5 66 



THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



bination of physiology with anatomy, and 

 the study of function in connection with 

 structure, and especially the later progress 

 in acoustical science, have given a new in- 

 terest to the vocal apparatus quite beyond 

 that of the bare anatomist. The subject 

 of the vocal organs, considered in relation 

 to their marvelous capacities, or the most 

 wonderful results obtained from the sim- 

 plest means, is one of quite extraordinary 

 interest. We hear much of the subtilties, 

 refinements, and complexities of vocal lan- 

 guage, with its hundreds of forms among 

 different peoples, its millions of words, its 

 capacity of expressing numberless shades 

 of feeling, and conveying the highest spir- 

 itual influence. But, besides the common 

 uses of speech in conversation, reading, and 

 oratory, we are all familiar with vocal mu- 

 sic as an art, inexhaustible in its variety of 

 styles, and the ranges of its development. 

 But what is the foundation of all this ? 

 Nothing but mechanism, bellows, and me- 

 chanical arrangements for acting upon cur- 

 rents of air for the production and control 

 of sound. This side of the subject, being 

 merely mechanical and material, has had but 

 little interest for those who care only about 

 the effects. When people lose their voices, 

 they are reminded that there is a mechanism 

 involved, and consult the doctor to find out 

 what ails their vocal organs ; but there has 

 been so little other concern about them, 

 that any thorough-going scientific investiga- 

 tion of their wonderful capacities and work- 

 ing has been long neglected. 



Dr. Meyer's work is a contribution to the 

 physiological science of the vocal organs 

 from this point of view. It is an original 

 treatise, with strong philological bearings, 

 and contains various new interpretations, 

 the result of the author's special and ex- 

 tensive researches. The object and plan 

 of the work can not be better presented 

 than in the language of the author in his 

 preface : 



The more we become convinced that a true 

 knowledge of the laws which govern the transforma- 

 tion of the elements of speech, in the formation of 

 dialects or derivative languages, can only be ob- 

 tained from a study of the physiological laws of the 

 formation of articulate sounds, the more necessary 

 does it become for the philologist to be thoroughly 

 acquainted with the structure and functions of the 

 organs of speech. The ordinary anatomical hand- 

 books are little adapted to this purpose, for much 



is there discussed at length which is of no use to the 

 philologist; while, on the other hand, points which 

 to him are of considerable importance are only 

 briefly alluded to. In physiological hand-books, also, 

 only a short space is in most cases devoted to this 

 subject. 



It is, therefore, my object, in the present work, 

 to discuss, with special reference to this require- 

 ment of the philologist, the structure and functions 

 of the organs of speech. 



In explaining the origin of articulate sounds, I 

 have so far departed from the usual method that I 

 have not attempted to arrange physiologically the 

 entire series of sounds employed in the most differ- 

 ing languages ; but rather, starting from the struct- 

 ure of the organs of speech, to give a sketch of all 

 possible articulate sounds. I believe I have thus 

 constructed a system in which all known articulate 

 sounds, and all those with which we may hereafter 

 become acquainted, will find a place. Such a sketch 

 could not, of course, be given without reference to 

 existing languages. The object has not been, how- 

 ever, to enter into the field of discussion upon the 

 various modifications of sounds, but merely to bring 

 forward a sufficient number of examples in con- 

 firmation of the laws explained, for which purposo 

 the more nearly related European languages aro 

 sufficient. 



Ocean Grove Camp-Meeting Association. 

 Fourteenth Annual Report. Ocean Grove, 

 N. J. Published by order of the Asso- 

 ciation. Pp. 75. 



The friends of the Association were dis- 

 turbed much more than they had reason to 

 be last year by some dozen lines concerning 

 unhealthy conditions that had been noticed 

 at Ocean Grove, which we published in the 

 course of an article of considerable length, 

 dealing with the sanitary condition of seaside 

 resorts generally. Without further noticing 

 the unkind words the more unkind because 

 they are undeserved which the president 

 of the Association still applies to us, we call 

 attention to the confessions contained in the 

 present report that there were things at the 

 Grove that needed remedying, and to the 

 'gratifying fact that the Association has ap- 

 plied the remedies. Owing to what the re- 

 port calls continuous and studied misrep- 

 resentations, a prejudice existed, " to remove 

 which required our most energetic toil. To 

 meet the expenses of such labor demanded 

 funds largely in advance of current re- 

 ceipts." If only a prejudice, and that false, 

 why so much labor and expense in building 

 sewers and sinking an artesian well to re- 

 move what was only ideal and unfounded ? 

 A system of sewerage was begun about three 

 years ago. " The plan of running the sewage 



