Part 6

Lay the rings on one another, and they will all appear to be separate and distinct: D D should be the uppermost rings, then B, then A, and then C. Hand round D for inspection and if any more are desired, hand round the other D. When returned, hang them over your left arm, or grasp them in your hand, and tell the company that you are going to weave all the rings together. You clash them together, and after going through some complicated movements, bring out B, which the spectators will think you have just fastened together. Hand them round. When they are returned mix them all up, and bring out C. Then take A in your hand, and passing one of the outer rings of C through the opening, you have four rings together. Then add D and you have five. Take off D and substitute B which will give you six. So you go on weaving them into all kinds of fantastic shapes. You must always conceal the joint in A with your thumb, and contrive as often as you can to have one at least of the rings D at liberty This is a capital trick, and may be diversified to any extent, especially if the number of rings is increased.

46. THE FISH AND INK TRICK.

This is really a first-rate delusion. You bring before the spectators a glass vase, full of ink. You dip a ladle into it, and pour out some of the ink upon a plate, in order to convince the audience that the substance in the vase is really ink. You then throw a handkerchief over the vase and instantly withdraw it, when the vase is found to be filled with pure water, in which a couple of gold fish are swimming.

This apparent impossibility is performed as follows. To the interior of the vessel is fitted a black silk lining, which adheres closely to the sides when pressed by the water, and which is withdrawn inside the handkerchief during the performance of the trick. The ladle has a hollow handle with an opening into the bowl. In the handle is a spoonful or so of ink, which runs into the bowl when it is held downward, during the act of dipping it into the vase.

47. THE CANNON BALLS.

The performer of this trick borrows a number of hats, and places them on the table. He then returns each person his hat, and on turning it over, a thirty-two pounder cannon ball rolls out.

The method of performing this delusion is as follows. Get a turner to make a number of wooden balls, each the size of a thirty-two pounder cannon ball, and let a hole be bored in each which will admit the middle finger. The balls are arranged hole upwards on a shelf on your table on the side opposite to your audience, so that the balls are nearly level with the top of the table. When you take a hat off the table, you slip your fore or middle finger into the ball just as you would into a thimble, and by bending the finger, bring the ball into the hat.

Any object may be brought into a hat in this manner, a great cabbage, for instance, having a hole cut in the stalk.

48. THE DIME IN THE BALL OF COTTON.

Get a tinman to make a flat tin tube, which will just allow a dime to pass through it. Wind a quantity of worsted round it, so as to make it into a ball.

These preliminaries having been accomplished, perform any trick that will get a dime out of sight, such as number 1 or 2. Then tell the spectators that you will bring the marked dime into the middle of a ball of worsted. Take down the ball from the place where it is lying, drop the dime into the tube, and withdraw the tube, leaving the dime in the ball. A good squeeze or two will hold it tight, and obliterate every mark of the tube. Place the ball in a tumbler, take the end of the worsted, and give it to some one to unwind. This being done, the dime will be found in the very center of the ball, with the end of the worsted wrapped tightly round it.

49. THE EGG AND BAG TRICK.

Get a chintz or cloth bag made double,[1] and between the two bags make six or seven pockets, each of which will hold an egg, and have an opening into the bag. Fill the pockets with eggs, and you are ready for the performance.

Hold the bag by the place where the eggs are, shake it, turn it inside out, and show that there is nothing in it. Then tell the spectators, that you are sure there is a hen in the bag. Put your head near the mouth of the bag, and make a clucking like a hen. You then say "I knew I was right, and she has laid an egg." So saying, you put your hand into the bag and take out one of the eggs, taking care to pretend to grope in one of the corners for it.

This is repeated until all the eggs but one are gone. You then, after taking out the last egg, say that some people think the eggs are not real, but you will convince them by ocular inspection. Saying this, you break the egg in a saucer with your right hand, and while the people are occupied with it, you drop the bag behind your table, or hang it on a hook out of sight, and take up another exactly like it, into which you have put a hen. "These are real eggs," you then say, "and if any one doubts their reality, they cannot doubt that this is a real hen." You then turn the bag upside down, and shake out the hen. If any one wishes to inspect that bag, he can do so without being much wiser for it.

50. THE DANCING EGG.

Send for some eggs, and take care to place among them one which has been emptied of its contents, and to which is fastened a long hair, at the other end of which is tied a crooked pin. Borrow a small stick from one of the spectators, and as you go behind your table contrive to hook the bent pin into your coat, passing it over the stick. Then place the egg on an inverted hat, and ask for some music, and directly it begins to sound, a slight and imperceptible depression or elevation of the stick will cause the egg to twist and roll about upon it as if it had life. You must be careful to turn gently round now and then, so as apparently to vary the distance of the egg from the body.

