Modern Magic: A Practical Treatise on the Art of Conjuring - Professor Hoffmann

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Method.—Take any number of the cards, and deal them face upwards upon the table, noting in your own mind the first card dealt. Ask any number of persons each to note a card, and to remember at what number it falls. When you have dealt all the cards you first took in your hand, take them up again, without disturbing their order, and turn them face downwards. In order to show that the trick is not performed by any arithmetical calculation (you should lay great stress upon this, the fact being precisely the reverse), invite the company to take any number they choose of the remaining cards (such number being unknown to you), and place them either above or below the cards you have dealt. Allow the cards to be cut (not shuffled) as many times as the audience please. You now, for the first time, ask each person what was the number of his card, and, on being informed, again deal the cards, turning them face upwards. When the original first card appears, count on (silently) from this as number one to the number mentioned, at which number the noted card will again appear. Should the whole of the cards be dealt out without reaching the required number, turn the cards over again, and continue from the top of the pack until that number is reached.

      Having indicated how a card may be discovered, we proceed to describe various modes of disclosing the card thus ascertained.

      First Method.—Get the card to the top of the pack. Give the pack to some person to hold. The cards should be face upwards, so that the chosen card will be undermost, with the thumb of the holder above and the fingers below the pack. The fingers should extend under the pack for about an inch, but the thumb above not more than half an inch. Request the person to nip the cards tightly, and as he does so give them a smart downward rap with your forefinger, which will knock all the cards out of his hand with the exception of the lowest card, which will be retained by the greater friction of the fingers, and will remain staring him in the face. This is a very old and simple finish, but it appears marvellous to those who witness it for the first time.

      Fig. 29.

      Second Method.—Get the card to the top of the pack, and hold the pack lightly between the thumb and fingers of the right hand, the thumb being on the face, and the fingers (which should be previously slightly moistened) on the back of the cards. (See Fig. 29.) Give a sharp downward jerk of the hand and arm, when, as in the last case, all the cards will fall save the top card, which is retained by the greater friction of the moistened fingers.

      Third Method.—Get the chosen card to the top, and hold the pack in the right hand, lengthways and face downwards, about two feet above the floor or table. Push the top card a little off the pack sideways, so as to make it project throughout its whole length about an inch beyond the rest of the cards. Now let fall the pack, when the resistance of the air will cause the top card to turn over in its fall, and to appear face upwards, all the other cards remaining face downwards.

      Fourth Method.—Place the card in question and seven other indifferent cards in two rows, face downwards, on the table. Keep in your own mind which is the chosen card, but do not let the audience see the face of either of the cards. Ask the drawer if he is sure that he will know his card again. He will, of course, answer “yes.” Now ask either the same or another person to touch four of the eight cards upon the table. Necessarily, the four which he touches will either include or not include the chosen card. In either case you take up (whether he touches them or not) the four which do not include the chosen card, remarking, “I will return these to the pack.” Invite the same person to touch two out of the four which remain. Again take up the two (whether touched or not touched) which do not include the chosen card, saying, “I return these also to the pack.” You have now only two cards left on the table, one of which is the chosen card. Invite one of the spectators to touch one of these cards. As before, whichever he touches, you pick up and return to the pack the non-chosen card, remarking, “We have now only one card left. You have all seen that I dealt out eight cards on the table, and that I have withdrawn seven, you yourselves choosing which I should withdraw. Now, sir, be kind enough to name the card you drew.” The card having been named, you turn over the card left on the table, and show that it is the right one.

      This trick is based upon a kind of double entendre, which, though apparently obvious, is rarely seen through by the audience if performed in a quick and lively manner. The secret lies in the performer interpreting the touching of the cards in two different senses, as may best suit his purpose. If the chosen card is not among the cards touched, he interprets the touching as meaning that the cards touched are rejected, and to be returned to the pack. If the card is among those touched, he interprets the touching in the opposite sense—namely, that the cards touched are to be retained, and the others rejected. If he is lucky in the cards touched, it may happen that he is able to interpret the touching in the same sense throughout the trick, in which case there will be no clue whatever to the secret; but even in the opposite case, where he is compelled to put aside first the cards touched and then the cards not touched, the difference generally passes unnoticed by the spectators, or, if noticed, is put down as a slip on the part of the performer, rather than as being, as it really is, the key to the trick.

      Where the performer is proficient in sleight-of-hand, the above may be worked up into a really brilliant trick. Any indifferent card being drawn and returned, is brought to the top by the pass, palmed, and the pack shuffled. Eight cards are laid out, and the drawn card revealed as above.

      Having described these few commencements and terminations, we will next proceed to the discussion of some complete tricks.

      Fig. 30.

      To make a Card vanish from the Pack, and be found in a Person’s Pocket.—Slightly moisten the back of your left hand. Offer the pack to be shuffled. Place it face downwards on the table, and request one of the company to look at the top card. Request him to place the back of his left hand upon the cards, and press heavily upon it with his right. In order that he may the better comprehend your meaning, place your own hands as described (see Fig. 30), and request him to imitate you. When you remove your left hand, the back being moistened, the card will stick to it. Put your hands carelessly behind you, and with the right hand remove the card. All will crowd round to see the trick. Pretend to be very particular that the person who places his hand on the card shall do so in precisely the right position. This will not only give you time, but draw all eyes to his hands. Meanwhile, watch your opportunity and slip the card into the tail pocket of one or other of the spectators. Now announce that you are about to order the top card, which all have seen, and which Mr. A. is holding down so exceedingly tight, to fly away from the pack and into the pocket of Mr. B., making the choice apparently hap-hazard. On examination your commands will be found to have been fulfilled. It has a good effect, when practicable, to slip the card into the pocket of the same person who is pressing upon the pack.

      To place the Four Kings in different parts of the Pack, and to bring them together by a Simple Cut.—Take the four kings (or any other four cards at pleasure), and exhibit them fanwise (see Fig. 31), but secretly place behind the second one (the king of diamonds in the figure) two other court cards of any description, which, being thus hidden behind the king, will not be visible. The audience being satisfied that the four cards are really the four kings, and none other, fold them together, and place them at the top of the pack. Draw attention to the fact that you are about to distribute these four kings in different parts of the pack. Take up the top card, which, being really a king, you may exhibit without apparent intention, and place it at the bottom. Take the next card, which the spectators suppose to be also a king, and place it about half way down the pack, and the next, in like manner, a little higher. Take the fourth card, which, being actually a king, you may show carelessly, and replace it on the top of the pack. You have now really three kings at the top and one at the bottom, though the audience imagine that they have seen them distributed in different parts of the pack, and are proportionately

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