章节正文
beginning with the card touched, and giving to that card the
number of the one thought of. By counting in this way, the party
will at length count the entire number on the card thought of,
which you will thus be able to designate with certainty.
Example:--Suppose the card thought of is G, marking 7; again,
supposing the one touched to be D, equal to 4; you add to this
number the entire number of cards, which is, in this case, 10,
which will make 14. Then, making the party count this sum, from
the number touched, D to C, B, A, and so on, backwards, so that
in commencing to count the number thought of, 7 on D, the party
will continue, saying, 8 on C, 9 on B, 10 on A, 11 on K, 12 on I,
13 on H, and end with counting 14 on G; and you will thus
discover that the number thought of is 7, which corresponds to G.
Of course the party counts TO himself, and only speaks to
designate the point on which he stops, namely, G in this example.
This trick may be performed with any number of cards-- as few as
six, or as many as fifteen. Then you must always add to the
number the total of the cards used. The trick will be much more
interesting and striking if you turn the cards face downwards,
only trusting to your memory to retain the order of the numbers.
Of course, the letters are only used to facilitate the
explanation. The cards really form a sort of circle, beginning
at 1 or the ace on the left, and then continuing with the 2, the
3, the 4, the 5, and so on, to the 10 below the ace; and, by
necessity, the party must end his counting with the very card he
thought of, beginning from the one he happens to point out.
13. The card that cannot be found.
Take any number of cards and spread them out fan-like in your
hand, faces fronting the spectators.
Ask one of them to select a card. You tell him to take it, and
then to place it at the bottom of the pack. You hold up the
pack, so that the spectators may see that the card is really at
the bottom. Suppose this card is the king of hearts.
Then, pretending to take that card, you take the card preceding
it, and place it at a point corresponding to A in the following
figure.
A C
B D
You then take the card drawn, namely, the king of hearts, and
place it at the point corresponding to B in the above figure.
Finally, you take any two other cards, and place them at C and D.
Of course, the cards are placed face downwards.
After this location of the cards, you tell the party who has
chosen the card that you will change the position of the cards,
by pushing alternately that at the point A to B, and that at D to
C, and vice versa; and you defy him to follow you in these
gyrations of the card, and to find it.
Of course, seeing no difficulty in the thing, and believing with
everybody that his card is placed at the point A, he will
undertake to follow and find his card. Then performing what you
undertake to do, you rapidly change the places of the cards, and
yet slowly enough to enable the party to keep in view the card
which he thinks his own, and so that you may not lose sight of
the one you placed at B.
Having thus arranged the cards for a few moments, you ask the
party to perform his promise by pointing out his card. Feeling
sure that he never lost sight of it, he instantly turns one of
the cards and is astonished to find that it is not his own. Then
you say:--'I told you you would not be able to follow your card
in its ramble. But I have done what you couldn't do: here is
your card!'
The astonishment of the spectators is increased when you actually
show the card; for, having made them observe in the first
instance, that you did not even look at the drawn card, they are
utterly at a loss to discover the means you employed to find out
and produce the card in question.
14. Cards being drawn from a pack, to get them guessed by a
person blindfolded.
At all these performances there are always amongst the spectators
persons in league with the prestidigitator. In the present case
a woman is the assistant, with whom he has entered into an
arrangement by which each card is represented by a letter of the
alphabet; and the following are the cards selected for the trick
with their representative letters.
The performer takes a handkerchief and blindfolds the lady in
question, and places her in the centre of the circle of
spectators. Then spreading out the cards, he requests each of
the spectators to draw a card.
He requests the first to give him the card he has drawn; he looks
at it, and placing it on the table face downwards, he asks the
lady to name the card, which she does instantly and without
hesitation.
Of course this appears wonderful to the spectators, and their
astonishment goes on increasing whilst the lady names every card
in succession to the last.
