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Mnemonics as Applied to Conjuring
The Alphabet of Figures
WHILE it is not within the province of this book to go into a study of a system of artificial memory, there are certain conjuring tricks frequently presented to the public as "Mental Phenomena," that have a system of this kind for their groundwork, as, for example, the following which depend, mainly, on numbers, for their effects: "Second Sight" the memorizing of a long list of words at one reacting; the instantaneous raising of any two numbers to the cube or third power; the memorizing of a pack of cards or a set of dominoes, etc., etc. "Second Sight" can not be considered here, for the trick as exhibited to-day, with its varied codes, would need almost an entire volume to explain clearly, and calls for deeper, longer, and more continuous study than most conjurers would care to devote to it. Some of the other tricks, however, while also requiring some study, will, we believe, prove interesting to our readers.
The first step in this study is to learn so thoroughly that they may be recalled without the slightest hesitation, (1) the Alphabet of Figures and (2) the Table of Fixed Ideas. In the first, the numerals 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 0 are represented by letters, as follows:
The Alphabet of Figures
| T and D | represent 1 | J, ch, sh, zh, z in azure,
g soft as in genius, | represent 6 |
| N | represent 2 | K, C hard, G hard, and Q | represent 7 |
| M | represent 3 | F and V | represent 8 |
| R | represent 4 | P and B | represent 9 |
| L | represent 5 | S and Z | represent 0 |
As will be seen, all these letters are consonants. The vowels a, e, i, o and u, and w, h, y are merely to form words, as, nail (n-l),=25; chess (ch-s)=60.
"But," asks the reader, "how shall I remember which consonant represents three or which eight?" Very easily by bearing in mind that t is made with one down-stroke; n with two down-strokes; m with three down-strokes; r is the last letter of four, which has four letters; L, in Roman notation is fifty, but with the cipher oil it is five; J looks somewhat like a reversed six; K, inverted, is much like seven; f in script, resembles eight; p is a reversed nine; c is the first letter of cipher and stands for naught.
The above are the primitive letters, and in practice each letter is pronounced as if it were followed by e, as, te, ne, me, re, le, je, ke, fe, pe, ce. Remember it is the sound, not the spelling, is the guide. The other letters are those that have similar sounds, as, for example, d, which sounds like t and represents 1; ch, sh, tch, zh, z in azure, g soft as in genius, sound like j, and stand for 6; g hard and q sound like k and stand for 7; v sounds nearly like f and stands for 8; b is almost the sound of p and represents 9; s and z sound like c in cipher and stand for 0. As proof that these sounds are similar, the foreigner often says dat for that, chudche for judge.
Silent letters, those that are not pronounced, have no value, as, for example, knife (n-f)=28; lamb (l-m)= 53; gh in thought; l in palm. Double consonants are treated as one letter, as mummy (m-m) =33; butter (b-t-r) =914; but if the double letters have distinct articulation, then each letter has its own numerical value, as, accept (k-s-p-t) =7091; bookkeeper (b-k-k-p-r) = 97794. As the cipher never begins a whole number, s, which represents the cipher, may be prefixed to any other letter, as stone (t-n)=12; snow (n)=2.
At first glance it may seem a difficult task to learn these letters and their equivalent numbers, but half-an-hour's careful study will generally prove enough for the greatest dullard.
Table of Fixed Ideas
THE next study is that of a table of one hundred words, known as a Table of Fixed Ideas, and this will prove to be time well spent, for by its aid most of the conjuring "stunts" are effected. By sounding to one's self the letters that represent the numbers the word may be easily recalled. It is advisable to prepare such a table for one's self, but those who do not care to go to that trouble will find the following good and perfectly reliable. One thing, however, must be borne in mind, that this Table ought not be changed, once it is memorized.
