{"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": "unmaskingrobert00houdgoog.pdf", "page": 40, "folder": "", "text": "THE UNMASKING OF\nROBER'T-HOUDIN -\nCHAPTER I\nSIGNIFICANT EVENTS IN THE LIFE OF ROBERT-EOUDIN\nR\nOBERT-HOUDIN was born in Blois, France;\nDecember 6th, 1805. His real name was\nJean-Eugene Robert, and his father was Prosper\nRobert, a watchmaker in moderate circum-\nstances.\nHis mother's maiden name was Marie Catherine\nGuillon. His first wife was Josephe Cecile Eglantine\nHoudin, whose family name he assumed for business rea-\nsons. He was married the second time to Fran\u00e7oise Mar-\nguerite Olympe Naconnier. His death, caused by pneu-\nmonia, occurred at St. Gervais, France, on June 13th, 1871.\nBarring the above facts, which were gleaned from\nthe register of the civil authorities of St. Gervais,\nall information regarding his life previous to his first\npublic appearance in 1844 must be drawn from his own\nworks, particularly from his autobigraphy, published in\nthe form of \"Memoirs.\" Because of his supreme egotism,\nhis obvious desire to make his autobiography picturesque\nand interesting rather than historically correct, and his\nutter indifference to dates, exact names of places, theatres,\nbooks, etc., it is extremely hard to present logical and con-\n3\n[33]"}
{"path": "latestmagicbeing00hoff.pdf", "page": 41, "folder": "", "text": "THE DETECTIVE DIE\n25\n\"they have returned to their original positions.\n\"Now you will realise, if you think about the\nmatter, that those two cards couldn't in any nat-\nural way change places without your seeing them\ndo it, neither could the one change into the other.\nBut this is where magic comes in. What I really\ndid was to hypnotise you a little SO as to make you\nfancy, when I told the cards to change, that the\neight of hearts was the seven of spades, and that\nthe seven of spades was the eight of hearts. It's\nquite simple, when you know it, and you can see\nfor yourselves that the quickness of the hand has\nhad nothing to do with the matter. For my own\npart I like to do things slowly; the more slowly\nthe better, and then you can all see how it's done.\"\nThe trick is simple enough; but it will test the\nperformer's expertness as to neatness of execu-\ntion. He must be careful in the first place to put\neach of the drawn cards as exactly as possible on\nthe opposite velvet-backed card; and in picking up\ntwo cards together he should frame them, so to\nspeak, between the middle finger and thumb at top\nand bottom, and the first and third fingers at the\nsides. Held in this manner they rest squarely one\nupon the other and there is little fear of their\n\"duplicity\" (or \"duplexity\") being perceived.\nIn the act of again turning the double card down\nthe upper one should be partially drawn off the\none below it; this facilitating the picking of it up\nalone a few moments later.\n/"}
{"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": "unmaskingrobert00houdgoog.pdf", "page": 41, "folder": "", "text": "THE UNMASKING OF ROBERT-HOUDIN\nsistent statements regarding his life. Such discrepancies\narise as the mention of three chiklsen in one chapter and\nfour in another, while he does net give the names of either\nJean-Eugene Robert-Houdin. Photograph taken about 1868. From the\nHIarry Houdini Collection.\nwife, though he admits his obligation to both good\nwomen.\nAccording to his autobiography, Jean-Eugene Robert\nwas sent to college at Orleans at the tender age of eleven,\nand remained there until he was eighteen. He was then\nplaced in a notary's office to study law, but his mechanical\n[ 34]"}
{"path": "latestmagicbeing00hoff.pdf", "page": 42, "folder": "", "text": "26\nLATEST MAGIC\nAn illustration of the use of the same device\nin a somewhat different form will be found in the\nitem next described, and in the trick entitled\n\"Where is it?'' post. Other ways of using it will\nsuggest themselves to any reader of an inventive\nturn.\nTHE DETECTIVE DIE\nThis is another of the new departures dependent\nupon the use of the velvet mat. Broadly stated,\nthe effect of the trick is as follows.\nOne of a group of six different cards laid out in\na row or rows repeatedly changes place with some\nother, the position which it occupies, or to which it\nhas moved, being indicated by the cast of an ordi-\nnary die. This may be repeated any number of\ntimes.\u00b9\nThe requirements for the trick are as follows:\n1. The Velvet Mat. This should be one with\na plain surface, diniensions preferably eighteen\ninches by ten, so as to admit of the six cards being\nlaid in one row. A smaller size, say twelve by\nnine, may suffice, the six cards in this case being\narranged in two rows. In either case there must\nbe a space of an inch or SO between each pair.\n1 Since the description which follows was written. it has come to my\nknowledge that there is already on sale a trick on somewhat similar\nlines in point of effect entitled The Educated Die. I need hardly say\nthat my own trick, so far as I am concerned, is absolutely original. The\nadvertised description of The Educated Die would suit either trick, but\nthere is little further resemblance between them."}
{"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": "unmaskingrobert00houdgoog.pdf", "page": 42, "folder": "", "text": "EVENTS IN THE LIFE OF ROBERT-HOUDIN\ntastes led him back to his father's trade, watchmaking.\nWhile working for his cousin at Blois, he visited a book-\nshop in search of Berthoud's \"Treatise on Clockmaking,\"\nbut by mistake he was given several volumes of an old\nencyclopaedia, one of which contained a dissertation on\n\"Scientific Amusements,\" or an exposition of magic.\nThis simple incident, he asserts, changed the entire\ncurrent of his life. At eighteen, he first turned his atten-\ntion to magic. At forty, he made his first appearance\nas an independent magician or public performer.\nOn page 44 of his \"Memoirs,\" American edition, Robert-\nHoudin refers to this book as an encyclopaedia, but several\ntimes later he calls it \"White Magic.\" In all probability\nit was the famous work by Henri Decremps in five vol-\numes, known as \"La Magie Banche D\u00e9voil\u00e9e,\" or \"White\nMagic Exposed.\" This was written by Decremps to\ninjure Pinetti, and it exposed all the latter's tricks, in-\ncluding the orange tree, the vaulting trapeze automaton,\nand in fact the majority of the tricks later claimed by\nRobert-Houdin as his own inventions.\nIn 1828, while working for M. Noriet, a watchmaker in\nTours, Jean-Eugene Robert was poisoned by improperly\nprepared food, and in his delirium started for his old home\nin Blois. He was picked up on the roadside by Torrini,\na travelling magician, who nursed him back to health\nin his portable theatre. Just as young Jean recovered\nTorrini was injured in an accident, and his erstwhile\npatient remained to nurse his benefactor and later to help\nTorrini's assistant present the programme of magic by\nwhich they made their living. His first public appearance\nas the representative of Torrini was made at Aubusson.\n[ 35 ]"}
{"path": "latestmagicbeing00hoff.pdf", "page": 43, "folder": "", "text": "THE DETECTIVE DIE\n27\n2. Six cards of like denomination (say for the\npurpose of illustration six queens of diamonds),\neach backed with black velvet and blackened at the\nedges all around save at one end. Here the card is\nthickened by the interposition of a slip of white\ncard-board between itself and the velvet, so that the\ncard as viewed from that end shall show a clearly\nvisible white edge. Each card has all four of its\ncorners snipped off to a microscopie extent, say a\nsixteenth, or less, of an inch.\n3. An ordinary pack of cards one of which (in\nthe case supposed, the queen of diamonds) bears a\nmark upon its back recognisable by the performer,\nbut not conspieuous enough to be noticed by any\none else.\n4. An ordinary die and dicebox, or a champagne\ntumbler to be used in place of the latter.\n5. A tray or plate, about six inches in diameter,\nwhereon to throw the die.\n6. The wand.\nPreparation. Velvet mat on table, and laid\nupon it, face down in a row (or a double row, in\nthe case of a small mat), the six velvet-backed\ncards. These, SO laid, will be undistinguishable by\nspectators at a very short distance from the mat\nitself. Each is laid with its \"white\" end toward\nthe hinder part of the table, so that this shall be\nvisible to the performer when standing behind it.\nThe marked queen of diamonds is laid on the top\nof the pack. The die and dice-box, on their tray,"}
{"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": "unmaskingrobert00houdgoog.pdf", "page": 43, "folder": "", "text": "THE UNMASKING OF ROBERT-HOUDIN\n-\n[36]"}
{"path": "latestmagicbeing00hoff.pdf", "page": 44, "folder": "", "text": "28\nLATEST MAGIC\nare laid on the mat, which may partially cover two\nor more of the six cards.\nPresentation. Performer, picking up the pack\nof cards with his right hand, transfers it to his left,\nleaving the queen of diamonds palmed in the right.\nPicking up the tray and its contents with the right\nhand and advancing with it, he offers the pack to\nsome member of the company, saying: \"Will you\nkindly look well over this pack of cards and satisfy\nyourself that there is nothing exceptional about\nthem; and when you have done SO give them a\nthorough shuffle. And you, Sir\" (handing tray\nand die to another spectator), \"please test this die\nin any way your please. Throw it as many times\nas you like. I want you to be quite sure that it\nthrows a different number each time, and that it is\nnot loaded, or 'faked' in any way.\n\"I don't like bothering people to examine things,\nfor in most cases it is a mere waste of time. But in\nthis case I have a special reason for asking. There\nis something about this pack of cards and this die\nwhich I myself don't understand; and I shall be\nmuch obliged to anyone who will help me to do SO.\nAs a matter of fact, these cards, though quite ordi-\nnary in other respects, are afflicted with a peculiar\nrestlessness. They change places without notice\nand without any apparent reason. If I were to\ntry to play bridge with them, for instance, I should\nfind as likely as not that my best trump had invis-\nibly left my hand and passed over to the enemy,"}
{"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": "unmaskingrobert00houdgoog.pdf", "page": 44, "folder": "", "text": "To=bay, Thursbay, July 3, 1845,\nfirst Representation\nOF\nThe fantastic Goirces\nOF\nRobert-Toubin,\nAutomata, Sleight-of-Hand, Magic.\nThe Performance will be composed of entirely\nnovel Experiments invented by\nM. ROBERT-HOUDIN,\nAmong them being :\nThe Cabalistic Clock\nObedient Cards\nAuriol and Debureau\nThe Miraculous Fish\nThe Orange-Tree\nThe Fascinating Owl\nThe Mysterious Boquet\nThe Pastrycook of the\nPierrot in the Egg\nPalais Royal\nTo Commence at Cight o'clocli.\nopen at balf:past beurn.\nPrice of Places: Upper Boxes, I fr. 50 C.; Stalls, 3 fr.;\nBoxes, 4 fr.; Dress Circle, 5 fr.\nProgramme for the opening of Robert-Houdin's theatre in Paris. Repro-\nduced from the American edition of his *Memoirs.\"\n[ 37]"}
