Water Wizardry: A collection of tricks in which water is the chief agent

by Arthur Ainslie

THE DISSOLVED CARD

Every good trick has a clear, logical conclusion. Although the conjurer is apparently reversing one of Nature's laws he must also be more or less reasonable in his performance. For example, if he tears up a piece of paper into little pieces and then causes these pieces to form together into four strips equal in length when laid end to end, to the original piece, the conjurer is not behaving in a reasonable manner; he should cause the little pieces to join together into one strip and the audience must be led to believe that that strip is the original piece of paper and that in some mysterious manner the conjurer has joined the pieces together. The conjurer who does that brings his trick to what may be called a "logical conclusion."

I mention this matter here because it bears upon the trick which I am about to explain. In its simplest—and crudest—form this trick consists in causing a playing card placed into a jug of water to disappear; the water is supposed to dissolve the card. I imagine, however, that no intelligent audience would be satisfied with the trick in that form; there is obviously something wanting, and that something is the magical reappearance of the card.

There are dozens of ways in which the trick could be completed—that is to say, in which the card could be caused to reappear—but it must be remembered that the card has apparently been dissolved in water, and that therefore to bring the trick to the "logical conclusion" which is the attribute of all good tricks, the water in which the card has apparently been dissolved should be used in some way to bring about the reappearance of the card.

It seems to me that if we were to reproduce the card in a box, or case, or frame which had previously been shown to be empty we should not have a very convincing trick. It might be argued, of course, that if instead of suggesting that the card is dissolved in water we suggest that it is made to disappear from the water we may fairly be allowed to reproduce the card in any way we please. To regard the trick in that way is to destroy the plot of it and to substitute another plot. In the one case the conjurer is suggesting to his audience that the card remains in the water in a state of solution and in the other that the card has disappeared altogether from the water. I think you get a much better effect if you induce your audience to think that the water has dissolved the card, and it is for that reason that I have given the title "The Dissolved Card" to the trick.

I propose, therefore, that we should present the trick in this way. The conjurer brings forward a pack of cards, shuffles the cards with their faces towards the audience, and asks someone in the audience to take a card and to place it on the top of the pack. A glass jug, nearly full of water, is then held up for inspection, and, lastly, a large dark silk handkerchief—or muffler—is casually shown. If one of those very trying persons who are always anxious to discover a conjurer's secrets appears anxious to examine the handkerchief the conjurer will do well to pretend that he is in a tight corner for a moment, but, somewhat reluctantly, he allows the interrupter to examine the handkerchief; as a matter of fact, the conjurer is not at all perturbed, because there is no "trick" about the handkerchief.

While the jug of water and the handkerchief are being exhibited the pack of cards is on the table. The conjurer picks it up, removes the top card and asks the person who took it to say if it is the card which was chosen and placed on the top of the pack. The answer is sure to be, "Yes."

The conjurer holds the card in his left hand with its face towards the audience, and his thumb and lingers pointing upwards. (The position of the hand is important for the working of the trick, and therefore the reader will do well to remember it.)

The conjurer throws the silk handkerchief over the card and arranges it neatly, so that the card is about in the centre of the handkerchief. Bringing his right hand over the top of the handkerchief the conjurer takes the card in that hand and holds it over the jug of water, while with his left hand he drapes the handkerchief round the outside of the jug, practically hiding it. Someone in the audience is asked to take the card from the conjurer (holding it, of course, with the handkerchief over it) and to drop it into the water at the word "Go!" When this is done the handkerchief naturally drops down and covers the jug. The conjurer picks up the jug with the left hand and whisking away the handkerchief with the right hand shows that the water has dissolved the card.

The conjurer then brings forward two slates, and in order to get them thoroughly clean wipes them with a small sponge which he dips into the jug of water. The slates are dried, placed together, wrapped in a sheet of newspaper and given into the possession of a member of the audience. The audience are led to believe that the name of the card is to be written magically on the slates, but when the person holding them takes off the paper he finds to his surprise that the card is between the slates and, as a matter of fact, the card is the identical card that was chosen in the first place.