Until the pack of cards are thrown against the bat, the magician exercises the greatest care not to turn the side of the bat to which the cards are sticking toward the spectators. Properly presented, this trick has proved most illusive. “Cupid Lighter than a Butterfly.” The pleasing trick which forms the subject of our engravings owes its success to the ingenious application of mechanical principles. The magician presents for inspection to the audience a large pair of balance scales. The audience is allowed to examine the various parts of the balance before it is erected on the stage. It consists of a central column and a beam resting on a knife-edge, and two pans suspended by cords or chains. After the column has been put in position, the beam is put on and a pin inserted, thus making a center for the beam to work on. A gentleman is asked to stand in one of the scale pans, and then weights are gradually placed in the other pan until his exact weight is ascertained. The weights are removed, and the gentleman steps down off the stage. The audience is now convinced that the scale is to all intents and purposes like the ordinary balance which is so much used in groceries for weighing tea, coffee, etc., although, of course, in the present instance, it is built on a mammoth scale. [Illustration: Fig. 64.--“Cupid Lighter than a Butterfly.”] The magician now goes on to say that he will prove the old assertion that “love is lighter than a butterfly” to be absolutely true. He introduces a little boy dressed as Cupid, with wings and a bow and a quiver of arrows. When the child steps on the scale pan, it immediately sinks to the floor by his weight. The conjurer now takes a butterfly, and, asking all to direct their attention to the scale, drops it on the opposite pan, which immediately descends to the floor, at the same time raising the pan with the Cupid high in the air. If he takes the butterfly off, the Cupid descends, and every time the prestidigitateur replaces the butterfly, Cupid is raised off the floor. [Illustration: Fig. 65.--The Illusion Explained.]