In combination with the Bran Bottle, the trick last above described is greatly heightened in effect, the bottle appearing under the cover which has just been placed over the tin box—the bran from the latter being found under the cover which a moment previously concealed the bottle, and the tin box being found to have passed into the large box of bran. The Bran Bottle may also be worked with great effect in combination with the trick of the “Bran and Orange,” described at page [335].
Fig. 215.
Fig. 216.
The Bran Glass.—This is an ingenious and very useful piece of apparatus. It is made in all sizes, from that of an ordinary wine-glass to a goblet large enough to hold a rabbit. Its effect is as follows:—The glass is brought forward apparently filled with bran to the brim. The performer proves its genuineness by taking up a handful of it, and scattering it over the stage. A brass cover is now placed over the glass, and instantly removed, when every particle of bran is found to have disappeared, and in place of it is found some article which had been conjured away at some earlier period of the trick. The explanation is very simple. The glass is shaped as shown in [Fig. 215], with straight sides, tapering outwards. The supposed bran is really a hollow shape of tin, a, closed at the top, but open at the bottom, with bran gummed all over it, and a handful of loose bran spread on the top. At each side of its upper edge is a little wire point, just overpassing the edge of the glass. The cover (see [Fig. 216]), which is of such a size as to cover the glass as far as the upper part of its stem, has no speciality about it, save a shallow groove running round its upper edge on the inside, as shown by the dotted line. When the cover is placed on the glass, and pressed smartly down, the two points already mentioned are forced into this groove, which thus grips the tin shape, and when again removed, lifts it out of the glass, leaving behind whatever article may have been beforehand placed within.
Where the bran glass is of large size, the metal cover is indispensable; but for glasses not exceeding the ordinary tumbler size, it is preferable to cover the glass with a borrowed handkerchief only, the hollow shape being in this case made, not of tin, but of thin cardboard. The two points are dispensed with, but in place of them there should be a piece of thread, in length about double the diameter of the glass, fastened from side to side of the shape. This, hanging down on the side of the glass which is toward the performer, is caught hold of through the handkerchief, and thus handkerchief and shape are lifted together.
The Bran Glass may be made available in a variety of ways; the trick next following will afford a good practical illustration of its use.
Fig. 217.