Or, lastly, you will see in the first trick subjoined, a method of substituting one object for another.
FIRST TRICK.—To command a dime to pass into the centre of a ball of Berlin wool, so that it will not be discovered till the ball is unwound to the very last of its threads.
REQUISITE PREPARATIONS, TO BE MADE PRIVATELY.
You will require a glass bowl or quart basin, and you must have a flattened tube of tin about four inches long. It must be just large enough to let a dime slide easily through it by its own weight. Round the end on this tube wind a ball of Berlin wool of bright color, covering about two inches of the tube, and projecting about an inch beyond the end of it. Place this ball with the tube in it in your right-hand pocket of coat tail, (or in the left breast-pocket, if that is large enough to hold it completely covered.) Lastly, place a dime concealed in the palm of your left hand.
Commence the exhibition of the trick by requesting one of the spectators to mark a dime (or cent) of his own, so that he will be sure to know it again. Then ask him to lend you that coin. Holding it up in your right hand, you may say, “Now, ladies and gentlemen, this is the marked dime which I shall experiment with. The gentleman has accurately marked it, so that there can be no mistake about its identity when reproduced.” Then by Pass 1 pretend to transfer the marked coin to your left hand, but in reality retain it in your right hand. Next, hand with your left hand your own dime (which had been secreted in that hand) to some person, and request him to hold it. Choose for this person some one three or four yards distant from yourself, and also from the person who originally marked the coin. It is unnecessary to explain that you do so, lest the two should compare notes. Of course, the person who is asked to hold it will believe that it is the very dime that was borrowed.
You may proceed to say: “Now we want a ball of worsted.” So, placing your right hand in your pocket, pretend to feel about for something in your pocket, and while doing so you must place the dime in the top of the tin tube, and shake it down. Then carefully draw the tube out of the ball of worsted; and leave the tube in your pocket, but draw the ball out of your pocket, pressing it together while doing so.
Then request some one to feel the ball in order to ascertain that it has no opening towards its centre.
You may here make some humorous remark about your having such a ball in your pocket. As for instance:
“Ladies may think it odd that I have such a ball of Berlin wool in my pocket. It was bought to please my cousin Mary Ann, or my Aunt Tabitha. Well, it will do very fairly for our experiment.”