pages: practicalmagicia00harr.pdf, 86
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practicalmagicia00harr.pdf | 86 | 76 THE PRACTICAL MAGICIAN. voice urged them to make haste, but the feelings of the people may be imagined when the cart was empty and nobody was found, while Alexandre and his friend walked off laughing at the unex- pected results of their trick. It would be obviously invidious to compare the merits of liv- ing professors. Mr. Maccabe, Mr. Gallagher, Mr. Thurton and Mr. Macmillan have long been favorites with the public. -- THE THEORY OF VENTRILOQUISM. Many physiologists aver that ventriloquism is obtained by speaking during the inspiration of air. It is quite possible to ar- ticulate under these circumstances, and the plan may with advan- tage be occasionally adopted; but our own practical experience and close observation of many public performers, and of not a few private friends who have attained distinctness and no smallamount of facility in the art, convince us that-the general current of utterance is, as in ordinary speech, during oxpiration of the breath. Some imagine that the means of procuring the required imitation are comprised in a thorough management of the echoes of sound. Unfortunately, however, for this theory, an ccho only repeats what has been already brought into cxist- ence. Several eminent ventriloquists, including the late Mr. Matthews, have displayed the vocal illusion while walking in the streets. Baron Mengen describes as follows his mode of speaking, when he desired the illusion to take the direction of a voice emanating from the doll : "I press my tongue against the tecth, and then circumscribe a cavity between left check and teeth, in which the voice is produced by the air held 723 receive in the pharynx. The sounds thus reccive a hollow and muffled tonc, which causes them to appear to come from a distance." The Baron furthermore mentions that it is essential to have the breath well under control, and not to respire more than can be avoided. M. St. Gille was scen to look somewhat exhausted when the vo- cal illusion grew less perfect. Wc ourselves, and all ventrilo- quists with whom we have conferred, have acknowledged that they have experienced fatigue in the chest, and have attributed it to the slow expiration of the breath. M. St. Gille, with the majority of ventriloquists, was often compelled to cough during the progress of his exercitation. To attain an exact and positive knowledge of the modifications of voice specified as ventriloquism, it is important to be familiar with the distinctions of the sounds uttered by the mouth ; and to ascertain how the organs act in producing those vocal modifica- tions, it is necessary to know how the breath is vocalized in all |