THE MYSTERY OF MAHOMET[16]

Fig. 28

The exhibitor is not limited to any particular set of questions and answers. At the cost of a fresh pack of cards and a little ingenuity, he canplease himself in this particular. The selection of suitable questions and answers is however a somewhat delicate matter. The answers must on the one hand be smart enough to afford amusement to the company generally; and on the other hand must not be so pungent as to be likely to cause offence to a person putting the question.

The questions and answers I devised for my own use ran somewhat as follows:

It will be found on comparing them that the answers are arranged on a regular system, those on the red cards being of a more or less complimentary nature, or otherwise favourable; the black suits less so, particularly the clubs, which arerather the reverse, and are intended to be used as replies to gentlemen only. Bearing this arrangement in mind, it is a comparatively easy matter to suit the answer to the querist.

The questions must be memorised in proper order, and it is desirable to do the same with the answers also, though there should be no difficulty, remembering the principle of arrangement, in giving a fairly appropriate answer, even though the memory be for the moment at fault as to its exact terms. To avoid the necessity of giving the same answer more than once, it is well to make a rule that the same question shall not be asked more than three times.

The Oracle may be introduced as follows:

“Allow me to introduce to your notice a curio of an exceptionally interesting kind. This elegant little affair is said to have been the private Oracle of Rameses the Second, a gentleman who flourished in Egypt about four thousand years ago. I can’t be sure to a year or two, because it was before my time, but I believe that is about right. People sometimes express surprise that, being so ancient, the Oracle should be in such good condition, but that is accounted for by its having been preserved in the same case as Rammy’s mummy. I don’t mean his mamma, but the gentleman himself, in the cold storage of the period. The story may or may not be true. I can’t take any responsibility for it. Others declare that the Oracle was the favouriteplaything of Helen of Troy. Historians do tell such tarradiddles that one doesn’t know what to believe.

“The powers of the Oracle are limited, for it will only answer eight questions, and in its own way, but its answers are quite trustworthy—well, perhaps notquite. Let us say as trustworthy as those of Bond Street fortune-tellers at a guinea a guess. Who will be the first to test its veracity?

“I should mention, by the way, that, as each answer exhausts a certain amount of power, the same question must not be asked more than three times. You would like to consult the Oracle, Madam? Then please select one of the questions on this card, and read it out for the information of the Company.

“You wish to know” (repeating question). “Good. The answer to your question will be found on one or other of the cards in this pack, and the Oracle will tell us which one to look for. First, however, I must ask you to breathe into this glass. That supplies the missing link, so to speak, and makes it a sort of personal affair between you and the Oracle.” (This is done.)

“Thank you. Now I shall place the glass on its stand, and this little pointer” (holding it up and placing it on its pivot) “will reveal the correct answer, first indicating the suit among which the answer is to be found. You may notice that it wobbles a bit at first. That is because it is thinkingover the question. Now it has come to rest, and it says the answer will be found in the”—(name suit.) “And now to find out which is the right card of that suit. I take off the glass and turn the dial over. Please concentrate your mind on your question. I put the glass and the pointer on again. Again the pointer thinks it over, and finally decides as you see, for the—” (naming number of card.) “Now all we have to do is to look out that card” (does so) “and here we have the answer to your question.”

Before inviting a fresh querist to breathe into the glass, it is well to wipe it out carefully with a silk pocket handkerchief, professedly to dispel the personal magnetism of the last enquirer, any remains of which, left within the glass, might imperil the correctness of the anticipated answer.

The reader is probably familiar with the trick known as “The Silver Tube and Ball.” If not, it may be stated that the “tube” is of metal, nickelled, and about eight inches long by one and a half in diameter. With it is used an ebony ball, which is made to pass into and out of the tube in a very surprising way.

The secret lies partly in the fact that half waydown, the internal diameter of the tube is very slightly narrowed, forming a sort of “choke,” so that a ball dropped into it at the upper end does not fall right through, as one would naturally expect, but stops at that point, wedging itself lightly, so that the tube can be reversed without any fear of the ball falling out, though it can be instantly driven out by bringing down the tube smartly on the table, or by very slight pressure behind it.

The other part of the secret lies in the fact thattwoballs are in reality used, the existence of the second being of course unknown to the spectator. The tube being loaded as above mentioned,i.e.having the one ball wedged in it just below the choke, if the duplicate is dropped in from above it will apparently fall through, though as a matter of fact this ball comes to a standstill in the tube above the choke, while the other is driven out at the bottom. The secret use of this second ball enables the performer to produce sundry surprising results in the way of appearances and disappearances.

