a table, and
you then stand behind him blindfolded, with your fingers lightly
touching his temples. The cards are spread out faces down on the table,
and no matter which card he picks up and looks at, you at once say what
it is. Of course, you take the tip from him; but how? I will tell you.

He must keep his mouth shut and his teeth together. The slightest
pressure between his upper and lower teeth--so slight that it is quite
imperceptible--will cause his temples to throb--try it on your own
temples--and, of course, by the arrangement of a very simple code he can
communicate to you the name of each card. Say one throb stands for
hearts, two for diamonds, three for clubs, and four for spades. We will
say his temples throb twice. You say, "You are looking at a diamond."
Then we will suppose they next throb five times. You say, "It is the
five of diamonds," and so on. When you come to an ace, of course one
throb will suffice; when he picks up a knave, let him give two throbs in
rapid succession--a kind of postman's knock; a queen, a postman's knock
and one throb over; and for a king, a double postman's knock--rat-tat,
rat-tat. With a little practice and a more elaborate code, you can
describe all kinds of articles which may be selected--keys, watches,
books, etc. It is a capital trick and one which no one can possibly
discover.

THE SENSE OF TOUCH

This is an improvement upon the two preceding tricks which I invented
several years ago, and have shown scores of times without the _modus
operandi_ being once detected.

EFFECT.--The pack is handed to the audience to be shuffled, and, without
even glancing at it, the performer places it behind his back and names
each card (presumably by the sense of touch) before he draws it. He can
hand the pack back to the audience to be shuffled as many times as
desired.

EXECUTION.--Before handing the pack to be shuffled, ascertain which card
is on the top, and palm it in the right hand; receive the pack back in
the palm of the left hand and cover it with the thumb.

Put both hands behind you and slip the palmed card between the tips of
your left first and second fingers; then palm the top card and take the
card originally palmed between the right thumb and the forefinger with
your thumb on top. While doing this, explain to the audience that you
have with considerable practice acquired a marvellously keen sense of
touch which enables you to ascertain the name of each card by simpl