Pick up the glass by holding the back of the hand towards the table and getting the stem of the glass between the second and third fingers. Extend the arm and then, with a quick semicircular sweep of the arm, which should be held stiffly, bring the glass right round and deposit it on the other side of the table. You want a little nerve, and the feat is not difficult, but it appears to be.
[Illustration: { glass of water with stem held between index and middle finger, inverted in arc, and placed back on table without spilling water} Fig. 5]
Japanese performers present a very spectacular feat of this kind in which they use two large buckets tied to the ends of a rope. The buckets are swung about at an alarming pace and in "impossible" positions without a drop of water being spilled; centrifugal force explains the mystery.
This is a "quieter" trick. Give someone a bowl of water and ask them to lay a pin on the surface of the water and leave it there. The pin naturally sinks to the bottom of the bowl, whereupon you complain that your directions have not been carried out properly; they are not likely to be unless the person to whom you hand the pin happens to know the secret of the trick.
Lay a cigarette paper gently on the top of the water and put the pin on the paper. In a few moments the paper will sink, leaving the pin floating on the surface of the water.
You can begin this trick by asking someone if they have ever tried to wash a playing card with water; if so, have they noticed the effect. You ask for a pack of cards and begin the experiment by holding the pack in the left hand, with the fingers on the lower side and the thumb on the other.
There is no harm in saying that the experiment is most successful with a five-spot card, and you put, say, the five of clubs on the bottom of the pack and therefore hold the pack with that card facing the audience. Then, this is what you apparently do.
Dip a finger into some water and rub on the pip at the lower corner nearest to you. To dry the card you take your handkerchief from your pocket and dab the corner. The audience see that you have apparently washed away one of the pips.
Turn the cards over in your hand, so that the blank corner is now at the top and repeat the experiment with the pip which is now in the position occupied by the first. This action reduces the number of pips on the card to three, arranged diagonally across the face of the card.