{"path": "latestmagicbeing00hoff.pdf", "page": 209, "folder": "", "text": "CONCERNING PATTER\n193\ngreat deal, and done very little, and that I had had\nvery little real magic for my money. On the other\nhand, the loquacious doctor was always amusing,\nand it must not be forgotten that to amuse, even\nmore than to puzzle, is the raison d'\u00eatre of the mod-\nern magician. It seems to me therefore quite\nlegitimate to use, to a reasonable extent, the art\nof the raconteur to supplement that of the\nmagician.\nIf my own patter is in some cases found super-\nabundant, I have at any rate done my best to make\nit amusing, and if the reader opines that I have not\npaid sufficient regard to the late Mr. Ducrow's cele-\nbrated maxim, \"Cut the cackle, and come to the\n'osses,\" he is quite at liberty to cut my cackle to\nwhat he may consider more reasonable proportions.\nNo doubt, time would be saved thereby. If, for\ninstance, he were to cut out the little romantic\nfictions with which I have introduced \"The Miracle\nof Mumbo Jumbo\" and \"The Story of the Alka-\nhest,\" and start \"right away\" with the bare per-\nformance of the trick, both could be exhibited in\nlittle more time than I have allotted to either alone.\nWhich treatment is likely to give the greater satis-\nfaction to his audience, he must decide for himself.\nWhere the performer has the gift (for a \"gift\"\nit undoubtedly is) of devising effective patter for\nhimself I am strongly in favour of his doing SO.\nBorrowed patter may be likened to a borrowed\ndress-coat. It is never likely to be an exact fit, and"}
{"path": "latestmagicbeing00hoff.pdf", "page": 210, "folder": "", "text": "194\nLATEST MAGIC\na \"giant's robe upon a dwarfish thief,\" or the\nreverse, cannot be expected to be a becoming gar-\nment. Every man has, or should have, a style of\nhis own, and it is rarely good policy to imitate that\nof somebody else. If a low comedy man were to\nessay to play Hamlet, or a tragedian, however\neminent, were to try to give an limitation of Harry\nLauder, the result would be likely to be disappoint-\ning.\nThe reader, undertaking to write his own patter,\nand desirous of making it just what patter should\nbe, will find counsels of perfection in \"Our Magic,\"\nand the more nearly he can approach them the\nbetter. As, however, all have not the good fortune\nto possess that admirable work, I venture to indi-\ncate what to my own mind seem to be the chief\npoints to be aimed at.\nIt is almost a commonplace to say that the main\nobject of patter is misdirection. As the term is\nmore usually applied, this means something said or\ndone midway in the course of a trick to draw away\nthe attention of the audience at some critical\nmoment, and to create what the French conjurers\ncall a \"temps,\" i.e., an \"opportunity\" for doing,\nunnoticed, some necessary act. But misdirection\nmay very well start at an earlier stage than this:\nin fact, well in advance of the actual execution of\nthe trick. Each trick should have some sort of\nintroduction, and the patter serving this purpose\nshould be such as to lead the mind of the hearer"}
{"path": "latestmagicbeing00hoff.pdf", "page": 211, "folder": "", "text": "CONCERNING PATTER\n195\naway from the true explanation of the marvel, and\nto suggest, in a more or less plausible way, some\nother, remote from the real one.\nThe suggested explanation may be either pseudo-\nscientific, where possible based on some generally\naccepted truth (and it is surprising what a long\nway even a few grains of truth go in such cases) ; or\nit may be downright \"spoof,\" delivered however\nwith due appearance of seriousness. The explana-\ntions will naturally fall a good deal short of the\nGeorge Washington standard of truthfulness, but\nthe most tender conscience need not in such a case\nhave any scruples on the score of veracity. No\nsane person expects truth in a fairy tale, and a\nmagical entertainment, from beginning to end, is\nbut a fairy tale in action. To put the matter in an\nepigrammatic nutshell:\nTruth is \"a gem of purest ray serene,\"\nA virtue always to be cultivated,\nBut such depends,-you'll gather what I mean,\nOn how you happen to be situated.\nAt home, abroad, wherever I may be,\nI tell the honest truth, and shame the d-\n.\nBut when you ask to be deceived. Good gracious!\nYou can't expect me then to be veracious.\nIn that case only do I make exception,\nAnd most deceive when vowing \"no deception.\"\nThis function of patter, the leading away the\nminds of the audience from the true explanation of\nthe puzzle offered them, may be materially assisted"}
{"path": "latestmagicbeing00hoff.pdf", "page": 212, "folder": "", "text": "196\nLATEST MAGIC\nby the introduction, among the \"properties\" used,\nof some object professedly essential to the trick,\nbut as a matter of fact having no real concern with\nthe effect produced. The audience take for\ngranted that it must have something to do with the\neffect, or it would not be used, and are thereby led\naway the more effectually from the actual explana-\ntion. Numerous illustrations of the use of this\ndevice will be found in the foregoing pages.\nIf, in the case of a given trick, the performer\nis absolutely at a loss to produce a satisfactory\nfable to introduce it, he may evade the difficulty\nby stating that he is about to produce an effect for\nwhich he cannot himself account, and inviting the\nassistance of his audience in doing SO.\nThe second function of patter is the calling of\nthe attention of the audience to matters which you\ndesire them to take note of, and to give oppor-\ntunity to do SO. There is small credit to be gained\nby changing the ace of clubs into the ace of hearts,\nor making a given article pass invisibly from one\nspot to another, unless the spectators have been\nfirst made to realise the original state of things, and\nthey must be allowed sufficient time to do SO. I\nhave more than once seen an otherwise brilliant\nshow spoilt by being rushed through at railroad\nspeed. The mind of the spectator had not been\nallowed time to receive clear impressions. The\ncompany in such a case disperses with a conscious-\nness of having had a rapid succession of surprises,"}
{"path": "latestmagicbeing00hoff.pdf", "page": 213, "folder": "", "text": "CONCERNING PATTER\n197\nbut with only a cloudy recollection as to what they\nwere.\nIn devising, as is sometimes desirable, new patter\nfor an old trick, an endeavour should be made to\nlook at the effect from an entirely fresh point of\nview, so as to make the trick practically a new one.\nA remarkable instance of such a transformation is\nfurnished by an incident in the life of Robert-\nHoudin. At one period of his career he was\nentrusted by the French Government with a very\nimportant mission. He was sent to Algeria, spe-\ncially charged to \"astonish the natives,\" and by\nhis greater wonders to destroy their belief in the\npretended miracles of the Aissoua.\nAmong other surprises, he decided to make use\nof his \"Light and Heavy Chest,\" a chest which, as\nthe reader is doubtless aware, became at command,\nby means of an electro-magnet in the pedestal on\nwhich it rested, so \"heavy\" that the strongest man\ncould not lift it from its base. This trick, pro-\nduced at a time when the phenomena of electricity\nwere but little understood, has produced an\nimmense sensation at his Paris performances.\nBut the Master instinctively felt that the trick in\nthat shape would produce little or no effect on the\nmore primitive mind of the Arab. He would sim-\nply have taken for granted some mechanical means\nof holding down the chest, beyond his own com-\nprehension, no doubt, but by no means to be\nregarded as miraculous. Robert-Houdin decided"}
{"path": "latestmagicbeing00hoff.pdf", "page": 214, "folder": "", "text": "198\nLATEST MAGIC\nto change the mode of presentation altogether, and\nto make the illusion no longer objective, but subjec-\ntive. He announced that by means of his magic\npower he could take away the strength of the\nstrongest man, and render him weak as a little\nchild. The \"chest\" was in this case merely\nbrought forward in a casual way, as a convenient\nobject wherewith the assertion of the magician\ncould be tested. The strongest man in the com-\npany was invited to come forward, and try whether\nhe could lift that little box. Of course he could,\nand did; a child could have done the same. \"You\nlifted it because I permitted you to do.so,\" said the\nmagician. \"But I take away your strength. Try\nto lift it now!'\nAgain the athlete tries his strength, but now he\nfails. With teeth set, and every muscle tense, he\nstrains, and strains, but in vain, and he has to con-\nfess that the infidel wonder-worker has, for the\ntime, taken away all his strength. Here was a\nwizard indeed!\nIn arranging your patter, be humorous if you\ncan, but if, like the gentleman we have all heard\nof, you \"joke with difficulty,\" don't force yourself\nto be funny. That it is possible for a man lacking\nhumour still to be a great conjurer is proved by\nthe case of Hartz, who was notably deficient in this\nparticular, but by his excellence in other directions\nwon a place in the very first rank of his profession.\nBut if you cannot be humorous, at any rate be"}
{"path": "latestmagicbeing00hoff.pdf", "page": 215, "folder": "", "text": "CONCERNING PATTER\n199\ncheerful. Geniality of manner is one of the most\nvaluable assets of the conjurer. Above all, don't\nbe nervous. You may say \"I can't help it,\" but to\na great extent you can. It is largely a matter of\nwill. Start with the idea that all will go well, and\nit will probably do SO. On the other hand, a low-\nspirited conjurer always makes a low spirited\naudience.\nIn any case, be sparing of puns, which have been\ndeservedly described as the lowest form of wit. A\nsingle pun, if good enough (or bad enough) may\nwin a laugh, and score to your credit, but to pep-\nper an audience with verbal shrapnel in the shape\nof puns is an outrage on good taste.\nPassing to the third function of patter, the mis-\ndirection of attention in the course of a trick, we\nwill assume that you have made a start in the right\ndirection at the outset, by suggesting some fanciful\nexplanation of the effect you intend to produce, SO\nthat your audience, starting from wrong premises,\ndo not know the points at which their too close\nobservation would be inconvenient. The best way\nof diverting their attention at one of these critical\npoints is obviously to attract it to some other direc-\ntion. A mere sentence, particularly if accom-\npanied by appropriate action, will suffice. Sup-\nposing, to take an elementary instance, that the\nperformer desires to drop unseen into the profonde\nfrom his left hand some small article for which he\nhas just deftly substituted a duplicate, now exhib-"}
{"path": "latestmagicbeing00hoff.pdf", "page": 216, "folder": "", "text": "200\nLATEST MAGIC\nited in the right hand, he has only to say, \"Now I\nwant you particularly to keep an eye on this\"\nwhatever the article in the right hand may happen\nto\nbe. All eyes are for the moment, instinctively\ndrawn to the object in question, and in that moment\nthe deed is done. The artifice is ridiculously sim-\nple, but it is effective, and it is on being fully pre-\npared with the right thing to say and do at the crit-\nical moment that the success of a magical enter-\ntainment largely depends. Careful rehearsal, pre-\nferably before an expert friend, will furnish the\nbest hints as to the danger-spots in the working\nof a trick, and how best to devise patter to meet\nthem.\nA final word of advice-advice that has been often\ngiven, but cannot be too often repeated if you\nreally aim to carry your audience with you. Never\nlose sight of the fact that you are, in the words of\nRobert-Houdin, \"an actor playing the part of a\nmagician,\" and take your office seriously. In par-\nticular, never before an audience use the word\n\"trick,\" which at once gives away all your preten-\nsion to magical power. An actor never tells his\naudience that he is an actor or that he is playing a\npart. He does not call their attention to his\nmake-up, however excellent, or tell them that his\nwig comes from Clarkson. On the contrary, he\ndoes his best to make his audience for the time for-\nget that he is Hubert de Barnstormer, or whatever\nhis stage name may be, and to keep up the illusion"}
{"path": "latestmagicbeing00hoff.pdf", "page": 217, "folder": "", "text": "CONCERNING PATTER\n201\nthat he is actually the person whom he represents.\nThe modern magician should do the same. If he\nhas enough of the true artistic spirit to imagine,\nwhen he steps forward on the platform, that he is\na magician, and that his miracles are genuine, he\nwill go a long way towards producing a like impres-\nsion in the minds of his audience. Bearing this in\nmind, describe what you propose to do as an\n\"effect,\" a \"marvel,\" an \"experiment,\" or a\n\"phenomenon\"; never by any chance as a \"trick.\"\nIt may be objected that I have myself repeatedly\nused the obnoxious word in the course of the fore-\ngoing pages, but that is another matter. This\nbook is written by a conjurer for conjurers: and as\nbetween ourselves we are forced to admit, painful\nthough it be to do so, that our greatest miracles are\nonly tricks. But we need not tell the public SO.\nLogically-minded persons know it well enough, if\nthey are allowed to think about the matter. Our\nbusiness is to make them, for the time, forget it.\nA wise old Roman said: Populus vult decipi:\ndecipiatur. Your audience wish to be deceived; in\nfact they have come together for that purpose. By\nall means let them be deceived to the top of their\nbent; and the first step towards effectually deceiv-\ning them, is to persuade them, if possible, that there\nis \"no deception.\"\nThe patter for a given trick, once composed, and\ntested by a few performances in public, may\nthenceforth, SO far as the professional is concerned,"}
{"path": "latestmagicbeing00hoff.pdf", "page": 218, "folder": "", "text": "202\nLATEST MAGIC\nbe left to take care of itself. It should auto-\nmatically improve with each of its earlier repeti-\ntions as good wine improves in bottle. Faults will\ncorrect themselves, and being made perfect by\npractice, the performer will thenceforth be able to\n\"speak his piece\" without effort, and devote his\nwhole energies to the actual working of the trick.\nTo the amateur, only performing on special occa-\nsions, with perhaps considerable intervals between\nthem, I commend a plan from which I myself\nderived great benefit, viz.: Write out from\nmemory the patter for each trick on the pro-\ngramme a day or two before a coming performance.\nAfter you have given your show, go through your\nmanuscript again carefully, noting and correcting\nit in any point in which the patter failed to be ex-\nactly right. The interpolation of a single sen-\ntence, the transposition in point of sequence of two\nmovements, or the alteration of some trifling detail,\nsuch as standing at a different angle to your table\nat a given moment, may make all the difference be-\ntween partial failure and complete success."}
{"path": "latestmagicbeing00hoff.pdf", "page": 219, "folder": "", "text": "THE USE OF THE WAND\nCLOSELY connected with the subject of patter is\nthe use of the wand, which in my own opinion can-\nnot be too sedulously cultivated. To the cases in\nwhich the wand itself forms the prominent item\nof the trick, I devoted a special chapter in \"Later\nMagic.\" To these therefore I need not further\nrefer. More important, however, is the part\nplayed by the wand from the point of view of gen-\neral utility.\nIn the first place, it is the only remnant of the\ntraditional outfit of the magician. Time was,\nwhen the regulation costume of the wizard was a\nsugarloaf hat, and a robe embroidered with highly\ncoloured mystic symbols. Such a robe is still worn\nas part of their make-up, by Chung Ling Soo and\na few other Orientals, but the orthodox costume of\nthe latter-day wizard is ordinary evening dress.\nThe wand alone remains; the symbol and the pro-\nfessed instrument of his mystic powers, and from\nits traditional connection with magic, there is a\nspecial prestige attached to it.\nFor these reasons alone it would be desirable to\nretain the use of the wand, but apart from them,\nits practical uses are many and various. One of\n203"}
{"path": "latestmagicbeing00hoff.pdf", "page": 220, "folder": "", "text": "204\nLATEST MAGIC\nthe first difficulties of the novice, as he comes for-\nward to introduce himself to his audience, is to\nknow what to do with his hands. He can hardly\nadvance with hand on heart, within his vest, \u00e0 la\nPecksniff. Held open, with arms hanging down\nby the sides, the hands look too stiff, and to advance\nwith them in his pockets would hardly be good\nform. By coming forward wand in hand, he\navoids these difficulties. The hand holding it auto-\nmatically assumes an easy and natural position,\nand he ceases to think about the other. With the\nwand held in the right hand across the body, its\nfree end resting on the palm of the opposite hand,\nhe is in an ideal attitude for delivering his intro-\nductory patter. Later on, by holding the wand in\nthe hand, he effectually disguises the fact that he\nhas some object, a card, a coin, or a watch con-\ncealed therein. If he has occasion to call atten-\ntion directly to any object, the wand forms the most\nnatural pointer. If he finds it necessary, for some\nreason connected with the trick in hand, to make\na turn or half-turn away from the spectators, the\nfact that he has left his wand upon the table affords\nhim the needful opportunity.\nLastly, if the wand is habitually used as the pro-\nfessed instrument of a desired transposition or\ntransformation, a certain portion of an average\naudience gradually becomes impressed with the\nidea that there really must be some occult connec-\ntion between the touch of the wand and the effect"}
{"path": "latestmagicbeing00hoff.pdf", "page": 221, "folder": "", "text": "THE USE OF THE WAND\n205\nproduced. There is much virtue in what may be\ncalled a magical atmosphere, and after the wizard\nhas proved his magical power by performing two\nor three apparent impossibilities, the mind of the\nspectator (though in his calmer moments, he\nknows, or should know, better), is led to adopt in a\ngreater or less degree the solution \"forced\" upon\nhim by the conjurer. Habitual use of the wand,\nwith apparent seriousness, goes far to create the\ndesired atmosphere.\nA good effect may be produced by \"electrifying\"\nthe wand now and then, by rubbing it with a hand-\nkerchief. The main uses of electricity are so\nwidely known, and so little understood by the mil-\nlion, that they are quite ready to give it credit for\nstill more marvellous possibilities.\nMy friend Mr. Holt Schooling, mentioned in\nconnection with The Secret of the Pyramids, finds\nan additional use for the wand. He uses, not one\nonly, but half a dozen, of different appearance, each\ncredited with some special magical virtue. At the\noutset of his show these are arranged horizontally,\none above another on pins projecting from a small\nsloping blackboard. For each fresh trick the\nwand professedly appropriate to it is brought into\naction, the one last used being at the same time\nreplaced on the stand. The spectators do not sus-\npect that behind each top corner of the board is a\nsmall servante, enabling the performer, under\ncover of the change of wands, to change a pack of"}
{"path": "latestmagicbeing00hoff.pdf", "page": 222, "folder": "", "text": "206\nLATEST MAGIC\ncards, or to effect some other substitution neces-\nsary for the purpose of his next item.\nVerbum sap, by all means cultivate the use of the\nwand, and for the sake of effect, let it be of an ele-\ngant and distinctive character. An office-ruler or\na piece of cane would serve many of its mechanical\npurposes, but would lack the prestige attached to\nwhat is, professedly, the genuine article.\nOne of the most striking proofs of the extensive\nuse and appreciation of the wand by modern\nmagicians is furnished by the remarkable collec-\ntion of such implements got together by Dr. Saram\nR. Ellison, of New York.\nDr. Ellison\u00b9 is an eminent and popular phy-\nsician, whose ruling passion is wanting to know\nthings, particularly things that other people don't\nknow. Such being his temperament, it goes almost\nwithout saying that at an early period of his\ncareer he became a Freemason. Having been duly\ninitiated into the mysteries of the ordinary lodge,\nand learnt all it had to teach him, he still yearned\nfor \"more light,\" and accordingly worked his way\nup step by step through intervening degrees in\nmasonry till he reached what is known as the\nthirty-third degree, an order even more exclusive\nthan that of the Garter, and claiming to possess\nsecrets as to which the ordinary \"blue\" mason,\n1 Since this was written Dr. Ellison has passed into the mysterious\nbeyond."}