{"path": "latestmagicbeing00hoff.pdf", "page": 45, "folder": "", "text": "THE DETECTIVE DIE\n29\nwhich would naturally upset my game and get me\ninto trouble with my partner. The die is equally\npeculiar, but in another way. From some curious\neffect of sympathy it knows where a given card\nis to be found when I don't know myself.\n\"The only possible explanation I can think of\nfor their peculiarities is the fact that both cards\nand die were formerly the property of an old\nmagician, and that after his death they were shut\nup together for some years in the same box with\nthis wand, which also belonged to him, and that\nthey have imbibed some of its magical qualities.\nI will give you a sample of their 'eccentricities.'' \",\nPerformer takes back the cards and proceeds to\nforce the queen of diamonds on some member of\nthe company (a lady for choice). Leaving the\ndrawn card for the time being in her hands, he\nasks a gentleman to shuffle and cut the rest of the\npack and count off from the cut five indifferent\ncards. The card drawn by the lady is then shuffled\nwith these, so that its position among the six shall\nbe unknown. Performer, taking these from the\nholder, deals them in a row (or double row, as the\ncase may be) upon the velvet mat, placing each\nexactly over one of the velvet-backed cards; the\nwhite hinder edges of these guiding him as to their\npositions.\n\"We will now consider these cards as numbered\nin regular order, One, Two, Three, Four, Five,\nSix! Among them somewhere or other, is the"}
{"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": "unmaskingrobert00houdgoog.pdf", "page": 45, "folder": "", "text": "THE UNMASKING OF ROBERT-HOUDIN\nTorrini was an Italian whose real name was Count\nEdmond de Grisy. He was a contemporary of Pinetti.\nIn all probability, during the long summer of their inti-\nmate companionship, Torrini not only initiated his fas-\ncinated young guest into his own methods of performing\nILLUSIONS.\nIVE A G x E.\nRobert-Houdin's favorite lithograph for advertising purposes. Used on\nthe majority of his posters and in the original edition of his \"Memoirs.\" From\nthe Harry Houdini Collection.\ntricks, but also into the secrets of Pinetti's tricks. In\nhis \"Memoirs,\" Robert-Houdin makes no secret of the\nfact that both Comus and Pinetti, together with their\ntricks, were topics of conversation between himself and\nTorrini.\nWhen Torrini was able to resume his performances,\n[38]"}
{"path": "latestmagicbeing00hoff.pdf", "page": 46, "folder": "", "text": "30\nLATEST MAGIC\ncard the lady chose. At what number it stands\nnobody knows (I can assure you that I don't), but\nthe die will tell us instantly. May I ask you,\nMadam, to name your card. The queen of dia-\nmonds; you say? Good! Now will the gentle-\nman who holds the die kindly throw it. What is\nthe number thrown? A three?\" (Whatever the\nnumber happens to be.) \"The die says the card\nstands number three. Let us see whether that is\ncorrect.\"\nHe picks up the two cards occupying the posi-\ntion indicated, and shows the face of the under-\nmost, which is of course seen to be the queen of\ndiamonds.\n\"But now we come to the more remarkable fea-\nture of the case. I told you about the queer way in\nwhich the cards change places. Even in this short\ntime I daresay the lady's card has got tired of\nbeing number three, and has moved away to some\nother number. If so, the die will tell us. Throw\nit again, Sir, please.\"\nThis is done, the die bringing up a new num-\nber, say \"five.\"\n\"The die declares that the card has moved, and\nnow stands fifth. We shall soon see whether such\nis really the case. First, however, let us see\nwhether it has really departed from number\nthree.\"\nPerformer has meanwhile replaced the two\ncards just lifted. He now lifts the upper one only,"}
{"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": "unmaskingrobert00houdgoog.pdf", "page": 46, "folder": "", "text": "EVENTS IN THE LIFE OF ROBERT-HOUDIN\nRaser \" esprees Datrensge e\nGracess\nTHE QUEEN,\nHIS ROYAL HIOHNESS THE PRINCE ALBERT.\nHEA ROYAL HIGHNESS THE DUCEESS OF KENT,\nTHEIR ROYAL HIGHNESSES THE DUEE & DUCHESS OF CAXBRIDO&,\nKEA ROYAL HIOHNESS THE DUCHESS OF OLOUCESTEL\nA GRAND\nMORNING FETE,\nA CONCERT & DANCING,\n\"\nBatts and for the Labouting Classes,\nIN COULSTON\nPLACE\nOx WEDNESDAY, JULY TR$ 19ta,\nUnder the above exalted Patronage,\nAT\nThe Residence of ARTSUR Esq.\nWaich Ass most hindly placed et the dispesal the Ledies\nTEE CONCERT\nsan sombine sminent et the tollsting use babe most estigingis\nassistants\nMADAME GRISI,\nMADAME CASTELLAN,\nMADLLE ALBONI,\nMARIO, M. ROGER, sto. TAMBURINI, a SIG. LABLACHS.\nCONDUOTOR\nSIGNOR COSTA.\nA\nTENT WILL BE ERECTED IN THE GROUNDS,\n\"\nROBERT-HOUDIN.\nwhe Ase .... -\nThe Grounds will be open from One o'Clock untu Sigbs.\nTICKETS FOR THE TETE,\nTHE or WHICN will et LIMITED,\nCan only be procured on the presentitation of Vouchers from the following\nLADIES\nDecesse or\nos\nes Ricameyo.\nor\nVIMCUNTEN ******\nor\n(revers os\nes\nor\nos\nances.\nOrcatse or Stocistom.\nor\nLeav Acasa:\nbecusss or\nor\nLADT as &suse.\nor Mostross.\n\"\nLADT Stamist.\no\nor\nDecuses or\nos\nLem\nos\nCocatus Gast.\nLeot\nos\nor\nor WATEAPORN\nLaos\no\n\" PROUNADA.\nCOFNTESS os\nor\nCor>rase\nLare Gastam.\nos\nBases,\nos\nLAM Jewn\nMabast V. as\nor\nLIONEL Da\nor\nTes L.DT\nor Ducomes,\nNow *** Nuarom.\nNas. Nims.\nSingle Tickete\n22 2s. esch.\"\ndetional for comorried Sons and Deughters of the same Pamily. 21 1. -\nN\u00b0\nVenchers will be exchanged at Mr. MITCHELL' Zoyal Libras, 33, O14 Sond Street\non TN& tava, lern. - tare JULV.\nRobert-Houdin's first appearance before Queen Victoria, July 19th, 1848.\nA very rare, and possibly the only, programme in existence, chronicling\nThe original, now in the Harry Houdini Collection, was presented to James\nSavren by Robert-Houdin.\n[39]"}
{"path": "latestmagicbeing00hoff.pdf", "page": 47, "folder": "", "text": "THE DETECTIVE DIE\n31\nwhich (being one of the indifferent cards) shows\na different face. \"The queen has gone, you see.\nAnd now to ascertain whether she has really\npassed to number five.\"\nThe two cards standing at that number are lifted\ntogether, and again a queen of diamonds is exhib-\nited. The trick can of course be repeated any\nnumber of times, but it is better not to prolong it\nbeyond a third or fourth \"move.\"\nIn picking up two cards together, in order to\nshow the undermost, they are lifted with second\nfinger at top, thumb at bottom and the first and\nthird fingers at the sides. Thus \"framed\" SO to\nspeak, the two cards will lie squarely the one upon\nthe other and be undistinguishable from a single\ncard. When it is desired to lift the upper card\nalone, it should be nipped between the second fin-\nger at top right-hand corner and thumb at bottom\nleft-hand corner, when it will be brought away\nclear without difficulty.\nThere is one contingency for which the per-\nformer must be prepared, namely, that the throw\nof the die may happen to correspond with the\nactual position of the card drawn. Both cards of\nthe pair are in this case alike, and the performer\ncannot, at the succeeding throw, show that the\ndrawn card is no longer in its late position. This\npossibility is provided for by having the back of\nthe card marked as before explained. Should the\ncontingency in question arise, the performer, hav-"}
{"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": "unmaskingrobert00houdgoog.pdf", "page": 47, "folder": "", "text": "THE UNMASKING OF ROBERT-HOUDIN\nJean-Eugene returned to his family in Blois. During\nthe next few years he mixed amateur acting with his\ndaily labor, leaning more and more toward the profes-\nsion of public entertainer. But his ambitions along this\nline were nipped in the bud by\nST. JAMES'S THEATRE\nmarriage. Mademoiselle Houdin,\nMenday, March 28,\nAnd Curing the Week.\nwhose father was a celebrated\nGREAT FREACN CONJOREA,\nwatchmaker in Paris, visited old\nfriends in Blois, their native town,\nand became the fianc\u00e9e of young\nRobert. As the new son-in-law\nwas to share the elder Houdin's\nbusiness and naturally wished to\nsecure such benefits as might ac-\ncrue from SO celebrated a family\n-\n-\nsy\nMest Gracions Majesty\n\"\nof watch and clock makers, he\n--\n- mas - -\n-\nvamar, masom se, sessy\nat THEE ABOVE DURING SASTER wase.\napplied to the council of state\nSVERY\n- - \u00e0\nDAY PERFORMANCE\nand secured the right to annex\nMESBAY & SATURBAY\n\"Houdin\" to his name, Jean-\nmasom so APRIL\n\"\nEugene Robert, and thereafter was\nvervass\nknown only as Robert-Houdin.\nHis life between 1838 and 1844\nPoster used by Robert-\nHoudin during an Easter\nwas divided between reading every\nengagement at the St.\nJames Theatre, London.\nwork obtainable on magic, and his\nFrom the Harry Houdini\nduties in his father-in-law's shop,\nCollection.\nwhere he not only made and re-\npaired clocks, but built and repaired automata of various\nsorts. His family shared with him many financial vicissi-\ntudes, and about 1842-43 his first wife died, leaving him\nwith three young children to raise. Earlier in his \"Mem-\noirs\" he speaks of having four children, so it is more\n[40]"}
{"path": "latestmagicbeing00hoff.pdf", "page": 48, "folder": "", "text": "32\nLATEST MAGIC\ning meanwhile noted the marked card, does not call\nattention to the disappearance of the queen from\nthat number, but proceeds at once to show that it\nhas moved to its new position. There is not the\nsmallest fear that anyone will notice the omission.\nTHE DISSOLVING DICE\nTo be worked on a Black Art Table\nThe requisites for this trick are as under:\n1. Three small billiard balls, one red, two white.\n2. A white half-shell to correspond, vested or\nplaced in a pochette.\n3. Three hollow wooden dice, each of such a size\nas just to contain one of the balls, and lined inside\nwith velvet to prevent \"talking.\" One side of\neach is left open, but the opening can be closed\nat pleasure by the insertion of a loose side with a\nbeveled edge. When this is in position, the die\nappears solid. The inner surface of each of the\nloose sides is also covered with black velvet, so that\nwhen lying with that side upwards on a black art\ntable it is practically invisible.\n4. Three cardboard covers, fitting easily over\nthe dice. In preparation for the trick the three\nballs are placed inside the dice, and these are\nplaced on the table, open side upward, but with the\nloose sides inserted on top, and the covers over\nthem."}
{"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": "unmaskingrobert00houdgoog.pdf", "page": 48, "folder": "", "text": "EVENTS IN THE LIFE OF ROBERT-HOUDIN\nthan likely that one died before his wife. He married\nagain soon, and though he gives his second wife great\ncredit as a helpmate he does not state her name.\nBy this time he had acquired more than passing fame\nRobert-Houdin as he appeared to the English critics. Reproduced from the\nIllustrated London News, December 23d, 1848.\nas a repairer of automata, and in 1844 he mended Vau-\ncanson's marvellous duck, one of the most remarkable\nautomata ever made. Doubtless other automata found\n[ 4I ]"}
