Magic Trick 31-40

Walking Hair Pin Trick Is Done With Knife and Quiver of Hand

THE WALKING HAIR PIN.

Place a hair pin over the edge of table knife, grasp the knife near the end of the handle, and hold it above a table so the points of the hair pin touch the table. See that the hair pin is tilted away from the handle of the knife, and do not allow your hand to touch the table. Owing to the suspended position, your hand will quiver slightly, shaking the knife, and the hair pin will move along the knife's edge. The pace with which the hair pin moves depends upon the condition of the performer's nerves.

Magician Makes a Cane Dance Apparently Without Support

But Pins, Thread and Clever Performer Are Necessary to Deceive Audience

THE MAGNETIZED CANE

This trick must be done at night in a softly illuminated room so that a thread, used in the performance, cannot be seen by onlookers. A black silk thread about two feet in length is used, each end of which is tied to bent pins which serve as hooks. The performer sits in a chair with the cane between his knees, the pins hooked on to his pants legs behind the knees, while the thread is wound around the cane. The audience is informed that the performer will magnetize the cane, and make it dance. Spreading his legs apart until the thread becomes taut, he makes hypnotic motions over the cane with his hands, and at the same times moves his legs slightly, which causes the cane to move backward and forward without any visible support.

How to Pick Up Five Bricks With One Hand Explained by Magician

Secret Is Knowing How to Stack Them Up in Order to Get Firm Grip on Foundation

HOW TO PICK UP FIVE BRICKS WITH ONE HAND.

Get five bricks and ask any person in your audience to lift the bricks with one hand. If nobody succeeds, you do the trick in this manner. Stand one brick lengthwise with the narrow side up, and above this place two more, standing them crosswise, one on each end of the lower brick. Place the re­maining two on top, crosswise to the middle bricks, and one near each end. You then have an opening in the center large enough through which to reach your hand, and grasp the bot­tom brick, thereby making it possible to lift all five with one hand. This can truly be called a Sampson trick.

Paper Placed Over Board Defies Attempt to Move It With Blow

Lindhorst Explains How Compression of Air Holds Wood Fast to Table When Struck Sharply with Poker

A SMALL BOARD THAT CANNOT BE MOVED WHEN COVERED BY NEWSPAPER.

Take a small board or a shingle about two feet long, eight inches wide, and one-fourth inch thick, lay it on a table with a fraction more than half extending over the edge, so that the slightest touch will cause it to fall to the floor, and spread a few pages of a newspaper over the half of the board that remains on the table. With a hard wood stick or iron poker, strike the portion of the board that extends over the edge of the table, and you will find the blow will not make the board fall nor raise the newspaper. This is explained by the compression of air beneath the newspaper, which makes the paper adhere to the table, and in doing so prevents the board from rising.

How to Write Spectator's Initial on Cube and Then Make Letter Appear in Palm as Sugar Is Dissolved.

THE MAGIC LUMP OF SUGAR.

Select a person in your audience and with a soft pencil mark his initial on a lump of sugar. Secretly press your thumb against the lump over the initial, so that an impression of the initial appears on your thumb. Drop the lump in a glass half filled with water, hold the person's hand, palm downward, above the glass, and press your thumb on which the initial appears, into the palm lightly. Then inform the person that the initial will disappear from the sugar and ap­pear on the palm of his hand. He continues holding his hand above the glass, and as the water dissolves the sugar the ini­tial slowly fades away. When it vanishes from the lump slap the persons hand, turn the palm upward, and lot! the initial, impressed upon the palm from your thumb, appears on his hand.

How To Make Needle Float in Glass of Water

Place Tiny Steel Shaft on Surface So That Eye Is Kept Dry, Lindhorst Says.

TWO WAYS OF MAKING

A NEEDLE FLOAT

HOW TO FLOAT A NEEDLE

The secret of floating a needle is not to get water into the eye of the needle. Two methods may be used. First place a piece of tissue paper on the surface of the water in a glass or bowl and drop the needle lengthwise on the paper. When the paper becomes thoroughly soaked it will sink, leaving the needle to float. The other method is to place the needle across a fork and carefully lower the fork into the water, and as the needle floats, take the fork away. It is necessary to watch the needle closely so that water does not get into the eye, otherwise it will sink.

Tiny Card Standing on Edge Defies Effort to Blow It Over

The Harder You Blow the Less Likely You Are to Succeed—But It Can Be Done.

A BENT CARD YOU CANT BLOW OVER—UNLESS YOU KNOW HOW.

Take a business card, bend the lengthwise edges, and stand the card on a table. Ask any person to stand off and try to blow the card over. The stronger the person blows, and the closer his face is to the card, the less likely the card is to turn over. The trick is done by standing about two feet from the table, and blowing lightly, directing your breath slightly in front of the card.

Tells How to Make a Boomerang Circle Room and Land at the Feet

HOW TO MAKE A BOOMERANG COME BACK TO YOUR FEET.

Make a boomerang, like the one in the drawing, out of cardboard or thin wood. Place the boomerang on a book, with one side extending over "the edge, and hold the book in front of you, slanting upward, and about parallel with your shoulders. With a pencil in your other hand strike the boom­erang, and it will circle the room, coming back and falling at your feet. The force with which you strike the boomerang must be regulated by the size of the room in which the trick is performed. If you strike it too hard in a small room, it will hit a wall, and if you strike it too softly, it may come back and hit you at the waist.

The Magic Egg, a Clever Trick

Magician Makes It Float in One Glass of Water While It Sinks in Another.

THE MAGIC EGG.

Take two tall glasses or mason jars, fill one and half fill the other with water. In the half-filled glass pour a few tablespoonfuls of salt. When the salt is dissolved, and has turned the water into brine, fill the remainder of the glass with clear water, pouring it in slowly down the side of the glass, so as not to disturb the brine. Then take the two glasses and an egg before your audience. Drop the egg in the glass of clear water, and it will sink to the bottom. Drop it in the glass containing the brine, and it will float midway in the glass, supported by the brine. Both glasses appear to hold clear water, and it is mystifying to onlookers as to why the egg should stop midway in one glass.

How to Light Candle Without Touching Flame to Its Wick

Apply Match to Curling Smoke and Fire Will Run Down It.

LIGHTING A CANDLE WITHOUT TOUCHING IT.

Light a candle, let it burn until the wick is charred, blow it out with a sudden puff, and a wreath of smoke will curl upward from the wick. Apply a match to this smoke a few inches above the candle, and the flame will run down the smoke, lighting the candle. This is explained by a gas in the smoke being ignited by the match. It is necessary to keep the candle away from any draft while performing this trick.

Are You Ready To Move Onto The Next Lesson? Click Here...