It is, however, a very simple affair. Each card represents a
letter of the alphabet, as we see by the figure, and all the
performer has to do is to begin every question with the letter
corresponding to the card.
Suppose the party has drawn the king of hearts. Its letter is A.
The performer exclaims--'Ah! I'm sure you know this!' The A at
once suggests the card in question. Suppose it is the ace of
clubs. He says--'Jump at conclusions if you like, but be sure in
hitting this card on the nail.' J begins the phrase, and
represents the card in question. Suppose it is the ten of
spades, he cries out--'Zounds! if you mistake this you are not so
clever a medium as I took you for.' The ace of diamonds--'Quite
easy, my dear sir,' or 'my dear ma'am,' as the case may be. Q
represents the ace of diamonds. The queen of diamonds--'Oh, the
beauty!' The ace of hearts--'Dear me! what is this?' The ace of
spades--'You are always right, name it.' The nine of diamonds--
'So! so! well, I'm sure she knows it.'
Doubtless these specimens will suffice to suggest phrases for
every other card. Such phrases may be written out and got by
heart--only twenty-three being required; but this seems useless,
for it does not require much tact at improvisation to hit upon a
phrase commencing with any letter. However, it will be better to
take every precaution rather than run the risk of stopping in the
performance, whose success mainly depends upon the apparently
inspired rapidity of the answers. The performer might conceal in
the hollow of his hand a small table exactly like the figure, to
facilitate his questions. As for the medium, he, or she, must
rely entirely on memory. Of course the spectators may be allowed
to see that the medium is completely blindfolded. This modern
trick has always puzzled the keenest spectators
15. The mystery of double sight.
All the cards of a pack, or indeed any common object touched by a
spectator, may be named by an assistant in the following way--
whilst in another apartment, or blindfolded.
Take 32 cards and arrange them in four lines, one under the
other. You arrange with your assistant to name the first line
after the days of the week; the second will represent the weeks,
the third the months, the fourth the years. The assistant is
enjoined to count the days aloud, and the first card by the left.
The following is the entire scheme:--
Days 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8*
Weeks 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
Months 1 2 3** 4 5 6 7 8
Years 1 2 3 4 5 6 7*** 8
The cards being thus arranged, the party who has to guess them
retires from the room. When he is recalled, whether blindfolded
or not, he pretends to count to himself for a considerable time,
so as to allow his associate time to say to him, without
affectation or exciting suspicion of collusion--'I give you,' or
'I give him SO MUCH TIME to guess what is required; 'for it is in
this phrase that the whole secret of the trick is contained, as I
shall proceed to demonstrate.
Suppose the card touched be one of those marked with the
asterisks * ** ***; if it be the first, the associate says,; I
give him eight days to guess it.' Then the medium, beginning
with the upper line, that of the days, will at once be able to
say that the card touched is the eighth of the first horizontal
line, or the first of the eighth vertical line.
If it be the card holding the place of the number marked with two
asterisks ** the associate says 'three months,' and 'seven years'
for the one marked with three asterisks ***.
Thus, whatever card is touched, it will be easy to indicate it,
by beginning with the line of days at the top, counting one from
the left of the associate and medium.
Such is the simple process; and the following is the conventional
catechism adopted by all theoperators in double sight, with a few
variations adapted to circumstances.
With this collection of words and phrases, every existing object
can be guessed, provided care be taken to classify them according
to the following indications.
To operate, two persons must establish a perfect understanding
between them. One undertakes the questions, the other the
answers, the latter having his eyes perfectly blindfolded. Both
of them must thoroughly know the following numbers with their
correspondences:--
1. Now. 9. Quick.
2. Answer or reply. 10. Say.
3. Name. 20. Tell me.
4. What is the object, or thing. 30. I request you.
5. Try. 40. Will you.
6. Again. 50. Will you (to) me.
7. Instantly. 60. Will you (to) us.
8. Which?
Example:--Add the question of the simple number to the question
of the decade or ten. Thus, in pronouncing the words 'Say now,'
11--for say is 10, and now is 1, total 11. This, therefore,
forms question 11.
