part of this stand to be full of large holes, like a cullender,\nfor the liquor to run from the opening at H into that cavity.\nFig. 24.\nYou must also have three metal covers, of proper size to cover\nthe above three bottles-these covers to have handles at top, so\nas to be easily lifted. The large centre cover is simply a cover\nbut the two side ones, which are to cover the pint bottles, must\nbe made with metal cavities large enongh to hold, one a pint of\nport, the other a pint of sherry, at top, with a descending pipe\nto fall into the mouths of the pint bottles.\nThere mnst be a small hole at top of each of the small covers,\nat B and C, which hole, being covered with tinfoil, will, as long\nFig. 25.\nB\nD\nD\nas it i3 closed, prevent the wine from running out at D. But\nwhen the tinfoil is scraped off, and the hole admits the air, tho\nwine will then be able to run into the pint bottles.\nThe above apparatus being all ready, commence by saying :\n\"I will nuw pour this pint of port and this pint of sherry into\nthe large bottle, mixing them inseparably together.\" Having"}
{"path": "practicalmagicia00harr.pdf", "page": 76, "folder": "", "text": "66\nTHE PRACTICAL MAGICIAN.\ndone so, remove the stopper at bottom of the large bottle as you\nplace it on its stand, and immediately place the large cover over\nit. The mixed liquid will gradually run out into the concealed\ncavity in the stand.\nYou must now talk a little magic nonsense, to draw off the at-\ntention, while you place the special covers over each of the\nsmall bottles, so that the descending pipes in the covers fit in\nthe necks of the bottles. Remove the tinfoil with which you\nhad covered the holes at A and B.\nWith a few magic waves of your wand, and words of art, say :\n\"I shall now cause the mixed liquids in the centre bottle to ap-\npear severally in their own original bottles.\" Let the covers re,\nmain a few seconds. Clap your hands. saying: \"Change, be-\ngone !\" Lift the centre cover : the large bottle will be seen to\nbe empty. Lift successively the covers from the small bottles :\nthey will be seen to have each their proper wine-one port, the\nother sherry.\nTRICK 29.-To Furnish a Treat to the Gentlemen.\nFor this th 3 magic bottle must be procured. One with three\nor four compartments is amply sufficient. In these placo gin,\nsherry, and port wine, respectively. The bottle will have three\nor four holes, on which you place your fingers as if stopping the\nholes of a flute. You may have a bucket of water and a com-\nmon bottle, resembling the magic one in size and appearance,\nnear your table. Havo ready also a tray of wine-glasses of thick\nglass, and holding only a very small quantity.\nExhibit the common lottle to the audience, and then place it\non your table, and direct attention to somo of the other articles\non your table. \"Now I must begin my experiment. I will\nwash and drain my bottle, that you may scc the experiment from\nthe beginning to the end.\" Place it in the bucket, and while\nshaking it about, and letting the water run out, exchange it for\nthe magic bottle lying by the bucket. Wipe that carefully with\na napkin, as if drying it, and calling two or three of the audi-\nence forward at a time, inquire which they prefer. Have the\nstops according to alphabetical order to prevent your mistaking\n-gin, port, sherry. Continue supplying the small glasses ase\ncalled for, till your bottle gets nearly empty, and then pour them\nout indiscriminately. Thero will havo been sufficient to satisfy\nthe most enger.\nBut if you wish to continue the trick, you may have a second\nmagic botile prepared in the same way, and you will casily, whilo\npropounding some magic charm and gesticulating, make some\npretence that will enable you to exchange the empty for the seo-\nond bottle, and so proceed."}
{"path": "practicalmagicia00harr.pdf", "page": 77, "folder": "", "text": "THE PRACTICAL MAGICIAN.\n67\nVENTRILOQUISM MADE EASY.\nWHAT IS VENTRILOQUISM?\nBEFORE we take the reader into the precise and minute instruc-\ntions which he will have to study and practice ere he can become\nthe possessor of the coveted art, it will be necessary to inform him\nwhat Ventriloquism* is, and in what it consists. In doing so, we\nshall endeavor to be as plain and clear as possible. Ventrilo-\nquism may be divided into two sections, or general heads, the\nfirst of which may be appropriately designated as Polyphonism,\nand consists of the simple imitation of the voices of human\ncreatures, of animals, of musical instruments, and sounds and\nnoises of every description in which no illusion is intended, but\nwhere, on the contrary, the imitation is avowedly executed by the\nmimic, amongst which we may classify sawing, planing, door-\ncreaking, sounds of musical instruments, and other similar imi-\ntations.\nSecondly, we have ventriloquism proper, which consists in the\nimitation of such voices, sounds, and noises, not as originating in\nhim, but in some other appropriate source at a given or varying\ndistance, in any or even in several directions, cither singly or to-\ngether-a process exciting both wonder and amusement, and\nwhich may be accomplished by thousands who have hitherto\nviewed the ventriloquist as invested with a power wholly denied\nby nature to themsclves. It is needless to observe, that when the\nlimitations are effected without a movement of mouth, features,\nor body, the astonishment of the audience is considerably en-\nhanced.\nThe terms polyphony, mimicry, or limitation, are employed\nto designate results obtained in reference to the first division of\nthe subject, where no illusion is intended while the term ven-\ntriloquism distinguishes those under the second division, where\nan illusion is palpably produced. The first is much more com-\nmon than the latter ; indeed, there is scarcely a public school\nwhich does not possess at least one boy capapble of limitating the\nmewing of a cat, the barking of a dog, or the squeaking voice of\n* Literally signifying belly-speaking, from venter, the belly, and loquor, I\nspeak."}
{"path": "practicalmagicia00harr.pdf", "page": 78, "folder": "", "text": "68\nTHE PRACTICAL MAGICIAN.\nan old woman. On the other hand, from a want of the know-\nledge of how to proceed, it is very seldom that even a blundering\nattempt at ventriloquism is heard, except from a public plat-\nform.\nThere have been many statements put forward defining ven-\ntriloquism, but we are decidedly of opinion that the theory of two\nof the most celebrated of foreign ventriloquists, Baron de Men-\ngen and M. St. Gille, who were sufficiently unselfish to avow the\nsecret of their art, is not only the most correct, but it is at once\nthe most reasonable and the most natural.\nFrom Baron de Mengen's account of himself, and the observa-\ntions made by M. de la Chapelle, in his frequent examinations of\nSt. Gille, whom weshall afterwards refer to, it seems that the\nfactitious ventriloquist voice does not (as the etymology of the\nword imports) proceed from the belly, but is formed in the in-\nner parts of the mouth and throat.\nThe art does not depend on a particular structure or organiza-\ntion of these parts, but may be acquired by almost any one ar-\ndently desirous of attaining it, and determined to persevere in\nrepeated trials.\nThe judgments we form concerning the situation and distance\nof\nbodies, by means of the senses mutually assisting and correct-\ning each other, seem to be entirely founded on experience ; and\nwe pass from the sign to the thing signified by it immediately, or\nat least without any intermediate steps perceptible to our-\nselves.\nllence it follows that if a man, though in the same room with\nanother, can by any peculiar modifications of the organs of\nspeech, produce a sound which, in faintness, tone, body, and\nevery othrer sensible quality, perfectly resembles a sound delivered\nfrom the roof of an opposite house, the ear will naturally, with-\nout examination, refer it to that situation and distance ; the\nsound which he hears being only a sign, which from infancy he\nhas become accustomed, by experience, to associate with the idea\nof a person speaking from a house-top. A deception of this kind\nis practised with success on the organ and other musical in-\nstruments.\nRolandus, in his Aglossostomographia,\" mentions, that if the\nmediastinum, which is naturally a single membrane, be divided\ninto tivo parts, the speech will seem to come out of the breast, so\nthat the bystanders will fancy the person possessed.\nMr. Gough, in the Manchester Memoirs,\" vol. V. part ii. p.\n633 London, 1802, investigates the method whereby men judge by\nthe car of the position of sonorous bodies relative to their own\npersons.\nThis author observes, in general that a sudden change in direc-\ntion of sound, our knowledge of which, he conceives, does not"}
{"path": "practicalmagicia00harr.pdf", "page": 79, "folder": "", "text": "THE PRACTICAL MAGICIAN.\n69\ndepend on the impulse in the ear, but on other facts, will be per-\nceived when the original communication is interrupted, provided\nthere be a sensible ccho. This circumstance will be acknowl-\nedged by any person who has had occasion to walk along a valley,\nintercepted with buildings, at the time that a peal of bells is ring-\ning in it. The sound of the bells, instead of arriving constantly at\nthe cars of the person so situated, is frequently reflected in a short\ntime fron two or three difierent places. These deceptions are, in\nmany cases, so much diversified by the successive interpositions\nof fresh objects, that the steeple appears, in the hearer's judgment,\nto perform the part of an expert ventriloquist on a theatre-the\nextent of which is adapted to its own powers, and not to those of\nthe human voice.\nThe similarity of effect which connects this phenomenon with\nventriloquism, convinced the author, whenever he heard it, that\nwhat we know to be the cause in one instance, is also the cause in\nthe other, viz., that the echo reaches the ear, while the original\nsound is intercepted by accident in the case of the bells but by\nart, in the case of the ventriloquist.\nIt is the business of the ventriloquist to amuse his admirers\nwith tricks resembling the foregoing delusion; and it will be read-\nily granted that he has a subtle sense, highly corrected by exper-\nience to manage, on which account the judgment must be cheated\nas well as the car.\nThis can only be accomplished by making the pulses, constitu-\nting his words striike the heads of his hearers, not in the right\nlines that join their persons and his. He must therefore, know\nhow to disguise the true direction of his voice; because the arti-\nfice will give him an opportunity to substitute almost any ccho he\nchoses in the place of it. But the superior part of the human body\nhas been already proved to form an extensive seat of sound, from\nevery point of which the pulses are repelled as if they diverge from\na\ncommon centre. This is the reason why people, who speak\nin the usual way, cannot conceal the direction of their voices,\nwhich in reality fly off towards all points at the same insiant. The\nventriloquist, therefore, by some means or other, accquires the\ndifficult habit of contructing the field of sound within the compass cf\nhis lips, which enables him to confine the real path of his voice to\nnarrow limits. For he who is master of his art has nothing to\ndo but to place his mouth obliquely to the company, and to\ndart his words out of his mouth-if the expression may be used\n-whence they will then strike the cars of the audience as that\nfrom an unexpected quarter. Nature seems to fix no bounds to\nthis kind of deception, only care must be taken not to let the\npath of the direct pulses pass too near the head of the person who\nis played upon, but the divergency of the pulses make him per-\nceive the voice itself. Our readers will, therefore, not be sur-"}