The possibilities of the trick in this form are however speedily exhausted, and it has a serious drawback in the fact that it is necessary to invert the tube afresh before each production, as it is obvious that a ball contained in it must be brought below the choke before it can be produced. I had at one time rather a fancy for the trick, but it seemed to me that it was capable of a good deal ofimprovement, and after some cogitation I succeeded in producing a new trick on somewhat similar lines; but free from the defect mentioned above and capable withal of producing a far wider variety of effects.

Fig. 29

I use two tubes of stiff cardboard, each about four inches long by one and a half in diameter. One of these is just a plain tube with no speciality about it. The other has a piece of fine wire crossing it midway from side to side, and taking the form of a half hoop, as shown in Fig. 29, the ends serving as pivots on which it moves freely. On the outside, one of its ends is turned down vertically, forming a tiny switch or handle. The normal tendency of the halfhoop is to hang downward across the tube (thereby closing it to the passage of a ball) but a touch of the finger, moving the littleswitch to right or left, raises the loop to a horizontal position against one or other of the sides of the tube, when it no longer offers any obstacle to the passing of the ball. The wire used is so thin that with the halfhoop lying against its side a spectator may safely be allowed to look through the tube even at a very short distance, without fear of his perceiving the presence of the wire.

The requirements for the trick, all told, are as follows:

One of the white balls must be vested or otherwise so placed as to be ready for production from the wand. The second white ball and the red ball are stowed in the pochettes, one on each side. The faked tube may be vested and exchanged for the plain one during the journey back to the table after the dummy has been tendered for inspection; the latter being dropped into the profonde. These however are matters which the expert will arrange after his own fashion. If the performer, not being an expert, doubts his ability to“change” the tubes neatly during the transit, he may suppress the plain tube altogether and commence at once with the exhibition of the faked tube from the platform, but the omission makes the trick less convincing.

We will suppose that the performer goes for the maximum effect and advances offering the dummy tube for inspection. The patter I suggest for the trick in this form runs as follows:

“I have here, ladies and gentlemen, a hollow tube. It is not uncommon for tubes to be hollow, but this one is, if anything, even hollower than usual. I should like some lady or gentleman to examine it carefully and testify that it is just a plain ordinary tube with absolutely no deception of any sort about it. If it was not so, you may be sure I should hardly venture to let you examine it. You can see through it, hear through it, or blow through it. You are satisfied? Then I will show you a curious little experiment with it.”

During the return to the table the dummy is exchanged for the trick tube.

“I call the experiment I am about to show you ‘The Mystery of Mahomet.’ I gave it that name because it was Mahomet who suggested the idea to me. I don’t mean personally. I didn’t know him. In point of fact he did not give me the idea till after he had been dead for some years. This sounds peculiar, but I will explain.

“When Mahomet died he wasn’t buried likeother people. His coffin was placed in a mosque, where it hangs in the air like a captive balloon, about twenty feet up, resting on nothing at all. I am not certain as to the exact height from the ground, but that is what the Moslems say, and they would hardly tell a story about a little thing like that. It has always been a mystery what keeps the prophet up aloft. Some say it is done by mesmerism, some say by magnetism, and one old gentleman declared it was done by mormonism. No doubt, when you come to think of it Mahomet was a bit of a Mormon. But they are all wide of the mark. As a matter of fact the coffin rests on a slab of compressed air. It’s quite simple, when you know it. I haven’t a coffin handy, but by means of this little tube I can show you the effect of the same principle on a smaller scale.

Fig. 30

“As some of you have not had the opportunity of personally examining the tube I should like to prove to you in the first place that it is really what it appears to be, a simple cardboard cylinder, open from end to end, and as free from deception as I am myself.

“Proof 1.” (Wand dropped through tube on to table.)

“Proof 2.” (Tube held in front of candle showing flame through it.“)

“Proof 3.” (Tube dropped over candle as in Fig. 30, or spun on wand, held horizontally as in Fig. 31; the halfhoop in each case being made to lie against the side of the tube.)

Fig. 31

“I have here a little ball, of such a size that it passes easily through the tube.”[17]The ball is allowed to fall through, from the one hand to the other.

“Now I will place the tube upright on thetable and drop the ball in once more. Where is it now? On the table, you say. Quite right: here it is.” (Lift tube, closing it, and placing it on end beside ball.) “But now I take a few handfuls of air and press them well down into the tube” (makes believe to do so), “and I drop the ball in again. This time you see it does not fall through. As a matter of fact it has stopped halfway, resting on the compressed air in the tube.” (Lift tube, showing that the ball has not passed through. After replacing the tube switch the wire loop to the horizontal position, allowing the ball to drop inside the tube.) “I think there can be no doubt that this is the way Mr. Home, the medium, managed to float about with his head in the air and his feet on the mantelpiece. All that was needed was a few pints of compressed air in his tail-pockets. It’s quite simple, when you know how it’s done.