Again--'Tell me which number,' 28--for 'tell me' is 20, and
'which' is 8, total 28.
Thirdly:--'I request you instantly,' 37; for 'I request you' is
30, and 'instantly' is 7, total 37.
All the expressions or words that follow are totally independent
of the answer, and are only adapted to embellish or mystify the
question as far as the audience is concerned. For instance:
Question 7. Instantly, what I have in my hand? Answer, A watch.
Question 9. Quick, the hour? Answer, nine o'clock.
Question 30, I request you (2) reply--the minutes. Answer, 32
minutes, that is 30 and 2, equal to 32.
It would be useless to give the entire correspondence invented
for this apparentlymysteriousrevelation, as a few specimens
will suffice to show the principle.
Say what I hold? A handkerchief.
Say now what I hold? A snuff-box.
Say, reply, what I hold? A pair of spectacles.
Say and name what I hold? A box.
Say and try to say what I hold? A hat.
Say quickly what I hold? An umbrella.
Tell me, reply, what I hold? A knife.
Tell me what I hold? A purse.
Tell me now what I hold? A pipe.
Tell me and try to say what I hold? A needle.
Tell me quickly what I hold? A cane.
I request you to say what I hold? A portfolio.
I request you to say now what I hold? Paper.
I request you to say, reply, what I hold? A book.
I request you to say quickly what I hold? A coin.
number of the one thought of. By counting in this way, the party
will at length count the entire number on the card thought of,
which you will thus be able to designate with certainty.
Example:--Suppose the card thought of is G, marking 7; again,
supposing the one touched to be D, equal to 4; you add to this
number the entire number of cards, which is, in this case, 10,
which will make 14. Then, making the party count this sum, from
the number touched, D to C, B, A, and so on, backwards, so that
in commencing to count the number thought of, 7 on D, the party
will continue, saying, 8 on C, 9 on B, 10 on A, 11 on K, 12 on I,
13 on H, and end with counting 14 on G; and you will thus
discover that the number thought of is 7, which corresponds to G.
Of course the party counts TO himself, and only speaks to
designate the point on which he stops, namely, G in this example.
This trick may be performed with any number of cards-- as few as
six, or as many as fifteen. Then you must always add to the
number the total of the cards used. The trick will be much more
interesting and striking if you turn the cards face downwards,
only trusting to your memory to retain the order of the numbers.
Of course, the letters are only used to facilitate the
explanation. The cards really form a sort of circle, beginning
at 1 or the ace on the left, and then continuing with the 2, the
3, the 4, the 5, and so on, to the 10 below the ace; and, by
necessity, the party must end his counting with the very card he
thought of, beginning from the one he happens to point out.
13. The card that cannot be found.
Take any number of cards and spread them out fan-like in your
hand, faces fronting the spectators.
Ask one of them to select a card. You tell him to take it, and
then to place it at the bottom of the pack. You hold up the
pack, so that the spectators may see that the card is really at
the bottom. Suppose this card is the king of hearts.
Then, pretending to take that card, you take the card preceding
it, and place it at a point corresponding to A in the following
figure.
A C
B D
You then take the card drawn, namely, the king of hearts, and
place it at the point corresponding to B in the above figure.
Finally, you take any two other cards, and place them at C and D.
Of course, the cards are placed face downwards.
After this location of the cards, you tell the party who has
chosen the card that you will change the position of the cards,
by pushing alternately that at the point A to B, and that at D to
C, and vice versa; and you defy him to follow you in these
gyrations of the card, and to find it.
Of course, seeing no difficulty in the thing, and believing with
everybody that his card is placed at the point A, he will
undertake to follow and find his card. Then performing what you
undertake to do, you rapidly change the places of the cards, and
yet slowly enough to enable the party to keep in view the card
which he thinks his own, and so that you may not lose sight of
the one you placed at B.