{"path": "practicalmagicia00harr.pdf", "page": 80, "folder": "", "text": "70\nTHE PRACTICAL MAGICIAN.\nprised that the French Academy adopted this view of the subject,\nand laid down that the art consists in an accurate imitation of any\ngiven sound (IS it reachis the car. In conformity with a thcory so\nincontrovertible, physiologists have suggested a varicty of\nmovements of the vocal organs to explain still further the ori-\nginating cause; and some have gone so far as to contend for a\npeculiarity of structure in these organs as an essential require-\nment but they have wisely omitted to specify what. Noth-\ning, however, can be more accurate than the description of\n\"therssence\" of ventriloquy in the \"English Cyclopadia --name-\nly, that it \"consists in creating illusions as to the distance and direc-\ntion whence a sound has travelled.\" How those sounds are pro-\nduced, we shall show in another chapter,\nVENTRILOQUISM AMONGST THE ANCIENTS.\nCharles Lamb gave utterance to the thouglit that it was\n\" pleasant to contemplate the head of the Ganges,\" but tho\nstudent of ventriloquism finds it difficult to obtain a view of\nthe source of his art. In the dim and misty ages of antiquity,\nhe may trace under various guises the practice of it. Many of\nthe old superstitions were fostered by its neans ; from the cra-\ndle of mankind to the birthplace of idolatry, we incidentally\nlearn of the belief in a familiar spirit-a second voice, which\nafterwards took the form of divination.\nThe various kinds of divination amongst the nations of an-\ntiquity which were stated by the priesthood to be by a spirit, a\nfamiliar spirit, cr a spirit of divination, are now supposed to have\nbeen effected by means cf ventriloquism. Divination by a fam-\niliar spirit can be tracked through a long period of time. By\nreference to Leviticus XX. 27 it will be seen that the Mosaic law\nforbade the Hebrews to consult those having familiar spirits, and\nto put to death the possessor. The Mosaic law was given about\nfifteen hundred years before Clirist. Divining by a familiar\nspirit was, however, so familiar to the Jews, that the prophet\nIsaiah draws a powcrful illustration from the kind of voice heard\nin such divination, see Isaiah xxix. 4.\nThere can be little doubt but the Jews became acquainted with\nthis voice during their compulsory captivity in Egypt. In many\nof the mysteries which accompanied the worship of Osiris, the\nuncarthly voice speaking from hidden depths of unknown heiglits\nwas common. Some philosophers have imagined that a series of\ntubes and acoustical appliances were used to accomplish these\nmysterious sounds. The statute of Memnon will instantly sug-\ngest itself as a familiar instance. The gigantic stone-head was"}
{"path": "practicalmagicia00harr.pdf", "page": 81, "folder": "", "text": "THE PRACTICAL MAGICIAN.\n71\nheard to speak when the first rays of the worshipped sun glanced\non its impassive features. The magic words were undoubtedly\npronounced by the attendant priest, for we find a similar trick\nprevalent throughout the whole history of ventriloquism, and\neven now the public professors of the art know how much dc-\npends on fixing the attention of their audience on the object or\nplacc from whence the sound is supposed to proceed. The Jews\ncarried the art with them into Palestine, for we tracce the agency\nthroughout their history.\nThe Grecks practised a mode of divination termed gastromancy,\nwhere the diviner replied without moving his lips, so that the\nconsulter believed he heard the actual voice of a spirit speaking\nfrom its residence within the priest's belly.\nIn the Acts of the Apostles (xvi. 16), mention is made of\na\nyoung woman with a familiar spirit meeting the Apostles in the\ncity of Philippi, in Macedonia, - St. Chrysostom and other early\nFathers of the Christian Church mention divination by a familiar\nspirit as practised in their day. The practice of similar divina-\ntion is still common in the East ; it lingers on the banks of the\nNile, and is even practised among the Esquimaux. This divina-\ntion by a familiar spirit has been practised upwards of three\nthousand years.\nMODERN PROFESSORS OF THE ART.\nThe earliest notice of ventriloquial illusion, as carried out in\nmodern times, has reference to Louis Brabant, valet-de-chambre of\nFrancis I., who is said to have fallen in love with a beautiful and\nrich heiress, but was rejected by the parents as a low, unsuitable\nmatch. However, the father dying, he visits the widow ; and on\nhis first appearance in the house she hears accosted in a\nvoice resembling that of her dead husband, and which seemed to\nproceed from above. Give my daughter in marriage to Louis\nBrabant, who is a man of great fortune and excellent character.\nI now endure the inexpressible torments of purgatory, for having\nrefused her to him ; obey this admonition and I shall soon bc\ndelivered ; you will provide a worthy husband for your daugh-\nter, and procure everlasting repose to the soul of your poor hus-\nband.\"\nThe dread summons, which had no appearance of proceeding\nfrom Louis, whose countenance exhibited no change, and whose\nlips were close and motionless, was instantly complied with ; but\nthe deceiver, in order to mend his finances for the accomplish-\nment of the marriage contract, applies to one Cornu, an old and\nrich banker at Lyons, who had accumulated immense wealth by"}
{"path": "practicalmagicia00harr.pdf", "page": 82, "folder": "", "text": "72\nTHE PRACTICAL MAGICIAN.\nusury, and extortion, and was haunted by remorse of conscience.\nAfter some conversation on demons and spectres, the pains of pur\ngatory, &c., during an interval of silence, a voice is heard, like\nthat of the banker's deceased father, complaining of his dreadful\nsituation in purgatory, and calling upon him to rescue him from\nthence, by putting into the hands of Louis Brabant, then with\nhim, a large sum for the redemption of Christians in slavery with\nthe Turks ; threatening him at the same time with eternal damna-\ntion if he did not thus expiate his own sins. Upon a second in-\nterview, in which his ears were saluted with the complaints and\ngroans of his father, and of all his deceased relations, imploring\nhim, for the love of God, and in the name of every saint in the\ncalendar, to have mercy on his own soul and others, Cornu\nobeyed the heavenly voice, and gave Louis 10,000 crowns, with\nwhich hc returned to Paris, and married his mistress.\nThe works of M. L'Abbe La Chapelle, issued 1772, and be-\nfore alluded to, contain descriptions of the ventriloquial achieve-\nments of Baron Mengen at Vienna ; and those of M. St. Gille,\nnear Paris, are equally interesting and astonishing. The former\ningeniously constructed a doll with moveable lips, which he\ncould readily control by a movement of the fingers under the\ndress ; and with this automaton he was accustomed to hold hu-\nmorous and satirical dialogues. He ascribed proficiency in his\nart to the frequent gratification of a propensity for counterfeiting\nthe cries of the lower animals, and the voices of persons with\nwhom he was brought in contact. So expert, indeed, had prac-\ntice rendered him in this way, that the sounds uttered by him did\nnot seem to issue from his own mouth. La Chapelle, having\nheard many surprising circumstances related concerning one M.\nSt. Gille, a grocer at St. Germainen-Laye, near Paris, whose powers\nas a ventriloquist had given occasion to many singular and divert-\ning scenes, formed the resolution of seeing him. Being seated\nwith him on the opposite side of a fire, in a parlor on the ground\nfloor, and very attentively observing him, the Abbe, after half an\nhour's conversation with M. St. Gille, heard himself called, on a\nsudden, by his name and title, in a voice that seemed to come from\nthe roof of a house at a distance ; and whilst he was pointing to\nthe house from which the voice had appeared to him to proceed,\nhe was yet more surprised at hearing the words, \"it was not\nfrom that quarter, \" apparently in the same kind of voice as be-\nfore, but which now seemed to issue from under the earth at one\nof\nthe corners of the room. In short, this factitious voice played,\nas it were, everywhere about him, and seemed to proceed from\nany quarter or distance from which the operator chose to trans-\nmit it to him. To the Abbe, though conscious that the voice pro-\nceeded from the mouth of M. St. Gille, he appeared absolutely\nmute while bre was exercising his talent ; nor could any change"}
