Water Wizardry Part 2

The Obedient Corks

For this little experiment you want a nice large rose bowl, full of water, and seven corks. The trick is to put the corks into the water and to cause them to float in a perpendicular position.

This is how you do it. Grasp all the corks in one hand, and hold them under the water until they are thoroughly soaked. Then hold them in the position you wish them to a.s.sume and let them go; they will remain close together and in an upright position.

A Peculiar Egg

The peculiarity of the egg used in this experiment is that it neither floats on the top of a large gla.s.s of water nor sinks to the bottom, but merely remains an inch or two under water all the time.

Make a saturated solution of salt and half fill a big tumbler with it.

Then, with a spoon fill up the tumbler with ordinary water, putting it in very steadily so that it does not mingle with the brine at the bottom of the gla.s.s. Now if you drop an egg gently into the liquid--which looks like ordinary water--the egg will sink down through the water, but will come to a standstill on to the top of the brine.

The Suspended Mug

This is an easy catch--more suitable for the garden than for the drawing-room.

Tie a piece of string to the handle of a mug. Hold the other end of the string, so that the mug is suspended, and pour in all the water it will hold in that position.

Stand on a chair and ask for the services of an a.s.sistant. You tell your a.s.sistant that you are going to cut the string, and it is his job to catch the mug without spilling a drop of the water. The first a.s.sistant naturally fails because you cut the string when he is not expecting the mug to fall. Another a.s.sistant tries his luck; he probably holds his hands just under the mug. You protest that that is not fair, but you will try the trick, nevertheless. While talking you quietly move the string until the mug is just over your victim's head, and then you cut the string quickly. (Note. Don't try this trick with a bad-tempered person, or you may spoil the party, and, obviously, the man must be wearing a hard hat or the mug will hurt him badly.)

You can keep the game going for quite a little time if you can induce enough brave spirits to take a hand, but sooner or later someone is sure to suggest that you try the trick yourself. You at once consent, and you tell your audience that if they will cut the string you will most certainly catch the mug directly it falls. While making this apparently rash promise you quietly tie a little loop in the string and keep it hidden with your hand for a moment. When your a.s.sistant is holding one end of the string and everyone is prepared to see you get a ducking you take your hand away from the loop, tell your a.s.sistant to cut the string "just there" pointing to the loop, and you will catch the mug directly it falls; of course, it will not fall.

All this is only a catch, something to amuse people at a juvenile garden party. To go to the opposite extreme, here is a little trick which will "want doing" if it is to be done well.

The Sticky Gla.s.s

Pick up a winegla.s.s and fill it with water; while doing so say something about the state of the gla.s.s; you can say that the stem feels a little sticky, but perhaps it will do for the trick. Dip a small square piece of paper into the gla.s.s of water and take it out again. This action naturally spills a little of the water, so you fill up the gla.s.s once more. Then you place the piece of wet paper on the top of the gla.s.s and turn the gla.s.s over, and take the hand away. The paper remains over the gla.s.s, and the water does not run out.

If there is a schoolboy present he will be sure to tell you that there is nothing in that; anybody can do it. It is even probable that the boy will explain to you that the pressure of the air on the under surface of the paper is greater than the pressure of the water in the gla.s.s. Hence the apparent miracle. Let the dear boy prattle on. Then tell him that you have not done the trick yet.

Slowly take the paper away from the gla.s.s. The water remains. Put the paper back again; turn the gla.s.s right end uppermost, remove the paper, and show that you have nothing in your hands except the paper and the winegla.s.s of water.

This is a capital little trick, but it needs practice. The edge of the top of the gla.s.s should be ground perfectly flat, and the base should be rather larger than the top. You also need a disc of celluloid with the edge slightly sunk so that when the disc is placed on the gla.s.s it fits there and cannot easily slip off sideways.

[Ill.u.s.tration: _Paper disc_ _Paper_

_Celluloid Fake_ _Fake_

_PAPER PLACED ON BOTTOM OF GLa.s.s_ _PAPER & FAKE COVER GLa.s.s TOGETHER_

Fig. 4]

Before commencing the trick dip this celluloid disc into some water and place it under the base of the gla.s.s, the sunk edge being against the gla.s.s. The water will cause the disc to adhere to the gla.s.s, and therefore when you show the gla.s.s you have nothing concealed in your hands. Fill the gla.s.s with the water and dip in the piece of paper. This causes some of the water to overflow and you naturally want to pick up the jug to fill it up again, but you are holding the gla.s.s in the left hand and the wet paper in your right. To get the right hand free you place the paper under the base of the gla.s.s and therefore under the celluloid disc while you fill up the gla.s.s with water. Then, in putting on the paper again you take the disc away with it and the disc goes quietly on the top of the gla.s.s. It is advisable to make the water overflow in the first place because you want to get the edge of the gla.s.s wet.

