Modern Magic: A Practical Treatise on the Art of Conjuring

3. TO SECRETLY INTRODUCE THE PALMED BALL UNDER THE CUP.--This is always done in the act of raising the cup (with the right hand), for the ostensible purpose of showing that there is nothing underneath it. The chief thing to be attended to is the position of the right hand (in which we are supposing a ball to be palmed by one or other of the methods above mentioned) in raising the cup. This should be done with the hand spread almost flat upon the table, and grasping the cup as low down as possible, between the thumb and the lowest joint of the forefinger. In the act of raising the cup, the fingers naturally assume the position shown in Fig. 124, whereby the ball is brought in close proximity to, and slightly under, the edge of the cup. If the ball be palmed by the first method, all that is necessary in order to release it is a slight backward movement of the second, and a forward movement of the third finger, made just before the cup again touches the table. This will be found to drop the ball immediately under the cup. If the ball be palmed by the third method, its introduction under the cup is a still easier matter, as by the act of raising the cup it is brought directly underneath it, and is released by the mere act of straightening the third and fourth fingers. If the ball is palmed by the second method, it becomes necessary, before taking hold of the cup, to close the third and fourth fingers slightly (see Fig. 123), and bring the ball to the position shown in Fig. 122. From this point the operation is the same as if the ball had been originally palmed by the third method.