{"path": "practicalmagicia00harr.pdf", "page": 83, "folder": "", "text": "THE PRACTICAL MAGICIAN.\n73\nin his countenance be discovered. But he observed that M.\nSt. Gille presented only the profile of his face to him while he\nwas speaking as a ventriloquist.\nOn another occasion, M. St. Gille sought for shelter from a\nstorm in a neighboring convent ; and finding the community in\nmourning, and inquiring the cause, he was told that one of their\nbody, much esteemed by them, had lately died. Some of their rc-\nligious attended him to the church, and showing him the tomb of\ntheir deceased brother, spoke very feelingly of the scanty hon-\nors that had been bestowed on his memory, when suddenly, a\nvoice was heard, apparently proceeding from the roof of the\nchoir, lamenting the situation of the defunct in purgatory, and\nreproaching the brotherhood with their want of zeal on his ac-\ncount. The whole community being afterwards convened in the\nchurch, the voice from the roof renewed its lamentations and rc-\nproaches, and the whole convent fell on their faces, and vowed a\nsolemn reparation. Accordingly, they first chanted a De profun-\ndis in full choir ; during the intervals of which the ghost occa-\nsionally expressed the comfort he received from their pious\nexercises and ejaculations in his bchalf. The prior, when this\nreligious service was concluded, entered into a serious conversa-\ntion with M. St. Gille, and inveighed against the .incredulity of\nour modern sceptics and pretended philosophers on the article of\nghosts and apparitions ; and St. Gille found it difficult to convince\nthe fathers that the whole was a deception.\nM. St. Gille, in 1771, submitted his attainments in this direction\nto several experiments before MM. Leroy and Fouchy, Commis-\nsioners of the Royal Academy of Sciences, and other persons of\nexhalted rank, in order to demonstrate that his mimicry was so\nperfect as to reach the point of complete illusion. For this purpose\na report was circulated that a spirit's voice had been licard at\ntimes in the envions of St. Germain, and that the commission was\nappointed to verify the fact. The company, with the exception\nof one lady, were apprised of the real nature of the case, the in-\ntention being to test the strength of the illusion upon her. The\narrangement was that they should dine together in the country, in\nthe open air ; and while they were at table, the lady was ad-\ndressed in a supernatural voice, now coming from the top of\nadjoining trees, then descending until it approached her, next re-\nceding and plunging into the ground, wherei it ceased. For up-\nwards of two hours was this startling continued\nwith such adroitness that she was convinced the voice belonged\nto a person from another world, and subsequent explanation\nfailed to convince her to the contrary.\nM. Alexandre, the famous ventriloquist, had an extraordinary\nfacility in counterfeiting all the expressions of countenance and\nbodily conditions common to humanity. When in London,\nhis mimetic powers, which he was fond of exercising both in pub-"}
{"path": "practicalmagicia00harr.pdf", "page": 84, "folder": "", "text": "74\nTHE PRACTICAL MAGICIAN.\nlic and private, made his company in high request among the up-\nper circles. The Lord Mayor of the City, in particular, received\nthe ventriloquist with great distinction, and invited him several\ntimes to dine at the Mansion House. But it unluckily happened\nthat on every occasion when M. Alexandre dined there, le could\nnot stay to spend the evening, having contracted engagements\nelsewhiere. The Lord Mayor expressed much regret at this, and\nthe ventriloquist himself was annoyed on the same account, being\nwilling to do his best to entertain the guests whom the Lord May-\nor had asked each time to meet him.\nAt last, on meeting M. Alexandre one day, the Lord Mayor en-\ngaged him to dine at the Mansion House on a remote day. 'I fix\nit purposely, \" said his lordship, \"at so distant a period, because\nI wish to make sure this time of your remaining with us through\nthe evening. Through fear of seeming purposely to slight his\nlordship, M. Alexandre did not dare to tell the Mayor that on\nthat very morning he had accepted an invitation from a noble-\nble man of high rank to spend at his house the evening of the\nidentical day so unfortunately pitched on by the civic dignitary.\nAll the ventriloquist said in reply was, \"I promise, my lord to\nremain at the Mansion House, till you, yourself think it time for\nme to take my leave.\" Ah, well,\" said the Lord Mayor, and\nhe went off perfectly satisfied.\nAt the appointed day Alexandre sat himself down at the mag-\nistrate's board. Never had the ventriloquist comported himself\nwith so much spirit and gaiety. He insisted on devoting bumpers\nto each and every lady present.\nThe toasts went round, the old port flowed like water, and the\nartiste in particular seemed in danger of loosing his reason under\nits potent influence. When others stopped, he stopped not, but\ncontinued filling and emptying incessantly. By and-by, his eyes\nbegan to stare, his visage became purple, his tongue grew con-\nfused, his whole body seemed to steam of wine, and finally he\nsank from his chair in a state of maudlin, helpless insensibil-\nity.\nRegretting the condition of his guest, the Lord Mayor got him\nquietly lifted, and conveyed to his own carriage, giving orders for\nhim to be taken home to his lodgings. As soon as M. Alexandre\nwas deposited there, he became a very different being. It was\nnow ten o'clock, and but half an hour was left to him to prepare\nfor his appointed visit to the Duke of- suree. The ventrilo-\nquist disrobed himself, taking first from his breast a quantity of\nsponge which he had placed beneath his waiste oat, and into the\npores of which he had, with a quick and dexter ous hand, poured\nthe greater portion of the wine which he had apparently swal-\nlowed.\nHaving washed from his person all token of his simy ated in-"}
{"path": "practicalmagicia00harr.pdf", "page": 85, "folder": "", "text": "THE PRACTICAL MAGICIAN.\n75\ntoxication, and dressed himself anew, M. Alexandre then betook\nhimself. himself to the mansion of the nobleman to whom he had engaged\nOn the following day the fashionable newspapers gave a de-\ntailed account of the grand party at his Grace the Duke of----'s,\nand culogized to the skies the entertaining performances of M.\nAlexandre, who, they said, had surpassed himself on this occas-\nsion. Some days afterwards, the Lord Mayor encountered M.\nAlexandre. Ah, how are you?\" said his lordship. \" Very\nwell, my lord,\" was the reply. \" Our newspapers are pretty\npieces of veracity, said his lordship. \"Have you seen the\nCourier of the other day? Why, it makes you out to have cxhibit-\ncd in great style last Thursday night at his Grace of- \"It\nhas but told the truth, \" said the mimic. 'What? impossible!\"\ncried the Mayor. \" You do not remember, then, the state into\nwhich you unfortunately got at the Mansion House? And\nthereupon the worthy magistrate detailed to the ventriloquist the\ncircumstances of his inotxication, and the care that had been\ntaken with him, with other points of the case. M. Alexandro\nheard his lordship to an cnd, and then confessed the stratagem\nwhich he had played off, and the cause of it.\n\" I had promised,\" said Alexandre, \"to be with his Grace at\nhalf-past ten. I had also promised not to leave you till you your-\nself considered it fit time. I kept my word in both cases-you\nknow the way.' The civic functionary laughed heartily, and on\nthe following evening Alexandre made up for his trick by making\nthe Mansion House ring with laughter till daylight.\nMany anecdotes are told respecting M. Alexandre's power of\nassuming the faces of other people. At Abbotsford, during a\nvisit there, he actually sat to a sculptor five times in the char-\nacter of a noted clergyman, with whose real features the sculp-\ntor was well acquainted. When the sittings were closed and\nthe bust modelled, the mimic cast off his wig and assumed dress,\nand appeared with his own natural countenance, to the terror\nalmost of the sculptor, and to the great amusement of Sir\nWalter and others who had been in the secret.\nOf this most celebrated ventriloquist it is related that on\none occasion he was passing along the Strand, when a friend de-\nsired a specimen of his abilities. At this instant a load of hay\nwas passing along near Temple Bar, when Alexandre called atten-\ntion to the suffocating cries of a man in the centre of the hay.\nA crowd gathered round and stopped the astonished carter, and\ndemanded why he was carrying a fellow-creature in his hay.\nThe complaints and cries of the smothered man now became\npainful, and there was every reason to believe that he was dying.\nThe crowd, regardless of the stoppage to the traffic, instantly\nproceeded to unload the hay into the street, The smothered"}
{"path": "practicalmagicia00harr.pdf", "page": 86, "folder": "", "text": "76\nTHE PRACTICAL MAGICIAN.\nvoice urged them to make haste, but the feelings of the people\nmay be imagined when the cart was empty and nobody was found,\nwhile Alexandre and his friend walked off laughing at the unex-\npected results of their trick.\nIt would be obviously invidious to compare the merits of liv-\ning professors. Mr. Maccabe, Mr. Gallagher, Mr. Thurton and\nMr. Macmillan have long been favorites with the public.\n--\nTHE THEORY OF VENTRILOQUISM.\nMany physiologists aver that ventriloquism is obtained by\nspeaking during the inspiration of air. It is quite possible to ar-\nticulate under these circumstances, and the plan may with advan-\ntage be occasionally adopted; but our own practical experience\nand close observation of many public performers, and of not\na few private friends who have attained distinctness and no\nsmallamount of facility in the art, convince us that-the general\ncurrent of utterance is, as in ordinary speech, during oxpiration\nof the breath. Some imagine that the means of procuring the\nrequired imitation are comprised in a thorough management of\nthe echoes of sound. Unfortunately, however, for this theory,\nan ccho only repeats what has been already brought into cxist-\nence. Several eminent ventriloquists, including the late Mr.\nMatthews, have displayed the vocal illusion while walking in\nthe streets. Baron Mengen describes as follows his mode of\nspeaking, when he desired the illusion to take the direction\nof a voice emanating from the doll : \"I press my tongue against\nthe tecth, and then circumscribe a cavity between left check and\nteeth, in which the voice is produced by the air held 723 receive in the\npharynx. The sounds thus reccive a hollow and muffled tonc,\nwhich causes them to appear to come from a distance.\" The\nBaron furthermore mentions that it is essential to have the breath\nwell under control, and not to respire more than can be avoided.\nM. St. Gille was scen to look somewhat exhausted when the vo-\ncal illusion grew less perfect. Wc ourselves, and all ventrilo-\nquists with whom we have conferred, have acknowledged that\nthey have experienced fatigue in the chest, and have attributed\nit to the slow expiration of the breath. M. St. Gille, with the\nmajority of ventriloquists, was often compelled to cough during\nthe progress of his exercitation.\nTo attain an exact and positive knowledge of the modifications\nof voice specified as ventriloquism, it is important to be familiar\nwith the distinctions of the sounds uttered by the mouth ; and to\nascertain how the organs act in producing those vocal modifica-\ntions, it is necessary to know how the breath is vocalized in all"}
