pages: practicalmagicia00harr.pdf, 80
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practicalmagicia00harr.pdf | 80 | 70 THE PRACTICAL MAGICIAN. prised that the French Academy adopted this view of the subject, and laid down that the art consists in an accurate imitation of any given sound (IS it reachis the car. In conformity with a thcory so incontrovertible, physiologists have suggested a varicty of movements of the vocal organs to explain still further the ori- ginating cause; and some have gone so far as to contend for a peculiarity of structure in these organs as an essential require- ment but they have wisely omitted to specify what. Noth- ing, however, can be more accurate than the description of "therssence" of ventriloquy in the "English Cyclopadia --name- ly, that it "consists in creating illusions as to the distance and direc- tion whence a sound has travelled." How those sounds are pro- duced, we shall show in another chapter, VENTRILOQUISM AMONGST THE ANCIENTS. Charles Lamb gave utterance to the thouglit that it was " pleasant to contemplate the head of the Ganges," but tho student of ventriloquism finds it difficult to obtain a view of the source of his art. In the dim and misty ages of antiquity, he may trace under various guises the practice of it. Many of the old superstitions were fostered by its neans ; from the cra- dle of mankind to the birthplace of idolatry, we incidentally learn of the belief in a familiar spirit-a second voice, which afterwards took the form of divination. The various kinds of divination amongst the nations of an- tiquity which were stated by the priesthood to be by a spirit, a familiar spirit, cr a spirit of divination, are now supposed to have been effected by means cf ventriloquism. Divination by a fam- iliar spirit can be tracked through a long period of time. By reference to Leviticus XX. 27 it will be seen that the Mosaic law forbade the Hebrews to consult those having familiar spirits, and to put to death the possessor. The Mosaic law was given about fifteen hundred years before Clirist. Divining by a familiar spirit was, however, so familiar to the Jews, that the prophet Isaiah draws a powcrful illustration from the kind of voice heard in such divination, see Isaiah xxix. 4. There can be little doubt but the Jews became acquainted with this voice during their compulsory captivity in Egypt. In many of the mysteries which accompanied the worship of Osiris, the uncarthly voice speaking from hidden depths of unknown heiglits was common. Some philosophers have imagined that a series of tubes and acoustical appliances were used to accomplish these mysterious sounds. The statute of Memnon will instantly sug- gest itself as a familiar instance. The gigantic stone-head was |