{"path": "latestmagicbeing00hoff.pdf", "page": 223, "folder": "", "text": "THE USE OF THE WAND\n207\neven though he be a Past Grand Everything, knows\nno more than the veriest outsider.\nWhen in this direction there were no more mys-\nteries left for him to conquer, Dr. Ellison natur-\nally turned his attention to Magic: and in accord-\nance with his habitual determination to know all\nthat there is to be known with regard to his hobby\nfor the time being he began to collect books upon\nthe subject. At first there were but few to collect,\nbut the literature of magic has grown, and grown,\nand side by side with its advance Dr. Ellison's col-\nlection has grown larger and larger till it numbers\nsome hundreds of volumes. Harry Kellar, the\ndean of American magicians, and himself an\nenthusiastic collector, yearned to possess it, and\noffered the doctor for it the handsome sum of two\nthousand dollars, equivalent in English money to\nabout four hundred pounds. But Dr. Ellison was\nnot to be tempted. In order that the collection\nshould be preserved intact, he donated it, some\nyears ago, to the New York Public Library, also\nproviding a fund for its upkeep and further devel-\nopment.\nBut Dr. Ellison's interest in, and services to\nMagic did not end here. He has made a collection\nof models, entirely the work of his own hands, of\nthe appliances for over sixty stage illusions.\nSome are of full size, others quite miniature\naffairs, but one and all exact to scale. Further, the\ndoctor has a special affection for souvenirs of"}
{"path": "latestmagicbeing00hoff.pdf", "page": 224, "folder": "", "text": "208\nLATEST MAGIC\nfamous magicians, past and present, especially in\nthe shape of wands, as being the most characteristic\npossession of the wizard. Accordingly, some\nyears ago, he began to collect wands, and he now\npossesses more than eighty such, each a wand which\nhas been habitually yielded by some more or less\nfamous magician. By the courtesy of Dr. Ellison\nI am enabled to furnish particulars of some of\nthem; as given in a very interesting pamphlet by\nEpes W. Sargent, a well-known American writer.\nThe catalogue commences with a wand formerly\nbelonging to Professor Anderson, the once famous\n\"Wizard of the North.\" Here are found also the\nwands used by the two Herrmanns (Carl and\nAlexander), Buatier de Kolta, Lafayette, Martin\nChapender, Carl Willmann and others who tread\nthe stage no more. As regards the living, there is\nhere a memento of nearly every English-speaking\nconjurer of note: besides many others of cosmopol-\nitan celebrity.\nThe wand here exhibited is not always the con-\nventional ebony and ivory affair, some of the speci-\nmens being indeed of a highly original character.\nFor instance, the wand contributed by a Hindu\nmagician consists of the leg bone of a sacred mon-\nkey from the temple of Hanuman, the monkey\ngod, at Benares. The wands of Madame Adelaide\nHerrmann and Chung Ling Soo take the shape of\nfans. Horace Goldin's is a cut-down whip-handle,\nand those of Clement de Lion and Imro Fox are"}
{"path": "latestmagicbeing00hoff.pdf", "page": 225, "folder": "", "text": "THE USE OF THE WAND\n209\nportions of one-while walking-sticks, promoted to\na nobler use. Mr. J. N. Maskelyne's \"wand\" is\nan ordinary file, which, from the inventor point of\nview, he regards as the greatest of wonder-work-\ning appliances.\nMy own contribution may claim to be of excep-\ntional interest, not merely as being in itself a curio,\nbut as a memento of a very remarkable man, SO\nremarkable, indeed, that a brief notice of his career\nmay be interesting. It was presented to me by\nProfessor Palmer, a gentleman who was not, like\nmyself, a bogus professor, but the real thing, and\nwithal an exceptionally eminent man. Skill in\nsleight-of-hand was the least of his accomplish-\nments. He had a marvellous gift of tongue, there\nbeing scarcely a European or Oriental language\nwith which he was not thoroughly familiar. He\nwas born at. Cambridge in 1840, and from his\nearliest years showed indications of his peculiar\ngift for acquiring languages. As a school-boy he\nmade friends among the gipsies, and learned to\nspeak their queer language so perfectly as to\ndeceive even those to whom it was their native\ntongue. In later life it was a favourite joke of his\nto saunter, in company with his equally accom-\nplished friend, Leland, into some gipsy encamp-\nment where they were not known, and after pay-\ning their footing by having their fortunes told,\nto ask some of the nomads gathered round the fire,\nto talk a little Rommany for their benefit. Gip-"}
{"path": "latestmagicbeing00hoff.pdf", "page": 226, "folder": "", "text": "210\nLATEST MAGIC\nsies are chary of speaking Rommany except\namong their own people, and the inquisitive strang-\ners were frequently told that there was no such\nlanguage; whereupon, one of them would turn to\nthe other, and in purest Rommany quietly express\nan opinion that their temporary hosts were not\nthorough-bred gipsies, but of some inferior stock.\nThis produced Rommany in plenty, and the visi-\ntors were energetically taken to task for that,\nbeing themselves gipsies, they should ape the dress\nand manners of the Gorgio. A friendly explana-\ntion made all end happily.\nPalmer made his first start in life as a clerk in\nthe City of London, where in his spare time he\nmade himself master of French and Italian. A\nlittle later he took up the study of Persian, Arabic\nand Hindustani, and speedily conquered them:\nIn 1867, after taking his degree at the University\nof Cambridge, he was elected a Fellow by his Col-\nlege, an honour conferred on him in recognition of\nhis mastery of the Oriental languages. During\nthe years 1868-1870 he was employed on behalf of\nthe Palestine Exploration Fund, to make a survey\nof Mount Sinai, in the course of which he became\nupon friendly and indeed almost brotherly terms\nwith many of the wild Arab tribes, among whom\nhe was known as the Sheikh Abdullah. As in Eng-\nland he had been made free of the gipsy tent, so in\nPalestine he could drop in upon many a Bedouin\nencampment, and be sure of a hearty welcome."}
{"path": "latestmagicbeing00hoff.pdf", "page": 227, "folder": "", "text": "THE USE OF THE WAND\n211\nHis skill in sleight-of-hand, which he had in the\nfirst instance taken up merely as a pastime, proved\nto be of immense service to him in his desert wan-\nderings; adding not only to his popularity but fre-\nquently gaining for him the prestige of a genuine\nmagician, and thereby increasing his influence.\nIn 1871 he was appointed to the professorship of\nOriental languages at Cambridge, his official title\nbeing the Lord High Almoner's Reader of Arabic.\nIn 1882, in anticipation of the Arabi trouble in\nEgypt, he was entrusted by the then Government\nwith the difficult and dangerous task of winning\nover the Sinaitic tribes, and preventing the threat-\nened destruction of the Suez Canal.\nHis first trip, extending from Gaza to Suez, was\ncarried out successfully, but on penetrating farther\ninto the desert, he and his two companions, Captain\nGill, R.E., and Lieutenant Charrington, R.N.,\nfell into the hands of a tribe to whom Palmer was\nunknown, and were barbarously put to death.\nHappily, their bodies were recovered, and received\nfrom the nation the posthumous honour of burial\nin St. Paul's Cathedral.\nThe wand presented to me by Professor Palmer\nis a curiosity in many ways. It is made of acacia\nwood (the \"shittim\" wood of the Old Testament)\nbrought by Palmer himself from Mount Lebanon.\nAround it, in spiral form, is inscribed an invoca-\ntion from the Koran, in Arabic characters. The\nwriting of the inscription is a genuine work of art,"}
{"path": "latestmagicbeing00hoff.pdf", "page": 228, "folder": "", "text": "212\nLATEST MAGIC\nhaving been executed as a special favour to Pal-\nmer, by Hassoun, an eminent professional\n\"scribe.\"\nI am reluctantly bound to admit that the Pal-\nmer wand, in my hands, did not exhibit any special\nmagical virtues, and when I ceased myself to use\nit, it seemed to me that it could not find a worthier\nhome than in Dr. Ellison's fine collection.\nReverting for a moment to the subject of patter,\nI will conclude by quoting, for the amusement\nrather than the instruction of the reader, an ora-\ntion which (with variations) now and then formed\nmy introductory boniment, and might on occasion\nstill serve, in default of better.\n\"Ladies and Gentlemen, and members of the\nRoyal Family, if any happen to be present, I am\nabout to exhibit for your amusement, a few experi-\nments in Unnatural Philosophy, otherwise Magic.\n\"Magic in the olden times was a very different\nthing, as I daresay you know, from what it is at\npresent. In those days every respectable wizard\nkept a familiar spirit: a sort of magical man of all\nwork. He cleaned the boots and knives, and\nwhen his master gave a show, it was the familiar\nwho worked all his miracles for him. The\nmagician only did the talking, and pocketed the\ntakings. But the familiar did much bigger things\nthan that. If his master's next-door neighbour\nmade himself disagreeable, the familiar would"}
{"path": "latestmagicbeing00hoff.pdf", "page": 229, "folder": "", "text": "THE USE OF THE WAND\n213\nhoist him up and drop him in the water-butt, or\ninto the Red Sea, according to order. If the\nmagician wanted a week at the seaside, he had no\nneed to pay railway fare. The familiar would just\npick him up, house and all, and land him gently in\nthe middle of the mixed bathing. The only draw-\nback was that, sooner or later, a time came when\nthere was no performance, because the magician\nhad been carried off by his familiar on a pitchfork.\n\"As the French say, nous avons chang\u00e9 tout\ncela, Familiars are as extinct as the dodo. Per-\nhaps it's as well, but it makes it very much harder\nto be a magician. In the first place you must know\nall about astrology, anthropology, Egyptology and\nall the other ologies. You must be well posted in\nmathematics, hydrostatics, pneumatics and numis-\nmatics. You must know all about clairvoyance,\npalmistry and thought reading, sympathy and\nantipathy, magnetism, mesmerism, wireless teleg-\nraphy, X rays and all the other kinds of rays.\nOf course you must be well up in Greek and Latin,\nand a little. Hebrew, not to mention a few other\nthings which I forget for the moment, but I won't\nstop to think of them now. When you have stud-\nied these little matters fourteen hours a day for\nnine or ten years, you will be as 'chock-full of\nscience' as old Sol Gills himself, and you will be\nable to do all sorts of wonderful things, some of\nwhich I hope to show you this evening.\n\"Before I begin, there is just one little matter"}
{"path": "latestmagicbeing00hoff.pdf", "page": 230, "folder": "", "text": "214\nLATEST MAGIC\nI should like to mention. You hear people talk\nabout the quickness of the hand deceiving the eye.\nI don't know whether the quickness of the hand\never does deceive the eye, but I want you to under-\nstand that you must not expect anything of that\nsort from me. I am naturally slow. I was born\ntwenty minutes after I was expected, and I have\nbeen getting slower and slower ever since.\n\"To-night, I intend to do everything even more\nslowly than usual: SO that you will only have to\nwatch me closely to see exactly how it is all done.\nThen, when you go home, if you do as I do, and say\nas I say, without making any mistakes, no doubt\nyou will be able to produce the same results. If\nnot, there must be 'something wrong with the\nworks.''"}
{"path": "latestmagicbeing00hoff.pdf", "page": 231, "folder": "", "text": "A FEW WRINKLES 1\nEVERY conjurer who has in him, as all conjurers\nshould have, the creative instinct of the artist, and\naims therefore at putting something of himself\ninto his work, must of necessity be to some small\nextent an amateur mechanic. The hints which fol-\nlow are addressed to the reader in that capacity.\nI have no pretension to teach him how to do things\nin the way of construction, but merely to make the\ndoing of them easier. Though relating to matters\nin themselves small, the \"tips\" which follow may\nsafely be said to come within the scope of Captain\nCuttle's celebrated counsel, \"when found make\na note of.\" It often happens that the amateur\nmechanic has to take considerable trouble and\npains in procuring some special requirement,\nwhile there is already on sale, at small cost, just\nthe thing he wants, if he only knew what to ask for,\nand where to get it. The paragraphs which follow\nwill, in some at any rate of such cases, supply the\nneedful information.\n1 This book having been written primarily with a view to British\nreaders, some of my recommendations will naturally be of no value to\nmy American friends, but I have not thought it necessary to delete\nthem. L. H.\n215"}
{"path": "latestmagicbeing00hoff.pdf", "page": 232, "folder": "", "text": "216\nLATEST MAGIC\n1. For woodwork on a small scale, an old cigar\nbox will often be found suitable material. Where\nsuch a box is not available or not suitable for the\nparticular work in hand, what is called \"three-\nply\" may supply the need. This consists of three\nlayers of thin wood glued together under pressure,\nwith the grain of the intermediate layer running\ncrossway to that of the other two, the tendency\nto warp being thereby greatly reduced. Drawing-\nboards are, for this reason, now usually made of\nwood SO combined, and a drawing-board makes for\nmany purposes a good enough extempore work-\nbench. For a finer class of work, the amateur\nmechanic, if he is willing to take the trouble, may\nmake his own three-ply. For this purpose he\nshould procure a supply of what is called \"knife-\ncut' veneer, i.e., thin sheets of walnut, mahogany,\nsatin,-0 other hard wood, and glue them together\nwith the white glue to be presently described. Ve-\nneer merchants form a distinct trade, and are com-\nparatively few in number, but the resident in Lon-\ndon can obtain veneer and thin woods of all descrip-\ntions from Messrs. McEwan & Son, 282 Old Street,\nE. C. In country districts the shops which hold\nagencies for \"Hobbies' materials also sell planed-\nup woods of various kinds, ranging like veneer\nfrom one-sixteenth to half an inch in thickness.\n2. As a handy substitute for glue, most people\nare acquainted with the virtues of Seccotine, in its\nway a most useful preparation. But there are"}
{"path": "latestmagicbeing00hoff.pdf", "page": 233, "folder": "", "text": "A FEW WRINKLES\n217\nmany purposes for which Seccotine is too aggres-\nsively viscous, while ordinary paste is not adhesive\nenough. In such cases I can strongly recommend\nPastoid, a composition midway between glue and\npaste. For all purposes for which paste (in small\nquantity) is ordinarily used, Pastoid may be sub-\nstituted with advantage. I myself came across it\naccidentally two or three years ago, \"since when,\"\nlike the gentleman in the soap advertisement, \"I\nhave used no other.\" The maker is Henry Rob-\nerts, Middlesborough, but it should be obtainable\nof any up-to-date stationer or fancy dealer. It is\nsupplied in glass jars, at sixpence and a shilling.\n3. Where an actual glue, of fine quality, is\nneeded, procure sheet gelatine, to be had of any\ngrocer. Cut into small pieces and melt in an\nordinary gluepot using water enough to make the\nresulting solution about as thick as ordinary gum\nwater. It should be used as near boiling point as\npossible, and the joined surfaces left to dry under\nthe heaviest pressure available. A joint made with\nthis glue is practically invisible.\u00b9\n4. For dividing up thin stuff (wood or card-\nboard), into rectangular slabs, the handiest tool\nis the \"cutting gauge.\" This is practically iden-\ntical with the better known \"marking gauge,\" save\n1 For the information contained in this paragraph, as also that re-\nlating to the use of Veneers I am indebted to Mr. Holt Sehooling, who\nis an expert in such matters. My own essays in the direction of fancy\ncabinet-making have for the most part been limited to rough models to\nbe reproduced in finished shape by more practised hands."}
{"path": "latestmagicbeing00hoff.pdf", "page": 234, "folder": "", "text": "218\nLATEST MAGIC\nthat the \"marker\" is replaced by a little spade-\npointed cutter. This tool is only available for cut-\nting wood up to say eight inches in width, but to\nthe amateur attempting small work only, it will be\nfound invaluable.\n5. For staining wood or cardboard a deep dead\nblack I have found nothing better than the \"Record\nJet Stain,\" manufactured by the Record Polish\nCompany, Eccles, Manchester. It is normally\ndesigned for staining leather only, the makers not\nhaving apparently realised its usefulness in other\ndirections. It is to be had of any dealer in leather\ngoods, in twopenny and sixpenny bottles. In\nmany cases I have found it best to rub it in with\na pad, rather than to apply it with a brush, but\nthis will of course depend largely on the nature\nof the article to be treated.\n6. An excellent polish for use after staining, or\nfor other purposes, is made by dissolving white\nwax in turpentine, to the consistency of cream.\nApplied sparingly, with plenty of friction to fol-\nlow, this produces a clean hard gloss, free from the\nstickiness which is sometimes left after the use of\nother polishes.\n7. For enamelling small articles use Maurice's\nPorceleine (the makers of which are Walter Car-\nson & Sons, Grove Works, Battersea, S. W.) pro-\ncurable at \"oil and colour\" men in tins from three-\nhalfpence upwards.\n8. For any article to be made of flat card or"}
{"path": "latestmagicbeing00hoff.pdf", "page": 235, "folder": "", "text": "A FEW WRINKLES\n219\nmill-board, without folding or bending, preference\nshould be given to \"Bristol\" board, sold by artists'\ncolour-men. This is somewhat more expensive but\nis stiffer and harder and has a better surface than\nthe commoner articles.\n9. For joining wood to wood without glue where\nthere is no great thickness to be penetrated,\n\"needle-points,\" procurable of any ironmonger,\nwill be found useful. These are stout eyeless\nneedles, of very brittle steel, about two inches in\nlength. To use them, bore with a fine bradawl a\nhole partially through the wood, then drive in the\nneedle-point by gentle tapping with a hammer, and\nwhen it has penetrated the desired depth snap off\nall that remains above the surface.\n10. Also useful for many purposes are what are\ncalled by drapers \"blanket\" pins. These are of\nbrass, and a card of such pins in three sizes, rang\ning from two to three inches in length and varying\nproportionately in thickness, may be bought for a\npenny. Pins a trifle shorter and thinner than the\nabove are known as \"laundry\" pins. Apart from\ntheir normal uses, pins of these kinds are very\nuseful for bending into hooks, or to cut up into\nshort lengths of stiff straight wire for pivots or\notherwise.\n11. For all effects dependent upon a thread pull\nuse, in place of ordinary thread, plaited silk fish-\ning line. This is procurable of any sports' out-\nfitter or fishing tackle dealer, in twenty and forty"}
{"path": "latestmagicbeing00hoff.pdf", "page": 236, "folder": "", "text": "220\nLATEST MAGIC\nyard lengths, and in half a dozen grades of thick-\nness, the finest being not much thicker than a hair\nline. The breaking strain of this is much greater\nthan that of ordinary thread, and it has the fur-\nther advantage that being plaited instead of\ntwisted it does not unroll or \"kink\" in use. All-\ncock, of Redditch, a name familiar to all anglers,\nis a noted maker of such line, but he has no mo-\nnopoly of its manufacture. It is usually sold\nwhite, but may be easily dyed any desired colour.\nFor this last valuable \"tip\" I am again indebted\nto my often-quoted friend, Mr. Holt Schooling,\nwho, as an enthusiastic angler, is an expert as to\nlines of all descriptions. The reader will find\nnumerous instances of the practical use of such\nline in the earlier part of this book.\nA good way of dyeing line is to thread a needle\non to one end, and pass it by the aid of the needle\nthrough one corner, moistened with the appropri-\nate dye, of a soft sponge, and then back again\nthrough the dry part of the sponge to clean off any\nexcess of moisture. When dry, if necessary,\nrepeat the process.\n12. Square envelopes, for the purpose of form-\ning \"nests\" or otherwise, are now and then needed\nby the conjurer, but envelopes precisely square\n(save the small variety known as \"pence\" envel-\nopes) are not kept in \"stock\" by stationers in the\nordinary way. When such are needed the readiest\nplan is to take an envelope of the long \"bag\" shape"}
{"path": "latestmagicbeing00hoff.pdf", "page": 237, "folder": "", "text": "A FEW WRINKLES\n221\nand shorten it to an exact square, closing the lower\nend as before. Envelopes of the above kind are\nprocurable in many varieties of paper, and in\nwidths ranging by various fractions of an inch\nfrom four inches upwards.\n13. To make a line, thick or thin, run freely over\na pulley-wheel or through an eyelet, use as a lubri-\ncant powdered talcum, otherwise known as French\nchalk. This is equally useful for minimising fric-\ntion between wooden surfaces, or between wood\nand metal, say between a pulley-wheel and the\npivot on which it turns. Where the slight extra\ncost is not an obstacle the use of ivory as the mate-\nrial of a pulley-wheel secures the perfection of easy\nrunning.\nIt is, I trust, hardly necessary to say that wher-\never I have mentioned an article to be had by pur-\nchase, my recommendation is based solely upon\npractical experience of its merits. I have no inter-\nest, direct or indirect, in any of the articles men-\ntioned, and my knowledge of their manufacturers\nis derived solely from their respective labels."}
