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Subj:.....After Dinner Tricks (S613)           From the book             "Mathematical Puzzles of Sam Loyd"              Edited by Martin Gardner              From: Dover Publications in 1959   Pick up two adjacent glasses at a time and in four moves change the position so that each alternate glass will be empty. For readers interested in parlor tricks, here is an amusing puzzle which can be used advantageously to amuse the guests after a banquet or at an evening party.  In the former case eight wine glasses - four empty and four partially filled - illustrate the trick to perfection. In this, as in all exhibitions of similar character, everything depends upon the skill and clever acting of the performer.  He must have his little book down to perfection, so as to be able to do the trick for- wards or backwards without the slightest hesitation, while by the aid of a ceaseless flow of conversation he impresses upon his hearers the fact of its being the most simple little trick that ever happened, which anyone can do unless he be a natural born muttonhead or hopelessly befuddled.  It really looks so simple that almost anyone will be lured into accepting an invitation to step up and test his sobriety by showing how readily he can perform the feat and then the fun begins - for it will rattle ninety-nine out of a hundred. The problem is stated below the sketch.  The glasses in the picture are numbered to make it easy to describe the correct procedure.

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