The San Francisco call., 1910-04-17

"The next card is red. I think it is the three Of
diamonds says the young woman, and instantly both
begin counting again The operator finds that he has
ten, the next card in the rotation being the
They count silently, Eight kings threatened to-.
At this point the operator stops by setting down the
three then takes up the with a sharp twist
"It is black card" says the young woman at
to be the deuce of spades" Both begin to
count, Eight kings threatened to save nine'-.
Here the operator stops, picking up the card with a
sharp dab of his fingers against the board
RED this time" says the young woman. 81 plainly
the nine of hearts And so it goes through the
list The price OF success, according to all mind
readers is constant drill in the count Once this is
perfected occult wonders are easy
The adding of four columns of figures of four fig
each is another clever example of what may be
done with the silent counting. A volunteer from the
audience writes the figures the board, and the
blindfolded medium" adds them, down and across
The process is the in the bill test the signals
being given with taps of the chalk and the way in
which the figures written The first signal is
given by the operator in drawing the line under the
figures secondary code is necessary to indicate
the amount carried each time.
The usual practice in winding up this test Is mind
reading" of figures pointed out by the operator He
points to various numbers occasionally to a blank
spot in succession, and the young woman calls them
off. This is done by prearranged rotation such as
three, nine, four, two nothing there eight one six
naught, two, nothing there FIVE seven" or anv other
system. The operator, of course follows this mem
orized table in pointing He has several tricks az
hand to fill up gap in the rotation. Suppose for
instance, that there happens be no six on the board
After she has identified the zone" correctly he turns
to the audience with wink, if planning some sly
trick, then writes six in vacant place She
Immediately it and the audience smiles de-
lightedly.
The calling OF figures that are pointed out by some
person from the audience, usually worked in con-
nection with the above, does not depend upon the
counting process but upon the quick eve and iudq-
ment OF the operator Just as the conjurer is abls
to force card, the operator know how to nudge
where the wavering pointer IS going to land bv the
way the volunteer advances it. A code of signals
does the rest, such amy one" "any at az" "anv
at ALL" mo difference take your choice and
others
Another OF the favorte tests which relv upon
memorlzed rotation is the knights tour in chess
The blackboard is marked into 64 squares. num-
bered from left to right The problem is to start
the knight anywhere and take it over the board
with its proper move, square to be omitted and
no square to be crossed more than twice The oper-
ator permits the audience to name the square from
which the start to be made then follows the direc-
tions of the medium" with the chalk 1t makes
not the slightest difference where the start is made
for the system is rotary and when the sequence is
once learned can be picked up at any point There
number OF tables, this being the best:
l, 1S, SO, So co. 81, o. AZ, 81, Is, s. 20 g. g, Is Al
So, 81. O., S. 49, a. T. p, 81 49, 28 49, 80 45 s. %
40, SO. p, So, A, p, AZ, 81 ST. 61 S. 40 %. a.
10, 25. 49, 54 49, 50, So, 63 49, 81 To- g. r. Ill
If the start should be made at g. for instance. the
system would simply turn the corner and run ON
from II to l, Is, 80, etc.