Modern Magic: A Practical Treatise on the Art of Conjuring

It is obvious that this is a trick which cannot be repeated, as the necessary rearrangement of the dominoes would at once attract attention. You may, however, volunteer to repeat it in a still more surprising form, really performing in its place the trick next following, one of the best, though also one of the simplest, in the whole range of the magic art. TO ALLOW ANY PERSON IN YOUR ABSENCE TO ARRANGE THE DOMINOES IN A ROW, FACE DOWNWARDS, AND ON YOUR RETURN TO NAME BLINDFOLD, OR WITHOUT ENTERING THE ROOM, THE END NUMBERS OF THE ROW.--You invite the audience to select any one of their number to arrange the whole of the dominoes face downwards upon the table. This he may do in any manner he pleases, the only restriction being that he is to arrange them after the fashion of the game of dominoes--viz., so that a six shall be coupled with a six, and a four with a four, and so on. While he does this, you leave the room, and, on being recalled, you at once pronounce, either blindfold, or (if the audience prefer it) without even entering the room, that the extreme end numbers of the row are six and five, five and two, etc., as the case may be.