pages: latestmagicbeing00hoff.pdf, 102
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latestmagicbeing00hoff.pdf | 102 | 86 LATEST MAGIC while dealt with as may be necessary for the pur- pose of the trick. After the borrowed coin has been extracted, the further fall of the disc closes the slot, and bars any possibility of the substitute coin escaping in the same way. The following will be found an easy way of working the exchange. "For the purpose of my next experiment,' says the performer, "I shall have to ask the loan of a halfcrown; marked in such a way that you can be sure of knowing it again. I should like one, if possible, that has seen some service, for a coin in the course of circulation imbibes a certain amount of magnetic fluid from each person who handles it ; and this renders a well-worn coin more susceptible to magical influences than a new one." The reason alleged for asking the loan of an old coin is of course "spoof," but there is a reason; and it is twofold. In the first place it ensures your getting a coin tolerably like your own; which you have chosen in accordance with that description, and which you have marked after some common- place fashion, say with a cross scratched upon one of its faces. Secondly, a well-worn coin, having lost the sharp edge which is caused by the milling in a new one, passes the more easily through the slot, which for obvious reasons is kept as narrow as possible. Performer, advancing toward the person offer- ing the coin, continues: |