{"path": "latestmagicbeing00hoff.pdf", "page": 49, "folder": "", "text": "THE DISSOLVING DICE\n33\nPresentation. The opening \"yarn\" may run as\nfollows:\n\"I once read a story about a man who invented\na most ingenious piece of furniture of the 'com-\nbination' kind. It started, say, as a table, but by\ngiving it a pull here and a push there, it became a\nstep-ladder. Another pull and push, and it turned\ninto a mangle, or by just turning a button or two,\nyou could make it a clothes-horse.\n\"The story says that at first it was a great suc-\ncess, but after a little while the thing began to work\ntoo easily, and sometimes changed of its own\naccord when least expected, which was a drawback.\nIt was annoying, naturally, when you were using\nit as a step-ladder, and hanging up a picture, to\nhave it suddenly turn into a clothes-horse, and land\nyou on the floor. It was vexing, too, when it was\na table, and the family were seated round it at\nbreakast, to have it turn into a mangle, and mangle\nthe cups and saucers.\n\"I shouldn't care myself to have a piece of fur-\nniture like that: it would make life too exciting.\nBut the story gave me an idea. It struck me what\na convenience it would be, after showing one of my\nlittle experiments, to be able to turn the articles I\nhad been using into what I wanted for the next. I\nhaven't got very far as yet, but I have made a\nbeginning in a small way, and I will show you how\nit's done.\n\"I have here three wooden dice, with a cover for"}
{"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": "unmaskingrobert00houdgoog.pdf", "page": 49, "folder": "", "text": "THE UNMASKING OF ROBERT-HOUDIN\ntheir way to his workshop and aided him in his study of\na profession which he still hoped to follow. During these\ndiscouraging times he was often assisted financially by\nST,\n-\nregest\nENTERTAINMENT\nTuesday. Thursday\nSaturday Evenings,\nDAY.\nPERFORMANCE\n90\nWednesday\nMorning.\nat\nPoster used in 1848 in London by Robert-Houdin. From the Harry Houdini\nCollection.\none Monsieur G-- who either advanced money on\nhis automata or bought them outright. In the same\nyear, 1844, he retired to a suburb of Paris, and there,\n[42]"}
{"path": "latestmagicbeing00hoff.pdf", "page": 50, "folder": "", "text": "34\nLATEST MAGIC\neach of them.\" (Take off all three covers, placing\neach beside its own die. Then, placing one of them\non the end of your wand, advance with it to the\ncompany, tacitly inviting anyone who pleases to\ntake it off and examine it.) \"I use these covers\nto spare the feelings of the dice at the critical\nmoment. Like myself, they are rather bashful.\nThey don't mind doing the Jekyll and Hyde busi-\nness, but they don't like to be seen doing it. By\nthe way, there is a very ancient trick (believed to\nhave been invented by Noah in the Ark, to amuse\nthe boys on a wet Sunday), which is worked by\nmeans of a sham die fitting over the real one.\nPlease take my word for it that I do not use any\nsuch stale device. If I did, you may be quite sure\nI should not mention it. These are all three gen-\nuine dice. They are rather too large to play back-\ngammon with, but save as to size, they are merely\nbig brothers of the regular article. Most of you\nknow, no doubt, that in properly made dice, the\npoints on opposite sides always together make\nseven. Notice please, that each of these dice has\nthe numbers placed correctly.\" (Taking up one\nof the dice and turning it about.) \"You see, five\non this side, two on that; together, seven. Three\non this side, four on that; together, seven. Six on\nthis side, one on that; again seven.\"\nThis is repeated, in a casual way, with the other\ntwo dice, the object being two-fold, viz.: first, by\nshowing all six sides, to induce the belief that the"}
{"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": "unmaskingrobert00houdgoog.pdf", "page": 50, "folder": "", "text": "EVENTS IN THE LIFE OF ROBERT-HOUDIN\nhe asserts, he built his famous writing and drawing\nfigure.\nThe next year, 1845, he was assisted by Count de\nL'Escalopier, a devotee of conjuring and automata, who\nadvanced the money to fit up\nand furnish a small theatre\nST JAMES'S THEATR\u00c9\nSaturday Evening, Aug. 19.\nin the Palais Royal. Robert-\nPOSITIVELY THE\nHoudin went about the work\nLAST\nNIGHT\nof decorating and furnishing this\nOF THE SEASON.\ntheatre with a view to securing\nBENEFIT OF\nthe most dramatic and brilliant\nMILE-HOUDIN\neffects, surrounding his simple\nROBERT\ntricks with a setting that made\nHOUDIN\nthem vastly different from the\nwill POSTIVELY MAEE ats\nsame offerings by his predeces-\nLast Appearamce in Lendon\nNaturday Evening, Aug. 19,5'\nsors. He was what is called to-\nOutes to Nio Eagagement et the Theatre Reyal, Mascheath.\nwhich Tuesday Evening aexi, Arges $2.\nTHE PROGRAMNE\nday an original producer of old\nBITS & INVENTIONS\nTHE avexava\nideas. On June 25th, 1845, he\nMILE-HOUDIN Me ,\nSECOND SIGNT,\nus\ngave his first private perform-\n\"\nINVISIBILETE,\"\nESCAMOTAGE EXTRAORDINAIRE,\nance before a few friends. On\nAMILK-HOUDIN\nSuspension Ethereenne,\nBY UGENE-BOUDIN.\nJuly 3d of the same year his\naoxgs, da. PIT, GAL STALLS, la se.\nPRIVATE BUXES ... STALLS\n-\nSOVAL sa,\ntheatre of magic was opened\nformally to the public. The\nprogramme of this performance\nPoster for theEmile-Houdin\nbenefit at St. James's Thea-\nis shown on page 37.\ntre in 1848. From the Harry\nHoudini Collection.\nIt will be noted that the famous\nwriting and drawing figure was not then included in Robert-\nHoudin's r\u00e9pertoire, nor does it ever appear on any of his\nprogrammes. He exhibited it at the quinquennial exhibi-\ntion in 1844, received a silver medal for it, and very soon\nsold it to the late P. T. Barnum, who exported it to America.\n[43]"}
{"path": "latestmagicbeing00hoff.pdf", "page": 51, "folder": "", "text": "THE DISSOLVING DICE\n35\ndice are solid, and secondly, to enable the per-\nformer, in replacing them on the table, to turn each\nthe other way up, so as to bring the loose side\nundermost. This is best done by placing the\nthumb on top of the die, with the first and second\nfingers behind it, then tilting the die over a little\nto the front, and slipping the two fingers under-\nneath it. After showing it on all sides, as above\nmentioned, it is an easy matter to replace it with\nthe loose side undermost, as desired.\n\"Now, as it happens, I have no immediate use for\ndice, but I want to show you a pretty little effect\nwith billiard-balls. Naturally, the thing to be\ndone is to change the dice into billiard-balls. It's\nquite easy, if you are provided with my patent\nquick-change combination dice. All you need to\nthink about is to take care to have even numbers\nin front.\" (You turn the dice accordingly, and in\nso doing lift each die a little, and shift it forward\na couple of inches or so, leaving the loose side\nundisturbed just behind it, the ball travelling for-\nward with the die, though still covered by it.)\n\"You don't see why they should show even num-\nbers? Because they would look 'odd' - if they\ndidn't. Quite simple,-when you know it. Now\nI cover all three dice over, to spare their blushes,\nas I explained just now. I wave my wand over\nthem and say, 'Presto! Proximo! Change!\nAnd we shall find the dice have all turned to bil-\nliard-balls.\""}
{"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": "unmaskingrobert00houdgoog.pdf", "page": 51, "folder": "", "text": "THE UNMASKING OF ROBERT-HOUDIN\nThis question naturally arises: If Robert-Houdin built\nthe original writing and drawing figure, why could he not\nmake a duplicate and include it in his programme? Surely\nSadier's \"Wells\nPOSITIVE NIGETS\nROBERT\nSERIES of MAGICAL\nILLUSIONS\nMONDAY, MAY 9th, 1853. and Every During the Woek.\nThe Entreptd Soldier.\nThe Produstion of Flowers.\nThe Animated Oards.\nThe Instantaneous Transpesition\nThe Marvellous Oraage Tree.\nThe Golden Shower.\nThe Mephistepheles Telescope.\nThe Enchanted Garland of Flowerte\nThe Traveiling Turtile Devea.\nA Wonderfal Surprise fer the Sadies.\nThe Transparent Oryatal Eex.\nvarmo PART.\nThe Confectioner.\nThe Taeshaustible Sowl of\nSECOND PABT.\nThe Orystal Balle, or Great Series\nBobert Mondia's Portfelle\nof stight et Hand Wricks.\nastonishing Envisibility.\nPress Circie,\n.\nSa.\nBexes,\n-\nSa.\nPII, - Is.\nGallery .\nPRIVATE soxma\nas, - as N. su.\n. of The -\n-\n-\nPoster used by Robert-Houdin when he played at Sadler's Wells, London,\nin 1853. He never refers to this engagement in his writings because he was\nnot proud of having appeared in a second-class theatre, while his rival, ,Anderson,\nheld the fashionable audiences at the St. James's, where Robert-Houdin had\nworn out his welcome. From the Harry Houdini Collection.\nit was one of the most remarkable of the automata which\nhe claims as the creations of his brain and hands.\n[44]"}
{"path": "latestmagicbeing00hoff.pdf", "page": 52, "folder": "", "text": "36\nLATEST MAGIC\nThe right hand lifts the first cover, pressing its\nsides sufficiently to lift the die within it, exposing\nthe ball, and in bringing it down again lands it\nclose to one of the wells of the table. The exposed\nball is picked up with the left hand, and while the\nattention of the company is attracted in that direc-\ntion, the die is allowed to slide out of its case into\nthe well, after which the ball and cover are brought\nforward and handed to someone of the company.\nThe other two balls are now uncovered in the\nsame way, but in this case the dice may be left in\ntheir covers, the offer of the first cover, found\nempty as above, having sufficiently proved that\nthey really disappear.\n\"Well, we have got our three billiard-balls.\nGood, SO far. Next, can any gentleman oblige me\nwith the loan of a billiard table? Nobody offers:\nthat's unfortunate. Well, does any gentleman\nhappen to have a cue about him. No again ?\nWell, perhaps it would be 'cuerious' if any gen-\ntleman had. I beg your pardon, it slipped out\nunawares. It shall not occur again.\n\"It's unfortunate that I can't borrow a billiard\ntable and a cue, because it prevents my showing\nyou my celebrated break of ninety-three off the\nred with my eyes shut. When I showed it to Gray,\nhe turned green, but that is another story. You\ndon't believe it? Well, I told you it was a story.\n\"Anyhow, as we have got the balls, we must do\nsomething with them.\""}
