Mesmerism

Source: What Shall We Do Now?: Five Hundred Games And Pastimes
Category: THINKING, GUESSING, AND ACTING GAMES



Another trick. The players who are to be mesmerized--among them being
the one or two who do not know the game--stand in a row, each holding
a dinner-plate in the left hand. The mesmerizer, who also has a
dinner-plate, faces them, and impresses on them very seriously the
importance, if they really want to be mesmerized, of doing exactly
what he does and not moving their eyes from him in any direction. He
then holds the plate flat, rubs the first finger of his right hand on
the bottom of it, and makes an invisible cross on his forehead, on
each cheek, and on the tip of his nose. That is all. The trick lies in
the fact that the plates of the players who do not know the game have
been held in the flame of a candle until they are well blacked. This
means that when the mesmerism is over they each have black marks on
their faces, and know nothing about it until they are led to a
looking-glass.


Next: Thought-reading Tricks

Previous: Making Obeisance

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