1 Tea
2 Noah
3 Ma
4 Hare
5 Ale
6 Shoe
7 Key
8 Hive
9 Pie
10 Dice
11 Date
12 Den
13 Dime
14 Door
15 Doll
16 Dish
17 Dog
18 Dove
19 Tub
20 Noose
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21 Note
22 Nun
23 Gnome
24 Nero
25 Nail
26 Niche
27 Nag
28 Knife
29 Knob
30 Maize
31 Mat
32 Moon
33 Mummy
34 Mare
35 Mill
36 Match
37 Mug
38 Muff
39 Map
40 Rose
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41 Rat
42 Rain
43 Room
44 Rower
45 Rail
46 Rush
47 Rug
48 Roof
49 Rope
50 Lass
51 Lad
52 Lion
53 Lime
54 Lyre
55 Lily
56 Lash
57 Leg
58 Leaf
59 Lip
60 Chess
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61 Shot
62 Chain
63 Gem
64 Chair
65 Shell
66 Judge
67 Cheek
68 Shave
69 Sheep
70 Case
71 Cat
72 Cane
73 Comb
74 Car
75 Coal
76 Coach
77 Cake
78 Cave
79 Cab
80 Face
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81 Food
82 Fan
83 Foam
84 Fire
85 File
86 Fish
87 Fig
88 Fife
89 Fob
90 Boys
91 Bat
92 Bone
93 Bomb
94 Beer
95 Ball
96 Bush
97 Book
98 Beef
99 Baby
100 Doses
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This Table being perfectly mastered, so as to call instantly the letter or word which represents a certain number, the pupil is prepared to learn some of the tricks made possible by a mnemonical system. To begin let us describe one which was introduced to this country by Cazeneuve, a wonderfully clever conjurer, when he visited us in 1876.
Cazeneuve's Trick
HANDING out a pack of cards he allowed several persons in his audience to shuffle it and then to distribute the pack among themselves, as it suited them. He then requested them to arrange their cards in any order they pleased and to keep them in the same order. Going from one to another he rapidly looked at the cards, and retiring to his stage called off the names in the order they were arranged. In like manner he distributed a set of dominoes and some Loto cards, and these he called off after looking at them a moment. Finally he allowed one of the audience to select one of four or five volumes offered, and requesting that it be opened, preferably about the middle, he read off the first three, four, or five lines. The trick made a hit, especially with his audiences, who were mostly educated people.
The cards, dominoes and Loto cards were all done on one principle, and as to explain one is to explain all we shall confine ourselves to an explanation of the cards.
Each card in the pack is represented by a word. The initial letter of this word tells at once the suit, the words representing Spades beginning with S, Hearts with H, Clubs with C, and Diamonds with D. So far it is simple. The other consonant or consonants in the word represent the number of spots on the card, according to the Alphabet of Figures, counting the Jack as eleven, the Queen as twelve, and the King, thirteen. As the preparation of these words requires some time and thought we give herewith the card list that we have used for years.
CARD LIST
1 Soot
2 Sun
3 Seam
4 Sore
5 Sail
6 Sash
7 Sock
8 Safe
9 Soap
10 Seed
11 Statue
12 Stone
13 Steam |
Hood
Hun
Ham
Hero
Hail
Hash
Hook
Hoof
Hoop
Hothouse
Hot tea
Heathen
Haytime |
Coat
Cone
Cameo
Crow
Claw
Cash
Cook
Calf
Cap
Cats
Cadet
Cotton
King |
Dodo
Down
Dam
Deer
Dial
Douche
Duck
Dive
Dope
Dots
Deadhead
Dudeen
Diadem |
King is used as no other word could be found that would as well express the King of Clubs; Deadhead may be represented by a skull; and as a Dudeen may not be a familiar word to some of our readers, let us say it means a short tobacco pipe.
