650 On the Method of judging by the Ear 
The only ventriloquist I ever attended, acted — 
in strict conformity to the preceding theory of 
this curious paradox in the science of acoustics. 
His audience was arranged in two opposite lines, 
corresponding to the two sides of a long narrow 
room. The benches on which they were seated 
reached from one end of the place to the middle 
of it, the other part remaining unoccupied. The 
feats exhibited by him were the three following. 
First: he made his voice come from behind his 
audience, but it never seemed to proceed from 
any part of the-wall, near the heads of the people 
present; on the contrary, it was always heard 
resembling the voice of a child, who seemed to 
be under the benches. He stood during the time 
of speaking in. a stooping posture, having his 
mouth turned towards the place from which the 
sound issued ; so that the line joining his lips and 
the reflecting object, did not approach the ears 
of the company. Second: advancing into the 
vacant part of the room, and turning his back to 
the audience, he made a variety of noises, that 
seemed to proceed from an open cupboard which 
stood directly before him, at the distance of two 
or three yards. Third: he placed an inverted 
glass cup on the hands of his hearers, and then 
imitated the cries of a child confined in it. His 
method of doing it was this; the upper part of 
the hearer’s arm laid close along his side; then 
