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Modern Magic: A Practical Treatise on the Art of Conjuring
·
Professor Hoffmann
378
This
seeming
marvel
depends
upon
a
very
simple
principle.
It
will
be
found
by
experiment
that
a
complete
set
of
dominoes,
arranged
in
a
row
according
to
domino
rules
(i.e.,
like
numbers
together),
will
invariably
have
the
same
number
at
each
end.
Thus
if
the
final
number
at
one
end
of
the
row
be
five,
that
at
the
opposite
end
will
be
five
also,
and
so
on;
so
that
the
twenty-eight
dominoes,
arranged
as
above,
form
numerically
an
endless
chain,
or
circle.
If
this
circle
be
broken
by
the
removal
of
any
domino,
the
numbers
on
either
side
of
the
gap
thus
made
will
be
the
same
as
those
of
the
missing
domino.
Thus,
if
you
take
away
a
“five-three,”
the
chain
thus
broken
will
terminate
at
one
end
with
a
five,
and
at
the
other
with
a
three.
This
is
the
whole
secret
of
the
trick:
the
performer
secretly
abstracts
one
domino,
say
the
“five-three;”
this
renders
it
a
matter
of
certainty
that
the
row
to
be
formed
with
the
remaining
dominoes
will
terminate
with
a
five
at
the
one
end
and
a
three
at
the
other,
and
so
on
with
any
other
domino
of
two
unequal
numbers.
The
domino
abstracted
must
not
be
a
“double,”
or
the
trick
will
fail.
A
little
consideration
will
show
why
this
is
the
case.
The
removal
of
a
double
from
the
endless
chain
we
have
mentioned
produces
no
break
in
the
chain,
as
the
numbers
on
each
side
of
the
gap,
being
alike,
will
coalesce;
and
a
row
formed
with
the
remaining
dominoes
under
such
conditions
may
be
made
to
terminate
in
any
number,
such
number
being,
however,
alike
at
either
end.
A
domino
of
two
different
numbers,
on
the
other
hand,
being
removed,
“forces,”
so
to
speak,
the
series
made
with
the
remainder
to
terminate
with
those
particular
numbers.
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