In exhibiting the trick let us suppose that seven cards are taken from the pack at first, as, for example, the nine of diamonds, the deuce of hearts, the seven of spades, the four of spades, the six of clubs, the Queen of diamonds, and the ten of hearts. When the conjurer goes to the person who drew the cards, he asks, " How many cards have you, please ~ " and when he hears "seven, " he at once pictures to himself a tea-table with, say, a large key lying on it, and remembers (without trying to remember) that seven cards have been drawn by the first person. Then he connects tea (the first word in the Table of Fixed Ideas) with dope, the nine of diamonds. How does he connect them, In any way, as, for example, by comparing the two words and seeing in what way they are alike, in spelling, in appearance, in characteristics, in color, taste, or what not, or how they differ, or he may make a mental picture of the two things (not words), as, for instance, a man refusing a cup of tea because there is some axle-grease (which is dope) floating in it. We believe that the latter method, that of making use of a mental picture, will prove the best for most persons. Proceeding he connects then, the deuce of hearts, with Noah, the second word in the Table of Fixed Ideas, as, let us say, Noah looking out on the waters of the flood, while a hen is perched on his shoulder. Absurd, the reader may say, but absurd or not it does the work, and, in most cases, the more absurd the mental picture the stronger the impression will be, as he who does this work night after night can testify. For the second lot of cards let us suppose that twelve cards are drawn. The performer says to himself, seven and twelve are nineteen, and he immediately connects eight, hive, with nineteen, tub, and then the mnemonical name of the first card with hive, and so on to the end. Difficult and complicated as this may seem, we assure our readers that in practice it will be found most simple and always reliable.
The reading of a book is very different. The books are all the same, but with different title-pages and corresponding titles on the covers. Not only are they all the same, but they are made up of two pages only, repeated over and over. The performer, as will be remembered, asks that a page about the middle of the book be selected, and in that way is assisted by the person who opens the book.
Another trick that makes a good impression on the average audience is that of Memorizing at One Reading a Long List of Words Suggested by the Audience.
Memorizing at One Reading a Long List of Words
Suggested by the Audience
THIS is a regular exercise with the teachers of Memory Systems, but as a trick it was first presented, to the best of our knowledge, by the senior editor of this book. It was introduced later in this country by Ernest Patrizio, a Spanish conjurer, who first appeared in New York in 1878. It is simple and consists merely in connecting the words suggested by the audience with those in the Table of Fixed Ideas. When this connection is clearly made there is no difficulty in repeating a hundred words in the order set down, or recalling them backward or telling the number any particular word or words occupy in the list.
A somewhat similar trick, one that has proved something of a puzzle to professional and amateur conjurers, is that commonly known as Kellar's Cube Root Trick.
Kellar's Cube Root Trick
AS HERE presented we have substituted other cues for those used by Mr. Kellar, and, we believe, with advantage, but the method is identical with his.
In several system of mnemonics as many as three and four Tables of Fixed Ideas are used, and in this cube-root method we use one that differs in most words with Table No. 1.
In presenting this as a trick it is generally offered as something similar to the so-called "Lightning Calculation, " and not as a feat of memory. Mr. Kellar prefaced it with merely a few words in which he announced that if the audience would call out any one number or two numbers he would immediately write down the cube on the blackboard and he did. It will be seen by the following Table that each number is represented by one word and the cube by a short sentence. These are connected in the performer's mind, in the manner already described; the moment a number is called out he thinks of the word that stands for it and that word, if his table is properly memorized, will revive in his mind the word or sentence that stands for the cube. The cubes of tens are not noted here, as they can be recalled instantly by calling the cubes of units thousands, as, for example, the cube of 3 equals 27; the cube of 30 is 27,000; the cube of 7 equals 343; the cube of 70 is 343,000. Now or the Table itself.
