章节正文
call, as the case may be, from the four cards in your hand:--the
six of clubs, two of hearts, ten of diamonds, nine of spades,
three of clubs, king of hearts, eight of diamonds, four of
spades, ace of clubs, knave of hearts, seven of diamonds, five of
spades, queen of clubs--and so on to the last card in the pack.
In the midst of the astonishment produced by this seemingly
prodigious display of memory, say--'Now, if you like, we will
have a hand at Whist, and I undertake to win every trick if I be
allowed to deal.'
Let the Whist party be formed, and get the cards cut as usual--
only taking care to REPLACE them, as before enjoined, precisely
as they were. Deal the cards, and the result will be that your
thirteen cards will be ALL TRUMPS. Let the game proceed until
your opponents 'give it up' in utter bewilderment.
This splendid trick seems difficult in description, but it is one
of the easiest; and even were it ten times more difficult than it
is, the reader will perhaps admit that it is worth mastering.
Once committed to memory the figures are never forgotten, and a
few repetitions, with the cards before you, will suffice to
enable you to retain them.
5. Two persons having each drawn a card and replaced them in the
pack, to guess these cards.
Make a set of all the clubs and spades, and another set of hearts
and diamonds. Shuffle well each set, and even let them be
shuffled by the spectators. Then request a person to draw a card
from one of the sets, and another person to draw one from the
second set.
You now take a set in each hand, presenting them to the two
persons, requesting them to replace the drawn cards. You must
pretend to present to each person the set from which he drew his
card, but in reality you present the red set to the person who
drew the black card, and the black set to the person who drew the
red card.
Each person having replaced his card, you get each set shuffled.
Then you take them in hand, and by running them over you easily
find the red card amongst the black, and the black card amongst
the red.
Of course you will have prepared the sets beforehand, and take
care to alter the arrangement as soon as possible after the
trick. But you can prepare the pack in the presence of others
without their detecting it. Distribute the cards by dealing
according to the two colours; take them up, and having placed the
red set a little projecting over the black, set them down, and,
pretending to cut them, separate the sets.
6. Twenty cards being arranged upon a table, a person thinks of
two, and you undertake to guess them.
Lay out twenty cards of any kind, two by two,
---------------------
| c | i | c | o | s |
---------------------
| d | e | d | i | t |
---------------------
| t | u | m | u | s |
---------------------
| n | e | m | o | n |
---------------------
and request a party to think of two in a line; that is, one of
the ten sets formed by the twenty cards. This done you take up
the sets in the order in which they lie, and place them in rows
according to the letters of the words. You may use a diagram
like the preceding, but as the words are easily retained it had
better be dispensed with, distributing the cards on the table
just as though upon the diagram, which will make the trick more
puzzling and extraordinary. Proceed as follows:-- Place the
cards two by two on similar letters: thus, place the two cards of
the first set on the two d's in dedit; the two cards of the
second set on the two i's of cicos and dedit; the two of the
third set on the two c's, and so on with the ten sets.
All the letters of the words being thus covered, ask the party
who has thought of the cards to tell you in which lines these
cards are. If both are in the first line (cicos), they must be
those on the two c's; if they are both in the second line, they
cover the d's in dedit; both in the third line, they cover the
u's in tumus; both in the fourth, they cover the n's in nemon.
If one be in the first line and the other in the second, they
cover the i's in cicos and dedit, and thus of the rest-- the two
cards thought of NECESSARILY covering two SIMILAR LETTERS, whilst
each of the letters occurs only TWICE in the diagram.
7. To tell a card thought of without even looking at the cards.
Take any number of cards,--say twenty. Pretend to shuffle them
with the faces towards you, and REMEMBER THE FIRST CARD as you
close the pack--suppose the ten of diamonds. Tell the party that
the only condition you require is to be told the ORDER in which
the card is dealt out by you; in other words, he must tell you
whether in dealing it comes out first, second, third, &c.
Remembering your first card, you may then turn your back to him,
and deal out the cards one by one, and one upon the top of the
other, requesting him to think of a card and its order as before
said.
Then take up the cards, and shuffle them repeatedly, by throwing
a portion of them from the bottom to the top, taking care not to
mix the cards or let any drop, and then let the party cut them as
often as he pleases. Then, take the cards in hand. Pretend to
examine them mysteriously, but in reality only look for YOUR
card--the first dealt out--the ten of diamonds for instance.