Press down on the paper and shape the paper round the gla.s.s and you need not worry about the rest; the celluloid disc will adhere tightly and you can wave the gla.s.s about after you have taken the paper away. You have said something in the first part of the trick about the gla.s.s being sticky, and you now mention that it must be very sticky, since all the water has stuck to it.

In replacing the paper on the top of your gla.s.s get your thumb nail under the disc and lift it up. Then remove the paper with the disc under it, place both under the gla.s.s, take away the paper, leaving the disc stuck to the base of the gla.s.s and the trick is over.

A similar trick is done with a tumbler, but as the base of an ordinary tumbler is smaller than the top the disc of celluloid cannot be hidden under the tumbler; it is usual to have it on a tray, and after wetting the paper to place the paper over the disc and pick up both together.

The tumbler used for this trick usually has a small hole made in one side (if there can be any side to a round tumbler). At the beginning of the trick the hole is closed with wax, and to conclude the trick the conjurer holds the inverted gla.s.s with the paper on it over a gla.s.s bowl, sc.r.a.pes away the wax, thus admitting air, and the water rushes out, carrying the paper and disc with it into the bowl.

For a very much finer trick of this kind the reader is referred to Chapter III, "The Hydrostatic Tube."

We now return, for a moment, to our winegla.s.s which was left at the conclusion of the trick, with a celluloid disc adhering to its base. The conjurer will naturally want to get rid of this disc at the earliest opportunity, and so he provides his own opportunity by performing this

Feat of Dexterity

First of all, the conjurer says that the base of the gla.s.s is wet. He takes out a clean handkerchief to dry it and in so doing wipes away the celluloid disc and puts it into his pocket. He pours a little of the water out of the gla.s.s, which should not be more than about half full, especially during the first rehearsals!

The feat consists in looping the loop with the gla.s.s, by swinging it right round with the hand, without spilling the water. It is as well to rehea.r.s.e the feat in the garden!

Pick up the gla.s.s by holding the back of the hand towards the table and getting the stem of the gla.s.s between the second and third fingers.

Extend the arm and then, with a quick semicircular sweep of the arm, which should be held stiffly, bring the gla.s.s right round and deposit it on the other side of the table. You want a little nerve, and the feat is not difficult, but it appears to be.

[Ill.u.s.tration: {gla.s.s of water with stem held between index and middle finger, inverted in arc, and placed back on table without spilling water} Fig. 5]

j.a.panese performers present a very spectacular feat of this kind in which they use two large buckets tied to the ends of a rope. The buckets are swung about at an alarming pace and in "impossible" positions without a drop of water being spilled; centrifugal force explains the mystery.

The Floating Pin

This is a "quieter" trick. Give someone a bowl of water and ask them to lay a pin on the surface of the water and leave it there. The pin naturally sinks to the bottom of the bowl, whereupon you complain that your directions have not been carried out properly; they are not likely to be unless the person to whom you hand the pin happens to know the secret of the trick.

Lay a cigarette paper gently on the top of the water and put the pin on the paper. In a few moments the paper will sink, leaving the pin floating on the surface of the water.

Was.h.i.+ng a Card

You can begin this trick by asking someone if they have ever tried to wash a playing card with water; if so, have they noticed the effect. You ask for a pack of cards and begin the experiment by holding the pack in the left hand, with the fingers on the lower side and the thumb on the other.

There is no harm in saying that the experiment is most successful with a five-spot card, and you put, say, the five of clubs on the bottom of the pack and therefore hold the pack with that card facing the audience.

Then, this is what you apparently do.

Dip a finger into some water and rub on the pip at the lower corner nearest to you. To dry the card you take your handkerchief from your pocket and dab the corner. The audience see that you have apparently washed away one of the pips.

Turn the cards over in your hand, so that the blank corner is now at the top and repeat the experiment with the pip which is now in the position occupied by the first. This action reduces the number of pips on the card to three, arranged diagonally across the face of the card.

Repeat the experiment, but this time wash away the two corner pips at once, leaving only one pip in the centre of the card. Then wash away this pip and you have a blank card, which you hand out for examination.

[Ill.u.s.tration:

_WAs.h.i.+NG OFF THE SPOTS_