{"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": "unmaskingrobert00houdgoog.pdf", "page": 52, "folder": "", "text": "EVENTS IN THE LIFE OF ROBERT-HOUDIN\nIn 1846 he claims to have invented second sight, and\nat the opening of the season in 1847 he presented as his\nown creation the suspension trick. During the interim\nhe played an engagement in Brussels which was a finan-\ncial failure.\nIn 1848 the Revolution closed the doors of Parisian\ntheatres, Robert-Houdin's among the rest, and he re-\nturned to clockmaking and automata building, until he\nreceived from John Mitchell, who had met with great\nsuccess in managing Ludwig D\u00f6bler and Phillippe, an\noffer to appear in London at the St. James's Theatre.\nThis engagement was a brilliant success and for the first\ntime in his career Robert-Houdin reaped big financial\nreturns.\nLater Robert-Houdin toured the English provinces\nunder his own management and made return trips to\nLondon, but his tour under Mitchell was the most notable\nengagement of his career.\nIn 1850, while playing in Paris, he decided to retire,\nand to turn over his theatre and tricks to one Hamilton.\nA contemporary clipping, taken from an English news-\npaper of 1848, goes to prove that Hamilton was an\nEnglishman who entered Robert-Houdin's employ. Ham-\nilton signed a dual contract, agreeing to produce Robert-\nHoudin's tricks as his acknowledged successor and to\nmarry Robert-Houdin's sister, thus keeping the tricks\nand the theatre in the family. During the next two years\nRobert-Houdin spent part of his time instructing his\nbrother-in-law in all the mysteries of his art. In July,\n1852, he played a few engagements in Germany, including\nBerlin and various bathing resorts, and then formally\n[45]"}
{"path": "latestmagicbeing00hoff.pdf", "page": 53, "folder": "", "text": "THE DISSOLVING DICE\n37\nThe sequel may vary, according to the fancy of\nthe performer, and his skill in ball-conjuring.\nFor lack of a more effective d\u00e9nouement, the trick\nmay be brought to a finish as follows:\nSecretly getting the shell ball into his right\nhand, and picking up the red ball with the left,\nthe performer proceeds:\n\"Well, here we have three balls, one red and two\nwhite. To prevent ill feeling between them, I\nthink we had better make them all the same colour:\nand as the white are in the majority, we will have\nthem all white. It is quite easy, if you know how\nto do it. You have only to breathe on the ball,\ngive it a roll round in the hand to take the colour\noff, and there you are.\"\nAfter breathing on the ball, you bring the right\nhand containing the shell over it, and exhibit it,\nshell in front. You then transfer it in the same\ncondition, to the opposite hand. Then pick up one\nof the two white balls with the right hand, transfer\nit to the left and show the two side by side. Then\npick up and add the third ball, in SO doing letting\nthe red ball fall into the right hand, and while\ncalling attention to the three in the opposite hand,\ndrop it into the profonde. You then bring up the\nshell over one or other of the two solid white balls,\nthereby transforming the three into two. Drop\nthe solid from the shell into the right hand, making\nthe two into one; finally causing the disappearance\nof this last after the usual manner."}
{"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": "unmaskingrobert00houdgoog.pdf", "page": 53, "folder": "", "text": "THE UNMASKING OF ROBERT-HOUDIN\nretired to his home at St. Gervais. Here he continued\nto work along mechanical and electrical lines, and in 1855\nhe again came into public notice, winning awards at the\nExhibition for electrical power as applied to mechanical\nuses. In 1856, according to his autobiography, he was\nRobert-Houdin's grave, in the cemetery at Blois, France. From a photo-\ngraph taken by the author, especially for this work, and now in the Harry\nHoudini Collection.\nsummoned from his retirement by the Government to\nmake a trip to Algeria and there intimidate revolting\nArabsby1 the exhibition of his sleight-of-hand tricks. These\nwere greatly superior to the work of the Marabouts or\nArabian magicians, whose influence was often held re-\nsponsible for revolts. What Robert-Houdin received for\n[ 46 ]"}
{"path": "latestmagicbeing00hoff.pdf", "page": 54, "folder": "", "text": "38\nLATEST MAGIC\nIf the reader (being an expert) is provided with\na spare red ball and red shell, he may offer the\nchoice as to which shall be the colour of all three,\nfinally causing their disappearance after the man-\nner above described, or his own version thereof.\nWHERE IS IT?\nThis is another of the tricks dependent on the\nnovel application of the black art principle.\nFor programme purposes the trick may, if pre-\nferred, be entitled \"The Erratic Shilling.\" Its\neffect may be broadly described as follows:\nA marked shilling, lent by some member of the\ncompany, after being professedly magnetised or\nmesmerised by rubbing, is laid upon a black velvet\nmat and covered with a playing card, face down.\nTwo other cards are laid (also faces down), one on\neach side of the first, at a few inches distance from\nit, and the audience are given to understand that\nthe rubbing has imparted to the coin the power to\ntravel from card to card at command, and indeed\nsometimes of its own accord. When the card\nwhich covered the coin is lifted, this is found to be\nthe case. The shilling is no longer where first seen,\nbut is found to have placed itself under one of the\nother two cards. The spectators may be invited\nto say under which of the cards they would like the\ncoin to pass, when it will place itself accordingly."}
{"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": "unmaskingrobert00houdgoog.pdf", "page": 54, "folder": "", "text": "EVENTS IN THE LIFE OF ROBERT-HOUDIN\nperforming this service is not set forth in any of his works.\nHe spent the fall of 1856 in Algeria.\nFrom the date of his return to St. Gervais to the time\nof his death, June 13th, 1871, Robert-Houdin devoted\nhis energies to improving his inventions and writing his\nR\nBas-relief on Robert-Houdin tombstone. From a photograph taken by the\nauthor, especially for this work, and now in the Harry Houdini Collection.\nbooks, though, as stated before, it was generally believed\nby contemporary magicians that in the latter task he\nentrusted most of the real work to a Parisian journalist\nwhose name was never known.\nHe was survived by a wife, a son named Emile, and\na step-daughter. Emile Houdin managed his father's\ntheatre until his death in 1883, when the theatre was\n[ 47 ]"}
{"path": "latestmagicbeing00hoff.pdf", "page": 55, "folder": "", "text": "WHERE IS IT?\n39\nThe coin may be identified by the owner in the\ncourse of the trick, as well as at its close.\nThe requirements for the trick are as follows:\n1. The velvet mat.\n2. A pack of cards, arranged as presently to\nbe explained.\n3. Three overlays (see p. 20), each consisting, in\nthe present instance, of a court card, backed with\nvelvet of similar tint and texture to that with\nwhich the mat is covered. Three of the edges of\neach card are blackened, but the fourth (one of its\nshorter sides) is left white, and thickened by the\ninsertion of an extra slip of white card along that\nend. The effect of this is that, as the card lies\non the mat, its white edge is visible from that side,\nbut from no other position.\n4. Three cards, corresponding with the three\noverlays, which we will suppose to represent the\nqueen of clubs, and the knaves of spades and dia-\nmonds respectively. The queen is wholly unpre-\npared, but each of the two knaves has a point of\nfine wire, or a black bristle projecting a sixteenth\nof an inch or so, midway from each of its sides.\nThe \"queen\" overlay is furnished with similar\npoints, the object of these being to enable the per-\nformer the more easily to lift a given card with or\nwithout its duplicate overlay.\nIn preparing for the trick the two \"knave\"\noverlays, each covering a shilling, are laid before-\nhand on the mat, velvet side up, eight or ten inches"}
{"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": "unmaskingrobert00houdgoog.pdf", "page": 55, "folder": "", "text": "THE UNMASKING OF ROBERT-HOUDIN\nsold for 35,000 francs. The historic temple of magic\nstill stands under the title of \"Th\u00e9\u00e2tre Robert-Houdin,\"\nunder the management of M. Mclies, a maker of mo-\ntion picture films.\nDuring my investigations in Paris, I was shocked to\n-\nThe last photograph taken of Robert-Houdin and used as the frontispiese for\nthe original French edition of his \"Memoirs,\" published in 1868.\nfind how little the memory of Robert-Houdin was revered\nand how little was known of France's greatest magician.\nIn fact, I was more than once informed that Robert-\nHoudin was still alive and giving performances at the\ntheatre which bears his name.\n1 48 ]"}
{"path": "latestmagicbeing00hoff.pdf", "page": 56, "folder": "", "text": "40\nLATEST MAGIC\napart, as shown in Fig. 11, under which circum-\nstances they are invisible to the spectators at a few\nfeet distance, and very nearly so to the performer,\nsave that their white edges, turned towards him-\nself, furnish him with an exact guide to their posi-\ntion. On the top of the pack are laid, first the two\nknaves. On these the queen overlay, and upper-\nmost the unprepared queen.\nFig. 11\nIn presenting the trick the borrowed shilling\nis laid on the mat midway between the two\noverlays already on the table, and is covered with\nthe top card of the pack, the third overlay being\nlifted off with it, and resting beneath it with its\ncentre as nearly as possible over the coin.\nThe two following cards are now laid one on each\nside of the first, as in Fig. 12, each on the corre-\nsponding overlay, the white edges of these, visible"}
{"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": "unmaskingrobert00houdgoog.pdf", "page": 56, "folder": "", "text": "EVENTS IN THE LIFE OF ROBERT-HOUDIN\nContemporary magicians of Robert-Houdin and men\nof high repute in other walks of life seem to agree that\nRobert-Houdin was an entertainer of only average merit.\nAmong the men who advanced this theory were the late\nHenry Evanion of whose deep interest in magic I wrote\nin the introduction, Sir William Clayton who was Robert-\nHoudin's personal friend in London, Ernest Basch who\nsaw Robert-Houdin in Berlin, and T. Bolin of Moscow,\nRussia, who bought all his tricks in Paris and there saw\nRobert-Houdin and studied his work as a conjurer.\nRobert-Houdin's contributions to literature, all of\nwhich are eulogistic of his own talents, are as follows:\n\"Confidence et R\u00e9v\u00e9lations,\" published in Paris in\n1858 and translated into English by Lascelles Wraxall,\nwith an introduction by R. Shelton Mackenzie.\n\"Les Tricheries des Grecs\" (Card-Sharping Exposed),\npublished in Paris in 1861.\n\"Secrets de la Prestidigitation\" (Secrets of Magic),\npublished in Paris in 1868.\n\"Le Prieur\u00e9\" (The Priory, being an account of his\nelectrically equipped house), published in Paris in 1867.\n\"Les Radiations Lumineuses,\" published in Blois in\n1869.\n\"Exploration de la R\u00e9tinue,\" published in Blois, 1869.\n\"Magic et Physique Amusante\" (\u0153uvre posthume),\npublished in Paris in 1877, six years after Robert-Houdin's\ndeath.\nIn his autobiography, Robert-Houdin makes specific\nclaim to the honor of having invented the following\ntricks: The Orange Tree, Second Sight, Suspension,\nThe Cabalistic Clock. The Inexhaustible Bottle, The\n4\n[ 49 ]"}
