Modern Magic: A Practical Treatise on the Art of Conjuring

The second piece of apparatus is a caddy (Fig. 185), in appearance not unlike an ordinary tea caddy, with three equal-sized compartments, each having its own lid. Upon close inspection it will be discovered that the internal depth of these compartments is somewhat shallow in comparison with the external measurement of the caddy, leaving a space about an inch deep between the inner and outer bottoms. A sliding drawer, working from end to end of the caddy, as already explained, occupies the space of two compartments. Supposing this for the moment removed, it would be found that the external caddy, in the space occupied by the two end compartments, a and c, has a false bottom covering the hollow space we have already mentioned, but that the space occupied by the middle compartment b has none. Of the two moveable compartments, which together constitute the sliding tray already mentioned (see Fig. 186), the one d has a bottom, the other e has not. When the sliding drawer is in its proper position in the caddy, and is pushed as far as it will go towards the one or the other end, the result is as follows:--If it is pushed to the right, the bottomless compartment e occupies the space at that end, under lid c, while the opening in the false bottom of the caddy is, for the time being, closed by the bottom of d, which now occupies the middle space. If the sliding tray is pushed to the opposite end (i.e., to the left), d will occupy the space a at that end, while the bottomless compartment e, being over the opening, gives access to the space beneath.