140 
THE YOUNG SCIENTIST. 
takes it from a gentleman's beard; every- 
where he goes, like another Midas, gold 
comes at his touch, until at last, tired out, 
he empties the hat, which he has used as a 
receptacle for his wealth, before the eyes of 
the audience, that they may see the treasure 
he has gathered in. 
How is this done? When the performer 
first goes among the audience both hands 
are closed, and both contain money; the 
left hand is filled, and the right holds one 
piece. In order that the audience may not 
suspect anything, the tips of the left hand 
fingers grasp the edge of the lappel of the 
coat, whilst the right holds his " wand," a 
short stick, about fifteen inches long, and 
five-eighths of an inch in diameter, and 
tipped at the ends with ivory. 
Holding the wand in the right hand, the 
performer requests some gentleman to lend 
him a hat, and as he receives it, which he 
does with his right hand, he passes it to 
his left, which he places inside of it, the 
thumb only coming outside the rim. The 
money is now in the hat, and extending 
his arms, he begs that his sleeves shall be 
examined. No one suspects the hand, 
at least I have never heard a word 
that would lead me to suppose they did. 
When the examination is over, the per- 
former returns to the stage, and, as he goes 
to it, throws his "wand" before him to 
rid himself of it, and at the same moment 
allows the coin, which has been heretofore 
concealed in his hand, to drop into his 
sleeve. Arriving at his stage, he turns his 
hand to the audience, and shows it is 
€mpty. This movement tends greatly to 
mystify the audience, who, being convinced 
that neither the sleeve nor the hand con- 
tain anything, are at a loss to know where 
the money comes from. The performer 
begins his search, and after one or two un- 
successful efforts at catching money "on 
the wing," he apparently drops his hand 
despairingly at his side, and the coin which 
is in the sleeve falls into his palm, where he 
holds it concealed. Now he may commence 
catching money in earnest. He grasps at 
the air, and showing between his fingers 
the coin which he has held palmed^ the au- 
dience suppose he has just caught it. He 
pretends to throw it into the hat, which is 
held by the left hand, but in fact palms it 
again, and lets one of the pieces which are 
in the left hand, drop into the hat. In this 
way he proceeds, catching, showing and 
palming the single coin of the right hand, 
and dropping into the hat, one by one, the 
coins from the left. When three or four 
coins only remain in the hand that holds 
the hat, he again "catches" a coin with 
the right hand, and this time really throws 
it into the hat, and, holding up the hand, 
says, "You see there is nothing concealed 
here, nor here.^' As he says this, he passes 
the hat from the left to the right hand, and 
placing the fingers of the right hand inside 
the hat, with the thumb remaining outside, 
takes the few coins that are left. He holds 
up the left hand, that all may see it is 
empty, and then passes the hat back to it, 
retaining the coins, however, in the right 
hand, with which he palms them. He then 
begins again to " catch" the money, letting 
one coin at a time drop from his palm to 
the ends of his fingers, and ashe " catches " 
it holds it up to view, and then throws it 
into the hat, in such a way that all may 
see him do it. By this httle feint, he makes 
his audience believe that he threw all the 
coins in, and does away with any sus- 
picion they may have had to the contrary. 
He now turns the money out of the hat on 
to a plate, and returns the hat, if he does 
not need it for another trick. 
To he continued. 
Wood-Carving— II. 
SHARPENING TOOLS. 
THE first thing to do is to learn to 
sharpen your tools. They generally 
con^e ready ground from the store, and 
merely require to be sharpened on an oil- 
stone. The oil-stone should be set in a 
block of wood, and fitted with a cover, so as 
to protect it from dust and dirt, and give it 
a broad, firm basis, on which to stand. A 
small particle of hard grit falling on the 
