Fig. 126.
To Produce a Ball from the Wand.—The wand is supposed to be the reservoir whence the magician produces his store of balls, and into which they vanish when no longer needed. The mode of production is as follows:—The performer, holding the wand in his left hand, and drawing attention to it by some remark as to its mysterious power of production and absorption, secretly takes with his right hand, from the servante or elsewhere, a ball, which he immediately palms (preferably by the first method). Daintily holding the wand by either end with the left hand, in such manner as to show that the hand is otherwise empty, he slides the thumb and fingers of the right hand (the back of which is naturally towards the audience) lightly to the opposite end, at the same moment rolling the ball with the thumb to the ends of the fingers, as already described. (See [Fig. 126].) The ball thus comes in sight just as the hand leaves the wand, the effect to the eyes of the spectators being that the ball is, by some mysterious process, squeezed out of the wand.
To Return a Ball into the Wand.—This is the converse of the process last described. Taking the wand in the left hand, as before, and the ball between the thumb and second joint of the forefinger of the opposite hand, the performer lays the end of the wand across the tips of the fingers, and draws the hand gently downwards along it, at the same time palming the ball by the first method.
To Pass one Cup through another.—This is an effective sleight, and by no means difficult of acquirement. Taking one of the cups, mouth upwards, in the left hand, and holding another in a similar position in the right hand, about a foot above it, the performer drops the right hand cup smartly into that in the left hand (which latter should be held very lightly). If this is neatly done, the lower cup will be knocked out of the hand by the concussion, while the upper one will be caught and held in its place; the effect to the eye of the spectator being as if the upper cup had passed through the other. The lower cup may either be allowed to fall on the ground or table, or may be caught by the right hand in its fall.
The successive appearances and disappearances of the balls underneath the cups are known by the name of “Passes;” the particular combination of such passes being governed by the taste and invention of the performer. The series most generally in use is derived from a work dating from the last century, the Récréations Mathématiques et Physiques of Guyot; and Guyot, we believe, borrowed it from a German source. The series given below, which will be found very effective, is derived mainly from that of Guyot, as improved by Ponsin, a later and very ingenious writer on the art of prestidigitation.
The cups and balls require, even more than conjuring generally, a running accompaniment of talk. Each Pass should have its own “boniment,” or “patter,” carefully prepared and frequently rehearsed. It would be impossible to give, within any reasonable limits, appropriate patter for each of the Passes. This each performer must arrange for himself, so as to suit the style and character in which he performs; as it is obvious that the low comedy style of a mountebank at a country fair would be utterly unsuitable in an aristocratic drawing-room, and vice versâ. We shall, however, give a specimen or two in the course of the various Passes. The burlesque introduction next following is a paraphrase of a similar address quoted by Robert-Houdin:—
Introductory Address.—“Ladies and Gentlemen,—In an age so enlightened as our own, it is really surprising to see how many popular fallacies spring up from day to day, and are accepted by the public mind as unchangeable laws of nature.
“Among these fallacies there is one which I propose at once to point out to you, and which I flatter myself I shall very easily dispose of. Many people have asserted, and, among others, the celebrated Erasmus of Rotterdam, that a material object can only be in one place at one time. Now I maintain, on the contrary, that any object may be in several places at the same moment, and that it is equally possible that it may be nowhere at all.
“I must beg you to observe, in the first place, that I have nothing in my hands—except my fingers; and that between my fingers there is nothing save a few atoms of the mysterious fluid which we call the atmosphere, and through which our jolly old Earth spins so merrily along. But we must leave the common-place regions of astronomy, and return to the mysteries of hermetic science.
“I have before me, as you will have noticed, three little cups or goblets. The metal of which these are composed is an amalgam of costly minerals, unknown even to the most profound philosophers. This mysterious composition, which resembles silver in its solidity, its colour, and the clearness of its ring, has over silver this great advantage, that it will at pleasure become impalpable as air, so that solid bodies pass through these goblets as easily as they would through empty space. I will give you a curious illustration of this by making one goblet pass through another.” (This the performer does in the manner already described, and after a moment’s pause, continues, taking up his wand in his left hand, and secretly palming a ball in his right.) “This little wand, you are possibly aware, ladies and gentlemen, goes by the name of Jacob’s Rod. Why it is so called I really don’t know; I only know that this simple-looking wand has the faculty of producing various articles at pleasure. For instance, I require for the purpose of my experiment a little ball. My wand at once supplies me.” (He produces a ball from the wand, and lays it on the table.)