and obvious supposition was to rank it with stringed instruments, such as the violin, where the same string produces a higher or lower note according to the degree of tightness given to it. But that two strings, about an inch long, should so vary in tension as to give out a range of notes, extending to more than two octaves, is altogether unparalleled in the experience of stringed instruments. A more accurate comparison appears to hold with reed instruments, such as the pipe of an organ, where the sound is produced by a vibrating reed. Professor Müller imitated the human voice by stretching two elastic membranes across the mouth of a short tube, each covering a portion of the opening, and having a chink left between them. By prolonging the membranes downward into the tube, so that not merely their edges, but their whole planes, might be thrown into vibration, Mr. Willis carried the imitation of the Human Glottis still farther. By experimenting on an artificial glottis thus formed, it appeared that various notes could be obtained by altering the tightness of the tongues: the more tense they are, the higher is the note produced. It is true that a scale of notes, equal in extent to that of the human voice, cannot be obtained from edges of leather; but this scale is much greater in india-rubber than in leather; and the elasticity of them both is so much inferior to that of the vocal ligaments, that we may readily infer that the greater scale of the latter is due to its greater elastic powers.' It is also found that in membranous tongues the increased strength of the blast can somewhat raise the pitch, the tension remaining the same.

I quote a summary of the action of the Voice from Müller:

The following will be the mode of production of the notes of the natural voice:--The vocal ligaments vibrate in their entire breadth, and with them the surrounding membranes and the thyro-arytenoid muscles. For the deepest notes, the vocal ligaments are much relaxed by the approximation of the thyroid to the arytenoid cartilages. The lips of the glottis are, in this state of the larynx, not only quite devoid of tension; they are, when at rest, even wrinkled and

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305

plicated; but they become stretched by the current of air, and thus acquire the degree of tension necessary for vibration. The medium state, in which the cords are neither relaxed and wrinkled, nor stretched, is the condition for the middle notes of the natural register, those which are most easily produced. (The ordinary tones of the voice, in speaking, are intermediate between these and the deep bass notes.) The higher notes are produced, and the corresponding falsetto tones avoided, by the lateral compression of the vocal cords, and by the narrowing of the space beneath them, and further by increasing the force of the current of air. The muscular tension given to the lips of the glottis by the muscles above-mentioned must also be taken into account as contributing to the production of the notes of the natural register.

'The falsetto notes are produced by the vibration of the inner portion or border of the vocal ligaments; their variation as to height or sharpness being effected by a variation of tension of the ligaments.'-p. 1015-6.

It is a question not perfectly decided, how the cords are adjusted for the production of voice, in other words, what is the difference between their situation when the breath is passing through without causing vocal sound, and when sound is actually produced. Mr. Willis is led by his experiments to believe, that in the ordinary position of the glottis, during respiration without vocalization, the lips of the glottis are inclined from each other, and that to produce voice they must assume the parallel state. He attributes to the thyro-arytenoid muscles the office of placing the arytenoid cartilages and the lips of the glottis in the vocalizing position.'—(MÜLLER, p. 1016, note.)

The fact, apparently well ascertained, that by simply increasing the force of the blast a higher note is produced, constitutes one of the difficulties of a person learning to sing. The attempt to increase the loudness or strength of a note is sure to raise the pitch, until such time as the voice has been taught to relax the cords at the same moment. It is only a very accomplished singer that can swell a note, or make it fade away, without in any degree raising or sinking the pitch.

X

Another change that may occur in the vocal cords to alter the pitch, is the shortening of the slit between them, by causing their sides to come together. When this happens the note is raised, while the tension remains the same. This change has been brought forward as one explanation of the falsetto voice.

The width of the aperture of the glottis, has no essential influence on the pitch of the notes, except inasmuch as it is difficult to elicit sounds from the larynx, by blowing through the trachea, when the aperture of the glottis is wide; the sound is then not only devoid of musical tone, but the note can be raised by increased force of the blast a trifling degree only above the fundamental note; while, when the aperture of the glottis is narrow, it may be raised by this means a succession of semitones up to the 'fifth,' or beyond it.'-MÜLLER, p. 1028. Thus the narrowing of the glottis is not an act for regulating pitch, like the tension of the cords, but a condition of the production of musical tones, and of the action of the chest in altering the pitch.