“Of course, as the tube is open at the top, the effect doesn’t last very long. The compressed air gradually expands again and becomes too thin to support the ball any longer. I dare say by this time it has done so.” (Lift tube, exposing ball, and re-closing tube). “Yes, here it is.”

“I can keep the air from escaping to a certain extent, because I happen to have a very strong won’t. A strong will is a good thing to have, but sometimes a strong won’t is even more useful. Once again I will fill the tube with compressed air.” (Make believe to do so, then pick up the closedtube.) “I drop the ball in again, and this time it will remain suspended till I permit the compressed air to escape.” (Pick up tube, holding it vertically a few inches above the table.) “Say when you would like the ball to fall. Now? Good! I withdraw my strong won’t and the ball falls at once.” (Switch loop, allowing it to do so, then pass tube, closing it, to opposite hand and load into it duplicate ball at top; then replacing tube on table.)

“Now, by way of variety, we will try compressing the ball instead of the air.” (Pick up ball left on table and make believe to transfer it to the opposite hand. Then, with the left hand empty, make pretence of crushing it into the hand.) “The ball is now resolved into its component atoms. You didn’t see them go? No, of course you didn’t. For the time being they are dematerialised: but the compressed air in the tube will soon solidify them again.” (Lift tube, keeping ball suspended.) “It has not got solid yet, but we shall not have long to wait.” (After a few moments again lift tube, opening it and allowing ball to pass through.) “Here is the ball, now as solid as before.”

Transfer tube closed to opposite hand and in so doing load in red ball at top. In replacing tube on table open and close it again, so that the ball shall fall, but shall rest within the tube on the table.

“Now I will show you another curious effect. A ball which has been dematerialised in that waybecomes very sensitive to colour. I will just give the ball a rub with this red silk handkerchief and drop it into the tube again.” Drop in white ball after rubbing, keeping tube closed; then raise it and show red ball at bottom.

“Here it is again, you see, but it has taken the colour of the handkerchief and is now a rosy red, a sort of maiden’s blush; the blush of a very shy maiden. Unfortunately maiden’s blush is not a fast colour, unless it’s the wrong kind; the kind that’s rubbed in with a powder puff. This kind soon gets pale again. I rub the ball again, this time with a white handkerchief, and again drop it into the tube.”

Drop in red ball, tube closed, lift and show white ball, under cover of its appearance transferring tube to opposite hand and allowing red ball to run back into palm to be got rid of a moment later.

“I think I heard a lady say, ‘Where is the red ball?’ This is the red ball, at least it was the red ball a moment ago. There is no other, for, as you see, the tube is empty.”

Again drop tube over candle as in Fig. 30. Pass ball from hand to hand and finally make believe to swallow it, meanwhile dropping it into the profonde.

“After being treated like this the ball becomes so volatile that I used to be always losing it. But I never lose it now. I just swallow it and then Iknow just where it is when I want it. It saves a lot of trouble.”

[16]A description of this trick will be found inThe Magicianfor March, 1914.[17]If preferred the ball instead of being taken openly from the table, may be produced from the wand after the fashion familiar in the Cup and Ball trick, but on the whole I think this is best omitted.

[16]A description of this trick will be found inThe Magicianfor March, 1914.

[17]If preferred the ball instead of being taken openly from the table, may be produced from the wand after the fashion familiar in the Cup and Ball trick, but on the whole I think this is best omitted.

The blocks which give its title to this trick are inch-square wooden cubes, three in number, as illustrated in Fig. 32. Each is coloured black on two of its opposite sides; these in use being made top and bottom. The four remaining sides are in the case of one block red, of another white, and of a third blue. The only other item of apparatus known to the spectators is a square cardboard tube, as depicted in Fig. 33. This is about five inches long, and of such dimensions laterally as to let either block slide by its own weight easily through it, but no more. All four items may be freely submitted to inspection, for in this case appearances are not deceitful. Both the blocks and the tube are no more and no less than they seem to be.

In exhibiting the trick, the tube is placed upright on the table, and the three blocks are dropped into it one after another, the company being requested to note particularly the order in which they are inserted, which we will suppose to be in the first instance blue, then white, and lastly red, as shown without the tube in Fig. 32. It is clear that, once inserted, they cannot by any natural means alter their relative positions, but, strange to say, when they are again uncovered, the red block justinserted at the top is found to have passed to the bottom, the other two moving up accordingly.