2 7
3 Ham An egg
6 4
4 Rye Sherry
1 2 5
5 Lie Denial
2 1 6
6 Hash On a dish
3 4 3
7 Key My room
5 1 2
8 Hive Wild honey
7 2 9
9 Bee Go nip
1 3 3 1
11 Date With my maid
1 7 2 8
12 Dine Take enough
2 1 9 7
13 Item Note Book
27 4 4
14 Author Ink hirer
3 3 75
15 Tell Me meekly
4 0 9 6
16 Dish Rose bush
4 9 1 3
17 Talk Ripe theme
5 8 3 2
18 Thief Love money
6 8 5 9
19 Daub Save a lip
9 2 6 1
21 Hand Punched
1 0 6 4 8
22 Nun Does show her vow
1 21 6 7
23 Name A dandy joke
1 3 8 2 4
24 New Year With my fine rye
1 5 6 2 5
25 Nile Dull Channel
1 7 5 7 6
26 Wench Took all cash
1 9 6 8 3
27 Nag To buy each wife a home
2 1 95 2
28 Knave Neat plan
2 43 8 9
29 Nob No army fop
2 9 7 9 1
31 Mad In a big pout
3 2 7 6 8
32 Money May now catch a foe
3 5 9 3 7
33 My Home Home will be Mohawk
3 9 3 0 4
34 Mary May be a miser
4 2 8 75
35 Mule Ruin a vehicle
4 6 6 5 6
36 Smash Rich jewel show
5 0 6 5 3
37 Smoke Lose a chilly home
5 4 8 7 2
38 Move Lower a heavy can
59 3 1 9
39 My pay Help me to buy
6 8 9 21
41 Road Chief point
74 0 8 8
42 Run Accross a five
7 9 5 0 7
43 Rum Keep losing
8 5 1 8 4
44 Rower Awful diver
9 1 1 2 5
45 Rail A bad tunnel
9 7 3 3 6
46 Rich Big mummy show
10 3 8 2 3
47 Rake Hits my wife numb
1 1 0 5 9 2
48 Rough The head sea will open
1 1 7 6 4 9
49 Rube To take a chair up
1 3 2 6 51
51 Lad The man child
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1 4 0 6 0 8
52 Lion Dares chase a foe
14 8 8 7 7
53 Lamb Drove off a cook
1 5 74 6 4
54 Liar Idol crusher
1 6 6 3 7 5
55 Lily Dutch show my equal
1 75 6 1 6
56 Slouch Tacle a schottishe
1 8 5 1 9 3
57 Look The evil witty poem
1 95 1 1 2
58 Loaf Double the weight now
2 0 5 3 7 9
59 Sloop When I sell my cup
2 26 9 8 1
61 Shod An inch by a foot
2 3 8 3 2 8
62 Jane Name of my new wife
25 0 0 4 7
63 Chime Only uses a rock
2 6 2 14 4
64 Chair No china drawer
2 7 4 6 2 5
65 Shallow Niagara channel
2 8 7 4 9 6
66 Judge No fake rubbish
3 0 0 7 6 3
67 Joke Amuse a sick chum
3 14 4 3 2
68 Shave May draw your moan
3 2 8 50 9
69 Shop Woman feels happy
3 57 9 1 1
71 Goat Milk by the day
3 7 3 2 4 8
72 Coin Make men rave
3 8 9 01 7
73 Come Move up a stake
4 0 5 2 2 4
74 Choir Rose Hill nunnery
42 1 8 7 5
75 Quill Worn out of gall
4 3 8 9 7 6
76 Coach Remove baggage
4 5 6 5 3 3
77 Cook Relish a oily mummy
4 74 5 5 2
78 Cuff Sore, cruel line
4 9 3 0 3 9
79 Cop Rip a museum up
5 3 1 4 4 1
81 Food Well made arrow root
5 51 3 6 8
82 Fine Loyalty may shave
5 7 1 7 8 7
83 Foam Liquid quaffing
59 2 7 0 4
84 Fire Albany gas ray
6 1 4 1 2 5
85 Fall Shatter town hall
6 3 6 0 5 6
86 Fish Shame a choice leach
6 5 8 5 0 3
87 Fake Shall a fool swim
6 8 1 4 7 2
88 Five Shaved a racoon
7 0 4 9 6 9
89 Fop Kiss our bishop
75 3 5 7 1
91 Piety Gloomy lookout
7 7 8 6 8 8
92 Pony Kick a fish off a hive
8 0 4 3 57
93 Poem Vassar milk
8 3 0 5 8 4
94 Bar Famous loafer
8 5 7 3 7 5
95 Pill Vile chemical
8 8 4 7 3 6
96 Page Favoring a mash
9 1 2 6 7 3
97 Pack Beaten each game
9 41 1 9 2
98 Puff Part the bun
9 7 0 2 9 9
99 Pup Big as a nabob
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Let us caution our readers to observe carefully the exact sounds of the letters, the variations in sound of the same letter, and the silent letters, as, for example, g in judge is sounded like ch=6; in baggage, the double consonants are sounded like a single K=7, whereas the third g has the sound of ch=6; in chair the ch equals 6, while in chemical it has the sound of K=7. These several sounds once mastered no further trouble will be experienced and no one, we believe, will regret the time devoted to the study of this branch of mnemonics.
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