THE ORIGIN OF THE VOICE 13 



of musical pitch, but of other vocal characters, in 

 the young as well as in the adults. Nor must we 

 hastily assume that the voice itself has always been 

 coeval with even the higher forms of animal life 

 upon the earth. On the contrary, there are grounds 

 for believing that in the epoch when the highest 

 forms were the amphibians and reptiles, the voice, 

 properly so-called, had not yet been heard in the 

 world. 



Charles Darwin was of the opinion that the 

 first vocal sounds were involuntarily produced. In 

 his work, The Expression of the Emotions, pp. 83 

 and 84, is the following observation : " When the 

 sensorium is strongly excited, the muscles of the 

 body are generally thrown into violent action, and, 

 as a consequence, loud sounds are uttered, however 

 silent the animal may generally be, and although 

 the sound may be of no use. Hares and rabbits, 

 for instance, never, I believe, use their vocal organs 

 except in the extremity of suffering ; as when a 

 hare is killed by a sportsman, or when a young 

 rabbit is caught by a stoat. Cattle and horses 

 suffer great pain in silence, but when this is excess- 

 ive, and especially when associated with terror, 

 they utter fearful sounds. Involuntary and pur- 

 poseless contractions of the muscles of the chest 



