Part 31
All this should be done either while you are out of the room, or your back is turned; upon your turning round, you take the cards which have been left; your object being to count, without its being perceived, how many there are remaining, you throw aside the three top cards, and lay the next three on the table, with their faces upward; then throw away one, then turn up one, and so on in the same way, until you ascertain how many cards they are; we will suppose that you find twenty-five cards left; deduct ten, when the remaining fifteen will be the number of all the spots contained in all the bottom cards of the three heaps, counting the court cards as ten; you must recollect that ten is, in all cases, the number to be deducted from the cards remaining. Having found that fifteen is the number of spots on the cards, do not declare it at once; but select from those cards which lie on the table, face uppermost, three or four which added together will make fifteen.
For instance: should there be a deuce, a five, and an eight, lay them aside for a moment, and taking the other cards from which you selected the three, put them along with those which you previously rejected; you now hand the three telltale cards to any person, assuring him that the number of pips on those cards will be the same as those on the bottom cards of the three heaps, which will be found to be the case.
THE DOUBLE DOZEN.
Present a pack of cards to one of the company, desiring him to shuffle them well, and to get them shuffled by whomsoever he pleases; then make several persons cut them; after which you will propose to one of the company to take the pack and think of a card, and remember it, and likewise its order in the pack, by counting one, two, three, four, &c., till he comes, exclusively, to the one thought of; offer to go into another room, or to be blindfolded, while he is doing this. Now declare in what order the card shall be in the pack; say, for instance the twenty-fourth; and, by attending to the following instructions, it will prove to be so:--Suppose the person who thinks of the card stops at thirteen, and that the thirteenth card was the queen of hearts, the number you have stated it shall be in the pack being twenty-four; you return to the room, in case you had left it, or desire the handkerchief to be removed, if you have been blindfolded; and, without asking any question of the person who has thought of the card, ask only for the pack, and apply it to your nose, as if to smell it; then passing it behind your back, or under the table, take, from the bottom of the pack, twenty-three cards; that is to say, one less than the number you have stated the card thought of shall be; place these twenty-three cards on the top. This being done, return the pack to the person who had thought of the card, requesting him to reckon the cards from the top of the pack, beginning by the number of the card he thought of. His card being the thirteenth, he will be compelled to count fourteen, and you are to stop him when he comes to twenty-three, reminding him that the number you have mentioned is twenty-four, and that, consequently, the twenty-fourth card, which he is going to take up, will be the card thought of; and so it will most certainly be.[15]
THE HOUSEBREAKERS.
Take a pack of cards, and place all the aces together, the twos, the threes, and so on up to the kings. There will then be thirteen different heaps. You say, "Here are four houses (laying down the four aces separately), which four knaves enter for the purpose of robbing (laying a knave upon each ace), and take with them their implements for housebreaking (and upon each of the knaves you lay a two, three, four, five, six, seven, and eight). The mistresses of the houses come home (laying a queen upon each of the heaps), bringing their money with them (laying a nine upon each queen). Shortly after, their husbands also return (laying a king upon each queen), also bringing money with them" (laying a ten upon each heap). You have now disposed of all the cards, which form four distinct heaps. Then lay one heap over the other, and let as many persons cut them as please. When this is done, if you commence at the top of the pack, and lay the cards face downwards, one by one, so as to make thirteen separate heaps, you will find all the aces together, the twos, and so on, as you originally placed them.
THE MAGIC BOOK.
Provide an octavo book of plain paper, of whatever thickness you please. Turn over seven leaves from the beginning, and paint a group of flowers; then turn over seven more leaves, and paint the same again, and so on, until you have turned the book through to the end. Then paste a slip of paper or parchment to each of the painted leaves. Turn the book over again, and paint upon every sixth leaf a parrot, and then paste strips upon them as you did upon the first, only a little lower down. Proceed in this manner until you have painted the book full of pictures of various sorts, taking care one side of the leaves is left white paper. When you use the book, hold it in your left hand, and set the thumb of your right hand upon the first of the parchment stays; run the book through, and it will appear full of flowers; then stop and, blowing upon the book, run it through again, with the thumb upon the second slips of parchment, and it will, appear full of parrots. Afterwards, reverse the book, and run it through as before, and it will appear composed of blank paper.
