Modern Magic: A Practical Treatise on the Art of Conjuring

Coming forward to the audience, the performer produces the large white ball, either as described in the first form of the trick, or from his wand in manner described at page 276. While showing it in his left hand, he drops the right hand to his side, and palms the large red ball. Laying the white ball on his table, he remarks, “I have here a bottle of wine. We will begin by testing its genuineness.” He lifts the bottle by the neck with the left hand, immediately transferring it to the right (which grasps it round the bottom), and introduces beneath it the red ball, which is thenceforth kept in position by the little finger. Taking in the other hand a wine-glass (which should be of such a size as just to contain the contents of the tube), he fills it with wine, and hands it to one of the company. In returning to his table, he secretly withdraws the tube. (This is easily done by grasping the bottle round the neck with the left hand, and gently drawing it downwards with the right, the turned over portion of the tube being clipped by the finger and thumb of the left hand, in which it naturally remains.) As the performer passes behind the table, he gets rid of the tube by dropping it on the servante. In placing the bottle on the table, he is of course careful not to expose the red ball underneath it. Taking the white ball in his left hand, he proposes to turn it red, and for that purpose to pass it into the bottle. Pretending to transfer it to the right hand by the tourniquet, he drops it from the left hand into the padded tray on the servante, and then apparently passes it into the bottle, as above. The routine of getting it out of the bottle again is the same as above described in relation to the first method.