Modern Magic: A Practical Treatise on the Art of Conjuring

CHAPTER XIV. BALL TRICKS REQUIRING SPECIAL APPARATUS. Before proceeding to the description of the tricks which form the subject of this Chapter, it may be well to mention one or two principles of sleight-of-hand, not yet noticed, which have a special application to ball tricks, and are also useful with regard to oranges, apples, eggs, etc. The Pass called the tourniquet, or “French drop,” described already in relation to coin, will be found equally applicable to balls up to a couple of inches in diameter, but is not available for objects of larger size. Balls of larger diameter are best palmed by one or other of the methods following. First Method.--Taking the ball in either hand, the performer tosses the ball from palm to palm (at a few inches’ distance) four or five times, finally making the motion of tossing it from the right hand to the left, but really retaining it in the right by a slight contraction of the palm, and at the same time closing and elevating the left hand, and following it with the eyes, as though it contained the ball. It is obvious that a ball of the size now under consideration (say of two to three inches in diameter) would not admit of the hand containing it being perfectly closed; and this must be borne in mind in the position of the left hand, the fingers of which must not be tightly closed, as they would if apparently containing a coin or other very small article, but merely curved inward, the palm, of course, being turned toward the performer’s own body, so as not to disclose the secret of its emptiness. Where the hand of the performer is small, or the ball is of such a size as not to be readily retained in the right hand by the contraction of the palm, the thumb may be used to assist in supporting it.