THE TAPE TRICK.
This trick consists in suffering a person to tie your thumbs together tightly, and yet that you shall be able to release them in a moment, and tie them together again. The mode of performing this trick is as follows:--Lay a piece of tape across the palms of your hands, placed side by side, letting the ends hang down; then bring your palms quickly together, at the same time privately catching hold of the middle of the tape with your fourth and fifth fingers. Then direct any person to tie your thumbs together as tight as he pleases, but he will not, of course, in reality be tying them, because you have hold of the tape, yet it will nevertheless appear to him that he is doing so. Request him to place a hat over your hands; then blow upon the hat, and say, "Be loose," slipping your thumbs from under the tape; direct him to remove the hat, and show your thumbs free. You then request the hat may again be placed over your hands, and blowing upon it, you say "Be tied," slipping your thumbs under the tape again; and when the hat is removed, your thumbs will appear tied as at first. After performing the trick, convey the tape away, lest it be detected.
MORE THAN FULL.
Fill a glass to the brim with water, and you may add to it spirit of wine without causing the water to overflow.
FLOATING NEEDLES.
Fill a cup with water, gently lay on its surface small fine needles, and they will float.
THE KNOTTED THREAD.
Considerable amusement, not unmixed with wonder, may be occasioned among a party of ladies, by a clever performance of this trick. It is most frequently performed by a female, but the effect of it is considerably increased when it is displayed by a youth. A piece of calico, muslin, or linen, is taken in the left hand, a needle is threaded in the presence of the spectators, and the usual, or even a double or treble knot, made at the extremity of one of the ends of it. The operator commences his work by drawing the needle and the thread in it quite through the linen, notwithstanding the knot, and continues to make several stitches in like manner successively.
The mode of performing this seeming wonder is as follows: A bit of thread, about a quarter of a yard long, is turned once round the top of the middle finger of the right hand, upon which a thimble is then placed, to keep it secure. This must be done privately, and the thread kept concealed, while a needle is threaded with a bit of thread of a similar length. The thread in the needle must have one of its ends drawn up nearly close, and be concealed between the forefinger and thumb; the other should hang down nearly as long as, and by the side of the thread, which is fastened under the thimble, so that these two may appear to be the two ends of the thread. The end of the piece that is fastened under the thimble is then knotted, and the performer begins to sew, by moving his hand quickly after he has taken up the stitch. It will appear as though he actually passed the knotted thread through the cloth.
THE BACCHUS EXPERIMENT.
This experiment, showing the elasticity of air, is performed with a pleasing toy. It represents a figure of Bacchus sitting across a cask, in which are two separate compartments. Put into one of them a portion of wine or colored liquid, and place the apparatus under the exhausted receiver of an air-pump, when the elastic force of the confined air will cause the liquid to ascend a transparent glass tube (fitted on purpose), into the mouth of the Bacchanalian figure. To render the experiment more striking, a bladder, with a small quantity of air therein, is fastened around the figure, and covered with a loose silken robe, when the air in the bladder will expand, and produce an apparent increase in the bulk of the figure, as if occasioned by the excess of liquor drunk.
CURIOUS METHOD OF MEASURING THE HEIGHT OF A TREE.
To ascertain the height of an object a peculiar method of measurement is in use among the Isthmus Indians. In measuring the height of a tree, for instance, a man proceeds from its base to a point where, on turning the back towards it, and putting the head between the legs, he can just see the top; at the spot where he is able to do this he makes a mark on the ground to the base of the tree; this distance will be equal to the height.
THE TRANSPOSABLE PIECES.
Take two quarter eagles and two dimes, and grind part of them away, on one side only, so that they may be but half the common thickness; and observe, that they must be quite thin at the edge; then rivet a quarter eagle and a dime together. Lay one of these double pieces, with the dime upwards, on the palm of your hand, at the bottom of your three first fingers, and lay the other piece with the quarter eagle upwards in like manner, in the other hand. Let the company take notice in which hand is the quarter eagle, and in which is the dime. Then, as you shut your hands, you naturally turn the pieces over, and when you open them again, the dime and the quarter eagle will appear to have changed their places.
FOOTNOTES:
[Footnote 15: Be sure and have the number you name greater than that of the first position of the card in the pack; for instance, twenty-four is greater than thirteen.]
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