Other circumstances concurring in the adjustment of the larynx to high and low notes, are still but imperfectly explained. Thus, during the ascent of the voice from the deeper to the higher notes of the scale, we find the whole larynx undergoing an elevation towards the base of the cranium: this change, however, is not considered so essential to the pitch, as to the quality of the note when the pitch is high.

The difference between the male and female voice lies in the size of the larynx and length of the vocal cords; both which are greatest in the male. Within the same sex there are gradations in these particulars.

36. The musical voice is entirely dependent on the larynx, with its vocal cords and muscles, coupled with the resonance of the adjoining parts, namely, the nostrils, sinuses, and the cranium at large. The articulate voice involves the action of the mouth in addition. Articulate sounds are those simple distinguishable sounds that can be united or fused into the compounds called syllables and words. Of

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their two divisions, Vowels and Consonants, the vowels are produced by an open and immoveable position of the mouth; while the consonants require a shutting more or less complete. and also a movement of the parts. Compare the sound of 'awe' with the sound of 'cup': the one a vowel, the other containing two consonants.

The following experiment illustrates the nature of vowel formation:

'Open the mouth to its greatest possible extent-with the lips naturally drawn back, so that the edges of the teeth are visible-and emit an utterance of voice; it will sound ah! Continue sounding this vowel while you cover the mouth firmly with the hand, laying the fingers of the left hand on the right cheek, and slowly bringing the whole hand across the mouth; the vowel quality of the sound will be changed with every diminution of the vocal aperture, progressively becoming uh, aw, oh, oo, as the hand gradually covers the mouth.'*

The changes of the mouth for different vowels are chiefly two, expressed by the terms buccal and oral, the one referring to the size of the cavity of the mouth, the other to the opening the lips. The modifications of these, coupled with the position of the tongue, give rise to all the varieties of vowel sound. An estimate has been made of the comparative dimensions of the two openings in the principal vowels. Admitting five degrees of size, both of the opening of the mouth and of the space between the tongue and palate, Dr. Carpenter, slightly altering from Kempelen, states the dimensions of these parts for the different vowels as follows:

Size of oral opening. Size of buccal cavity.

Vowel.

a

Sound. as in ah

Of the consonants a great many divisions have been

BELL'S Elocutionary Manual, p. 21.

made. A certain play of the tongue, teeth, or lips is necessary in all of them. This play may vary from the mere quiver of the tongue in sounding s, to the forcible shutting off of the sound by the sudden closure of the lips in p final. The sounds p, t, and k, are connected either with sudden closures or explosive openings of the vocal current, and are called mutes and also explosive letters. Of these three, p being formed by the lips, is called a labial; t being formed by the contact of the tongue with the palate, is a palatal and also a dental, and k is a guttural or throat-formed letter, the contact of the tongue being much farther back in the palate. As all the consonants are formed more or less nearly in one or other of these three positions, a general division of them can be made into labials, palatals, and gutturals. Six distinct Labials are enumerated, depending on different ways of sounding with the lip closure. The mute or explosive p has been mentioned; next to it is b, produced by a less violent closure, which allows the voice to be heard during the act, as any one will feel by sounding cup and cub. The third labial is m, which is still farther removed from the sudden extinction occurring with p; a free communication is opened with the nose for the egress of the air, and the sound can be made continuous like a vowel; in other words, we have the humming sound; this is the nasal labial, while b is called the vocal labial. The fourth labial is f, produced by the upper teeth and the lower lip coming together, and the breath passing through them without voice; this is the whispered or aspirate labial. When voice is heard through this last closure, we have v, or the second vocal labial, called the vocal aspirate. Lastly, a sound may be emitted through the closed lips, making them vibrate or shake like a reed, as in the sound pr: this is the vibrating labial, or the labial r. A similar series can be described in the Palatals. The mute being t, the vocal is d; there are two forms of the nasal, n and l; the aspirates are th (thumb), s, sh, arising from slightly differing positions of the tongue in its contact with the palate; the vocals, or audible forms of these, are th (thy), z, j: the vibratory palatal is the common r. The Gutturals likewise show the