Modern Magic: A Practical Treatise on the Art of Conjuring

He now requests two of the younger spectators to step forward, and assist him with the trick. A couple of volunteers having been procured, they are made to salute the audience, and are then seated upon chairs at each side of the stage, each being entrusted with one of the coffers, which, that all may see, they are requested to hold with both hands above their heads. The performer, standing between them, says, “Now, young gentlemen, I must caution you to hold tight, or the electrical forces which are rapidly generating in these magic coffers will carry them clean away, and possibly you along with them. Now, first please tell me, just to start fair, which coffer is it that you have got, sir, the one with the beans, or the one with the coffee-berries?” The chances are ten to one against the extempore assistants remembering which was which, and the majority of the audience will be equally uncertain. The professor pretends surprise and disappointment. “Ladies and gentlemen, you cannot possibly appreciate the beauty of these philosophical experiments unless you follow them carefully from the commencement. I will open the coffers once more.” So saying, he opens first the one coffer and then the other, taking care, however, to lift the lids only, so that the one which really contains the coffee-berries shows the layer of beans, and that which contains the beans the layer of coffee-berries.