34. THE MIRACULOUS APPLE.
To divide an apple into several parts, without breaking the rind. Pass a needle and thread under the rind of the apple, which is easily done by putting the needle in again at the same hole it came out of; and so passing on till you have gone round the apple. Then take both ends of the thread in your hands and draw it out, by which means the apple will be divided into two parts. In the same manner, you may divide it into as many parts as you please, and yet the rind will remain entire. Present the apple to any one to peel, and it will immediately fall to pieces.
35. AN OMELET COOKED IN A HAT, OVER THE FLAME OF A CANDLE.
State that you are about to cook an omelet; then you break four eggs in a hat, place the hat for a short time over the flame of a candle, and shortly after produce an omelet, completely cooked, and quite hot.
Some persons will be credulous enough to believe that by the help of certain ingredients you have been enabled to cook the omelet without fire; but the secret of the trick is, that the omelet had been previously cooked and placed in the hat, but could not be seen, because the operator, when breaking the eggs, placed it too high for the spectators to observe the contents. The eggs were empty ones, the contents having been previously extracted, by being sucked through a small aperture; but to prevent the company from suspecting this, the operator should, as if by accident, let a full egg fall on the table, which breaking, induces a belief that the others are also full.
36. THE INFALLIBLE PROPHET.
In this trick one of three articles being taken by each of three persons, you propose to tell the article each person has taken. We will suppose the articles to be a ring, dime or shilling, and a key. The performer must in his own mind, term the ring a, the shilling or dime e, and key i: (this being the alphabetical order of the vowels, can be easily recollected) and he must also mentally distinguish the persons as first, second and third. Then taking twenty-four counters or cards, he gives one to the first person, two to the second and three to the third; and placing the remainder of the counters on the table, he turns his back or leaves the room, telling the persons each to take an article, and that whoever takes the ring is to take also as many counters as he already has; he who takes the shilling, twice as many; and he who takes the key, four times as many. This being done, the performer advances, and reckons the remaining counters, and according to their number and the underneath line, which he must have previously acquired, he tells who has taken each of the different articles.
1. 2. 3. 5. 6. 7.
Salve certa animæ semita vita quies.
Thus, if there had been a remainder of six counters, the position of the vowels in the corresponding word vita, shows that the first person took i, the key; and the second person took a, the ring; and, consequently, the third person must have taken the shilling. It must be observed, that in no instance can there be a remainder of four counters; and that the first syllable of each word represents the first person, and the second syllable the second person. This ingenious feat is founded on the permutation of the three articles, or their representative vowels, which can only be placed in six different positions, and the corresponding numerical arrangement of the counters, thus:
| 1. | a e i | salve. |
| 2. | e a i | certa. |
| 3. | a i e | animæ. |
| 5. | e i a | semita. |
| 6. | i a e | vita. |
| 7. | i e a | quies. |