Now, suppose he tells you that the card he thought of came out
FIFTH. Then, for a certainty, it is the fourth card on the RIGHT
of the ten of diamonds, in spite of all YOUR shuffling, and all
regular cutting, for such shuffling and regular cutting cannot
alter the order or sequence of the cards. Always remember to
count from your own card inclusive to the number of the card
thought of towards your right hand. But should your card happen
to be so near the right hand or the top as not to allow
sufficient counting, then count as far as it admits to the RIGHT
and then continue at the LEFT. Thus, suppose there are only two
cards above the ten of diamonds, then count two more on the left,
making the fifth. If the card you remember, or your first card,
is first, then count the requisite number on the left, always
beginning with YOUR card, however.
The REASON of this trick is simply that by merely cutting the
cards, and shuffling them in the way indicated, you do not alter
the SEQUENCE of the cards. With regard to this sort of
SHUFFLING, I may say that it is simply CUTTING the cards-- always
preserving their sequence--a most important fact for
card-players, since it may lead to a pretty accurate conjecture
of all the hands after a deal, from the study of the one in hand,
with reference to the tricks turned down after the previous deal,
as already suggested. Hence, in shuffling for whist or other
games, the cards should not be shuffled in this way, but more
thoroughly mixed by the edgewise shuffling of certain players.
This is the trick I alluded to at the commencement of the
chapter, the mode of performing which I succeeded in discovering.
Of course ANY NUMBER of persons may think of cards, remembering
their order, and the operator will tell them, in like manner.
8. A person having thought of one of fifteen cards presented to
him, to guess the card thought of.
Form three ranks of five cards each, and request a party to think
of one of these cards, and tell you in which rank it is. Take up
the cards of the three ranks, taking care to place the cards of
the ranks in which is the card thought of between those of the
two other ranks.
Make three more ranks as before. Ask the party again in which
rank the card is, and take them up, placing the rank in which the
card is between the two others. Operate in like manner a third
time, and the card thought of will infallibly be the THIRD of the
rank named by the party.
Observe, however, you must not form each rank with five
consecutive cards; but you must place the cards one by one,
placing one successively in each rank; thus, one at the top on
the left of the first rank, one below that first for the second
rank, one below the second for the third rank, then one in the
first, one in the second, one in the third, and so on.
This trick, which is very easy, always produces a great effect.
It only requires a little attention, and it can never fail unless
you make a mistake in arranging the cards, which, however, is too
simple to admit of error.
9. Two persons having each drawn a card from a pack, and having
replaced them, to tell these cards after the pack has been
shuffled and cut by the spectators as often as they like.
The cards may be easily divided into two numerical parts, even
and odd: by taking a king for four points, a queen for three, a
knave for two, and the other cards for their especial points, we
may make up two sets of sixteen cards each, the even composing
one, and the odd the other. These two sets being before the
performer, he takes one, shuffles it well, and lets a party take
a card. He then takes the other, shuffles it, and lets another
party take a card. Then, whilst each party is looking at his
card, which HE IS REQUESTED TO DO, the performer dexterously
changes the place of the two sets, and he requests the parties to
replace the cards in the set whence they took them. It follows
that the party who took a card from the EVEN set places it in the
ODD set, and he who took it from the ODD set places it in the
even set. Consequently, all the shuffling and cutting in the
world will be useless, for the performer has only to spread out
the cards of each set to point out the cards drawn.
10. Singular arrangement of sixteen cards.
Take the four kings, the four queens, the four knaves, and the
four tens of a pack, and ask if there be any one in the company
who can form a square with them in such a manner that, taken in
any direction, from right to left, from the top to the bottom, by
the diagonal--anyhow, in fact--there will always be in each line
a king, queen, knave, and a ten. Everybody will think the thing
easy, but it is certain that no one will succeed in doing it.
When they 'give it up,' take the sixteen cards and arrange them
as shown, when the king, queen, knave, and ten will stand as
required.
11. The seven trick.
Make up the four sevens of a pack, and take seven other cards, no
matter which, for another lot, and, presenting both lots, you
say:--Here are two lots totally dissimilar; nevertheless, there
is one of seven, and I declare it will be the first touched by
any party present. Of course, when touched, you at once prove
your words by exhibiting either the sevens or the seven cards--
taking care to mix the cards into the pack immediately to prevent
detection.
12. Infallible method for guessing any number that a party has
thought of.