51. BELL AND SHOT.

Get a wooden bell made, so thick that there is a considerable space between the outer and inner surfaces, especially on the upper part of the bell. A hollow must be cut in this, and the handle so made, that when it is at rest, it is forced upwards by a spring, and draws up the round piece of wood to which the clapper chain is attached, and closes the aperture, as shown in the engraving.

You have a cardboard measure, which is of precisely the same capacity as the cavity in the bell, and just wide enough to hold a cent. Into this you privately put a cent, and then fill up the measure with shot, heaping it a little, to compensate for the cent. You make up a tale about a man going out shooting, and ringing the bell of the gunmaker's shop. (You then ring your wooden bell.) How the man bought a measure full of shot for a cent, (you pour the shot into the bell and back again two or three times,) but was so long haggling over three shots, that the gunmaker took away the shot, (here you again pour the shot into the bell, and by pressing on the handle, allow them all to run into the hollow,) and kept the cent for his trouble. The man went out of the shop, but soon came in again, and rang furiously. (Here you again ring the bell which is now apparently empty, and invert the measure on the table. The cent not being held by the finger and thumb, will now fall on the tablecloth.) Then finish the story with an account of the manner in which the man got back his cent. When you have finished, invert the bell over the empty measure, and on pressing the handle, the shots will refill it. Do not touch it until you have done another trick or two, and then, when you put the bell aside, ring it again, and remark that the purchaser was a silly fellow ofter all, for here are his shots in his measure.

52. THE BURNED HANDKERCHIEF RESTORED.

Get a tinman to make a double canister, such as is shown in the cut, with an opening at each end. This must so slide within a tin tube, that either end can be concealed within it alternately, as seen in the engraving, where the end A is shown, and B is concealed. In this position it looks like an ordinary canister. The interior is divided into two parts. Into B put a piece of cambric made to look like a handkerchief.

Borrow a cambric handkerchief, and say, "Now ladies and gentlemen, I shall burn this handkerchief to ashes, place them in this canister," (so saying you put it into A,) "and when I have uttered a spell, it will be restored perfectly whole. Will the owner say what mark it has?" While the audience are looking towards the owner, you turn the canister over, and push up the canister until the shoulder of B is on a level with the top of the tube. When the mark has been declared, you open B, take out the cambric, and pretend to verify the mark. You then put it into a candle flame, and when it has burned entirely to ashes, put the ashes into B, shut it up, and rapidly reverse it as you turn round to your audience, so that A is uppermost again. Then utter any nonsense you like, open A, and take out the handkerchief uninjured. It rather adds to the trick if you drop a little eau de cologne into A before commencing.

53. THE FIRE EATER.

If the young conjuror is desirous of appearing in the character of a fire-eater, it is very easily managed. He must prepare a piece of thick string, by soaking it in a solution of niter, and then drying it. He cuts off a piece about an inch in length, lights one end, and wraps it up in a piece of tow which he holds in his left hand. The trifling smoke will be concealed by a huge bundle of loose tow also carried in the left hand.

He takes a handful of tow in his right hand, puts it into his mouth, chews it up, and appears to swallow it. He then takes another handful, and with it the piece in which is the string. As he puts this into his mouth, he takes out the piece which he has already chewed. By taking breath through the nostrils, and breathing it out through the mouth, smoke begins to issue forth, and the whole interior of the mouth is soon lighted up with a glow. When the mouth is shut, and the tow pressed together, the fire goes out, except the piece of prepared string. More tow is then taken into the mouth, and treated in the same manner.

64. THE EGG-BOX.

A, the egg-box; B, the upper shell; C, the inner shell, covered over with the shell of an egg; D, the lower part of the box. To do the trick, call for an egg, then bid all the by-standers look at it, and see that it is a real egg, set the box on the table, take off the upper part, with your fore finger and thumb, then placing the egg in the box, say, "You see it fairly in," and uncovering it again, likewise say, "You shall see me take it out, and put it in my pocket in your sight;" open your box again and say, "There is nothing," close your hand about the middle of your box, and taking B by the bottom, say, "There is the egg again," which it appears to the spectators to be, so clapping that in again, and taking the lid of C in your finger and thumb, say, "There it is gone again."

