SCIENTIFIC NEWS. 205 



the natural and modulated voice of the operator encouraging, Account of ven- 

 foothing, and talking with his patient; the confufion, terror, n °^ m m * 

 and apprehenlion of the fufferer; the inarticulate noifes pro- 

 duced by the chairs and apparatus, upon the whole, constituted 

 a mafs of found which produced a ftrange but comic effect. 

 Loofe obfervers would not have hefitated to affert, that they 

 heard more than one voice at a time ; and though this cer- 

 tainly could not be the cafe, and it did not appear fo to me, 

 yet the tranfitions were fo inftantaneous without the Ieaft paufe 

 between them, that the notion might very eafily be gene- 

 rated. The removal of the fcreen fatisfied the fpeclators that 

 one performer had effected the whole. 



The actor then proceeded to fliew us fpecimens of his art 

 as a mimic ; and here the power he had acquired over the 

 mufcles of his face was fully as ftrange as the modulations of 

 his voice. In feveral inftances he caufed the oppofite mufcles 

 to act differently from each other; fo that while one tide of 

 his face expreffed mirth and laughter, the other fide appeared 

 to be weeping. About eight or ten faces were (hewn to us 

 in fucceffion as he came from behind the fcreen, which toge- 

 ther with the general habits and gait of the individual totally 

 altered him. In one inftance he was tall, thin, and melan- 

 cholic ; and the inftant afterwards, with no greater interval 

 of time than to pafs round behind the fcreen, he appeared 

 bloated with obefity, and daggering with fulnefs. The fame 

 man at one time exhibited his face fimple, unaffected, and 

 void of character, and the next moment it was covered with 

 wrinkles expreffing flynefs, mirth, and whim of different de- 

 fcriptions. How far this difcipline may be eafy or difficult,' 

 I know not, but he certainly appeared to me to be far fuperior 

 to the mod practifed matters of the countenance I have ever 

 ken. 



During this exhibition he imitated the found of an organ ; 

 the ringing of a bell, the noifes produced by the great hy- 

 draulic machine of Marli, and the opening and (hutting of a 

 inuffbox. 



His principal performance, however, confided in the de- 

 bates at the meeting of Nauterre, in which there were 

 twenty different fpeakers, as is afferted in his advertifement ; 

 and certainly the number of different voices was very great. 

 Much entertainment was afforded by the fubject, which was 



takea 