This surprising effect is produced by the secret introduction into the tube of a fourth block of which the spectators know nothing. This, which we will call the “trick” block, is, like the rest, coloured black at the top and bottom; but of the remaining four sides two, contiguous to each other, are red, and the other two blue.

Fig. 32Fig. 33Fig. 34

When the tube is handed back to the performerafter inspection, before placing it on the table he secretly introduces the trick block into its lower end, privately noting against which sides of the tube the tworedfaces will lie, and taking care in placing the tube upon the table that the angle formed by these two sides shall be to the front. The other three blocks are then, in accordance with the patter, dropped in from above, in the order shown in Fig. 32, resting, unknown to the spectators, on top of the trick block. When the performer lifts off the tube, which he does grasping it diagonally between thumb and finger at about an inch from the top, he does so with gentle pressure, thereby holding back the uppermost block within the tube, and exposing the two others with the trick block at the bottom, as indicated by Fig. 34.

I gave a description of this trick in theMagicianof February, 1914. The patter for its exhibition was based on a popular nursery legend, and as this mode of presentation won general approval from the juveniles I cannot do better than repeat it practically as there given. The needful working instructions will be found interspersed with the patter.

“What I am going to show you now is not a trick, or, if you can call it a trick, it is one that works itself, for you will see for yourselves that I have really nothing to do with it. It is just an illustration of the force of bad example.

“No doubt you have all heard of a young gentlemancalled Fidgety Phil. There is a little poem about him. It says:

‘Fidgety PhilCouldn’t keep still,Made his mother and father ill.’

‘Fidgety Phil

Couldn’t keep still,

Made his mother and father ill.’

“There are a lot more verses but I am sorry to say I don’t know them. However, these few lines are enough to show you what sort of a boy Fidgety Phil was. He was the kind of boy that wherever he is, he wants to be somewhere else. When he was standing up he wanted to sit down, and when he was sitting down he wriggled about on his chair till he was allowed to stand up again.

“These little blocks are all that are left of a box of bricks which are said to have belonged to Fidgety Phil and they show what even a box of bricks may come to if a bad example is constantly set before them. These three little bricks have got to be just as fidgety as Phil was himself. Anyhow, that is the only way in which I can account for their queer behaviour.

“Please have a good look at them, and see if you can discover anything peculiar about them. I can’t, myself.” (The blocks are handed for examination.) “They seem to me to be just ordinary bits of coloured wood, and this square tube is believed to have been a chimney pot belonging to the same set. I want you to notice particularly that the bricks are just the right size to fit closelyin the chimney. They go in quite easily; but when they are once inside they can’t turn round, or turn over, or change places. But the curious thing is that though they can’t theydo, as you will see presently.

“I place the chimney-pot here on the table, where you can see all round it, and I drop the three bricks into it one by one. Notice particularly the order in which I put them in. First, the blue. You heard it go down. Next, the white, and now, the red. Don’t forget. Blue at the bottom, white in the middle, and red at the top.

“Now, without my saying or doing anything, they will at once begin to shift about. They can’t keep still for more than a few seconds. When I lift off the chimney pot, you will find that they have changed places.” (It is lifted accordingly, performer holding back the uppermost block within it by gentle pressure on opposite angles of the tube, and exhibiting only the three lower blocks now as in Fig. 34.)

“There, as I told you, like Fidgety Phil, they couldn’t keep still. The white brick has climbed to the top, the red one has gone down to the bottom, and the blue one is now in the middle.

“We will try again. I will put the bricks in in just the same order, to make it easier for you to remember them.”

Performer has meanwhile allowed the red block, left in the upper part of the tube, to sink to thebottom, checked by the third finger, and replaces tube upright on table.

“As before, I drop in first the blue, then the white, then the red.” (This last being the trick block, care must be taken to keep itsredsides well to the front.)

“Again I lift off the chimney pot, and again you see, the bricks have changed places. White has come to the top, and red has gone to the bottom again.”

The trick block, which this time remained at the top, is now allowed to slide down to the bottom. The tube is again placed on the table, but so turned that thebluesides of the block within it are brought to the front.

“I can’t tell you why the bricks behave in this way, but you can see for yourselves thatIhave nothing to do with it. We will try it once more, and for a change I will put the red block in first, then the white and then the blue. That order will be easy to remember. Red, white and blue reckoning from the bottom upwards. Again I remove the cover. The same thing has happened again, but with a little difference. White has come to the top again, but blue has this time gone to the bottom.”

