Modern Magic: A Practical Treatise on the Art of Conjuring

The secret of the trick, apart from the sleight-of-hand necessary to bring the chosen cards together at the top of the pack, lies in the box. It is in general appearance something like a miniature pedestal for a statue, but hollow, and open at the top, the cavity being rather more than large enough to hold a pack of cards. (See Fig. 46.) It is divided longitudinally into two compartments, the foremost being large enough to hold a whole pack, the hindmost to hold only three or four cards, the partition between the two coming about half way up the box. The bottom of the larger compartment is level with the top of the plinth, but the smaller is open to the whole depth, save that across it is a steel spring about half an inch in width. Fig. 47 represents a section of the apparatus, A being the upper part, of which a is the larger or front compartment, and b the smaller compartment at the back. B is the plinth. A is so constructed as to slide forwards on, or rather in, B, to the extent of about an eighth of an inch, but is prevented doing so, in the normal condition of the apparatus, by the spring c, which is screwed to the bottom of A, its free end pressing against the side of the plinth.