Magic, Stage Illusions and Scientific Diversions, Including Trick Photography

by Albert A. Hopkins

“14. Tie a knot in a watch chain, and so on.

“This can be varied indefinitely.

“How to force these requests: The professor first pretends to hypnotize the subject; then moving among the audience, he goes to number one, or first person, and asks him what he would like the medium to do. ‘Let her tell me what I have in my pocket,’ suggests the spectator. ‘Oh,’ says the professor, ‘you forget that she is hypnotized and we cannot have her speak. Get her to do so and so, or this, or that,’ and so the professor rapidly shoots out a volley of suggestions from his learned code. As a natural result, the person selects one of these suggestions.

“Going to the next, he forces the questions differently, saying, ‘What shall she do for you—turn up your trousers? Pull your hair? Tie a knot in your handkerchief?’ etc. In this case a volley of queries is fired before the gentleman has time to make any suggestions not mentioned by the professor. Seeing a lady sitting near with a bag, the ‘mesmerist’ remarks: ‘Madam, have you a purse in it? Yes? Shall the lady remove it, or something from it?’ and so on. Again he beholds a gentleman with glasses on, and suggests that the medium remove the spectacles, etc. If, however, the gentleman does not wish this done, the professor suggests some of the other tests. In going through the audience the professor asks each individual his or her request in whispers only, and he generally has each person whom he asks a couple of yards apart.

“Again it is better, when forcing questions, to force only three at a time, and force them in rotation. To do this, suggest three questions, but emphasize or force only one of the three. The professor has to keep his wits about him. Having gone to a sufficient number in the audience, he must keep mental track of the gentleman who selected No. 1 of code, of him who selected No. 2, and so on. When he returns to the stage to wave down Miss Venus, all she has to do is to follow him in front or at his side. The first person he stops at (by signal), she merely does first on code; the second he stops at, she does second on code; and so on right through. The professor must remember where each chooser is seated.

“He directs the medium to the spectator in question by the movements of his hands. He first shows her the rows in which the persons are seated, all the time waving his hands as if making mesmeric passes. As soon as the medium reaches No. 1 the professor drops his left hand at his side, whereupon she stops and pulls the gentleman’s hair.

“The professor then directs her to No. 2. She stops and turns up the gentleman’s trousers. When she gets to No. 3 the man of mystery tells her how many knots to tie in the handkerchief, by the number of downward waves of left hand, at the same time making passes with the right. To select any special coin out of a hat, or other receptacle, Miss Venus pours the coins from the hat into her right hand, letting them drop one by one into the left hand. When she reaches the proper article, the professor turns to the audience, as if silencing them, and says ‘hist!’

“The lady, however, continues pouring the coins into her left hand, and when all are in, picks out the one she knows is correct.

“These methods may be readily varied to suit the taste of the performers.

“The medium’s eyes appear to be closed all the time, but in fact are open sufficiently for her to see all the movements of the professor. After becoming expert it will not be necessary to use the forcing code often, because all requests can be whispered to the medium by the so-called mesmerist, without the audience becoming aware of it. He can do this when he escorts her from the stage to the audience, or as he occasionally passes her in the aisles. The waving of his hands and arms in his different ‘passes’ will partly tell her what she is expected to do.