While attention is drawn to the new order of the blocks, the performer allows the ordinary blue one, now left in the tube, to slide out into his hand, and in picking up the others secretly substitutesthis for the trick block, which is now at the bottom of the tube.

“Once more, ladies and gentlemen, here is the chimney pot, and here are the three bricks, for inspection by any one who cares to look at them. Perhaps some of you may be able to account for their remarkable behaviour. It’s a puzzle to me; but I never was good at guessing. My own idea is that they are haunted by the ghost of Fidgety Phil. If not, I give it up.”

To avoid misconception, it may be well to state at once that the peculiar spelling of the word “od” in the above title is not a printer’s error. The explanation will be found in the patter, which is founded on a discovery claimed to have been made by a scientist at one time of world-wide renown, and the responsibility for so spelling the word rests with him. For programme purposes the reader is at liberty to re-name the trick according to his own fancy. “Mysterious Motion,” or “Moved by Magic” would fairly represent the effect produced, which consists in causing a borrowed coin to move automatically at the will of the operator, in various directions.

The requirements for the trick are as follows:

(1) The “tramway” whereon the coin is to be made to travel. This consists of a slab of woodthirteen inches long by four wide, and three-eighths of an inch thick and covered as to its upper side with fine black cloth. To the cloth-covered side of this is attached, by means of a screw at each corner, a parallelogram of brass or copper wire enclosing a space two inches wide. The four screws, which are likewise of brass, and which are of the round-headed kind, are within the parallelogram and serve to keep the wire extended. Midway at each end is another screw, driven inoutsidethe wire, in such manner as to make all taut. These last two screws, for a reason connected with the working of the trick, stand up a shade higher than the other four, but the difference is not great enough to be noticeable. See Fig. 35.

Fig. 35

(2) A special “pull” carried on the person of the performer. This consists of a fine black thread, to one end of which is attached a weight travelling up and down the trouser leg, after the manner described (in connection with a self-suspending wand) at page 111 of “Later Magic.” In the present case, however, the weight is much smaller, being in fact just large enough to rather more than counterbalance the coin used in the trick,plusthe friction to be overcome by the thread in the working of the trick. The degree of such friction is an uncertain quantity, as it will largely depend on the nature of the operator’s underwear and its closeness to his own body. The precise weight most effective must be ascertained by previous experiment, and regulated accordingly.

It will be found convenient to use by way of weight a glass tube, closed at the bottom like a test-tube and loaded with buckshot, more or less in quantity according to the weight required. The mouth of the tube is closed by a cork, through which one end of the thread is passed, and secured on the under side by a knot and a spot of gum. When the minimum weight that will effectually serve the desired purpose has been ascertained, any vacant space above the leaden pellets should be filled with cotton wool (to prevent rattling) and the cork should then be cemented into the tube. If preferred, the wool may be interspersed among the buckshot.

The opposite end of the thread, which will be somewhere about thirty inches in length (this again being a point to be determined by experiment), is passed through the curled end of a good-sized safety pin. This, for use in the trick, is attached to the inside of the performer’s vest, just within the lowest part of the opening. To the free-end of the thread, after passing through the loop of the pin, is attached a disc of copper or zinc, three-quarters of an inch in diameter, against which, on one side, is pressed and flattened out a pellet of conjurer’s wax, in good adhesive condition. If the length of the thread has been duly regulated, the little disc will rest normally just within the vest, but can be drawn out the extent of a couple of feet or so, returning swiftly to its hiding place the moment it is released.

(3) A glass ball—professedly crystal.

(4) An ordinary match-box, empty.

Instructions for the working of the trick will be most conveniently given step by step with the patter, which may run as follows:

“In the early days of Queen Victoria’s reign, when the oldest of us here present were good little boys or girls, and the rest were not born or thought of, there lived a celebrated scientific gentleman, called the Baron von Reichenbach. I am sorry to say he was a German, but he couldn’t help it. As his father and mother were Germans, he had to be one too. It shows how careful children ought to bein the choice of their parents. He invented a lot of useful things, among them creosote and paraffin. Neither of them smells very nice, but they don’t trouble about that in Germany.

“Besides being a great chemist, Von Thingany dabbled in what are called the occult sciences, and he claimed to have discovered a new force (a sort of magnetism, only different) and which, he declared, pervaded every thing in nature, especially crystal. Directed by a strong will, like his own, or mine, it would do all sorts of wonderful things. It seemed to me that such a force would come in very handy for magical purposes, and I set to work to invent it over again, and I have at any rate produced something very like it. The Baron called his force ‘odd,’ but he spelt it ‘od,’ which is odd too. You must judge for yourselves whether my force is the same as his, and you can spell it which way you like.

