DISAPPEARANCE OF A CARD THOUGHT OF BY A SPECTATOR.
The performer brings forward a pack of cards which he shuffles well, and then passes the cards from one hand to the other with faces toward the audience. A spectator is now asked to remember any card he sees. Upon this being done the performer again shuffles the cards and passes them from hand to hand, one at a time, when it is discovered that the card thought of has disappeared. A second card is similarly treated.
To produce the above effect the performer takes an ordinary pack of fifty-two cards, but pastes them back to back, so he really has twenty-six cards with a face on each side. It will thus be seen that on one side are pictures of twenty-six cards and on the other side the remaining twenty-six. After the spectator has thought of any card the performer in shuffling the pack merely turns them over and next exposes the other side. It will be readily seen that any card selected, in fact, all of the cards first exposed have now apparently disappeared. To any one with a pack of cards so arranged would be suggested a number of clever experiments, such as changing the colors of the cards from all red to all black, and by waving a single card in the air to change its suit and color, etc., etc.