More Conjuring: Simple Tricks For Social Gatherings

More Conjuring.

By HERCAT....

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PREFACE

The title of this little brochure indicates its contents. Simple Tricks and simple tricks only. No apparatus is required and but little sleight-of-hand is needed in the performance of any of them. They consist of a series of tricks and problems, easily acquired, suitable for gatherings round the table on winter evenings. Some of them are new and many are old; but even the oldest are new to the rising generation. For six of the latest tricks,—“ A Hindoo Swindle ,” “ The Elusive Match ,” “ A Subtl

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AN EASY METHOD OF FINDING A SELECTED CARD

Throw the pack on the table and request some one to select a card. Then gather up the rest of the cards and request your friend to show his card to his neighbour, to avoid mistakes. While this is being done bend the pack slightly while pretending to shuffle it, and cause the card to be returned and the pack shuffled. The selected card can then be easily detected among the bent cards by its being perfectly straight. A good way to finish the trick is to bring the card to the top of the pack and ca

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TO BRING A CHOSEN CARD FROM THE BOTTOM OF THE PACK AT ANY NUMBER REQUESTED

Ask a member of the company to take a card, look at it, and return it to the pack. Make the “pass” ( Hercat’s Card Tricks , p. 7); “palm” the card ( Card Tricks , p. 18) and hand the pack to be shuffled. While this is being done transfer the palmed card to your left hand, and on receiving the pack back, place it over the concealed card, and tell the company you will produce the latter from the bottom of the pack at any number they may name. Supposing some one says, “Let it be the fifteenth card.

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A CHOSEN CARD SHAKEN THROUGH A HANDKERCHIEF

Request a member of the company to select a card and return it to the pack, which you proceed to wrap up in a large pocket handkerchief, and on the person calling the card by name you shake the handkerchief and the selected card falls on the table. Explanation. —If you are not an adept at sleight-of-hand 11 it is advisable to use a “forcing pack” which is composed of only three or four cards, of a kind (i.e. ten kings of hearts, ten five of spades, ten eight of diamonds, etc.) with backs to matc

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A SELECTED CARD FOUND IN A LIGHTED CIGARETTE

Roll a card, say the seven of hearts, in a cigarette paper and stuff a small piece of tobacco in each end. Have this in one of your pockets, where it will not get crushed, ready for palming. Previously arrange with a friend to act as your confederate, and request him when you ask him to select a card to take the duplicate of the one in the cigarette. When ready to present the trick, hand the pack to your friend and ask him to shuffle it, select any card he likes, show it to his neighbour, replac

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A STICKING CARD

Obtain a short “drawing-pin” with a small head, and having painted the head black, stick it through the centre of the ace of clubs. Put this in your pocket and “force” another ace upon a member of the company. Hand the pack to the person upon whom you have forced the card, request him to replace it and shuffle the pack. Then take the pack from him, and as you turn your back slip the card with the pin through it on the top of the pack. Holding the pack in your right hand with its face toward the

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TWO SELECTED CARDS CAUGHT IN THE AIR

Two cards are selected and returned to the pack, which you then make a pretence of shuffling, taking care not to lose sight of the chosen cards; “slip” ( Hercat’s Card Tricks , p. 10) one of the latter to the top of the pack and the others to the bottom face upward. Have a small piece of wax on your right finger and thumb and press the pack between them. Obtain the names of the selected cards, and then throw the pack in the air, moving your hand away quickly, with, of course, the selected cards

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AN EASY BUT PUZZLING TRICK

Any card may be drawn—not “forced”—and returned to the pack. In pretending to shuffle the cards, bring the selected card to the bottom of the pack, and then slip another card in front of it. Show your friend this card at the bottom and ask him if it is his. Of course he will say “No.” Lower the pack, and with the fingers of your left hand draw the bottom card back about half an inch, and with your right hand draw out the next card—which is the one chosen—and place it face down on the table. Shuf

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TRAVELLING CARDS

Give the pack to a member of the company, and request him to count off between twenty and forty cards, place the pack on the table, and hand the cards he has counted to you. You then hand the pile to a second person and 15 request him to count off about one-third of the number, lay them in a pile on the table, and hand you the remainder, which you give to the first person, requesting him to place them in his pocket. Taking up the second pile, you request the second person to place it in his pock