Having thus arranged the cards for a few moments, you ask the
party to perform his promise by pointing out his card. Feeling
sure that he never lost sight of it, he instantly turns one of
the cards and is astonished to find that it is not his own. Then
you say:--'I told you you would not be able to follow your card
in its ramble. But I have done what you couldn't do: here is
your card!'
The astonishment of the spectators is increased when you actually
show the card; for, having made them observe in the first
instance, that you did not even look at the drawn card, they are
utterly at a loss to discover the means you employed to find out
and produce the card in question.
14. Cards being drawn from a pack, to get them guessed by a
person blindfolded.
At all these performances there are always amongst the spectators
persons in league with the prestidigitator. In the present case
a woman is the assistant, with whom he has entered into an
arrangement by which each card is represented by a letter of the
alphabet; and the following are the cards selected for the trick
with their representative letters.
The performer takes a handkerchief and blindfolds the lady in
question, and places her in the centre of the circle of
spectators. Then spreading out the cards, he requests each of
the spectators to draw a card.
He requests the first to give him the card he has drawn; he looks
at it, and placing it on the table face downwards, he asks the
lady to name the card, which she does instantly and without
hesitation.
Of course this appears wonderful to the spectators, and their
astonishment goes on increasing whilst the lady names every card
in succession to the last.
It is, however, a very simple affair. Each card represents a
letter of the alphabet, as we see by the figure, and all the
performer has to do is to begin every question with the letter
corresponding to the card.
Suppose the party has drawn the king of hearts. Its letter is A.
The performer exclaims--'Ah! I'm sure you know this!' The A at
once suggests the card in question. Suppose it is the ace of
clubs. He says--'Jump at conclusions if you like, but be sure in
hitting this card on the nail.' J begins the phrase, and
represents the card in question. Suppose it is the ten of
spades, he cries out--'Zounds! if you mistake this you are not so
clever a medium as I took you for.' The ace of diamonds--'Quite
easy, my dear sir,' or 'my dear ma'am,' as the case may be. Q
represents the ace of diamonds. The queen of diamonds--'Oh, the
beauty!' The ace of hearts--'Dear me! what is this?' The ace of
spades--'You are always right, name it.' The nine of diamonds--
'So! so! well, I'm sure she knows it.'
Doubtless these specimens will suffice to suggest phrases for
every other card. Such phrases may be written out and got by
heart--only twenty-three being required; but this seems useless,
for it does not require much tact at improvisation to hit upon a
phrase commencing with any letter. However, it will be better to
take every precaution rather than run the risk of stopping in the
performance, whose success mainly depends upon the apparently
inspired rapidity of the answers. The performer might conceal in
the hollow of his hand a small table exactly like the figure, to
facilitate his questions. As for the medium, he, or she, must
rely entirely on memory. Of course the spectators may be allowed
to see that the medium is completely blindfolded. This modern
trick has always puzzled the keenest spectators
15. The mystery of double sight.
All the cards of a pack, or indeed any common object touched by a
spectator, may be named by an assistant in the following way--
whilst in another apartment, or blindfolded.
Take 32 cards and arrange them in four lines, one under the
other. You arrange with your assistant to name the first line
after the days of the week; the second will represent the weeks,
the third the months, the fourth the years. The assistant is
enjoined to count the days aloud, and the first card by the left.
The following is the entire scheme:--
Days 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8*
Weeks 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
Months 1 2 3** 4 5 6 7 8
Years 1 2 3 4 5 6 7*** 8
The cards being thus arranged, the party who has to guess them
retires from the room. When he is recalled, whether blindfolded
or not, he pretends to count to himself for a considerable time,
so as to allow his associate time to say to him, without
affectation or exciting suspicion of collusion--'I give you,' or
'I give him SO MUCH TIME to guess what is required; 'for it is in
this phrase that the whole secret of the trick is contained, as I
shall proceed to demonstrate.
