Explanation.
Fig. 161 shows the first match, which has been split at the tail-end with the blade of a pocket-knife; Fig. 162 shows another match, which has had the tail-end whittled to a wedge-shaped edge, and Fig. 163 shows the two matches joined by forcing the wedge end of one match into the split end of the other. Fig. 164 shows the third match, placed across the ends of the other two matches.
If you will now pass the toothpick under the first two matches and over the last, as illustrated by the diagram, Fig. 164, it is a simple task to lift the three matches and show your playmates how a seemingly impossible proposition becomes a thing of great simplicity when it is solved (Fig. 165.)