Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1913-07-13

when he again calls their attention to
the vessels, the liquid has changed its
receptacle.
with properly prepared vessels and
compressed air apparatus the liquid can
be made to retransfer itself to its former
receptacle, and thence back again, II
necessary. depending much upon the
amount Of compressed air-and ability to
distract attention-that the magician has.
Probably the most startling COM
pressed air trick. however, is that in
which the magician, dipping from a wa
ter bucket. pours cupful Of water from
large vase. then pours a secondhand
then. az he il pouring third. the dip
per. instead of emptyfng itself. contin-
ues to flow like a fountain into the
vase.
1.-THE handle, which is but a slender
stick, is held between the thumb and
foref1nger Of the bare-armed magician,
in most ostentattous manner. which is
really for the purpose Of making the
from out the dipper is coming along the
handle and down his bare arm from some
receptacle hidden about his person, and
makes their wonderment increase as the
flood continues
water is not being poured out of the dip
per into the vase, but from the vase into
the dipper! And there. striking the bot
tom. flows back into the vase again. And.
flow from the dipper into the vase. it
never occurs to them that the process ia
reversed: they think they see what they
are expecting to see-just as in TIE old
fashioned wine-bottle trick mentioned
And it Is all done by compressed air.
thus:
I'm the vase there are two horizontal
alright partitions, one. about two-ffths
Of the volume of the vase above the bot
tom, the other about one fifth the volume
above that. In between the two the space
is filled with compressed air. The bottom
space is filled full with several gallons Of
water. From the bottom of the bottom
space there runs a tube along the inside
wall of the vase to point nearly level
with the rim. Here it is inclined at a
slight angle from the perpendicular.
there is a valve which can be relea cod
by pressing an invisible button on the
outside Of the vase.
Now, this Is the way the magician
works it, as ne Is pouring the third dip
per-full into the vase, he slyly presses
the button. At once the air COMPRESSED
in the middle space rushes down on ton
of the water in the bottom space which
tube. AS it gushes' forth at an angle
caused by the bending OF the tube. he
holds his dipper at just the inclina tion 1o
cause the water to strike its bottom and
recoil downward into the vase, giving a
perfect effect Of water flowing from The
dLPper .,,- 49, -.
large enough to hold the several gallons.
thus forced up from the bottom space.
Thus the audience is astonished by seeing
this dipper. like tie widows cruise. pour.
ing forth seemingly inexhaustible
stream from apparently no source what
soever-and it is AL due to compressed
air
Modern discoveries in light" continued
Mr.. Thurston, have enabled the magt-
clan to present effects never dreamed OF
in the philosophy of the old sorcerer
There are certain chemicals for instance
tons, make smoke curtain that is in
visible: that Is, 1t not only conceals the
desired object, but Is itself invisible to
the human eye, SO that the object appears
to fade away like a phantom. One can
imagine the numberless uses to which this
smoke is put by magtcians.
II cannot enumerate the number OF
uses the electric light is put to, but VIII
mention q fundamental trick, which is
varied In countless ways. A black back
ground Is shown Suddenly a red devil
flashes upon the stage-from nowhere!
i nS snG between winks Then. m me nan
after, he appears. only to vanish again.
X
"This simple trick is performed by
placing a figure clad In red in front Of the
black background. As the lights are ar
ranged, he is utterly invisible to the au-
dience. Suddenly concentrated beam
from an ordinary electric light is thrown
upon him-and he flashes into view. Even
as the audience gazes upon him. that
electric light is turned of and a beam
from a Cooper-Hewitt mercury light con-
centrated on him. Now In the beams ~
this light all red appears a deep black.
SO that the figure disappears by melting
into the background. He y brought back
by reswitching the lights. This tricr :.
used in many complicated ways to causs
disappearance, but this will suffice IN
illustrate the principle
Every one has heard Of the far-famad
wonder.WOrk OF the East Indian ma~i
clans: of how, before the eyes OF the
crowd, In an open market place, a mango
seed is placed in an earthen pot: how
after being covered a few seconds with
q cloth, the seed has grown a foot tall:
another covering and 1t has grown six
feet-and SO on until 1t Is towering tree
OF sixty feet. Also of how a rome Is
thrown into the air and a Hindoo, climb
Ing 1t. disappears into thin space, subse-
quently dropping from the blue piece
scattered on the ground. uniting into the