pages: practicalmagicia00harr.pdf, 90
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practicalmagicia00harr.pdf | 90 | 80 THE PRACTICAL MAGICIAN. with the previous chapter, as to the effect to be produced, not on himself, but on the spectators and audience. And we may assure him, that if he has a fair range of voice, a dilligent observance of the rules which we are about to lay down, coupled with attention to the nature of sound as it falls upon the ear, will lead him to such triumphs as, in all probability, he never imagined he could have attained-ar assurance which we are emboldened to offer from our own pursuit and practical realization of the art. The student must bear in mind that the means are simply natural ones, used in accordance with natural laws. We have given him the acoustical theory of the effect on the auric nerve, and the means are the organs of respiration and sound, with the adjoining muscles. They are the diaphragm, the lungs, the trachea, the larynx, the pharynx, and the mouth. The diaphragm is a very large convex muscle, situated below the lungs, and having full power over respiration. The lungs are the organs of respiration, and are seated at each side of the chest ; they consist of air-tubes minutely ramified in a loose tissue, and terminating in very small sacs, termed air-cells. The trachea is a tube, the continuation of the larynx, commonly called the windpipe : through this the air passes to and from the lungs. Iti formed of cartilaginous rings, by means of which it may be clongated or shortened. The larynx is that portion of the air-tube immediately above the trachea : its position is indicated by a large projection in the throat. In the interior of this part of the throat are situated the vocal chords. They are four bands of clastic substance somewhat similar to India-rubber. The cavity, or opening between these vocal chords is called the glottis : it possesses the power of expanding or contracting under the influence of the muscles of the larynx The pharynx is a cavity above the larynx, communicating with the nasal passages : it is partially visible when the mouth is opened and the tongue lowered. Near this part of the root of the tongue is situated the epiglottis, which acts as a lid or cover in closing over the air-tube during the act of swallowing. The mouth forms a cavity to reflect and strengthen the resonance of the vi- brations produced in the air-tube ; it also possesses numberless minute powers of contraction and modification. We now proceed to give the instructions to which we have re- ferred-instructions guaranteed by a proficiency which we are ever ready to submit to the ordeal of a critical examination, ci- ther in private or in public. If the student will pay strict attention to the parts printed in italics, and will practice the voices here specified, he will find that they are the key to all imitative sounds and vorces ; and, according to the range of his voice and the capabilities of his mimetic power, he will be enabled to imitate the voices of little children, of old people, and, in fact, almost every sound which he hears. |