pages: latestmagicbeing00hoff.pdf, 133
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latestmagicbeing00hoff.pdf | 133 | THE RIDDLE OF THE PYRAMIDS 117 is of necessity a small affair, being four inches in heiglt, about six across the base, and two across the top. It is divided into five horizontal slabs or segments, as indicated by the dotted lines. Mid- way on each side of each slab, at about half an inch distance from the upper edge, a minute hole is bored, parallel to the outer slope of the segment; exactness in this particular being an essential con- dition of success. Of the four holes in each slab, two only are actually used in the trick, the other two being added partly for the sake of uniformity, and partly to disguise the significance of the other pair. Each slab, save those at the top and bottom, is also perforated perpendicularly by three or four holes of considerable diameter, the object of these being merely to lessen the weight of the slab. In preparing the pyramid for use in the trick, a piece of plaited silk fishing-line, stained black, and in length five to six feet, is passed by the aid of a needle upwards through the small hole in one side of the largest slab; then in the same way through the corresponding hole in the next, and SO on till it comes out through the uppermost. Thence it is again passed downward through the next adjoin- ing hole in each slab till it comes out at the bot- tom, when the ends are drawn level and tied in a knot. The use of plaited silk fishing line for such pur- poses is one of Mr. Schooling's specialties, and is a "tip" to make a note of. Line of this kind is in |