PSYCHOLOGY OF PRESTIDIGITATION. 569 



tator'!^ hand and he has profited by it. The table whicli the artist uses 

 is of the greatest service to screen his liands. This table is nearly 

 always j)iovided with a pocket and other contrivances on the side turned 

 from the audience, in which the objects he wishes to make disappear 

 fall without the slightest noise, and from which objects can be taken 

 without the knowledge oi tliose looking on. The prestidigitator j^asses 

 his hand carelessly m making a gesture, and, without arresting the 

 movement behind the table, takes the object from the pocket or relieves 

 himself of it, as the trick requires. This process is so simple that it 

 suffices to mention it to have it understood; but one would never 

 suspect the services it can render. It is very easy when one has confi- 

 dence in one's self to place the hand which holds the object unaffectedly 

 on the edge of the table; one has only to open the fingers slightly and 

 the object falls noiselessly into the jjocket, and the trick is done. The 

 simpler the means the less suspicion it arouses. 



There are even cases when we may conceal an object as large as 

 15 centimeters in diameter. This object, which is called a "bullet," 

 is of black hard wood; it is hollow, and has in it a little hole just 

 large enough to pass the finger through. The bullet, which should 

 be filled with all sorts of objects beforehand, should be surreptiti- 

 ously introduced into a hat borrowed from one of the audience, in order 

 that the prestidigitator may transform it into a horn of plenty. It is 

 not an easy matter to conceal the ball on account of its dimensions; 

 but the hat is used for the purpose of covering it and no one perceives 

 it. Behold how Robert Houdin describes this classical trick : " The hat 

 is held in the right hand with four fingers only, tlie middle being left 

 at liberty. The operator goes behind the table, at the same time talking 

 and gesticulating in such a way with the hand that holds the hat that 

 the hand becomes reversed and jilaced a little above the ball or bullet. 

 In this position the left arm is pnt forward on one pretext or another 

 to take something from the front of the table. In accordance with this 

 movement the body comes forward a little, and the right hand is lowered 

 to the level of the table; the middle finger is then inserted in the 

 bullet, raises it. and introduces it subtly into the hat,'' Necessarily 

 the spectators can not suspect any of these maneuvers, which are made 

 under the hat and which are hidden from them, A curious feature is 

 that the spectators do not perceive that the aperture of the hat has 

 been hidden for a moment, and the artist has profited by it to introduce 

 something into it. Another manner of concealing objects frequently 

 resorted to is in passing them from one hand to another. Should we 

 wish to introduce a box, a pupi^et — no matter what the object happens 

 to be — into a handkerchief just borrowed from one of the audience, 

 the handkerchief is held in the left hand, the object is held in the right, 

 and with a very natural gesture the handkerchief is passed into the 

 right hand, or the object in the same way placed in the left. The 

 gesture is so insiguiticaut that it awakens no susi)icion; and, on the 



