PARLOR MAGIC.
Reading edition
THE MIRACULOUS APPLE.
To divide an apple into several parts without breaking the rind: Pass a needle and thread under the rind of the apple, which is easily done by putting the needle in again at the same hole it came out of; and so passing on until you have gone round the apple. Then take both ends of the thread in your hands, and draw it out, by which means the apple will be divided into two parts. In the same manner you may divide it into as many parts as you please, and yet the rind will remain entire. Present the apple to any one to peel, and it will immediately fall to pieces.
THE OMELET COOKED IN A HAT.
State that you are about to cook an omelet; then you break four eggs in a hat, place the hat for a short time over the flame of a candle, and shortly after produce an omelet completely cooked and quite hot. Some persons will be credulous enough to believe that by the help of certain ingredients you have been enabled to cook the omelet without fire; but the secret of the trick is that the omelet had been previously cooked and placed in the hat, but could not be seen, because the operator, when breaking the eggs, placed it too high for the spectators to observe the contents. The eggs were empty ones, the contents having been previously extracted by being sucked through a small aperture; but to prevent the company from suspecting this, the operator should, as if by accident, let a full egg fall on the table, the breaking of which induces a belief that the others are also full.
THE INK AND FISH TRICK.
This is really a first-rate delusion. You bring before the spectators a glass vase full of ink. You dip a ladle into it, and pour out some of the ink upon a plate, in order to convince the audience that the substance in the vase is really ink. You then throw a handkerchief over the vase, and instantly withdraw it, when the vase is found to be filled with pure water, in which a couple of gold-fish are swimming.
This apparent impossibility is performed as follows: To the interior of the vessel is fitted a black silk lining, which adheres closely to the sides when pressed by the water, and which is withdrawn inside the handkerchief during the performance of the trick. The ladle has a hollow handle, with an opening into the bowl; in the handle is a spoonful or so of ink, which runs into the bowl when it is held downward during the act of dipping it into the vase.