{"path": "latestmagicbeing00hoff.pdf", "page": 238, "folder": "", "text": "L'ENVOI\nWITH these last lines I lay down my pen, as I\nhave long since laid down the wand. I do SO with\nregret, for writing about magic has always been to\nme a labour of love, but failing energy and failing\neyesight warn me that my day is over, and that\n\"the night cometh, wherein no man can work.\"\nWhen I first began to discourse of magic, I had\nthe whole field, in a literary sense, to myself. That\nstate of things has long since ceased to be. Fertile\nbrains and ready writers have taken up my task,\nand magic has now a worthy literature, growing\nday by day. \"So mote it be!\"\nFurthermore, if I may be allowed a word of ad-\nvice, let me say that every lover of magic, be he\nprofessional or amateur, should join a magical so-\nciety. No great work can be carried forward with-\nout organization, and the success of such bodies as\nThe Magician's Club and the Magic Circle here,\nand the Society of American Magicians over seas,\nhas proved that magic is no exception to the rule.\nI must not close without a word of hearty thanks\nto Harry Houdini, Oscar S. Teale and John W.\nSargent, of the Society of American Magicians, for\ntheir generous offices in connection with the publi-\ncation of my book. With this last legacy to the\nfriends, at home and abroad, who have derived\npleasure or profit from my writings, I bid them\na cheery farewell.\nLOUIS HOFFMANN.\n222\n3477-3"}
{"path": "latestmagicbeing00hoff.pdf", "page": 244, "folder": "", "text": "LIBRARY OF CONGRESS\n1 029 714 238 0"}
{"path": "practicalmagicia00harr.pdf", "page": 1, "folder": "", "text": "GV 1547\nP88\nCopy 1"}
{"path": "practicalmagicia00harr.pdf", "page": 2, "folder": "", "text": "LIBRARY OF CONGRESS.\nGV1547\nCumprinty\nShel P.88\nUNITED STATES OF AMERICA."}
{"path": "practicalmagicia00harr.pdf", "page": 3, "folder": "", "text": "A\nA\n.\nCOCASA'"}
{"path": "practicalmagicia00harr.pdf", "page": 9, "folder": "", "text": "-\n:\nNo.8. THE MAGNET NAND\nPrice Twenty-five Cents.\nSUTD\nNEW-YORK:\nHURST & CO., PUBLISHERS."}
{"path": "practicalmagicia00harr.pdf", "page": 11, "folder": "", "text": "THE\nPractical Magician\nAND\nVENTRILOQUIST'S GUIDE.\nA PRACTICAL MANUAL OF\nFIRESIDE MAGIC AND CONJURING ILLUSIONS.\nCONTAINING ALSO\nCOMPLETE INSTRUCTIONS FOR ACQUIRING & PRACTISING\nThe Art of\nthe\nthe\nNEW YORK\nHURST & CO., Publishers,\n75 NASSAU STREET.\n(Entered according to Act of Congress in the year 1876, by THOMAS D. HURST, in\nthe office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington, D. C.)"}
{"path": "practicalmagicia00harr.pdf", "page": 12, "folder": "", "text": "7 V / = ,\nP88\nBEST BOOK ON THE \"BLACK ART.\"\nPARLOR PASTIMES.\nA NEW BOOK ON\nMAGIC, CONJURING, LEGERDEMAIN,\nAND PRESTIDIGITATION.\nBY THE CELEBRATED\nPROFESSOR RAYMOND\nThis work is certainly the most exhaustive one on Magic that has ever\nbeen issued. It exposes all the secrets of tho Wizard's Art. No trick or\nillusion of importance is left unnoticed, and tho explanations are made in\nso simplo a manner that any one of ordinary comprehension can readily\nunderstand and perform them. The book thoroughly elucidates all tho\nmysteries connected with\nWhite Magic,\nGalvanism,\nNatural Magic,\nMagnetism,\nJugglery,\nLegerdemain,\nSleight-of-Hand,\nNecromancy,\nElectricity,\nFireworks,\nChemistry,\nMechanics,\nCards,\nThe Black Art,\n1\nCoins,\nPrestidigitation.\nIt also contains a grand assortment of\nRIDDLES, CONUNDRUMS, CHARADES, ENIGMAS, RE-\nBUSES, TRANSPOSITIONS, ANAGRAMS, PUZZLES,\nPARADOXES, ACROSTICS, AND PROBLEMS.\nA stndy of this extremely interesting work would make any one thor-\noughly expert in the art of Amusing, whether in private or public. Tho\nwork may be consulted with profit either by the Amateur or Professional\nMagician.\nPrice Twenty-Five Cents.\nSent to any address on receipt of price. Address\nHURST & CO., 75 NASSAU STREET, New YORK."}
{"path": "practicalmagicia00harr.pdf", "page": 13, "folder": "", "text": "PAGE\nIntroduction\n8\nOf palmistry and the passes\n9\nTo command a dime to pass into the centre of a ball of wool,\nso that it will not be discovered till the ball is unwound\nto the very last of its threads\n13\nTo change a bowl of ink into clear water with gold fish in it.\n14\nThe dancing egg\n15\nThe walking cent\n16\nTricks with and without collusion\n19\nTo make a quarter and a penny change places while held in\nthe hands of two spectators\n23\nTrick with the dime, handkerchief, and an orange or lemon\n23\nHow to double your pocket money.\n24\nThe injured handkerchief restored.\n25\nTo make a large die pass through the crown of a hat with-\nout injuring it.\n26\nTo produce from a silk handkerchief bonbons, candies,\nnuts, etc.\n27\nPractice\n29\nA sudden and unexpected supply of feathers from under a\nsilk handkerchief or cloth.\n31\nHeads or Tails ?\n33\nTo cook pancakes or plumcakes in a hat over some candles.\n34\nTo eat a dish of paper shavings and afterwards draw them\nfrom your mouth like an Atlantic cable.\n36\nHow to cut off a person's nose without injuring him\n37\nTricks by magnetism, chemistry, galvanism and electricity.\n39\nThe watch obedient to the word of command\n41"}
{"path": "practicalmagicia00harr.pdf", "page": 14, "folder": "", "text": "CONTENTS.\niii\nPAGE\nA chemical trick, to follow one where a young friend has as-\nsisted\n43\nTo draw three spools off two tapes without those spools\nhaving to come off the ends of those tapes, and while\nthe four ends of the tapes are held by four persons...\n44\nTo restore a tape whole after it has been cut in the middle\n46\nOn the continuity of tricks\n49\nThe invisible hen, a very useful trick for supplying eggs for\nbreakfast or dinner\n53\nTricks with a plain gold ring\n56\nFriendly suggestions.\n59\nThe conjuror's \"bonus genius\" or familiar messenger.\n61\nThe shower of money.\n63\nTo furnish the ladies with a magic supply of tea or coffee,\nat their selection, from one and the same jug\n64\nTo furnish a treat to the gentlemen\n66\nVentriloquism\n67\nVentriloquism among the ancients\n70\nModern professors of the art.\n71\nThe theory of ventriloquism\n76\nThe means by which it is effected\n79\nPractical illustrations.\n81\nPolyphonic imitations\n87\nA mountain echo\n88\nPoints to be remembered.\n88\nConcluding remarks\n90\nTo make the magic whistle\n91"}
{"path": "practicalmagicia00harr.pdf", "page": 15, "folder": "", "text": "THE PRACTICAL MAGICIAN\nAND\nVENTRILOQUIST'S GUIDE.\nCHAPTER I.\n\"\nINTRODUCTORY.\nM' object in writing these hints on CONJURING is for the bene-\nfit of amateurs to promote (lively and entertaining amuse-\nment for the home circle and social gatherings.\nMy large experience enables me to explain and simplify many\nof the best tricks and illusions of the art. I present the key to\nmany of the mystical mysteries which have puzzled and bewild-\nered our childhood days as well as confounded us in our matur-\ner years.\nThe young student can in a very short time, if he be in the\nleast of an ingenious turn, amuse and astonish his friends, neigh-\nbors and acquaintances.\nPreference has been given to those tricks which suggest\nothers, the more complete and difficult performances and\nillusions have been passed by as being out of place ; I"}
{"path": "practicalmagicia00harr.pdf", "page": 16, "folder": "", "text": "6\nTHE PRACTICAL MAGICIAN.\nshall not, therefore, in these elementary papers advert to those\nexperiments which require ample resources, or a prepared stage,\nfor exhibiting them-or which can only be displayed to advan-\ntage by consummate skill and the most adroit manipulation-\nbut confine my remarks at present to thos\u00e8 branches of the art\nto the performance of which a young amateur may aspire with\nprospect of success.\nA few hours' practice will enable the learner to execute the\nsimple tricks that I shall first treat of; and they will only re-\nquire for their display such articles as are readily available in\nevery household. Most of them will be supplied by any com-\npany of a few friends, and if not in the parlor, can be brought\nfrom no greater distance than the kitchen or housekeeper's\nroom ; such as handkerchiefs, coins, oranges, or eggs, a\nglass bowl, etc., etc. There may only remain a few inexpensivo\narticles to bo supplied from repositories for the sale of conjur-\ning apparatus, or they may be had direct from the publishers of\nthis work.\nIt may be well explicitly to avow that the time is quite gone\nby when people will really believe that conjuring is to be donc\nby supernatural agencies. No faith is now reposed in the\n\"black art of sorcery,\" or even in the art to which the less re-\npulsive name was given of \"white magic.' Many years havo\nelapsed sinco conjurors have seriously assumed to themselves\nany credit as possessing supernatural powers, or as enabled by\nspiritual agency to reveal that which is unknown to science and\nphilosophy, or mysteriously to work astonishing marvels.\nA well-marked contrast exists between the old school O. con-\njurors and those of modern times. The former, who used bold-\nly to profess that they employed mysterious rites and preter-\nnatural agency, designedly put the spectator upon false inter-\npretations, while they studiously avoided giving any elucidation\nof tho phenomena, nor would ever admit that tho wonders dis-\nplayed were to bo accounted for by the principles of science and\nnatural philosophy.\nModern conjurors advance no such pretensions. They use as\nscientifically as possible the natural properties of matter to aid"}
{"path": "practicalmagicia00harr.pdf", "page": 17, "folder": "", "text": "THE PRACTICAL MAGICIAN.\n7\nin their exhibition of wonderful results. They are content to\nlet the exhibition of their art appear marvelous They some-\ntimes mystify the matter, and so increase the puzzle, in order\nto heighten the interest and amusement of the spectators; but\nthey throw asido any solemn asseveration of possessing hidden\npowers, or of ability to fathom mysterious secrets.\nIt may be admitted that proficients and exhibitors still adopt\nlanguage that has become current with conjurors, and in com-\nmon parlance it may be asserted that the wonderful Mr. So-and-\nSo undertakes to pass some solid object through a wall or a ta-\nble ; to change black into white, and white into black; to place\nrings in.closely-fastened boxes, or draw money out of people's\nears; and conjurors may with ridiculous humor distract the at-\ntention of spectators, so that accurate observation is not fixed\nupon the object that is to undergo before their eyes some sin-\ngular transformation ; but no outrageous bombast or positive\nfalsehoods are commonly advanced. And the practical meaning\nof any exaggerated pretension is clearly understood to mean no\nmore than that Mr. So-and-So undertakes to present before you\nwhat, TO ALL APPEARANCE, is the conversion of black into white,\nor vice versa and the audience aro clearly aware that no more\nis assumed to bo presented to them than a very striking illu-\nsion, undistinguishable from a reality and how this is effected\nwill bo in many cases wholly untraceable, and therefore the\ntrick is inimitable.\nWe may be permitted to feel some pleasure in the conviction\nthat tho exhibition of our art in its more striking exploits is\nreally marvelous, and very attractive; for we certainly havo\ntho power of placing some astonishing phenomena before our\naudience: and we may surely prize the estimation with which\ntho uninitiated are disposed to honor us, but we erect no vain-\nglorious assumptions upon these data, as we are quite contented\nwith fair praise intelligently-accorde to us. And so far from\nclosely concealing tho principles and arcana of our science, we\nare ready plainly to avow that it all depends upon faculties that\nall may attain by patient culture, and exhibit by careful prac-\ntice. Undoubtedly thero are less and greater degrees of exoel-"}
{"path": "practicalmagicia00harr.pdf", "page": 18, "folder": "", "text": "8\nTHE PRACTICAL MAGICIAN.\nlence to be obtained by proportionate intelligence and dexterity.\nThere are attainments in the art, at which, by natural qualifica-\ntion and peculiar adaptation, special study, practice, and expe-\nrience enable somo few only to arrive. These qualifications\ncannot be easily communicated to every one who might wish to\npossess them; and therefore the highest adepts will ever havo\nan incommunicable distinction. But this is no moro than is\nthe case in the medical, the legal, and any learned profession,\nin all which the most eminent proficients reserve to themselves,\nor unavoidably retain, an unquestioned superiority. At tho\nsame time there is much in our art that may be communicated,\nand the present papers will show to our friends that we are will-\ning to impart to others such portions of our art as they are ca-\npable of acquiring; and we trust that what wo shall communi-\ncate to them will furnish them much rational recreation among\nthemselves, and enable them to supply innocent and interesting\namusement to their friends and companions."}
{"path": "practicalmagicia00harr.pdf", "page": 19, "folder": "", "text": "THE PRACTICAL MAGICIAN.\n9\nCHAPTER II.\nOF PALMISTRY AND PASSES\nnature and limit of the art of Conjuring has now\ndefined-what it is that we assume to do, and\nwherein we have discontinued the exaggerated preten-\nsions of the conjurors of the old school and I have hinted in\nwhat respects, and within what bounds, a young amateur may\ngim at exhibiting some amusing experiments in our art. But\nit remains for me to explain the grand pre-requisite for a novice\nto cultivate before he should attempt to exhibit before others\neven the simplest tricks of prestidigitation or legerdemain, to\nwhich we at present confine our attention.\nI have first to speak of PALMISTRY, not in the sense that the\nfortune-teller uses the word, but as expressing the art of the\nconjuror in secreting articles in the PALM of one hand while he\nappears to transfer those articles to his other hand. It is abso-\nlutely necessary that the young amateur should acquire the habit\nof doing this so adroitly as to escape the observation of others\nwhile doing it openly before their eyes.\nThe two principal passes are the following:\nFIRST PASS or, method of apparently carrying an\nobject from the right hand to the left, while actually re-\ntaining it in the right hand.\nThe reader will please to observe that the illustrative sketches\ndepict the hands of the performer as seen by himself.\nFIRST POSITION OF PASS 1.\nThe right hand, having the knucles and back of the fingers\nturned toward the spectators, and holding openly a cent, or\nsome similar object, between the thumb and fore-finger, must\nbe moved toward the left hand.\nThe left hand must be held out, with the back of the hand\ntoward the ground, as exhibited in the illustration. (Fig. 1.)"}
{"path": "practicalmagicia00harr.pdf", "page": 20, "folder": "", "text": "10\nTHE PRACTICAL MAGICIAN.\nFIG. 1.\nEllie\nFirst Position of Pass 1.\nSECOND POSITION OF PASS 1.\nThe left hand must appear to close over the object that is\nbrought toward it, at the same instant that the right hand se-\ncretes and withdraws that object.\nThe left hand that appeared to receive it must continue\nclosed. The right hand, though it actually retains the object,\nmust be allowed to hang loosely over it, so that it appears to\nhave nothing in it.\nFIG. 2.\nSecond Position of Pass 1.\nThe performer then may blow upon the closed left hand, and\nmay say, \"Fly,\" or \"Begone,\" or any similar expression, and\nthen open his left hand, holding it forward. Of course there is\nnothing in it, and the object seems to have flown from it, and\nthe spectators are much surprised.\nSECOND PASS.-Method of apparently transferring\nan object from the left hand to the right, while retaining\nit in the left hand.\nFIRST POSITION.\nLet the left hand hold up the object in its open palm. The"}
{"path": "practicalmagicia00harr.pdf", "page": 21, "folder": "", "text": "THE PRACTICAL MAGICIAN.\n11\nright hand is brought toward the left hand, but only appears to\ngrasp it.\nFig. 3.\nFirst Position of Pass 2.1\nSECOND POSITION.\nThe left hand secretes the object in its palm, while the fingers\nare allowed to fall loosely down, appearing to retain nothing\nunder them. At the very same moment the right hand must be\nclosed, and remain in shape as if containing the object, with the\nsecond joints of the fingers pointed toward the spectators, and\nthe back of the hand toward the ground. The performer then\nholding his right hand forward, may blow on it and say \"Change\nFIG. 4.\nSecond Position of Pass 2.\n-fly,\" and opening that hand, the spectator deems the object\nhas passed away from it, though in fact it has remained all along\nin the left hand.\nThe illusion in either of these passes is, that the spectator\nseeing both hands move as if the object were passing from one\nto the other, thinks it has done so ; whereas, in fact, the object"}
{"path": "practicalmagicia00harr.pdf", "page": 22, "folder": "", "text": "12\nTHE PRACTICAL MAGICIAN.\nalways remains in the hand where it was first visible to the spec-\ntators. The BACK of that hand where the object is first displayed\nmust afterwards be kept well toward the spectators.\nObserve, the eye of the performer must rest always on the\nhand or object at which he desires the spectators to look, and\nwhatever he wishes them not to notice, he himself must refrain\nfrom looking at.\nIf it is not required that the very object that has been held up\nin these passes be seen again by the spectators, the performer\nmust quietly pocket it, or drop it on a handkerchief on his ta-\nble, or inside a hat, or otherwise get rid of it as soon as he con-\nveniently can.\nOn the contrary, if that very object must be again produced\nor transferred to a person standing at some little distance, this\nmust be effected by one of the following methods :\nEither you must take care beforehand to place adroitly in that\nperson's cap or pocket a double or similar object.\nOR, you must walk up to him, and putting your hand on his\nhair, sleeve, or pocket, quickly place there the object you have\nall\nalong retained, and which you must pretend by this ma-\nnoeuvre to find in his possession.\nOr, lastly, you will see in the first trick subjoined, a method\nof substituting one object for another.\nFIRST TRICK.-To command a dime to pass into the\ncentre of a ball of Berlin wool, EO that it will not be dis-\ncovered till the ball is unwound to the very last of its\nthreads.\nREQUISITE PREPARATIONS, TO DE MADE PRIVATELY.\nYou will require a glass bowl or quart basin, and you must\nhave a flattened tube of tin about four inches long. It must be\njust large enough to let a dime slide easily through it by its own\nweight. Round the end on this tubo wind a ball of Berlin wool\nof bright color, covering about two inches of the tube, and pro-\njecting about an inch bevond the end of it. Place this ball with\nthe tube in it in your right-hand pocket of coat tail, (or in the\nleft breast-pocket, if that is largo enough to hold it completely\nleft hand.\ncovered.) Lastly, place a dime concealed in the palm of your\nCommence the exhibition of the trick by requesting one of the\nspectators to mark a dime (or cent) of his own, so that he will\nbe sure to know it again. Then ask him to lend you that coin."}
{"path": "practicalmagicia00harr.pdf", "page": 23, "folder": "", "text": "THE PRACTICAL MAGICIAN.\n13\nHolding it up in your right hand, you may say, 'Now. ladies\nand gentlemen, this is the marked dime which I shall experi-\nment with. The gentleman has accurately marked it, so that\nthere can be no mistako about its identity when reproduced.\"\nThen by Pass 1 pretend to transfer the marked coin to your left\nhand, but in reality retain it in your right hand. Next, hand\nwith your left hand your own dimo (which had been secreted in\n'hat hand) to some person. and request him to hold it. Chooso\nfor this person some one three or four yards distant from your-\nself, and also from the person who originally marked the coin.\nIt is unnecessary to explain that you do so, lest the two should\ncompare notes. Of course, the person who is asked to hold it\nwill believe that it is the very dime that was borrowed.\nYon may proceed to say : \"Now we waut a ball of worsted.'\nSo, placing your right hand in your pocket, pretend to fecl\nabout for something in your pocket, and while doing so you\nmust place the dime in the top of the tin tube, and shako it\ndown. Then carefully draw the tube ont of the ball of worsted;\nand leavo the tube in your pocket, bnt draw tho ball out of your\npocket, pressing it together whilo doing so.\nThen request some one to fecl the ball in order to ascertain\nthat it has no opening towards its centre.\nYon mayhero mako some humorons remark about your having\nsuch a ball in your pocket. As for instance: :\n\": Ladies may think it od:l that I havo such a ball of Berlin\nwool in my pocket. It was bought to please my consin Mary\nAnn, or my Aunt Tabitha. Well, it will do very fairly for our\nexperiment.\nThen request somo ono to hold tho glass basin containing the\nwoollen ball. Whilo you retain in your hand the end of tho\nwoollen thread, address the gentleman who has consented to\nhold the dime, asking him to hand it to you. Tako it in your\nright hand, pretend by Pass 1 to transfer it to your left hand,\nbut in reality keep it concealed in your right hand.\nHolding up your closed left hand, (which in fact has nothing\nin it.) yon may say :\n\"Now, dime, pass along this woollen thread into the very\ncentro of the woollen ball which is there held in tho glass bowl\nor basin.\"\nBlow upon your left hand, and show that the dime is gone.\nYou must adroitly get rid of the dime, which has remained\nsecreted in your right hand, by placing it in your pocket or\nsleeve while making somo humorous remark, or whilo asking\nsomo lady or gentleman to draw tho woollen thread till it is all\nunwound. It will bo dono tho quicker by letting the ball bo\nconfined loosely in the bowl with two fingers preventing its\nleaping out."}
