Modern Magic: A Practical Treatise on the Art of Conjuring

by Professor Hoffmann

It is well to be provided with a second cover similar in external appearance, but without any mechanism. This may be handed round for inspection, and afterwards secretly exchanged for the mechanical cover.

The Changing Cover.—This cover is available not only, as in the last case, to produce or vanish, but also to change one article for another. It is somewhat of the pattern of an ordinary round dish cover, with a metal knob on the top. (See [Fig. 190].) It is divided by a vertical tin partition a (see [Fig. 191]), into two equal compartments, b and c. The lower, or open side of each of these compartments is of course semicircular. A flat tin plate, d, also semicircular, works on an upright axis, e, passing upwards through the centre of the cover, and terminating in the knob on the top. By turning, therefore, this knob halfway round to the right or left, the performer is enabled to close whichever of the compartments happens for the time being to be open, at the same time opening that which was previously shut. There is a little point or stop on the upper side of the semicircular plate, which meeting resistance from the vertical partition, prevents the plate making more than the necessary half-turn either way.

Fig. 190. Fig. 191.

The apparatus is prepared by placing the article representing the result of the supposed transformation (say an apple) in either compartment, and turning the knob so as to close that compartment, and open the other. The article to be changed (say an orange) is placed upon the table, and the performer places the cover upon it, taking care that the open compartment for the time being shall come fairly over it. He then gives a half turn to the knob, thereby closing the compartment which has hitherto been open, and securing the orange within it, and at the same time releasing the apple, into which, on the cover being again raised, the orange appears to be transformed. In this case, as in the last, it is well to have a plain counterpart cover to hand round for inspection if necessary.

The uses to which the changing cover may be put are very numerous. The following is an instance of a rather original application of it, which produces a capital effect. We will suppose that the performer has executed a trick in which he has availed himself of the assistance of some juvenile member of the audience, and that an apple has been one of the “properties” of the trick. The trick being concluded, the professor asks his temporary assistant whether he would like to have the apple, and is of course eagerly answered in the affirmative. “Very well,” says the professor, “you shall have it; but you must first earn it by a little display of dexterity. I will put it under this cover.” He suits the action to the word. “Now I am going to say, One, two, three! At the word ‘Three’ I shall raise the cover, and you must try to snatch the apple before I replace it. If you can catch the apple in this manner three times in succession, it is yours; but on one further condition, that you eat it at once here upon the stage.” The conditions are readily accepted. “One, two, three!” cries the professor, raising the cover and disclosing the apple, which is instantly snatched up. A second time the process is gone through, with a like result. “You mean to win, I can see,” remarks the performer. “Now, once more, and the apple will be yours; but I warn you I shall be rather quicker this time. One! two!! three!!!” The eager boy springs forward, and clutches—not the apple, but a Spanish onion, which had been placed in the second compartment of the cover. “You have won, sir,” says the professor, pretending not to notice the change; “but don’t forget the second part of your bargain. You are to eat it at once, before leaving the stage.” We will leave to the imagination of the reader the discomfiture of the victim, and the amusement of the spectators; also the subsequent magical processes by which the transformed apple may be restored to its original and more fragrant condition.

Figs. 192, 193, 194.

The Changing Ladle.—This is a piece of apparatus designed for secretly obtaining possession of a chosen card or piece of writing. The bowl, so to speak, of the ladle is in the form of a segment of a cylinder (see [Fig. 192]), the size of its opening being about four inches by two and a half, and its depth three inches. It is made of tin, with a thin, cylindrical handle. The edges of the bowl are turned inwards all round to the extent of about a sixteenth of an inch, thereby serving to disguise a moveable slab of tin, a, which moves backwards and forwards like the leaf of a book within the ladle, working upon a hinge at its lower edge. This is made to work backwards and forwards by a wire rod passing through the whole length of the handle, and terminating in a little knob or cap at its outer end. The normal position of a is to lie against the inner or handle side of the bowl (see [Fig. 193]), being retained in that position by the effect of a spiral spring in the handle, which draws the wire back. If, however, pressure be applied to the knob or cap at the end of the handle, the wire is forced downwards, thereby bringing the moveable leaf a against the outer side of the bowl, as shown in [Fig. 194].

There are various modes in which the changing ladle may be made useful. For example, it may be used to burn and restore a card. For this purpose, the ladle is prepared by placing in it beforehand any indifferent card of similar pattern to the pack in use, and is in this condition placed on the performer’s table, in such manner that the spectators may not observe that there is already a card in it. The performer then comes forward and hands to one of the company a pack of cards, with a request that he will select any one he pleases. While he is making his selection, the performer or his assistant places on the table and sets fire to some spirits of wine on a bowl or plate. A card having been chosen, the performer requests the drawer to return it to him, and, in order to exclude the possibility of any exchange or sleight-of-hand, volunteers to receive it at arm’s length in the ladle, which he brings forward for that purpose, holding it by the extreme end of the handle, and pressing with his palm the knob at the top, thereby bringing the moveable leaf into the position shown in [Fig. 194], with the card already in it pressed flat against the outer side of the bowl, and thus completely hidden. The chosen card being placed in the ladle, the performer, in returning to his table, relaxes the pressure of his palm, thereby bringing the moveable leaf back into the position of [Fig. 193], releasing the dummy card, and concealing that chosen against the inner side of the bowl. He then drops apparently the chosen, but really the substitute, card into the flames, taking care as he does so not to turn the face of the card toward the audience. The ladle, with the genuine card in it, is carried off by the assistant as having served its purpose, and the chosen card is subsequently restored after any fashion which the fancy of the operator may dictate.