ARITHMETIC BY MAGIC
Preparation. The two “flower-pots” ([see page 5]), separated, are placed upon the table. Also the card mat ([see page 1]), loaded with the ten of any given suit, say diamonds, taken from the pack performer is about to use, and a double-faced card, representing on the one side the seven, and on the other the three of the same suit. The deuce and five of same suit to be laid on the top of the pack.
Performer, advancing pack in hand, palms off the two top cards, and offers the rest to be shuffled. This done, he forces these two cards on different persons. On receiving back one of them, he brings it to the top; executes a false shuffle leaving it in the same position; brings it again to the middle by the pass, and has the second card replaced upon it; then, once again making the pass, brings both together to the top.
(The use of the Charlier pass is here recommended.)
The patter may be to something like the following effect: “Two cards have been chosen, ladies and gentlemen. I can’t say what they are, but I can very easily find out. I shall simply order them to rise up and paw the air. It all depends on the strength of the will. I myself happen to have a very strong will, in fact, I don’t know anyone who has a stronger will, except my wife. I exert my will, and say, ‘first card, rise!’ and up it comes, as you see.”
Stepping well back from the spectators, so that they cannot distinguish from what part of the pack the card comes, he works up the hindmost card by the familiar “hand” method. (“Modern Magic,” p. 129.)
“Here we have one of the two cards. Let us see what it is. The five of diamonds! Good! And now for the other. Second card; rise! Up comes another card, you see, the deuce of diamonds. Those are the cards which were drawn, are they not?
“Now the question arises, ‘what shall we do with them?’ It is a pity the ladies didn’t choose bigger cards. You can’t ‘go nap’[6] on a deuce and a five, can you? I think I can’t do better than use them to show you a little experiment in conjurer’s arithmetic. Will some young mathematician among the audience kindly tell us what two and five, added together, make?” (He waits for reply, but if none, pretends to hear one.) “Seven! Right first time. And if you take two from five how many remain? Three? Good again. Really there are lot of clever people about, if you know where to look for them.
“Now I want to show you that the cards know all about it themselves; in fact, they are just as clever at doing sums as we are. I will take these two cards and drop them into one of these pretty flower-pots. Let me show you first that it is quite empty.”
He lays the cards on the little mat while showing inside of flower-pot (the one with secret pocket), then picks up mat, and transfers it from hand to hand, showing, without remark, that the hands are otherwise empty, and lets the two cards slide off it into the flower-pot, the concealed cards naturally going with them.
“Now, ladies and gentlemen, what shall the cards do for you, the addition, or the subtraction sum? It is all the same to me. The addition? Very good. They can’t talk, so they will call another card from the pack to give you the answer. Yes, here we have it. Five—and two—are—seven.”
As he names each card, he produces it from the flower-pot, the third being the double-faced card, shown as the seven.
“Now I can hear what some of you are thinking. Oh, yes! I often hear what people think. You are thinking that if you had said subtraction instead of addition, I should have been in what is popularly called a hole. But you are mistaken. Now we will ask the cards to do the subtraction sum. The seven will go back to the pack, and send another card in its place.” He drops all three cards back into the flower-pot, and brings them up as before, save that this time the trick card is made to face the other way. “Five—less two—are three! Quod erat demonstrandum, as our old friend Euclid used to say when he had just floored a new poser. As the cards seem to be in a good humour, we will try them once more, and see if we can get them to do a little multiplication.” (He drops the three cards into the flower-pot, as before, but this time lets the fake card fall into the pocket.) “Five times—two—are ‘ten.’” (Showing the two cards and the ten, in that order.)
“Now I will ask some gentleman to see that these three cards really belong to the pack. The three and seven went back to it as soon as they were done with. The flower-pot, as you see, is again empty.” (He shows by lifting it that apparently it is so.)
If the first choice of the audience is for subtraction the order of production will naturally be varied accordingly.
[6] To endeavor to take all five tricks in the game of Napoleon.