{"path": "latestmagicbeing00hoff.pdf", "page": 57, "folder": "", "text": "WHERE IS IT ?\nII\nto the performer, but not to the company, serving\nas guides to exact position. When the performer\ndesires to show that the coin is not under a given\ncard, he raises the card only, lifting it lengthwise,\nand leaving the coin covered by the overlay.\nWhen he desires to exhibit a coin, he picks up the\ncard covering it breadthwise between finger and\nthumb and with it the overlay beneath it.\nFig. 12\nThe introductory patter may run as follows:\n\"You have all heard, no doubt, of what is called\nthe thimblerig trick, frequently exhibited at fairs\nand on race-courses. Some of you gentlemen may\neven have parted with a little money over it. For\nthe benefit of the ladies I will explain what it is.\n\"The operator has before him on a small board\nor tray three thimbles, or half walnut-shells. He\nexhibits a small pea, or a pellet the size of a pea,\nwhich he affectionately calls the 'joker.' This he"}
{"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": "unmaskingrobert00houdgoog.pdf", "page": 57, "folder": "", "text": "THE UNMASKING OF ROBERT-HOUDIN\nPastry Cook of the Palais Royal, The Vaulting Trapeze\nAutomaton, and the Writing and Drawing Figure.\nHis fame, which has been sung by writers of magic\nwithout number since his death, rests principally on the\ninvention of second sight, suspension, and the writing and\ndrawing automaton. It is my intention to trace the true\nhistory of each of these tricks and of all others to which\nhe laid claim as inventor, and show just how small a\nproportion of the credit was due to Robert-Houdin and\nhow much he owed to magicians who preceded him\nand whose brain-work he claimed as his own.\n[50]"}
{"path": "latestmagicbeing00hoff.pdf", "page": 58, "folder": "", "text": "42\nLATEST MAGIC\nplaces under one of the thimbles, all three of which\nhe then shifts about on the tray; inviting the spec-\ntators to bet with him as to which thimble the pea\nis under. He has two or three confederates, who\nbet, and naturally win, but if an outsider is rash\nenough to back his own supposed smartness he\nloses; for as a matter of fact the pea is not placed\nunder either of the thimbles at all until after the\nbet is made, when it is skilfully introduced under\nwhichever thimble best suits the performer.\n\"The trick is in truth a mere affair of dexterity;\nthe performer having acquired by long practise\nthe power of placing the pea under any thimble\nhe pleases. What I propose to show you is a sim-\nilar effect, but more surprising, because, as you will\nsee, there is no room for dexterity, or indeed any\nform of trickery; so that I have to depend entirely\nupon my magic power. I shall use a shilling, as\nbeing more easily seen than a pea, and three cards\nfrom this pack to represent the thimbles.\n\"Will some gentleman oblige me with the loan\nof a shilling; marked in such a way that he may\nbe sure of knowing it again.\"\nReceiving the coin in his right hand, the per-\nformer makes believe to transfer it to his left;\nwherein he already has a shilling of his own.\nSurreptitiously depositing the coin lent to him\nbehind the pack of cards on the table, he exhibits\nthe substitute on the palm of the left hand and rubs\nit with the fingers of the right."}
{"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": "unmaskingrobert00houdgoog.pdf", "page": 58, "folder": "", "text": "CHAPTER II\nTHE ORANGE-TREE TRICK\nR\nOBERT-HOUDIN, on page I79 of the American\nedition of his \"Memoirs,\" thus describes the\norange-tree trick, which he claims as his inven-\ntion: \"The next was a mysterious orange-tree,\non which flowers and fruit burst into life at the request of\nthe ladies. As the finale, a handkerchief I borrowed\nwas conveyed into an orange purposely left on the tree.\nThis opened and displayed the handkerchief, which two\nbutterflies took by the corners and unfolded before the\nspectators.\"\nOn page 245 of the same volume he presents the\nprogramme given at the first public performance in the\nTh\u00e9\u00e2tre Robert-Houdin, stating:\n\"The performance will be composed of entirely novel\nExperiments invented by M. Robert-Houdin. Among\nthem being The Orange-Tree, etc.\"\nNow to retrace our steps in the history of magic as set\nforth in handbills and advertisements of earlier and con-\ntemporaneous newspaper clippings describing their in-\nventions.\nUnder the title of \"The Apple-Tree\" this mechanical\ntrick appeared on a Fawkes programme dated I730. This\nwas II5 years before Robert-Houdin claimed it as his\ninvention. In I732, just before Pinchbeck's death, it\n[ 51 ]"}
{"path": "latestmagicbeing00hoff.pdf", "page": 59, "folder": "", "text": "WHERE IS IT?\n43\n\"I do this,\" he explains, \"in order to drive out\nall adverse magnetisms, and to substitute my own.\nI will now put the coin in full view on the table\nand cover it with a card. See that I do SO fairly.\"\nAfter laying down the coin he takes the top card\nof the pack, and with it, unknown to the specta-\ntors, the overlay beneath it, and lowers them on to\nthe coin.\n\"Notice particularly, please, where I have\nplaced the coin, and notice too that I do not touch\nit again. I will now place two more cards, one on\neach side of the first one.\" He does so, letting the\nspectators see clearly that there is nothing in the\nhand save the card itself, and then slowly lowering\nit exactly on to one of the two overlays on the\ntable. \"Now I make a few magnetic passes over\nthe cards, so.\" He waves his wand backwards and\nforwards above the cards, at a few inches' distance.\n\"And now, where is the coin? Still under the\nmiddle card, you would say You are mistaken.\"\nHe lifts that card lengthwise, leaving the overlay\ncovering the coin; then replacing the card. \"Itis\nno longer there, you see. In point of fact it has\npassed under this card.\"\nHe lifts one of the side cards breadthwise, the\noverlay coming with it, and exposes the coin\nbeneath it. \"Here it is, you see. We will try\nonce more.\" He replaces the card and then shows,\nin like manner, that the coin has passed to the\ncard on the opposite side. After one or two trans-"}
{"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": "unmaskingrobert00houdgoog.pdf", "page": 59, "folder": "", "text": "THE UNMASKING OF ROBERT-HOUDIN\nappeared on a programme used by Christopher Pinchbeck,\nSr., and the younger Fawkes. In 1784 it was included in\nthe r\u00e9pertoire of the Italian conjurer, Pinetti, in the guise\nof \"Le Bouquet-philosophique.\" In 1822 the same\ntrick, but this time called \"An Enchanted Garden,\"\nwas featured by M. Cornillot,\nwho appeared in England as the\npupil and successor of Pinetti.\nThe trick was first explained\nin public print by Henri De-\ncremps in 1784 when his famous\nexpos\u00e9 of Pinetti was published\n0\nunder the title of \"La Magie\nBlanche D\u00e9voil\u00e9e,\" and in 1786-\n87 both Halle and Wiegleb ex-\nposed the trick completely in\ntheir respective works on magic.\nThat Robert-Houdin was an\nDiagram of the orange-tree\nomnivorous reader is proven by\ntrick, from Wiegleb's The\nNatural Magic,\" published in\nhis own writings. That he knew\n1794.\nthe history and tricks of Pinetti\nis proven by his own words, for in Chapter VI. of his\n\"Memoirs\" he devoted fourteen pages to Pinetti and the\nlatter's relations with Torrini.\nNow to prove that the tree tricks offered by Fawkes,\nPinchbeck, Pinetti, Cornillot, and Robert-Houdin were\npractically one and the same, and to tell something of\nthe history of the four magicians who featured the trick\nbefore Robert-Houdin had been heard of:\nUnquestionably, the real inventor of the mysterious\ntree was Christopher Pinchbeck, who was England's\n[52]"}
{"path": "latestmagicbeing00hoff.pdf", "page": 60, "folder": "", "text": "44\nLATEST MAGIC\npositions have been shown, the audience being\nallowed to say under which card the coin shall\nappear, and the last shift having been to one of\nthe side positions, the performer says: \"I should\nlike you to be satisfied that it is really the marked\ncoin and no other, that wanders about in this way.\nI will ask the gentleman who lent it to me to verify\nhis mark.\"\nHe picks up from one of the side positions the\ncoin last uncovered and brings it forward, but in\ntransit \"switches\" it for the borrowed coin, which\nhe has a moment previously picked up from its\nresting place behind the pack. It is, of course,\nthis last which he offers for identification, again\nexchanging it for The substitute before replacing\nthis in its former position. The final reproduc-\ntion must be from under the centre card, the per-\nformer again ringing the changes before returning\nthe coin to the owner. At the close of the trick all\nthree cards are placed on the pack, the centre over-\nlay going with them. The other two overlays are\nleft on the mat, each still covering its own coin,\nand the whole being carried off together. If the\nmat is of the folding kind it can be closed before\nremoval, effectually concealing the accessories\nused in the trick.\nSome amount of skill will be found necessary\nto pick up the card with or without the correspond-\ning overlay, as may be desired. The difficulty\nhowever speedily disappears with practice.- On"}
{"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": "unmaskingrobert00houdgoog.pdf", "page": 60, "folder": "", "text": "Pinchestic\nstopher Pinchbeck, Sr. This is the oldest and rarest authentic mezzotint in the\norld pertaining to the history of magic. From the Harry Houdini Collection.\n[ 53 ]"}
{"path": "latestmagicbeing00hoff.pdf", "page": 61, "folder": "", "text": "WHERE IS IT?\n45\nthe other hand, the trick is well worth the trouble\nneeded to master it, for if the spectators are con-\nvinced (as, given perfect execution, they should\nbe) that it is really the borrowed coin which trav-\nels about as it appears to do, nothing short of gen-\nuine magic will furnish an adequate explanation.\nThe performer is of course by no means bound\nto adopt the mise en scene above suggested. If\npreferred, the patter might be based on a supposed\nplot between the two knaves to rob the queen, the\ncoin representing the stolen property, secretly\npassed from the one to the other when either was\naccused of the theft. The story might conclude\nwith an appeal by the queen to a benevolent\nmagician, through whose good offices her property\nis brought back to its original position, and in due\ncourse restored to her. The touch of the mystic\nwand would naturally play an important part in\neffecting the restoration."}
