pages: practicalmagicia00harr.pdf, 31
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practicalmagicia00harr.pdf | 31 | THE PRACTICAL MAGICIAN. 21 I myself prefer doing without the aid of any confederate und without mechanical aids ; but I must remember that I am writ- ing for amateurs and novices in the art, and that, in proportion as they are unpractised in palmistry, and in what the French term prestidigitation, (preste digite, signifying "ready fingers,") it will be desirable for them, at first, to have the assistanco which mechanism will supply towards the exhibition of their tricks. Let them, however, keep such aids as subordinate and as se- cret as possible. For instance, in the preparation for exhibiting the first trick described on page 12, the small tin tube (which is requisite for the performance of that trick) must not be seen by the audience, either BEFORE or AFTER the trick is exhibited, but must be kept secrĂȘted in the pocket. Again, in Trick No. 4, the preparation of the hair and beeswax must be made PRI- VATELY beforehand; and these implements must vanish out of sight when the trick is over. And the reader must observe that in both the first and fourth tricks the mechanical aid employed is the minor and subordinate part of the tricks, and that a suc- cessful exhibition of either of thcm depends really on the dex- terity of the passes, and of manipulations by the performer. It may be admitted, then, that, with regard to the first topic of our present paper, the young conjuror need not be restrained from employing the subordinate aid of an assistant, so far as this may carry him over difficulties which he cannot otherwise surmount in the present stage of his im perfect skill. And in regard to the second topic, the employment of me- chanical contrivances, (though it may be well to begin with those departments of the art which are easier, because aided by mechanical apparatus,) it will be desirable for the amateur to strive to get freo from dependence upon such aids. Mechanical arrangements cannot be wholly discarded at any time, and the conjuror will always require a few implements; but the more he advances in dexterity of hand, quickness of eye, control of his hand and eye, instantaneous adaptation of his words and movements to contingencies as they arise, the more able will he become to elude the observation of the most watchful specta- |