Take the first ten cards of a pack of 52 cards. Set out these
ten cards as shown below, so that the point A should correspond
to the ace, and to 1--the point F to the card representing the
6--and E to the 10.
2 3 4
B C D
1 A--------E 5
10 K--------F 6
I H G
9 8 7
Thus prepared, you request a party to think of a card, and then
you tell him to touch any number he pleases, requesting him to
name it aloud. Then, adding the whole number of the cards to the
number touched, you tell him to count backwards to himself,
six of clubs, two of hearts, ten of diamonds, nine of spades,
three of clubs, king of hearts, eight of diamonds, four of
spades, ace of clubs, knave of hearts, seven of diamonds, five of
spades, queen of clubs--and so on to the last card in the pack.
In the midst of the astonishment produced by this seemingly
prodigious display of memory, say--'Now, if you like, we will
have a hand at Whist, and I undertake to win every trick if I be
allowed to deal.'
Let the Whist party be formed, and get the cards cut as usual--
only taking care to REPLACE them, as before enjoined, precisely
as they were. Deal the cards, and the result will be that your
thirteen cards will be ALL TRUMPS. Let the game proceed until
your opponents 'give it up' in utter bewilderment.
This splendid trick seems difficult in description, but it is one
of the easiest; and even were it ten times more difficult than it
is, the reader will perhaps admit that it is worth mastering.
Once committed to memory the figures are never forgotten, and a
few repetitions, with the cards before you, will suffice to
enable you to retain them.
5. Two persons having each drawn a card and replaced them in the
pack, to guess these cards.
Make a set of all the clubs and spades, and another set of hearts
and diamonds. Shuffle well each set, and even let them be
shuffled by the spectators. Then request a person to draw a card
from one of the sets, and another person to draw one from the
second set.
You now take a set in each hand, presenting them to the two
persons, requesting them to replace the drawn cards. You must
pretend to present to each person the set from which he drew his
card, but in reality you present the red set to the person who
drew the black card, and the black set to the person who drew the
red card.
Each person having replaced his card, you get each set shuffled.
Then you take them in hand, and by running them over you easily
find the red card amongst the black, and the black card amongst
the red.
Of course you will have prepared the sets beforehand, and take
care to alter the arrangement as soon as possible after the
trick. But you can prepare the pack in the presence of others
without their detecting it. Distribute the cards by dealing
according to the two colours; take them up, and having placed the
red set a little projecting over the black, set them down, and,
pretending to cut them, separate the sets.
6. Twenty cards being arranged upon a table, a person thinks of
two, and you undertake to guess them.
Lay out twenty cards of any kind, two by two,
---------------------
| c | i | c | o | s |
---------------------
| d | e | d | i | t |
---------------------
| t | u | m | u | s |
---------------------
| n | e | m | o | n |
---------------------
and request a party to think of two in a line; that is, one of
the ten sets formed by the twenty cards. This done you take up
the sets in the order in which they lie, and place them in rows
according to the letters of the words. You may use a diagram
like the preceding, but as the words are easily retained it had
better be dispensed with, distributing the cards on the table
just as though upon the diagram, which will make the trick more
puzzling and extraordinary. Proceed as follows:-- Place the
cards two by two on similar letters: thus, place the two cards of
the first set on the two d's in dedit; the two cards of the
second set on the two i's of cicos and dedit; the two of the
third set on the two c's, and so on with the ten sets.
All the letters of the words being thus covered, ask the party
who has thought of the cards to tell you in which lines these
cards are. If both are in the first line (cicos), they must be
those on the two c's; if they are both in the second line, they
cover the d's in dedit; both in the third line, they cover the
u's in tumus; both in the fourth, they cover the n's in nemon.
If one be in the first line and the other in the second, they
cover the i's in cicos and dedit, and thus of the rest-- the two
cards thought of NECESSARILY covering two SIMILAR LETTERS, whilst
each of the letters occurs only TWICE in the diagram.
7. To tell a card thought of without even looking at the cards.
Take any number of cards,--say twenty. Pretend to shuffle them
with the faces towards you, and REMEMBER THE FIRST CARD as you
close the pack--suppose the ten of diamonds. Tell the party that
the only condition you require is to be told the ORDER in which
the card is dealt out by you; in other words, he must tell you
whether in dealing it comes out first, second, third, &c.
Remembering your first card, you may then turn your back to him,
and deal out the cards one by one, and one upon the top of the
other, requesting him to think of a card and its order as before
said.