{"path": "practicalmagicia00harr.pdf", "page": 87, "folder": "", "text": "THE PRACTICAL MAG:CIAN.\n77\ndistinctions of pitch, loudness, and quality, by the ordinary ac-\ntions of the vocal organs. In ordinary language, we speak of\nnoise, of common sound, and of musical sound-terms employed\nby Dr. Thomas Young in illustrating the mechanical agencies of\narticulation A quill striking against a piece of wood causes a\nnoise, but striking successively against the teeth of a wheel, or of\na comb, a continued sound, and, if the teeth of the wheel are at\nequal distances, and the velocity of the rotation is constant, a\nmusical sound. The general terms-pitch, loudness, quality, and\nduration, embrace all the distinctions with which the musician\nhas to deal, and which he uses in his art.\"\nThe distinguishing feature of musical sound is its uniform\npitch througliout its duration, and acoustically musical sound is\ncomposed of an equal number of impulses or noises produced in\nequal tones.\nThe general terms-pitch, loudness, quality, and duration, also\nembrace all the distinctions heard in ordinary sounds. These\nsounds differ from the musical in the pitch constantly varying\nthroughout their duration, as the human voice in speaking, and\nthe voice of quadrupeds. Acoustically such sounds are composed\nof an unequal number of impulses or noises produced in equal\ntones. And from this circumstance pitch, in the strictly musical\nsense, is not a property of ordinary sound.\nThe general erms-loudness and quality, embrace all the dis-\ntinctions heard in a noise, as in the collision of two unclastic\nsticks. Pitch and duration can scarcely be considered as belong-\ning to common noise. Thus we have-(1) noise whose audible\ndistinctions are comprehended under the general terms loudness\nand quality ; (2) common sound, whose audible distinctions are\ncomprehended under the general erms-loudness, quality,\nduration, and every varying pitch (3) musical sound, whose\naudible distinctions are comprehended under the general terms-\nloudness, quality, duration, and uniform pitch.\nPhonation, or the production of voice, is a result of actions\ntaking place under two distinct classes of laws-namely, the or-\ndinary mechanical laws of acoustics, and the physiological laws\nof muscular movement. Tbe adjustment of the vocal mechanism\nto be brought into operation by the current of air, is made by\nactions under the latter laws and phonation is the result of the\nreaction of the mechanism on the current of air, by mechanical\nmovements under the former laws Now, the pitch of the voice\nessentially depends on the tension of the vocal ligaments ; the\nloudness or the extent of the excursion of these ligaments in their\nvibration ; the duration on the continuance of the vocalizing\ncauses ; the quality on the organization of the larynx, and also\non the form and size of the vocal tube. The form and size of\nthis tube can be altered in various ways-for instance, by dilating"}
{"path": "practicalmagicia00harr.pdf", "page": 88, "folder": "", "text": "78\nTHE PRACTICAL MAGICIAN.\nor contracting the pharynx; by dilating or contracting the\nmouth ; by contracting the communication between the pharynx\nand mouth, so as to constitute them distinct chambers, or by dila-\nting the opening so as to throw them into one, which is chiefly\nattained by movements of the soft palate and by altering- the\nform of the mouth'scavity, which is effected by varying the position\nof the tongue. Each of these modifications of the vocal tube con-\nveys a peculiarity of quality to the voice,-all however, being\nlocal or laryngeal sounds. Moreover, sounds can be produced in\nthe vocal tube, apart from the larynx. These, strictly speaking,\nare not vocal sounds, though some of them may be of a definite and\nuniform pitch, while others are mere noises-as rustling, whisper-\ning, gurgling, whistling, snoring, and the like. Now, as every-\nthing audible comes under the classes of noise, sound, or musical\nsound, and as each variety originates in the vocal apparatus of man,\nit is obvious that an ordinary vocal apparatus is all that is required foi\nthe achicvement of the fents of ventriloquism.\nA person having an ear acutely perceptive to the nice distinc-\ntions of sounds, may, by a little practice, imitate many sounds\nwith accuracy. Those persons, however, who are highly endow-\ned with the mental requisites, which consist of an intense desire\nto mimic, coupled with the ability to originate mimetic ideas, are\nable to imitate sounds at first hearing.\nWe next proceed to treat of those illusions, where the voice so\nperfectly counterfeits the reality intended, that it appears not to\nissue from the mimic, but from an appropriate source, in what-\never direction, and at whatever distance the source may be. Wo\ndo not hear the distance which a sound has travelled from its\nsource, but we judge the distance from our former experience, by\ncomparing the loudness which we hear with the known distance\nand known loudness of similar sounds heard on former occasions.\nCommon experience will prove that we oftener err in estimating\nthe distance of uncommon tuan of familiar sounds. In apology\nfor such an error, the ordinary language is, \"It seemed too loud\nto come so far,\" or \" It seemed too near to be so faint a sound,\nas the case may be, -both of which are apologies for an erroneous\njudgment, and not for faulty hearing. Near sounds are louder\nthan distant ones. Now, by preserving the same pitch, quality, and\nduration, but with an accurately graduated reduction of loudness, a series\nforming a perspective of sounds may be created, which, falling in\nsuccession on the car, will suggest to the mind a constantly in-\ncreasing distance of the sound's source. The estimate, then,\nwhich is formed of the distance which a sound has travelled be-\nfore reaching the car is a judgment of the mind formed by com-\nparing a present perception (by hearing) with the remembrance of\na former loudness in connection with its known distance. With\nregard to direction, it is observed; \"The direction whencea sound"}
{"path": "practicalmagicia00harr.pdf", "page": 89, "folder": "", "text": "THE PRACTICAL MAGICIAN.\n79\ncomes seemas to be judged of by the right or left ear receiving the\nstronger impression, which, however, can only take place when\nthe sound's source is in a planc, or ncarly so, with a line passing\nthrough both ears. It is familiarly known that a person in a\nhouse cannot by the noise of an approaching carriage judge with\ncertainty whether it is coming from the right or left. lic accu-\nrately judges it to bc approaching, passing, or receding, as the\ncase may be, by the gradations of loudness, but is unable to de-\ncide with certainty whether its approach or recession is from up\nOr down the street. Enough has been stated to show that we do\nnot hear, but that we judge the direction a sound has travilicd from its\nsource on reaching the car.\" The ventriloquist indicates, either di-\nrectly or indirectly, the direction from which he wishes his\naudience to believe the sound is coming. Thus he directly indi-\ncates it by words, such as- Arc you up there?\" \"He is up the\nchimney, \" He is in the cellar,\" \" Are you down there?' &c.,\nns illustrated in the various examples. He indirectly indicates it\nby some suggestive circumstance, as an action or gesture, which\nis so skilfully unobtrusive and natural as to effect its object with-\nout being discovered. Thus, when the ventriloquist looks or\nlistens in any direction, or even simply turns towards any point,\nas if he expected sound to come thence, the attention of 7722 auaience\nis by that means anstantly directed also to the same place. Thus, before\na\nsound is produced, the audience expect it to come in the suggestcd\ndirection ; and the ventriloquist has mercly, by his adjustment of\ntocal loudness, to indicate the necessary distance, when a misjudg-\nment of the undienre will complite the illusion which he has begun.\"\nThe effect which 1S produced on sound by its travelling from a\ndistance, is observed to be :-\n(1) That its loudness is reduced in proportion to its dis-\ntance.\n(2) That its pitch remains unaltered.\n(3) That its quality or tone is somewhat altered.\n(1) That its duration remains unaltered.\n(5) That the human speech is somewhat obscurcd, chiefly in the\n(O nonant sounds.\nIt must be remembered that the ventriloquist makes the sound,\nno' as it is heard at its source, but as it is heard after travelling from a\ndist ince.\nTHE MEANS BY WHICH IT IS EFFECTED.\nBeforc entering upon the first and easy lessons, it will be as well\nto consider the means by which the effect is produced. The Stu-\ndent is supposed to have made himself thoroughly acquainted"}