{"path": "practicalmagicia00harr.pdf", "page": 24, "folder": "", "text": "14\nTHE PRACTICAL MAGICIAN.\nDraw attention to how completely the coin is wrapped up till\nyou arrive at the very last circles, when it will drop into the\nbowl.\nHand the dime to the owner who marked it, and let him de-\nclare whether he recognizes it as the very one he lent you.\nHis affirmativo will surprise the spectators.\nSECOND TRICK.-To change a bowl of ink into clear\nwater, with gold fish in it.\nREQUISITE PREPARATION, TO BE MADE PRIVATELY BEFOREHAND.\nThe same glass bowl as in previous trick. If your bowl has\nnot a foot to it, it must be placed on something that will hold it\nhigh above your table. Some small fish, a white plate or sau-\ncer, a piece of black silk just fitting the inside of your bowl, a\nspoon of peculiar construction, so that in a hollow handle it will\nretain about a teaspoonful of ink, which will not run out as long\nas a hole near the top of the handle is kept covered or stopped.\nA large tumbler and two or three minnows will do for a simpler\nexhibition, but will, of course, not be so pleasing to the eye.\nPlace the black silk so as to cover the part of the bowl that is\nshaded; when damp it will adhere to the glass. Pour in clear\nwater to fill the space covered by the black silk, and placo the\nfish in the water.\nFig. 5.\nCommence the trick in public thus: Holding the spoon-han-\ndle slanting up and uncovering the hole in the handle, the ink\nwhich you have placed in the handle will run into the bowl of\nthe spoon, and the spoon being held carefully to the surface of\nthe water, concealing the black silk, will give the spectators the\nimpression that you fill the spoon from the glass bowl.\nPour the spoonful of ink on a white saucer, and show it round\nto convince the spectators it is ink. They will see it is undeni-\nably ink, and they will conclude, if the spoon were properly"}
{"path": "practicalmagicia00harr.pdf", "page": 25, "folder": "", "text": "THE PRACTICAL MAGICIAN.\n15\ninted out of the bowl, that the glass bowl contains nothing but\nink.\nBorrowing a silk handkerchief, place it for a few seconds over\nthe bowl, and feigning to be inviting fish to come to the bowl.\nexclaim Change! Then, placing your hand on the edge of\nthe bowl near yourself, draw off the handkerchief, and with it\ntake care to catch hold also of the black silk. The bowl when\nuncovered will exhibit the fish swimming about in clear water.\nWhile the spectators are surprised at the fish, return the hand-\nkerchief, having first dropped out of it the black silk on your\nside of the table. Decline giving any explanation, as people\nwill not thank you for dispelling the illusion.\nTHIRD TRICK,-The Dancing Egg.\nREQUISITE PREPARATION TO BE MADE IN PRIVATE.\nAn egg-shell that has been blown (my young friends will know\nthat the way to blow an egg is to make a small hole at each end\nof the egg. Then, by blowing at one end, the yolk will be\ndriven out, and the egg-shell be left empty.)\nMake a hole also on the side of the egg, in which insert a\nchip of wood, or a small pin, held by a fine black silk thread,\nabout twelve or fourteen inches long, which must have a loop at\nthe far end, which loop fasten to a button on the coat or waist-\ncoat and have on a dark vest, otherwise the dark thread be-\ncoming visible, will reveal the moving power.\nFIG. 6.\na\nCommence by borrowing two black hats. If there is an in-\nstrument in the room, ask some one to play a lively tune, as\n\" eggs are fond ofglively music to dance to.\" Then, with the\nbrim of a hat in each hand, interpose the round of each hat\nsuccessively under the thread that holds the egg, moving them\nfrom your breast toward the egg. The egg will appear to move\nof itself over the hats, as you place them under it."}
{"path": "practicalmagicia00harr.pdf", "page": 26, "folder": "", "text": "16\nTHE PRACTICAL MAGICIAN.\nYou must not allow people to handle the egg on the thread af-\nterwards, for when they see the simplicity of the process they\nwill undervalue the trick, whereas it appears marvellous as long\nas they do not understand how the extraordinary movements\nare produced. And in these illusions, as Hudibras expresses it,\nDoubtless, the pleasure is as great\nIn being cheated as to cheat.\n-\nFOURTH TRICK-The Walking Cent.\nPRELIMINARY PREPARATION IN PRIVATE.\nAsk for a long dark hair from some lady's tresses. Have a\npin in shape of a hook, or a small loop affixed to the end of this\nhair, and fasten a little piece of beeswax (less than a pea) at the\nother end of the hair. Fasten the hair by the loop to a button\non your vest, taking care to wear a dark-colored vest. The\nhair may be allowed to hang from your vest, with the bees-\nwax visible. Have a glass of water or cup on the table.\nCommence the exhibition of the trick by borrowing a cent.\nWhile pretending to examine the cent to see if it is a good one,\npress the waxed end of the hair firmly to the under side cf tho\ncent, and place it about a foot from the edge of n table. Then\nbid the cent to move toward you, to the right or to the left, and\nby gently moving your body in whatever direction you name,\nthe hair will draw the cent in the same direction. You may\nsay, while your left hand is near the table, \"Now, cent, movo\nup my arm. Advancing your a.m gently, the cent will appear\nto move up to your elbow. It is your arm that moves, but it\nwill appear to the spectators as if the cent moved or you may\nhelp it up the outside of the sleeve by interposing your right\nhand under the hair, so as to draw up the cent, while appearing\nto beckon it.\n\"Now, cent, as you have performed so well, you shall have a\nbath.\" Placing the tumbler near the edge of the table, draw\nthe cent into it. After exhibiting it in the water, say, \": Oh,\ncent, you must not stay so long in the water.\" Then jerk it out\nupon the table. Detach the waxed end of the hair by your\nnail, after which return the cent to the person who loaned it\nto you.\nWhen performing this trick, in order to keep the spectators at\na little distance, you must inform them that the cent is very\nsusceptible to magnetic influences, and request ladies not to ap-\nproach too near it, as the loadstones of their eyes are the causo\nof the magnetic attraction.\""}
{"path": "practicalmagicia00harr.pdf", "page": 27, "folder": "", "text": "THE PRACTICAL MAGICIAN.\n17\nMy young friends must remember that it is absolutely neces-\nsary to keep up in spectators their belief in the niysterious, and\ntherefore must decline on the spot to give explanations before or\nafter the performance of this trick, however they may be dis-\nposed to reveal the secret privately to any friend. A singular\ninstance is recorded of a person who was grievously disappointed\nwhen by importunity he had received an explanation of this very\ntrick, which had appeared at first to him a most marvellous phe-\nnomenon; and he was quite annoyed when the gilt was stripped\noff his ginger-bread. It is said that a gentleman walked into a\nFIG. 7.\n00\ncoffee-room at Manchester, England, and was exhibiting to a\nfriend the above trick. A traveler at a table near them had his\nattention drawn by their laughing discourse, while one of them\nexhibited the trick to the other. The cold barrier of English\nreserve was broken down, and he addressed one of the strangers,\nrequesting to be informed how the trick was done. For his part\nhe imagined it must be connected with some perfectly new phil-\nosophical law of attraction involved in the experiment. \" Will\nyon be kind enough to tell me I shall be happy to offer n fee\nto learn it. I was about to proceed by the next train, but I will\ngladly defer my journey to understand this, which appears so\nunaccountable.\""}
{"path": "practicalmagicia00harr.pdf", "page": 28, "folder": "", "text": "18\nTHE PRACTICAL MAGICIAN.\nThe gentleman declined for a considerable time ; but at\nlength, being overcome by the importunity, in order to get rid\nof the matter, assented. The time of the departure of the train\nhad arrived and passed by, and the aspirant offered two guineas\nto learn the trick. The gentleman acceded to bis request on\ncondition that he should faithfully promise not to reveal it to\nothers, or to make public the mystery. \"Agreed,\" says tho\n'traveler. The mail train was gone-the money paid-tho trick\nexhibited and explained to him. \"Oh!\" cried the traveler,\n\" how easy and plain it is. What a simpleton I have been to\nlose my journey and spend my money only to learn how you-.\"\n\"\nStop!\" cried the gentleman, \"remember you have promised\nnot to divulge the secret.\" \" Yes, but how foolish to care for\nan experiment which only depends on-. Stop, sir, stop.\nAre you going to tell all the room ?\" and thus a good half-hour's\namusement was caused by the traveler fretting over his simpli-\ncity, and having relinquished an important journey for that\nwhich, though marvellous while a secret, became so simple and\nuninteresting to him after an explanation."}
{"path": "practicalmagicia00harr.pdf", "page": 29, "folder": "", "text": "THE PRACTICAL MAGICIAN.\n19\n-\nCHAPTER III.\nTRICKS WITH AND WITHOUT COLLUSION.\nI'\nresuming my hints to amateurs, I shall now offer some re-\nmarks upon two subjects.\nFrrst.--] will notico the class of tricks th at are performed by\nthe collusion of a confederate. Old books on conjuring record\nseveral of this description, and some conjurors still practise\nthem. But I do not advise the inexperienced frequently to ex-\nhibit tricks of this sort, for the co-operation of assistants used\nin them is liable to be traced by spectators, or to be divulged by\nthe person who has been employed to aid in the exhibition of\nthem. They may, indeed, be very well as a make-shift until\ndexterity of hand is acquired; but they will always rank as an\ninferior branch of the science of conjuring, and if the collusion\nis discovered, it will throw discredit even upon those tricks\nwhich the same performer may exhibit without such collusive\narrangement. An instance of the annoying failure of such de-\npendence upon confederates is recorded in \"Houdin's Memoirs.\"\nIt is thero related that Torrini, at the commencement of his ca-\nreer, was insidiously induced by an envious rival (Pinetti) to\nundertako a public exhibition of his art before a very grand as-\nsembly. Torrini was at the time diffident of his own attain-\nments, but he was persuaded to make the attempt by the assur-\nance of Pinetti that he would take care that several confeder-\nates should be present, and should help in carrying out sundry\nillusions which he would have to display. One of these was,\nthat the conjuror, after borrowing a ring, was to restoro it magi-"}
{"path": "practicalmagicia00harr.pdf", "page": 30, "folder": "", "text": "20\nTHE PRACTICAL MAGICIAN.\ncally into the possession of its owner. The ring was borrowed,\nand some mysterious gesticulations practised; but instead of the\ncontemplated result being produced, the false confederate pro-\nclaimed aloud that he had lent a very valuable jewelled ring, and\nhad only received back a common copper ring. The audience\nwas of course disappointed at such words so derogatory to the\nconjuror This unpleasant feeling was deepened by the malic-\nious meddling of another false confederate. Torrini had to\npresent some cards to the King of Naples, who was honoring the\nassembly by witnessing the exhibition, and a card was selected\nby his Majesty. Instead, however, of being pleased with what\nhe saw on the card, the king manifested intense disapprobation.\nThe confederate had written on the card words of disrespect and\ninsult, and Torrini had to retire amid the loud censures of the\nenraged spectators. There may. be no danger of so disastrous\nresults to a young amateur; but dissatisfaction of a milder kind\nwill probably ensue whenever it is discovered that any trick has\ndepended upon the secret co-operation of an assistant among\nthe spectators.\nThe SECOND topic which I propose at present to discuss is the\nemployment of mechanism-such mechanical constructions as\nboxes with false sides, cabinets with secret drawers, or double\ncompartments, etc.\nIt makes a great difference whether such arrangements are\nused as subordinate aids, or as constituting the essence and sub-\nstance of the illusion. In the former respect it is quite legiti-\nmate to take advantage of any well-arranged mechanical aid su-\nbordinately. In fact, nearly all tricks must be performed with\nsome modified aid of artistic contrivance, or with mechanical\nimplements adroitly used. The conjuror, thereforc, unavoid-\nably requires, and may advantageously employ, mechanical ar-\nrangements to give greater effect to his illusions. I only wish\nto dissuade the learner from relying solely upon mere mechani-\ncal puzzles, or artistic contrivances, for furnishing an interesting\nexhibition of the conjuror's art.\nThe fewer the contrivances which he employs of this sort, and\nthe more entirely the performance rests upon sleight-of-hand\nthe more lively will be the surprise of the spectators."}
{"path": "practicalmagicia00harr.pdf", "page": 31, "folder": "", "text": "THE PRACTICAL MAGICIAN.\n21\nI myself prefer doing without the aid of any confederate und\nwithout mechanical aids ; but I must remember that I am writ-\ning for amateurs and novices in the art, and that, in proportion\nas they are unpractised in palmistry, and in what the French\nterm prestidigitation, (preste digite, signifying \"ready fingers,\")\nit will be desirable for them, at first, to have the assistanco\nwhich mechanism will supply towards the exhibition of their\ntricks.\nLet them, however, keep such aids as subordinate and as se-\ncret as possible. For instance, in the preparation for exhibiting\nthe first trick described on page 12, the small tin tube (which is\nrequisite for the performance of that trick) must not be seen by\nthe audience, either BEFORE or AFTER the trick is exhibited, but\nmust be kept secr\u00eated in the pocket. Again, in Trick No. 4,\nthe preparation of the hair and beeswax must be made PRI-\nVATELY beforehand; and these implements must vanish out of\nsight when the trick is over. And the reader must observe that\nin both the first and fourth tricks the mechanical aid employed\nis the minor and subordinate part of the tricks, and that a suc-\ncessful exhibition of either of thcm depends really on the dex-\nterity of the passes, and of manipulations by the performer.\nIt may be admitted, then, that, with regard to the first topic\nof our present paper, the young conjuror need not be restrained\nfrom employing the subordinate aid of an assistant, so far as\nthis may carry him over difficulties which he cannot otherwise\nsurmount in the present stage of his im perfect skill.\nAnd in regard to the second topic, the employment of me-\nchanical contrivances, (though it may be well to begin with\nthose departments of the art which are easier, because aided by\nmechanical apparatus,) it will be desirable for the amateur to\nstrive to get freo from dependence upon such aids. Mechanical\narrangements cannot be wholly discarded at any time, and the\nconjuror will always require a few implements; but the more\nhe advances in dexterity of hand, quickness of eye, control of\nhis hand and eye, instantaneous adaptation of his words and\nmovements to contingencies as they arise, the more able will he\nbecome to elude the observation of the most watchful specta-"}
{"path": "practicalmagicia00harr.pdf", "page": 32, "folder": "", "text": "22\nTHE PRACTICAL MAGICIAN.\ntors, and to mislead their imagination, so that they shall fancy\nthat they see him DO things which he only APPEARS to do, and\nshall blindly fail to observe actions and movements carried out\nbefore their very eyes.\nAnd here let me say, that I have, by long experience, come to\nthe conviction, that the simpler and more common the objects\nare on which, and with which. a trick is performed, and the less\nanything beyond dexterity of hand is openly used, the greater\nwill be the astonishment and the amusement of the spectators.\nThere are, it is true, some very striking and complicated illu-\nsions which it is impossible to present without resorting to art-\nistic contrivances of mechanical or scientific arrangement. On\nthese illusions, as being beyond the power of a young amateur,\nI need not dwell. Nor need the preceding remarks be consid-\nered as any disparagement of the combinations and extrinsic aid\nwhich are indispensable for developing such startling illusions.\nThe scope of my present remarks is simply to this effect, that\nto depend mainly upon the co-operation of a confederate, or\nupon mechanical contrivances, for what can be far better carried\nout by mere sleight-of-hand, will not pass for a satisfactory ex-\nhibition of conjuring now-a-days; and the amateur will find\nthat, as he advances in skill and dexterity, he will swim more\nfreely the less ho trusts to such unsubstantial bladders to uphold\nhim.\nHaving thus discussed my two topics I shall now add explana-\ntions of a few more tricks, which the learner may practise with\nthe hope of making progress in the art of conjuring. The only\nway to make such progress and gain high attainments in the art,\nis to practise diligently over and over again the passes I havo\ndescribed in my former paper, and to learn to do a few tricks\nneatly, and without hesitation or stumbling. I subjoin, there-\nfore, some simple but effective tricks, in which they will do well\nto perfect themselves."}
{"path": "practicalmagicia00harr.pdf", "page": 33, "folder": "", "text": "THE PRACTICAL MAGICIAN.\n23\nTRICK 5.-To make a quarter and a penny change\nplaces, while held in the hands of two spectators.\nPREPARATION.\nHave a quarter of your own secreted in your right hand.\nThen borrow two handkerchiefs, and a quarter and a penny,\nfrom any one in the audience. Tell the lender to mark or accu-\nrately observe them, so that he will know them again. In plac-\ning them on the table, substitute your own quarter for the bor-\nrowed one, and conceal the borrowed one in your palm.\nMEMORANDUM.\nIt is better to use things borrowed than coin of your own.\nStill, the conjuror should provide himself with articles requisite\nto display any trick, or otherwise much delay may occasionally\narise while borrowing them.\nCommence the trick by pointing out where the quarter and\nthe penny are lying on the table. Take up the penny and show\nit openly to all. Then take up one of the handkerchiefs, and\nwhile pretending to wrap up the penny in it, substitute in its\nplace the borrowed quarter which you had concealed in your\npalm, and ask one of your friends to feel that it is enfolded in\nthe handkerchief, and bid him hold the handkerchief enclosing\nit above his head. Ask him if he has got the penny there safely.\nHe will reply that he has.\nThen take up your own quarter which was laid upon the ta-\nble ; pretend to wrap it up in the second handkerchief, but\nadroitly substitute the penny, (which you concealed in your\npalm while wrapping up the first handkerchief.) Ask some\nfriend to hold it up above his head, indulging in some facetious\nremark. Slip your own quarter into your pocket. Clap your\nhands or wave your wand, saying, \"Change.\" Tell your friends\nto unfold their handkerchiefs. They will be astonished to find\nthat the quarter and penny have changed places.\nTRICK 6.-Another trick with the dime, handkerchief,\nand an orange or lemon\nPREPARATION.\nHave an orange or lemon ready, with a slit made in its side\nsufficiently large to admit the dime easily ; and have in your\npocket a good-sized silk handkerchief with a dime stitched inio\none of its corners."}
