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

Condemned to chains unholy,

Who, could he burst his bonds at first,

Would pine beneath them slowly?" &c.

The first word which can be classed as above is slave, you may thus be certain that the card touched is in class A, a slave being a biped. The next word you can fix upon is chains, which being commonly made of some metal, you rank in the mineral class, and know that card No. 4 was the one touched, it being the mineral of the biped class.

Supposing the trick to be repeated, as is very likely, and that a volume of Byron is given to your confederate, who selects the passage commencing—

"Know ye the land, where the cypress and myrtle

Are emblems of deeds that are done in their clime?" &c.

you know, "cypress" being the first word that can be classed, the card touched must be in class C (vegetable), and the next word "myrtle" being also a vegetable, the card touched must have been No. 11, which is the vegetable of the vegetable class. Many appropriate passages may be easily selected, and your confederate should select a long passage to be read, as it gives greater scope, and helps to mislead the rest of the company; for should they imagine that the card is discovered by the number of lines read, and they touch the same card again, he can select another passage, desiring them to read only as many lines as they choose.