THE CARD SPRINGING UP INTO THE AIR, FROM THE PACK, WITHOUT BEING TOUCHED.
One of the cards is drawn, which is afterwards put in, and shuffled with the rest of the pack; then the pack is put into a kind of a square spoon, placed upright upon a bottle, which serves it as a pedestal, and at the company’s pleasure the card instantly flies up into the air.
Explanation.—In the first place, a forced card must be chosen, in the manner described; then the pack must be placed in the spoon so that the chosen card may lean on a pin, bent in the form of a hook; this pin is fastened to a thread, and ascending through a pack, leans upon the upper end of the spoon; then it descends under the room, through the table. Thus arranged, the confederate cannot pull the thread without dragging along with it the hook and card, which causes it to be perceived as flying in the air. The thread slides upon the blunt edge of the spoon as easily as if it run in a pulley.
In order to place the cards in the spoon quick enough, that the spectators may perceive no preparation, care must be taken that another pack is presented dextrously on the table. The chosen card in the other, with the hook and thread, must be previously prepared as above described.