Modern Magic: A Practical Treatise on the Art of Conjuring

Assuming that our stage appliances are complete, we will proceed to-- THE RABBIT TRICK.--The performer comes forward to the audience, and borrows a hat. He asks whether it is empty, and is answered that it is; but he, notwithstanding, finds something in it, which the owner is requested to take out. The article in question proves to be an egg. No sooner has this been removed, than the performer discovers that there is still something in the hat, and immediately produces therefrom a live rabbit, quickly followed by a second. Not knowing what other use to make of these, he proposes to pass one of them into the other. The audience decide which is to be the victim, and the performer, placing them side by side on the table, proceeds to roll them together, when one is found to have vanished, nobody knows when or how; but the theory is that it has been swallowed by the remaining rabbit, to the (imaginary) increased fatness of which the performer draws special attention.