Modern Magic: A Practical Treatise on the Art of Conjuring

“Here is a pack of cards. Madam, will you be kind enough to take whichever card you please; hold it for a moment between your hands, so as to impregnate it with the mesmeric influence of your touch, and then replace it in the middle of the pack. “In order to exclude all possibility of sleight-of-hand, we will now thoroughly shuffle the cards; after which, for still greater certainty, I will show you that the card is neither at top nor bottom, whence you may be persuaded that it is placed just where chance has chosen to put it.” (For the purpose of showing that the card is neither at top nor bottom, it may either be left second from the top after the shuffle, if executed by the performer himself, or being actually placed on the top, the second card may be drawn instead of the first by means of a filage.)