{"path": "practicalmagicia00harr.pdf", "page": 34, "folder": "", "text": "24\nTHE PRACTICAL MAGICIAN.\nBorrow a marked dime. Take out your handkerchief, and\nwhile pretending to wrap this dime in the handkerchief, conceal\nit in your palm, and take care that the one previously sewn into\nthe corner of the handkerchief can be felt easily through tho\nhandkerchief. Giving it to one of your friends, tell him to feel\nthat it has the dime in it, and to hold it up over his head firmly.\nWhile giving these directions to your friend, the dime that is in\nyour palm must be transferred to your pocket, and introduced\ninto the slit of the orange. Then bring the orange out of your\npocket, and place it on a table you will keep the slit on the side\naway from the audience.\nThen make a few mesmeric passes over the hand of the per-\nson that holds the handkerchief, saying, \"I will now destroy\nthe sense of feeling in your hands. Tell me, can you feel tho\ndime ?\" He will say, .6 Yes.\" You can reply, \"Oh, you must\nbe wrong, sir. See! I will shake out the handkerchief.\" Tak-\ning hold of one corner of it, shake it out, saying, \"Observe,\nnothing will fall to the ground. You see that you were mis-\ntaken about feeling it in the handkerchief.\"\nThe fact is, the dime being stitched in the corner' could not\nfall out, and you must take care not to let that corner of tho\nliandkerchief hit against the ground. Put the handkerchief in\nyour pocket, and say, \"But I must return the borrowed dime.\"\nExclaim : \"Fly, dime, into the orange on the table.\" Cut up\norange, and show the dime concealed in it, and then restore it\nto its owner, asking him to tell the audienco if he finds it to bo\nhis own marked dime.\nTRICK 7.-How to double your pocket money.\nThe only preparation 1S to have four cents concealed in your\nleft palm.\nCommence the trick by calling forward one of the spectators,\nand let him bring up his hat with him.\nThen borrow five cents, or have them ready to produce from\nyour own pocket should there be any delay.\nRequest your friend, while he places them one by one on a\nsmall plate or saucer, to count them audibly, so that the com-\npany may hear their number correctly. Inquire, \"How many\naro there ?\" He will. answer, \"Five.\" Take up the saucer and\npour them into your left hand, (where the other four are already\nconcealed.) Then say, \"Stay, I will place these in your hat,\nand you must raise it above your head, for all to see that noth-\ning is added subsequently to them.\" You will have placed\nthese nine cents in his hat unsuspected by him.\nBorrow five cents more. Make Pass 1, as described on page\n9, appearing to throw these five into your left hand, but really"}
{"path": "practicalmagicia00harr.pdf", "page": 35, "folder": "", "text": "THE PRACTICAL MAGICIAN.\n25\nretaining them in your right hand, which is to fall by your side\nas if empty.\nAfterwards get rid of four of the five cents into your pocket,\nretaining only one in your right palm.\nHold up your closed left hand, and say, while blowing on it:\nPass, cents, from my left hand into the hat. Now, sir, be\nkind enough to see if they have come into your possession.\nPlease to count them aloud while placing them in the saucer.\"\nHe will be surprised, as well as the spectators, to find that the\ncents in his hat have become nine.\nYou may then put on a rather offended look, and say: \"Ah,\nsir ! ah ! I did not think you would do so ! You have taken\none out, I fear.\" Approaching your right hand to his sleeve,\nshake the sleeve, and let the one cent, which you have in your\nown hand, drop audibly into the saucer. It will raise a laugh\nagainst the holder of the hat. You can say : 'Excuse me, I\nonly made it appear that you had taken one. However, you see\nthat the original money is now doubled.\"\nTRICK 8.-The injured handkerchief restored.\nPREPARATION.\nHave a dime of your own wrapped in the centre of a piece of\ncambric about five or six inches in diameter, the ends falling\ndown loose. Conceal these in the palm of your left hand.\nBorrow a marked dime from any of the spectators, and a\nwhite cambric handkerchief. Throw the handkerchief spread\nout over your left palm, (holding under the handkerchief your\nown dime wrapped in the small piece of cambric )\nOpenly place the borrowed dime on the centre of the spread-\nout handkerchief. Keeping hold of that dime, jerk the ends of\nthe\nhandkerchief over, so as to fall loose down from the lower\nside of your left hand. Draw out from between your thumb\nand fingers (that is from the upper side of your left hand) about\ntwo inches of the smaller piece of cambric, containing your own\ndime. The spectators will naturally conceive the two pieces of\ncambric you hold in that hand to be merely the cambric hand-\nkerchief.\n)\nCall any of the spectators forward, and request him to mark\noff with his knife the portion of the piece of calico which holds\nyour own dime, and whisper to him to cut it completely off, and\nto let the dime drop on the table. The spectators will believe\nthat he has cut a hole in the handkerchief itself, and that the\ndime falling out is the one you recently borrowed, whereas it is\nin fact the other piece of calico that has been cut, and the bor-\nrowed coin remains still wrapped up in the handkerchief."}
{"path": "practicalmagicia00harr.pdf", "page": 36, "folder": "", "text": "26\nTHE PRACTICAL MAGICIAN.\nPretend to blame the person who cut the two inches off, say-\ning: \"Dear me, sir, what have you done ? You have quite de-\nstroyed this nice handkerchief. Well, I hope, madam, you will\npardon the mistake, if I manage by magic to restore to you your\nhandkerchief in perfect order, and I request you to allow me to\ntry to do so. Carefully holding in the candle the edges of the\ncambric, (both of the part cut off and of the portion from which\nit was cut,) and letting the real handkerchief hang down from\nthe same hand, pretend with a conjuring wand to weld together\nthe edges of the cambric when they get hot, as a blacksmith\n\"welds metals together. You can prevent the flame from reach-\ning the real handkerchief by tightly pressing your fingers.\nThen exclaim : \"Oh, where is the dime ?\" and while picking it\nup from the table, get quietly rid of the pieces of cambric with\ntheir burnt edges into a hat or some corner unseen by the audi-\nence.\nHolding up the dime which you had just lifted from the table\nsay : \"But to complete my trick I must replace this dime in the\ncentre of the restored handkerchief, whence it was cut out.'\nMake the Pass 1, appearing to pass it into the centre of the\nhandkerchief, but retaining it in your hand, and afterwards se-\ncretly pocket it. The handkerchief has already the borrowed\ndime in it. Say to the handkerchief: \"Change-restore !\" and\nunfolding it, show the borrowed coin in it. Shake out the hand-\nkerchief and show it is all sound and right, and restore it with\nthanks, as well as the borrowed dime, to the owners.\nTRICK 9.-To make a large die pass through the crown\nof a hat without injuring it.\nI will now give my young friends a nice, easy trick, requiring\nvery little dexterity, as the articles for its exhibition can be pur-\nchased at any depot for the sale of conjuring apparatus there-\nfore the most diffident amateur will be able to display this trick.\nPREPARATION.\nHave a die exactly like the common dice, only it may be about\ntwo inches square. Have two covers for it, one of them exactly\nresembling the appearance of a die, only hollow, except that\none side of it is open, so that it can easily be placed over, or be\ntaken off, the solid die.\nThe other cover may be of decorated material, and it is in-\ntended to be placed over the first die-cover. Let this last cover\nbe made of some pliant material, so that by compressing gently\ntwo of its sides with your fingers, while lifting it up, you can\nlift up the first die-cover, which will be within it."}
{"path": "practicalmagicia00harr.pdf", "page": 37, "folder": "", "text": "THE PRACTICAL MAGICIAN.\n27\nCommence the trick by borrowing two hats place one with\nits rims upwards on the table, and show that you place in that\nhat the die with its first cover on it. But say, \"I forgot to ap-\npeal to the company whether they will like to see the trick dong\nvisibly or invisibly.\" They will most likely say, \"Visibly;' bnt\nit is of no consequence which answer they make, for the process\nof the trick is the same in either case.\nTake out from the lower hat the first cover, which is painted\nexactly like a die, and having placed the second hat (with its\nrims downwards) on the other hat, display the first cover, and\nopenly place it on the crown of the upper hat. All the specta-\ntors will believe it to be the solid die itself. Then take your\npenknife; you may just thrust it into the crown of the hat, and\npretend to cut all round the die-cover there lying ; say-\" I\nshall now bid it move into the lower hat, but it will not do so\nwhile uncovered, so I must place this ornamental cover over it.\"\nDo so; show that you have nothing in your hands or sleeves;\nthen wave your wand or your hand, and say, \"Change, pass,\ndie, into the lower hat.' Give it a little time. Then, compres-\nsing the outward cover gently, lift off also with it the painted\ndie-cover, which it has inside it. Lift up the lower hat, and\nshow the company the solid die lying in it. Show all that the\nupper hat has received no injury.\nThe illusion to the audience will be that the solid die has pas-\nsed through the crown of the upper hat without at all injuring\nit. Return the hats to the owners, and show them to be unin-\nured.\nTRICK 10.-To produce from a silk handkerchief bon-\nbons, candies, nuts, etc.\nPREPARATION.\nHave packages of various candies, wrapped up in bags of the\nthinnest tissne paper, and place them on your table rather shel-\ntered from observation. Have also a plate or two on your\ntable.\n-\nMEMORANDUM.\nIt will be always desirable to have the table removed two or\nthree yards at least from the spectators, and of a height that\nthey cannot see the surface of it while sitting down in front of\nit.\nGommence the trick by borrowing a silk handkerchief, or any\nlarge handkerchief. After turning it about, throw it out on the\ntable, so as to fall over one of these packages.\nHaving carefully observed where the bag lies, place your left"}
{"path": "practicalmagicia00harr.pdf", "page": 38, "folder": "", "text": "28\nTHE PRACTICAL MAGICIAN.\nhand so as to take up the bag while catching hold of the middle\nof the handkerchief.\nTaking the handkerchief up by nearly the centre, the edges\nof it will fall around and conceal the bag make some pretended\nwavings of your wand or right hand over the handkerchief, and\nsay, \"Tow, handkerchief, you must supply my friends with\nsome bon-bons.\" Squeeze with your right hand the lower part\nof the bag which is under the handkerchief; the bag will burst,\nand you can shake out into a plate its contents.\nAsking some one to distribute them among your young\nfriends, you can throw the handkerchief (as it were carelessly)\nover another bag, from which you can in the same way produce\na liberal supply of some other sweetmeats, or macaroon bis-\ncuits, etc., etc., all of which will be duly appreciated by the ju-\nveniles, and they will applaud as long as you choose to continue\nthis SWEET trick.\n'\n-"}
{"path": "practicalmagicia00harr.pdf", "page": 39, "folder": "", "text": "THE PRACTICAL MAGICIAN.\n29\nCHAPTER IV.I\nPRACTICE.\nIN\nconjuring, as in all other arts and sciences, perseverance is\nrequisite in order to become expert and successful. There\nis no royal road, or possibility of acquiring the end, without ex-\nercising the means to that end. Let my young friends, then,\ncarefully practise over and over again the passes and the tricks\nwhich I have already explained to them. It is the only way to\nattain dexterity and confidence, without which they will never\nbe able to make any creditable exhibition of the art of conjur-\ning. After they have attained considerable skill and sleight-of-\nhand in displaying a few tricks, they will easily extend the range\nof their performances, and gradually rise to greater ability. I\nmay, therefore, parody an old injunction for obtaining success,\nand say There are three rules for its attainment: The firstis\n\"Practice.\" The second is Practice.\" The third is \"Prac-\ntice.\" In a word, constant and careful practice is requisite, if\nany wish to be successful as amateur conjurors. They should\nnever attempt to exhibit before their friends any tricks that they\nhave not so frequently practised that no bungling or hitch is\nlikely to occur in their performance of it.\nLet no one be staggered by the simplicity of the processes\nrecommended in these tricks. The result will in fact be all the\nmore astonishing, the simpler the operations employed.\nThe great point is the address of the performer, and that will\ncarry through successfully the means employed. However sim-\nple and insignificant those means may appear to the learner\nwhen they have been explained to him, if there is good address"}
{"path": "practicalmagicia00harr.pdf", "page": 40, "folder": "", "text": "30\nTHE PRACTICAL MAGICIAN.\nand accurate manipulation, the astonishment at the result will\nbe infinitely greater than any one would imagine possible to be\nproduced by such simple means.\nThere is one help that I can suggest towards the better man-\nagement of the hands in concealing or removing objects; it is\nthe use of a conjuror's rod or short magic wand. This is, now-\na-days, commonly a stick of about fifteen inches long, resem-\nbling a common rule, or a partially-ornamented one. You may\noften have observed this simple emblem of the conjuror's power,\nand deemed it a mere idle or useless affectation. The conjuror\nwaves it mystically or majestically as he may be disposed. Of\ncourse you are right in your judgment that it can do no good\nmagically; but it does not follow that it is useless. The fact is,\nthat it is really of considerable service to him. If he wants to\nhold a coin or any object concealed in his hand, without others\nobserving the fact of his hand being closed, the wand in that\nhand is a blind for its concealment. He may require to pick up\nor lay down some object, and he can do so while openly fetching\nor laying down his wand. If he wants to gain time, for any il-\nlusion or process of change, he can obtain it while engaging the\nattention of the spectators by some fantastic movements of his\nwand. By the use of the wand, therefore, you will be able to\nprevent the observation of your audience too pointedly follow-\ning the movements which you wish to carry on secretly. You\nmay also, at the same time, dispel their attention by humorous\nremarks, preventing it from being concentrated on watching\nyour movements.\nAs a general rule, you must not apprise your audience of what\nyou are actually doing, but must often interpose some other\nthought or object to occupy their mind. For instance : Do you\ndesire that a person should not examine too closely any object\nwhich you place in his hand, tell him to hold it well above his\nhead. That takes it out of the range of his eyes. It would\nnever do to tell him not to look at it. He would then immedi-\nately suspect that you are afraid of something being observed.\nHave you perchance forgotten to bring on your table any ar-\nticle requisite for displaying any trick, a feint must be made"}
{"path": "practicalmagicia00harr.pdf", "page": 41, "folder": "", "text": "THE PRACTICAL MAGICIAN.\n31\nthat you must have more candles, or must remove some other\nobject, thus gaining the opportunity to fetch what you require\nwithout naming it.\nDo not even announce too fully or vauntingly beforehand\nwhat is to be the result or development of any trick; rather\nproceed with it, and let the audience come unexpectedly upon a\nresult which they had not contemplated. Their surprise will be\ngreater, and their amusement more lively, at such unexpected\nresult.\nIt is for this reason that it will be well to avoid the repetition\nof the same trick in the same evening, though requested to per-\nform it over again. The minds of the spectators have already\ntraced once the whole performance of it-the beginning, the\nmiddle, the end. The zest of it, therefore, is gone off; their\nminds are languid and disinterested about its second repetition ;\nand the conjuror's art proportionately sinks in their estimation.\nHaving offered these general remarks, I will now invite the\nattention of my young friends to another batch of interesting\ntricks, which, with a little effort, they may succeed in exhibit-\ning.\nTRICK 11.-A sudden and unexpected supply of feath-\ners from under a silk handkerchief or cloth.\nPREPARATION.\nHave ready a good supply of plumes of feathers. They may\nbe obtained from a fur or fancy store, or purchased there loose,\nand tied up so as to lie thin and flexible where you wish to place\nthem. You may have at least four batches of them. The com-\nmon hackle feather will do, stitched round a thin piece of whale-\nbone. Teathers that are a little injured for sale as ornaments\nmay be picked up at little cost.\nTake off your cont. You may then have one or more batches\nof feathers placed round each arm ; the lower point of the stem\non which the feathers are fixed being near your wrist, and the\ntop of each batch of feathers confined near your elbow by a\nslight worsted string. so that they do not stick out the coat\nsleave too much. or slip down together if two batches are con-\nce led in the same sleave. Yon can have one or more batcher;\n1 just within each side of your waistcoat, with the lower"}
{"path": "practicalmagicia00harr.pdf", "page": 42, "folder": "", "text": "3?\nTHE PRACTICAL MAGICIAN.\npoint of the stem within easy reach of your hand-about four\ninches below your chin. Then put your coat on.\nCommence the trick by borrowing a large silk handkerchief or\ncloth of the same size. Show it to be empty by holding out the\ntwo top corners in front of your breast, and shake the handker-\nchief while it falls loosely down over your vest. Then moving\nthe handkerchief toward your left, catch hold (with your right\nthumb and finger) of the end of the stem \"of the plume, No. 1,\nand draw it from under the left side of your vest. It will re-\nmain concealed behind the handkerchief while you move your\nFIG. 8.\nPosition 1.,\nPosition 2.\ntwo hands to the right, which will draw out the plume from un-\nder your vest, then over the centre of your chest. Then toss\nthe handkerchief about, enveloping the first batch of feathers:\nsay, \"Handkerchief, you must supply me with some feathers.\nIn a minute or so, take off the handkerchief, and display the\nplume to the spectators.\nShow the spectators again that the handkerchief is quite\nempty. Move your arms toward your right till your left hand\ncomes just over the edge of the right side of your vest. With\nyour left thumb and fore-finger catch hold of the stem of the\nfeathers there concealed, and by moving your arms back to-\nwards the left, you can draw out without its being observed the\nplume that had been concealed under the right side of your\nvest. Toss about and display as before this second batch of\nfeathers, and then place them aside.\nThen show to the company again that your handkerchief has\nnothing in it, and lay the handkerchief over both your hands,"}
{"path": "practicalmagicia00harr.pdf", "page": 43, "folder": "", "text": "THE PRACTICAL MAGICIAN.\n33\nWhile waving it mysteriously about, exclaim that the handker-\nchief must furnish you with some more feathers. Draw out of\nthe left sleeve one of the plumes, shake the feathers out while\ntaking off the handkerchief from this, which will be plume the\nthird.\nThen, throwing your handkerchief over the hand, and clap-\nping your hands together, (with the left over the right hand,)\nmanage to catch hold of another point of a plume, and pull it\nout from your right sleeve while waving about your two hands\nwith the handkerchief over them. You have now produced four,\nplumes.\nThe exhibition may be continued to an increased number of\nplumes, if you have more concealed in your sleeves, or else-\nwhere; but four will probably be sufficient to manage at the\ncommencement of your career as an amateur conjuror.\nTRICK 12.-Heads or Tails ?\nI shall now give directions for reproducing, before a jnvenile\naudience, a trick that will carry us back to the primitive style of\nconjuring in old times. I cannot say that there is anything\nvery scientific or elevated in it, but, if neatly and adroitly exe-\ncuted, it will tell very well with a youthful audience.\nPREPARATION.\nYou must take care that your table be so placed that none of\nthe spectators can see behind yourself or the table. You must\nprovide yourself with some young pet of the juveniles, such as\na puppy, a kitten, or any other small pet. The performer must\neither have some little bag hanging under his coat-tails, or some\nprovision for concealing the little animal behind him, or in a\ndrawer before him ; so that there will be no chance of any of\nthe audience seeing it before the proper time. He must have\nready also a penny, or any coin.\nTo begin the exhibition of the trick. Standing with all the\nnonchalance you can assume, and placing one or both your arms\nbehind your back, you may say, \"For a variety, I will challenge\none of my young friends to come and try which of us will suc-\nceed best in a few tosses of this penny.\"\nInduce some young person to come to the front of your ta-\nble, and tell him to bring forward his hat. Ask him to tos3 first\nwith the cent and put the hat over it, while you will guess\n\"heads\" or \"tails.\" Say it shall be seen who is most suceess-"}
