FAMILY FUN

New Zealand Tablet, 26 June 1913, Page 62

FAMILY FUN

TRICKS AND ILLUSIONS. (Special to the N.Z. Tablet by Mahatma.) A Very Mysterious Ring Illusion.—The performer comes forward with a brass ring about five inches in diameter, and a length of cord. The ring is examined by members of the -audience and found to be quite solid. The performer’s hands are now tied about a foot apart with the cord. He turns his back, or retires behind a screen ' for an instant and when he reappears the ring is seen to be spinning upon the cord by which the hands were connected. The secret of the illusion is as follows: A second ring, exactly similar to the one given for examination, is before commencing placed over the hand, in the same way as a bracelet is put on, and carried up the arm until it is quite hidden by the coat sleeve. When the wrists are connected by the cord, and the examined ring placed in the performer’s hand, all he has to do is to quickly push this under his coat or into an inside breast pocket, and work the hidden ring down, over the hand and on to the string. No better effect for a drawing-room entertainment could be wished for, and further it can be performed by the veriest amateur without any more trouble than a single rehearsal before a mirror, a practice which, in one of my earlier papers I strongly advised the amateur to carry out. An Effective Card Trick. This card trick is rather more mysterious than most card tricks. The performer takes a full pack of cards and informs the company that he is about to perform a wonderful feat of willpower. He throws the pack face downwards upon the table, and asks a member of the audience to hand him a card, say the ace of diamonds. The performer takes the card handed to him, which of course the chooser must not catch sight of, and announces that the ace of diamonds has been chosen. He next asks a second person to choose another card, this time say the six of hearts; this upon being handed to the conjuror is also declared by him to be the card called for. The two cards which have been called for are now laid by themselves upon the table at a little distance from the pack. The performer now names a third card, say the ten of hearts, and picks it out himself. Again he announces that it is the ten of hearts which he has picked out. The three cards, upon being shown to the audience are now found to be the three cards which were chosen. The explanation is very simple. The performer, before throwing the pack upon the table, catches a glimpse of the bottom card. This card he keeps in sight all through the trick. Let us suppose that in this case it is the ace of diamonds. He then asks the person who is doing the trick with him to hand him the ace of diamonds. The card handed to the performer will not, of course, be the ace of diamonds. Let us suppose that it is the six of hearts. He now asks that the six of hearts be handed to him. Suppose now that he has handed to him the ten of hearts. He then announces that he will himself pick out the ten of hearts. In reality he picks up the card which he has kept in sight all the timenamely, the ace of diamonds. The effect on the audience is that two spectators have handed the performer two cards which he told them to pick out, and the performer himself has picked out a card nominated by himself. Thought-Reading.—As a test of your thoughtreading powers you offer .to do a little experiment with a coin, or rather, two coins. Ask a member of the company to step forward and take the two coins, one in each hand. He is to notice the dates of the coins and may mark them if he so wishes. He must then think hard of one of the coins, at the same time holding the hand with this coin in close to his head. In order that you shall not see what he is doing, you turn your back to him. After a few seconds you face the assistant and immediately tell him which coin he thought of. All you have to do, to discover this, is to look at the assistant’s hands; the whiter of the two will be the one held to the forehead.