55. THE GLOBE-BOX.

This trick is not inferior to the best that is shown with boxes. It is done with a box made of four pieces, and a ball as big as may be conveniently contained therein; the ball serves as the egg does in the egg-box, to deceive the hand and eyes of spectators. This ball, made of wood or ivory, is thrown out of the box upon the table, for every one to see that it is substantial; then put the ball into the box, which close up with all the pieces one within another; remove the upper shell with your fore finger and thumb, and there will appear another of a different color, red, blue, yellow, or any other color you may fancy; this will seem to be another ball, though, in fact, it is no more than a shell of wood, ingeniously turned and fitted to the box, as you may perceive by the cuts. L is the outer shell of the globe, taken off the figure M, the top of which represents the ball; N is an inner shell; O, the cover of the same; P another inner shell; Q, the cover of the same; R, a third shell; S, that which covers it. These globes may be made with more or less varieties, according to the desire of the practitioner.

56. THE COFFEE AND HANDKERCHIEF TRICKS.

One of the greatest means of wonder-working is that of _ingenious contrivance_. We will illustrate this by two popular feats. A number of handkerchiefs taken from the audience by more than one popular performer, were placed in a small washing tub, into which water was poured, and they were washed for a few minutes. They were then placed in a vessel like the figure (*) on the next page, and immediately afterwards the performer said to the persons in front: "I will give you these;" and taking off the top, when he was expected to throw out the wet handkerchiefs, all that fell was a number of flowers. He now brought out a box, which he opened, and showed it to be empty; then shutting it, and uttering a few cabalistic words, he opened it again, and there were the handkerchiefs, all dry, folded, and scented, which he distributed to their respective claimants.

Another experiment of a popular performer was called "coffee for the million." Producing a vessel like the diagram A, the performer filled it with unground coffee, and placing it under a cover B, he said, "There, when you have done that, let it simmer for three quarters of an hour; but, perhaps, you will not like to wait so long; here then it is;" and on removing the cover, the vessel appeared full of hot liquid coffee. In another vessel of the same kind he obtained lump-sugar from rape-seed; and in a third, warm milk from horse-beans; and pouring out the coffee into cups, sent them round to regale his auditory, amidst their loud and approving shouts at so great a transformation.

These feats are the result of considerable ingenuity. It is probable that the devices employed would not readily occur to spectators in general, while they would utterly escape those whose object is merely amusement, and who, if they thought at all, would be likely to describe the result as supernatural. We proceed, then, to the unraveling of the mystery. Let it be observed, in reference to the first experiment, that a number of handkerchiefs are collected in the early part of the evening for various illusions, and that many of them appear for a time on the performer's table. Provided with a collection of these articles, from the handsome silk handkerchief to one trimmed with lace, used by a fashionable lady, he could easily substitute his own of the same kind for those of his auditory, as the curtain falls, according to the arrangements of the evening, between the collection of the handkerchiefs and the subsequent processes. His own handkerchiefs, therefore, are washed and placed in the vase already described; and the so-called change into flowers is nothing more than the retention of the handkerchiefs in the lower part of the apparatus, which the figure illustrates, while the upper part holds the flowers till they are scattered among the spectators. Meanwhile, all that is required is done to their handkerchiefs. It is not absolutely necessary that they should be washed; for folding, pressing, and a little eau-de-Cologne, would complete the preparation; but granting that they are washed, there is still no difficulty, though this mystifies the spectators, who have the idea that drying is a long affair; for it may be effected in a minute or two by a machine that is readily obtained. The box brought out has them deposited in it, but as it is double, one interior is first shown, which, of course, contains nothing, for the inner drawer holding the handkerchiefs remains in the case; but when a few sounds are uttered, and the professor touches a secret spring behind, which disengages the inner box, he draws it out with the outer one, and presents the handkerchiefs to the audience. In the diagram A, the box is shown as empty. At B, we have a representation of the box containing the handkerchiefs. It is only necessary to add that the box is very nicely made; the part within the other drawn out to the end, defies detection. _See Trick No._ 65.

The preparation of coffee, milk, and sugar, may be easily explained; for if the vessels containing respectively the unground coffee, the rape-seed, and the horse-beans, always placed under a cover, be put on a part of the table having a circular trap-door--and for this there is full provision in the cover of the table extending to the floor--a confederate may readily substitute one for the other.

57. THE MAGIC FUNNEL.

This favorite and simple trick is carried out by the assistance of a double funnel, that is to say, one funnel soldered into the other so as to leave a space between them for water, and communicating with the hollow of the funnel by a hole in the tube. Our drawing will assist the explanation.

The funnel is always prepared before the audience by pouring in water, occasionally stopping the end of the pipe T with the finger, so that the inner space may be filled; whilst this is being effected the conjuror must fill up the time with a philosophical disquisition on funnels, all ending, however, in the fact, that if there is a hole in a vessel the water will flow out. One of the audience is now requested to step up to the table, and you proceed to draw water from his hair, ears, eyes, &c., as every time the finger is withdrawn from the hole N the pressure of the air is admitted, and the water flows out.

