Mr Allan on a Mass of Native Iron from Atacama. 259 



folly and brute violence. The same remark may be applied 

 to this debate as to the other scene respecting tooth-drawing, 

 namely, that the quick and sudden transitions, and the great 

 differences in the voices gave the audience various notions, as 

 well with regard to the number of speakers, as to theb posi- 

 tions, and the direction of their voices.'" 



M. Richerand, who saw the performances of Fitz-James at 

 Paris, takes a different view of the matter from Mr Nicholson. 

 He says, that every time the ventriloquist exerted this unusual 

 peculiarity, he suffered distension in the epigastric region; 

 that sometimes he perceived the wind rolling even lower ; and 

 that he could not long continue the exertion without fatigue. 

 Richerand believes that the whole mechanism of this art con- 

 sists in a slow, gradual expiration, drawn in such a way that 

 the artist either makes use of the influence exerted by volition 

 over the muscles of the parietes of the thorax, or that he keeps 

 the epiglottis down by the base of the tongue, the apex of 

 which is not carried beyond the dental arches. 



He always made a strong inspiration just before this long 

 expiration, and thus conveyed into the lungs a considerable 

 mass of air, the exit of which he managed with such address. 

 Repletion of the stomach, therefore, greatly incommoded the 

 talent of M. Fitz-James, by preventing the diaphragm from 

 descending sufficiently to admit of a dilatation of the thorax, 

 in proportion to the quantity of air that the lungs should re- 

 ceive. By accelerating or retarding the exit of the air, he can 

 imitate different voices, and induce his auditors to believe that 

 the interlocutors of a dialogue kept up by himself alone are 

 placed at different distances. 



( To be continued in next Number.) 



Art. X. — On a Mass of Native Iron from the Desert of Ata- 

 cama in Peru. By Thomas Allan, Esq. F.R.S.E.* 



When in London in the spring of 1827, Mr Parish had the 

 kindness to show me some specimens which he had just re- 



* From the Edinburgh Transactions, vol. xi. part i. p. 223. 



