Modern Magic: A Practical Treatise on the Art of Conjuring

He places the cover over it, as if merely suiting the action to the word, and in again removing it, leaves the tin die over the solid one. “If any one would like to examine it, he is perfectly welcome to do so. I have here also two hats, borrowed haphazard from the audience, and, as you can all see, perfectly empty, and not prepared in any way. Now I propose to make this solid die” (he tosses it carelessly into one of the hats, and again apparently takes it out, but really takes out the hollow shell only) “pass right through the crown of one of these hats, and fall into the other.” He places the hats one upon the other, mouth to mouth, and the tin shell, with the opening downwards, upon the uppermost. “Here is the die, which I cover, thus. Now, at my command it shall pass downwards through the hat. One, two, three! Pass! See, the cover is empty” (taking it up with gentle pressure, so as to lift the shell with it, and placing both on the end of his wand, proving, apparently, that the cover is empty), “and here, in the lower hat, is the die. Let us try the experiment again. I will replace the die in the lower hat. One, two, three! Pass!” He lifts the cover, without pressure, leaving the hollow die on the upper hat. “It has obeyed, you see. Once more. One, two, three! Pass!” Again the cover is empty, and again the die has passed into the lower hat.