76 The Voice and its Modifications. 
Art. VII—The Voice and its Modifications, (more particularly 
Ventriloquism) briefly considered ; by Roperr Toterrer, Jr. 
Reason and speech are the characteristic prerogatives of man and 
although the latter may be acquired by some animals to limited ex- 
tent, nevertheless it is merely imitative with them. ‘The brutes may 
learn to pronounce the name of an individual person and may per- 
ceive, in time, that this sound raises the attention of the person de- 
signated ; or they may be taught by frequent repetition, that some oth- 
er sound corresponding with the articulation of some particular word 
may gain something which they may desire, yet when made to com- 
bine words which they may have been instructed to repeat, these ani- 
mals are destitute of a knowledge of their conjoined signification. 
The ideas have not assisted them in preserving an accurate recollec- 
tion of the arrangement, for they learn a concatenation of even fa- 
miliar sounds without any reference to the import of their component 
parts. Man however when taught the use of words can bring forth, 
combinations entirely new and appropriate, while inferior animals 
scarcely ever utter other significant sounds than those with which 
they are acquainted, and should words happen to be combined by 
them differently from any thing they had heard, this strange and un- 
meaning collocation would not occur toa mad man. All who have 
listened for some time to a loquacious parrot will be convinced of 
the truth of this statement. It may be objected to my distinction be- 
tween man and brutes that many persons can learn sentences, pas- 
sages and even long poems in their native tongue by simply employ- 
ing the ear. ‘This is not to be denied, and we must reply that the 
man whose memonics are based on vocal distinctions only, has little 
to rank him among the human family whose exalted criterion is res 
non verba. 
From the foregoing statement it is plain, that the acquirement of 
language is very limited among inferior animals and this curtailed gift 
can be possessed by very few. Man however, from conversation to 
declamation from recitative to singing, enjoys this faculty to the great- 
est extent, and the permutations of which each of these are suscep- 
tible are very extensive. In declamation, a greater portion of air 
passes through the larynx; there is more resonance not only. from 
the increased velocity and the augmented quantity of air, but from 
the position of the mouth and velum palati; a more considerable vi- 
