609 



VENTRILOQUISM. 



VENTRILOQUISM. 



613 



fatigue in the chest, which they have attributed to the extremely slow 

 expiration of the breath. M. St. Gille, like most professional ven- 

 triloquists, was observed to cough very frequently. 



Now, in order to arrive at exact and positive knowledge of the modi- 

 fications of voice termed ventriloquism, it is necessary to be familiar 

 with the distinctions of vocal sound ; and to know how the organs act 

 in producing those vocal modifications, it is necessary to know how 

 the breath is vocalised in all its distinctions of pitch, loudness, and 

 quality, by the ordinary actions of the vocal organs. 



In ordinary language we speak of noise, of sound, and of musical 

 sound ; and Dr. Thomas Young adopts those terms in illustrating the 

 mechanical causes of sounds : " A quill striking against a piece of 

 wood causes a noise ; but striking successively against the teeth of a 

 wheel, or of a comb, a continued sound ; and if the teeth of the wheel 

 are at equal distances, and the velocity of the rotation is constant, a 

 musical sound." (' Lect. Nat. Phil.') 



The general terms pitch, loudness, quality, and duration embrace all 

 the distinctions which the musician discovers in musical sounds, and 

 which he employs in his art. The distinguishing feature of musical 

 sound is its uniform pitch throughout its duration. And, acoustically 

 musical sound is composed of an equal number of impulses or noises 

 produced in equal times. [ACOUSTICS ; VOICE.] 



The general terms pitch, loudness, quality, and duration also em- 

 brace all the distinctions heard in ordinary sounds. These sounds 

 differ from the musical in the pitch constantly varying throughout 

 their duration, as the human voice in speaking, and the voices of quad- 

 rupeds. Acoustically, such sounds are composed of an unequal number 

 of impulses or noises produced in equal times. And from this circum- 

 stance pitch, in the strictly musical sense, is not a property of ordinary 

 sound. 



The general terms loudness and quality embrace all the distinctions 

 heard in a noise, as in the collision of two inelastic sticks. The 

 momentary collision of the clapper against a bell is a noise, but this 

 mere noise is immediately followed by the ringing sound of the bell, 

 which is a musical sound. Pitch and duration can scarcely be con- 

 sidered as belonging to common noise. Thus we have : 



I. Noise, whose audible distinctions are comprehended under the 

 general terms loudness and quality. 



IL Common sound, whose audible distinctions are comprehended 

 under the general terms loudness, quality, duration, and ever-varying 

 pitch. 



III. Musical sound, whose audible distinctions are comprehended 

 under the general terms loudness, quality, duration, and an uniform 

 pitch. 



Phonation, or the production of voice, is a result of actions taking 

 place under two distinct classes of laws, namely : 1. The ordinary 

 mechanical laws of acoustics ; and 2. The physiological laws of mus- 

 cular movement. The adjustment of the vocal mechanism to be acted 

 on by the current of air is made by actions under the latter laws ; and 

 phonation is the result of the re-action of the mechanism on the 

 current of air, by mechanical movements under the former laws. 

 [LARTXX, in NAT. HIST. Drv.] The pitch of the voice essentially 

 depends on the tension of the vocal ligaments ; the loudness on the 

 extent of excursion of the vocal ligaments in their vibration ; the 

 duration on the continuance of the vocalising causes ; and the quality 

 on the organisation of the larynx, and also on the form and size of the 

 vocal tube. Now the form and size of this tube can be altered in 

 various ways, as by dilating or contracting the pharynx [1'ii.in Y.NX, in 

 NAT. HIST. Div.] ; by dilating or contracting the mouth ; by contract- 

 ing the communication between the pharynx and mouth so as to make 

 them distinct chambers, or by dilating the opening so as to throw 

 them into one, which is chiefly effected by movements of the soft 

 palate ; by altering the form of the mouth's cavity, which is produced 

 by varying the position of the tongue. It will be found that each 

 of these modifications of the vocal tube confers a peculiarity of 

 quality to the voice. All these, however, are vocal or laryngeal 

 sounds. 



Sounds can be produced in the vocal tube apart from the larynx. 

 These are not vocal sounds. Some of them, however, may be of a definite 

 and uniform pitch, while others are mere noises, as rustling, whisper- 

 ing, gurgling, whistling, snoring, and many others. 



Now, as every audibility comes under the classes of noise, sound, or 

 musical sound, and as each variety under these classes is producible by 

 the vocal apparatus of man, it is an obvious conclusion that an ordinary 

 vocal apparatus is all that is required to vocalise the mimetic con- 

 ceptions of the ventriloquist. A larynx capable of producing a larger 

 compass of voice than another has a greater range of pitch within its 

 power of imitation. 



A person having an ear acutely perceptive to the nice distinctions 

 of sound* may, by a little practice, imitate many sounds with accuracy. 

