Modern Magic: A Practical Treatise on the Art of Conjuring

Second Method.--Taking the ball between his open hands, the performer rolls it round and round between his palms, as though it were a lump of clay which he was moulding into a spherical form; and in so doing gradually turns his hands till the back of his right hand is undermost, when, with an inward movement of that hand towards himself, he palms the ball therein, at the same time closing and elevating the left hand, as described for the last method. TO VANISH A LARGE BALL WITH THE AID OF THE TABLE.--First Method. Standing behind his table, the ball being some six or eight inches from its hinder edge, the performer places both hands round it, apparently picking it up and bringing it forward between his two hands, from which, however, the ball is, on examination, found to have vanished. Its disappearance is effected as follows:--At the moment when the performer encircles the ball with his hands, he gives, with the little finger of the hand which is innermost--and therefore unseen by the audience--a quick jerk to the ball, which is thereby made to roll towards the hinder edge of the table, and drop upon the servante, on which there should be a padded box or basket to receive it. The action is wholly concealed from the spectators by the hands, which, with the exception of the finger which does the work, should remain motionless. Second Method.--Standing behind his table, as in the last case, the performer tosses up the ball, and catches it again three or four times, keeping the hands low, so as to be near the edge of the table. The hands naturally sink in the act of catching the ball; and after having caught it once or twice, the performer, as he lowers them, drops it on the servante, immediately raising them again with the action of throwing up the ball, taking care to follow it with the eyes in its imaginary flight. If this is done neatly, the eyes of the spectators will instinctively travel in the same direction, and the effect to them will be as if the ball vanished at the highest point of its upward flight, instead of disappearing, as it really does, at the moment of reaching the hands in its fall. This method may also be employed for objects other than of spherical shape.