{"path": "practicalmagicia00harr.pdf", "page": 44, "folder": "", "text": "34\nTHE PRACTICAL MAGICIAN.\nful\nin\nfive\nguesses.\nAfter he has tossed up twice, you can take\nthe penny, and say, \"Now, I will vary the method of tossing.\nYou shall name now which you choose, 'heads' or \"tails.''\nToss up the penny, and while attention is occupied with this,\nand he is looking to see which is uppermost, heads or tails, you\nwithdraw your left hand from behind you, holding the little an-\nimal you have concealed, and slipping it into the hat, and turn-\ning the hat down over it, exclaim, 'Stay, I mean to pass the\npenny through the hat upon the table, and the whole affair shall\nbe settled by the result of the present toss. You shall see the\nheads or tails on the table.\"\nBy Pass 1, pretend to place the penny on the hat, but retain\nit in your right hand. Say, \"Fly, pass, and quickly.\" Lift the\nhat, and show both head and tail on the little animal or pet\nthere concealed.\nIf you should have had a Guinea pig, you must make the\nguesses go on till your adversary guesses \"tails,\" and then it\nwill make a good laugh to say, \"He has won, and he had bet-\nter now take it up by the tail.'\nTRICK 13 -To cook pancakes or a flat plum cake\nin a hat, over some candles.\nREQUISITE PREPARATION.\nHave two gallipots or earthen jars, of a size to go easily into\na hat, but of such dimensions that the one reversed will fit\nclosely over the other. Tie worsted or a strip of linen round\nthe smaller gallipot, so as to insure the larger one holding firmly\nround the smaller one. Have ready some thin, fluent dough,\nsome sugar, and a few currants, enough for two or three pan-\ncakes or a small plum cake; also a spoon to stir the ingredients\nup.\nHave at hand two or three warm pancakes that have just been\nprepared by the cook for you, with the same ingredients as men-\ntioned above. Let them be firm and free from grease. Have\nalso at hand two small plates, with knives and forks.\nCommence the exhibition by borrowing two hats, to give you\na choice with which to perform. You can remark that as you\nshould be sorry to injure your friend's hat, you will secure it\nfrom being soiled by placing some paper in it as a lining. Hold\nup the paper to show it is only paper, and then openly place it\nin the hat, and lay the hat down on its side on the table near\nyou, having the brim towards you.\nHave therready-prepared pancakes lying near you, and whilst"}
{"path": "practicalmagicia00harr.pdf", "page": 45, "folder": "", "text": "THE PRACTICAL MAGICIAN.\n35\ntaking off the attention of the spectators by pretending to ar-\nrang: the articles on your table, slip the prepared pa .cakes or\nplum-cake into the hat.\nUnobserved, also place the smaller gallipot in the hat, and\nwhile doing so, if requisite, add some remorli, such as: \"Please\nto shut, or op^n, that `oor.\" or any word: that will draw off the\nattention of the sp ctators from what you ero Coin, You\nmust\nnext, vith S me parade, mix the fluont loug? with the sugar\nand currants, in t'.o lar yer gallipot. It must be fluent enough to\npour out lovly, upare .tly into the hiso, but really into the\nsmaller gallipot, which has been already nonccaled inside the.\nhat. Shov 'ou have imptied the lar wor all but a little ;\nthen, placing it he sn .ller galliprit a in empty the very\nlast of it, und press the larger callipot firmly i wn over the\nsmaller onn. Then, inl it, lift th smalle gallipot also, with\nits contents, whil you ippear only to talio bacl: the larger galli-\npot. Remove the gollipots, us supposed t be empte, out of\nsight. \"Now, l.d.en und ;entlemen, I must request your pa-\ntience a few minutes for the brocess of cooking.' \" Put two or\nthree candles near one wother, and move the hat at a safe dis-\ntance above them for W or thr minutes, making in the mean-\ntime any langhabl. remarks that may occur to you, such as :\n\"\nMy young friends will find this ? capital way of supplying\nthemselves with a delicat dish when hoy havs lost their pud-\ndings from being in the black books of their teacher or parents,\"\n,FIG, 9.\nor any similar humorous remark; but take care not to burn the\nhat whilst the (supposed) cooking is going on. After a short"}
{"path": "practicalmagicia00harr.pdf", "page": 46, "folder": "", "text": "36\nTHE PRACTICAL MAGICIAN.\ninterval, place the-hat on the table, and with some little cere-\nmony take out the real pancakes or plum-cake. Let it be cut\nup and.handed round to the juveniles who may be present.\nREMARKS.\nA more finished or surer arrangement for holding the dough,\netc., can be made with a tin apparatus, which can be prepared\nby any tinman, upon the same principle as the gallipots, taking\ncare not to have it made larger than the inside of a youth's\nhat.\nAn amateur can render a common table more suitable for con-\nFig. 25.\ncealing any little object he wishes to have secreted, by placing\nthree or four tumblers under each end of a plank, about the\nlength to extend across the table, and throwing any common\ncloth over the board and table, or a kitchen table, covered with\na cloth, having a drawer pulled out about six inches, will furnish\na\nvery good conjuror's table. It is well to have the table rather\nbroad, so as to keep the spectators at a sufficient distance.\nTRICK 14.-TO EAT A DISH OF PAPER SHAVINGS,\nAND DRAW THEM OUT OF YOUR MOUTH LIKE AN\nATLANTIC CABLE.\nPREPARATION.\nProcure three or four yards of the thinnest tissue paper of va-\nrious colors. Cut these up in strips of half an inch or three-"}
{"path": "practicalmagicia00harr.pdf", "page": 47, "folder": "", "text": "THE PRACTICAL MAGICIAN.\n37\nquarters of an inch breadth, and join them. They will form a\ncontinuous strip of many feet in length. Roll this up carefully\nin a flat coil, as ribbons are rolled up. Let it make a coil about\nas large as the top of an egc-cup or an old-fas ioned hunting-\nwatch. Leavo out of ,he innermost coil about an inch or more\nof that end of the paper, so that you can easily commence un-\nwinding it from the centro of the coil.\nProcure a large dish or basketful of paper-shavings, which can\nbe obtained at little cost from any bookbinder's or stationer's.\nShaken out it will appear to be a large jaantity. As you wish it\nto appear that you have eaten a good portion of them, you can\nsqueeze the remainder close together, and then thero will appear\nto be few left, and that your appetite has reason to be r :tisfied.\nCommence the trick by proclaiming you have a voracious ap-\npetite, so that you can make a meal off paper-shavings. Bend\ndown over the plate, and take up handful after handful, pretend\nto munch them in your mouth, and make a faco 2S if swallowing\nthem, and as you take up another handful, put out those previ-\nously in your mouth, and put them aside. Having gone on with\nthis as long as the spectators seem amused by it, at last, with\nyour 1 ft hand, lip the prepare. ball of tissue aper into your\nmouth, managing to place towards your teeth the end you wish\nto catch hold of with your right hand, for pulling the strip out\nfrom your mouth. You will take care also not to open your\nteeth too widely, lest the whole coil or ball should come out all\nat once.\nHaving got hold of the end, draw it slowly and gently forward.\nIt will unroll to a length of twenty yards or moro in a continu-\nous strip, much t the amusement of the spectators.\nWhen it has come to the end, you may remark : \"I suppose\nwe have come to a fault, as there is a solution of continuity\nhere, just as the strongest cables break off,' so we must wait to\npick up the end again, and go on next year, when the Great\nEastern again goes out with its next Atlantic Cable.\"\nTRICK 15.-How to cut off a nose-of course without\nactual injury.\nPREPARATION.\nHave ready a piece of calico of light color, or a white apron,\na sponge saturated with a little liquid of the color of blood-\nport-wine, or the juice of beet-root, will do; also two knives,\nresembling each other, the one of them whole, the other with a\nlarge notch in its blade, so that when placed over the nose it will"}
{"path": "practicalmagicia00harr.pdf", "page": 48, "folder": "", "text": "38\nTHE PRACTICAL MAGICIAN.\nappear to have cut through the bridge of the nose. A cutler\nC. uld supply such knives, or they may be purchased at the de-\npots for conjuring apparatus.\nHaving placed out these articles on your table with serious-\nness and imposing formality, show to the audience the knife that\nis whole, and call upon them to observe that it is sufficiently\nstrong and sharp. The other knife must be placed somewhere\nnear you, but where it is sheltered from the observation of the\nspectators.\nAsk some young friend to step forward, assuring him that you\nwill not hurt him. Mako him sit down on a chair facing the au-\ndience. After having measured the real knife across his nose,\nsay \"But I may as well protect your clothes from being soiled,\nso I will put an apron round your neck.\" Goto the table to take\nup the apron, and, in doing so, placc down the real knife where\nit cannot be seen, and with your lef' and tako up the conjuror's\nknife, holding it by the blade, lest any one should cbserve the\nnotch in it. Conceal at the same time also, in your left hand,\nthe piece of sponge.\nAdvancing to the chair, tuck, with your right hand, the apron\nround the youth's neck. Then pr SS the conjuror's knife firmly\nover the nose and leave il there, 2S if you had cut into the bridgo\nof the nose. At the same time gently \u00bfqueeze the sponge, and\na little of the liquid will make an alarming appearance on the\nface and on the apron; go on for a short time, covering the face\nand apron with (apparent) blood. When the audience have seen\nit long enough, seize up the apron, wipe the face of the youth\nquite clean, throw away the conjuror's knife, and exhibit your\nyoung friend to the audience all right, and dismiss him with\nsome facetious remark on his courage in undergoing the alarm-\ning operation."}
{"path": "practicalmagicia00harr.pdf", "page": 49, "folder": "", "text": "THE PRACTICAL MAGICIAN.\n39\nCHAPTER V.\nTRICKS BY MAGNETISM, CHEMISTRY, GALVANISM, OR ELEC-\nTRICITY.\na class of tricks about which I must say a few\nviz., those that require to be exhibited by the help\nof magnetism, chemistry, galvanism, or electricity. I need not\ndwell long on them, for I do not consider them such as the\nyoung people, for whom these notes are written, can be recom-\nmended to devote their attention to, for the following reasons :\nin the first place, they are, with a few exceptions, attended with\nconsiderable expense. Secondly, the tricks connected with the\npowerful agencies of galvanism and electricity are dangerous to\nthe unskilful operator and, even in experienced hands, the\nmost effective of them are uncertain things to manage; there-\nfore their effect cannot be depended on.\nSome very interesting tricks have, doubtless, at times been\nexhibited by the help of galvanism and electricity. We havo\nread of a conjuror by such help confounding a powerful Arab, by\nfirst letting him lift with ease a box, and afterwards rendering it\nimpossible for him to raise it, when an,electric current had, to\nhis dismay, paralyzed all his strength. It is evident that an ex-\nperiment of this kind could not be safely attempted by any but\na very experienced person. We read also of conjurors who have\nsurprised their audience by receiving them in a dimly-lit thea-\ntre, and then firing off a pistol, (to startle the audience and cover\nthe real mode of operation,) they have by electricity lighted up"}
{"path": "practicalmagicia00harr.pdf", "page": 50, "folder": "", "text": "40\nTHE PRACTICAL MAGICIAN.\none hundred lamps at once. This has proved successful\nvery on\nsome occasions; but on others, notwithstanding the most care-\nful preparation and the greatest precaution, it has been found\nthat the apparatus would not act, and the impatient spectators\nhave visited the disappointing failure with their indignant mur-\nmurs. Other conjurors have become so attached to electric ex-\nperiments, that they have proposed to regulate all the clocks of\na large district by electricity, or have amused themselves by\nturning electric or galvanic currents to the door-handles of their\nhouses, so that unsuspecting strangers, on touching them, were\nstartled with electric shocks. There is also a trick for rendering\none portion of a portrait electric by a metal plate concealed un-\nderit, and the spectators being invited to touch some part of the\npieture, have, on touching the spots that were charged with\nelectricity, received a shock or powerful blow, as if the portrait\nresented their touching it.\nHaving briefly given the character of this class of tricks, and\nstated that they not only require expensive apparatus, but are\nattended with danger to the inexperienced, there still remains\nanother serious objection, viz., that, like the experiments per-\nformed by automaton figures or complicated machinery, they are\nliable to fail, through any trifling disarrangement, just at the mo-\nment when the performer is hoping that his audience will be de-\nlighted with his surprising exhibition.\nFor these reasons I shall not stay to describe the more elabo-\nrate of these tricks, as, however interesting they may be to the\nscientific, they would not, in a youthful amateur's hands, be sure\nto produco the amusement which it is my primary object to sup-\nply.\nThe simpler experiments of magnetism and chemistry may\nwell be regarded as recreations of science, interesting curiosi-\nties, suitable enough to be exhibited by a professor of chemistry\nfor amusement and instruction but even these can hardly be\nconsidered as belonging to \"conjuring proper.\" Young people\ndo not care, at festive parties, to watch red liquids turning into\ngreen, blue, and yellow or the mixture of different chemical\ningredients producing strange conversions into varied substances;"}
{"path": "practicalmagicia00harr.pdf", "page": 51, "folder": "", "text": "THE PRACTICAL MAGICIAN.\n41\nnor will experiments that are interesting as chemical curiosities\nproduce the same excitement and pleasing surprise that the\nwonders of sleight-of-hand do. In a word, such experiments in\na private circle of young friends fail to constitute the most amu-\nsing kind of parlor magic, while upon a public stage they are too\nminute for any large audience to trace and comprehend.\nLest, however, my young readers should think that I have any\ndesire to shut them out from any field of reasonable pleasure, I\nwill now carefully select one or two examples of tricks connected\nwith the sciences of magnetism and chemistry, and which may\neven in the hands of amateurs, produce a safe and pleasing ex.\nhibition.\nIn the following trick they will find an amusing instance of the\ncombination of science with rational recreation.\nTRICK 16.-The watch obedient to the word of com-\nmand.\nThe magnet is a well-known agent in producing several toys\nfor the entertainment of the young, and though its attraction is\nwonderful, there is no danger likely to arise from employing it,\nin the same way as might arise from unskilful dabbling with\nelectricity, galvanism, or chemical powers, and a strange and\nsingular effect nay be produced by placing a magnet of some\nlittle strength near a watch.\nSupposing the young conjuror to have provided himself with\na powerful but not very large magnet, let him conceal it in the\npalm, or under a thin glove in his left hand, or near the edge of\nthe cuff of his sleeve. Let him then borrow a lady's watch,\n(without chain,) and the thinner the watch-case is, and if it has\na glass, the better. Let him then call forward a youth, and pla-\ncing the watch in his own right hand, and near to the ear of the\nother, ask him if he hears it going he will answer \"Yes.\"\nLet him next bid the watch to stop; and on taking it in his\nleft hand, where the magnet is concealed, it will stop, if held\nsteadily ; and on inquiring of his young friend whether he can\nhear it, he will reply \"No.\"\nObserve: you must keep systematically to using your right\nhand when you wish to make the watch go on, and to your left\nwhen you wish it to stop. Appealing to others among the com-\npany, the performer may then tell the watch to go on, and hold-\ning it in his right hand, and giving it a slight shake, apply it to"}
{"path": "practicalmagicia00harr.pdf", "page": 52, "folder": "", "text": "42\nTHE PRACTICAL MAGICIAN.\none of their ears ; it will be heard \"tic, tic; then holding it in\nhis left hand and telling it to stop, they will also find that it does\nstop. You can pretend to doubt whether they are all deaf of\none ear, but lastly may declare that this is caused by the obedi-\nent disposition of the watch, which so orderly obeys your com-\nmand. Remind your audience that savages upon first seeing a\nwatch believe it to be a living animal with power to think and\nact of itself 'At any rate,\" you may conclude, \"the present\nwatch seems to hear, to understand, and to obey my orders.\"\n: It will be an amusing addition to the above trick to say that\nyou will now order the watch to fly away and conceal itself.\nYou must for this purpose have provided yourself with an\nelectro-plated locket resembling a lady's watch, and have two\nloaves ready in some convenient corner.\nWhen the watch has finished its \"manual and platoon\" exer-\ncise on the platform, you may say, \"I will now place this watch\nvisibly to all upon the table.\" Turn round to go to your table,\nand in walking to it, substitute the locket for the watch, and\nplace the locket on some spot visible to all. It will not be dis-\ntinguishable from the watch by the spectators at six or eight\nyards' distance from them. Conceal the watch itself in the palm\nof your hand. You can now exclaim, \"I require two loaves,\"\nand walking towards them, slip the watch into the one you have\nprepared with a slit in its side. Advancing to the audience, ask\nin which loaf they will prefer that you shall bid the watch fly.\nIf they name the one in which you have concealed it, proceed to\nbreak open the loaf and find the watch. But suppose they name\nthe wrong one: you then, remembering that the left hand of the\nspectators is your right hand, proceed with the true loaf, which-\never they have named, or manage to cross the position of the\nloaves as yon place them on the table.\nThen taking up the locket with your right hand, make Pass 1,\nas if transferring it to your left hand, but really retaining it in\nyour right hond (as described in my first paper.) Blow upon\nyour closed left hand, and say, \"Watch, fly into that loaf.' Clap\nyour hands. It is gone.\nAdvancing to the loaf, get rid of the locket from your right\nhand: take up the loaf, break it open on the other side from that\nin which the locket was introduced, bring out the watch, and ap-\npeal to the lady to declare whether it is the same which she lent\nto you.\nTRICK 17.\nAn experiment with a very mild dash of electricity in it, which\nwill at any rate be a popular trick with most people that trv it.\nIt will do for a small entertainment, or at any joyous party of"}
{"path": "practicalmagicia00harr.pdf", "page": 53, "folder": "", "text": "THE PRACTICAL MAGICIAN.\n43\nyoung people. It does not, however, require a large number to\nbe present, but, contrary to the usual scientific tricks, its devel-\nopment comes off better with one companion than with a dozen\nPREPARATION.\nYou must induce your cousin Jemima, or some other young\nlady who is just of age to have cut her eye-teeth, to consent to\nhelp you by accompanying you to a room with closed shutters\nand no candles. A moderate-sized looking-glass must be on the\ntable, the smaller the better, for reasons below assigned. Have\nready at hand some ounces of hard candy.\nYou commence the trick by placing yourselves, land-in-hand,\nbefore the looking glass. If it is rather small, your heads will\nbe the closer-in order to see the reflection of both at once.\nThen, with mouths as open as may be, try which of you can\ncrush his or her share of sugar-candy with the teeth the quick-\nest. In the glass will appear the reflection of sparks of electri-\ncity, as the experiment proceeds. If your companion is ner-\nvous, you can of course support her with one arm-ladies are\nsometimes susceptible, whether from animal magnetism or what\nnot. The electric sparks coming between the lips may also be\nattractive, and you may be tempted to try whether the electricity\nevaporates the sweetness; but of course youmust not be tempted\nto forget the philosophical nature of the experiment; and, if you\nbehave with propriety, the lady will doubtless, on her return to\nthe company, tell them, in a staid manner, that the experiment\nwas all right; and perhaps when you see her, even a day or two\nafterwards, you will observe there is an arch dimple on her cheek\nand an electric sparkle lighting up her eye-and I should not\nwonder if you should feel a desire to try the experiment over\nagain.\nTRICK 18.-A chemical trick to follow one where a\nyoung friend has assisted.\nPREPARATION. I\nYou must have a wine-glass, a saucer, and a teaspoon. and\nthe chemical bottles No. 1 (silicate of potash) and No. 2 (alumi-\nnate of potash,) which can be obtained from any druggist.\nAt the close of some trick in which any young friend has as-\nsisted, you can say : \"Well, my young friend, you have assisted\nme so courteously and well that I must, in order to express my"}
