170 LETTERS ON NATURAL MAGIC. 



case there can be no doubt that the deception 

 was at first the work of the imagination, and was 

 not sustained by the acoustic principle. The real 

 and the mock singer were too distant, and when 

 the influence of the imagination subsided, the 

 true direction of the sound was discovered. This 

 detection of the imposture, however, may have 

 arisen from another cause. If the mock singer 

 happened to change the position of his head, 

 while the real singer made no corresponding 

 change in his voice, the attentive spectator would 

 at once notice this incongruity, and discover the 

 imposition. 



In many of the feats of ventriloquism the per- 

 former contrives, under some pretence or other, 

 to conceal his face, but ventriloquists of great 

 distinction, such as M. Alexandre, practise their 

 art without any such concealment. 



Ventriloquism loses its distinctive character if 

 its imitations are not performed by a voice from 

 the belly. The voice, indeed, does not actually 

 come from that region; but when the ventrilo- 

 quist utters sounds from the larynx without 

 moving the muscles of his face, he gives them 

 strength by a powerful action of the abdominal 

 muscles. Hence he speaks by means of his 

 belly, although the throat is the real source from 

 whence the sounds proceed. Mr. Dugald Stewart 

 has doubted the fact, that ventriloquists possess 

 the power of fetching a voice from within : he 

 cannot conceive what aid could be derived from 

 such an extraordinary power ; and he considers 

 that the imagination, when seconded by such 

 powers of imitation as some mimics possess, is 

 quite sufficient to account for all the phenomena 



