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Modern Magic: A Practical Treatise on the Art of Conjuring
·
Professor Hoffmann
389
TO
PASS
ONE
CUP
THROUGH
ANOTHER.--This
is
an
effective
sleight,
and
by
no
means
difficult
of
acquirement.
Taking
one
of
the
cups,
mouth
upwards,
in
the
left
hand,
and
holding
another
in
a
similar
position
in
the
right
hand,
about
a
foot
above
it,
the
performer
drops
the
right
hand
cup
smartly
into
that
in
the
left
hand
(which
latter
should
be
held
very
lightly).
If
this
is
neatly
done,
the
lower
cup
will
be
knocked
out
of
the
hand
by
the
concussion,
while
the
upper
one
will
be
caught
and
held
in
its
place;
the
effect
to
the
eye
of
the
spectator
being
as
if
the
upper
cup
had
passed
through
the
other.
The
lower
cup
may
either
be
allowed
to
fall
on
the
ground
or
table,
or
may
be
caught
by
the
right
hand
in
its
fall.
The
successive
appearances
and
disappearances
of
the
balls
underneath
the
cups
are
known
by
the
name
of
“Passes;”
the
particular
combination
of
such
passes
being
governed
by
the
taste
and
invention
of
the
performer.
The
series
most
generally
in
use
is
derived
from
a
work
dating
from
the
last
century,
the
Récréations
Mathématiques
et
Physiques
of
Guyot;
and
Guyot,
we
believe,
borrowed
it
from
a
German
source.
The
series
given
below,
which
will
be
found
very
effective,
is
derived
mainly
from
that
of
Guyot,
as
improved
by
Ponsin,
a
later
and
very
ingenious
writer
on
the
art
of
prestidigitation.
The
cups
and
balls
require,
even
more
than
conjuring
generally,
a
running
accompaniment
of
talk.
Each
Pass
should
have
its
own
“boniment,”
or
“patter,”
carefully
prepared
and
frequently
rehearsed.
It
would
be
impossible
to
give,
within
any
reasonable
limits,
appropriate
patter
for
each
of
the
Passes.
This
each
performer
must
arrange
for
himself,
so
as
to
suit
the
style
and
character
in
which
he
performs;
as
it
is
obvious
that
the
low
comedy
style
of
a
mountebank
at
a
country
fair
would
be
utterly
unsuitable
in
an
aristocratic
drawing-room,
and
vice
versâ.
We
shall,
however,
give
a
specimen
or
two
in
the
course
of
the
various
Passes.
The
burlesque
introduction
next
following
is
a
paraphrase
of
a
similar
address
quoted
by
Robert-Houdin:--
Marker
Marker
Fine marker
White-out
Fine white-out
Circle
Paint
Unmarker
Hand
Scalpel
Dice
Sieve
Purify
Undo
Redo
Start over
