An early explanation of this trick is given by J. N. Ponsin in Nouvelle magie blanche dévoilée, Vol. 2, 1854, p. 39. Two years later the trick was explained in an English work, the anonymously authored The Magicians' Own Book, 1857, p. 31 (also published as The Boy's Own Conjuring Book, 1859). Martin Chapender's routine in Mahatma, Vol. 7 No. 1, July 1903, p. 756, is perhaps the first modern routine, which influenced much of what was to come after. Among other things, it features the crash link.