Year: 1873




.rhe History and PeculiarttIes OF the Art.


1t was supposed for many years, and
eminent physiologists gave countenance
TO the theory, that some popularity in
tho conformation Of the larynx was re-
quisite for ventrilOquism,, or at least
that it was accomplished by processes
essentially different from those adopted
in ordinary speaking or singing but it
has been demonstrated that the vocal
organs of the ventriIoquist are the
same as those of other men, nor is his
-use of them materially different from
that of others. For success in the ex-
ercise of his art, he requires only keen
perceptions, an ear delicately attuned
to the variations of sound produced by
distance or direction, and strongly
developed mimetic faculty. The vocal
organs possess the power of initiating,
under skillful training, all the sounds
of animate or inanimate life, and in
such way as to represent them as
heard at greater or less distance and
from different directions. The ventrilo-
quist is we'll aware that no one of our
senses is more easily deceived than our
hearing, because in listening to sounds
( we Judge of their remoteness by COM
pairing them with other sounds whose
distance we are familiar with, and de-
termine their distance by an arbitrary
and often incorrect estimate OF their
relative volume at the place of their
d. supposed emission, a standard which
must often be faulty, RE


The uncertainty with regard to the di-
rection of sound is the foundation of
o. the art of ventriloquism. If we placed
ten men in row at such distance
from us that they are included in the
angle within which we cannot Judge of
r- the direction of sound, and, If on a
calm day, eRch of them speaks in sue
session, we shall not be able with closed
eyes to determine from which of the ten
mon any OF the sounds proceed, and we
shall be incapable of perceiying that
there is any difference in the direction
OF thesounds emitted by the two outer
most. If man and child are placed
within the same angle, and if the man
1 speaios with the accent of child, with
out any corresponding motion in his
Z q mouth and face, we shall neccessarily
believe that his voice comes from the
child nay, if the child is 50 distant
from the man that the voice actually ap-
pears TO MS TO come from the man, we
shall still continue to believe that the
child is the speaker and this convic-
tion would require additional strength
If the child favored the deception by
accommodating It's features and gestures
to the words spoken by the man.


.- The ventriloquist utters the sound
with the effect it would have upon the
hearers ear if it had really traversed
the distance he designs it to represent,
reducing it's loudness, softening some
what its quality or tone, and if it is in
words obscuring little the consonate
sounds, while retaining unaltered the
pitch and duration. In doing this he
modifies the tones of his voice by vary
ing the position of the tongue and the
soft palate, dilating or contracting the
mouth or pharynx, and either dividing
the buccal and pharyngesl cavities into
- several compartments or throwing them
into one. This is done without move



slight motions of the lips Usually the
ventriloquist stands so as to give only q
profile view of his face, unless at dis.
tance from his audience, and thus has
greater opportunity of oonoealing any
slight motions of the facial muscles. Ii
81, most cases, too, the apparently remots
voice is n falsetto, this being more with
in the command of the ferfornnpr with
out perceptible facial movement thar
the natural tones Some of the great
est ventrilOquists, however, have nevel
. praotised any conoealment, but stanC
face 10 face with their audiences. NJ
Alaxandre, M. ST. Gille apd Louis dt
u Brabant we are informed, apparently
did not move their lips or the muscles
Of their faces


Ventriloquism loses its distinctly,
character il its imitations. arc not per
formed by voice from the belly. Tn,
voice, indeed does not come from thai
. region but when the ventrilOquist ut
ters sounds from the larynx without
moving his face, he gives them strength
by powerful action of the abdomina
muscles. Hence he speaks by means o
his belly, although the throat is tn
real source from which the sounds pro
oeed. The effort in every case is s.
great that the exercise of ventriloquisn
for any considerable length Of time i
very fatiguing, and occasions frequen
oughing on the part Of the performer