 Those persons, however, who are highly endowed with the mental 

 requisites, which consist of an intense desire to mimic, coupled with 

 the ability to originate mimetic ideas, are able to imitate sounds at 

 first hearing, and without previous practice. Passing from the 

 imitation of sounds, as that of knife-grinding, sawing and planing 

 wood, the voices of animals and men, we proceed to treat of those 

 illusions where the voice so perfectly counterfeits the reality intended, 

 that it appears not to issue from the mimic, but from an appropriate 



ARTS AMD 8CI. DIV. VOL. VIII. 



source, in whatever direction and at whatever distance that source 

 may be. The essence of ventriloquy consists in creating illusions as to 

 the distance and direction whence a sound has travelled ; which are 

 thus explained : 



I. Diitance. We do not hear the distance which a sound has 

 travelled from its source, but we judge the distance from our former 

 experience, by comparing the loudness which we hear with the known 

 distance and known loudness of similar sounds heard on former occa- 

 sions. Common experience will confirm, that we oftener err in 

 estimating the distance of uncommon than of familiar sounds. In 

 apology for such an error the ordinary language is, " It seemed too 

 loud to come so far," or " It seemed too near to be so faint a sound," 

 as the case may be. Both of which are apologies for an erroneous 

 judgment, and not for hearing. 



Near sounds are louder than distant ones. Now, by preserving the 

 same pitch, quality, and duration, but with an accurately graduated 

 reduction of loudneas, a series forming a perspective (if the term be 

 allowable) of sounds may be created, which, falling in succession on 

 the ear, will suggest to the mind a constantly increasing distance of 

 the sound's source. 



Loudness is a property of sound which has not had justice done to 

 its importance in the schools of music and elocution. Its nomenclature 

 is vague and meagre, and it can scarcely be said to have a notation. 

 The author of this article has observed that one of the high excellences 

 which singers of genius have snatched beyond the rules of art has been 

 a skilful management of the degrees of vocal loudness, and a nice 

 adaptation of them to aid the melody in expressing the intended 

 feeling. The varieties of loudness remain still unmeasured, and the 

 abrupt transitions in loudness made by musical performers suggest 

 that these distinctions are ill perceived. 



The estimate, then, which is formed of the distance which a sound 

 has travelled before reaching the ear is a judgment of the mind 

 formed by comparing a present perception (by hearing) with the 

 remembrance of a former loudness in connection with its known 

 distance. 



II. Direction. The direction whence a sound comes seems to be 

 judged of by the right or left ear receiving the stronger impression, 

 which however can only take place when the sound's source is in a 

 plane, or nearly so, with a line passing through both ears. It is 

 familiarly known that a person in a house cannot by the noise of an 

 approaching carriage judge with certainty whether it is coming from 

 the right or left He accurately judges it to be approaching, passing, 

 or receding, as the case may be, by the gradations of loudness, but is 

 unable to decide with certainty whether its approach or recession is 

 from up or down the street. Common experience shows the judgment 

 to be more fallible concerning the direction than the distance of sounds. 

 Professor Muller of Berlin states, in hia ' Physiology,' that Venturini's 

 experiments, detailed in Voigt's ' Mag.,' bd. ii., demonstrate the impos- 

 sibility under certain circumstances of estimating whence a sound 

 comes to the ear. Now, without entering upon the merits of those 

 valuable experiments, enough has been above stated to show that we 

 do not hear, but that we judge, the direction a sound has travelled 

 from its source on reaching the ear. 



It has been remarked, and the writer of this article confirms its 

 truth from observations made both in public and in private ventriloquy, 

 that the ventriloquist indicates either directly or indirectly the direction 

 which he wishes his audience to believe the sound is coming. Thus 

 they directly indicate it by words, such as" Are you up there ? " 

 "He is up the chimney," " He is in the cellar," "Are you down there?" 

 Ac. And they indirectly indicate it by some suggestive circumstance, 

 as an action or gesture which is so skilfully unobtrusive and natural as 

 to effect its object without being discovered. Thus, when the ventrilo- 

 quist looks or listens in any direction, or even simply turns towards 

 any point, as if he expected sound to come thence, the attention of an 

 audience is by that means instantly directed also to the same place. 

 Thus, before a sound is produced, the audience expect it to come in 

 the suggested direction. And the ventriloquist has merely, by his 

 adjustment of vocal loudness, to indicate the necessary distance, when 

 a misjudgment of the audience will complete the illusion which he has 

 begun. 



The effect which is produced on sound by its travelling from a 

 distance is observed to be 



1. That its loudness is reduced in proportion to the distance. 



2. That its pitch remains unaltered. 



3. That its quality or tone is somewhat softened. 



4. That its duration remains unaltered. 



5. That human speech is somewhat obscured, chiefly in the consonant 

 sounds. 



Now, the ventriloquist imitates the sound, not as it is heard at its 

 source, but as it is heard after travelling from a distance. A skilful 

 ventriloquist can effect his imitations without much movement of his 

 ips and features. Now, it has been observed that ventriloquists, during 

 their efforts, turn the front face away from the audience and scarcely 

 even show the profile. The author of this article confirms this observa- 

 tion, as far as regards moderate-sized rooms, but he has seen the front 

 'ace in a theatre. 



It is quite easy to speak without moving the jaw, and it is the jaw's 

 movements which disturb the features in utterance. Now the labia 1 



R It 



