Part 2

Suppose what has been offered to you is a watch, you are to propose a guinea as a wager against it; saying to the lady or gentleman, I lay a guinea that you do not say three times, my watch: when it is put on the table, and your wager is accepted, ask the person, presenting him his watch, what is that? he will not fail to answer, it is my watch.

Present him afterwards another object, making him the same question: suppose the object you present to be a pen, a piece of paper, or any other thing. If the person names the object you present, he has lost; if, on the contrary, he is on his guard, and answers, my watch, you must then say, Sir, I see very well I have lost; for if you say once more, my watch, you must certainly win; but if I lose, what will you give me? the person, being always on his guard, will answer again, my watch: then, appealing to his own words, you will take the watch and leave him the stake.

CHAP. XVII.

_A trick with cards; uniting the double Advantage of being very easy and infallible, it being on a little numerical Combination._

Desire some person in the company to chuse, at his will, three cards out of a piquet pack, observing to him, that the ace is to be counted for 11 points, the court cards 10, and the other cards according to the points they mark.

When he has made his choice, desire him to lay on the table his three cards separately, and to put upon each parcel as many cards as wanting to make up 15 points; that is to say, if the first card should be a nine, there must be added six cards over; if the second a ten, five cards; and if the third a knave, five cards likewise; this will make nineteen cards employed; consequently there will remain thirteen, which you are to ask for; and pretending to examine them, you must count them in order to be certain of the number that is left; then in your mind add sixteen to the remaining number, and you will have twenty-nine, number of the points that the three chosen cards under the parcels contain.

CHAP. XVIII.

_Sympathetic Inks._

These kinds of inks are very curious, and may serve for a great number of physical recreations, very surprising to such as are not acquainted with the manner of preparing them.

One kind, very easy, is made by taking an ounce of common aqua fortis, which you are to mix with three ounces of common water; you will use this mixture to write on paper that is strong and very stiff: this writing becomes totally invisible in drying; and in order to make it reappear, you need only wet the paper; and when it dries the writing disappears again. This effect may be repeated two or three times.

This process is the easiest to be done, as the necessary ingredients are almost always at hand.

Many other things furnish the means of making sympathetic ink, such as cobalt, bismuth, lime, &c. &c. but they require chemical and difficult preparations to be efficient.

The easiest to be obtained are mentioned before; as the mixture of aqua fortis and common water; and those that may be formed by dissolutions of salt and acids, such as lemon or onion juice: in order to render them visible, you need only approach them to the fire: the cold air produces on them the contrary effect.

CHAP. XIX.

_To make an addition before the Figures are set, by knowing only how many Figures are in each Row; as likewise how many Rows compose the whole; and then adding yourself some Figures equal to those that had been set._

Suppose the person had set five rows of figures, each row containing five figures.

Say in your mind, as you are making the addition beforehand, 9 times 5 make 45; set down 5 and carry 4: repeat the same thing for each of the five figures, as if they all counted 9; therefore for the second, say again, 9 times 5 make 45, and 4 carried over make 49; set down 9 and carry 4: in the same manner for the third, say 9 times 5 are 45, and 4 carried over are 49; set down 9 and carry 4: for the fourth do the same; and set down 9 and carry 4: for the fifth repeat the same, by setting down 9 and carrying 4.

Thus your addition being made before-hand will produce the sum of 499995: then shew this addition to every body in the company; and beg some one to do you the favour of laying on a paper 5 rows of numbers, containing five figures in each row.

EXAMPLE.

Suppose the numbers set for you are the following:

29971 14563 76382 37797 80130

You ask leave to add a like quantity of numbers; in doing this, you take care that each of the figures you set down make 9 with each of the figures that have been given for you.

70028 85436 23617 62202 19869 ―――――― 499995 ――――――

The first figure being 2, you must set 7; the second being 9, (which completes the number wanted) you must set a cypher (0); the third being the same, operate as before; the fourth being 7, set down 2; the fifth being 1, set down 8.

The second row beginning by 1, your first figure will be 8; the second number being 4, set down 5; the third being 5, put down 4; the fourth being 6, you must set down 3; the fifth being 3, set down 6.

As the third row begins by 7, begin yours by 2; under the 6 lay 3, then 1 under the 8, and 7 under the 2.

For the fourth row, set 6 under the 3, 2 under the first 7, and another 2 under the other 7; a 0 under the 9, and 2 under the 7, which complete this row.

You are to do the same for the fifth row, putting 1 under the 8, 9 under the 0, 8 under the 1, 6 under the 3, and 9 under the 0.

Then desire some of the company to cast up these ten sums, and it will be found that the product of the whole addition will form the sum of 499995.

In order to come to this combination, you need only fix the number of figures that will compose each row, and determine the number of rows; then to reckon each row for 9, as has been shewn above.

