566 PSYCHOLOGY OF PRESTIDIGITATION. 



Ill an amusing trick, called the birtli of flowers, the prestidigitator 

 makes bouquets appear in different objects, in his buttonhole, in a box, 

 in a glass, in a hat; and at the moment that the tlowers appear in one 

 of these objects, and the audience is suffused with admiration and won- 

 der, the prestidigitator profits by their attention being directed from 

 him and places a bouquet in the next object to which he wishes to call 

 their attention. 



In fact, in many tricks played with cards in which it is necessary for 

 one of the spectators to choose a card, it is customary to ask him a 

 question which will necessitate his answering, and thus for a moment 

 divert his attention from the hands of tlie artist. Mr. Arnould gives a 

 curious example: "In a little trick with cards, which I have submitted 

 to you," he writes us, "it is necessary for me to know the fourth card 

 of the i>ack; everyone is looking at my hands; I am sitting down; 

 there is no means of turning my body in order to conceal the movement 

 I wish to make from the audience (the oj)eration consists in gently 

 raising the card in order to see its face) ; there is no pretext for ray 

 touching the cards. I hold myself in readiness and put this point- 

 blank question to the spectator immediately in front of me: 'Can you 

 count up to GO?' The person addressed of course looks at me in 

 amazement, not exactly knowing how to take my question; the others 

 in the audience, much amused, look in his direction ; this all occupies 

 about one second, ample time for rae to look at the card." 



The greatest variety of tricks can be i)layed in this manner. We 

 will leave it to the ingenious mind to discover new ones. The presti- 

 digitator has very seldom to himself invent; the tricks he plays are 

 like the classical pieces at the Theatre Fran^'ais, accompanied by tra- 

 ditions which indicate in the minutest possible manner what is to be 

 done at a given moment to remove the gaze of the spectators, and the 

 means are so powerful that scarcely anyone escapes their influence. 



Instead of diverting the attention there are ways of making the audi- 

 ence lose interest just when the most important and decisive part of 

 the trick is being accomplished, and the means emjiloyed are numerous. 

 In certain cases to hide a movement, it must be made brusquely, by 

 surprise, so that no one would have time to prepare attention ; the 

 movement must be so rai)id that the eye will have no time to follow it 

 in detail. There are some interesting observations to make on the 

 tricks of dexterity. Certain tricks jierformed by the hands appear as 

 perfect enigmas when they are performed with great rapidity. Mr. 

 Raynaly performed at our laboratory "le saut de coup des deux mains," 

 and such was the rapidity with which he accomplished this trick and 

 such the force of the illusion that after having seen him repeat it 

 twenty times not one present could detect the secret. JNIr. Ivaynalyheld 

 in his hands a pack of cards; he first made us notice that the bottom 

 card was a face card, for instance, the king of hearts; when suddenly 

 we perceived a slight movement of the hands and there before our eyes 