{"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": "unmaskingrobert00houdgoog.pdf", "page": 61, "folder": "", "text": "THE UNMASKING OF ROBERT-HOUDIN\nleading mechanical genius at the close of the seventeenth\ncentury and the beginning of the eightcenth. He was a\nman of high repute, whose history is not that of the\ncharlatan, compiled largely from tradition, but it can be\nAt YOUNGS Gront Riem, the of unite\nMall, faring de Hay-Market, feem The\nGAAND TREATHE of the MUSES, jaft\nfind Mr. PINCHBECK,\nTHIS wonderful Machine is the Altonifh-\nmen et of that fee it. the Magnificra\u00e7e of bs\nthe Deliescy of the Painitag und Seulprure, and the\ngreat variety of moving Figures makes it the moit fur-\npriling Piece of An thaz has ever yer appear'd in Europe.\nIt regrefenta a Landfeape, witha view of the Sea. termina-\nsing infentibly NE 4 vall wich Shipsfailing, plying\nto doubling Capes, and diminithing by degrees\nan des difappear, Swans in . River filling and pluming\nDuck Hunring to Perfection, and grest variety\nMotions Likewife Pi\u00e9ture, re-\nOEPUTUS in playing amang rhe Bealts\nfiere the very T res, as well du Bnnes, are feea 10 move,\nas if animared and compell'd by the Hamony of bia Harp.\nIt allo perfoins on feveral Infrumenta great variety of moit\nexcellent Pieces of Mulick compos'd by Mr. HANDRE, Co-\nRELET Bosescims, and orher celebtated\nwich fuch wonderful Exa\u00e4nel, that fearce any Hand em\nequal. It liacwife imitates the fwee Hamony of any Avi-\nary of Birds, wherein the refpeltive Notes of the Nightin-\ngale, Woodfark, Cuckoo, &c. are performed 10 to gieat a\nPerfebtion, as not to be dillioguillid from Nature it felf.\nWirh feveral other grand 100 dious to men-\ntiow, Prices rs. 25, 6 d. and To be feem from to\nin the Morning rill To Nighr, by two, or more, without\nlofe of Time.\nNate, This curious Machine will be removed ia a few\nDays next Deas but oxie to the Leg Tavem in Fleetflieet,\nClipping from the London Daily Post of November 30th, 1798. Used by\nChristopher Pinchbeck before he joined Fawkes. From the Harry Houdini\nCollection.\ncorroborated by court records, biographical works, and\nencyclopaedias, as well as by contemporaneous newspaper\nclippings.\nAccording to Vol. XLV. of the \"Dictionary of National\nBiography,\" edited by Sidney Lee and published in 1896\nby Smith, Elder & Co., 15 Waterloo Place, London:\n\"Christopher Pinchbeck was born about 1670, possibly\n[ 54 ]\n1"}
{"path": "latestmagicbeing00hoff.pdf", "page": 62, "folder": "", "text": "CARD TRICKS\nARITHMETIC BY MAGIC\nPreparation. The two \"flower-pots\" (see page\n5), separated, are placed upon the table. Also the\ncard mat (see page 1), loaded with the ten of any\ngiven suit, say diamonds, taken from the pack per-\nformer is about to use, and a double-faced card,\nrepresenting on the one side the seven, and on the\nother the three of the same suit. The deuce and\nfive of same suit to be laid on the top of the pack.\nPerformer, advancing pack in hand, palms off\nthe two top cards, and offers the rest to be shuffled.\nThis done, he forces these two cards on different\npersons. On receiving back one of them, he brings\nit to the top; executes a false shuffle leaving it in\nthe same position ; brings it again to the middle by\nthe pass, and has the second card replaced upon it;\nthen, once again making the pass, brings both\ntogether to the top.\n(The use of the Charlier pass is here recom-\nmended.)\nThe patter may be to something like the follow-\ning effect: \"Two cards have been chosen, ladies\nand gentlemen. I can't say what they are, but I\ncan very easily find out. I shall simply order\n46"}
{"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": "unmaskingrobert00houdgoog.pdf", "page": 62, "folder": "", "text": "THE ORANGE-TREE TRICK\nin Clerkenwell, London. He was a clockmaker and\ninventor of the copper and zinc alloy called after his name.\nHe invented and made the famous astronomico-musical\nclock. In Appleby's Weekly Journal of July 8th, I721,\nAt FAWKFS's THEATRE,\nIn near the Hay-market, will\nbe prefentedite following Entertaimments.\nFirtt,\nH IS Diverting and Incomparable\nfeveral Thingscatirely new.\nof HAND, in whichie performe\nN. n. In particular be caufera Tree to grow up in a Flower-\nPot upon the Table, which will blow and bear ripe Fruit in.a\nMinute's Time,\nSecond, His Famous linde\nThind, The CLOCN, with two moving Pilures\nTascly made b, Mr. Pinchbeck.\nFourth, The Vest TIAN MACKINE, being the huen Piece\net Workmaufhip in the World, for moving other\nCariofities.\nFifth, The ANTIFICIAL Vrow of the wherein\nis very nateraly imitared the Formament fpangled with Multitude\nof Stari; the Moon's Increale and D\u00e9create the Pawa of Day il\nthe diffufing his Lightar has Rifing : the beautiful Redneis of\nthe Horizin at hts a in a fine Summer Evening, The\nOccait it alfo repreferred, with Ships under Sail,\nMiles the Water, Difance; and their others they pafs B near by that Fort, their Shadows as &cc, the' are they at leea levent lis\n28 muy\neach other with Guits, the Report anddeccho of which are as\nplaialy heard as the from Places they Anpear to be.\nEvery Weck are diffevent\nNore, Every Night tlats Week will be\nfollowing\n1. The Ciry of Granz In the Drifredom of Stirla in Germany.\n11. The Clry of Autwerp Nin Brabant in\nIII. The City of Grand Cairo in Egres.\nIV The City of Africa.\nevery Evening precifely ar SFx n\u00b0 Clock.\nPic AL Middle Upper 64\nAnd thanhe Company may not be with Coll, theve\nis Contrivanzes TO keep der Warn.\nNote, Gendeaco and may have a privale Performance,\ngiving Noute the Sight befort.\nAdvertisement from the London Daily Post during 1730, showing the orange\ntree as offered by the senior Fawkes, just previous to his death. From the\nHarry Houdini Collection.\nit was announced that Christopher Pinchbeck, inventor\nand maker of the astronomico-musical clock, is removed,\nfrom St. George's Court (now Albion Place) to the sign\nof the \"Astronomico-Musical Clock\" in Fleet Street, near\nthe Leg Tavern. He maketh and selleth watches of all\nsorts and clocks as well for the exact indication of the\n[55]"}
{"path": "latestmagicbeing00hoff.pdf", "page": 63, "folder": "", "text": "ARITHMETIC BY MAGIC\n47\nthem to rise up and paw the air. It all depends on\nthe strength of the will. I myself happen to have\na very strong will, in fact, I don't know anyone\nwho has a stronger will, except my wife. I exert\nmy will, and say, \"first card, rise! and up it comes,\nas you see.\"\nStepping well back from the spectators, SO that\nthey cannot distinguish from what part of the pack\nthe card comes, he works up the hindmost card\nby the familiar \"hand\" method. (\"Modern\nMagic,\" p. 129.)\n\"Here we have one of the two cards. Let us see\nwhat it is. The five of diamonds! Good! And\nnow for the other. Second card; rise! Up comes\nanother card, you see, the deuce of diamonds.\nThose are the cards which were drawn, are they\nnot ?\n\"Now the question arises, \"what shall we do with\n21 It is a pity the ladies didn't choose bigger\ncards. You can't'go nap' 1 on a deuce and a five,\ncan you ? I think I can't do better than use them\nto show you a little experiment in conjurer's arith-\nmetic. Will some young mathematician among\nthe audience kindly tell us what two and five, added\ntogether, make?\" (He waits for reply, but if\nnone, pretends to hear one.) \"Seven! Right\nfirst time. And if you take two from five how\nmany remain? Three Good again. Really\n1 To endeavor to take all five tricks in the game of Napoleon."}
{"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": "unmaskingrobert00houdgoog.pdf", "page": 63, "folder": "", "text": "THE UNMASKING OF ROBERTT-HOUDIN\ntime only as astronomical, for showing the various\nmotions and phenomena of planets and fixed stars.'\nMention is also made of musical automata in imitation of\nsinging birds and barrel organs for churches, as among\nPinchbeck's manufactures.\n\"Pinchbeck was in the habit of exhibiting collections\nof his automata at fairs, sometimes in conjunction with a\njuggler named Fawkes, and he entitled his stall \"The\nTemple of the Muses,' 'Grand Theatre of the Muses,\nor 'Multum in Parvo.' The Daily Journal of August\n27th, 1729, announced that the Prince and Princess of\nWales went to the Bartholomew Fair to see hisexhibition,\nand there were brief advertisements in The Daily Post of\nJune 1 2th, 1729, and the Daily Journal of August 22d\nand 23d, I729. There is still a large broadside in the\nBritish Museum (1850 C. 10-17) headed 'Multum in\nParvo,' relating to Pinchbeck's exhibition, with a blank\nleft for place and date, evidently intended for use as a\nposter. Ile died November 18th, 1732; was buried No:\nvember 2ist, in St. Denison's Church, Fleet Street.\n\"In a copy of the Gentlemen's Magasine, printed 1732\npage 1083, there is an engraved portrait by I. Faber,\nafter a painting by Isaac Wood, a reproduction of which\nappears in 'Britten's Clock and Watch Maker,' page I22.\nHis will, dated November roth, 1732, was proved in\nLondon on November 18th.\"\nDuring one of his engagements at the Bartholomew\nFair, Pinchbeck probably met Fawkes, the cleverest\nsleight-of-hand performer that magic has ever known,\nand the two joined forces. Pinchbeck made all the auto-\nmata and apparatus thereafter used by Fawkes, and, in\n[56]"}
{"path": "latestmagicbeing00hoff.pdf", "page": 64, "folder": "", "text": "48\nLATEST MAGIC\nthere are lot of clever people about, if you know\nwhere to look for them.\n\"Now I want to show you that the cards know\nall about it themselves; in fact, they are just as\nclever at doing sums as we are. I will take these\ntwo cards and drop them into one of these pretty\nflower-pots. Let me show you first that it is quite\nempty.\"\nHe lays the cards on the little mat while show-\ning inside of flower-pot (the one with secret\npocket), then picks up mat, and transfers it from\nhand to hand, showing, without remark, that the\nhands are otherwise empty, and lets the two cards\nslide off it into the flower-pot, the concealed cards\nnaturally going with them.\n\"Now, ladies and gentlemen, what shall the cards\ndo for you, the addition, or the subtraction sum ?\nIt is all the same to me. The addition ? Very\ngood. They can't talk, SO they will call another\ncard from the pack to give you the answer. Yes,\nhere we have it. Five-and two-are-seven.'\nAs he names each card, he produces it from the\nflower-pot, the third being the double-faced card,\nshown as the seven.\n\"Now I can hear what some of you are thinking.\nOh, yes! I often hear what people think. You\nare thinking that if you had said subtraction\ninstead of addition, I should have been in what is\npopularly called a hole. But you are mistaken.\nNow we will ask the cards to do the subtraction"}
{"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": "unmaskingrobert00houdgoog.pdf", "page": 64, "folder": "", "text": "A very rare mezzotint of Christopher Pinchbeck, Jr., combining the work\nof Cunningham, the greatest designer, and William Humphrey, the greatest\nportrait etcher of his day. From the Harry Houdini Collection.\n[57]\n:"}
{"path": "latestmagicbeing00hoff.pdf", "page": 65, "folder": "", "text": "tion the order of production will naturally be\nvaried accordingly.\nTHOSE NAUGHTY KNAVES\nThis item may be described, if preferred, as\n\"Knavish Tricks.\"\nRequirements. Card mat loaded with knaves of\nspades, hearts and diamonds, taken from the pack\nin use. Knave of clubs on top of pack."}