{"path": "practicalmagicia00harr.pdf", "page": 90, "folder": "", "text": "80\nTHE PRACTICAL MAGICIAN.\nwith the previous chapter, as to the effect to be produced, not on\nhimself, but on the spectators and audience. And we may assure him,\nthat if he has a fair range of voice, a dilligent observance of the\nrules which we are about to lay down, coupled with attention to\nthe nature of sound as it falls upon the ear, will lead him to such\ntriumphs as, in all probability, he never imagined he could have\nattained-ar assurance which we are emboldened to offer from\nour own pursuit and practical realization of the art.\nThe student must bear in mind that the means are simply natural\nones, used in accordance with natural laws. We have given him\nthe acoustical theory of the effect on the auric nerve, and the\nmeans are the organs of respiration and sound, with the adjoining\nmuscles. They are the diaphragm, the lungs, the trachea, the\nlarynx, the pharynx, and the mouth. The diaphragm is a very\nlarge convex muscle, situated below the lungs, and having full\npower over respiration. The lungs are the organs of respiration,\nand are seated at each side of the chest ; they consist of air-tubes\nminutely ramified in a loose tissue, and terminating in very small\nsacs, termed air-cells. The trachea is a tube, the continuation of\nthe larynx, commonly called the windpipe : through this the air\npasses to and from the lungs. Iti formed of cartilaginous rings,\nby means of which it may be clongated or shortened. The larynx\nis that portion of the air-tube immediately above the trachea : its\nposition is indicated by a large projection in the throat. In the\ninterior of this part of the throat are situated the vocal chords.\nThey are four bands of clastic substance somewhat similar to\nIndia-rubber. The cavity, or opening between these vocal\nchords is called the glottis : it possesses the power of expanding\nor contracting under the influence of the muscles of the larynx\nThe pharynx is a cavity above the larynx, communicating with\nthe nasal passages : it is partially visible when the mouth is\nopened and the tongue lowered. Near this part of the root of the\ntongue is situated the epiglottis, which acts as a lid or cover in\nclosing over the air-tube during the act of swallowing. The mouth\nforms a cavity to reflect and strengthen the resonance of the vi-\nbrations produced in the air-tube ; it also possesses numberless\nminute powers of contraction and modification.\nWe now proceed to give the instructions to which we have re-\nferred-instructions guaranteed by a proficiency which we are\never ready to submit to the ordeal of a critical examination, ci-\nther in private or in public.\nIf the student will pay strict attention to the parts printed in\nitalics, and will practice the voices here specified, he will find that\nthey are the key to all imitative sounds and vorces ; and, according to\nthe range of his voice and the capabilities of his mimetic power,\nhe will be enabled to imitate the voices of little children, of old\npeople, and, in fact, almost every sound which he hears."}
{"path": "practicalmagicia00harr.pdf", "page": 91, "folder": "", "text": "THE PRACTICAL MAGICIAN.\n81\nToo much attention cannot be bestowed on the study of sound as\nit falls on the car, and an endeavor to imitate it as it is heard-\nfor the \"secret\" of the art 1S, that as perspective is to the eye so is\nventruloquism to the car. When we look at a painting of a land-\nscape, some of the objects appear at a distance ; but we know\nthat it is only the skill of the artist which has made it appear as\nthe eye has seen it in reality. In exactly the same manner a ven-\ntriloquist acts upon and deceives the ear, by producing sounds as\nthey are heard from any known distances.\nPRACTICAL ILLUSTRATIONS.\nNo. I.\nTHE VOICE IN. THE CLOSET\nThis is the voice in which Mr. Frederic Maccabe, the celebra-\nted mimic and ventriloquist, excels, and the clever manner in\nwhich he can adapt it off-hand, as it were, will be best illustrated\nby the fact mentioned to us by the gentleman in question, whom\nwe call Mr. B. in Mr. Maccabe's presence. Mr. B., who was an\ninvalid, suffering from some nervous disorder, originating by over-\nwork and anxiety, was travelling in Ireland in search of health,\nand when on his way from Dublin to Cork, lic lay exhausted in a\ncorner of a railway-carriage, muflled up in cloaks and wrap-\npers in a paroxysm of pain. At Mallow, two gentlemen entered\nthe carriage, one of whom was in exuberant spirits, and commenc-\ned telling some amusing anecdotes. At length the porter came\nto collect the tickets. They were all handed in but one, when the\nfollowing colloquy ensued :-\nl'orter.- gentleman hasn't given me his ticket.\nGentleman.-Bill, in the next compartment, has the ticket, (tap-\nping at the partition). Haven't you, Bill ?\nThe imaginary Bill, who appeared to be suffering from a se-\nvere cold, replied that he had, and the porter would not take\nit. The official went off to find the ticket, but Bill, in the\nmean time had vanished. Back came the porter and indig-\nnantly demanded the ticket. He was interrupted by a shrill\nvoice in the opposite compartment, crying,- Porter ! porter !\nwhy don't you come and take the ticket ! There's some ono\ninsulting ne!\" Away went the chivalric porter, to come back\npuzzled and chafed to receive the ticket, which was handed to\nhim. His hand had not reached the coveted piece of pasteboard,\nere the yell of a terrier under the wheels caused the porter to\ndraw back, amid bursts of laughter, during which the ticket"}
{"path": "practicalmagicia00harr.pdf", "page": 92, "folder": "", "text": "82\nTHE PRACTICAL MAGICIAN.\nwas thrown out, and the train moved on. And Mr. Frederic\nMaccabe stood confessed, but not penitent.\nVoice No 1. .-To acquire this voice, which we so name for dis-\ntinction's sake, speak any word or sentence in your own natural\ntones ; then open the mouth and fix the jaws fast, as though you\nwere trying to hinder any one from opening them farther or shut-\nting them ; draw the tongue back. in a ball ; speak the same\nwords, and the sound, instcad of being formed in the mouth will\nbe formed in the pharynx. Great attention must be paid to\nholding the jaws rigid. The sound will then be found to imi-\ntate a voice heard from the other side of a door when it is\nclosed, or under a floor, or through a wall. To ventriloquize\nwith this voice, let the operator stand with his back to the au-\ndience against a door. Give a gentle tap at the door, and call\naloud in a natural voice, inquiring \"Who is there ?\" This will\nhave the effect of drawing the attention of the audience to a\nperson supposed to be outside. Then fix the jaw as de-\nscribed, and utter in voice No. 1, any words you please, such as\n\"I want to come in.' Ask quostions in the natural voice and\nanswer in the other. When you have done this, open the door\na little, and hold a conversation with the imaginary person. As\nthe door is now open, it is obvious that the voice must be altered,\nfor a voice will not sound to the car when a door is open the\nsame as when closed. Therefore the voice must be made to ap-\npear face to face, or close to the ventriloquist. To do this the\nvoice must not be altered from the original tiote or pitch, but be\nmade in another part of the mouth. This is done by closing the\nlips tight and drawing onecorner of the mouth downwards, O)\ntowards the ear. Then let the lips open at that corner only, the\nother part to remain closed. Next breathe, as it were, the worde\nout of the orifice formed. Do not speak distinctly, but expcl tho\nbreath in short puffs at each word, and as loud as possible.\nBy\nso doing you will cousc the illusion in the mind of the listeners,\nthat they hear the same voice which they heard when the door\nwas closed, but which is now heard more distinctly and nearer\non account of the door being open. This voice must always be\nused when the ventriloquist wishes it to appear that the sound\ncomes from some one close at hand, but through an obstacle.\nThe description of voice and dialogue may be varied as in the fol-\nlowing examples- -\nEx. 1. THE SUFFOCATED VICTIM.-This was a favoite illus-\ntration of Mr. Love, the polyphonist. A large box or close cup-\nboard is used indiscriminately, as it may be handy. The student\nwill rap or kick the box apparently by accident. The voice will\nthen utter a hoarse and subdued groan, apparently from the box\nor closet."}
{"path": "practicalmagicia00harr.pdf", "page": 93, "folder": "", "text": "THE PRACTICAL MAGICIAN.\n83\nSTUDENT (pointing to the box with an air of astonishment) : What\nis that ?\nVOICE: 1 won't do so any more. I am nearly dead.\nSTUDENT : Who are you How came you there ?\nVOICE : I only wanted to see what was going on. Let me\nout, do.\nSTUDENT : But I don't know who you are.\nVOICE : Oh yes, you do.\nSTUDENT : Who are you ?\nVOICE : Your old schoolfellow, Tom,\n.\nYou know me.\nSTUDENT : Why, he's in Canada.\nVOICE (sharply) : No he aint, he's here ; but be quick,\nSTUDENT (opening the lid) Perhaps lic's come by the under-\nground railroad ? Hallo !\nVOICE (not so muffled as described in direction) : Now then, give us\na hand.\nSTUDENT (closing the lid or door sharply) : No, I wont.\nVOICE (ns before) : Have pity (Tom, or Jack, or Mr. , as the\ncase may be), or I shall be choked.\nSTUDENT : I don't believe you are what you say.\nVOICE : Why don't you let me out and see before I am dead ?\nSTUDENT (opening and shutting the lid or door and varying the\nvoice accordingly) : Dead ! not you. When did you leave Can-\nada ?\nVOICE : Last week. Oh ? I am choking.\nSTUDENT : Shall I let him out ? (opening the door). There's no\none here.\n2. THE MILKMAN AT THE DOOR.-TI affords a capital op-\nportunity of introducing a beggar, watercress or milkman, and\nmay be varied accordingly. We will take Skyblue, the milkman;\nand we would impress on the student, that, although we give\nthese simple dialogues, they are merely intended as illustrations for the\nmodest tyro, not to be implicitly followed when greater confidence\nand proficiency are attained.\nVOICE : Milk below !\nSTUDENT : Is it not provoking that a milkman always comes\nwhen he is not wanted, and is absent when we are waiting for\nthe cream ?\nVOICE : (whistling a bar of 11 Shoo Fly\").\nSTUDENT : Oh, yes, always the broken-hearted milkman as if\nhe was not as happy as a king.\nVOICE (nearer) : Milk below ! Why, Sally, where's the can ? ]\nSTUDENT : Sally will be long in answering, I think.\nVOICE : Sally's gadding with the police. Milk below !\nSTUDENT (slightly opening the door.) : We don't want any milk, ny\ngood man.\nVOICE : No skim milk for the sat, or cream for ten ?"}