You may likewise present this addition, by saying, that it is the total amount of ten rows, composed of five figures each; out of which five rows will be set by the person who chuses to do it; then multiply secretly as many times 9 as you are to set rows of five figures; therefore multiply 5 times 9 by 5, which will give you the sum of 499995.

The person having set his numbers, you are to add your five rows, taking care that every number you set will make 9 with that to which it corresponds; which being done, you are to ask any one to cast the whole sum up, and the product will be the same as the sum you set down before-hand.

If it were requisite to employ other numbers instead of that of 9, you should, in order to succeed, warn the persons who chuse to set the figures, to be attentive that their numbers do not exceed that agreed upon.

CHAP. XX.

_An artificial Spider, which moves by Electricity._

Take a bit of burnt cork, as big as a pea; give it the shape of a spider; make its legs with threads of hemp; put a grain of lead in the cork to give it some weight; then hang this artificial spider by a bit of grey sewing silk (that is not twisted) between two bodies, the one electrified and the other not; or between two bodies endowed with different electricities: it will go and come between these two bodies, and the movement of the legs will be seen as plain as if it were a living spider.

This artificial spider, if well made, will astonish those who see it move so naturally.

CHAP. XXI.

_To extinguish two Wax Candles, and light two others, distant about three Feet, by the firing of a Pistol, loaded with Powder, as usual._

Nothing is more simple than the operation which produces this supernatural effect.

1st. Get some whole wax candles, and let them be recently snuffed.

2d. You are to put in the middle of the wick of those candles to be lighted, about the size of a millet grain of phosphorus; to do which, divide the wick with a pin or a tooth-pick; then place yourself at five or six feet distance from them, and fire your pistol at the lighted candles, which will be extinguished by the powder, whilst it will make the phosphorus take fire, which will light the other two.

You may likewise light a wax candle, on the wick of which phosphorus has been applied, according to the foregoing method, by means of a sword well heated in a near room. You need only present the point of the sword to the wick of the candle, commanding it to light.

N. B. Observe that you are not to touch the phosphorus with your fingers; but take the point of a knife, or a pair of small pincers. You must take care also, that the wick of the candle is cold before you put the phosphorus to it; without this precaution it would take fire immediately.

CHAP. XXII.

_To compose a red Colour, imitating the Colour of Blood._

This liquor or fluid furnishes the entertaining means of making known to a company the person who is most addicted to love.

_Preparation of the Liquor._

Cut in very small chips a piece of Fernambuco wood; put them in a large glass full of good white wine vinegar; add to it a bit of common white allum, of the size of a small nut; make the whole simmer over a gentle fire for half an hour, in a new earthen pot or pipkin; taking care to stir this composition, in order to prevent it from boiling over while on the fire.

When it is taken from the fire, let it cool, and strain it through a piece of linen; then pour it into a bottle of clear glass.

You must make all these preparations before-hand; as these experiments are only agreeable when performed with quickness.

You will find it necessary to provide yourself with a tube of clear glass, about fifteen or eighteen inches long, about the thickness of a wax candle, taking care to have it stopt at one end.

When you present yourself before a company, in order to perform this experiment, you are to carry the tube in your pocket, and holding the phial in your hand, you are to say, “Ladies and gentlemen, here is a phial containing liquid blood; I hope to make you know by it the person most addicted to love in the company.

“Please to observe that I pour a little of this liquor in this tube. As you might imagine that this liquor, like that put in thermometers, may rise by dilating itself when exposed to heat, and consequently the pressure of the hand will suffice to produce this effect, and it will condense by rarifying when exposed to cold; I assure you, ladies and gentlemen, it is not the case; this liquor differs entirely from that put in thermometers; and you may easily be convinced of it before I make the experiment I promised you. You may put it near the heat of a candle, and even that of a fire, without any degree of heat making it rise in the least; but by a peculiar and sympathetic virtue you will see it boil, when the tube is touched by a person of an amorous disposition.”

Then take out of your pocket a little potash, keep it in the interior part of the hand that holds the tube at the top, as if you wanted to keep it shut, and as soon as the person you wish to make pass for the most amorous in the company takes the lowest part of the tube in his hand, you are to let fall dexterously a little of the potash in it, and you will see the liquor boil and rise to the top of the tube, to the great astonishment of the spectators.

CHAP. XXIII.

_To extinguish a wax Candle at eighty or a hundred Paces distance, by firing a Gun loaded with Ball, and to be certain of not missing, however unskilful may be the Marksman._

This experiment may be easily tried in the country, and even in town, in a garden that is rather large: the best marksman may be challenged, and undoubtedly worsted.

Load a gun with a common charge of powder, and a leaden ball. Your opponent will do the same on his side; then let him fire first, that you may see him miss his aim, as it is very difficult at such a distance to put out a candle.

