Magic

CHAP. PAGE

I. INTRODUCTION 11

II. PRINCIPLES OF SLEIGHT OF HAND APPLICABLE TO SMALL OBJECTS 26

III. TRICKS WITH COINS 33

IV. TRICKS WITH HANDKERCHIEFS 57

V. TRICKS WITH BALLS 93

VI. HAT TRICKS 114

VII. ANTI-SPIRITUALISTIC TRICKS 127

VIII. AFTER DINNER TRICKS 142

IX. MISCELLANEOUS TRICKS 159

X. STAGE TRICKS 209

XI. SHADOWGRAPHY 228




Preface


The art of pretended magic dates back to the remotest antiquity. It has
been known under various names, such as White Magic, Conjuring, Natural
Magic, and Prestidigitation. Jannes and Jambres, the magicians of
Pharaoh, contended against Moses and Aaron. In the British Museum there
is an Egyptian papyrus, which contains an account of a magical seance
given by a thaumaturgist named Tchatcha-em-ankh before King Khufu,
B.C., 3766. In this manuscript it is stated of the magician: "He
knoweth how to bind on a head which hath been cut off, and he knoweth
how to make a lion follow him as if led by a rope." The decapitation
trick is thus no new thing, while the experiment with the lion,
unquestionably a hypnotic feat, shows hypnotism to be old.

The temples of Egypt, Greece and Rome were veritable storehouses
of magic and mystery. The pagan priesthood attained a wonderful
proficiency in optical illusions. In the Middle Ages magic was greatly
in vogue. Later on Nostradamus conjured up the vision of the future
king of France for the benefit of the lovely Marie de Medicis. This
illusion was accomplished by the aid of mirrors adroitly secreted
amid hanging draperies. Reginald Scott, in 1584, in Discoverie of
Witchcraft, enumerates the stock feats of the conjurers of his day. The
list includes "swallowing a knife; burning a card and reproducing it
from the pocket of a spectator; passing a coin from one pocket to
another; converting money into counters, or counters into money;
conveying money into the hand of another person; making a coin pass
through a table, or vanish from a handkerchief; tying a knot, and
undoing it 'by the power of words'; taking beads from a string, the
ends of which are held fast by another person; making corn to pass from
one box to another; turning wheat into flour 'by the power of words';
burning a thread and making it whole again; pulling ribbons from the
mouth; thrusting a knife into the head or arm; putting a ring through
the cheek; and cutting off a person's head and restoring it to its
former position."

A number of these feats, in an improved form, survive to this day. In
the early part of the eighteenth century conjuring made considerable
progress. Men of education and address entered the profession, thereby
elevating it from the charlatanry of the strolling mountebank to the
dignity of a theatrical performance. The nobility of Paris flocked to
the opera house to see the great Pinetti perform. Following him came
Torrini, Comte, Bosco, Philippe, and finally the king of conjurers,
Robert-Houdin. In the year 1844, Houdin inaugurated his Fantastic
Evenings at the Palais Royal, Paris, and a new era dawned for magic. He
reformed the art by suppressing the suspiciously-draped tables of his
predecessors, substituting for these "clumsy confederate boxes" light
and elegant tables and little gueridons, undraped. He went still
further in his innovations by adopting the evening dress of everyday
life, instead of the flowing robes of many of the magicians of the old
régime. His tricks were of a different order, sounding the death knell
of double-bottomed boxes, and apparatus which was too evidently
designed for the magical disappearance and reappearance of objects.

Houdin has well earned the title of "The Father of Modern Conjuring,"
and his autobiography makes fascinating reading.

Since Houdin's time, conjuring has made rapid strides. The wide
dissemination of literature on the subject and the consequent exposés
have stimulated magicians to invent new tricks, or improve old ones.