By W. G. Malvern, Coin and Card Manipulator.

The requirements for this excellent trick are as follows:—A glass gas chimney, four silk handkerchiefs—one red, one blue, and two white. A small fÊke—consisting of a brass tube about two inches long and just large enough to slip over the forefinger of the right hand. There must be soldered at the top of the fÊke on the outside, a piece of wire forming a small hook. The fÊke should, for obvious reasons, be covered with flesh-coloured silk.

A sheet of cartridge paper rolled up to form a tube and of such a size as to fit over the glass cylinder is also required.

The presentation of the trick is as follows:—The performer commences by showing an ordinary glass cylinder to be unprepared and free from deception. The three handkerchiefs are next shown, and in placing them on the table the blue handkerchief is casually dropped over the fÊke which is lying there loaded with a duplicate white handkerchief. The red handkerchief is then picked up along with the cylinder and placed in one end; then the blue handkerchief (and with it the fÊke) is inserted in the other end of the cylinder. The hook on the fÊke engages the rim of the cylinder, which prevents it from slipping down. The performer now covers the cylinder with the tube of paper, and in doing so the forefinger is pushed through the fÊke, which action causes the concealed handkerchief to appear between the blue and red handkerchiefs, and when withdrawing the finger, the fÊke is brought away on it, which, of course, cannot be seen owing to the flesh-coloured silk.

The trick is now practically finished; all the performer has to do is to vanish the white handkerchief into the fÊke, which is removed from the finger, and command the white handkerchief to appear between the red and blue handkerchiefs in the cylinder. On removing the paper tube this is seen to have been done.