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TO NAME ALL THE CARDS IN THE PACK

Ask some one to shuffle the pack, and, on receiving it back, glance at the bottom card. Put the pack behind your back, and then turn the top card round with its face toward you; bring the pack in front of you, the bottom card facing the audience and the turned card facing you. Having already glanced at the bottom card, you can tell them its name, and you now know the card on top. Put the pack behind you again, and move the top card to the front, and turn the one now on top round. Again hold the

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A NEW METHOD

Here is an absolutely new method of performing the same trick blindfolded, but with the aid of a confederate. You tell your friends that by placing your hands on a person’s head you can see with his eyes. To illustrate this, tell your assistant to seat himself at a table, and you then stand behind him blindfolded, with your fingers lightly touching his temples. The cards are spread out faces down on the table, and no matter which card he picks up and looks at, you at once say what it is. Of cour

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THE SENSE OF TOUCH

This is an improvement upon the two preceding tricks which I invented several years ago, and have shown scores of times without the modus operandi being once detected. Effect. —The pack is handed to the audience to be shuffled, and, without even glancing at it, the performer places it behind his back and names each card (presumably by the sense of touch) before he draws it. He can hand the pack back to the audience to be shuffled as many times as desired. Execution. —Before handing the pack to b

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WHERE IS THE ACE?

Select the ace and five of hearts and two other cards of the same suit and conceal the five behind one of the latter so as to make it appear you have only three cards. Hold the two cards (with the concealed five) faces down, a little distance apart and showing the ace place it deliberately 19 behind them so that the pip shows between ( Fig. 2 ) when the cards are held up. Having shown the cards in the latter position to the company, lower them again and defy any one to lift up the ace. A member

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TO MAKE A PERSON NAME A CARD WHICH YOU HAVE YOURSELF SELECTED

Take any card from two to ten, say the five of hearts, and lay it face down on the table without permitting any one 20 to see its face. Then announce your intention of examining a number of the company as to their knowledge about cards. Ask for a volunteer, and on one consenting to act tell him to answer your questions rapidly and to make his replies short. Then put the following questions: “How many cards are there in a full pack?” Answer, “Fifty-two.” “How many suits?” “Four.” “What are their

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THE CLOCK

Select twelve cards of any suit, ace to ten and king and queen; arrange them in a circle to represent the figures on the face of a clock, the king as twelve and the queen as eleven ( Fig. 3 ), and request a member of the company to think of one of the numbers. You then explain you will tap the cards with a pencil and he is to mentally add your first tap to the number he thought of and count your succeeding taps until twenty is reached, when he is to call “Stop,” and your pencil will then rest up

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HOW TO GUESS CARDS THOUGHT OF

Allow the pack to be shuffled freely and then place it on the table face down. Take the three top cards, and holding them up with their backs towards you, ask some one to 23 think of one. Then spread them face down on the table in front of you. Take three more cards, and ask a second person to think of one, and lay these on top of the other three. Show three more cards to a third person, and after he has thought of one, lay these on top of the others. You have now three parcels on the table, eac

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AN INGENIOUS CARD TRICK

Select ten cards, regardless of suit, the ace, and from deuce to ten, arranging them as follows: Lay the ten face down on the palm of your hand, the nine next, and the others in rotation, finishing with the ace, which you call “one.” Give the cards so arranged to a friend, and tell him you will leave the room while he moves cards one at a time, not to exceed nine, from top to bottom, and when you return you will tell him how many he has shifted. You may repeat this feat successfully several time

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TO NAME A CARD WHICH SOME ONE HAS THOUGHT OF

Spread six cards before a member of the company and ask him to think of one. Place these cards at the bottom of the pack and give the latter a “false shuffle,” i.e. shuffle them in such a manner that the bottom cards are not disturbed. Then take the four top cards, and spreading them on the table, faces upward, ask your friend if his card is among them. Of course, he will say “No.” While he is looking at the cards on the table “slip” ( Hercat’s Card Tricks , p. 10) one of the bottom cards to the

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THE REJECTED RECRUITS—A LAUGHABLE TRICK