Then take up the cards, and shuffle them repeatedly, by throwing
a portion of them from the bottom to the top, taking care not to
mix the cards or let any drop, and then let the party cut them as
often as he pleases. Then, take the cards in hand. Pretend to
examine them mysteriously, but in reality only look for YOUR
card--the first dealt out--the ten of diamonds for instance.
Now, suppose he tells you that the card he thought of came out
FIFTH. Then, for a certainty, it is the fourth card on the RIGHT
of the ten of diamonds, in spite of all YOUR shuffling, and all
regular cutting, for such shuffling and regular cutting cannot
alter the order or sequence of the cards. Always remember to
count from your own card inclusive to the number of the card
thought of towards your right hand. But should your card happen
to be so near the right hand or the top as not to allow
sufficient counting, then count as far as it admits to the RIGHT
and then continue at the LEFT. Thus, suppose there are only two
cards above the ten of diamonds, then count two more on the left,
making the fifth. If the card you remember, or your first card,
is first, then count the requisite number on the left, always
beginning with YOUR card, however.
The REASON of this trick is simply that by merely cutting the
cards, and shuffling them in the way indicated, you do not alter
the SEQUENCE of the cards. With regard to this sort of
SHUFFLING, I may say that it is simply CUTTING the cards-- always
preserving their sequence--a most important fact for
card-players, since it may lead to a pretty accurate conjecture
of all the hands after a deal, from the study of the one in hand,
with reference to the tricks turned down after the previous deal,
as already suggested. Hence, in shuffling for whist or other
games, the cards should not be shuffled in this way, but more
thoroughly mixed by the edgewise shuffling of certain players.
This is the trick I alluded to at the commencement of the
chapter, the mode of performing which I succeeded in discovering.
Of course ANY NUMBER of persons may think of cards, remembering
their order, and the operator will tell them, in like manner.
8. A person having thought of one of fifteen cards presented to
him, to guess the card thought of.
Form three ranks of five cards each, and request a party to think
of one of these cards, and tell you in which rank it is. Take up
the cards of the three ranks, taking care to place the cards of
the ranks in which is the card thought of between those of the
two other ranks.
Make three more ranks as before. Ask the party again in which
rank the card is, and take them up, placing the rank in which the
card is between the two others. Operate in like manner a third
time, and the card thought of will infallibly be the THIRD of the
rank named by the party.
Observe, however, you must not form each rank with five
consecutive cards; but you must place the cards one by one,
placing one successively in each rank; thus, one at the top on
the left of the first rank, one below that first for the second
rank, one below the second for the third rank, then one in the
first, one in the second, one in the third, and so on.
This trick, which is very easy, always produces a great effect.
It only requires a little attention, and it can never fail unless
you make a mistake in arranging the cards, which, however, is too
simple to admit of error.
9. Two persons having each drawn a card from a pack, and having
replaced them, to tell these cards after the pack has been
shuffled and cut by the spectators as often as they like.
The cards may be easily divided into two numerical parts, even
and odd: by taking a king for four points, a queen for three, a
knave for two, and the other cards for their especial points, we
may make up two sets of sixteen cards each, the even composing
one, and the odd the other. These two sets being before the
performer, he takes one, shuffles it well, and lets a party take
a card. He then takes the other, shuffles it, and lets another
party take a card. Then, whilst each party is looking at his
card, which HE IS REQUESTED TO DO, the performer dexterously
changes the place of the two sets, and he requests the parties to
replace the cards in the set whence they took them. It follows
that the party who took a card from the EVEN set places it in the
ODD set, and he who took it from the ODD set places it in the
even set. Consequently, all the shuffling and cutting in the
world will be useless, for the performer has only to spread out
the cards of each set to point out the cards drawn.
10. Singular arrangement of sixteen cards.
Take the four kings, the four queens, the four knaves, and the
four tens of a pack, and ask if there be any one in the company
who can form a square with them in such a manner that, taken in
any direction, from right to left, from the top to the bottom, by
the diagonal--anyhow, in fact--there will always be in each line
a king, queen, knave, and a ten. Everybody will think the thing
easy, but it is certain that no one will succeed in doing it.
When they 'give it up,' take the sixteen cards and arrange them
as shown, when the king, queen, knave, and ten will stand as
required.
11. The seven trick.
Make up the four sevens of a pack, and take seven other cards, no
matter which, for another lot, and, presenting both lots, you
say:--Here are two lots totally dissimilar; nevertheless, there
is one of seven, and I declare it will be the first touched by
any party present. Of course, when touched, you at once prove
your words by exhibiting either the sevens or the seven cards--
taking care to mix the cards into the pack immediately to prevent
detection.
