Modern Magic: A Practical Treatise on the Art of Conjuring

Introductory Address.--“Ladies and Gentlemen,--In an age so enlightened as our own, it is really surprising to see how many popular fallacies spring up from day to day, and are accepted by the public mind as unchangeable laws of nature. “Among these fallacies there is one which I propose at once to point out to you, and which I flatter myself I shall very easily dispose of. Many people have asserted, and, among others, the celebrated Erasmus of Rotterdam, that a material object can only be in one place at one time. Now I maintain, on the contrary, that any object may be in several places at the same moment, and that it is equally possible that it may be nowhere at all. “I must beg you to observe, in the first place, that I have nothing in my hands--except my fingers; and that between my fingers there is nothing save a few atoms of the mysterious fluid which we call the atmosphere, and through which our jolly old Earth spins so merrily along. But we must leave the common-place regions of astronomy, and return to the mysteries of hermetic science. “I have before me, as you will have noticed, three little cups or goblets. The metal of which these are composed is an amalgam of costly minerals, unknown even to the most profound philosophers. This mysterious composition, which resembles silver in its solidity, its colour, and the clearness of its ring, has over silver this great advantage, that it will at pleasure become impalpable as air, so that solid bodies pass through these goblets as easily as they would through empty space. I will give you a curious illustration of this by making one goblet pass through another.” (This the performer does in the manner already described, and after a moment’s pause, continues, taking up his wand in his left hand, and secretly palming a ball in his right.) “This little wand, you are possibly aware, ladies and gentlemen, goes by the name of Jacob’s Rod. Why it is so called I really don’t know; I only know that this simple-looking wand has the faculty of producing various articles at pleasure. For instance, I require for the purpose of my experiment a little ball. My wand at once supplies me.” (He produces a ball from the wand, and lays it on the table.)