Suppose the card touched be one of those marked with the
asterisks * ** ***; if it be the first, the associate says,; I
give him eight days to guess it.' Then the medium, beginning
with the upper line, that of the days, will at once be able to
say that the card touched is the eighth of the first horizontal
line, or the first of the eighth vertical line.
If it be the card holding the place of the number marked with two
asterisks ** the associate says 'three months,' and 'seven years'
for the one marked with three asterisks ***.
Thus, whatever card is touched, it will be easy to indicate it,
by beginning with the line of days at the top, counting one from
the left of the associate and medium.
Such is the simple process; and the following is the conventional
catechism adopted by all theoperators in double sight, with a few
variations adapted to circumstances.
With this collection of words and phrases, every existing object
can be guessed, provided care be taken to classify them according
to the following indications.
To operate, two persons must establish a perfect understanding
between them. One undertakes the questions, the other the
answers, the latter having his eyes perfectly blindfolded. Both
of them must thoroughly know the following numbers with their
correspondences:--
1. Now. 9. Quick.
2. Answer or reply. 10. Say.
3. Name. 20. Tell me.
4. What is the object, or thing. 30. I request you.
5. Try. 40. Will you.
6. Again. 50. Will you (to) me.
7. Instantly. 60. Will you (to) us.
8. Which?
Example:--Add the question of the simple number to the question
of the decade or ten. Thus, in pronouncing the words 'Say now,'
11--for say is 10, and now is 1, total 11. This, therefore,
forms question 11.
Again--'Tell me which number,' 28--for 'tell me' is 20, and
'which' is 8, total 28.
Thirdly:--'I request you instantly,' 37; for 'I request you' is
30, and 'instantly' is 7, total 37.
All the expressions or words that follow are totally independent
of the answer, and are only adapted to embellish or mystify the
question as far as the audience is concerned. For instance:
Question 7. Instantly, what I have in my hand? Answer, A watch.
Question 9. Quick, the hour? Answer, nine o'clock.
Question 30, I request you (2) reply--the minutes. Answer, 32
minutes, that is 30 and 2, equal to 32.
It would be useless to give the entire correspondence invented
for this apparentlymysteriousrevelation, as a few specimens
will suffice to show the principle.
Say what I hold? A handkerchief.
Say now what I hold? A snuff-box.
Say, reply, what I hold? A pair of spectacles.
Say and name what I hold? A box.
Say and try to say what I hold? A hat.
Say quickly what I hold? An umbrella.
Tell me, reply, what I hold? A knife.
Tell me what I hold? A purse.
Tell me now what I hold? A pipe.
Tell me and try to say what I hold? A needle.
Tell me quickly what I hold? A cane.
I request you to say what I hold? A portfolio.
I request you to say now what I hold? Paper.
I request you to say, reply, what I hold? A book.
I request you to say quickly what I hold? A coin.