Select a king and the four knaves and lay the king on the table face upward. Tell the company that the king is recruiting for the army and accepts the knave of clubs, which you place on the king’s right. The knave of spades, which you place on the left, he rejects. The knave of diamonds is accepted and placed on the right. The knave of hearts is declined, and placed on the left. Now ask your audience how it is that the king, being in want of recruits, accepts two and refuses two. The answer will

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A NOVEL CARD EFFECT

Effect. —A five-spot card is passed for examination, a two spot of the same suit is then placed face down on the five; after rubbing the cards slightly and separating them a spot is found to have passed from the centre of the five on to the two spot, making a four spot and a three spot. The pack is afterwards shown to be quite an ordinary one without any apparent preparation. Preparation. —Remove from the pack the five, four, three, and two of any suit. Place the remainder of pack face down on t

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AN ARTFUL CARD FORCE

Presentation. —First secretly note what the top card of the pack is. Then proceed by asking a spectator to state what card he wishes you to use by giving you a number. After having received the number you proceed to count the cards face down on to a table until you reach that number, at the same time mentioning that the last card counted is the one you are to use. You pause for a moment, apparently thinking, then say, it is possible that the spectator may think that you already know the card as

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ANOTHER EASY CARD FORCE

Requisites. —An ordinary pack of cards and two extra cards stuck securely together. Place the double card below a previously noted card. Hold the pack in the left hand so that the thumb can pass readily down the cards at the upper corner. Now pass the thumb of the right hand down the cards so as to ruffle them. You will find that the thumb is automatically 29 stopped at the double card. By requesting a spectator to take the card immediately above the break in the pack, you can then proceed with

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A SIMPLE BUT PUZZLING CARD TRICK

Place the pack face down on the table and cover it with a serviette. Then request a member of the company to put his hand under the serviette and take a card at random; to be careful not to let you see it but show it to the company and then return it to the pack and to square the pack through the serviette after the card has been replaced. You then lift up the side of the serviette nearest to you and at once produce the card. Explanation. —When the company are looking at the card slip your hand

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HOW TO DETECT A MARKED COIN

Place ten coins—say shillings—in any empty finger-bowl and request a member of the company to select one, put a private mark on it, and then holding it in his closed hand, to close his eyes and think of the appearance of the coin very hard. In about a minute pick up the the bowl, and going to him, request him to open his eyes; gaze in them, and then make a few mesmeric passes over his face. Then request him to drop the coin he holds in the bowl and to mix it up thoroughly with the other nine shi

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A PENETRATIVE SHILLING

Sew a halfpenny in the corner of your handkerchief and place the latter in your pocket ready for the trick. Borrow a shilling and request the lender to put a private mark on 31 it. Take out your handkerchief and pretend to place the shilling under it, instead of which pick up the corner containing the halfpenny, place it in the centre and grasp it through the handkerchief with your left hand, while you let the marked shilling drop in the palm of your right. Ask a member of the company to hold th

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ANOTHER SIMPLE TRICK

Here is another simple trick with a sixpence. Put a small piece of wax on it, and place it, the waxed side uppermost, in the centre of a handkerchief. Then put one of the lower corners of the handkerchief over the coin and ask some one to put his finger on it and press it. Then move the second lower corner of the handkerchief over the other corner, telling your assistant to move his finger while you do so. Next cover the two lower corners with the two upper corners of the handkerchief in the sam

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A COIN TO DISAPPEAR FROM YOUR CHEEK AND REAPPEAR AT YOUR ELBOW

While sitting at the table turn up your right sleeve, and, taking a half-crown or penny, rub it against your cheek, and then, as if by accident, drop it on the table. Pick up the coin and repeat the process, this time resting your elbow on the table, as you explain, to steady it. Move your hand from your cheek, and the coin has disappeared, and with your left hand produce it from your elbow. Then say, “I will reverse the experiment and send the coin back.” Place your empty hand against your face

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TWO VANISHED HALF-CROWNS

This trick requires considerable practice, but is a very effective one. Take the two coins in your right hand, and throw them repeatedly, one at a time, into the other hand until the audience begin to think it is a “sell.” Then, offering your left hand (in which the coins are supposed to be) to some one, say: “Well, you try to do it.” Open your hand, and the coins have disappeared. Explanation. —The last time you throw only one half-crown, and instead of throwing the second, bring the right hand