After having rallied him on his pretended skill, you will fire in your turn, and will extinguish the candle, to the great astonishment of the spectators, who saw you load your gun in the common way with powder and ball, but did not perceive that your ball was pierced through and through in the form of a cross, as is represented by the figure that follows:

The whole magic of this experiment consists in this pierced ball, by which the elasticity of the air that drives it acquires a divergent force, by passing through the holes of the ball, and produces this surprising effect.

CHAP. XXIV.

_To cut a Glass, a Looking-glass, or even a Piece of Crystal, let it be ever so thick, without the Help of a Diamond, in the same Shape as the Mark of the Drawing made on it with Ink._

This remarkable operation unites utility with amusement. For being in the country, or in a place where there is no glazier nor glassman to be had, the following means will answer the purpose without their help.

Take a bit of a walnut-tree, about the thickness of a candle, and cut one of its ends to a point; put that end in the fire, and let it burn till it is quite red. While the stick is burning, draw on the glass or crystal, with ink, the design or outline of the form in which you mean to cut it out. Then take a file or a bit of glass and scratch a little the place where you mean to begin your section; then take the wood red hot from the fire, and lay the point of it about the twentieth part of an inch, or thickness of a guinea, from the marked place; taking care to blow always on that point in order to keep it red; follow the drawing traced on the glass, leaving, as before, about the twentieth part of an inch interval every time that you present your piece of wood, which you must take care to blow often.

After having followed exactly the outlines of your drawing, to separate the two pieces thus cut, you need only pull them up and down, and they will divide.

CHAP. XXV.

_To melt a Piece of Steel as if it was Lead, without requiring a very great Fire._

Take a piece of steel and put it in a crucible; then throw in a handful of antimony in powder: as soon as your crucible begins to be red, your piece of steel will melt like lead.

Pour it afterwards into an earthen vessel, or a wedge-mould, to shew the company your operation has succeeded as you had promised.

_Another Method of melting Steel, and to see it liquify._

Make a piece of steel quite red in the fire; then holding it with a pair of pincers or tongs, take in the other hand a stick of brimstone, and touch the piece of steel with it: immediately after their contact, you will see the steel melt and drop like a liquid.

CHAP. XXVI.

_To unite Wax and Water (Things absolutely opposite to each other); this Union made in the twentieth Part of a Minute, forms a good Pomatum to clean the Skin, and render it soft and white. It is a fine Cosmetic._

In order to make this mixture, (useful for many things) put in a glazed earthen pot quite new, six ounces of spring or river water, to two ounces of good white virgin wax; add to this a good pinch of salt of tartar. If you wish to conceal your operation, nothing is easier: make a little roll or stick of wax, in which you will introduce a pinch of salt of tartar; put these ingredients on the fire, and when they begin to heat, be attentive to stir them with a little stick, and you will see the union take place as soon as the wax melts; you will then have it at your option to render the pomatum, by the result of this operation, more or less liquid, by leaving it on the fire more or less time.

CHAP. XXVII.

_A curious Method of sealing a Letter, so as not to be opened, by variegating the Seal with different coloured Species of Wax._

Suppose you wish to have your seal of four colours, and that the cartrage of the escutcheon be _yellow_ or _or_, as well as the crown; the field of the shield or escutcheon, _red_ or _gules_; the seal itself _green_ or _synople_, and the supporters, if any, _black_ or _sable_.

Take off then as many different impressions of your seal as you have kinds of wax to employ, taking care to make them on a very thin paper; this being done, with a pair of scissars cut out of each impression each of the objects that are to be variegated; that is to say, begin by cutting out the shield or escutcheon; and, by wetting it on the back with the tip of your tongue, place it on your seal over that part it represents; then do the same for the cartrage of the shield, as likewise for the supporters; and when all is well ranged, take the green wax, which is to represent the ground of the seal, and melt it as you usually do to seal a letter; then placing the seal on it that has in the mouldings the different objects which are to vary your seal, each of these objects will be found placed naturally, and will form a seal of four colours.

If any body should attempt to break open the letter by heating the wax, the different colours in melting must mix and discover evidently the infidelity by their confusion.

CHAP. XXVIII.

_To make fine blue Wax, which is very difficult to be had._

Take an ounce of mountain blue, or blue ashes, an ounce of fine mastic, the fifth of an ounce of true Venice turpentine; then get a small iron pot or pan, well cleaned, and made so as to have a little spout or beak; put the mastic in it first, which is to be melted on the fire, taking care that it does not burn; then mix the turpentine with it: this mixture being done, take the pan from the fire and put the blue ashes in it; then stir it all well with a little stick: take care when you put in the blue ashes that the other ingredients are not too hot, as that would make the colour too black: when all is well mixed, and before it is quite cold, take two pieces of glass, which must be made wet with water; then pour on one of them this composition, in order to roll it in sticks under your fingers, which must be wet.