“I have only been able so far to work up a very small amount of the force, say about six mouse-power, so it won’t turn tables, or lift pianos. I can only get it, so far, to move a small weight like a florin or a half-dollar, and that only for a very short distance. For greater conveniences I have made this little tramway for the coin to perform upon. These wires which you see are not for it to travel on, but merely to get more equal distribution of the force. There is nothing out of the way aboutit, nor with this ball, except that it is crystal. Examine both as much as you please.”

The two articles are accordingly offered for inspection. The performer takes back the tramway in the left hand, holding it by one end in such manner that it is gripped in the fork of the thumb, leaving the thumb itself comparatively free. Taking back the ball with the right hand and remarking “Now to develop the force,” he rubs it on his left coat-sleeve, and strokes the surface of the tramway two or three times with it.

“Having now established a proper degree of ‘oddity’ between the tram and the crystal, I will ask for the loan of a half-dollar (or florin as the case may be) marked in any way the owner pleases.”

He replaces the ball on the table, and in the act of again turning to the audience gets hold of the waxed disc and draws it away from the body, holding it clipped between the ends of the first and second fingers, the left thumb pressing the thread against the cloth top of the tramway, and acting for the time being (and indeed throughout the trick) as a brake neutralising at pleasure the pull of the weight.

He receives the coin on the tramway; then picking it up with the right hand, makes some observation as to the mark, meanwhile pressing the waxed side of the disc against it, then replacing it, disc down, in the middle of the tramway.

“I shall now, by means of the ‘od’ force, compel the coin to move towards me.” This he does accordingly, by relaxing the pressure of the thumb upon the thread and merely bringing the pull of the weight into operation. When the coin has all but reached the nearer end of the tramway, he says, “We will now see if we can make it travel a little longer distance.” So saying he draws the thread out again and lays the coin on the farther end of the tram, and again makes it travel slowly back. A good effect may be here produced by making it stop halfway, and (after remarking in a casual way that the power is hardly strong enough) picking up the ball, again rubbing it upon the sleeve and moving it, a few inches distance, in the direction in which the coin is to travel, when it resumes its journey accordingly.

Once more picking up the coin, he replaces it at the farther end of the tramway, but in so doing passes the thread outside and around the screw at that end. He then remarks, as if bethinking himself: “By the way, a lady suggested the other night that the coin was attracted towards me by my personal magnetism. I know I am an attractive man: I have been told so frequently but that is not the explanation in this case, as I will prove to you by making the coin travelawayfrom me.” So saying, he draws the coin towards him, easing off the pressure on the thread to enable him to do so, and leaves it at the inner end. The ball isnow moved away from himself, and the pressure of the brake being relaxed, the coin is now drawn in the same direction.

“‘Quod erat demonstrandum,’ as our old friend Shakespeare (or was it Euclid) used to say.” (To the lender of the coin.) “You must take care of this coin, Sir; it is now charged with a minute quantity of the ‘od’ force, and so long as you keep it you can never be ‘stony-broke.’ I will show you just one more effect with it before I return it to you.”

While speaking, he has carelessly picked up the coin, and replaced it on theinnerside of the screw so that this shall be no longer encircled by the thread. Picking up the match box from the table, he pushes out the “tray” portion with the forefinger; then throwing aside the outer case, he picks up the tray, and inverts it over the coin.

“I will now show you that the ‘od’ force still operates even though it is cut off from any direct connection with the subject of the experiment: but in this case a little more power is required.” So saying he rubs the glass ball again on his coat-sleeve, and, moving the ball accordingly, causes the coin to travel towards him, the match-box naturally moving with it. In again picking up the coin, to return it to the owner, he detaches it from the disc, which flies back to its original resting-place.

This is a trick involving some little trouble in the way of preparation, and perhaps a little more than average address on the part of the performer, but on the other hand it costs little; for all the needful appliances may be homemade, and in the hands of an expert the trick will amply repay the time and trouble expended upon it. Baldly stated, its effect consists in the magical introduction of a marked coin into the innermost of a nest of three envelopes, each securely sealed.

