| Ventriloquism is almost as old as the world, | | | | described were such as having always been |
| or at least as old as intelligible spoken | | | | peculiarly identified with ventriloquism, the |
| language, but just when and where in the dim | | | | practice of this art by unscrupulous priests |
| and misty ages of the past it had its origin | | | | would seem to afford a natural solution of |
| will forever remain unknown. Unlike other | | | | the mystery. |
| arts it was not brought to perfection through | | | | |
| the slow development and accretion of years. | | | | This explanation might also be applied to the |
| From its very nature it must have sprung into | | | | phenomenon attending the dawning of a new day |
| existence full grown, like Venus from the | | | | upon the colossal statue of Memnon, which |
| sea. Under various guises its practice may be | | | | stood near Thebes in Egypt on the bank of the |
| traced by the student in those venerable | | | | Nile, and became renowned as the "Vocal |
| chronicles which faintly echo the | | | | Memnon." According to ancient tradition, this |
| long-vanished life of antiquity. | | | | statue when first touched by the rays of the |
| | | | rising sun emitted a musical tone, like the |
| Although proof positive is wanting of the | | | | snapping of a harp string, which the |
| fact, it is fair to assume that many of the | | | | imaginative Greeks conceived to be the voice |
| occurrences involving the assistance of an | | | | of Memnon greeting his mother Eos (the dawn). |
| apparently super-natural voice, by which many | | | | Although the particular cause and character |
| of the old superstitions were fostered among | | | | of the sounds have never been satisfactorily |
| the early races, were feats of ventriloquism. | | | | explained, the state of expectancy with which |
| | | | the silent and probably awe-struck worshipers |
| At one time this belief in a "second voice," | | | | awaited the sunrise, and their sublime faith |
| or "familiar spirit," as it was so often | | | | in the reality of the phenomenon, were |
| called, took the form of divination by which | | | | distinctly favorable to the production of a |
| the supposed spirit was evoked and consulted | | | | ventriloquial illusion by an attendant |
| as to the right course of conduct on | | | | priest. |
| important occasions; and this divination, | | | | |
| which was practiced in a variety of ways | | | | If there is any doubt as to the part |
| among the different semi-barbaric races of | | | | ventriloquism played in this divination by a |
| the ancient world, can be traced through a | | | | familiar spirit, there can be none in the |
| long period of time. | | | | method employed by the Greeks, which was |
| | | | termed gastromancy. In this the voice of the |
| By the Mosaic Law, which was given about | | | | "spirit" made its oracular replies apparently |
| fifteen hundred years before Christ, the Jews | | | | from the priest's belly, the diviner himself |
| were forbidden from consulting those having | | | | standing in the meanwhile with impassive |
| familiar spirits. So accustomed, however, | | | | countenance and immovable lips. |
| were the Hebrews, who had evidently become | | | | |
| acquainted with the voice during their | | | | Coming down to modern times, we find that |
| captivity in Egypt, with this mode of | | | | Louis Brabant, valet de chambre of Francis I, |
| divination that one of their prophets | | | | won for himself a rich and beautiful heiress |
| compares it to the power of sanctified | | | | by aid of his wonderful talent as a |
| utterance where he says (Isaiah 29: 4): "And | | | | ventriloquist; and the works of M. L'Abbe La |
| thy voice shall be as one that hath a | | | | Chappelle, published in 1772, contain |
| familiar spirit out of the ground, and thy | | | | references to the astonishing ventriloquial |
| speech shall whisper out of the dust." | | | | achievements of Baron Menge at Vienna, and |
| | | | those of M. St. Gille, a grocer living near |
| Just where the Egyptians obtained their | | | | Paris. Another famous performer, M. |
| knowledge of the art is uncertain, but in the | | | | Alexandre, was also so great and adept at |
| performance of the "mysteries" which | | | | changing his countenance, that at one time he |
| accompanied their worship of Osiris, the | | | | completely deceived a sculptor, before whom |
| judge of the dead in the lower world, a | | | | he sat five times in the borrowed character |
| seemingly unearthly voice, proceeding either | | | | of a famous clergyman of Abbotsford, with |
| from the earth or from overhead, played no | | | | whom the sculptor was well acquainted. |
| unimportant part. Inasmuch as the voices | | | | |