The Magician's Own Book, or, the Whole Art of Conjuring / Being a complete hand-book of parlor magic, and containing over one thousand optical, chemical, mechanical, magnetical, and magical experiments, amusing transmutations, astonishing sleights and subtleties, celebrated card deceptions, ingenious tricks with numbers, curious and entertaining puzzles, together with all the most noted tricks of modern performers.

by George Arnold; Frank Cahill

44. A PUZZLING INSCRIPTION.

P R S V R Y P R F C T M N
V R K P T H S P R C P T S T N.

The two lines above were affixed to the communion table of a small church in Wales, and continued to puzzle the learned congregation for several centuries, but at length the inscription was deciphered. What was it?

45. THE PUZZLING RINGS.

This perplexing invention is of great antiquity, and was treated on by Cardan, the mathematician, at the beginning of the sixteenth century. It consists of a flat piece of thin metal or bone, with ten holes in it; in each hole a wire is loosely fixed, beaten out into a head at one end, to prevent its slipping through, and the other fastened to a ring, also loose. Each wire has been passed through the ring of the next wire, previously to its own ring being fastened on; and through the whole of the rings runs a wire loop or bow, which also contains, within its oblong space, all the wires to which the rings are fastened; the whole presenting so complicated an appearance, as to make the releasing the rings from the bow appear an impossibility. The construction of it would be found rather troublesome to the amateur, but it may be purchased at most of the toy shops very lightly and elegantly made. It also exists in various parts of the country, forged in iron, perhaps by some ingenious village mechanic, and aptly named "The Tiring Irons." The following instructions will show the principle on which the puzzle is constructed, and will prove a key to its solution.

Take the loop in your left hand, holding it at the end, B, and consider the rings as being numbered 1st to 10th. The 1st will be the extreme ring to the right, and the 10th the nearest your left hand.

It will be seen that the difficulty arises from each ring passing round the wire of its right-hand neighbor. The extreme ring at the right hand, of course, being unconnected with any other wire than its own, may at any time be drawn off the end of the bow at A, raised up, dropped through the bow, and finally released. After you have done this, try to pass the second ring in the same way, and you will not succeed, as it is obstructed by the wire of the first ring; but if you bring the first ring on again, by reversing the process by which you took it off, viz., by putting it up through the bow, and on to the end of it, you will then find that by taking the first and second rings together, they will both draw off, lift up, and drop through the bow. Having done this, try to pass the third ring off, and you will not be able; because it is fastened on one side to its own wire, which is within the bow, and on the other side to the second ring, which is without the bow. Therefore, leaving the third ring for the present, try the fourth ring, which is now at the end all but one, and both of the wires which affect it being within the bow, you will draw it off without obstruction; and, in doing this, you will have to slip the third ring off, which will not drop through for the reasons before given; so, having dropped the fourth ring through, you can only slip the third ring on again. You will now comprehend that (with the exception of the first ring) the only ring which can at any time be released is that which happens to be second on the bow, at the right-hand end; because both the wires which affect it being within the bow, there will be no impediment to its dropping through. You have now the first and second rings released, and the fourth also—the third still fixed; to release which we must make it last but one on the bow, and to effect which pass the first and second rings together through the bow, and on to it; then release the first ring again by slipping it off and dropping it through, and the third ring will stand as second on the bow, in its proper position for releasing, by drawing the second and third off together, dropping the third through, and slipping the second on again. Now to release the second, put the first up, through and on the bow; then slip the two together off, raise them up, and drop them through. The sixth will now stand second, consequently in its proper place for releasing; therefore draw it toward the end, A, slip the fifth off, then the sixth, and drop it through; after which replace the fifth, as you cannot release it until it stands in the position of a second ring; in order to effect this you must bring the first and second rings together, through and on to the bow; then in order to get the third on, slip the first off and down through the bow; then bring the third up, through and on to the bow; then bring the first ring up and on again, and, releasing the first and second together, bring the fourth through and on to the bow, replacing the third; then bring the first and second together on, drop the first off and through, then the third the same, replace the first on the bow, take off the first and second together, and the fifth will then stand second, as you desired; draw it toward the end, slip it off and through, replace the fourth, bring the first and second together up and on again, release the first, bring on the third, passing the second ring on to the bow again, replace the first, in order to release the first and second together; then bring the fourth toward the end, slipping it off and through, replace the third, bring the first and second together up and on again, release the first, then the third, replacing the second, bring the first up and on, in order to release the first and second together, which having done, your eighth ring will then stand second, consequently you can release it, slipping the seventh on again. Then to release the seventh, you must begin by putting the first and second up and on together, and going through the movements in the same succession as before, until you find you have only the tenth and ninth on the bow; then slip the tenth off and through the bow, and replace the ninth. This dropping of the tenth ring is the first effectual movement toward getting the rings off, as all the changes you have gone through were only to enable you to get at the tenth ring. You will then find that you have only the ninth left on the bow, and you must not be discouraged on learning, that in order to get that ring off, all the others to the right hand must be put on again, beginning by putting the first and second together, and working as before, until you find that the ninth stands as second on the bow, at which time you can release it. You will then have only the eighth left on the bow; you must again put on all the rings to the right hand, beginning by putting up the first and second together, till you find the eighth standing as second on the bow, or in its proper position for releasing; and so you proceed until you find all the rings finally released. As you commence your operations with all the rings ready fixed on the bow, you will release the tenth ring in one hundred and seventy moves; but as you then have only the ninth on, and as it is necessary to bring on again all the rings up to the ninth, in order to release the ninth, and which requires fifteen moves more, you will, consequently, release the ninth ring in two hundred and fifty-six moves; and, for your encouragement, your labor will diminish, by one half, with each following ring which is finally released. The eighth comes off in one hundred and twenty-eight moves, the seventh in sixty-four moves, and so on, until you arrive at the second and first rings, which come off together, making six hundred and eighty-one moves, which are necessary to take off all the rings. With the experience you will by this time have acquired, it is only necessary to say, that to replace the rings, you begin by putting up the first and second together, and follow precisely the same system as before.

46. MOVING THE KNIGHT OVER ALL THE SQUARES ALTERNATELY.