The shift that goes by this name is credited generally to that mysteriious personage, CHarlier, though this is disputed by French writers. The sleight has been the vortex of a controversy which has raged for many years: Can it, or can it not, be performed imperceptibly? Merlin, in his book, has written that the transposition of the packets invisibly by this pass is impossible; on the other hand the senior collaborator of this volume has seen Charles Bertram use it as an instantaneous color change with perfect success. Although Bertram disclaimed any special dexterity with the sleight he was able to do it eighty times a minute. When he used it as a color change, he applied the pass in this way:
a. Color Change1. Hold the pack vertically in the left hand, face outwards, with the thumb at the upper side, the second, third and fourth fingers at the lower side oand the first finger curled at the bottom of the deck.
2. Move the hand outwards about six inches and call attention to the face card, naming it.
3. Bring the hand back to its original position at the ame time dropping half the pack onto thte left palm, transpose the two packets in the usual way by pushing upwards with the first finger and letting them fall onto the left palm upon which the packet controlled by the first finger is dropped. In making this movement turn the hand over rapidly to the right, bringing it momentarily back upwards, and drop the thumb to the inner end of the face card, Fig. 1. Instantly turn the hand up again, Fig. 2, and quickly move the thumb over the face card from the bottom to the top, Fig. 2. Accompany the action with some such remark as this: "You see, I merely rub my thumb over the card and it changes completely."
The illusion depends upon the rapid twist of the wrist downwards and upwards and the passage of the thumb over the face of the card which conceal the smaller movements of the cards completely.
b. To control a card
It must be conceded that this pass cannot be made invisibly with the hand at rest and without cover, but this can be done under cover of the right hand when the pack is hidden momentarily in taking it by the ends between the right thumb and fingers.
Perfect cover can also be provided, whithout the intervention of the right hand, in this way:
After you have split the pack and a selected card has been placed on top of the lower packet, quickly raise the hand above your head, saying: "Who'll shuffle the deck?" Make the pass as the hand is raised, the upward motion making the transposition of the packets easy. At the end of the action let the pack rest on the left thumb, the fingers pointing upwards, Fig. 3.
This method of bringing a card to the top, when combined with the one-hand top palm in the handing the pack out to be shuffled, is one of the best methods of controlling a chosen card yet devised