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A DIVINATION

Request a member of the company (seated) to place a shilling or florin upon each knee, and cover them with his hands with his fingers stretched out. You then tell him, when you turn your back, to raise one of the coins and tap his head with it twelve times just above his ear; then replace it on his knee and cover it with his hands as before; and you will tell him, on examining the coins, which one he raised. The examination of the coins has really nothing to do with the trick. All you have to do

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AN EFFECTIVE BUT SIMPLE TRICK

Stick a halfpenny (or a shilling) under the edge of a table secretly with a small piece of wax. Show another halfpenny to the company, and when it is returned to you, place it in front of you on the table while you turn up your sleeves. Then place the fingers of your left hand under the table, and with your right hand sweep the halfpenny on the table into your left, at the same time getting hold of the halfpenny under the table, taking care that one coin does not strike the other. Then place you

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CHANGING APPLE AND COINS

Procure two small apples exactly alike, and in the bottom of one scoop out a hole large enough to hold a pile of three sixpences. Make a conical cover out of cartridge paper large enough to cover the apple and about nine inches in height. Obtain six sixpences, three of which place in a pile on an inverted glass goblet. Conceal the other three and the hollow apple in your left hand. Ask some one to examine the cover, and, on receiving it back, transfer it to your left hand and slip it over the ap

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AN OBEDIENT SIXPENCE

Place two half-crowns (or pennies) on the table and a sixpence between them. Then cover the coins with an inverted wine-glass, the edges of the latter resting upon the larger coins. Challenge any one to remove the sixpence without touching the glass or the money. It is done very easily, and in an amusing manner. You have only to scratch the tablecloth with your finger-nail in the direction you wish the coin to come, saying: “Come hither, sixpence,” and it will at once obey you....

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COIN AND GLASS

Cover the mouths of two glasses with newspaper, by gumming it on them, and trim off the edges neatly. [A] Stand them inverted upon two pieces of newspaper in such a manner that the type on the paper over the glasses fairly corresponds with that on the paper on the table. Make two cones of newspaper to fit closely over each glass. Unobserved by the company, place a penny under the glass 37 on your left, which will of course be concealed by the paper on the mouth of the glass. Then borrow a penny,

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PUZZLE OF TEN HALFPENCE

Place ten halfpence in a row upon the table, then taking up any one of the series, place it upon another, with this proviso, that you pass over just two halfpence each time. Repeat this until there is not a single halfpenny left. Let the following figures represent the halfpence:— Place No. 4 upon No. 1; No. 7 upon No. 3; No. 5 upon No. 9; No. 2 upon No. 6; and No. 8 upon No. 10. A little practice will enable the reader to do this puzzle without referring to the figures....

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HOW TO INCREASE YOUR WEALTH

Obtain three sixpences exactly alike, place one in your pocket and stick the other two with a small piece of wax under the edge of the table about an inch apart. After showing other tricks produce the sixpence from your pocket and show it to the company to prove it is an ordinary coin. Pull up your sleeves, and if the table has a cover turn it back. Place the coin on the table near the edge over the concealed sixpences, and showing your right hand is perfectly empty place your thumb over the coi

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A NEAT COIN TRICK

Procure three coins (pennies or half-crowns) exactly alike. Scratch a cross on two, and in the third bore a hole, in which fasten a short piece of black elastic cord. The other end of the elastic tie round your ankle, taking care that the coin does not hang below your trouser leg. Put one of the marked pennies in your left-hand trousers pocket and drop the other one unobserved into the pocket of some one present, or give it to a confederate to hold. Commence by borrowing a similar coin to those

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A SUBTLE IMPROMPTU EFFECT WITH A COIN

Effect. —A coin dropped down the sleeve is slowly rubbed out through the cloth at the elbow. Requisites. —Two coins exactly alike. Presentation. —First secretly place one of the coins 42 between the buttons at the end of your left coat sleeve. Then stand with your right side towards spectators with the left arm extended, but slightly bent at the elbow. After having the coin examined, proceed to drop it down the sleeve of the extended arm, when it will fall to the elbow, and ask a spectator to fe