Fig. 36

The requirements for the trick are as under:

1. Two nests of envelopes. The innermost of each is one of the little square kind used in shops to contain copper “change,” or to hold the weekly wage of an employee. It should be of cartridge or stout manila paper, and about two inches square. The next larger is of the ordinary square or so-called square-note size, and the third a little larger still. Envelopes of the two last mentioned sizes are not always to be obtained made of cartridge or manila, but this condition is not in their case absolutely essential. The flap of each envelope must be stuck down and sealed with red wax.[18]

2. A special envelope, which we will call the“trick” envelope. This is of the same size and kind as the innermost of the nested envelopes but has undergone special preparation as follows: Taking two ordinary envelopes, cut round the edges of one of them with a penknife, completely dividing back from front. Take the plain or non-flap side of the one so treated, lay it squarely under the flap of the other, and stick the flap down upon it in the ordinary way: then add a seal of red wax, as closely as possible corresponding in appearance with the two seals of the innermost of the nested envelopes. Lastly, cut away the superfluous paper round the seal and the edges of the flap. The envelope will now be shown as in Fig. 36, and when closed will have the appearance of an envelope sealed in the ordinary way, though itas yet lacks the connecting medium for actually securing it.

3. The “coin mat” (page 4) freshly treated with the usual adhesive. The side so treated is to be turned downwards on the table with a shilling pressed against the adhesive portion.

4. A penknife, to be used as envelope opener.

As shortly as possible before the presentation of the trick, the trick envelope must be further prepared by spreading a thin layer of seccotine on that portion of the underside of the flap immediately under the seal.

N. B. This must not be done too long beforehand, as it is essential to the success of the trick that the envelope be used while the seccotine is still in a “tacky” condition.

The envelope prepared as above, to be laid on the table, behind some small object, or preferably just inside the foremost rim of a Japanese tray; at one corner, mouth uppermost, and flap to the rear. Under these conditions, the butting of the opposite edge of the envelope against the forward wall of the tray will be found greatly to facilitate the subsequent introduction of the borrowed coin. Before so placing the envelope, its edges on each side should be pressed slightly inwards, so as to make it expand a little at the opening.

These arrangements duly made, the performer may introduce the trick as follows:

“I don’t know whether anybody here remembersGeorge the Third, I can’t say I do myself. He was before my time, but there is a funny little story told about him. One day when out for a walk, he went into a farmhouse where he found the family having their dinner. One dish consisted of apple-dumplings, and the question crossed the King’s mind, ‘How on earth did the apples get into the dumplings?’ He didn’t like to ask, but he couldn’t get the puzzle out of his head. He thought about it so much and it worried him so that at last he went clean out of his mind. He becamenon compos mentis, which is the doctors’ polite way of saying dotty.

“I mention this story by way of a caution. What I am going to show you is ever so much more incomprehensible than any number of apple-dumplings; in fact, so extra-extraordinary that if anybody here was the least bit excitable and I sprung it upon him unawares he might go dotty like old Georgie. So if any of you feel at all nervous, don’t hesitate to go home, or you can go and sit on the stairs till this particular experiment is over. Nobody moves! I am pleased to find that you are all so strong-minded, but if anything happens don’t blame me.

“I have known strong men; men of massive intellect, like myself, come here with a smile on their faces, but when they left the smile was replaced by an air of grim determination. You could see at a glance that they had made up their minds to findout how it was done, ordie. They haven’t come again: so I suppose they died.[19]

“As you are prepared to run the risk I will ask some gentleman to oblige me with the loan of a shilling, marked, in some unmistakable way. Thank you, Sir. You have marked the coin? Then please place it here, on this little tray. I won’t touch it myself at present. All please keep one eye upon it, the other eye you had better keep on me.”

Receive the coin on the mat, held in right hand. After showing the left hand empty, transfer the mat to that hand and show the right empty. Return the mat to right hand, but before doing so turn that hand over so as to receive the mat with thumb undermost. Just as you reach the table to place the mat upon it bring the second and third fingers over the borrowed coin, and under cover of your own body turn the mat over. In putting it down on the table draw away the borrowed coin into the hand and palm it. To the eye of the spectator the state of things will be unaltered, your own coin, now uppermost on the mat, being taken for the borrowed one.

You continue, standing behind your table, and resting the right hand, with the palmed coin, close to the trick envelope, and holding up the two nestsin the other hand: “I have here two envelopes, or, to be exact, six envelopes, for each of those you see contains two more, one within the other: all carefully sealed. I am going to pass the coin this gentleman has lent me into the innermost of one or other of them, I don’t care which, for they are exactly alike, so I shall leave the choice to yourselves.”

While you are speaking as above the disengaged hand slips the genuine coin into the trick envelope, closes it, pressing the flap well down, and palms it, dropping it a moment or two later into a pochette till needed.

“You decide for this envelope? Just as you please. As the other will not be needed I will ask somebody to open it, and bear witness that things are exactly as I have stated.”

