Year: 1873

vENTRILoQUIsM.


The History and PecuIiarities ofthe Art


1t was supposed for many years, and


eminent Psychologists gave countenance
to the theory, that some peculiarly in
the 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 ventriloquist are the
same as those of other men, nor is his
use of them materially different from
that of others. For success in the OK
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. Tho vocal
organs possess the power of initiating,
under skillful training, all the sounds
of animate or inanimate life, and in
such a way as to represent them as
heard at greater or less distance and
from different directions. The ventrilo-
uuist is well aware that no one of our
senses is more easily deceived than onr
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
supposed emission. a standard which
must often be faulty


The uncertainty with regard to the di-
rection of sound is the foundation of
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
the direction of sound, and, if on a
calm day, each Of them speaks in sue
cession, we shall not be able with closed
eyes to determine from which of the ten
men any of the sounds proceed, and we
shall be incapable of perceiving that
there is any difference in the direction
of the sounds emitted by the two outer
most. If man and child are placed
within the same angle, and if the man
speaks with the accent of child, with
out any corresponding motion in his
mouth and face, we shall necessarily
believe that his voice comes from the
child nay, if the child is so distant
from the man that the voice actually ap-
pears to us to come from the man, we
shall still continue to believe that the
child is the speaker and this convic-
ton would require additional strength
if the child favored the deception by
accommodating its features and gestures
to the words spoken by the man.


The ventfiloquist 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 its 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
modifes 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 eithr dividing
the buccal and pharyngeal cavities into
several compartments or throwing them
into one. This is done without move
ment of the lower jaw and with but
slight motions Of the lips. Usually the
stands 80 as to give only
prolific view of his face, unless at a dis
tance from his audience, and thus has
greater opportunity of concealing any
slight motions of the facial muscles. In
most cases, too, and comparatively remote
voice is a falsetto, this being more with
in the command of the performer with
ont perceptible facial movement than
the natural tones. Some of the great
est ventriloquists, however, have never
practised any concealment, but stand
face to face with their audiences. M.
M. st. Gille and Louis de
Brabant, we are informed, apparantly
did not move their lips or the muscles
OF their faces.


Ventriloquism loses its distinctive
character if its limitations are not per-
formed by a voios from the belly. The
voice, indeed, does not come from that
region; but when the ventriloquist ut
ters sounds from the larynx without
moving his face, he gives them strength
by powerful action of the abdominal
Hence he speaks by means Of
bis belly, although the throat is the