In order to give this wax the necessary polish, pass the sticks over the flame of spirits of wine, which are to be lighted for this purpose.

CHAP. XXIX.

_A philosophical Mushroom._

Among the numerous and surprising phenomenons produced by different chymical proceedings, one of the most curious is certainly that of the inflammation of essential oils, by the mixture of nitrous acid. It is certainly astonishing to see a cold liquor take fire on pouring another cold liquor on it; such are the means by which one may form in three minutes the mushroom, called the philosophical mushroom.

In order to make this extraordinary and entertaining experiment, you must provide yourself with a glass, having a large foot, the basis of this glass is to terminate in a point, as the annexed figure shews.

Put in the glass an ounce of spirits of nitre, well rarified; then pour over it an ounce of essential oil of guaiacum. This mixture will produce a very considerable ferment, attended with smoak, out of which there will rise, in the space of three minutes, a spungy body, resembling perfectly a common mushroom.

This spungy substance, formed by the fat and oily particles of the guaiacum wood, being drawn up by the air, covers itself with a very thin coat of the matter that composes the oil of guaiacum.

CHAP. XXX.

_To make a Ring shift from one Hand to another, and to make it go on whatever Finger is required on the other Hand, while somebody holds both your Arms, in order to prevent any Communication between them._

Desire some person in the company to lend you a gold ring, recommending him at the same time to make a mark on it that he may know it again.

Have a gold ring of your own, which you are to fasten by a small cat-gut string to a watch barrel, which must be sown to the left sleeve of your coat.

Take in your right hand the ring that will be given to you; then taking with dexterity near the entrance of your sleeve the other ring fastened to the watch barrel, draw it to the fingers ends of your left hand, taking care nobody perceives it: during this operation, hide between the fingers of your right hand the ring that has been lent to you, and hang it dexterously on a little hook sewed on purpose on your waistcoat near your hip, and hid by your coat; you will after that shew your ring which you hold in your left hand; then ask the company on which finger of the other hand they wish it to pass. During this interval, and as soon as the answer has been given, put the before-mentioned finger on the little hook, in order to slip on it the ring; at the same moment let go the other ring, by opening your fingers: the spring which is in the watch barrel, not being confined any longer, will contract, and make the ring slip under the sleeve, without any body perceiving it, not even those who hold your arms, as their only attention being to prevent your hands from communicating, they will let you make the necessary motions. These motions must be very quick, and always accompanied by stamping with your foot.

After this operation, shew the assembly that the ring is come on the other hand: make them remark well that it is the same that had been lent you, or that the mark is right.

Much quickness and dexterity must be made use of to succeed in this entertaining trick, that the deception may not be suspected.

CHAP. XXXI.

_To guess, by smelling, which has been the Number struck out by a Person in the Company, in the Product of a Multiplication given him to do._

Propose to a person of the company to multiply, by whatever number he pleases, one of the three sums which you will give him on a piece of paper; desire him to strike out whatever figure he pleases of the product of his multiplication, let him change and invert the order of the remaining figures after the defalcation he has chosen.

While the person is making his calculation and the subsequent operations, go in another room: when you are told you may return, desire the person who has done the multiplication, to give you the remaining product on a piece of paper or card; put it to your nose as though you would smell it; then you will tell him, to the great astonishment of the whole Company, what figure he had struck out.

In order to do this operation, first observe, that the figures composing each of the three sums you propose to be multiplied, do not exceed the number of 18.

EXAMPLE.

Suppose the three sums proposed to be the following:

315423 132354 \ /\ / \ /\ / 9 9 9 9 \ / \ / 18 18

252144 \ /\ / 9 9

Supposing that the sum chosen to be multiplied be that of 132354

And that the multiplicator be 7 ―――――― The product will then be 926478 ――――――

Suppose likewise that the figure which has been struck out is the 6, the remaining ones will form a sum of 92,478.

As you let the person who has done the multiplication set down the figures in the order he pleases, suppose also that he sets them down thus, on the piece of paper he gives you,

79,482.

When you pretend to smell the paper, add together in your mind the figures presented to you, in order to reduce them to nines; and say in your mind 7 and 2 make nine; after that 8 and 4 make 12; in 12 there is 9, and three remains towards 9 more; to complete which 6 is wanting, which is and must be the figure struck out. This calculation must be made quickly, and while you pass the paper under your nose under the pretext of smelling it.

There is another manner of proceeding to guess the figure left out, by letting the person chuse the sum he pleases to be multiplied, but then you must ask him to shew you the sum he means to have multiplied, and to let you add one figure at your option.

In that case, by running your eyes over the sum set down, you will easily see what figure you are obliged to add in order to complete the number of 9.

EXAMPLE.

In the supposition that the sum set down is the following:

789,788