{"path": "practicalmagicia00harr.pdf", "page": 54, "folder": "", "text": "44\nTHE PRACTICAL MAGICIAN.\nthanks, ask you to take a glass of wine. Do you like wine?\nAh, I see by your smile you do.\"\nPour out of bottle No. 1 half a glass, and, going towards him,\nstop short and say : \"Ah, but I am afraid your mamma would\nbo di:pleased with me if I gave you wine so strong without any\nwater, and I should be sorry to tempt you to drink what she\nwould disapprove. Stay, I will mix a little water with it.\"\nMix some of No. 2 bottle, so as to fill the wine-glass, and say :\n\" Oh, never mind losing the pure wine; I dare say you will like\nit very well as it is, and make a few chatty remarks, to give the\nliquids time to mingle their effects in the glass; and after a\nminute or two say \"Ah! I'll tell you what I am sure your\nmamma would like still better-if I could give you some calves'-\nfoot jelly. Now, I really believe, if I were to stir it with this\nteaspoon, and try my magic wand over it, I can turn it to jelly.\nLet us try.' Occupy a little time while it is becoming like jelly,\nand go on with a little more talk till you see that it has become\nsolid. Then say : \"Well, after all, I will not deprive you of\nyour wine so hereitis Please drink it.\" Putting it to his\nlips, he will find it has become so solid that he cannot drink it,\nbut it can be turned out quite solid into the saucer, and a gen-\neral laugh will greet him on the disrppointment of his wine.\nHaving submitted a few remarks upon the class of tricks that\nare to be performed by help of the sciences, magnetism, chem-\nistry, etc., and having stated my reasons for my not more fully\ndiscussing them, I will now proceed to give an explanation of\none or two more that are better suited for the practice of ama-\nteurs.\nTRICK 19.-To draw three spools off two tapes without\nthose spools having to come off the ends of the tapes,\nand while the four ends of the tapes are held by four\npersons.\nPREPARATION.\nYou must have two narrow tapes of about four feet long, bent\nas in Fig. 11. Red tape I prefer.\nYou must next insert about half an inch of A through the loop\nof B, and bring it back down on the other part of A.\nA spool such as cotton is wound on, or an ornamented ball\nwith a hole drilled through it, just large enough to hold the tapes\nlightly, will be required (Fig. 13.)"}
{"path": "practicalmagicia00harr.pdf", "page": 55, "folder": "", "text": "THE PRACTICAL MAGICIAN.\n45\nFIGS. 11, 12.\nA\nK\nB\nFIG. 13.\nFIG. 14.\nB\nA\nB\nThe spool or ball must be put on the tapes at the extreme ends\nof the tape B, and drawn to the left, till it just covers the noose\nat K. as in Fig. 14.\nN. B.-All the above should be prepared before the spectators\nare invited to witness the trick.\nCommence the exhibition by calling upon the spectators to\nobserve that you hold a reel, or ball, through which two tapes\nare passed.\nYou may then produce two more spools, or wooden balls, and\nplace one of them over the ends at A, and the other over the\nends at B.\nThe following will then be the appearance of the balls or spools\nand the tapes passed through them (Fig. 15):\nFig. 15.\n2\nI\n3\nB\nB1"}
{"path": "practicalmagicia00harr.pdf", "page": 56, "folder": "", "text": "46\nTHE PRACTICAL MAGICIAN.\nYou may move about the spools 2 and 3, to show how the tape\nruns through them, but you must not nove spool 1.\nYou may then say that the puzzle is to get the spools of the\ntapes while the four ends are held firmly in the hands of four\npersons. Appoint four persons to hold them, and you may then\nsay: \"To make doubly sure, I will tie one of the ends at A to\none of the ends at B with (the first half of) a knot.\" It does\nnot signify which ends you take to do this, FO that you take ono\nA and one B. I will now pull these two ends so tight that it\ndraw the three spools together, and also tighten all along one\nsido of them.'\nThen, while four persons hold firmly the extreme ends cf the\nFig. 16.\n2\n3\nB\n1\nA\n13\ntapes, you must take shorter hold of the two A's with your left\nhand, (where it is marked by a dottedline, Fig. 16,) and also take\nhold of the other tapes where a dotted line is marked on them\ntowards B. Then drawing your arms wider apart, so as to pull\nthe tapes steadily, the spools or balls will fall to the ground with-\nout passing over the ends of the tapes.\nTRICK 20.-To restore a tape whole after it has been\ncut in the middle.\nPREPARATION.\nHave five or six yards of tape about three-quarters of an inch\nbroad.\nTake half the length in each hand. You will be able to show\nthe audience that you are about to cut it in the middle, by hold-\ning it in two loops of equal length. Call their attention point-\nedly to the equal division of the full length.\nThe tape will thus appear to the performer in the position\nrepresented in Fig. 17.\nObserve the tape A crosses at Z the tape B on the side next to\nthe performer, whereas the tape D is to cross the tape y on the\nside farthest from him."}
{"path": "practicalmagicia00harr.pdf", "page": 57, "folder": "", "text": "THE PRACTICAL MAGICIAN.\n47\nFig. 18 represents the hands as they appear to the performer\nhimself, holding the tape with the thumb and forefinger at the\ncrossings of the tape at y and z, while the outward sides of each\nloop are to be held by the three other fingers of each hand.\nFIG. 17.\nFIG. 18.\nLeft Hand,\nRight Hand.\nD\nit\n11p\nA\nx\ny\nN\nIC\nB\nx\ny\n2\nC\nB\nTo proceed with the trick : Holding your hands in this posi-\ntion, (Fig. 18,) you must request one of the spectators to cut\nthrough the tape at x, but just as he is about to do so, you must\nquickly lower your hands two or three inches, and then raise\nthem again. This movement will conceal the following opera-\ntion. You drop the part (B) of the tape held in your right\nhand, and at the same moment pick up with that hand the other\ntape marked C.\nThis will bring the portion of tape from C to D, so that it now\nbecomes the transverse tape, substituted in place of the tape\nmarked x, and your young friend will then cut it-instead of the\noriginal tape marked x-without being aware tbat he is so\ndoing.\nWhen the tape has been cut through, you can put your hands\nnear together, allowing the two ends of the little piece of the"}
{"path": "practicalmagicia00harr.pdf", "page": 58, "folder": "", "text": "48\nTHE PRACTICAL MAGICIAN.\ntape-C D-to be seen, but concealing from the spectators\nthat you have hold of two pieces, one a very long one, and the\nother only about five inches long. You can then say: \"Now I\nhave to join these two ends, and to restore the tape\nFig. 19.\nwhole as at first.\" You then turn the little piece C\n1-\nc\nD round the piece y, which is in your left hand, and\nyou tie a knot with the ends of that little piece.\ny\nYou must not tie this knot very tight, and after you\nhave tied it, you drop the other end of the tape alto-\ngether out of your right hand.\nThe appearance which the tapes will then have is\nrepresented in Fig. 19. That is, you will seem to\nhold the equally divided pieces of the long tape\njoined in a knot at y, whereas in fact it is only tho\nsmall end piece C D, tied round the middle of the\nlong tape, which you hold between the thumb and\nforefinger of the left hand. Exhibit the knot to the\ncompany, and say : \"I admit that this knot hardly\nlooks liko a perfect restoration ; I must employ my\nbest art to get rid of its unsightly appearance.\"\nAsk some one to hold, at about three yards' dis-\ntanco, the end marked with small d, retaining hold of\nthe centre-at y-in your left hand, which quite COV-\nd\nA\ners the knot. Tell yourfriend to wind the tape round\nhis hand, and, while pretending to show him how to\ndo this, by winding the part which you hold round\nyour left hand, slide away towards your right the loose knot un-\nder your right hand. Then, holding out the end of the tape A\ntowards another friend, to hold at about three yards' distance to\nthe right, slip from off the long tape the little movable knot un-\nder your right hand, just before he takes hold of this end of the\ntape. Conceal in your right hand the little end-piece of tape,\nuntil you can get rid of it into your pocket, or into any\nunob-\nserved spot. Blow upon your left hand, which is supposed still\nto cover the knot, saying \"Knot, begone ! Tako\nup your left hand, and show the tape to be free from any knot,\nor join from one end of it to the other.\n-"}
{"path": "practicalmagicia00harr.pdf", "page": 59, "folder": "", "text": "THE PRACTICAL MAGICIAN.\n49\n-\n-\nCHAPTER VI.\nON THE CONTINUITY OF TRICKS.\nIT\nmay be useful now to invite attention to the theory of pre\nserving a continuity in the development of tricks, where\ncircumstances admit of this being done. Sundry displays of\nlegerdemain admit of being adroitly linked together; and I shall\nendeavor to explain why such an harmonious continuity is pref-\ncrable to an unconnected series of isolated tricks ; for when once\na novico gets a clear perception of this principle, he will be\nable, according to his own special taste, to produce a pleasing\nvaricty of combinations in his experiments. He will thus rise\nabove being a mero copyist of the methods used by others, and\nso will give a zest and frcshness to his performances.\nNow, thero aro many short and secondary dashes of legerde-\nmain, which a spirited performer will be able to introduce in ad-\ndition to the tricks which he is exhibiting. There are also sev-\neral ornamental or fanciful little tricks which would not rivet the\nattention of an audienco if exhibited by themselves. These,\nthough unqualified to shino as the main object of observation,\nmay nevertheless be worked into the evening's entertainment as\namusing by-play, and may thus prevent the interest of the spec-\ntators from flagging. They may come in as accessories-as\nstimulating side-dishes-causing the entertainment to bear a\ncontinuous character, instead cf merely consisting of sundry\nisolated experiments.\nLet me be allowed to substantiate what I have advanced by\nreferenco to somo of the tricks which I have already described."}
{"path": "practicalmagicia00harr.pdf", "page": 60, "folder": "", "text": "50\nTHE PRACTICAL MAGICIAN.\nThe reader will have seen that, in some of the tricks explained\nin previous papers, there is simply some one definite object to\nbe carried out. For instance, in the two tricks which concluded\nthe last paper, the performer simply undertakes to throw the\nspools off the tape, or to restore a tape which has been cut. Ho\nsets about this, accomplishes it, and the trick is over. This is\nall very well as far as it goes. If the trick is really a good one,\nit is like a host furnishing his guests with a solid joint to satisfy\ntheir appetite; ; and it may do so. But still it comes short of a\nlively entertainment. It is confessedly dull for an audience to /\ncome to pauses O1 gaps between isolated tricks. Their attention\nis unoccupied while the performer, having finished off one trick,\nis making mute preparations to introduce some other trick\nwholly unconnected with what has gone before. Such a method\nwill not keep awake the lively interest that the skilful combina-\ntion of the conjuror's art will sustain. I maintain that varied\nby-play and supplementary sets-off will greatly heighten the in-\nterest of the performance.\nIt will also serve to disarm the suspicious and incredulous,\npreparing them to believe what they might otherwise stand on\ntheir guard against. Bare tricks brought forward as isolated ex-\nperiments give time for the mind to take its estimate of their\npossibility ; and, of course, in attempting to exhibit wonders,\nthe improbability of them is apt to stare people strongly in the\nface. They are perfectly convinced that a dime cannot fly into\nan orange at the other end of the room, that ink cannot become\nwater, nor a hat be safely used as a frying-pan ; but if you inter-\npose appearances and movements that are consistent with such\nprocesses going on, they are gradually prepared to recognize as\na legitimate result what you have previously indicated as the\ncontemplated end of those processes.\nThe amplification or fuller development which I speak of can\nbe effected at any of the following stages:\n1. In the introductory matter leading on to the main trick or\ntransformation\n2. In the subsequent stages of its development; or,\n3. In the winding-up smartly or variedly the conclusion of a\ntrick."}
{"path": "practicalmagicia00harr.pdf", "page": 61, "folder": "", "text": "THE PRACTICAL MAGICIAN.\n51\nI do not say that every trick is to be amplified or loaded with\nextraneous matter in all these different stages, (that would be to\nrun into the contrary extremo of over-cumbrous amplification;\nbut I will endeavor to point out the effect of such development\nin the above three stages of a trick, and if I can show that am-\nplification in each several one may be an improvement, I may\nbe considered to have made good my proposition that any trick\nmay be improved and rendered more interesting by one or other\nof those amplifications.\nLet us see if we cannot lay down a bill of fare for our guests\nwhich, going beyond a solid joint, (good as that may be in its\nway,) will furnish them with some relishing accessory in the\nfirst course of a trick, some stimulant side-dishes with its second\ncourse, or may please with some bon-bons before the entertain-\nment is quite concluded.\n1. INTRODCCTORY.\nNow, first as to introductory matter. Suppose a conjuror is\nable to perform Trick 3-tho \"Dancing Egg\"--it will waken up\nhis audience if, instead of proceeding at once with the trick, ho\ncan by sleight-of-hand find out an egg in the whiskers or neck-\ntie of some unwatchful spectator, and afterwards substituto\nfor it the egg prepared with a hair and wax.\nThe chief aim of introductory matter should be to enlist the\nthoughts and expectations of your audience under your com-\nmand, so as to preclude their watching what you are driving at.\nShow all you can safely show openly; enlarge upon the things\nbeing submitted to their own eyes and touch; engage their eyes\nand ears with certain appearances leading their thoughts to\nadopt your suggestions, so that, when you approach the devel-\nopment intended, they have had no leason to suspect your mo-\ntives; thus having their confidence, you can jump at once to\ntheir credulity, though there may, in fact, exist some gap, or il-\nlogical process, which they omit to notice.\n2. DURING THE SUCCESSIVE STAGES OF A TRICK.\nI often vary and render more interesting the development of\na trick by some little by-piay."}
{"path": "practicalmagicia00harr.pdf", "page": 62, "folder": "", "text": "52\nTHE PRACTICAL MAGICIAN.\nFor instance, in the trick which I often use as my first trick I\nmake a candle an amusing helper, by snatching it from the can-\ndle-stick, and asking some one to hold it wrapt up in paper.\nAnd this unexpected service of the candle is wrought into tho\nbody of the trick which I have in hand.\nI change also a crystal ball into an orange by skilful manipu-\nlation.\nBy such brief diversion of the attention of the spectators,\ntheir eyes are withdrawn from watching too narrowly some ma-\nn\u0153uvre that is requisite to carry out the more important trick\nwhich you have in hand.\nOr you may actually make an act, which is a mere accessory,\ncover some important portion of the trick; as in tho tape trick\n(No. 20.) While PRETENDING TO SHOW YOUR ASSISTANT HOW TO\nnold the tape in HIS hand, you slip the knot away unperceived\nunder YOUR OWN hand.\n3. IN CONCLUDING A TRICK.\nIt greatly adds to tho \u00e9ficiency of a trick to let it finish off\nwith a sparkle, or some playful addition which gilds its exit.\nFor instance, in the trick of doubling the pocket-money, (7th\nTrick,) the little by-play of finding, or rather pretending to\nfind, some coins secreted in tho sleeve cf the young friend who\ni:as helped you, is sure to bring out a good-humored laugh at\ntie termination of the trick. Again, in Trick 16, the additional\nfact of finding the watch in the loaf makes a lively termination\nof ine performance of the obedient watch. In the 1Sth Trick,\nthe glass of wine becoming solid might be used as a good finish\nto any trick where some friend has assisted in its exhibition.\nYou may often raise a good-humored laugh by appearing to\nswallow any object which you have used in a trick-as an or-\nange, ball, egg, or dime-and afterwards bringing it out from\nyour sleeve ; or, by tho use of Pass 1, to drive a coin up one\nsleeve, round the back of your neck, and down the other sleeve,\ninto your right hand.\nI not only consider such amplifications of a trick lively and\ninteresting, bnt I maintain this to be the best way of employing"}
{"path": "practicalmagicia00harr.pdf", "page": 63, "folder": "", "text": "THE PRACTICAL MAGICIAN.\n53\nmary secondary and short tricks wherever they can be brought\nin appropriately as offshoots of longer and more important\nones.\nTRICK 21.-The invisible hen : a very useful trick for\nsupplying eggs for breakfast or dinner.\nPREPARATION.\nIn order to save the invisible hen trouble and delay, it will be\nadvisable to have eight or ten egg-shells, (as described in Trick\n3;) or some light imitation eggs, painted white, may be bought\nFig. 20.\nx\n2\n=\nA\nB\nA\nB\nC\nD\nPosition 1.\nPosition 2.\n1\nat any depot of conjuring apparatus. A linen or camlet bag\nmay also be procured from the same depot, though I think a bag"}
{"path": "practicalmagicia00harr.pdf", "page": 64, "folder": "", "text": "54\nTHE PRACTICAL MAGICIAN.\nmade at home, according to the following directions, to be pref-\nerable.\nIt must be about the size of a small pillow, two feet three\ninches across, and one foot nine inches deep. It has one of its\nsides of double cloth, (x,) the other single, (z,) in the same way\nas leather writing-cases have a pocket on one side, and a single\ncover on the other. The double side is stitched together all\nround, with the exception of an opening at A, which must be\nabout five inches long, or large enough to admit easily a hand to\nput in or take out the eggs. This double side of the bag must\nalways be kept towards the performer, whereas the single side\nmust be always kept towards the spectators; and the only open-\ning between these two sides is between C and D. On the inte-\nrior of the side of the double cloth bag, a strip or kind of frill\nof the same cloth must be sewn, with an elastic binding round\nthe pockets or cups for eggs. The elastic binding will keep them\nin these pockets, unless they are pressed by the thumb or fin-\nger, so as to release them and let them fall into the centre of the\ndouble bag. The strip has the appearanco of a string of in-\nverted egg-cups, thus :\nFig. 21.\nThe position of it in the bag is indicated in Fig. 21 by the\ndots running across the bag ; but the strip itself is never seen\nby the spectators, for it is placed on the inner side of the double,\nbag, which is always towards the performer.\nHaving carefully prepared the abovo apparatus, commence the\nexhibition of the trick by holding up the bag by the corners\na\nand D, as represented in Fig. 21. Shake tho bag well while so\n-\nholding it, showing it to be (apparently) empty.\nAfter having thus exhibited the bag, thrust both your hands\ndown inside it to the corners A and B. Holding those corners,\npull the bag inside out, and again show it to be empty, in this\nreversed position, represented in Fig. 21.\nAs the spectators have now seen it thoroughly, inside and out-1\nside, you may put the question to them, \"whether they admit\nit to be empty, as they ought to know.'\nWhile holding tho bag by tho samo corners A and B, you\nmust now gather tho bag a little closer together, and holding it\nwell up-see Fig. 1-press with your thumb ono of the eggs out\nof its elastic cup. This can be easily donc without any one ob-\nserving the movement. This egg, with a little gentle shaking,"}
{"path": "practicalmagicia00harr.pdf", "page": 65, "folder": "", "text": "THE PRACTICAL MAGICIAN.\n55\nwill fall into the large bag made by the double side; but it can-\nnot fall to the ground, however much you shake it, for there is\nno opening but at A, and that is upwards towards your right\nhand, so you may shake the bag boldly.\nYou next lower the bag a little, and spread it on your chest,\nletting it rest there while you move your hands from A and B\nto take hold of the corners C and D; and you must give an\nFig. 22.\nPosition 3.\nPosition 4.\nopening for what had hitherto been the higher part of the bag,\nto drop throngh between the opening that there is between C\nand D. This will keep the double side of the bag (x) still to-\nwards yourself, and the bag will now be returned to its original\nposition (Fig. 21.) With your left hand retaining hold of the\ncorner D, and lowering the bag towards your right hand, shako\nwell the bosened egs down towards the corner A. Search with\nyour right hand abont that corner, and the opening of the double\nbag, and you will be able to bring out the egg that had been\nloosened while the bag was in position 3."}
