“ 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 stone in the river Pactolus, the sound of which put robbers to flight. Many uncivilized races of modern times are adepts in ventriloquism, as the Zulus, the Maoris and the Eskimos. ”

“ Gestures and facial expression are employed at the same time to assist in the deception by stimulating the imagination of the listeners and to distract their attention from the speaker. “Thus,” says Huxley, “if the ventriloquist desire to create the belief that a voice issues from the bowels of the earth, he imitates, with great accuracy, the tones of such a 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 ”