Year: 1873

The History and PecuIiarities Ofthe Art.


It was supposed for many years, and
eminent PSYCHOLOGISTS gave countenance
to the theory, that some popularity 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 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 a strongly
developed mimetic faculty. The vocal
organs possess the power of initiating,
under skillfuI 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 ventrijo-
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
supposed emission, 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 a 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
eession, 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 a man and child are placed
| within the same angle, and if the man
| speaks with the accent Of a 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-
tion would require additional strength
if the child favored the deception by
accommodating its features and gestures
to the words spoken by the man.


The yentriloquist utters the sound
with the effect it would have upon the
hearers ear if it had really traversed
the distance he designs 1t to represent,
reducing its loudness, softening some
what its quality or tone, and if it is in
words, Obscuring a 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 eithr dividing
the buccal and pharyngeaI 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
ventriloquist stands so as to give only g
prolific view of his face, unless at dis.
tance from his audience, and thus has
greater opportunity of concealing any
slight motions of the facial muscles. Ii
most cases, too, and comparatively remote
voice Is a falsettO, this being more with


in the command of the performer with


out perceptible facial movement thar


he natural tones. Some of the great


est ventrilOquists, however, have never
practised any cOncealment, but stand
face to face with their audiences. NJ
Alaxandre, NJ. St. Gille and Louis dt
Brabant, we are informed, apparently
did not move their lips or the muscle,
of their faces.


Ventriloquism loses its distinctly,
character if its limitations are not per
formed by a voice from the belly. Tn,
voice, indeed, does not come from tha


region but when the ventriloquist Mt
ters sounds from the Iarynx without


moving his face, he gives them strength
by powerful action of the abdominal