{"path": "practicalmagicia00harr.pdf", "page": 94, "folder": "", "text": "84\nTHE PRACTICAL MAGICIAN.\nANOTHER VOICE : Watercresses !\nSTUDENT : Really, this is too bad. Go away.\nVOICE : You owe mc ten cents for last week's milk; I was to\nwait.\nSTUDENT : This is intolerable. I'll send for the police.\nVOICE [ironically] ; Send for Sally and p'lice, l'll foller.\nSTUDENT ; Impudent rascal :\nVOICE ; Keep your compliments at home, Master Idlebones.\nSTUDENT [opening the door]: I'll report you to your master.\nVOICE [louder, as the door is opened] ; Will you, young Whipper-\nsnapper, pay us the dime, and let us go?\nSTUDENT offers to pay, while the voice gets weaker in the dis-\ntance with Milk below !\" until it becomes inaudible.\nA conversation may be held in a similar strain with thecellarman :\nand, as a rule, the lowernotes of the voice will be best for voices\nin the basement, and formed as low in the chest as possible.\nSTUDENT : Thomas, are you coming?\nVOICE BELOW [grufty] ; I should think I was.\nSTUDENT ; We are waiting for the beer.\nVOICE [partly aside]: The longer you wait, the greater our honor.\nMary, have another drop.\nSTUDENT ; Why, the scamp is drinking the beer ! Thomas\n!\nWho's there with you?\nVOICE : Myself. [Aside] Make haste with the pot, Mary ; he's\nin such a hurry.\nSTUDENT ; You drinking rascal, how dare you !\nVOICE : Coming, sir. The barrel's nearly empty.\nSTUDENT : I should think so, tippling: as you are at it.\nVOICE ; Now don't be saucy.\nSTUDENT : The fellow is getting intoxicated. Thomas !\nVorca ; Wait till I come. I have waited for you many times.\nSTUDENT : I suppose it is of no use hurrying you?\nVOICE ; No, it isn't, my young tippler. I'm COMING ! coming ! !\ncoming ! ! !\nFrom this illustration the student may proceed to try the second\nvoice.\nNo. II.\nVoice No. 2. - -This is the more easy to be acquired. It is the\nvoice by which all ventriloquists make a supposed person speak\nfrom a long distance, or from, or through the cciling. In the\nfirst place, with your back to the audience, direct their attention to\nthe ceiling by pointing to it or by intently nt it. Call loudly,\nand ack some question, as though you believed some person to\nbe concealed there. Make your own voice very distinct, and as\nnear the lips as possible, inasmuch as that will help the illusion,"}
{"path": "practicalmagicia00harr.pdf", "page": 95, "folder": "", "text": "THE PRACTICAL MAGICIAN.\n85\nThen in exactly the same tone and pitch answer ; but, in order that the\nsame voice may seem to proceed from the point indicated, the words must\nbe formed at the back part of the roof of the mouth. To do this the lower\njaw must be drawn back and held there, the mouth open, which\nwoll, cruse il.c palate to be devated (in il 10\nand the sound will be reflected in that cavity, and appear 1,0 come\nfrom the roof. Too much attention cannot be paid to the man-\nner in which the breath is used in this voice. When speaking to\nthe supposed person, expel the words with a deep, quick breath.\nWhen answering in the imitative manner, the breath must be\nheld buck and exp. lled very slowoly, and the voice will come i? a\nsubducd and muffled manner, little above a whisper, but so as to be\nwell distinguished. To cause the supposed voice to come nearer\nby degrees, call loudly, and say, I want you down here,'\nor\nwords to that effect. At the same time make a motion dounwar is with\nyour hand Hold some conversation with the voice and cause it\nto say, I am coming,\" or, \"Ilcre I am, each time indienting the\ndescunt with the hand (scecramples). When the voice is supposed\nto\napproach nearer, the sound must alter, to denote the progress of\nthe movement. Therefore let the voice at every suppcsed step,\nroll, as it were, by degrees, from thepharynx more into the cavily of the\nmouth, and at each supposed stcp, contracting the opening of the mouth,\nuntil the lips are drawn up as if you were whistling. By so doing\nthe cavity of the mouth will be very much enlarged. This will\ncause the voice to be obscurid, and so \"ppear to come nearer by de-\ngrees. At the same time, care must be taken not to articulate the\nconsonant sounds plainly, as that would cause the disarrangement\nof the lips and cavity ofthe mouth ; and in all imitation roicis the\nconsonants must scarcely bc articulated at all, especially if the t'ent-\nriloquist facis the audience. For cxample ; suppose the imitative\nvoice i3 made to say, \"Mind what you are doing, you bad boy,\nit must be spoken as if it were written \"ind 'ot you're doing,\nyou 'ad whoy. \" This kind of articulation may be practised\nby forming the words in the pharynx, and then sending thim\nout of the mouth by sudden expulsions of the breath clean\nfrom the lungs at every word. This is most useful in ventril-\noquism, and to illustrate it we will take the man on the roof as an\nillustration. This is an cxample almost invariably successful,\nand is constantly used by skilled professors of the art As we\nhave beforc repeatedly intimated, the cyes and attention of the\naudience must be directed to the supposed spot from whence the\nillusive voice is supposed to proceed.\nSTUDENT: Arc you up there, Jcm?\n* It is TCRT rarely that a ventriloquist shoms a full face to his au-\ndiener: it is only dine when he is at a great d:stance from them, and is\npronouncing the labial sounds, in the manner given, for any movement\nof the jaws would holp to destroy the illusion."}
{"path": "practicalmagicia00harr.pdf", "page": 96, "folder": "", "text": "86\nTHE PRACTICAL MAGICIAN.\nVOICE : Hallo ! who's that?\nSTUDENT ; It's I ! Are you nearly finished?\nVOICE : Only three more slates to put on, master.\nSTUDENT ; I want you here, Jem.\nVOICE ; I am coming directly.\nSTUDENT : Which way, Jem?\nVOICE : Over the roof and down the trap. (Voice is supposed\nto be moving as the student turns and points with his finger.)\nSTUDENT Which way?\nVOICE (nearcr) Through the trap and down the stairs.\nSTUDENT : How long shall you be?\nVOICE : Only a few minutes. I am coming as fast as I can.\nThe voice now approaches the door, and is taken up by the\nsame tone, but produced as in the first voice. As another illus-\ntration, we will introduce the reader to\nTHE INVISIBLE SWEEP.-This is a striking example of the\nsecond voice. Let the student pretend to look up the chimney,\nand rehearse the following or some similar colloquy :-\nSTUDENT : Are you up there?\nVOICE : Yes. Chimley want sweep?\nSTUDENT : Really, it is extraordinary.\nWhat are you\ndoing?\nVOICE : Looking for birds'-nests.\nSTUDENT : Birds'-nests ! There are none there.\nVOICE : Dick says there be.\nSTUDENT : Come down !\nVOICE : I shan't.\nSTUDENT : (stirring the fire) ; I'll make you show yourself.\nVOICE : I say, don't ; it's so hot.\nSTUDENT ; Come down, then.\nVOICE ; Don't be so stupid. Let I alone.\nSTUDENT ; Will you come down?\nVOICE : Yes, I will.\nSTUDENT : What's your name?\nVOICE (much nearer) : Sam Lillyvite. I sdy, what do you want\nmc for among company?\nSTUDENT : To show yourself.\nVOICE (nearer) : What for?\nSTUDENT : To let these ladies and gentlemen see that there are\nmany strange things between heaven and carth, but not Sam\nLillyvite, the sweep.\nAnother good illustration is to hold a conservation with a\nfriend wholives on the first floor, and with whom you can con-\nverse on any subject-as the retired and mystcrious student-but the\nmoment the student can master the elementary sounds, he will\nnot need our assistance in providing him with dialogues, which,\nhowever simple they may be to rend, have an extraordinary effect\nwhen properly spoken.\""}
{"path": "practicalmagicia00harr.pdf", "page": 97, "folder": "", "text": "THE PRACTICAL MAGICIAN.\n87\nPOLYPHONIC IMITATIONS.\nThe TORMENTING BEE.- is related that Mr. Love, when\nyoung, took great delight in imitating the buzzing of insects and\nthe cries of animals ; indeed, it is difficult to decide whether he\nor Mr. Thurton most excelled in this particular species of mimetic\nillusion. In all limitations of insect noises, the, bee should be\nheard to hum gently at first, so as in a private party not likely to\nattract attention till the right pitch is obtained, and be it remem-\nbered that the sound, without being particularly loud, can be\nmade to penetrate every corner of a large room. The illusion\nis\ngreatly increased by pretending to catch the offending and intru-\nsive insect. The humble bee, the wasp, and the bluebottle fly are\nbest to imitate, and afford an agreeable relief to the other exerci-\nses of ventriloquial power. To imitate the tormenting bec, the\nstudent must use considerable pressure on his chest, as if he was\nabout to groan suddenly, but instead of which, the sound must be\nconfined and prolonged in the throat the greater the pressure,\nthe higher will be the faint note produced, and which will per-\nfectly resemble the buzzing of the bee or wasp.\nNow, toimitate the buzzing of a bluebottle fly, it will be neces-\nsary for the sound to be made with the lips instead of the throat ;\nthis is donc by closing the lips very tight, except at one corner,\nwhere: small aperture is left, fill that cheek full of wind, but not\nthe other, then slowly blow or force the wind contained in the\ncheek out of the aperture : if this is done properly, it will cause a\nsound exactly like the buzzing of a bluebottle fly. These two in-\nstances will show how necessary it is for the ventriloquist to\nstudy minutely the different effects of sound upon his hearers in\nall his exploits. And to make the above properly effective, he\nshould turn his face to a wall ; with a handkerchief strike at the\npretended bee or fly, at the same time pretend to follow his victim\nfirst this way and then that, and finally to\" dab \" his pocket-\nhandkerchief on the wall as though he had killed it ; the sounds\nshould be at times suddenly louder and then softer, which will\nmake it appear asit is heard in different parts of the room.\nTire SPECTRE CARFENTER.-Th noise caused by planing and\nsawing wood can also be imitated without much difficulty, and it\ncauses a great deal of amusement. The student must, however,\nbear in mind that every action mist be initated as well as the\nnoise, for the cye assists to delude the car. We have even seen\nventriloquists carry this cyc-deception so far as to have a few\nshavings to scatter as they proceed, and a piece of wood to fall\nwhen the sawing is ended. To imitate planing, the student must\nstand at a table a little distance from the audience, and appear to\ntake hold of a plane and push it forward : the sound as of a"}
