The Tray of Proteus.—The tray to which the inventors (Messrs. Hiam & Lane) have given the above high-sounding title, is the latest, and not the least ingenious, of the series of magical trays.
Fig. 99.
Fig. 100.
The tray in question will not only change, but add, subtract, or vanish coins, under the very eyes of the spectators. In form it is an oblong octagon, measuring eight inches by six, and standing about three-quarters of an inch high. (See [Fig. 99].) It is divided across the centre, and one half of the centre portion is moveable in the same manner as in the case of the tray last described, save that in this instance the depth between the upper and under surface of the tray being greater, this moveable portion is depressible to a proportionately greater depth. The opposite or fixed side of the tray is divided horizontally (see [Fig. 100], representing a longitudinal section) into two levels or platforms, a and b, the lower, b, having a raised edge. Where the tray is to be used for the purpose of “changing,” the coins to be substituted are placed in a row on the upper platform, a. The genuine coins are placed by the performer, holding the tray as indicated in [Fig. 99], on the moveable flap, c. Slightly lowering the opposite end of the tray, he presses the button d, thus sloping the flap c, and the coins naturally slide into b. Still keeping the flap open, he now tilts up the opposite end of the tray. The genuine coins cannot return, by reason of the raised edge of b; but the substitute coins in their turn slide out upon c, which is then allowed to return to its original position. The necessary movement, though comparatively tedious in description, is in skilful hands so rapid in execution that, where coins of the same kind are substituted—e.g., half-crowns for half-crowns—the most acute spectator cannot detect that any change has taken place. A most startling effect is produced by substituting coins of a different kind, as pence for half-crowns, the coins appearing to be transformed by a mere shake into a different metal. The change involving a double process—viz., the disappearance of certain coins and the appearance of others—it is obvious that the tray will be equally available for either process singly. Thus coins placed upon the tray may be made to instantly vanish, or, by reversing the process, coins may be made to appear where there was nothing a moment previously. In like manner, a given number of coins may be increased to a larger, or decreased (in this case really changed) to a smaller number.
This tray has not, like that last described, any additional flat tube beneath the tray, but one end of a and b is closed by a little slide, hidden beneath the edge of the tray, to allow of the money therein being extracted when necessary.
CHAPTER IX.
Tricks with Watches.
To indicate on the Dial of a Watch the Hour secretly thought of by any of the Company.—The performer, taking a watch in the one hand, and a pencil in the other, proposes to give a specimen of his powers of divination. For this purpose he requests any one present to write down, or, if preferred, merely to think of, any hour he pleases. This having been done, the performer, without asking any questions, proceeds to tap with the pencil different hours on the dial of the watch, requesting the person who has thought of the hour to mentally count the taps, beginning from the number of the hour he thought of. (Thus, if the hour he thought of were “nine,” he must count the first tap as “ten,” the second as “eleven,” and so on.) When, according to this mode of counting, he reaches the number “twenty,” he is to say “Stop,” when the pencil of the performer will be found resting precisely upon that hour of the dial which he thought of.
This capital little trick depends upon a simple arithmetical principle; but the secret is so well disguised that it is very rarely discovered. All that the performer has to do is to count in his own mind the taps he gives, calling the first “one,” the second “two,” and so on. The first seven taps may be given upon any figures of the dial indifferently; indeed, they might equally well be given on the back of the watch, or anywhere else, without prejudice to the ultimate result. But the eighth tap must be given invariably on the figure “twelve” of the dial, and thenceforward the pencil must travel through the figures seriatim, but in reverse order, “eleven,” “ten,” “nine,” and so on. By following this process it will be found that at the tap which, counting from the number the spectator thought of, will make twenty, the pencil will have travelled back to that very number. A few illustrations will make this clear. Let us suppose, for instance, that the hour the spectator thought of was twelve. In this case he will count the first tap of the pencil as thirteen, the second as fourteen, and so on. The eighth tap in this case will complete the twenty, and the reader will remember that, according to the directions we have given, he is at the eighth tap always to let his pencil fall on the number twelve; so that when the spectator, having mentally reached the number twenty, cries, “Stop,” the pencil will be pointing to that number. Suppose, again, the number thought of was “eleven.” Here the first tap will be counted as “twelve,” and the ninth (at which, according to the rule, the pencil will be resting on eleven) will make the twenty. Taking again the smallest number that can be thought of, “one,” here the first tap will be counted by the spectator as “two,” and the eighth, at which the pencil reaches twelve, will count as “nine.” Henceforth the pencil will travel regularly backward round the dial, and at the nineteenth tap (completing the twenty, as counted by the spectator) will have just reached the figure “one.”