vocal cords are approximated, thus offering little resistance to the air, whilst, in the natural or chest voice, a certain depth of the surface of each cord is made to approach the other, and to undergo vibrations.

In certain strong mental emotions, the muscles of the voice act spasmodically, as in sobbing and laughter, and sometimes closing the glottis entirely for a longer or shorter time, as in some convulsive diseases.

Speech is the utterance of articulate sounds. The voice or vowel sounds are made with a nearly fixed position of the vocal organs; but as those sounds are modified by the action of the tongue, lips, etc., they are called articulate or consonant sounds. The vowel sounds are specially expressive of the feelings, while the consonant sounds are specially related to thought. This is why the language of music is so largely constituted of vowel sounds, the difference between music and speech consisting simply in the prolongation of the vowel sounds. As the language of all animals expresses much more of the affectional than of the intellectual mind, they have correspondingly little occasion for consonant sounds.

As vocalization depends on laryngeal vibrations, in whispering, vowels are articulated simply by the action of the mouth and fauces, all sound being produced above the larynx. Sighing is another example of sound produced above the larynx; if the vocal cords are called into vibratory action, the sigh becomes a groan. Most of the letters of the alphabet can be articulated with very little laryngeal action during inspiration.

Many sounds, as of smacking, clicking, kissing, and whistling, are generated in the mouth, and produced independently of laryngeal action.

Ventriloquism consists essentially in the imitation of

peculiar sounds. Its rationale is not well understood by physiologists. Magendie supposed it to be produced in the larynx. Some have thought it was produced simply by articulating while drawing in the breath. According to Muller, the sounds peculiar to ventriloquism may be made, after taking a deep inspiration, so as to occasion the protrusion of the abdominal viscera by the descent of the diaphragm, and maintaining the diaphragm in its depressed or contracted condition, by speaking during a very slow expiration, performed only by the lateral parieties of the chest, through a very narrow glottis.

Speaking automata have only succeeded in imitating the separate sounds of the voice; they can never combine them successfully so as to imitate the language of the vital organism.

The following lucid explanation of the various vowal and consonant sounds is copied from "Marshall's Physiology:

"Articulate sounds are divided into vowels and consonants. The true vowels, or open sounds, as they are called, are generated in the larynx. They are merely uninterrupted vocal tones, variously modified in their outward passage, by alterations in the shape of the parts of the oral cavity through which they pass; thus, in uttering the pure vowel sounds, ā, ă, e, o, u, pronounced respectively as in the words far, fate, ell, old, and in French words containing the u, one and the same sound produced by the vibrations of the vocal cords is converted into five different sounds, by changes in the position of the tongue, and by the gradual prolongation of the cavity of the mouth, by means of the lips; the most natural of these vowel sounds, or the one most easily uttered, is the broad ā. In the same manner the diphthong sound, i, ei, eu,

2

and the sounds of y and w, at the beginning of words are vocal tones, modified by further changes in the shape and form of the mouth.

"Consonants, or shut sounds, are entirely formed in the parts above the larynx, and are so named, because most, if not all of them, can only be sounded consonantly, that is, with another sound or vowel. They require, for their production, a shutting or valve-like action to take place, either between the lips, as in pronouncing the letters b, p, and m; or between the upper teeth and lower lip, as in the case of ƒ and v; or between the tongue and the palate, as d, g hard, e hard, k, q, t, r, l, and n, or between the tongue and the teeth, as in the production of hissing sounds, such as e soft, or 8 and 2. The compound articulate sounds, as j, or g soft, ch soft, ch guttural, ph, sh, th, ng and x, are produced by modifications, or combinations of some of the other pure consonant sounds. The aspirate his produced by an increased expiratory effort, made with the mouth open, before a vowel or other sound.

"Those consonants which are produced by, or connected with, a sudden stoppage of the breath at a certain point, the opening leading from the pharynx to the nose being quite closed, and all the respired air passing through the mouth, are called explosive consonants. They are of two kinds: the simple explosive consonants, b, d, and g hard; and the aspirate explosives, p, t, k; these, when uttered, are unaccompanied by a vocal sound, that is, they are attended with an intonation of the voice. Those consonants which can be produced without a complete stoppage of the breath previous to their utterance, are called continuous; some of these sounds are developed by the passage of the air, with a degree of friction through the

mouth; in this way the consonants v, f, 8, and 2, are produced by expiration through the nose only, as ng, m, and n. In uttering the letters 7 and r, the air escapes through the nose and mouth; in pronouncing the first of these, the air escapes at the sides of the tongue; in pronouncing the sound, the tongue undergoes a vibrating movement. All the continuous consonants can be pronounced with a vocal sound, except the aspirate h; and some of them can be pronounced either with or without vocal intonation. Consonants have also been named according to the seat of their production; thus p is called a labial, t a palatal, n a nasal, and the Gaelic ch a guttural consonant; but this classification is exceedingly artificial and incorrect; for the greater number of articulate sounds are the result of the conjoined action of the mouth, lips, palate, and upper part of the air-passage."

Fig. 14.

CHAPTER III.

PATHOLOGY OF THE VOICE.

THE most common causes of imperfect respiration and defective voice are distortions of the spinal column, and contracted chests. No person with either deformity can have a powerful voice, whatever may be its other qualities. Fig. 14, SPINAL MISCURVATURE, is a representation of a very common form of spinal distortion, in which nearly all of the abdominal viscera are more or less displaced, and the respiratory muscles unbalanced and undeveloped. By contrasting this figure with that of the natural spine in the preceding chapter (fig. 6), the disastrous consequences of a crooked spinal column may be realized at a glance.

A single glance at the bones of the chest (fig. 1), is sufficient to show the SPINAL MISCURVATURE. injurious effects on the respiratory system directly, and the vocal organs indirectly of every thing that interferes in the least with the full expansion of the lungs in breathing; and the relation of the diaphragm to respiration (fig. 9), explains the horrid consequences of tight-lacing. That this subject may be