The magician appears accompanied by his assistant.  He has a sack similar to a meal bag only on a large scale.  The upper end of this bag is shown in Fig. 1, with the rope laced in the cloth.  He then selects several people from the audience as a committee to examine the sack to see that there is absolutely no deception whatever in its makeup.  When they are satisfied that the bag or sack is all right, the magician places his assistant inside and drawing the bag around him he allows the committee to tie him up with as many knots as they choose to make, as shown in Fig. 2.

The bag with its occupant is placed in a small cabinet which the committee surround to see that there is no outside help.  The magician then takes his watch and shows the audience that in less than 30 seconds his assistant will emerge from the cabinet with the sack in his hand.  This he does, the sack is again examined and found to be the same as when it was first seen.

[Illustration:  Sack Trick-Holding the Rope Inside the Bag]

The solution is when the assistant enters the bag he pulls in about 15 in. of the rope and holds it, as shown in Fig. 3, while the committee is tying him up.  As soon as he is in the cabinet he merely lets out the slack thus making enough room for his body to pass through.  When he is out of the bag he quickly unties the knots and then steps from his cabinet.  —­Contributed by J. F. Campbell, Somerville, Mass.

** The Invisible Light [251]

The magician places two common wax candles on a table, one of them burning brightly, the other without a light.  Members of the audience are allowed to inspect both the table and the candles.

The magician walks over to the burning candle, shades the light for a few seconds, turns to the audience with his hands a few inches apart, showing that there is nothing between them, at the same time saying that he has a light between his hands, invisible to them (the audience), with which he is going to light the other candle.  He then walks over to the other candle, and, in plain sight of the audience lights the candle apparently with nothing.

In reality the magician has a very fine wire in his hand which he is heating while he bends over the lighted candle, and the audience gaze on and see nothing.  He turns to the other candle and touches a grain of phosphorus that has been previously concealed in the wick with the heated wire, thus causing it to light.  —­Contributed by C. Brown, New York City.

** Using the Sun’s Light in a Magic Lantern [251]

The light furnished with a small magic lantern does very well for evening exhibitions, but the lantern can be used in the daytime with good results by directing sunlight through the lens instead of using the oil lamp.  A window facing the sun is selected and the shade is drawn almost down, the remaining space being covered by a piece of heavy paper.  A small hole is

[Illustration:  Magic Lantern]