Modern Magic: A Practical Treatise on the Art of Conjuring

TO PASS ONE CUP THROUGH ANOTHER.--This is an effective sleight, and by no means difficult of acquirement. Taking one of the cups, mouth upwards, in the left hand, and holding another in a similar position in the right hand, about a foot above it, the performer drops the right hand cup smartly into that in the left hand (which latter should be held very lightly). If this is neatly done, the lower cup will be knocked out of the hand by the concussion, while the upper one will be caught and held in its place; the effect to the eye of the spectator being as if the upper cup had passed through the other. The lower cup may either be allowed to fall on the ground or table, or may be caught by the right hand in its fall. The successive appearances and disappearances of the balls underneath the cups are known by the name of “Passes;” the particular combination of such passes being governed by the taste and invention of the performer. The series most generally in use is derived from a work dating from the last century, the Récréations Mathématiques et Physiques of Guyot; and Guyot, we believe, borrowed it from a German source. The series given below, which will be found very effective, is derived mainly from that of Guyot, as improved by Ponsin, a later and very ingenious writer on the art of prestidigitation. The cups and balls require, even more than conjuring generally, a running accompaniment of talk. Each Pass should have its own “boniment,” or “patter,” carefully prepared and frequently rehearsed. It would be impossible to give, within any reasonable limits, appropriate patter for each of the Passes. This each performer must arrange for himself, so as to suit the style and character in which he performs; as it is obvious that the low comedy style of a mountebank at a country fair would be utterly unsuitable in an aristocratic drawing-room, and vice versâ. We shall, however, give a specimen or two in the course of the various Passes. The burlesque introduction next following is a paraphrase of a similar address quoted by Robert-Houdin:--