More Conjuring Part 6

There were now thirty-six boys sleeping in the dormitories, and next night they were joined by four more, which brought the number up to forty, and yet the master only counted twelve in each dormitory on his rounds that night. How the new distribution was made is shown in Fig.

20.

|| |||||||| || Fig. 20.

Next night four more chums popped in for a snooze, making a total of forty-four, and again the master was bamboozled by the following readjustment (Fig. 21).

[Ill.u.s.tration]

| |||||||||| | Fig. 21.

History is silent upon the subject of the arrangement at the breakfast-tables.

The proper way to present this puzzle to your friends is to lay forty-four matches on the table, and after showing the initial arrangement, allow them to work the rest out for themselves.

WHAT ARE MATCHES MADE OF?

Arrange fourteen matches as in Fig. 22, and tell your friends to take away any three matches they may select without disturbing the others, and replace one in any position they may choose in such a way as to show what matches are made of. They will endeavour to form the word "wood"; but Fig. 23 gives the correct solution.

----- ----- ----- | | | | / | | | | | | / | | | | | | / | | ----- ----- ----- Fig. 22.

----- ----- | | | / | | | | / |----- | | | / | ----- ----- ----- Fig. 23.

A SHEEP PEN

Arrange eight matches as shown in Fig. 24, and state that this enclosure, formed by eight hurdles, is supposed to hold one hundred sheep. Ask your friends how many more hurdles would be required to enable the enclosure to contain two hundred sheep? The reply is generally eight more, and your friends will be surprised to learn that only two more hurdles are required--one at each end across the enclosure. Three hurdles being moved to admit of the introduction of the additional two, the pen will, of course, be doubled in size.

----- ----- ----- | | | | | | ----- ----- ----- Fig. 24.

POST AND RAIL PUZZLE

Put the following question to the company: Supposing there was a tunnel through a hill and a post and rail fence was constructed through it, and another fence was made exactly above it, over the hill, how many more posts would be required for the latter route, supposing they were the same distance apart by both routes?

After several calculations have been made you can astonish the company by telling them that exactly the same number of posts would be required for both routes, which you can prove by making a rough sketch of the diagram, Fig. 25, and placing matches on it to represent the posts.

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Fig. 25.

SIMPLE MISCELLANEOUS TRICKS

A GOOD AFTER-DINNER TRICK

Procure an egg, an apple, an orange, and two dozen nuts. Place the latter on a plate, and request three persons during your absence from the room to each pocket one of the three former, a.s.serting that you will eventually state in whose pockets the different articles are to be found. On returning to the room present to one of the persons you have asked to a.s.sist you one nut, to a second person two nuts, and to the third three nuts, which will of course leave eighteen nuts on the plate.

You must mentally name the person to whom you gave one nut "number one,"

to the person holding two nuts "number two," and the one who has three nuts "number three."

Announce your intention of again leaving the room, and request your three a.s.sistants to help themselves during your absence to nuts as follows--the one holding the apple to take the same number of nuts you presented him with, the one who has the egg to twice as many as you gave him, and the holder of the orange to four times as many as he originally received.

Impress on them that the number of nuts they take must be _in addition_ to those they already hold.

On returning to the room you glance at the nuts remaining in the plate and at once call for the egg, apple, and orange from their respective holders.

EXPLANATION.

You must memorise the following Latin words: Attento, Beato, Cantores, Erocat, Forta.s.se, Glossema, numbering them 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 7. The initials of these words, it will be observed, are the first six letters of the alphabet, omitting D, which is not required; A, of course, standing for Apple, E for Egg, and O for Orange.

On returning to the room after your second absence count the number of nuts remaining on plate, refer to the Latin words, and you have the key.

Supposing there are only two nuts left, take the second word, Beato, and reject the consonants, when the vowels will remain in proper order, E, A, O. The E being first shows the egg is in the pocket of the person whom you have designated as "number one." The A being second indicates "number two" has the apple, and the O, the third letter, means "number three" holds the orange.

Supposing there are seven nuts left, take the seventh word, Glossema, reject the consonants as before, and pick out the vowels, O, E, A, which proves "number one" person holds the orange, "number two" the egg, and "number three" the apple, and so on with the other Latin words, the remaining number of nuts always indicating the word from which you are to select the vowels. This trick may be repeated _ad lib._ without fear of detection.

TO REMOVE A SERVIETTE RING FROM A TAPE HELD ON THE THUMBS OF ANOTHER PERSON

Obtain a piece of tape, or string, about three feet in length and tie the ends; pa.s.s this loop through a serviette ring and the ends of the loop over the thumbs of a friend (Fig. 26).

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Fig. 26.

Take hold of the tape with your left forefinger at A and pull it forward and down; with your right forefinger pull the tape at B, from underneath, forward and upward, which will cause the two parts to cross each other. Then with your right forefinger and thumb place the tape B over the thumb D; move the ring toward D and with your right forefinger and thumb take the tape at C from underneath and carry it also over the thumb D. Take hold of the ring and pull it gently, as you slip your left forefinger out of the loop A, when it will at once be released without the tape leaving either thumb.

AN EXPERIMENT IN GRAVITY

Give a person two half-crowns and request him to hold them horizontally between the tips of his thumb and finger of his right hand, the coins touching each other. Then request him to drop the lower coin in his left hand and you will tell him which side will come uppermost. First note which side of the coin is underneath when you place them in position, for that will be the uppermost side when it reaches his left hand. The lower coin will turn completely over in the act of falling: nothing can prevent it. The distance between the hands should be from fourteen to sixteen inches.

A SCISSORS FEAT

Hold a pair of scissors on the first two joints of your little fingers with your palms upward, their blades pointing to the floor (Fig. 27).

Then throw the points over toward you, turning your hands at the same time and bringing your knuckles back to back, the scissors standing out straight from you (Fig. 28).

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Fig. 27.