FAMILY FUN

New Zealand Tablet, 22 May 1913, Page 62

FAMILY FUN

- -„ • TRICKS AND ILLUSIONS. .. j (Special to the N.Z..Tablet- by Mahatma~) - g Card Throwing.—lt is really very difficult to propel a card any distance unless one knows the knack, and you can ask any number of persons to throw a card across a fair-sized room without finding many who will be able to do it. The proper way is to hold the card lightly between the first and second fingers of the right hand. The hand should be curved inwards toward the wrist and then straightened with a sudden jerk, the arm being at the same time shot sharply forward. This makes the card revolve on its own'axis as it leaves the hand and it maintains the revolutions during the rest of; -.X its course. The spinning motion gives to the card a force and directness which it would seem impossible to impart to so small and light an object. __ The Jumping Coin.—With a very small piece of cobbler's wax stick a penny to. the palm of your left hand. Place another piece of wax in the palm of your right hand. Lay a penny upon the table and place the fight hand over it. Place the left hand on the table some distance away from the right. Explain that you are going to make the penny pass from the right to the left hand. Loosen the penny from the left hand and allow it to remain on the table. By pressing hard upon the penny on the table under your right hand, you cause it to stick to the palm; thus upon removing both • hands simultaneously it will appear as though the coin has jumped from one hand to the other. A Good Card Trick. Place the pack of cards on the edge of the table and have your audience facing you. Announce your intention of passing the top card of the pack through the table. You ask a member of the company to assist you in the experiment. You instruct him that he is to place the back of his right hand upon the pack of cards and to press heavily. To illustrate your meaning, you place the back of your hand on pack, and as you have previously damped the hand, the top card will adhere to it. The hand is then placed under the table, and when the assistant places his hand on the pack you count three and produce the card. Pushing Its Way.—An exceedingly interesting experiment to show the pressure of the atmosphere may be worked with a hard-boiled egg which has been freed from its shell, and a bottle the neck of which is too small to allow the egg to pass through it w"th . ease. A lighted paper is put into the bottle and the egg is pressed into the neck thus hermetically -sealing it. The combustion of the paper inside the bottle will ' cause a partial vacuum and the outside pressure of the atmosphere will cause the egg to drop through the bottle with a noise akin to that made by a boy when he bursts a blown-up paper bag. • The Tied Thumbs. —Before commencing this trick you may inform your audience that you have been taking lessons in handcuff manipulation with an eye to future emergencies. Apologise for not having brought any handcuffs with you, but produce a piece of tape, and say that you will allow any member of the company to tie your thumbs together, after which you will release them in a second and tie them again. To do this lay the piece of tape across the palms of your hands, placed side by side, letting the tape hang down. Then bring your palms quickly together at the same time, catching hold of the tape with your third and fourth fingers, without letting anyone see you. Now direct any person to tie your thumbs together as tight as he . pleases. Of course he will not in reality be tying them, because you have hold of the centre of the tape, yefe it will appear to him as though he is doing so. Now ask him to place a handkerchief over your Immediately this is done slip your thumbs from the tape and show them free. Again put your hands under the handkerchief and slip thumbs under tape, when they will again appear as if securely tied. This trick may be elaborated upon in the following way. Place one arm through the back of a chair and then allow your thumbs to be tied. It will then seem an impossibility to disengage your arm from the chair back. When a coat is placed over your hands, however, it will be an easy matter to do so.