- beginning [bi´giniŋ]
n.开始，开端；起源 (初中英语单词) - striking [´straikiŋ] a.显著的，明显的 (初中英语单词)
- retain [ri´tein] vt.保持；保留；留住 (初中英语单词)
- circle [´sə:kəl] n.圆圈 v.环绕；盘旋 (初中英语单词)
- enable [i´neibəl] vt.使能够；赋予权力 (初中英语单词)
- instantly [´instəntli] ad.立即，立刻 (初中英语单词)
- astonishment [ə´stɔniʃmənt] n.吃惊；惊异 (初中英语单词)
- league [li:g] n.同盟；社团 (初中英语单词)
- assistant [ə´sistənt] n.助手；助理；助教 (初中英语单词)
- handkerchief [´hæŋkətʃif] n.手帕，手绢 (初中英语单词)
- succession [sək´seʃən] n.继任；继承(权) (初中英语单词)
- alphabet [´ælfəbet] n.字母表 (初中英语单词)
- phrase [freiz] n.短语；词组；措词 (初中英语单词)
- medium [´mi:diəm] n.中间；平均 a.中等的 (初中英语单词)
- mainly [´meinli] ad.主要地；大体上 (初中英语单词)
- conceal [kən´si:l] vt.藏；隐瞒 (初中英语单词)
- mystery [´mistəri] n.神秘；秘密；故弄玄虚 (初中英语单词)
- apartment [ə´pɑ:tmənt] n.一套房间 (初中英语单词)
- considerable [kən´sidərəbəl] a.重要的；值得重视 (初中英语单词)
- associate [ə´səuʃieit] v.联合a.同伴的n.伙伴 (初中英语单词)
- suspicion [sə´spiʃən] n.怀(猜)疑；嫌疑 (初中英语单词)
- whatever [wɔt´evə] pron.&a.无论什么 (初中英语单词)
- collection [kə´lekʃən] n.收集；征收；募捐 (初中英语单词)
- operate [´ɔpəreit] v.(使)运转；操作；经营 (初中英语单词)
- thoroughly [´θʌrəli] ad.完全地，彻底地 (初中英语单词)
- audience [´ɔ:diəns] n.听众；观众；接见 (初中英语单词)
- useless [´ju:sləs] a.无用的，无价值的 (初中英语单词)
- mysterious [mi´stiəriəs] a.神秘的；难以理解的 (初中英语单词)
- saying [´seiŋ, ´sei-iŋ] n.言语；言论；格言 (高中英语单词)
- namely [´neimli] ad.即，也就是 (高中英语单词)
- location [ləu´keiʃən] n.定位；位置；地方 (高中英语单词)
- seeing [si:iŋ] see的现在分词 n.视觉 (高中英语单词)
- amongst [ə´mʌŋst] prep.其中之一 =among (高中英语单词)
- whilst [wailst] conj.当...时候；虽然 (高中英语单词)
- suffice [sə´fais] vt.使满足 vi.足够 (高中英语单词)
- precaution [pri´kɔ:ʃən] n.预防 vt.预先警告 (高中英语单词)
- perfectly [´pə:fiktli] ad.理想地；完美地 (高中英语单词)
- decade [´dekeid] n.十年(间) (高中英语单词)
- concerned [kən´sə:nd] a.有关的；担心的 (高中英语单词)
- correspondence [,kɔri´spɔndəns] n.通信；符合；相当 (高中英语单词)
- apparently [ə´pærəntli] ad.显然，表面上地 (高中英语单词)
- revelation [,revə´leiʃən] n.展现；揭露(的事物) (高中英语单词)
- designate [´dezignit, -neit] vt.标明；任命 (英语四级单词)
- facilitate [fə´siliteit] vt.使便利，使容易 (英语四级单词)
- corresponding [,kɔri´spɔndiŋ] a.符合的；相当的 (英语四级单词)
- alternately [ɔ:l´tə:nitli] ad.交替地，轮流地 (英语四级单词)
- ramble [´ræmbl] v.&n.闲逛；漫步 (英语四级单词)
- downwards [´daunwədz] ad.向下，以下 (英语四级单词)
- rapidity [rə´piditi] n.迅速；险峻；陡 (英语四级单词)
- vertical [´və:tikəl] a.垂直的 n.垂直线 (英语四级单词)
- classify [´klæsifai] vt.把...分类(归类) (英语四级单词)
- totally [´təutəli] ad.统统，完全 (英语四级单词)
- backwards [´bækwədz] ad.向后 a.向后的 (英语六级单词)
- trusting [´trʌstiŋ] a.信任的；相信的 (英语六级单词)
- performer [pə´fɔ:mə] n.执行者；表演者 (英语六级单词)
- holding [´həuldiŋ] n.保持，固定，存储 (英语六级单词)
文章标签:名著
章节正文
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