pages: practicalmagicia00harr.pdf, 99
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practicalmagicia00harr.pdf | 99 | THE PRACTICAL MAGICIAN. 69 that the power and acuteness of hearing is possessed in , veater or less degree by different individuals, and depends upon the sen- sibility of the auric nerves. It will not be out of place nor unin- teresting to show the effect of sound and the manner in which it is heard by the organs of the car. It is said that the human car is capable of appreciating as many as twenty-four thousand vibra- tions ina sccond, and that the whole range of human liearing, from the lowest note of the organ to the highest known cry of in- sects, as of the cricket, includes ninc octaves. Sound first strikes the drum or tympanum, a thin membrane which closes the aperture of the car ; when this drum vibrates by the sonorous undulations of the external air ; the vibrations are communicated by minute bones, muscles, and fluid in the cavity of the car, and are then conveyed to the brain ; and to show how absolutely necessary it is that all the organs of the would-be ven- triloquist should be entire and without fault to succeed well, we will show how the ventriloquist makes that nice distinction of the gradation of sound, and by which he is cnabled to judge whether lic is causing his voice to "ppcar at the proper distance from his audience or not. Let any one firmly closc both cars by stopping them, then speak a few words: now, as the cars are stopped, the sound cannot enter immediately to the drum of the car, but it takes cognizance of the sound by a passage called the custachian tube, which ex- tends from the back part of the mouth to the cavity immediately behind the drum of the car. The sound vibrations made in the mouth are transmitted along this tube to the interior part of the organs of hearing. Now it is by a nice judgment of sound by this tube that the profes- sional ventriloquist judges the majority of his voices, especially thosc greatly obscured or mufiled. Not only must the auric nerves of the would-be ventriloquist be perfect, but he will become more proficient as he is able to study and understand the human voice. There is the laneuage of emotion, or natural language. When we say natural, we mean the language by which the feelings mani- fest themselves without previous teaching, and which is recogniz- ed and felt without teaching. Some of them are the scream of terror, the shout of joy, the laugh of satisfaction, laugh of sarcasm, ridicule, &c., which are made by man, and understood by fellow- men, whatever may be the speechi or country of the other. There are also distinct qualities of voice, peculiar to each per- son, both in tone and quality, and the best practice is to try and imitate three or four people's voices, and let them be of a different tonc and pitch. The ordinary compass of the voice is about twelve notes, and a very good practice to the attainment of the art is to call aloud in a certain note, and then in the octave to that note ; do this several times |