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VENTRILOQUISM (Lat. venter, belly, an...

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Originally appearing in Volume V27, Page 1012 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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See also:

VENTRILOQUISM (See also:Lat. venter, belly, and loqui, to speak) , the See also:art of producing the See also:voice in such a manner that it shall appear to proceed, not from the See also:speaker's own mouth, but from some See also:place altogether distant from him. The art of ventriloquism was formerly supposed to result from a See also:peculiar use of the See also:stomach (whence the name) during the See also:process of inhalation. As a See also:matter of fact, the words are formed in the normal manner, but the breath is allowed to See also:escape very slowly, the tones being muffled by narrowing the glottis and the mouth opened as little as possible, while the See also:tongue is retracted and only its tip moves. Gestures and facial expression are employed at the same See also:time to assist in the deception by stimulating the See also:imagination of the listeners and to distract their See also:attention from the speaker. " Thus," says See also:Huxley, " if the ventriloquist desireto create the belief that a voice issues from the bowels of the See also:earth, he imitates, with See also:great accuracy, the tones of such a See also:half-stifled voice, and suggests the existence of some one uttering it by directing his answers and gestures towards the ground. The gestures and tones are such as would be produced by a given cause; and, no other cause being apparent, the mind of the bystander insensibly See also:judges the suggested cause to exist." Ventriloquism, which is still a recognized See also:form of See also:conjuring entertainment, is of See also:ancient origin. Traces of the art are found in See also:Egyptian and See also:Hebrew See also:archaeology. Eurykles of See also:Athens was the most celebrated of See also:Greek ventriloquists, who were called after him Euryklides, and also Engastrimanteis (belly-prophets). It is not impossible that the priests of ancient times were masters of this art, and that to it may be ascribed such miracles as the speaking statues of the Egyptians, the Greek oracles, and the See also:stone in the See also:river Pactolus, the See also:sound of which put robbers to See also:flight. Many uncivilized races of See also:modern times are adepts in ventriloquism, as the Zulus, the Maoris and the Eskimos. It is well known in Hindustan and See also:China, where it is practised by travelling magicians. See De la Chapelle, Le Ventriloque, ou l'engastrimythe (See also:London, 1772); E.

See also:

Schultz, See also:Die Kunst See also:des Bauchredens (See also:Erfurt, 1895); Sievers, Grundzuge der Phonetic (See also:Leipzig, 1901); Russel, Ventriloquism (London, 1898).

End of Article: VENTRILOQUISM (Lat. venter, belly, and loqui, to speak)

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