You are not apprized of the existence of a power which I possess. I know not by what name to call it. It enables me to mimic exactly the voice of another, and to modify the sound so that it shall appear to come from what quarter, and be uttered at what distance I please..
Though there was certainly an element of entertainment in Raphaelle's performances, ventriloquism, or biloquism as the new science was called, represented far more than entertainment in early-nineteenth-century America.