Modern Magic: A Practical Treatise on the Art of Conjuring

The performer, meanwhile, has again palmed the white ball, which he next produces, as being a new one, from his wand. Comparing the red and the white together, he pretends to discover that the red is the largest, and therefore pinches from it a small portion (the small red ball). He now discovers that he has taken too much, and that the red ball is now the smaller. He therefore pinches a second piece (the small white ball) from the white one, and finally rolls the two little balls thus obtained into one, producing the parti-coloured ball. The mode of producing these last effects will present no difficulty to any one who has attentively studied the description of the first form of the trick. THE FLAGS OF ALL NATIONS.--This is, in good hands, a very pretty and effective trick, but requires considerable neatness of manipulation. Its effect is as follows:--The performer comes forward with a couple of miniature silk flags, measuring, say, three inches by two. Taking one in each hand, he brings the hands together, and begins to wave them backwards and forwards, when the flags are seen to multiply, the two being suddenly transformed into a dozen, quickly increasing to a still larger number. Not only do the flags increase in number, but in size also, until perhaps a couple of hundred have been produced, ranging in dimensions from one or two inches square to a foot or even larger, and of six or eight different colours.