Modern Magic: A Practical Treatise on the Art of Conjuring

A CARD HAVING BEEN WITHDRAWN AND REPLACED, TO CALL IT FROM THE PACK, AND TO MAKE IT COME TO YOU OF ITS OWN ACCORD.--This is a very simple trick, but, if neatly executed, will create a good deal of wonderment. It is performed as follows:--You must procure beforehand a long hair from a lady’s head. One end of this must be fastened by means of a bent pin, or in any other way you find most convenient, to the front of your waistcoat, which should be a dark one. At the other end of the hair fix a little round ball (about half the size of a pepper-corn) of bees’-wax. Press this little ball lightly against the lowest button of your waistcoat, to which it will adhere. You will thus always be able to find it at a moment’s notice, without groping or looking down for it, which would be likely to draw the eyes of the spectator in the same direction. Request the audience to examine the cards, that they may be sure that there is no preparation about them, and as a further proof get two or three persons to shuffle them in succession. When the cards are returned to you, invite some person to draw one, and, while he is examining it, drop your right hand carelessly to your waistband, and remove the little ball of wax to the tip of your right thumb, to which it will adhere without interfering with the movements of the hand. When the card is returned, make the pass to bring it to the top of the pack, and press the little ball of wax upon the back of the card, as near the edge as possible. Then shuffle the cards. The shuffle may be a genuine one, but you must take care to keep the lower edge of the chosen card half an inch or so below the remaining cards, that the little ball of wax may not be disturbed. The chosen card will, after the shuffle, be in the middle of the pack, but attached to your waistcoat by the hair. Spread the cards face upwards on the table (by which means the wax, being on the back of the card, will be out of sight), taking care not to detach the hair.