{"path": "practicalmagicia00harr.pdf", "page": 98, "folder": "", "text": "88\nTHE PRACTICAL MAGICIAN.\nplane is made as though you were dwelling on the last part of the\nword hush-dwell upon the sh a little, as tsh, and then clip it\nshort by, causing the tongue to close with the palate, then over\nagain. Letters will not convey the peculiar sound of sawing-it\nmust be studied from nature.\nA MOUNTAIN ECHO.\nSome persons imagine ventriloquism to be an echo ; but, as wo\nhave said, an echo only repeats what has been said before-it\ncould not answer a question.\nAn echo is reflected sound, and the reflecting body must be at\nsuch a distance that the interval between the perception of the\noriginal and reflected sounds may be sufficient to prevent them\nfrom being blended together. No reflecting surface will produce\na distant echo, unless its distance from the spot where the sound\nproceeds is at least 562 feet, because the shortest interval sufficient\nto render sounds distinctly appre\u00e7iable by the ear is about onc-\ntenth of a second ; therefore, if sounds follow at a shorter inter-\nval, they will form a resonance instead of an echo ; and the time\na sound would take to go and return from a reflecting surface, 561\nfeet distance, would be onc-tenth of a second.\nIt would, therefore, be impossible for a ventriloquist to produce\nan echo in a room of ordinary size, as the walls, being so near,\nwould cause the sounds to be blended, and would only produce\none impression on the car ; and yet the skilled ventriloquist can\nwith case imitate, in a room, a mountain ccho. We will give the\ninstructions, as it is very amusing.\nTurn your back to the listeners ; whistle loud several short,\nquick notes, just as if you were whistling for a dog then, as\nquick as possible, after the last note, and as softly and subdued as\npossible to be heard, whistle about a third the number of notes,\nbut it must be in the same note 01\u00b0 pitch ; this will cause the last\nwhistle to appear just like an echo at a great distance. This im-\nitation, if well donc, never fails to take the listeners by surprise,\nand causes astonishment. The same thing can be donc by shout-\ning. Call aloud any sentence, such as- 'Holloa, you there !\"'\nLet your voice bc formed close to the lips ; then quickly, and\nmind in the same pitch 01\u00b0 note, speak the same words very subdued\nand formed at the back of the mouth. This is not difficult, and\nis very effective.\nPOINTS TO BE REMEMBERED.\nIn giving the succeeding instructions, it must bo bornc in mind"}
{"path": "practicalmagicia00harr.pdf", "page": 99, "folder": "", "text": "THE PRACTICAL MAGICIAN.\n69\nthat the power and acuteness of hearing is possessed in ,\nveater\nor less degree by different individuals, and depends upon the sen-\nsibility of the auric nerves. It will not be out of place nor unin-\nteresting to show the effect of sound and the manner in which it\nis heard by the organs of the car. It is said that the human car is\ncapable of appreciating as many as twenty-four thousand vibra-\ntions ina sccond, and that the whole range of human liearing,\nfrom the lowest note of the organ to the highest known cry of in-\nsects, as of the cricket, includes ninc octaves.\nSound first strikes the drum or tympanum, a thin membrane\nwhich closes the aperture of the car ; when this drum vibrates by\nthe sonorous undulations of the external air ; the vibrations are\ncommunicated by minute bones, muscles, and fluid in the cavity\nof the car, and are then conveyed to the brain ; and to show how\nabsolutely necessary it is that all the organs of the would-be ven-\ntriloquist should be entire and without fault to succeed well, we\nwill show how the ventriloquist makes that nice distinction of the\ngradation of sound, and by which he is cnabled to judge whether\nlic is causing his voice to \"ppcar at the proper distance from his\naudience or not.\nLet any one firmly closc both cars by stopping them, then speak\na few words: now, as the cars are stopped, the sound cannot\nenter immediately to the drum of the car, but it takes cognizance\nof the sound by a passage called the custachian tube, which ex-\ntends from the back part of the mouth to the cavity immediately\nbehind the drum of the car.\nThe sound vibrations made in the mouth are transmitted along\nthis tube to the interior part of the organs of hearing. Now it is\nby a nice judgment of sound by this tube that the profes-\nsional ventriloquist judges the majority of his voices, especially\nthosc greatly obscured or mufiled. Not only must the auric nerves\nof the would-be ventriloquist be perfect, but he will become more\nproficient as he is able to study and understand the human voice.\nThere is the laneuage of emotion, or natural language. When\nwe say natural, we mean the language by which the feelings mani-\nfest themselves without previous teaching, and which is recogniz-\ned and felt without teaching. Some of them are the scream of\nterror, the shout of joy, the laugh of satisfaction, laugh of sarcasm,\nridicule, &c., which are made by man, and understood by fellow-\nmen, whatever may be the speechi or country of the other.\nThere are also distinct qualities of voice, peculiar to each per-\nson, both in tone and quality, and the best practice is to try and\nimitate three or four people's voices, and let them be of a different\ntonc and pitch.\nThe ordinary compass of the voice is about twelve notes, and a\nvery good practice to the attainment of the art is to call aloud in\na certain note, and then in the octave to that note ; do this several times"}
{"path": "practicalmagicia00harr.pdf", "page": 100, "folder": "", "text": "or at a distance. Ample directions have been given how all this is\ndonc, but let it be understood that it is most essential. The stu-\ndent may then practice before a friend, and he will be astonished\nto find that he can deceive any listener, as to the point from which\nthe sound comes ; and will be gratified that he has become the\nsource of great amusement to himself as well as in the circle in\nwhich he moves.\nThus we have acquired a working power in the art which, we\ntrust, we have now explained to the satisfaction of the reader.\nThe progress of the student will, of course, be facilitated by an\ninherent propensity of mimicry, which often approaches some of\nthe minor attainments of ventriloquism. In every company some\nperson may be found who, without any professional instruction,\ncan give admirable limitations, of the voice, gait, and peculiarities\nof a frient or acquaintance; thus proving that Nature, to some\nextent, supplies the basis upon which, if we may use the phrase,"}
{"path": "practicalmagicia00harr.pdf", "page": 101, "folder": "", "text": "THE PRACTICAL MAGICIAN.\n91\nthe complete superstructure of vocal illusion may be raised. The\npossession of this quality would amount, comparatively, to little,\nwithout instruction and perseverance. Here, as in other respects,\npractice makes perfect ; and, more than that, a dilligent applica-\ntion of our rules will invest the originally defective ainateur with\nan attainment which the ignorant will attribute to the possession\nof a supernatural gift.\nAll we need say in conclusion is, that the rules propounded will\nnot only clear away imaginary difficulties from the path of the\nstudent, but entitle him, like ourselves, to an acquirement more\nor less near perfection, according to a natural gift of mimicry, and\nto the zeal with which he may study and practice the art.\nTHE MAGIC WHISTLE.\nIt will be pleasant when the wind is howling without, among\nthe snow-laden limbs of the trees, to be reminded of the gay sum-\nmer by the counterfeit notes of the woodland songsters ; or, wan-\ndering among the woods and fields in spring or summer time,\nhow glorious to challenge the feathered musicians to a contest of\nskill with you in their own sweet language. Wc propose to in-\nstruct the reader in the manufacture of a little instrument by\nwhich the notes of birds, voices of animals, and various peculiar\nsounds may bc imitated.\nFirst, look at the annexed diagram, and then procure a leek and\ncut off from the green leaf thereof a piece about the size of the\ndiagram ; then lay it on a smooth table, and with the thumb-nail\ndelicately scrape away a small semi-circular patch of the green\npulpy substance of the leaf [as represented in the diagram], being\ncareful to leave the fine membrane of outer skin of the leaf un-\ninjured-and there is the instrument complete. It may require\nseveral experimens to make the first onc, but once having discov-\ncred the right way, they are very casily manufactured. The\nreader may not be aware of the fact that the leaf of the leck has a\nfine transparent outer skin, which is quite tough, but by breaking\nand carefully examining one or two leaves, he will soon find out\nwhat weallude to.\nThe way of using this instrument is to place it in the roof of the\nmouth with the side on which is the membrane downwards ; then\nplace it gently in its place with the tongue, and blow between the\ntongue and the upper teeth. After the first two or three attempts,\nyou will bc able to producc a slight sound like a mild grunt ; then\nas you practice it you will find you can prolong and vary the\nsound somewhat, so that in the course of a couple of days you can"}
{"path": "practicalmagicia00harr.pdf", "page": 102, "folder": "", "text": "92\nTHE PRACTICAL MAGICIAN.\nimitate the barking of a dog and the neighing of a horse. With\ntwo or three weeks' practice, you will be able to imitate some of\nthe song birds ; but to produce exact counterfeits of the best sing-\ning birds will probably require months of study ; the result, how-\never, will reward you for all your pains, for certainly to be able\nto carry a mocking bird, canary, thrush, cat-bird and sucking-pig\nin your vest pocket, is no small accomplishment.\nWhen not using the instrument, it should be kept in a glass of\nwater to prevent its drying."}
