156 
THE YOUNG SCIENTIST. 
that it is empty. He requests the person | 
who holds the lemon to cut it open, and ex- 
amine the coin which he will find inside, 
and say whether it is the one that was 
marked, which it invariably proves to be. 
This trick is always attributed to ''con- 
federacy," the audience supposing that the 
person who cuts open the lemon and takes 
out the coin, is in collusion with the per- 
former. Such, however, is not the case, as 
it is purely sleight-of-hand. 
In order to perform it, two lemons are 
prepared by cutting slits in them large 
enough to admit the point of an ordinary 
table-knife. The next thing to be done is 
to determine what coin is to be used. I 
will suppose it to be a nickel five-cent piece. 
The performer takes one of these coins, 
and holds it concealed in his left hand, 
either by palming or otherwise. He is now 
ready to begin his trick, which he does by 
requesting one of the audience to lend him 
a five-cent piece. "Not a silver one," he 
explains, "but the ordinary nickel piece." 
Having got one, he asks several persons to 
mark it, that there may be no mistake 
about it when the trick is over, and then 
gives it to some one to hold. He tells him 
to hold it up, so that every one may be able 
to see it; " Not that way, my dear Sir; hold 
it so." As he says this, he takes it from 
him, under pretence of showing how it 
should be held, and instead of returning it, 
gives him tbe one he has held concealed in 
his hand. No one suspects for a moment 
that he has given him any other than the 
marked coin. He now produces the lemons, 
which he holds in sucji a way that the slit 
will not be seen, and when one has been 
chosen, he throws the other aside, and 
whilst going to his table under pretence of 
getting a knife, he slips the coin into the 
slit. He runs the point of the knife into 
the slit, and then hands both knife and 
lemon to the person who has the coin, and 
tells him to hold it up. Next he asks for 
the coin. He takes it with his right hand, 
lets it slip up his sleeve, and pretends to 
put it into the left hand. He manoeuvres 
with the right hand, so that all may see it is 
empty, and then bids the coin to "pass" 
into the lemon. He opens the left hand 
shows that it contains nothing, and then 
bids the person who holds the lemon 
to cut it in two, and in the centre he will 
find the coin. Whilst the audience are 
watching this, the performer drops his 
right arm, and lets the coin which is in 
the sleeve fall into his hand, from which 
as soon as possible, he transfers it to his 
pocket. 
Tbe trick is now done, but, as the pro- 
vince of a conj urer is to amuse as well as 
astonish, he indulges in the following in- 
nocent joke: 
The coin having been identified, he pro- 
poses to do something still more wonderful, 
no less a feat than that of passing half the 
lemon into the coin. 
"No doubt, ladies and gentlemen," he 
says, " you think this an impossibility; but 
you must remember that I do not really do 
all that I seem to. I merely deceive your 
senses, and make you think I perform 
miracles." 
" Now, Sir, hold the coin well up." He 
pretends to take half the lemon in his 
hands, but lets it drop into a pocket fas- 
tened at the back of his table, and with his 
hands together, as if holding the lemon, he 
approaches the audience. 
"Now, sir, when I count 'three,' hold 
on tight to the coin, else the shock of the 
lemon passing into it may carry it out of 
your hand. Now, then, 'One,' 'Two,' 
'Three!' 'Pass!'" 
He opens his hands, to show that they 
are empty, and then bids the gentleman 
who holds the coin to cut it open, and he will 
find the half-lemon inside of it. 
There is one very important part of this 
trick that I find I have neglected to explain, 
and as it is needed in mary other tricks, I 
will tell my readers how. 
To Change a Coin received from the Audi- 
ence to a Prepared Com.— Have the pre- 
pared coin concealed by being palmed in 
the left hand. Take the one loaned by the 
audience in the right hand, and, palming 
it, pretend to pass it to the left; show the 