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AN ORIGINAL COIN SWINDLE

Palm a halfpenny in your right hand and ask a friend (be sure he is your friend) to lend you a shilling. Pick up a glass, invert it, and place the borrowed shilling on its bottom. Then ask your friend whether the coin is on the top or bottom of the tumbler. He will naturally look surprised at such a question; and you then say,—“Ah, I see you know the trick.” Slide the shilling off the glass into your right hand, and as your friend holds out his hand to receive it back, drop the concealed halfpen

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A CROSS

Place seven coins on the table, five in a row and one above and one underneath the centre coin. Then challenge any one to form a cross with these coins by moving two only, all the arms of the cross to have the same number of coins. After many attempts and failures show how easy it is to accomplish by taking the two coins at the ends of the row and placing them upon the coin in the centre....

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A KNOT THAT CANNOT BE DRAWN TIGHT

Tie a single over-hand knot in a handkerchief, and holding it in your left hand, give one end to some one, telling him to pull at a given signal. As he is about to do so, slip your left thumb underneath and, letting go the end hanging over your left hand, allow the handkerchief to run between your thumb and forefinger, when it will come out without any knot ( Fig . 4 ). Fig. 4....

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TO TIE AN INSTANTANEOUS KNOT IN A HANDKERCHIEF

Hold the handkerchief in both hands; give it a twist; blow on it, and a knot instantly appears in its centre. Hold the handkerchief as shown in Fig. 5 . Fig. 5. Then while in the act of blowing on it bring the hands together quickly, throw the end a , held in the right hand, between the two middle fingers of the left hand and over b ; at the same time grasp b between the two middle fingers of the right hand ( Fig. 6 ); pull a under b with the left 46 hand and b under a with your right, and the k

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HALF A BURNT MESSAGE FOUND RESTORED IN A CANDLE

Procure two candles and from one cut one-third off, in which piece drill a hole lengthwise and remove the wick. Put this piece in your pocket and place the other candle in a candlestick. Give a small piece of paper to a member of the company and request him to write a short sentence on it. Tear the paper in two, and giving him half, retain the other half yourself, which you fold up. Have a similar piece of paper, folded, concealed in your right hand, and as you turn to get the candle (which shou

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TWO GOOD RING TRICKS

Take a common ring, about the size of a wedding-ring, and suspend it to the centre of your handkerchief by a piece of cotton four inches long. You can hold the handkerchief up by the corners with the ring hanging in front of you, and the latter will not be noticed. Then let the handkerchief fall over your left hand and the ring in your palm. Request the loan of a wedding-ring, and, having obtained one, put it under the handkerchief, drop it in your palm, and pick up the other ring, which push up

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TO ASCERTAIN A NUMBER THOUGHT OF

Every schoolboy knows the old puzzle: Think of a number; double it; add 10, divide by 2, subtract number thought of; and 5 left. Here is a great improvement upon that problem, which I have seen puzzle some excellent accountants. Think of a number; multiply by 3; if the result is odd, add 1 and divide by 2; multiply by 3; if result be odd, add 1, and again divide by 2. By how many 9’s is the result divisible? On receipt of that information you at once give the number thought of. One of the most p

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HOW TO NAME A NUMBER WHICH HAS BEEN ERASED

Request a member of the company to write a row of figures, the number of which is immaterial, add them together and subtract the addition from the row. Then to cross out any figure from the result, add the remaining figures together and give you the total, when you will tell him which figure he has erased. Of course, you do not see his figures and can leave the room while he makes them. We will suppose he crosses out 7, which makes the addition of the row, minus that figure, 29. He gives you tha

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A LESSON IN THE CORRECT FORMATION OF A FIGURE

Request a friend to write the following figures:— Take the paper from him and, after pretending to scrutinise the row, ask him to point out which figure he considers 53 most imperfectly made. If he should select the 1, say, “You had better practise making that figure. Oblige me by multiplying the row by nine.” When he does so the result will be Then say, “After this practice you will be able to make better ones in future.” If he selects the 4 request him to multiply by 36 and the result will be

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FOUR NINES PROBLEM

How can four 9’s be written so that they will make 100?...

