PSYCHOLOGY OF PRESTIDIGITATION. 565 



cards all eyes are fixed upon liis hands; let liim speak and immediately 

 every eye Hies to his face and give his hands the opportunity of profit- 

 ing- by the occurrence to go through maneuvers which are witnessed 

 by no one. 



There is still even a surer method of diverting the eyes and attention 

 of the spectators by performing some act which of itself will interest 

 them or hold their attention. In tricks of importance some such 

 movement is always arranged beforehand. For instance, an object is 

 de])osited in an impressive manner on the corner of the table, and 

 the artist announces that this object will be used in the execution of 

 the trick. Suppose it to be a hat through which he jiroposes to pass a 

 handful of silver; irresistibly all eyes become riveted on the hat and do 

 not see the hand which in the meantime lays hold of an object concealed 

 behind the table in a secret pocket or drawer; or he announces that he 

 will make an object appear upon a certain iiiece of furniture on which 

 he taps with the magic stick and gives a little discourse similar to this 

 one Robert Iloudin delivered : " You all doubtless are aware of the 

 power of the magic wand, with which one has merely to tap gently 

 upon an object in order to cause to appear whatever one wishes; behold, 

 for example, we will try to make it produce not here (he taps the table 

 with the stick), but here (he taps his hand) a crystal ball; here it is!" 

 ITis object in tapping on the table Avas to attract the attention of the 

 audience to the table, so they will not see his hand which he places in 

 his pocket for the purpose of getting the ball, which he keeps hidden 

 in his palm until the desired moment. There is a simpler method of 

 diverting the attention of the audience without using the magic wand, 

 a mere remark on the part of the prestidigitator is sufficient. A pres- 

 tidigitator writes me: " In a little discourse which I deliver with great 

 seriousness, I exclaim, in designatnig a certain place at a distance from 

 my table: 'Authentic i)ieces, which are not here, demonstrate with 



evidence ■^' At these words, 'which are not here,' the eyes of the 



spectators turn from me to look where I tell them there is nothing." 

 The diverting of the eyes is still more certain and even necessary and 

 fatal when the artist takes the precaution to perform some little inter- 

 esting act. I borrow this novel example from Eobert Houdin. The 

 prestidigitator declares he is about to divide a glass ball in two. This 

 ball, he affirms, showing it, is of pebble; it is heavy and very hard; but 

 hard as it is he hopes to divide it. During this time he throws the 

 ball up in the air and catches it in its descent to attract the attention 

 of the spectators. " It would be an impossibility," observes Robert 

 Houdin, " for the eyes of the audience not to follow it in its ascension." 



In the same order of ideas we will cite some experiments which take 

 place in succession, one after the other, in order to enable the artist to 

 prepare the following experiment at the very moment when the whole 

 attention of the audience is fixed upon the trick which has just been 

 concluded. 