{"path": "practicalmagicia00harr.pdf", "page": 66, "folder": "", "text": "56\nTHE PRACTICAL MAGICIAN.\nTake out that egg ; shake the bag well, as if it were quits\nempty : and then, thrusting both your hands into tho interior\ncorners at A and B, turn the bag inside out; bring it to position\n2, ready to re-commence bringing out the other eggs one by one,\nas long as the spectators are interested. While you hold tho bag\nin position 2, you can safely let any young person feel to the\nbottom of the bag, as he will not be likely to suspect the eggs\nare towards the top of the bag on tho side near to yourself.\nThe same bag may be used also much to the amusement of\nchildren, by your loading it with walnuts, chesnuts, small ap-\nples, or pears, or any bon-bon of about the size of an eggi and\nthen allowing the children, one by one, to feel in your lucky bag\nfor what you take care they shall find in their successive\nsearches.\nA SERIES OF TRICKS, 22, 23, 24.-The chief agent\nbeing a plain gold ring.\nPREPARATION.\nYou must be provided with a small thin wire pointed at both\nends, which, being bent round, will resemble an ordinary plain\ngold ring.\nYou must also have on your table an orange or a lemon, a box\nor bowl, a tumbler, and a dessert-knife.\nAnd you must have four or five needlefuls of thick cotton,\nwhich have becn previously steeped for about an hour in a wine-\nglass of water, with a teaspoonful of salt in it; and have been\nafterwards completely dried, so as to burn easily.\nTRICK 22.\nHaving the fictitious ring in the palm of your hand, com-\nmence by requesting any lady present to oblige you by lending\nyou a plain gold ring, and borrow also from some gentleman a\ncolored silk handkerchief. Appear to place the borrowed ring in\nthat handkerchief, but in reality place in it the rounded ficti-\ntious ring. Doubling tho centre of the handkerchief round it,\nrequest some gentleman to hold it, so as to be sure he has got\nthe ring in the handkerchief-while you fetch a slight cord to\nfasten it. While going to your table to fetch this cord, you slip\nthe real ring into a slit in the orange which you had prepared,\nand which closes readily over it. You then tie the cord round\nthe handkerchief, about two inches from the ring, and. calling"}
{"path": "practicalmagicia00harr.pdf", "page": 67, "folder": "", "text": "THE PRACTICAL MAGICIAN.\n57\nthe spectators to notice how it is secured, take hold of that part\nof the handkerchief which incloses the fictitious ring in your\nown hand, and tell the gentleman to place one by one the four\ncorners of the handkerchief over your hand. Directly he has\nbegun to do this, your fingers must proceed to unbend and open\nthe fictitious ring, and to press it by its pointed end through the\nsilk, and conceal it in your own palm. You tell your assistant\nto blow upon the handkerchief and open it-the ring is gone,\nand you return the handkerchief to the owner. Fetch the or-\nange from your table, and ask some one to cut it open, and he\nwill find the lady's ring in the centre of the orange.\nTRICK 23.\nYou are now to proceed immediately to the next development\nof the mysterious powers of the plain ring, which ladies so much\nadmire. You may commence by remarking that \"you have lit-\ntle doubt that this symbol of love and obedience will at your\ncommand pass through the table, solid as it is. Let us try.\"\nPlace the tumbler on the table-produce your own silk hand-\nkerchief, to the centre of which a plain ring is already fastened\nby a doubled silk thread of about 4 inches length.\nUse Pass 1 with the real ring, as if passing it into the hand-\nkerchief: conceal that ring, and substitute for it the fictitious\nring.\nThen addressing the spectators, say :\n1\nNow, ladies and gentlemen, I will drop this ring into the\nglass, so as you shall hear it fall.' Do so. Let the handker-\nchief rest over the glass for a minuto or two. \"Now I must\nplace this bowl under the table to receive the ring.\" In so plac-\ning the bowl, you must silently place the real ring in it. Then\nsay alond, \"Change, ring; pass from the glass through the ta-\nble into the bowl below.) Lift up the handkerchief, and while\ninviting one or two to come and examine the glass and the bowl,\nsmooth your forehead with the handkerchief as if heated, and\npass it into your pocket. Your young friends will be astonished\nto find the ring not in the glass, where they heard it tinkle, but\nin the bowl underneath the table.\nTRICK 24.\nNow, ring, you have amused us so well, that you shall, like\nMahomet, be sustained in the air without visible support.\nPlace over a common walking-stick some of your prepared"}
{"path": "practicalmagicia00harr.pdf", "page": 68, "folder": "", "text": "58\nTHE PRACTICAL MAGICIAN.\ncotton threads, having twisted two or three of them together,\nand united them in a loop, which you draw through the ring, and\nthen slip the ring through the end of the loop. The ring will\nthen hang suspended about a foot below the stick. The stick\nitself may be steadily fixed, resting on the back of two chairs at\nan elevation, so as to be easily seen by the company.\nWhen the ring has been thus suspended, set fire to the cotton\nabout two inches above the ring; the flame will run upwards to-\nwards the stick; blow it out when about two inches from the\nstick, and the ring will remain pendulous in the air for some lit-\ntle time after the cotton has been burnt.\nThe suspension is said to be caused by a filament, or fine thread\nof glass-which has been formed by the ashes of the cotton uni-\nting with the heated salt, with which the cotton had been pre-\npared.\nNow this trick would be too simple an experiment to be exhib-\nited by itself; but coming as a finish to two other tricks, which\nhave been performed with the same ring, the spectators\nWill give it honor due.\nI trust that I have satisfactorily established the assertion that\na combination of congenial tricks will often tell more effectively\nthan the same tricks would if exhibited without such combi-\nnation,\n-"}
{"path": "practicalmagicia00harr.pdf", "page": 69, "folder": "", "text": "THE PRACTICAL MAGICIAN.\n59\nCHAPTER VII.\nFRIENDLY SUGGESTIONS.\nAs\nthe amateur will aspire to come before his parlor audience\nsome cat or other, it may be some little service and hclp\nto him to give ufew suggestions as to the best way of conducting\nsuch an exhicition, and to specify the kind of tricks to which he\nwill do well to rimit himself. It will be desirable to open with\nan off-hand exression of his wish to place before them a few\namusing tricks to wile away an hour ; and let him assume a\nlively air, for his own liveliness will sustain that of the specta-\ntors.\nThere are some conjurors who, though they can perform good\ntricks, exhibit them in such a heavy, uninteresting way that they\ncreate no enthusiasm. An over-anxious look, coupled with a\ncreeping, fearful movement, and a dull, monotonous voice, will\nsuggest distrust and dissatisfaction, even where the sudience has\ncome together prepossessed with the expectation of mirth and\nglee. Let none assume, then, to wave the conjuror's wand till\nho has himself some confidence in his powers, knows what he\npurposes to do, and means to carry it out. I would say that a\nmoderate degree of assumption, a gay vivacity, ready to break\nout into a smile, a cheerful spirit, and a joyous voice, will go a\ngreat way to bespeak favor, which the performer can quickly re-\npay by dashing off his tricks with enthusiasm. The language\nused by the conjuror should be studiously guarded. Let there\nbe no vain-glorious assertions, no self-praise, but respectful def-\nerence to the judgment of the spectators ; rather inclining to\ngive them the credit of understanding more than they do, than\ntwitting them with understanding less. Be neither overbearing\nwith conceited \"chaff\" upon any of the company ; nor, on the"}
{"path": "practicalmagicia00harr.pdf", "page": 70, "folder": "", "text": "60\nTHE PRACTICAL MAGICIAN.\nother hand, venture upon extreme and disconcerting compli-\nments to any person present. Rather, as a courteous master of\nthe ceremonies, conduct the experiments with a simple effort to\nplease and to amuse all. With the exhibition of an amateur,\nthe performance of some lively airs upon the piano by any friend\n-\nwill form an agreeable accompaniment, especially if the spirited\nand humorous melodies are introduced, which the public tasto\nrecognizes as the tunes of the day. You will do well to have\nyour table neatly and carefully arranged. Let it not lie too near\nto the spectators, nor within reach of too minute inspection.\nIt should be of sufficient height to show the main objects placed\non it; but the surface of it may be just high enongh to be shel-\ntered from the spectators clearly viewing every article upon it.\nThe ornaments should be few, yet, at the same time, be service-\nable to shade a few articles which it may be policy to conceal.\n1. The centre table may be a moderate-sized kitchen table,\nwith a drawer to stand open ; so that the performer can take any\narticle out of the drawer with one hand, while engaging the eyes\nof the spectators with his other hand. A colored cloth should\nbe over the tables, on the side towards the spectators.\n2. Two small tables, at the s\u00eddes of the centre table, may also\nbe useful, as in Fig. 22.\nrG. 22.,\n3. With tables arranged somewhat in this manner, the ama-\nteur will be able to take up articles, from either the surface or\nback of the tables, without attracting notice to his doing so.\nHe must practise taking up things with one hand, while his other\nhand and his eyes are ostensibly occupied with some other ob-\nject; for if the spectators see him looking behind his table, their\neyes will immediately follow in the same direction,\n4"}
{"path": "practicalmagicia00harr.pdf", "page": 71, "folder": "", "text": "THE PRACTICAL MAGICIAN.\n61\nThe amateur will do well to select the simpler tricks for his\nfirst attempts, and never pretend to exhibit even those withont\nhaving frequently and diligently practised them. He must mako\nup his resolution to train his hands to the passes, and to the\nseveral man\u0153uvres in the tricks, as diligently as young ladies\ntrain their fingers to the keys of the piano.\nAnd let them not be discouraged if they feel awkward and\nnervous at first. Some of the best conjurors have candidly con-\nfessed their early failings and misgivings With practice and\nperseverance this will, in most cases, wear off. I would angur\nthat, if they feel an interest in the art, and a desire to excel in\nit, they will most probably secure a measure of success that will\namply repay their efforts.\nTRICK 25.-Thc Conjuror's \"Bonus Genius,\" or Familiar\nMessenger.\nThis is an old trick that has delighted thousands, and may\namuse thousands more, if adroitly performed. There are only\nthe simplest mechanical arrangements connected with it ; its\nsuccessful exhibition depends upon the dexterity and vivacity of\nthe performer.\nPREPARATION.\nYou must have a strong wooden doll, about eight or ten inches\nhigh the head must fix on or off by a peg at the bottom of the\nthroat, being placed in a hole made at the too of the bust. Bo-\nsides a close-fitting dress to its body, a large, loose, fantastic\ncloak must be placed round the whole figure, but must be so ar-\nranged as to allow the head to be pushed down throngh the part\nof the cloak that covers the bust, and an elastic pocket must be\nneatly made inside the cloak to receive and retain the head.\nHaving the above apparatus ready, you may commence by\nsaying:\n\" Allow me, ladies and gentlemen, to introduce my learned\nfriend and assistant-indefatigable in traveling to the most dis-\ntant parts on any message I may wish to send him. He used to\nbe recognized by early conjurors as their Bonus Genius-their\ngood familiar spirit. But, whatever his special title, he is gifted\nwith the art of rendering himself visible or invisible, as he feels\ndisposed, while he travels to distant countries.\nAllow me to call your attention to the solid frame and un-\nflinching nerves, at any.rate to the vell-seasoned constitution of\nmy friend. [Rap him loudly, rap, lap, rap, on the table. The\nraps he received during his education doubtless accustomed him\nto bear much without flinching. Though his travels have ranged"}
{"path": "practicalmagicia00harr.pdf", "page": 72, "folder": "", "text": "62\nTHE PRACTICAL MAGICIAN.\nfrom China to Peru, from the Equator to the Poles, you per-\nceive he still sounds like a hardy Pole himself. (Rap, rap,\nrap.)\n\"I perceive, however, by the glaring of his eye, that, after\nmy too rough handling, he is desirous of starting on his travels.\nI suppose we must provide him with the needful for his ex-\npenses.\nLarge sums are given now-a-days to special corre-\nspondents in foreign countries; who will kindly give him suffi-\ncient? He will want a golden or silver key to open some curi-\nosities he may wish to inspect in foreign cities. (Pause.) Oh.\nwell, as there is a delay about it, I must myself supply him. I\nthink I have a few disposable coins in my pocket : he shall havo\nthem.\"\nSuiting the action to the word, while your left hand holds the\nupper part of the cloak near the neck, EO as to cover what you\nare doing, you withdraw the wooden body with your right hand,\nwhile you move your right hand down to your+pocket for the\ncoins. You then leave the body of the doll in your pocket, and\ntaking out the coins, present them to the head and cloak of the\nfigure, which is held in your left hand, saying: \"There, my\ngood friend, you can now, if you wish, proceed on your tour to\nAlgiers, or Dahomey, or Timbuctoo, or wherever the universal\nYankee travelers fancy at the present to resort.\n\" Ah, I see he is pleased and in good spirits again. He\nwishes apparently to bid you good-bye. You will excuse his\nlooking also round about him, to judge whether the weather is\nfair to set ont; after which I will lay my hand on his head to ex-\npress my good wishes for his journey. I dare say he will not\nstay much longer after that than a schoolboy does after his mas-\nter has bid him good-bye.\"\nPlace with formal ceremony your hand on his head, press it\ndown through the opening below it, receive it in your left hand\nunderneath the cloak, and bestow it safely in the pocket.\nAffect astonishment at finding the gown alone left in your\nhands, and fold it up with a lamentation at his departure. You\nmay say : \"It is clear that he has chosen to go to a hot climate,\nas ho has left his cloak behind him.'\nDiscourse for a few minutes about sending a telegram to over-\ntake him at London or San Francisco-talk about the sea-pas-\nsage, railways, tunnels, and what not.\n\"Ah, but I need none of these if I wish him back. I can\nsummon him again by a few mystic wavings of my wand and by\nsecret art. Hey, my friend, I need thy presence ; quick, re-\nturn, I pray you. I wish to see you again in your familiar\ngarb-\nBy the pricking of my thumbs,\nSomething ghostly hither comes.'"}
{"path": "practicalmagicia00harr.pdf", "page": 73, "folder": "", "text": "THE PRACTICAL MAGICIAN.\n63\nSwell out the cloak with your left hand, and at tho same timo\nthrust up the head from the pocket. It will appear as if the\nwhole figure stood before them.\nThen say : \"I fear, dear friend, I have trespassed by abridging\nyour tour. You can hardly have traversed Algeria, crossed the\nmountains of the moon, or found the birthplace of the Nile; and\nno one returns now-a-days without some such marvel to relate.\nI will let you depart again. As some people say to troublesomo\nvisitors 'You may depart now ; please to call again to-mor-\nrow.''\nRepeat the manoeuvre, as before, of secreting the head. Then\nexclaim : \"Alas! he is gone in earnest, like the sojourner of a\nday (with mock pathos.) When we havo lost him, we feel our\nloneliness.\"\nFold up sorrowfully the cloak of the departed, and so conclude\nthe trick.\nTRICK 26.-The Shower of Money.\nA dozen silver coins, or pennies, will be equally useful in ex-\nhibiting this trick ; but some fictitious coin, in color rosembling\ngold, will perhaps more effectively delight those who are charmed\nby the yellow glitter of the precious metal. The performer must\nhave provided himself with so many of these in his left hand as\nhe purposes to produce at the end of the trick, and two of the\nsame coin also must be concealed in his right palm. He must\nfurther borrow a hat from one of the company.\nThe imagination of the spectators having been excited by tho\nexpectation of beholding a shower of money, the adept in sleight-\nof-hand, keeping one of the two coins in his right hand con-\ncealed, must advance the other c\u00f2in to the end of his forefinger\nand thumb, while he pretends to pick a coin out of the candle,\nor of the rim of a hat, or from a lady's fan or shoulder, or may\npretend to clutch a coin floating in the air. As he brings away\nhis prize, ho may rattle it against the other coin concealed in his\nright hand. Then, making Pass 1, he may pretend to pass it\ninto the hat, being careful precisely at the same moment to drop,\naudibly, a coin from his left hand into the hat which he holds in\nthat hand. Let him tell the audience to keep count how many\nhe collects: it will rather distract their attention.\nIIo can continuo this pleasant appearance of acquiring wealth\nfor ten minutes, or aslong as ho can deviso various methods of\nappearing to clutch it, till tho number with which he stored his\nleft hand is exhausted.\nHo may then request some one to count out, audibly, into a"}
{"path": "practicalmagicia00harr.pdf", "page": 74, "folder": "", "text": "64\nTHE PRACTICAL MAGICIAN.\nplate the coins collected in the hat, which will coincide with the\nnumber he has appeared to collect so magically from various\nsources. When adroitly done, this trick is very pleasing and ef-\nfective.\nTRICK 27.-To Furnish Ladies With a Magic Supply of\nTea or Coffee, at their selection, From One and the\nSame Jug.\nPREPARATION.\nHavc a metal jug to hold not less than three pints. It must\nbe constructed with two compartments in the lower part of it,\nholding about a pint and a quarter each, and these must each\nhave a pipe connected with the spout of the jug and another\npipe connecting with its handle, and in the handle a small hole\nabout the size of a letter-o-ir this print. These lower com-\npartments must be filled with good tea and coffee before the jug\nis produced.\nThe upper chamber or compartment, like the upper portion of\na patent coffee-pot, must have no communication with the lower\ndivisions, and must be well closed also at the top with a tin cov-\ner, closely fitting. Have half a dozen small tea-cups and half a\ndozen small coffee-cups ready on a tray.\nBegin the trick by placing openly in the upper compartment\ncoffee-berries and tea, mixing them together. Take up, as a\nsudden thought, an old blacking bottle, and pretend to pour\nfrom it into the jug, to furnish highly-colored liquid to improvo\nthe coffee; and a little gunpowder, about a teaspoonful, may bo\nfired off over the mixture to make the tea strong. Wavo your\nwand over the jug.\nThen you may address the ladies : inform them that the ingre-\ndients are well mixed, and invite them to name which they will\nprefer, \"tea or coffee,\" as you can produce either at their com-\nmand from the same jng.\nGet some friend to hand the cups, while you follow him, and,\nby unstopping the holes in the handle for admitting air upon the\ncoffec or tea, the one of them that each lady names will flow out\nfrom the spout of this magic jug.\nTRICK 28.-A Pleasing Exhibition for both the Per-\nformer and the Audience) to view when they feel a\nlittle. Exhausted.\nPREPARATION.\nHave two pint bottles and one quart bottle; the pint bottles"}
{"path": "practicalmagicia00harr.pdf", "page": 75, "folder": "", "text": "THE PRACTICAL MAGICIAN.\n65\nto be filled, one with a liquid resembling port, the other with\none resembling sherry ; the large bottle to be at first empty.\nThree opaque metal stands-the centre one to stand under the\nquart bottle, to have a large cavity to hold a quart, and the up-\nper part of this stand to be full of large holes, like a cullender,\nfor the liquor to run from the opening at H into that cavity.\nFig. 24.\nYou must also have three metal covers, of proper size to cover\nthe above three bottles-these covers to have handles at top, so\nas to be easily lifted. The large centre cover is simply a cover\nbut the two side ones, which are to cover the pint bottles, must\nbe made with metal cavities large enongh to hold, one a pint of\nport, the other a pint of sherry, at top, with a descending pipe\nto fall into the mouths of the pint bottles.\nThere mnst be a small hole at top of each of the small covers,\nat B and C, which hole, being covered with tinfoil, will, as long\nFig. 25.\nB\nD\nD\nas it i3 closed, prevent the wine from running out at D. But\nwhen the tinfoil is scraped off, and the hole admits the air, tho\nwine will then be able to run into the pint bottles.\nThe above apparatus being all ready, commence by saying :\n\"I will nuw pour this pint of port and this pint of sherry into\nthe large bottle, mixing them inseparably together.\" Having"}