Leaving the chosen envelope on the table in full view and bringing forward the other, have the latter opened by some member of the company with the penknife. Hand the envelope produced from it, with the knife, to a second spectator, to be dealt with in like manner. When the innermost is reached, have this opened by the lender of the marked coin: this apparent proof of good faith tending to make him less critical when, at a later stage, he is invited to do the same with the trick envelope.

“Nothing could be fairer, could it? You will all agree that it would have been impossible to introduceanything into the innermost of those three envelopes without breaking all three seals. When I say impossible, of course I mean impossible to a mere man. To a magician there is no such word as impossible, except in the dictionary. In fact, the more impossible a thing is, the more any respectable magician makes up his mind to do it. Watch me carefully, please. I want you to be quite sure all through that there is no deception.

“Now then, to pass the coin into this other envelope.” As you say this, you pick up the coin mat, depress it enough for all present to see the coin upon it, and make the motion of sliding it off into the left hand. This should be done while standing a little in front of your table. In turning to replace the mat, reverse it and lay it with the side to which the coin adheres downwards. If deftly executed, this reversal of the mat will be imperceptible, as it is covered by the turn to the table. Even if it were noticed it would have practically no significance for the spectators, who naturally take it for granted that the coin has passed from the mat into your hand. The moment you have laid down the mat, the now disengaged hand picks up the nest of envelopes, and you make believe to rub the coin (supposedly in left hand) into it. This done, you hold the envelope aloft in each hand alternately, allowing it to be seen that the hands are otherwise empty.

“So far, so good! The coin has passed from myhands into the innermost envelope. But I don’t expect you to take my word for it. Will you, sir” (any given spectator) “open the outermost envelope, first, however, satisfying yourself that it is still securely sealed?”

It is just possible, though not very likely, that the person to whom the envelope and penknife have been handed may notice, and remark audibly, that he cannot feel any coin in the envelope. If such a remark is made, you reply that the coin naturally had to be dematerialised before it could pass into the envelope, and it will take a few minutes for it to re-materialise, but it will become gradually more solid, and will then be distinctly perceptible.

The outer envelope having been opened you take back its contents, and under pretext of getting as many witnesses as possible to fair play, have the next envelope opened by a second person, seated at some little distance from the lender of the shilling. The last named gentleman is invited himself to open the last envelope, or rather, the trick envelope, which you in transit substitute for it. Having already opened a precisely similar envelope, and found it securely fastened, he is not likely to anticipate anything different about this one. If he uses the penknife and cuts it open along the edge of the flap in the usual way he will naturally hold it with the thumb upon the seal and all will be well. As a rule, he will be more concerned to identify the coin as the one he lent than to seek for any suspiciousfeature about the envelope. Even in the unlikely case of his tearing open the envelope, instead of cutting it, it is doubtful whether he would detect the use of the seccotine, which should by this time be practically dry; and by the rest of the spectators it would still be taken for granted that this envelope, like the rest, was sealed in the ordinary way.

It will be obvious to the expert reader that the central idea, viz., the transformation by the use of seccotine of an open envelope into one apparently sealed in the regular way, is one that admits of a wide variety of detail as to the mode of presentation. For instance: The procedure suggested for getting rid of the duplicate coin, and apparently rubbing it into the envelope, is but one of many alternatives. The coin might be “passed” by the agency of fire,i.e., wrapped in a piece of flash paper with open fold at bottom and flared off at the psychological moment over a candle flame, or it might be got rid of by vanishing it into the pocket of a black art mat, or by the use of a black art patch, as described atpage 20.

The critical part of the trick is the “switching” of the two envelopes at the final stage, but in view of their small size this is a matter of very little difficulty. The expert will probably do this after some fashion of his own. The less instructed reader may use the following plan, which he willfind by no means difficult of execution, though it will need some little practice to work it neatly.

While the second envelope is being opened, get the trick envelope from the pochette into the right hand, clipping it against the second and third joints of the second and third fingers, with the “seal” side turned away from them. When the genuine envelope is handed to you receive it with the left hand, and immediately transfer it to the right, pushing it between the fingers and the palmed one, with the seal facing in the same direction. The moment it is masked by the fingers push the trick envelope outward with the thumb, bringing this into view in its place. Smartly executed the change is instantaneous and cannot possibly be detected. The apparent object of passing it from hand to hand is to have the left hand empty and so free to take back the penknife from the last holder. From this point all will be easy, as it is the trick envelope which is now alone in view, and all you have to guard against is any accidental exposure of the one now hidden in the hand.

This description may justly appear somewhat long-winded, but its length is occasioned by the number of small details demanding notice. In performance, the trick should not take, at most, more than ten minutes. The introductory patter may of course be shortened at pleasure.

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