Modern Magic: A Practical Treatise on the Art of Conjuring

by Professor Hoffmann

This same effect will be produced with any number of cards, so long as such number is odd, and a multiple of three. The process and result will be the same, save that if fifteen cards are used each heap will consist of five cards, and the third card of each will be the middle one; if twenty-seven cards, each heap will consist of nine cards, and the fifth will be the selected one, and so on.

Third Method.—Take any number of the cards, and deal them face upwards upon the table, noting in your own mind the first card dealt. Ask any number of persons each to note a card, and to remember at what number it falls. When you have dealt all the cards you first took in your hand, take them up again, without disturbing their order, and turn them face downwards. In order to show that the trick is not performed by any arithmetical calculation (you should lay great stress upon this, the fact being precisely the reverse), invite the company to take any number they choose of the remaining cards (such number being unknown to you), and place them either above or below the cards you have dealt. Allow the cards to be cut (not shuffled) as many times as the audience please. You now, for the first time, ask each person what was the number of his card, and, on being informed, again deal the cards, turning them face upwards. When the original first card appears, count on (silently) from this as number one to the number mentioned, at which number the noted card will again appear. Should the whole of the cards be dealt out without reaching the required number, turn the cards over again, and continue from the top of the pack until that number is reached.

Having indicated how a card may be discovered, we proceed to describe various modes of disclosing the card thus ascertained.

First Method.—Get the card to the top of the pack. Give the pack to some person to hold. The cards should be face upwards, so that the chosen card will be undermost, with the thumb of the holder above and the fingers below the pack. The fingers should extend under the pack for about an inch, but the thumb above not more than half an inch. Request the person to nip the cards tightly, and as he does so give them a smart downward rap with your forefinger, which will knock all the cards out of his hand with the exception of the lowest card, which will be retained by the greater friction of the fingers, and will remain staring him in the face. This is a very old and simple finish, but it appears marvellous to those who witness it for the first time.

You may, if you prefer it, hold the cards yourself as above directed, and allow another person to strike them downwards. It is well to moisten the fingers (not the thumb) slightly, as you thereby increase the hold on the chosen card.

Fig. 29.

Second Method.—Get the card to the top of the pack, and hold the pack lightly between the thumb and fingers of the right hand, the thumb being on the face, and the fingers (which should be previously slightly moistened) on the back of the cards. (See [Fig. 29].) Give a sharp downward jerk of the hand and arm, when, as in the last case, all the cards will fall save the top card, which is retained by the greater friction of the moistened fingers.

Third Method.—Get the chosen card to the top, and hold the pack in the right hand, lengthways and face downwards, about two feet above the floor or table. Push the top card a little off the pack sideways, so as to make it project throughout its whole length about an inch beyond the rest of the cards. Now let fall the pack, when the resistance of the air will cause the top card to turn over in its fall, and to appear face upwards, all the other cards remaining face downwards.

Fourth Method.—Place the card in question and seven other indifferent cards in two rows, face downwards, on the table. Keep in your own mind which is the chosen card, but do not let the audience see the face of either of the cards. Ask the drawer if he is sure that he will know his card again. He will, of course, answer “yes.” Now ask either the same or another person to touch four of the eight cards upon the table. Necessarily, the four which he touches will either include or not include the chosen card. In either case you take up (whether he touches them or not) the four which do not include the chosen card, remarking, “I will return these to the pack.” Invite the same person to touch two out of the four which remain. Again take up the two (whether touched or not touched) which do not include the chosen card, saying, “I return these also to the pack.” You have now only two cards left on the table, one of which is the chosen card. Invite one of the spectators to touch one of these cards. As before, whichever he touches, you pick up and return to the pack the non-chosen card, remarking, “We have now only one card left. You have all seen that I dealt out eight cards on the table, and that I have withdrawn seven, you yourselves choosing which I should withdraw. Now, sir, be kind enough to name the card you drew.” The card having been named, you turn over the card left on the table, and show that it is the right one.