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7. To tell a card thought of without even looking at the cards.

Take any number of cards, — say twenty. Pretend to shuffle them with the faces towards you, and remember the first card as you close the pack — suppose the ten of diamonds. Tell the party that the only condition you require is to be told the order in which the card is dealt out by you; in other words, he must tell you whether in dealing it comes out first, second, third, &.

Remembering your first card, you may then turn your back to him, and deal out the cards one by one, and one upon the top of the other, requesting him to think of a card and its order as before said.

Then take up the cards, and shuffle them repeatedly, by throwing a portion of them from the bottom to the top, taking care not to mix the cards or let any drop, and then let the party cut them as often as he pleases. Then, take the cards in

hand. Pretend to examine them mysteriously, but in reality only look for your card — the first dealt out — the ten of diamonds for instance. Now, suppose he tells you that the card he thought of came out fifth. Then, for a certainty, it is the fourth card on the right of the ten of diamonds, in spite of all your shuffling, and all regular cutting, for such shuffling and regular cutting cannot alter the order or sequence of the cards. Always remember to count from your own card inclusive to the number of the card thought of towards your right hand. But should your card happen to be so near the right hand or the top as not to allow sufficient counting, then count as far as it admits to the right and then continue at the left. Thus, suppose there are only two cards above the ten of diamonds, then count two more on the left, making the fifth. If the card you remember, or your first card, is first, then count the requisite number on the left, always beginning with your card, however.

The reason of this trick is simply that by merely cutting the cards, and shuffling them in the way indicated, you do not alter the sequence of the cards. With regard to this sort of shuffling, I may say that it is simply cutting the cards — always preserving their

sequence — a most important fact for card-players, since it may lead to a pretty accurate conjecture of all the hands after a deal, from the study of the one in hand, with reference to the tricks turned down after the previous deal, as already suggested. Hence, in shuffling for whist or other games, the cards should not be shuffled in this way, but more thoroughly mixed by the edgewise shuffling of certain players.

This is the trick I alluded to at the commencement of the chapter, the mode of performing which I succeeded in discovering. Of course any number of persons may think of cards, remembering their order, and the operator will tell them, in like manner.