DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.70267#0318
282 ventriloquism/
terrupted the voice ; which still appeared to be sliding
along the tree as before.) l£ This is no shepherd,” (observed
Gille.) “ But still I will chastise him for his impertinence,”
(cried out the other.) ££ Witness Hector flying before
Achilles!” (cried out the voice immediately after;) upon
which the exasperated soldier, drawing his sword, plunged
it with all his might into a bush that grew at the foot of the
tree. A rabbit instantly started from it, and ran off with
all its might. ££ Behold Hector, (said Gille) while you
yourself are Achilles.”
This stroke of pleasantry disarmed the warrior, while it
confounded him. He demanded of his companion what
was meant by it, and the other then explained to him that
lie had two voices, which enabled him to act the part of
t'.vo distinct persons ; the one was that which he was then
using, and the other which was heard, as if at a considera-
ble distance.
But what, upon the whole, arc the causes of this pheno-
menon ? With these, the abbe Chapelie seems to have been
well acquainted, when he attributes them to a particular
play of the muscles of the pharynx and the throat, which
every man who is organised like the rest of his species,
may acquire by constant and persevering exercise, and by
an obstinate determination to bend the organs that way.—-
This faculty, however, was not the labour of a wish to Gille,
who had acquired it at Martinique, by closely imitating
a ventriloquist with whom he had contracted a friendship.
A straitening or restriction of the muscles of, the pharynx,
that choak or enfeeble the voice, by which means the sound
becomes modified, and seems to reach us from afar, is the
only cause by which this phenomenon is produced.
One thing, however, must be observed, which, doubt-
lessly, concurs to increase the illusion ; and it is this, that
in the maimer in which the ventriloquist speaks, the air
beiiJg particul ady struck in the interior of the throat, at the
time
terrupted the voice ; which still appeared to be sliding
along the tree as before.) l£ This is no shepherd,” (observed
Gille.) “ But still I will chastise him for his impertinence,”
(cried out the other.) ££ Witness Hector flying before
Achilles!” (cried out the voice immediately after;) upon
which the exasperated soldier, drawing his sword, plunged
it with all his might into a bush that grew at the foot of the
tree. A rabbit instantly started from it, and ran off with
all its might. ££ Behold Hector, (said Gille) while you
yourself are Achilles.”
This stroke of pleasantry disarmed the warrior, while it
confounded him. He demanded of his companion what
was meant by it, and the other then explained to him that
lie had two voices, which enabled him to act the part of
t'.vo distinct persons ; the one was that which he was then
using, and the other which was heard, as if at a considera-
ble distance.
But what, upon the whole, arc the causes of this pheno-
menon ? With these, the abbe Chapelie seems to have been
well acquainted, when he attributes them to a particular
play of the muscles of the pharynx and the throat, which
every man who is organised like the rest of his species,
may acquire by constant and persevering exercise, and by
an obstinate determination to bend the organs that way.—-
This faculty, however, was not the labour of a wish to Gille,
who had acquired it at Martinique, by closely imitating
a ventriloquist with whom he had contracted a friendship.
A straitening or restriction of the muscles of, the pharynx,
that choak or enfeeble the voice, by which means the sound
becomes modified, and seems to reach us from afar, is the
only cause by which this phenomenon is produced.
One thing, however, must be observed, which, doubt-
lessly, concurs to increase the illusion ; and it is this, that
in the maimer in which the ventriloquist speaks, the air
beiiJg particul ady struck in the interior of the throat, at the
time