8 
THE YOUNG SCIENTIST. 
Lessous in Magic. — HI. 
THIRTY years ago or more I attended the 
opening performance of Herr Ale«xander, a 
Magician, at the Minerva Rooms, which old 
New Yorkers will remember as a very pleasant 
hall, and there saw, for the first time in my 
life the *' Obedient Card," which I promised in 
my las^, to explain. It was an old trick then 
and, consequently, is not a very new one now, 
but it js good, and always " takes." 
The performer asks five or six persons in the 
audience to select cards, and when they have 
been chosen and replaced in the pack he returns 
to the stage and lays the cards on his table. 
He then hands out for examination a small 
metal box, of such a size that a pack of cards 
will just fit in it. This box, the technical name 
of which is card-rack, is open at one end and 
partly open in the front, and has a piece of 
tubing soldered at the closed end. It is very 
much the pattern of a faro box, but as my 
readers may never have seen that dangerous 
plaything, and I trust never will, they can 
form an idea of what is needed by this illus- 
tration. 
Fig. 1. 
When the audience have been satisfied that 
there is no preparation about the box, it is 
stuck on the end of a pole, which is fastened 
to the stage, and the pack of cards is placed in 
it. Then as they are called out each card rises 
in turn from the pack. 
The preparation for this is very simple : A 
piece of black sewing silk is fastened to the top 
of one of the first cards in the pack and then 
led over the top of the pack. The last of the 
cards selected by the audience is then forced 
down into the pack carrying the silk -thread 
with it. Then another card, and another, until 
all have been pushed into the pack, each carry- 
ing the thread with it. Between each of the 
chosen cards there are three or four others, and 
over the tops of these the thread always passes 
while it goes under the chosen ones. The loose 
end of the silk-thread is led off to a confederate 
who is concealed, and, it stands to reason, that 
when he pulls the thread the last card that was 
pushed down will come up and when he pulls 
again, the next will come, and so on till all 
have appeared. This prepared pack is laid on 
the table with several others, and after the card- 
rack has been examined and placed in position, 
this pack is taken up, instead of the one from 
which the cards were drawn, and placed in the 
card-rack. 
The effect of the trick may be heightened in 
very many ways, as for instance : Among the 
cards that are drawn let one be a queen. When 
it is time for it to arise from the pack, the per- 
former approaches the person who drew it, and 
requests him to tell it to " come up." This he 
does, but strange to say, no card appears. 
What was your card, sir?" you ask. 
" The queen of hearts," he replies. 
"Ah, my dear sir, with a queen some little 
formality is required. Court etiquette de- 
mands other language than that in which com- 
mon-folk are addressed. Let me see if I can- 
not persuade her to show herself. ' Will your 
gracious majesty condescend to honor this com- 
pany with your august presence ? ' " 
The card at once comes up, but feet foremost. 
"See sir," you cry, "my politeness has 
brought her out, but to show her anger at 
your want of courtesy in addressing her, she 
comes up feet foremost. We will see, how- 
ever, whether we can remedy it." 
You take the card and place it again in the 
pack with its feet still uppermost, but are care- 
ful to put it among the front cards, and not 
near the thread. A duplicate queen has previ- 
ously been arranged among the prepared cards, 
and when, turning towards the pack, you say: 
" Now will your High Mightiness be conde- 
scending enough to throw a somersault — under 
cover of the other cards — and appear before us 
in a manner more becoming the dignity of youi 
station," the duplicate card appears, and nine 
out of ten in the audience imagine that in some 
way to them unknown you have really caused 
the card to turn over in the pack. 
Another very pretty effect is that of mending 
the card. When the cards are first drawn, you 
ask one gentleman if he will be sure to remem- 
ber his card. Of course he will reply " Yes."" 
" Very welj, sir," you say. "I've no doubt 