{"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": "unmaskingrobert00houdgoog.pdf", "page": 65, "folder": "", "text": "THE UNMASKING OF ROBERT-HOUDIN\nsold for 35,000 francs. The historic temple of magic\nstill stands under the title of \"Th\u00e9\u00e2tre Robert-Houdin,\"\nunder the management of M. Melies, a maker of mo-\ntion picture films.\nDuring my investigations in Paris, I was shocked to\n-\nThe last photograph taken of Robert-Houdin and used as the frontispiese for\nthe original French edition of his \"Memoirs,\" published in 1868.\nfind how little the memory of Robert-Houdin was revered\nand how little was known of France's greatest magician.\nIn fact, I was more than once informed that Robert-\nHoudin was still alive and giving performances at the\ntheatre which bears his name.\n1 48 ]"}
{"path": "latestmagicbeing00hoff.pdf", "page": 66, "folder": "", "text": "50\nLATEST MAGIC\nPresentation. Advance, palming off the knave\nof clubs, and offer pack to be shuffled. When it is\nreturned, force the knave on one of the company.\nBorrow a hat, and after showing that it is empty,\nplace it, crown downwards, on the table. Receive\nback the drawn card upon the mat, remarking that\nyou will place it in the hat, which you do accord-\ningly, the other three knaves going in with it.\nThen, assuming a worried expression, deliver pat-\nter to something like the following effect.\n\"I am afraid, ladies and gentlemen, that I shall\nnot be able to show you the experiment I had\nintended. I have a telepathic nerve in my left\nthumb, a sort of private fire alarm, only more so,\nwhich always gives me warning when things are\ngoing wrong, and I feel it now. If you have read\n'Macheth,' you will remember that one of the\nwitches says:\n'By the pricking of my thumbs,\nSomething wicked this way comes.'\n\"I have often wondered whether that old lady\ncould have been a sort of great-great-great grand-\nmother of mine. Magic certainly runs in the\nfamily, and we may have inherited it from her.\nAnyhow, I have just the same sort of sensation\nmyself. Unfortunately, in my case the warning is\nincomplete. I dare say you will remember that\nstory (I rather think it's in Macaulay's 'Lays of\nAncient Rome'), about Little Queen Cole. Her"}
{"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": "unmaskingrobert00houdgoog.pdf", "page": 66, "folder": "", "text": "EVENTS IN THE LIFE OF ROBERT-HOUDIN\nContemporary magicians of Robert-Houdin and men\nof high repute in other walks of life seem to agree that\nRobert-Houdin was an entertainer of only average merit.\nAmong the men who advanced this theory were the late\nHenry Evanion of whose deep interest in magic I wrote\nin the introduction, Sir William Clayton who was Robert-\nHoudin's personal friend in London, Ernest Basch who\nsaw Robert-Houdin in Berlin, and T. Bolin of Moscow,\nRussia, who bought all his tricks in Paris and there saw\nRobert-Houdin and studied his work as a conjurer.\nRobert-Houdin's contributions to literature, all of\nwhich are eulogistic of his own talents, are as follows:\n\"Confidence et R\u00e9v\u00e9lations,\" published in Paris in\n1858 and translated into English by Lascelles Wraxall,\nwith an introduction by R. Shelton Mackenzie.\n\"Les Tricheries des Grecs\" (Card-Sharping Exposed),\npublished in Paris in 1861.\n\"Secrets de la Prestidigitation\" (Secrets of Magic),\npublished in Paris in 1868.\n\"Le Prieur\u00e9\" (The Priory, being an account of his\nelectrically equipped house), published in Paris in 1867.\n\"Les Radiations Lumineuses,\" published in Blois in\n1869.\n\" \"Exploration de la R\u00e9tinue,\" published in Blois, 1869.\n\"Magic et Physique Amusante\" (\u0153uvre posthume),\npublished in Paris in 1877, six years after Robert-Houdin's\ndeath.\nIn his autobiography, Robert-Houdin makes specific\nclaim to the honor of having invented the following\ntricks: The Orange Tree, Second Sight, Suspension,\nThe Cabalistic Clock. The Inexhaustible Bottle, The\n4\n[ 49 ]"}
{"path": "latestmagicbeing00hoff.pdf", "page": 67, "folder": "", "text": "THOSE NAUGHTY KNAVES\n51\nMajesty had the misfortune to develop a mole upon\nher nose, and King Cole was worried about it. He\nconsulted Old Moore and Zadkiel, and all the lead-\ning astrologers of the day, but all they could tell\nhim was\n'A mole upon the face\nShows that something will take place,\nBut not what that something will be.'\nThat's just my case. My prophetic thumb merely\ntells me that something is wrong, but doesn't say\nwhat. It may be drains, or the house on fire, or\nsomething in the county court. You never can\ntell!\n\"Of course it's nothing of that sort now. In\nthe present case it has no doubt something to do\nwith the experiment I want to show you. You\nchose your card quite freely, did you not, Madam?\nIt never matters to me in the least what card is\nchosen, with the exception of one particular card,\nwhich is a holy terror. May I ask if you happened\nto draw the knave of clubs ? Yes ? I feared as\nmuch. The knave of clubs is the bane of my life.\nHe is always endeavouring to get himself chosen,\nand then he does his best to upset my arrange-\nments. And the worst of it is, he leads away the\nother three knaves. The four of them form a\nsecret society, which they call \"The cheerful black-\nguards.' The knave of clubs is the president, and\nthe rest have to do just as he tells them. He com-"}
{"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": "unmaskingrobert00houdgoog.pdf", "page": 67, "folder": "", "text": "invention of second sight, suspension, and the writing and\ndrawing automaton. It is my intention to trace the true\nhistory of each of these tricks and of all others to which\nhe laid claim as inventor, and show just how small a\nproportion of the credit was due to Robert-Houdin and\nhow much he owed to magicians who preceded him\nand whose brain-work he claimed as his own.\n[50]"}
{"path": "latestmagicbeing00hoff.pdf", "page": 68, "folder": "", "text": "52\nLATEST MAGIC\nmunicates with them by means of a sort of wire-\nless telegraphy, and when he calls they go to him\nat once.\" (You here make the \"click.\"7 \"Did\nyou hear that sound? That's his call now,\ndespatched by wireless from the hat to the very\nmiddle of the pack. I have no doubt that we shall\nfind that the other three knaves have already left it,\nand joined him in the hat.\" (Make believe to look\nover the pack, and hand it to a spectator.) \"Yes!\njust as I thought: they are all gone.\" (To a spec-\ntator.) \"See for yourself, sir. Not a single\nknave left. And here they all are, in the hat.\"\n(Whence they are produced accordingly.)\nAs the \"click\" in some cases adds much to the\neffect of a trick, and as it may to some readers be\nan unfamiliar sleight, I may pause to explain that\nit is executed as follows: Take the pack in either\nhand, held upright between forefinger and thumb,\na little more than half-way down, with the middle\nfinger curled up behind it as in Fig. 13. With the\ntip of the third finger bend back the extreme bot-\ntom corners of the last half dozen or SO of the\ncards, allowing them to escape again smartly.\nThe sound made by the corners in springing back\nagain constitutes the \"click.\" It needs a little\npractice, but if the cards are held properly, and\nthe sleight worked smartly, the sound will be\naudible at a considerable distance, whilst the move-\nment of the finger producing it is quite invisible\nto the spectators."}
{"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": "unmaskingrobert00houdgoog.pdf", "page": 68, "folder": "", "text": "CHAPTER II\nTHE ORANGE-TREE TRICK\nR\nOBERT-HOUDIN, on page I79 of the American\nedition of his \"Memoirs,\" thus describes the\norange-tree trick, which he claims as his inven-\ntion: \"The next was a mysterious orange-tree,\non which flowers and fruit burst into life at the request of\nthe ladies. As the finale, a handkerchief I borrowed\nwas conveyed into an orange purposely left on the tree.\nThis opened and displayed the handkerchief, which two\nbutterflies took by the corners and unfolded before the\nspectators.\"\nOn page 245 of the same volume he presents the\nprogramme given at the first public performance in the\nTh\u00e9\u00e2tre Robert-Houdin, stating:\n\"The performance will be composed of entirely novel\nExperiments invented by M. Robert-Houdin. Among\nthem being The Orange-Tree, etc.\"\nNow to retrace our steps in the history of magic as set\nforth in handbills and advertisements of earlier and con-\ntemporaneous newspaper clippings describing their in-\nventions.\nUnder the title of \"The Apple-Tree\" this mechanical\ntrick appeared on a Fawkes programme dated 1730. This\nwas 115 years before Robert-Houdin claimed it as his\ninvention. In 1732, just before Pinchbeck's death, it\n[ 51 ]"}
{"path": "latestmagicbeing00hoff.pdf", "page": 69, "folder": "", "text": "THOSE NAUGHTY KNAVES\n53\nBut we have not yet done with our trick. You\nmay resume as follows:\n\"I will give you a further illustration of what I\nhave to put up with from the knaves. I should\nlike you to be satisfied that I have nothing to do\nC\nFIG. 13\nwith their bad behaviour.\" (You palm off the\nthree top cards, and with the same hand offer the\nfour knaves to a spectator. \"Will you, sir, make\nsure that these really are the four knaves, and then\nplace them here on the top of the pack,\"-offered"}
{"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": "unmaskingrobert00houdgoog.pdf", "page": 69, "folder": "", "text": "THE UNMASKING OF ROBERT-HOUDIN\nappeared on a programme used by Christopher Pinchbeck,\nSr., and the younger Fawkes. In 1784 it was included in\nthe r\u00e9pertoire of the Italian conjurer, Pinetti, in the guise\nof \"Le Bouquet-philosophique.\" In 1822 the same\ntrick, but this time called \"An Enchanted Garden,\"\nwas featured by M. Cornillot,\nwho appeared in England as the\npupil and successor of Pinetti.\nThe trick was first explained\nin public print by Henri De-\ncremps in 1784 when his famous\nexpos\u00e9 of Pinetti was published\nB\nunder the title of \"La Magie\nBlanche D\u00e9voil\u00e9e,\" and in 1786-\n87 both Halle and Wiegleb ex-\nposed the trick completely in\ntheir respective works on magic.\nThat Robert-Houdin was an\nDiagram of the orange-tree\ntrick, from Wiegleb's The\nomnivorous reader is proven by\nNatural Magic,\" published in\nhis own writings. That he knew\n1794.\nthe history and tricks of Pinetti\nis proven by his own words, for in Chapter VI. of his\n\"Memoirs\" he devoted fourteen pages to Pinetti and the\nlatter's relations with Torrini.\nNow to prove that the tree tricks offered by Fawkes,\nPinchbeck, Pinetti, Cornillot, and Robert-Houdin were\npractically one and the same, and to tell something of\nthe history of the four magicians who featured the trick\nbefore Robert-Houdin had been heard of:\nUnquestionably, the real inventor of the mysteriot\ntree was Christopher Pinchbeck, who was England\n[52]"}
