Three Hundred Things a Bright Boy Can Do

by Unknown

One great golden rule of conjuring successfully is, as it were, to take your audience into partnership with you. When you borrowed the four florins of course they thought that was all you wanted. But you began the trick with one in your left hand cunningly concealed under the four sheets, all of which you hold in that hand. Then placing the four borrowed coins on the table (which, by the by, must have a thick cloth on it to deaden the sound), twelve inches apart, with the right hand you take the three top sheets. This leaves you with the fourth sheet in the left hand, the coin below being held in position by gentle pressure from fingers below, and thumb above. Then simultaneously with each hand you place a sheet of paper over two of the four coins on the table. Doing it simultaneously distracts the audience’s attention from what you are doing with your left hand; for it is at this particular moment that the trick is being performed. As you place the paper down, with a gentle and even motion of the thumb you leave the fifth coin there, too, taking great care that it does not clash with the one there already. Now you have two coins under that sheet, though the audience only know of one. There is one under each of the other three sheets. You take one of these sheets up now and take the coin between the top of the thumb and fingers of the left hand, then with the fingers and thumb of the right hand you pretend to take it, but in reality you let it fall into the palm of the left hand, a feat that must be practised carefully before a mirror. You close the fingers of the right hand over the imaginary coin in them, and act as if it were there. One way of aiding the deception is to follow the right hand with your eyes as it goes away from the left, at the same time dropping the left hand in an easy unconstrained position to the side.

Now choosing the sheet which covers the two coins (though the audience only know of one), you place the right hand a few inches above it, and open the fingers, making some mysterious passes. Of course, nothing passes in reality, but when you proceed to lift up the sheet and display the second coin, the audience will either think that they could not see it, or that you are a very mysterious person, which, indeed, you are. The remainder of the trick is only a repetition of what has been already explained; but it excites more and more astonishment as it proceeds. The bewilderment of the audience culminates in the last act, when, as before, you have pretended to take the coin in the right hand (really having left it in the left), and making the passes, request one of the audience to lift up the last sheet—there lie all the four florins.

Meanwhile, your left has dropped quietly to your side, the coin in it been slipped noiselessly into the pocket, and both hands are free to return to their astonished owners the four borrowed coins.

This trick is a particularly effective one, requiring, as it does, no paraphernalia except what are always to be met with in almost every room.

Only let the beginner recollect this. He must never begin the trick without the fifth coin, or he will come to grief. Nor must he accede to requests to “do it again,” or he will be detected.

Magic Pens.—Take a small quantity of “Aniline Violet,” obtainable at any chemist’s, two pennyworth making about two dozen pens, and make it into a thick paste with water, taking care not to leave any lumps; then add a few drops of mucilage or good gum. Do not add too much, or the paste will not set well. Apply a small quantity of the paste thus made to the hollow part of a clean pen, within a quarter of an inch of the point, and leave it for a few hours to dry. When dry, tell your friends that you will write anything they like to tell you with the pen, but instead of using ink, you will use water. Then dip the pen into the water, taking care not to show the side with the paste on, and write whatever they ask you to, the writing appearing the same as if you were using an ordinary pen.

The Magic Bottle.—You will need two cardboard cases open at each end, and large enough to slip easily over the bottles; a specially constructed bottle, the upper part of which can contain a liquid, and the lower part containing an open space in which a glass can stand; an imitation bottle made of tin and large enough to just slide over the special bottle; and two glasses. With this apparatus before us we are ready to proceed with the performance. We introduce an empty glass and what appears to be an ordinary wine bottle, but which is really a special bottle, with its tin case over it, and containing a second wine-glass inside. By careful manipulation we pour the contents from the upper part of the bottle into the wine-glass, and then setting the bottle down in its position, pour back half the liquid, which now runs through a hole in the partition into the glass beneath. So that the audience sees one glass half full, two cardboard cases, and what appears to be the bottle (as in figure), but which really is our special bottle covered by its tin case, shaped and coloured like a bottle, and a second glass half full beneath it. Now we show the cardboard cases to prove that they are empty, and then place one case over the glass and another over the bottle. At this stage everything depends on the talk of the performer, who, by his jokes and comicalities, somewhat diverts the attention of his audience. Some excuse is now invented for changing the cases, and in doing this by nipping the one over the bottle the tin case is lifted off with it (as in Fig. 2), and placed over the glass, then on again raising the cases, the glass has disappeared, and there are now two bottles instead. Again, the cases are put over the bottles, and again they are raised, but by nipping both the cases, the bottles are lifted with them, and now only the two glasses appear. Again the cases are put on, and the bottle and glass restored as at first, and so a number of changes can be worked at will, the performer, of course, talking all the while and referring in the language of magicians to his power and skill in causing the bottle and the glasses to obey his will. Fig. 3 shows the construction of the special bottle with its two linings and the space for the glass to stand within it.

The Magic Wand.—By means of this wand (a piece of thin glass rod) we may produce fire at will. Take a teaspoonful of castor sugar, and rather less than half a teaspoonful of ground chlorate of potash, thoroughly mix without friction, and place on a saucer standing on an old tray. Secretly dip the point of the glass rod in sulphuric acid (oil of vitriol) and then touch the mass on the saucer.

Another Wand Trick.—Leave the room under some pretext and bring in with you a wand that has been made hot. Touch the wick of a candle, in which you have concealed previously a piece of phosphorus, and tell it to light and it will obey. It is better to use a candle that has already been lighted, because such a wick lights more readily.