Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1876-04-19

bY lady confederate, who. Whispered
back the answer. We remember the ex-
hibition, and can vouch for the fact that
the voice seemed to come from tiny be-
ing located in the small globe itself. -
! 1t has been pretty well ascertained, in
regard to mysterious sounds coming from
masses OF stone, that the sonorous effects
admit Of scientific explanation. At Sol
fatara, near Naples, when the ground at
a certain spot is struck by throwing a
large stone against it, a peculiar hollow
sound is distinctly heard. This, it is be-
lieved, is due to one of three causes:
there are large cavities beneath, or there
are partial echoes in the porous
1 stone, or there is reverberation from the
surrounding hills. Humboldt describes
a granitic mountain in the Orinoco region
as lone of those from which travellers
have heard from time to time, towards
sunrise, subterranean sounds resembling
those OF an organ. The missionaries cali
that stone loras de aaustca. 1t is WITCH
craft said our young Indian guide. The
sound Is only heard when a person lies
down on the rock, with his ear close to lhe
| surface" Humboldt expressed belief
| that the rock contains multitude of deep
and narrow crevices; that the tempera-
|
of the open air; that a sonorous current
slowly issues at sunrise; and that the
sound is probably due to this issuing cur
rent striking against thin films Of mica in
the granite Near Tor, in Arabia Pc
trna, is mountain which gives forth a
curious sound. A legend is current
among the natives to the effect that con.
vent OF monks is miraculously preserved
under ground; and that the sound is pro-
duced by the nakous, long metallic bar
suspended horizontally, which priest
strikes with hammer to SUMMON the
monks to prayers. A Greek is even said
to have seen the mountain open, and to
have descended into the subterrancan
convent, where he found fine gardens and
| delicious water; and in order to give
proof of this descent he produced some
fragments of consecrated bread, which he
pretended to have brought from the un-
derground convent Seetzen, the first
| European traveller who visited this spot
| played sad havoc with this imaginative
| picture. Accompanied by some Greeks
and Arabs, he found bare rock of hard
sandstone inscribed with Greek, Arabic
and Coptic characters. He came to the
conclusion on close examination that the
surfaces of two inclined planes of sand
stone are covered with loose disintegrated
sand, and that this sand in gradually roll
| ing down produced sound like the swell
| ing and waning tone OF a hummng.top.
Perhaps the most familiar Of mysterious
sounds are those produced by the ventrlo-
quist; familiar because almost every coun
| try fairs visited by one or other of these ex-
hibilors mysterious because the real source
ofsound does not correspond with the APP
parent. 1t lies within the province of
the anatomist or psychologist to explain
how 1t Is that some men can speak rs If
| from the stomach instead of the throat,
and without any perceptible movement Of
the lips; but the person who can do this
the ventriloquist-may make himself a
most bcwildering deceiver of those who
| listen to him. Our power of determining
the exact direction whence a sound comes
is less than we usually imagine, 1t is
said that Saville Carey, who could well
initiate the whistling of the wind, would
sometimes amuse himself by exercising
this art in a public coffee heuse. Some
! of the guests at once rose to see whether
the windows were quite closed, while
| others would button up their coats, as if
cold. Sir David Brewster notices ven
triloquist Of exceptional skill, NJ. st.
Gille, who one day entered a. church
| where some monks were lamenting the
death of brother; suddenly they heard
a voice as if from over their heads, be-
| walling the condition of the departed in
| purgatory, and reproducing them for
| their want OF zeal; not suspecting the
| trick, they fell on their faces, and chapted
| the Ode Protundis." A committee, APP
| pointed by the Academic DIES Sciences to
| report on the phenomena Of ventriloquism,
went with NJ st. Gile to the house of
| lady, to whom they announced that they
| had come to investigate case Of aerial
spirits somewhere in the neighbOr-
| hood. During the interview She heard
what she termed esprit voices above
her head, underneath the floor and in
| distant parts of The room, ana was with
difficulty convinced that the only spirit
present was the ven,riloquistic voice OF
| NJ. st. Gille.
Brewster tells OF another master Of this
! art, Louis Brabant, Udtet de chdD,bw to
Francis l., whose suit was rejected by the
parents of beautiful and well-dowered
| girl with whom he was in love. He called
| on the mother after the death of the father
again to urge his suit, and while he was
present she heard the voice Of her de-
| ceased husband expressing TenoIse ior
| having rejected Louis Brabant and con-
juring her TO give her immediate consent
to the betrotfal. Frightened and alarmed,
she consented. Brabant, deeming it de-
sirable to behave literally in the marriage
| arrangements, but having not much cash
at command, resolved to try whether his
ventriloquism would be as efiicacious
with a money lending banker as it had
| wi Ia vii n, ~ hp
| versation should turn upon the subject of
| demons, specters and purgatory. Sud-
denly was heard the voice OF the usurer's
father, complaining OF the horrible suffer .
Il, no, 1,.nS and IAIIrlralAr1t and