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AN ANSWER TO A SUM GIVEN IN ADVANCE

Ask some one to start a sum in addition by writing the top line of four figures. We will suppose he writes 1912. 54 You mentally subtract the 2 and place it before the 1, making 21,910, which figures write on a piece of paper, which you fold up and lay on the table. You then ask a second person to place four figures under the first line. Then add a line yourself, which must be a deduction of the second line from four 9’s. Ask a third person to add four figures to those already written. Then add

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AN ARITHMETICAL PUZZLE

Take 9 from 6; from 9 take 10, and from 40 take 50, and you will find 6 remains....

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AN ARITHMETICAL MYSTERY

Thirteen commercial travellers arrived at an inn, and each desired a separate room. The landlady had but 12 vacant rooms, which may be represented thus:— But she promised to accommodate all according to their wishes. So she showed two of the travellers into room No. 1, asking them to remain a few minutes together. Traveller No. 3 she showed into room No. 2, traveller No. 4 she showed into room No. 3, traveller No. 5 into room No. 4, traveller No. 6 into room No. 5, and so on until she had put th

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HOW TO TELL HER AGE

Girls of a marriageable age do not like to tell how old they are, but you can find out by following the subjoined instructions, the young lady doing the figuring: Tell her to put down the number of the month in which she was 56 born, then to multiply it by 2, then to add 5, then to multiply it by 50, then to add her age, then to subtract 365, then to add 115, then tell her to tell you the amount she has left. The two figures to the right will tell you her age and the remainder the month of her b

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A RACE IN ADDITION

Tell a friend that you will race him in counting from 1 to 100, and guarantee to win, under the following conditions: You will allow him to start first, at any number from 1 to 10, and you are both to have the privilege of adding any figure up to 10 to the last number called. For instance, we will suppose he starts with 5. You call 15, having mentally added 10 to his number. He then calls 20, having added 5; and so on, until 100 is reached. Until he sees through the trick you will win every time

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TO PREDICT THE HOUR YOUR FRIEND INTENDS TO RISE ON THE FOLLOWING MORNING

Request your friend to make up his mind as to the time he intends to rise on the following morning, and then to mention an entirely different hour to you. To the latter you mentally add twelve, and giving him the number of the total, request him to look at his watch, and starting at the hour preceding the one he has selected for rising, to count backwards until he reaches the number you have given him, beginning with the number which he previously gave you. Ask him to state the hour at which he

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EXPERIMENT WITH TEN MATCHES

Lay ten matches side by side ( Fig. 7 ) and request some one to lift each match singly, and passing it over two matches, cross a third match with it until there are five crosses on the table ( Fig. 8 ). Two matches (and only two whether crossed or single) must be passed over at a time. Fig. 7. Fig. 8. The secret is that No. 1 must be crossed first and No. 9 second, or the trick cannot be accomplished. The following are the correct moves: 4 over 2 and 3 60 and crossed on 1; 6 over 7 and 8 and cro

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THE MAGIC NINE

Make the figure 9 with a long tail with matches ( Fig. 9 ) and tell a member of the company to think of a number, which must exceed the number of matches in the tail; and, commencing at the first match in the latter, count mentally round the figure, stop when he reaches the number thought of, and then, recommencing at the match he stopped at, count the reverse way, this time avoiding the tail, and continuing on the upper part of the 9 until he again reaches the number he selected, when you will

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TRIANGLES WITH MATCHES

Make three equilateral triangles with six matches. Of course, two can be made with five matches; but then there is one over, and how to make a third triangle with only one match is a puzzler. It is as easy as possible. Make a triangle with three matches, and stand the other three upon end inside the triangle in the form of a tripod ( Fig. 10 ). Fig. 10. Here is another triangular puzzle. With five matches form two equilateral triangles. Tell the company they are to remove three matches; then add

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MATCH SQUARES

Make nine squares with twenty-four matches ( Fig. 12 ). 62 Then request some one to remove eight matches, and without touching those left, to leave two perfect squares. Fig. 12. Fig. 13 shows the solution. Fig. 13....

