powerful conviction that the sounds proceed from a distant point. There
is little doubt that ventriloquism has played a conspicuous part in the
arts of divination and magic.


_Misconception of Local Arrangement._

Let us now pass to a class of illusions closely related to those having
to do with distance, but involving some special kind of circumstance
which powerfully suggests a particular arrangement in space. One of the
most striking examples of these is the erroneous localization of a
quality in space, that is to say, the reference of it to an object
nearer, or further off than the right one. Thus, when we look through a
piece of yellow glass at a dull, wintry landscape, we are disposed to
imagine that we are looking at a sunny scene of preternatural warmth. A
moment's reflection would tell us that the yellow tint, with which the
objects appear to be suffused, comes from the presence of the glass;
yet, in spite of this, the illusion persists with a curious force. The
explanation is, of course, that the circumstances are exceptional, that
in a vast majority of cases the impression of colour belongs to the
object and not to an intervening medium,[42] and that consequently we
tend to ignore the glass, and to refer the colour to the objects
themselves.

When, however, the fact of the existence of a coloured medium is
distinctly present to the mind, we easily learn to allow for this, and
to recognize one coloured surface correctly through a recognized medium.
Thus, we appear to ourselves to see the reflected images of the wall,
etc., of a room, in a bright mahogany table, not suffused with a reddish
yellow tint, as they actually are--and may be seen to be by the simple