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The point of this trick consists in divining a word which is named, together with several others. Two of the players commonly agree between themselves to place it after an object that has four legs; for instance, a quadruped, a table, etc., etc. Example. —If Emily wishes to have Henry guess the word which Susan has secretly told her, she says to him, “Susan has been shopping; she has bought a rose, a dress, some jewelry, a table, a bonnet, a shawl——” Henry, of course, will easily guess that the

Take half an ounce of camphor, dissolve it in two ounces of aqua vitæ, add to it one of quicksilver, one ounce of liquid storax, which is the droppings of myrrh, and prevents the camphor from firing; take also two ounces of hematis, which is a red stone, to be had at the druggists’; and when you buy it, let them beat it into a powder in their great mortar, for, being very hard, it cannot well be reduced in a small one; add this to the ingredients already specified, and when you purpose to walk u

Have two pieces of colored ribbon of exactly the same size and appearance, one of which, being damped, may be secured in the palm of the hand, previous to exhibiting. The other may be cut in pieces and burned in a plate by the audience. Taking now the ashes, you call for a basin of water, with which you moisten them, stating by the magical influence of the “cold water cure,” the color and form of the burned ribbon will be restored. Rubbing the damp ashes in the hand, you draw forth, at the same

By steeping an egg in vinegar for some time it can be made pliable enough to be stuffed into a bottle. Then restore the egg to its natural shape by pouring water into the bottle....

This requires a steady hand and smooth table. You simply set a tumbler upon a table near the edge and gently push the tumbler with your forefinger until it is very nicely balanced upon the edge of the table. Now by giving the tumbler a very gentle push again it will fall to the floor, striking upon its bottom edge, and remain standing either upon its bottom or lying upon its side perfectly sound. Be careful and have no covering upon the table, as the less friction you can get the surer you are t

This conjuring trick is performed thus: Procure two quarters and a half-dollar; conceal one of the quarters in the right hand; lay the other quarter and the half-dollar on a table, in full view of the audience; now ask for two handkerchiefs; then take the half-dollar up, and pretend to roll it in one of the handkerchiefs; but, in lieu thereof, roll up the quarter, which you had concealed, and retain the half-dollar; give the handkerchief to one of the company to hold; now take the quarter off th

This is a somewhat singular trick. One of the party is placed behind a screen in an adjoining room, where he cannot possibly see the players—or may be blindfolded. One of the party must then call out, “Do you know Miss ——?” naming a lady’s name. “Yes.” “Do you know her dress?” “Yes.” “Her wreath, her slippers, her gloves and her bracelets?” “Yes.” “Her handkerchief?” “Yes.” “Her fan?” “Yes.” “Well, then, since you know her dress so well, tell me what article of her costume I am now touching?” If

To tell in which hand of a person, having an odd number in one hand and an even number in the other, the odd or even number is. Desire the person to multiply the number in his right hand by a figure which is an odd number, and the number in his left by an even one; and to say if the products added together are odd or even. If even, the even number is in the right hand; if odd, the even number is in the left hand....

Desire any person in company to draw a card from the pack, and when he has looked at it, to return it to you with its face downward; then, pretending to weigh it nicely, take notice of any particular mark on the back of the card, which, having done, put it among the rest of the cards, and desire the person to shuffle them as much as he pleases; then, receiving the pack from his hands, you pretend to weigh each card as before, and proceed in this way until you discover, from the back of it, the p

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Take a large apple and cut out a few pieces in the shape of candle-ends, round at the bottom and flat at the top, in fact, as much like a piece of candle as possible. Now cut some slips from a sweet almond, as near as you can to resemble a wick, and stick them into the imitation candles. Light them for an instant to make the tops black, blow them out, and they are ready for the trick. One or two should be artfully placed in a snuffer-tray, or candlestick; you then inform your friends that during

Upon a table place three pieces of bread, or any other eatable, at a little distance from each other, and cover each with a hat, take up the first hat, and removing the bread put it into your mouth, letting the company see that you swallow it, then raise the second hat, and eat the bread which was under that, then proceed to the third hat in the same manner. Having eaten the three pieces, ask any person in the company to choose which hat he would like the three pieces of bread to be under, and w

“Is silver a visible or invisible thing?” What a singular question! You will reply, certainly silver is a visible thing. A good many poor creatures, however, are of a different opinion; and possibly they are not altogether wrong, as we are about to show. Will you kindly lend me a quarter, having first marked it, that you may know it again. Very well! There is a little handkerchief which will serve for me to make the experiment I have promised you. In the middle of this handkerchief, as you will

This is an animated figure, fourteen inches high. It represents a skeleton, miniature but lifelike in appearance. You may pass it around for examination, then stand it upon the floor and it will begin to dance without any visible motive power. Just think of it! People will imagine that ghosts or demons are near. This trick can be done in any room very easily. The skeleton will dance to music, jump, lie down, etc., just as you command. We will send the apparatus and secret of Wizard Skeleton for

Present a person with a slip of paper, a pen and a tumbler of water, and desire him to dip the pen in the tumbler, and write down whatever he pleases. When dry, the words will be invisible, but, if the paper is immersed in the contents of the tumbler, the writing will make its appearance quite distinctly. To perform this the pen should be a quill one, and new, and the water in the tumbler should have one or two crystals of sulphate of iron (green vitriol) previously dissolved in it, while the wr

To make an egg stand on one end on any polished surface seems very extraordinary, yet it can be done, even on a looking-glass. Now, from the form of an egg, nothing is more liable to roll, and on nothing more so than on a looking-glass. To accomplish this trick, let the performer take an egg in his hand, and while he keeps talking and staring in the face of his audience give it two or three hearty shakes; this will break the yolk, which will sink to one end, and consequently make it more heavy,

Previously provide yourself with a piece of brass wire pointed at both ends, and bent round so as to form a ring about the size of a wedding-ring, which conceal in your hand; then commence your performance by borrowing from a gentleman a silk pocket-handkerchief, and from a lady a wedding-ring; request some person to hold two of the corners of the handkerchief, and another to hold the other two, keeping them at full stretch. You next exhibit the wedding-ring to the company, and announce to them

You request some one of the company to lend you a watch, and put it immediately into a mortar; a few moments afterward you cause it to be pounded, by another person, with a pestle; you exhibit the wheels, face, mainspring, and drum barrel broken and smashed; and finally, after a few minutes, you return the watch, whole and safe, to the proprietor, who recognizes it. After all that we have said, it will easily be perceived that the mortar must be placed near the trap in the table of which we spok

The principal actor in this trick takes his place in the center of the room armed with a long stick, with which he describes several circles, etc., on the carpet, at the same time muttering a mock incantation, after which he touches one of the company (his accomplice) on the shoulder, bidding him quit the room, preparatory to guessing on whom the magic stick would pause in its evolutions. The magician then touches several of the company, one after another, lightly, with his wand, each time sayin