pages: practicalmagicia00harr.pdf, 19
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practicalmagicia00harr.pdf | 19 | THE PRACTICAL MAGICIAN. 9 CHAPTER II. OF PALMISTRY AND PASSES nature and limit of the art of Conjuring has now defined-what it is that we assume to do, and wherein we have discontinued the exaggerated preten- sions of the conjurors of the old school and I have hinted in what respects, and within what bounds, a young amateur may gim at exhibiting some amusing experiments in our art. But it remains for me to explain the grand pre-requisite for a novice to cultivate before he should attempt to exhibit before others even the simplest tricks of prestidigitation or legerdemain, to which we at present confine our attention. I have first to speak of PALMISTRY, not in the sense that the fortune-teller uses the word, but as expressing the art of the conjuror in secreting articles in the PALM of one hand while he appears to transfer those articles to his other hand. It is abso- lutely necessary that the young amateur should acquire the habit of doing this so adroitly as to escape the observation of others while doing it openly before their eyes. The two principal passes are the following: FIRST PASS or, method of apparently carrying an object from the right hand to the left, while actually re- taining it in the right hand. The reader will please to observe that the illustrative sketches depict the hands of the performer as seen by himself. FIRST POSITION OF PASS 1. The right hand, having the knucles and back of the fingers turned toward the spectators, and holding openly a cent, or some similar object, between the thumb and fore-finger, must be moved toward the left hand. The left hand must be held out, with the back of the hand toward the ground, as exhibited in the illustration. (Fig. 1.) |