58. THE MAGIC BOTTLE.

This trick, if well managed, is one of the most wonderful that can be performed in a drawing-room without apparatus; but it requires dexterity at the conclusion.

The person performing the trick offers to pour from a common wine bottle, port wine, sherry, milk, and champagne in succession, and in any order.

To accomplish the trick, you must make solutions of the following chemicals, and label the bottles with numbers, thus:

1. A saturated solution of the sulphocyanate of potash.

2. A diluted solution of the above--one part of the solution to four of water.

3. A saturated solution of nitrate of lead.

4. A saturated solution of perchloride of iron.

5. A saturated solution of bicarbonate of potash.

6. Sulphuric acid.

7. A clear solution of gum-arabic.

Procure a champagne bottle, and wash it out well, then pour three teaspoonfuls of No. 4 into it. As the quantity is very small, it will not be observed, especially if you are quick in your movements. Pour some distilled or rain water into a common water-bottle or jug, and add a tablespoonful of No. 7 to it; then set it aside ready for use.

Provide some wine glasses of four different patterns, and into one pattern pour the solution marked No. 1, into another that marked No. 2, and so on for Nos. 3 and 5. Return the solutions to their respective bottles, and arrange the glasses on a small tray, remembering the solutions that were poured into each pattern.

Everything being ready, take the champagne bottle that you have prepared, from two or three others, and holding it up to show the company that it is clear and empty, you must desire some person to hand you the water bottle or jug, and then fill up the bottle with the water.

Pour some of the contents of the bottle into an unprepared glass, in order to show that it is water; then say, "change to champagne," and pour the liquid from the bottle into one of the glasses rinsed with No. 5; then pour into a glass rinsed with No. 1, and it will change to port wine; but if poured into No. 3, it will change to milk, and if into No. 2, it will produce sherry. Be careful in pouring the fluid from the bottle, not to hold it high above the glasses, but to keep the mouth of it close to the edges of the glasses, otherwise persons will observe that it undergoes change of color after it is poured into the wine glasses, and on this account the glasses should be held rather high.

∵ As the solutions used in the above trick are deleterious, they must not be left about in the way of children, and of course the fluid in the wine glasses must not even be tasted; but if any of the company wish to drink the wines you have made, then the tray must be adroitly exchanged for another with the proper wines placed on it.

This is an excellent parlor trick if well managed, and is not difficult to comprehend.

59. THE BOTTLE TRICK.

The chemical method of performing this delusion has been already explained, the mechanical one will be easily understood from the "Magic Funnel Trick." It is usually carried out with a bottle, the body of which is constructed of tin, the neck of glass; the body is divided into sundry compartments, three of which are sufficient, with a center one, for ordinary use: by cutting the bottle in two, the arrangement will be understood as shown beneath.

It must be understood that little tubes from each compartment terminate in the neck, and they are filled with their respective liquids by the pear-shaped vessel already explained. Each compartment is perforated with a little hole at the top, so that when the fingers are placed over them (as on the holes of a flute) the liquid cannot run out on inverting the bottle.

On showing the trick, the performer alludes to his wonderful bottle full of the milk of human kindness, which he pours out carefully from the center compartment, keeping the three holes tight with his fingers, the center being filled and emptied in the ordinary manner; after pouring out and handing round a few glasses of milk, he may pour the rest into a jug, in the bottom of which some milk has been already placed, so that the company may believe the bottle was originally filled with it; he may now wash out the bottle (that is to say, the center compartment), still keeping his fingers over the holes, and for the sake of a little mystification put the bottle upright under a hat, commanding the bottle to change its temperance habits. He may now ask the company to call for port, sherry, gin, brandy, noyeau, &c.

The sherry and port are poured from their compartments, the spirit supplies the others, as a number of wine-glasses can be prepared with drops of burnt sugar for brandy, syrup and juniper for gin. A small drop of oil of almonds or other flavoring materials may be used for the different liquors. A thick wine-glass must be employed, holding a very small quantity of fluid.

A magic coffee-pot may be arranged in a similar manner, with three compartments to hold hot tea, coffee, and punch; the middle compartment may hold the tea and coffee berries, into which the assistant may pour by mistake the contents of the bottle labeled "_Ink_." The performer, after scratching his head, as if in deep thought, will take a lump of whiting and powder up, placing it in the center compartment, which can be fastened up with a cork or proper lid. Then, if the holes from the compartments terminate in the handle and the pipes in the spout, when the fingers are removed the three liquids pour out separately, as in the Bottle Trick. This mode of showing the trick is good, because, however large your audience, you can provide everybody with something to drink, and it is displayed with great effect by Signor Blitz, and Wyman.

60. THE MAGIC QUARTER.