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YOUR OPPONENT MUST TAKE THE LAST MATCH

Place twenty-five matches in a row on the table. Request some one to select one end of the row and to take one, two, or three matches from it, you having the same privilege at the other end; and you guarantee he will be compelled to take the last match no matter how he may vary the number he takes. The secret is to remove four matches each time between you. For instance, if your opponent takes three you take one; if he takes two you take two; if he takes one you take three and so on. It is obvio

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A SHAKESPEAREAN QUOTATION

Lay five matches on the table and request a member of the company to form a well-known quotation from Shakespeare by the addition of three more matches ( Fig. 14 ). “But,” some one will say, “how does KINI represent a Shakespearean quotation?” Your reply is obvious: “Can’t you see KINI is ‘a little more than kin, but rather less than kind’?” Fig. 14....

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NUMERAL

Place five matches on the table and challenge any one to make them into thirteen without breaking any of them, and then, without moving them, to make eight by the use of a card. The solution will be found in Fig. 15 . Fig. 15. To make eight, hide the lower half of the row from sight, and it of course shows viii....

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SIX AND FIVE MAKE NINE

Place six matches on the table and request a person to add five more in such a manner as to make nine. The solution is shown in Fig. 16 . Fig. 16....

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THE ARTFUL SCHOOLBOYS

At a certain school were four long dormitories, built in the form of a square, in which thirty-two boys occupied beds, as shown by matches in Fig. 17 . Fig. 17. By this arrangement the master, in going his rounds at night, counted twelve boys in each corridor. One night four boys absented themselves from the school, and the remaining boys rearranged themselves in such a manner that the master was still able to count twelve boys in each corridor, and the absence of their four comrades was not not

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WHAT ARE MATCHES MADE OF?

Arrange fourteen matches as in Fig. 22 , and tell your friends to take away any three matches they may select without disturbing the others, and replace one in any position they may choose in such a way as to show what matches are made of. They will endeavour to form the word “wood”; but Fig. 23 gives the correct solution. Fig. 22. Fig. 23....

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A SHEEP PEN

Arrange eight matches as shown in Fig. 24 , and state that this enclosure, formed by eight hurdles, is supposed to hold one hundred sheep. Ask your friends how many 67 more hurdles would be required to enable the enclosure to contain two hundred sheep? The reply is generally eight more, and your friends will be surprised to learn that only two more hurdles are required—one at each end across the enclosure. Three hurdles being moved to admit of the introduction of the additional two, the pen will

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POST AND RAIL PUZZLE

Put the following question to the company: Supposing there was a tunnel through a hill and a post and rail fence was constructed through it, and another fence was made exactly above it, over the hill, how many more posts would be required for the latter route, supposing they were the same distance apart by both routes? After several calculations have been made you can astonish the company by telling them that exactly the same number of posts would be required for both routes, which you can prove

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A GOOD AFTER-DINNER TRICK

Procure an egg, an apple, an orange, and two dozen nuts. Place the latter on a plate, and request three persons during your absence from the room to each pocket one of the three former, asserting that you will eventually state in whose pockets the different articles are to be found. On returning to the room present to one of the persons you have asked to assist you one nut, to a second person two nuts, and to the third three nuts, which will of course leave eighteen nuts on the plate. You must m

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TO REMOVE A SERVIETTE RING FROM A TAPE HELD ON THE THUMBS OF ANOTHER PERSON

Take hold of the tape with your left forefinger at A and pull it forward and down; with your right forefinger pull the tape at B, from underneath, forward and upward, which will cause the two parts to cross each other. Then with your right forefinger and thumb place the tape B over the thumb D; move the ring toward D and with your right forefinger and thumb take the tape at C from underneath and carry it also over the thumb D. Take hold of the ring and pull it gently, as you slip your left foref

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AN EXPERIMENT IN GRAVITY

Give a person two half-crowns and request him to hold them horizontally between the tips of his thumb and finger of his right hand, the coins touching each other. Then request him to drop the lower coin in his left hand and you will tell him which side will come uppermost. First note which side of the coin is underneath when you place them in position, for that will be the uppermost side when it reaches his left hand. The lower coin will turn completely over in the act of falling: nothing can pr

