Modern Magic: A Practical Treatise on the Art of Conjuring

The performer comes forward, having in his hand the bag, in which is beforehand placed a small egg. He turns the bag upside down and inside out, thus proving, to all appearance, that it is perfectly empty. Holding the bag for a moment with his teeth, he pulls back his coat cuffs, to prove that he has nothing concealed in that quarter, taking care as he does so to show clearly that his hands are empty. Taking the bag in his left hand, and imitating (if he can) the clucking of a hen, he dips his right hand into it, and produces an egg (or rather the egg). This he places in his mouth, letting all see that he does so, then making a gesture of swallowing, he again dips his hand in the bag, and produces a second egg, of which he disposes in the same way, repeating the operation until a dozen or more have been apparently produced and swallowed. With the reader’s present knowledge, it is hardly necessary to suggest to him that the egg, though fairly placed in the mouth, is, under cover of the hand, instantly pushed out again with the tongue, and palmed, rendering it a very simple matter to produce (apparently) another egg from the bag. Although so absurdly simple, the trick is effective, and if neatly performed, produces a complete illusion. The bag which is more generally known as the “egg-bag” is a much larger affair, measuring eighteen to twenty inches in width, by fourteen or fifteen in depth. In its most approved form, one side of the bag is made double, the double side being stitched all round, save for about four inches at one corner of the bottom of the bag. The little opening thus left affords therefore the sole access to the space between the double sides. Between these double sides, and immediately below their upper edge, is stitched a broad band, with a row of a dozen or more little pockets, each capable of holding an egg, end upwards. Each pocket covers about two-thirds of the egg, which is prevented from falling out spontaneously by a little piece of elastic round the edge of the pocket, though it will slip out and fall into the space between the double sides on the slightest pressure being applied to it.