{"path": "latestmagicbeing00hoff.pdf", "page": 70, "folder": "", "text": "54\nLATEST MAGIC\nwith the left hand. When the knaves have been\nlaid upon it, you transfer it to the opposite hand,\nand palm on to them the three concealed cards,\nbut immediately slide them off again, with the\nuppermost of the four knaves beneath them. You\nhold them up in a careless way, so that the\naudience, catching sight of this card, may be con-\nfirmed in the belief that the cards exhibited in the\nright hand are really the four knaves.\n\"Here we have the four knaves, at present all\ntogether. I will now distribute them in different\nparts of the pack, as far apart as possible. One\nhere, nearly at the bottom, one a little higher up,\nanother about the middle, and this last\" (you show\nit carelessly), \"close to the top.\" (This, being a\ngenuine knave, must be placed among the other\nknaves.) \"They could hardly be placed farther\napart than that: but to make things a little more\ndifficult for them, I will ask some lady to cut the\ncards.\"\nThis done, and the cards handed back to you,\nyou repeat the click. \"There it is again: the wire-\nless signal. You can all bear witness that I have\nnothing to do with the matter. Now, Sir, will you\nkindly examine the pack, and unless I am much\nmistaken, you will find that the other three knaves\nhave answered Black Jack's call, and that the four\ncheerful blackguards have got together again, in\nwhich case, with your permission, I will leave them\nseverely alone, and try some other experiment.\""}
{"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": "unmaskingrobert00houdgoog.pdf", "page": 70, "folder": "", "text": "and\n-\nPinchester\nChristopher Pinchbeck, Sr. This is the oldest and rarest authentic mezzotint in the\nworld pertaining to the history of magic. From the Harry Houdini Collection.\n[ 53"}
{"path": "latestmagicbeing00hoff.pdf", "page": 71, "folder": "", "text": "MAGNETIC MAGIC\n55\nThe expert will recognise this last effect as a\n\"chestnut\" among card tricks, but it is none the\nworse on that account, and it forms a particularly\nappropriate sequel to the principal trick.\nIf the performer possesses the \"flower-pot,\" one\nof these will naturally be used in place of the hat.\nMAGNETIC MAGIC\nRequirements. Card mat, loaded with a single\nknown card (precise nature optional). Pack of\ncards with corresponding card at top. A horse-\nshoe magnet, the larger the better for the sake of\neffect. The two flower-pots, placed at some dis-\ntance apart, preferably on separate tables.\nWe will suppose that the card selected for the\npurpose of the trick is the ten of spades. Per-\nformer advances, and delivers patter to something\nlike the following effect.\n\"By way of a change, I should like now to show\nyou a little experiment in magnetism, but mag-\nnetism of a new kind. The old sort was a com-\nparatively poor affair. It was only useful with\niron or steel. Anything else it wouldn't attract\nfor nuts. My sort of magnetism is a very superior\narticle. It will attract all sorts of things, so long\nas they are not too heavy, like a sack of coals, or a\nlawyer's bill. So far, I have been chiefly experi-\nmenting with cards, and I will show you how it\nworks."}
{"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": "unmaskingrobert00houdgoog.pdf", "page": 71, "folder": "", "text": "THE UNMASKING OF ROBERT-HOUDIN\nleading mechanical genius at the close of the seventeenth\ncentury and the beginning of the eighteenth. He was a\nman of high repute, whose history is not that of the\ncharlatan, compiled largely from tradition, but it can be\n& YOUNGS Reem the of Leal-\nMall, facing rke Hay-Market, fern The\nGRAND TREATAL of the MUSES, jaje\nMr. PINCHBECK,\nTHIS wonderful Machine is the Altonifh-\net all that feeit. the of be Struc-\ntue, the Delicacy of the Paining quit and the\ngrast valiety of moving Figures m-k-s i the mott\npriling Piece of An that has ever yer appear'd in Earope.\nIt di Landfeape, witha view of the Sea. termina-\nto sieg PL dey difeppear, - doubling Avaft Swans Capes, in and River With diminifhing filling Shipsfailing, by plurning degrees plying\n. and\nDuck Hunilig to Perfection ard greas variety\nM Motions Likewife Pifture, N-\nla * Fore\u00df playing umong the\nRere the very T ces, well as Banes, ere feen TO move,\nas if animared and compell'4 bythe Hamony of bia Haxp.\nIt alle perfoims on feveral Inftruments great of molt\nexcellent Pieces of Mulich compos'd by Mz. H FANDEL, Co\nRELLS ALEINONI, and orher celebtated\nwith fuch wonderful Exadneti, that fearce any Hand can\nequal, It the fweet Hazmony of any AVI-\nary of Bieds, wherein the refpective Notes of the Nightin-\ngate, Woodlatk, Cuckoo, &cc. are performed to fo giear a\nPerfedion, NS not ro be from Naruze it fell.\nWirh feveral orher to men-\ntion, Frices 55. 25. 6.d. and - To be feeo from 10\nin The Morning vill to Night, by two, DE more, wichout\nlofs if Fins.\nNate, This curions Machine will be removed ia a few\nDays Deas but oute to the Leg Tavem in Ficerflieer,\nClipping from the London Daily Post of November 30th, 1798. Used by\nChristopher Pinchbeck before he joined Fawkes. From the Harry Houdini\nCollection.\ncorroborated by court records, biographical works, and\nencyclopaedias, as well as by contemporaneous newspaper\nclippings.\nAccording to Vol. XLV. of the \"Dictionary of National\nBiography,' edited by Sidney Lee and published in 1896\nby Smith, Elder & Co., 15 Waterloo Place, London:\n\"Christopher Pinchbeck was born about 1670, possibly\n[ 54 ]"}
{"path": "latestmagicbeing00hoff.pdf", "page": 72, "folder": "", "text": "56\nLATEST MAGIC\n\"I want three ladies each to choose a card from\nthis pack.\" (He forces the ten of spades, allow-\ning the other two cards to be chosen freely, and\ntakes all three back, face down, on the mat, keep-\ning in mind which of them is the forced card. \"I\nwill take one of these cards.\" (He picks up the\nforced card, and holds it aloft.) \"Please all\nnotice what it is: I don't want to see it myself. I\ndrop it into this pretty flower-pot\" (actually drop-\nping it into the secret pocket). \"And now as to\nthese other two.\" (He picks them up and shows\nthem, then replacing them on the mat.) \"These\nI will place in the other flower-pot. First, how-\never, I will show you that at present it is empty.\"\nHe does so, and then lets the two cards slide off\nthe mat into the pot, the concealed card going with\nthem.\n\"Now I take this magnet. It is a very power-\nful magnet, and I make it still more vigorous by\nrubbing it on my left coat sleeve. Do you know\nwhy on the left ? You all give it up ? Because in\nthis case the left happens to be right. Simple,\nwhen you know it, isn't it? Again, you will\nobserve that one-half of this magnet is painted\nred. Can you guess why that is? It's so that\nwhen it is wanted it is sure to be 'reddy.' I hear\na lady smile! Thank you so much! This is the\neleven hundred and third time I have let off that\nlittle impromptu joke, and no one has ever laughed\nat it till now."}
{"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": "unmaskingrobert00houdgoog.pdf", "page": 72, "folder": "", "text": "THE ORANGE-TREE TRICK\nin Clerkenwell, London. He was a clockmaker and\ninventor of the copper and zinc alloy called after his name.\nHe invented and made the famous astronomico-musical\nclock. In Appleby's Weekly Journal of July 8th, 1721,\nMe FAWKFS's THEATRE,\nIn Tames-freet, near the Hay-marker, will\nbe prefented tbe following Entertainments:\nFirft,\nH\nIS Diverting and Incomparable\nfeveral Thingreatirely new.\nDERTERITY of HAND, in which he purforme\nN. B. In particular he caufesa Tree to grow up in a Flower-\nPot upon the Table, which will blow and beay ripe Pruis in a\nMinute's Time.\nSecond, His\nThird, The MUNICAL CLOCK, with EWO moving\nlately made by Mr. Pjochbeck,\nFourth, The Vast FIAN MACHINS, belag the Piece\nof Workmaufhip in the World, for moving Pidures aud other\nCuriofities.\nFifth, The ASTIFICIAL Vazw of the WORED, wherein\nEs very naturaDly imicated the Firmament fpangled wall a Maltifuide\nof Stari; the Moon's Increale and Decreale the Pawa of Day :\nthe diffuling bis Lightar his Rifing the beautiful Redne(s of\nthe Horizon at lis Sercing. as in a fine Summee Eyening. The\nR allo repre(ented, wih Ships under Sail, 28 fevent\nMiles Diffance; ethers fo neas that their Shadows are Teen lia\nde Water, and as they pars by any Fort, Caftle, &c, they\nesch other with their Goms, the Report and-Ecchool which are \u00e0s\nplainly heard es cho' from the cal Places they appear to be.\nEvery Week are\nNote, Every Night during this Wick will be\n1. The Ciry of Grarz Dalsedom of Stitia in Germang.\n11. The Cirs of Autwerp in io Flandess.\nIIT. The City d Grand Caleo to Egypt.\nIV The City of Algrervia Africa.\nBrginning CWITY livening precifely ar Nix o' Clock.\nPir DE Midde Unper\nAudtharthe Company naay with Cold, there\nis Contrivances the Warm.\nNote, and Lades may have a privas\ngiving Nouce the Night before.\nAdvertisement from the London Daily Post during 1730, showing the orange\ntree as offered by the senior Fawkes, just previous to his death. From the\nHarry Houdini Collection.\nit was announced that Christopher Pinchbeck, inventor\nand maker of the astronomico-musical clock, is removed,\nfrom St. George's Court (now Albion Place) to the sign\nof the \"Astronomico-Musical Clock\" in Fleet Street, near\nthe Leg Tavern. He maketh and selleth watches of all\nsorts and clocks as well for the exact indication of the\n[ 55 ]"}
{"path": "latestmagicbeing00hoff.pdf", "page": 73, "folder": "", "text": "THE TELEPATHIC TAPE\n57\n\"Well, as I was saying, or as I was going to say\nwhen the lady interrupted me--I mean compli-\nmented me, by smiling-Upon my word, I've for-\ngotten for the moment what I was going to say, but\nI daresay it was of no consequence, SO we'll skip\nit, and proceed \u00e0t once to \"business as usual.'\n\"Observe, I just draw the magnet slowly across\nfrom the one flower-pot to the other, when the\nsingle card, being naturally the weaker, will be\ndrawn out of its own flower-pot, and join the other\ntwo.\" (Looks into flower-pot holding the pair.)\n\"Yes, it has found its way, as you see.77 (Lifts\nthe pot, and shows that the third card is on the table\nwith the other two.) \"And as it's a well-known\nfact that nobody but a bird can be in two places at\nthe same time, it naturally follows that it is no\nlonger in this other pot, which is once more\nempty.\" (Lifts it up and shows that it is so.)\nVariation. If the flower-pots are not available,\nthe single card may be placed in a card box, or\nother suitable appliance adapted for causing its\ndisappearance, the other two, with the concealed\ncard, being dropped from the mat into a borrowed\nhat.\nTHE TELEPATHIC TAPE\nRequirements. Two or three yards of half-inch\ntape or ribbon, wound on a reel, to which its inner\nend is secured, and having a loop on its outer end.\nCoin mat made adhesive, and two packs of cards,"}
{"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"}