Modern Magic: A Practical Treatise on the Art of Conjuring

While upon the subject of the mysterious production of sweets, we may incidentally mention another piece of apparatus designed for this purpose. This is a wand, made to correspond in general appearance with that habitually used by the performer. Internally, it is a hollow tube, with a stiff wire running throughout its whole length. One end of this wire is fixed to a moveable cap, which covers the upper end of the wand, while the other terminates in a sort of little wooden plug, which closes the opening at the other end. A spiral spring within the upper end of the wand tends to force the cap upwards, and so to keep the opposite end closed; but if pressure be applied to the cap, the plug is forced outwards, and the tube thereby opened. See Fig. 111, in which a represents the wand in its normal condition (i.e., closed), while b represents it with the cap pressed downwards, and the opposite end consequently open. To prepare the wand for use, the cap is pressed and the valve opened. The wand is then filled with very minute sweetmeats, of the description known among juveniles as “hundreds and thousands;” after which the pressure on the cap is removed, and the plug allowed to retire into its place. The wand, thus prepared, is at the proper moment brought forward in place of the ordinary wand, which in its present condition it exactly resembles. The performer then declares his intention of passing a shower of sweets into the pocket of a spectator, and, having first shown it empty, touches the inside with the wand, at the same moment pressing the cap, when the sweets within escape into the pocket.