{"path": "practicalmagicia00harr.pdf", "page": 103, "folder": "", "text": "THE\nHunters' and Trappers'\nCOMPLETE GUIDE.\nA MANUAL OF INSTRUCTION IN THE ART OF\nHUNTING, TRAPPING AND FISHING.\nThis book will be found very valuable to those who have not had exporience\nin these healthy, manly and profitable pursuits. The book is thorough in\ndetail in every respect. The young sporteman can learn bow to use the Guu\nor Rifle with earc and precision. and become an unerring shot. The mystery\nof making, setting and baiting Traps successfully, is shown.\nThe Best Methods of Catching all kinds of Fish,\nEither in the Sca, Lake or River, is told practically and understandingly. The\nwhole\nArt of Managing and Training Dogs for Spcrting Purposes,\nand all about the care of Skins and Furs, so that they will fetch the highest\nmarket price, is given, with a vast amount of other valuable information\nrelating to the Hunters Craft.\nABOUT GUNS.\nTRAPPING.\nHow TO SELECT A GUN.\nHow TO MARE Trars.\nBREECH-LOADERS.\nSETTING AND BAITING Trars.\nllow TO LOAD A GUN.\nPROPER SEASON FOR TRAPPING.\nThe ART OF GUNNING.\nHINTS TO TRAPPERS.\nTHE RIFLE, AND How TO Use IT.\nSPECIFIC DIRECTIONS FOR Trap-\nABOUT Dogs.\nring AND SNAREING ALL KINDS\nMANAGEMENT OF Dogs.\nOF BIRDS AND ANIMALS.\nTRAINING OF DoGs.\nFISHING.\nBEST Dogs FOR SHOOTERS.\nBAITS. Hooks, Lines, Rods, &c.\nHUNTING, GUNNING AND SHOOTING.\nHIow TO CATCH VARIOUS KINDS or\nRABEIT SHOOTING.\nFISII.\nSNIPE SHOOTING.\nTHE ART OF STRETCEING AND\nPARTRIDGE SHOOTING,\nCURING SKINS,\nWOODCOCK SUOOTING.\nDRESSING AND TANNING SKINS AND\nWILD Fowl SHOOTING.\nFuns.\nDEER HUNTING.\nCOLORING AND Dreing SKINS AND\nBUFFALO HIUNTING.\nFrns.\nThe Book is indispensable to all who delight to Fish, llunt or Trap, either\nfor sport or profit. The instructions will enable anyone to become thoroughly\nexpert in the Sports and Pastimes of the River, Field or Forest. Illustrations\nare given, where needed, to clucidate matters, as in the construction of traps,\n&c.\nThis book will place many in a position to turn their spare time to a very\nprofitable account. Furs and Skins are always in demand, and if properly\ncaught and managed, sell for large prices.-Price 25 Cents.\nAddress all orders to\nHURST & Co., 75 Nassau Street, N. Y."}
{"path": "practicalmagicia00harr.pdf", "page": 104, "folder": "", "text": "CHEAPEST AND BEST IN THE WORLD.\nTHE N. Y. HOME MAGNET\nIs a Beautifully Iilustrated, Large, 32 Column Paper,\nPublished regularly every month, at the low rate of FIFTY CENTS A YEAR. The price is the only\n\"cheap\" thing about it. Haudsomely illastrated. 1t is first class in every way, shape and manner.\nBOYS will read it, for it has the best Hunting, Indian and Sea Stories tells how to make traps,\ntoys, bows and arrows, etc., etc.\nGIRLS\nwill like to hare it, for it is brimful of superior Tales of the Affecions and of Home\nLife ; will any quantity of articles on Love-making, Household Managemeut, Fashions,\n1.10 ' oilet Mysteries, l'eserving, Cutting Dresses, Workiug Crochet, Lace, Brald, etc., etc.\nMEN\nwilllike it for i18 vast amount of valnable information on every subject that can improve the\nmind, the morals and the habits. Givingall new phases of thouglit, all new luventions, aud\nparticularly those by which mouey can be easily made.\nLADIES go to embeillsh nome, and render it nore attractive; tenchings in every kind of\nwilllike The MAGNET, for in its columns will be foand everything detailed that can\nculinary ecounty, and modes ef making little money go a good way In household mauagement.\nEVERYBODY will like THE MAONET, for in its columns will be tound somithing to sult\nevery taste, whether grave or gay; whether in search of amusemient, In-\nstruction or protit, you will became for its pernsal wiser, better and richer. Nothlug 18 tou light and\namusing, nothing too grave, learued or uneful to flud a fit place 111 THE MAONET'S varied pages.\nThese are a few of the subjects that will befound in every number of THE MAGNET :\nTales and Romances.\nMaids, Wives aad Widows. Ways that are Dark.\nLively Editorials.\nYoung Folks' Department. Humorous Department.\nour knowledge Hox.\nPoetry.\nMousehold Hints.\nHealth Hints.\nFacts und Figures.\nPortfollo of Iuformation. Answers to Correspondents. Coujuring.\nAud hundreds of other useful and profitable employments will be written upon and explained by experts,\n80 tuat the reader cau both inform his mind, and make nouey by what bre\nlearns from THE MAGNET.\nTAKE SPECIAL NOTICE,\nthat THE HOME MAGNET will plainly show\nnow any one can make a Real Working Clock at a\nHow to Construct and Operate a Galvanic Battery,\nMity ceuts.\nand apply it so 38 to practicaily plate auy articles\nnow to Construet and Operate an Electric Telegraph,\nwith Copper, Silver or Gold; and totake beautin!\ntrausmitting aud receiving messages.\nfacsinriles of medwlsand coins ; as weil asexplain\nII.ww t., make a Microscope that will immeusely\nhow to deposit netuls upon leaves, insecis, etc.\nmaguify, at a cost of tie ceuts.\nHow to Make sme Work \" Lathe. With tue art of\nHow to Buil-t and Srt to Work a real Steam Engine.\nWood Tarning l'ully illustrated.\nHow to Mxke the Apparatus for Photography, and\nThe art of Gluss Blowing, instructing any one to\nlow (*) tike l'ictures of every style easily, suc-\nmake a thousaud and oue novel und interesting\ncessfully and protitably.\nsubjects from a plece of gluss.\nDear in mind, that these processes, which we engage to teach in THE MAONET, are plain, practical\nthings, NU bual the learuer cau turn his kuowledge to use, aud make money by the exercise of the\nlatat be acquires.\nGO CENTS A YEAR. Remember that this is nll you have to pay to get this\nPaper for a Whole Year.\nMany and many an article will appear in THE MAGNET that may put thousands of dollars in your\npe kets; it will bre jall of new, valuable receipts and suggestions.\nTivetve, comptiming beautitut Good Books and Useful Novelties. No delay in MAGNET. tilting order 8.\n\"o not Forget.-Every subse iber geis a \"aluable \"remium. One ean be selected from a List of\nD:) NUT FAIL to send FIFTY CENTS and get the mest Lively, spirited and Uuique Paprreve\" insved,\nNet kemember, 1 stamp that we give more value to our subs-ribers than any other paper has ever offered.\n1or our Agens' Ternis, List of Premiums and sprcimen Copy of THE HOME\nfor Il WROLE YEAR, with a VALUABLE PREMIUM, worth nuch nore than the price asked lor\nl'aper alone. Address\nHURST & COMPANY, PUBLISHERS,\n75 and 77 Nassau Strect, N. Y."}
{"path": "practicalmagicia00harr.pdf", "page": 105, "folder": "", "text": "THE Book OF KNOWLEDGE\nAND\nSure Cuide to Rapid Wealth.\nFortunes are mado every day by the manufacturing\nselling of some of tho articles here given. Directions are given\nfor making all kinds of Cosmetics, Lotions, Ointments, Patent\nMedicines, Soaps, Cements, etc. The secrets used by Metal\nworkers, how to make Gold, Silver and the various precious\nstones, with many practical directions for working and using\nthe commoner metals. The secrets of the Liquor trade are\nfully detailed, and the choiccst receipts and formulas are given\nfor the making of different kinds of liquors, including the new\nmethod of making Cider without Apples, all without the use\nof\npoisons or poisonous drugs. It is arranged and divided into\ndepartments for the use of\nLiquor Dealers,\nTho Household,\nDruggists,\nConfectioners,\nManufacturers,\nHunters & Trappers,\nFarmers,\nPerfumers,\nMedical Men,\nArtists.\nNo one, whatever be his position in life, can fail to find some-\nthing in this book that will repay a hundredfold its price.\nMany of the receipts have been advertised and sold for sums\nranging from 25 cents to ten dollars. We send the whole book,\npostage free, for 25 cents.\nSINGING MADE EASY.\nThis book shows how any one with an ordinary voice can, by\nproper management, as here indicated, becomo proficient in\nsinging. It explains the pure Italian method of producing and\ncultivating the voice, the management of the breath and voice\norgans, the best way of improving the ear, how to sing a ballad,\nwith much other valuable information equally useful to Profes-\nsional Singers and Amateurs. Price 20 cents.\nRIDDLES, CONUNDRUMS AND PUZZLES,\nThe choicest, newest and best collection of Riddles, Conun-\ndrums, Charades, Enigmas, Anagrams, Rebusses, Transpositions,\nPuzzles, Problems, Paradoxes and other entertaining matter,\never published. Here is Fun for the Mirthful, Food for the\nCurious. and Matter for the Thoughtful. Price 20 cents.\nAddress all orders to\nHURST & Co., 75 Nassau Street, N. v."}
{"path": "practicalmagicia00harr.pdf", "page": 106, "folder": "", "text": "Fortlune Telling Made Easy;\nOR,\nTHE DREAMERS' SURE GUIDE.\nCONTAINING PLAIN, CORRECT AND CERTAIN RULES FOR FORETELLING WHAT\nIS GOING TO HAPPEN.\nBY THE CELEBRATED GABRIEL,\nThe Astrologer of the 19th Century.\nA Complete Oracle of Destiny.\nIn this Book yon have all that was ever made known by the ancient Egyp.\ntians, Assyrians, Persians, Grecks, Chinese and Hindoos relating to the occult\nsciences. Much has been procured from overlooked sources, and transcribed\nfrom the original hieroglyphies. The substance, also. of all that has been\nbrought to light by the researches and investigations of modern Astrologers\nand Professors is here laid before the reader in a plain and intelligible manner.\nThis Book contains\nThe celebrated Grecian Oracle of Destiny.- -The renowned Egyptian Fortune\nTelling Tablets.-Th Great Hindoo Trial of Destiny.-Palmistry the art\nof telling fortunes by the lines on the hand.-Fity-two Grecian observations\non moles.-Hlow - to make the Dumb Cake.-The - birth of children, and forc-\ntelling other events by the moon's age and the days of the week.-Tc know\nif yourlovcofa person will be mutual.-Charms, Spells and Incantations,\nTo procure Dreams, Tokens, and other insights inio futurity.-Fast of St.\nAgnes -The Nine Keys. Magic Rose.-Cupid's Nosegay.- - The Ring and\nthe Olive Branch.-Love's Cordial.-TheWitches Chain.-Love Letters.-\nStrange Bed. - To see a uturehusband.- - Toknow whatfortune your future\nhusband will have.-The Lovers'Charm.-Ilymenial Charm. -For a girl to\nascertain if she willsoon arry.-Physiognomy: the art of discovering a\nperson's disposition by their features.- -How to tcll a person's character by\nmeans of Cabalistic calculations.- -Fortune-telling by means of a tea or cof-\nfec cup-How to read your fortune by the white of an egg.-To chcose a\nhusband by the hair.-Lucky day8.-Fortune telling by dice. -Fortune tell-\ning by cards.-Dreams and their interpretation.-s complete dictionary of\ndreams.\nThis Book will acquaint you truthfully about\nWhat your pertico in life will be.\nWhether you will dio an cli maii.\nWhat you will b3 successful iz.\nWhether you will have nomey left you.\nWhit you 273 adapted for.\nWhether your marriage will be hagpy.\nyour abcent wife is delac.\nWhether you will be successful ia your\nhucband is oscupied with.\nlove affairs.\nWitt your future partner will bc.\nWhether you will be a widow.\nThat your destizy is.\nWhether you will get a divorce.\nWhother yeur intendei is true to you.\nWhether you will b6 disappointed in no-\nWhether yeu will be childless.\nney matters.\nThe book is, in fact, n perfect Oracle of Fate, and may be consulted with\ncertainty upon all matters that relate to your present or future prospects.\nPrice 25 Cents.\nSent by Mail to any address, on receipt: of Price.\n/"}