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A SCISSORS FEAT

Hold a pair of scissors on the first two joints of your little fingers with your palms upward, their blades pointing to the floor ( Fig. 27 ). Then throw the points over toward you, turning your hands at the same time and bringing 72 your knuckles back to back, the scissors standing out straight from you ( Fig. 28 ). Fig. 27. Fig. 28. I have never seen any one accomplish this simple feat until they learned the secret. When you throw the scissors over on the palms of your hands, with their points

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ANOTHER TRICK WITH A PAIR OF SCISSORS

This trick consists of fastening the scissors securely to the back of a chair with a piece of string and then removing them without cutting or untying the string. First make a loop of a piece of string about two feet in length and pass the double end through one of the bows and the 73 two loose ends through the loop and pull tight. Next pass the two single ends through the other bow of the scissors and tie them to the back of the chair. The puzzle is how to remove them, which is simple enough wh

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AN INDESTRUCTIBLE CIGARETTE PAPER

Take three cigarette papers, fold one up into a very small square, and paste it lightly on the top right corner of the second paper. The third paper roll lengthwise, and conceal it in your ear. Show the first paper between both thumbs and fingers, your right thumb on the pasted corner, then proceed to tear it up into squares, placing the pieces in front of each other before tearing again. When it is in pieces about the size of the pasted square, under the shelter of your left hand, with its back

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TO CUT AN APPLE IN TWO WITH YOUR FINGER

With a needle and strong thread take a stitch of about half an inch in its side, leaving several inches of the thread hanging from where you puncture it. Reinserting the needle in the hole it made coming out, take another stitch of half an inch, and again reinsert the needle where it came out. Take similar stitches all round the apple until the needle comes out of the first hole made, and then cross the two ends of the thread and pull them steadily until all the thread comes out of the hole. The

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A TRICK WITH DOMINOES

Take a full set of dominoes—twenty-eight pieces—turn them face downward on the table; shuffle them thoroughly; 75 then tell the company to turn them over and match them in the ordinary way, while you take a seat at the other end of the room with your back to the table. They can blindfold you if they wish. As soon as all the pieces are matched you call out the numbers shown at the two ends of the row. Return to the table, turn the dominoes over again, shuffle them as before with the right hand; a

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AN ESCAPE

Ask some one to tie your wrists together with a handkerchief, and then to pass a cord between your arms behind your tied wrists, and hold the ends securely. Have towel or cloth thrown over your hands, and after a very brief interval tell the person who holds the ends of the cord to pull. When he does so, the latter will pass from your hands and fall on the floor. You remove the cloth, and show that your wrists are still tied together. Explanation. —When your hands are covered, move your elbows o

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CIGARETTE PAPERS AND SERVIETTES

Screw three cigarette papers up into pellets and cover each of them with a folded serviette. Then lift the serviette on your right with your left hand (to show that the pellet is still there) and transfer it to your right, holding it with your thumb on top and fingers underneath, and re-cover the pellet. As you do this nip the pellet between the tips of your first and second fingers in such a way that it does not show in front of them as you withdraw your hand palm upwards. Then raise the centre

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FOUR CIGARETTE PAPERS

This is a variation of the previous trick. Roll up five cigarette papers into pellets. Conceal one at the root of the left thumb, and form a square with the others on the table. Show your hands empty (the concealed pellet will not be observed if properly held), and cross your hands over the pellets on the table. With the tips of your right fore and second fingers nip one of the pellets on your left, and at the same time drop the pellet concealed in your left hand between the two on your right. M

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A HINDOO SWINDLE

This effect is practically unknown to the Western Conjurer, but has been one of the stock-in-trade among magicians in India for years. It involves a principle (that of transfer) which is capable of extensive development in the use of modern magic. Requisites. —(1) A piece of brittle unglazed earthenware. (A piece of substance akin to thin flowerpot is used in India.) (2) A stick of specially prepared soft charcoal. A piece of earthenware is given, upon which a spectator is requested to write his

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THE ELUSIVE MATCH—A CAPITAL IMPROMPTU TRICK

Effect. —A match apparently thrown away persists in reappearing in closed hand. Requisites. —A box of ordinary safety matches, together with an extra match top, broken off about half an inch long. Presentation. —First conceal the extra match top between the tips of the index and second finger of the right hand. Now give the box of matches to a spectator, and request that the tops of three of the matches be broken off about half an inch long and handed to you. You then place these upon the table

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