Modern Magic: A Practical Treatise on the Art of Conjuring

If you do not possess a forcing pack, but rely upon your own skill in forcing with an ordinary pack, it is well to prepare this second beforehand by placing the four queens (supposing that you desire a queen to be drawn) at the bottom. Making the pass as you advance to the company, you bring these to the middle and present the pack. It is comparatively easy to insure one or other of four cards placed together being drawn. TWO HEAPS OF CARDS, UNEQUAL IN NUMBER, BEING PLACED UPON THE TABLE, TO PREDICT BEFOREHAND WHICH OF THE TWO THE COMPANY WILL CHOOSE.--There is an old schoolboy trick, which consists in placing on the table two heaps of cards, one consisting of seven indifferent cards, and the other of the four sevens. The performer announces that he will predict beforehand (either verbally or in writing) which of the two heaps the company will choose; and fulfils his undertaking by declaring that they will choose “the seven heap.” This description will suit either heap, being in the one case understood to apply to the number of cards in the heap, in the other case to denote the value of the individual cards.