Ventriloquism is almost as old as the world, or at least as old as intelligible spoken language, but just when and where in the dim and misty ages of the past it had its origin will forever re­main unknown. Unlike other arts it was not brought to perfection through the slow develop­ment and accretion of years. From its very nature it must have sprung into existence full grown, like Venus from the sea. Under various guises its practice may be traced by the student in those venerable chronicles which faintly echo the long-vanished life of antiquity.

Although proof positive is wanting of the fact, it is fair to assume that many of the occurrences involving the assistance of an apparently super­natural voice, by which many of the old supersti­tions were fostered among the early races, were feats of ventriloquism. Such marvels are inex­plicable, if they are not pure fiction, except as the work of deception through the aid of ventrilo­quism.

So common indeed at one time was this belief in a "second voice," or "familiar spirit," as it was often called, that it took the form of divination by which the supposed spirit was evoked and con­sulted as to the right course of conduct on impor­tant occasions; and this divination, which was practiced in a variety of ways among the differ­ent semi-barbaric races of the ancient world, can be traced through a long period of time.

Bythe Mosaic Law, which was given about fifteen hundred years before Christ, the Jews were forbidden from consulting those having familiar spirits. So accustomed, however, were the Hebrews, who had evidently become ac­quainted with the voice during their captivity in Egypt, with this mode of divination that one of their prophets compares it to the power of sancti­fied utterance where he says (Isaiah 29: 4): "And thy voice shall be as one that hath a famil­iar spirit out of the ground, and thy speech shall whisper out of the dust."

Just where the Egyptians obtained their knowl­edge of the art is uncertain, but in the perform­ance of the "mysteries" which accompanied their worship of Osiris, the judge of the dead in the lower world, a seemingly unearthly voice, proceeding either from the earth or from overhead, played no unimportant part. Inasmuch as the voices described were such as have always been peculiarly identified with ventriloquism, the prac­tice of this art by unscrupulous priests would seem to afford a natural solution of the mystery. This explanation might also be applied to the phenomenon attending the dawning of a new day upon the colossal statue of Memnon, which stood near Thebes in Egypt on the bank of the Nile, and became renowned as the "Vocal Memnon." According to ancient tradition, this statue when first touched by the rays of the rising sun emitted a musical tone, like the snapping of a harp string, which the imaginative Greeks conceived to be the voice of Memnon greeting his mother Eos (the dawn). Although the particular cause and char­acter of the sounds have never been satisfactorily explained, the state of expectancy with which the silent and probably awe-struck worshipers awaited the sunrise, and their sublime faith in the reality of the phenomenon, were distinctly favor­able to the production of a ventriloquial illusion by an attendant priest. Mention is made in the Acts of the Apostles (16 : 16), of a young1 woman with a familiar spirit meeting the Apostles in the city of Philippi in Macedonia. Such divination is also referred to by St. Chrysostom and other early Christian fathers; and in the East, where it has been practiced for upward of three thousand years, it is still not uncommon.
If there is any doubt as to the part ventrilo­quism played in this divination by a familiar spirit, there can be none in the method employed by the Greeks, which was termed gastromancy. In this the voice of the "spirit" made its oracular replies apparently from the priest's belly, the diviner himself standing in the meanwhile with impassive countenance and immovable lips.

Coming down to modern times, we find that Louis Brabant, valet de chambre of Francis I, won for himself a rich and beautiful heiress by aid of his wonderful talent as a ventriloquist; and the works of M. L'Abbe La Chappelle, published in 1772, contain references to the astonishing ven-triloquial achievements of Baron Menge at Vienna, and those of M. St. Gille, a grocer living near Paris. Another famous performer, M. Alexandre, was also so great an adept at changing his coun­tenance, that at one time he completely deceived a sculptor, before whom he sat five times in the borrowed  character of a famous clergyman of Abbotsford, with whom the sculptor war well ac­quainted.

Undoubtedly in ages past the art was practiced secretly by a corrupt priesthood to strengthen its power over ignorant and superstitious peoples, and only in modern times has ventriloquism emerged from the veil of mystery which en­shrouded it. But even in these latter days, pro­fessional ventriloquists have taken care to care­fully foster the idea that only to a favored few is vouchsafed the so-called power of "throwing the voice." With rare exceptions they have zeal­ously guarded the methods used by them in the production of ventriloquial effects, and have usually tried to discourage eager inquirers with the assertion that "one must be born that way."
Therefore, in presenting a reliable and compre­hensive treatise on ventriloquism and its allied art polyphony, I feel that I am meeting a genuine need. Handbooks on ventriloquism have been published before, but few of those published in this country have attempted anything more than a superficial treatment of the subject, and are therefore of little use to the general public.

For many years I have studied and practiced ventriloquism, and from the experience thus gained, have endeavored to write a genuine work­ing manual, not only for the beginner, but for the professional performer as well. If those inter­ested at all in ventriloquism will give to this book the amount of thought and attention which I myself have devoted to its preparation, I shall feel repaid for my attempt to shed illumination upon a subject about which little of practical value has hitherto been published.

C. H. O.