12. Infallible method for guessing any number that a party has
thought of.
Take the first ten cards of a pack of 52 cards. Set out these
ten cards as shown below, so that the point A should correspond
to the ace, and to 1--the point F to the card representing the
6--and E to the 10.
2 3 4
B C D
1 A--------E 5
10 K--------F 6
I H G
9 8 7
Thus prepared, you request a party to think of a card, and then
you tell him to touch any number he pleases, requesting him to
name it aloud. Then, adding the whole number of the cards to the
number touched, you tell him to count backwards to himself,
- astonishment [ə´stɔniʃmənt]
n.吃惊；惊异 (初中英语单词) - undertake [,ʌndə´teik] vt.从事；承担；担保 (初中英语单词)
- replace [ri´pleis] vt.放回；复置；取代 (初中英语单词)
- description [di´skripʃən] n.描写 (初中英语单词)
- retain [ri´tein] vt.保持；保留；留住 (初中英语单词)
- reality [ri´æliti] n.现实(性)；真实；逼真 (初中英语单词)
- running [´rʌniŋ] a.奔跑的；流动的 (初中英语单词)
- arrangement [ə´reindʒmənt] n.整理；排列；筹备 (初中英语单词)
- distribute [di´stribju:t] vt.分配；分布；散播 (初中英语单词)
- extraordinary [ik´strɔ:dinəri] a.非常的；额外的 (初中英语单词)
- pretend [pri´tend] v.假装；借口；妄求 (初中英语单词)
- portion [´pɔ:ʃən] n.嫁妆；命运 vt.分配 (初中英语单词)
- mysteriously [mis´tiəriəsli] ad.神秘地；故弄玄虚地 (初中英语单词)
- accurate [´ækjurət] a.准确的；精密的 (初中英语单词)
- reference [´refərəns] n.参考；参照；出处 (初中英语单词)
- previous [´pri:viəs] a.先，前，以前的 (初中英语单词)
- operator [´ɔpəreitə] n.操作者；接线员 (初中英语单词)
- operate [´ɔpəreit] v.(使)运转；操作；经营 (初中英语单词)
- useless [´ju:sləs] a.无用的，无价值的 (初中英语单词)
- nevertheless [,nevəðə´les] conj.&ad.然而；不过 (初中英语单词)
- suffice [sə´fais] vt.使满足 vi.足够 (高中英语单词)
- amongst [ə´mʌŋst] prep.其中之一 =among (高中英语单词)
- necessarily [´nesisərili] ad.必定，必然地 (高中英语单词)
- dealing [´di:liŋ] n.交易；来往 (高中英语单词)
- certainty [´sə:tənti] n.确实(性)；确信 (高中英语单词)
- whilst [wailst] conj.当...时候；虽然 (高中英语单词)
- consequently [´kɔnsikwəntli] ad.因此，所以 (高中英语单词)
- singular [´siŋgjulə] a.单一的；非凡的 (高中英语单词)
- shuffle [´ʃʌf(ə)l] v.洗(牌) n.搅乱 (英语四级单词)
- beforehand [bi´fɔ:hænd] ad.事先；提前 (英语四级单词)
- preceding [pri(:)´si:diŋ] a.在先的；前面的 (英语四级单词)
- diagram [´daiəgræm] n.图解，图表 (英语四级单词)
- repeatedly [ri´pi:tidli] ad.反复地；再三地 (英语四级单词)
- sequence [´si:kwəns] n.继续；顺序；程序 (英语四级单词)
- requisite [´rekwizit] a.需要的；必要的 n.必需品 (英语四级单词)
- whence [wens] ad.从何处；从那里 (英语四级单词)
- totally [´təutəli] ad.统统，完全 (英语四级单词)
- taking [´teikiŋ] a.迷人的 n.捕获物 (英语六级单词)
- commencement [kə´mensmənt] n.开始；毕业典礼(日) (英语六级单词)
- especial [i´speʃəl] a.特别的，特殊的 (英语六级单词)
- performer [pə´fɔ:mə] n.执行者；表演者 (英语六级单词)
- infallible [in´fæləbəl] a.必然的；不会错的 (英语六级单词)
- backwards [´bækwədz] ad.向后 a.向后的 (英语六级单词)
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章节正文
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